VINELINES 24 JANUARY 2025

Calm Before the Storm

Happy Big Garden Birdwatch weekend! However, I fear that Storm Éowyn may scupper our plans.

This left me thinking ... Where Do Birds Go During a Storm?

When a storm hits, it can feel like the world has turned upside down. The sky darkens, the wind howls and the rain pours down in sheets. But what about the birds? We might wonder where they go when the weather takes a turn for the worse. Do they brace themselves against the elements like we do; or do they have some secret safe haven where they ride out the storm?

My amateur research shows that birds have a variety of clever strategies to deal with storms, depending on their species, location and the type of storm they are facing.

The most common things birds do when a storm approaches is to seek shelter. Many birds will hunker down in dense trees, shrubs or even buildings to shield themselves from the wind and rain. These shelters keep the birds from being battered by the wind and help them stay dry and protected.

Some birds, especially migratory ones, may be able to sense an approaching storm and take off to avoid it. For example, certain seabirds will head out to sea before a storm hits, flying to calmer waters. Birds with excellent navigation skills are able to assess when to leave and where to go to escape the brunt of the weather.

We can learn from birds, as when a storm approaches, they will stay calm. Just before the strong wind arrives, many birds tend to go silent. The drop in barometric pressure and sudden shifts in wind patterns can send a signal to birds that it is time to retreat to safety. This period of stillness is actually a survival tactic; birds instinctively know that stormy weather means an increase in danger, and so they will often stop singing or calling to one another. They are much more likely to find cover, become quieter and conserve their energy.

We will be enjoying a wonderful rest this Exeat weekend. My sleep may be uninterrupted by our Vinehall barn owls for a few nights whilst they weather the storm.

Joff

Our Nursery children have been busy preparing for the Big Garden Birdwatch this week and enjoyed looking out for the birds on their Winter Walk on Thursday.

Good Copy Break

Liz Powis

Tuesday morning break, the thermometer was teetering around 4 degrees and a thick, icy fog engulfed the Melon Garden. The garden gate swung open and in came the Good Copy break children, with rosy cheeks and excited smiles. In an assembly at the start of the year, the children voted for ice cream for their Good Copy treat so, despite the frosty weather, that is what they got!

"Isn't it just too cold for ice cream?" I asked them. "No Mrs Powis, it's fine, at least the ice cream doesn't melt!"

Good Copy break is a tradition which has been upheld for generations of Vinehall children. When we tour our Vines around the school, it is one of the events they remember vividly from their prep school lives (alongside the Frost Bite run, which they possibly remember with slightly less enthusiasm!)

Monday Assemblies in Pre-Prep

Nicky Whittaker - Head of Pre-Prep

I love welcoming the children back to school on a Monday morning but know that this can be a tricky time for some children who find the transition back into routine hard; and so I always try and make Monday morning assembly exciting and entertaining, as well as topical.

The children really enjoyed our first assembly of the year in which we welcomed 2025 with a cake, numerical candles and a cake topper which turned different colours as it sparkled while we all thought of our goal or resolution for the year. One of our Pre-Prep Pals always features in assembly and is usually linked to the theme; thus, we spoke about the resilience Terry Tortoise embodies, and that we all need perseverance to achieve our goals.

This Monday saw the launch of The Big Garden Bird Watch 2025, and we discussed the vital importance of observing, protecting and restoring our wildlife and ecosystems. Louis C and Sloane O did a brilliant job of modelling how to make bird feeders to hang up for the birds who need the fat to survive the remaining winter months ahead of nesting.

Unfortunately, the rest of the plan has not gone so well, and I reluctantly took the decision to cancel the bird watch walk planned for this morning to link to Monday’s assembly. Hopefully some of the children will be able to find an hour to enjoy recording in the garden or park over the weekend, and they can share their findings with us in our next Monday assembly!

Nursery - The Magic Of Music

Sarah Wolford - Head of Nursery & Kindergarten

Music interweaves through all areas of learning and development. Here at Vinehall the children are exposed to, and have everyday opportunities to explore, different sounds and become aware of a variety of instruments. This week we went to visit the music block; the children learnt the names of different instruments and listened to the Prep children play the piano and drums. The best part was of course creating lots of loud sounds!

Whatever Next! Kindergarten fun

Cathy Fuggle - Kindergarten Teacher

This week we really enjoyed exploring the book 'Whatever Next'. The children have loved acting out the story, climbing into their boxes, putting their space boots on, putting on helmets and zooming off to space to have a picnic on the moon. We thought about what food we would like to take for our picnic on the moon and the children had a try at writing a picnic list using their amazing phonic knowledge. Our space theme continued in our maths lessons, where the children have been making rocket pictures using 2-D shapes.

We have had so much fun this week exploring space, making space rockets and eating picnics on the moon, you could say this week’s learning has been “out of this world“.

Reception

Holly Newton - Reception Teacher

We had a wonderful time with Madame Clayton this week, learning the rhyme ‘Deux Petits Oiseaux’ (Two Little Dickie Birds) in French. We worked hard to remember the words and to make our puppets fly away and come back again at the right time. We had to exhibit great self-control not to make them fly too early!

We have been continuing our topic on penguins and this week we drew the other half of an Emperor Penguin chick with pencils and pastels. This helped us to further develop our fine motor skills, our spatial awareness and our understanding of symmetry by requiring us to carefully observe and replicate the missing half. We are very proud of our finished art work and hope our parents will come and see our work when it is on display in the classroom next week.

In our after school club we worked together to make ‘our world’ by scrunching up tissue paper and adding it appropriately. We knew that we needed blue for the seas, green for the land and white for The Arctic and for Antarctica. We identified lots of countries on the globe and tried our very best to replicate their shapes. We also googled where Lapland is and discovered that it is in Finland. We didn’t know that!

