The Year 2 representatives for our School Council and Committees
"I can see in the dark now," said Plop, his voice filled with wonder. "And I think it’s beautiful!" (from 'the Owl who is Afraid of the Dark' by Jill Tomlinson)
Pupils, parents, friends and staff experienced a darkness filled with spectacular beauty on Thursday at the Vinehall FOV Fireworks Night. Testament to the strength of our close community, record numbers enjoyed the delicious refreshments, unbelievable fireworks and lots of fun, and the sound of laughter and animated conversation was matched only by the whizzing of rockets and huge explosions over our beautiful grounds. I would like to thank the FOV committee for all their very hard work in organising such a wonderful event.
Despite the shorter days of November, like the brave little owl, our children are taking advantage of each opportunity and using every available minute of their school day for fearless discovery.
Joff
Pre-Prep - A busy week back
Nicky Whittaker - Head of Pre-Prep
We returned on Monday morning with the children bringing in a wonderful array of carved pumpkins. Each and every pumpkin had been designed with care and creativity, including carvings of houses, ghosts, owls and carriages. A huge thank you to all the children (and their families!) who entered.
Dr Kalyar kindly judged the Pre-Prep competition, and the winners were as follows: Quinn SA in Reception won first place with his clever “poorly pumpkin.” Second place was awarded to Zara F in Year 2 with her brilliant “pumpkin in jail” design. Rey K from Year 1 achieved third place with his fantastic bat with removable wings. Ozzie W from Kindergarten received a high commendation for his delightful owl pumpkin, as did Hugo G from Nursery for his fairytale pumpkin carriage.
This week also saw the election of the Year 2 representatives for our school council and committees. Year 2 have a range of opportunities open to them in their final year of Pre-Prep and serving on these bodies is just one of them. Each child had prepared a short speech about why they would like to be nominated which they presented to the other children in a short assembly. All the children then voted and these were counted carefully.
I am delighted to share that Rory C and Sloane O will serve on the School Council, George VG and Louis C will be our Eco Committee representatives and Zara F and Zephan N will serve on the Academic Committee. I am sure our new members will do a fantastic job of representing Pre-Prep through the year!
Nursery - Festive celebrations!
Sarah Wolford - Head of Nursery & Kindergarten
There is never a dull moment here at Little Vines and on our first day back after the half term the children and staff embraced the opportunity to dress up for Halloween! Over the break lots of children created and carved the most amazing pumpkins; a big well done to everyone!
We also celebrated and learnt about Diwali, the Festival of Lights. The children had the opportunity to explore the different medium of clay and created beautiful diva lamps.
Kindergarten Celebrate Bonfire Night
Catherine Garlick - Kindergarten Teacher
This week we began our ‘Lights of the World’ topic by exploring Bonfire Night celebrations. The children have been practising their cutting skills by cutting zig zag firework lines and making stampers for firework pictures. They have enjoyed listening to bonfire night poems, rhymes and songs and they have used this for inspiration for their artwork and making firework dances. Whilst playing outside, they have enjoyed rocket role play and making their own rockets from shapes. Many of the children very much enjoyed coming together as a school community for our annual Firework Night.
Reception
Claire Sparks - Deputy Head of Pre-Prep
This week Reception have been learning all about the night sky. We have