One of the highlights of our week was our Ball Skills lesson. We had so much fun using the large balls and passing them to each other in lots of different ways. We have some wonderful specialist teaching and are very grateful to these teachers for sharing their passion and energy with us.

Year 1

Jacklyn Garwood - Year 1 Teacher

Year 1 have been most interested in researching their chosen dinosaurs this week. They thought about the habitats of dinosaurs and investigated why they would have lived there. The children used clay to sculpt their own versions of their dinosaurs and are very eager for the clay to dry so they can bring their dinosaurs to life with colour! We spent time thinking about dinosaur habitats and began to design a diorama for the dinosaurs to live in. Well done for being so curious like Cassie Cat this week Year 1 - you are all super stars!

Year 2

Louise Hawtin - Year 2 Teacher

Year 2 went on a materials hunt around school to find what different materials have been used when building the school. We talked about why those materials were selected and thought about unsuitable materials as well.

As part of our Online Safety unit in Computing, we have been learning how to search for information safely, using sensible keywords in the search bar. The children worked in pairs and small groups, like Billy Bee, to find out about Tenerife. The children quickly learned how to do this and we all decided it would be a nice place to go on holiday!

Year 3 - Number Stories

Carina Everist - Year 3 Teacher & Religious Studies Teacher Years 3-6

Year 3 have been making sense of multiplication equations by thinking of everyday situations which show their understanding of the concept. Good teamwork at the vertical whiteboards!

'Curiosities' in Year 3!

As part of their Science topic on Rocks and Fossils, Year 3 explored a box of 'Curiosities' (aka Fossils) which Miss Prior kindly borrowed from the Bexhill Museum.

Year 4 – Division

Louise Barrett - Head of Juniors

The children worked really hard on some division problems this week, using the denes.

Year 4 – Leeds Castle

Louise Barrett - Head of Juniors

We had a fabulous day at Leeds castle. It was a wonderful trip. They children acted, had a tour of the castle, solved the maze (which they absolutely loved) and had a wonderful time in the play area.

Year 5 Life Skills: Thinking Classrooms

Ally Linney - Deputy Head (Pastoral)

What is a Thinking Classroom?

"A thinking classroom engages learners in thinking and learning together. Students learn through activity, discussion and student collaboration, not direct instruction. The building thinking classroom pedagogy, created by Dr Peter Liljedahl, professor of education at Simon Fraser University, focuses on collaborative problem-solving to construct and deepen [ ... ] knowledge."

This term's topic is Dreams and Goals and much of our studies are covering the "E" in PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education, aka Life Skills at Vinehall).

In Year 5 Life Skills, we considered the difference between a "job", a profession and a career. Ask your Year 5 child to explain the difference between the terms!

Art and Drama

Tracey Konyu - Head of Art and Mary Alderson - Director of Drama

There is a hidden gem near Westfield, The Bright Foundation. A museum and theatre created by the award-winning designer John Bright and beautifully curated by Rebecca Ainscough.

The Year 5 pupils, who are currently studying cultural art, had the opportunity to learn about the history behind the puppets on display, discovered the different types and made their own Indian inspired shadow puppets to use in the foundation’s theatre. If that wasn’t enough, they also had the chance to be living puppets during a movement class.

Mary Alderson and I were struck by the impressive behaviour of the Year 5 pupils. There were many priceless objects on display, which tempted the onlooker to touch them, but the children showed great restraint and we had some excellent feedback from the venue. A good day had by all.

Sport

Matt McKinnon - Director of Sport

On Wednesday the U10 & U11 boys played their final rugby matches of the season against Marlborough House. I apologise for starting to sound like a stuck record, but both teams can be very proud of the progress they have made over the last few weeks.

The senior boys travelled to Cranbrook for their first hockey matches of the term. It is never easy coming up against a school who have be playing for a few more weeks. However, that did not deter our group. John Newman was very impressed with their endeavour, with the 1sts losing a tight game 0-2, the 2nds drawing 1-1 and the 3rds losing 1-2. Not a bad set of results after only two training sessions.

The senior girls continued their netball season against Holmewood House. Laura Percy-White is pleased with the attitude shown by the group, with the 1st team outscoring the opposition U13B team 13-8. On Thursday the U8 & U9 girls dodged the wind and rain to take on Sacred Heart in a number of small-sided games of hockey on the astro. It was pleasing to see the enthusiasm shown by the group. We will definitely be working on trying not to tackle our own teammates over the next few sessions!!

Boarding

Katherine Kirkwood – Head of Boarding

It was a cold and dreary weekend, so we decided to liven things up with some competitive party games. We had pop the balloon races, musical cups, untangle the towel and the shirt snake to name but a few. The boys were victorious in the end, but the girls gave them a good run. The afternoon was taken up with tuck and a movie and a short spell in the library to catch up on prep.

We had a lazy Sunday morning and then went to Urban Jump in the afternoon. Everyone came home tired and hungry and happy from all the exertion of the afternoon. The evening was spent playing hide and seek until it was time to get ready for the week.

Other News ...

We are delighted to share the news that one of our Vines, Gryff Watkins, appeared for Wales in the U20s in December. In a close match, with Wales narrowly losing 45-43, Gryff scored a try on his debut.

His passion for rugby was nurtured on the Vinehall playing fields. Now in his final year of school, Gryff has also been offered a professional rugby contract with Scarlets which will run alongside his law degree when he finishes his A Levels. Congratulations to Gryff and to the Vinehall coaches from those early school days.

COMING SOON ...

Talking Heads 2025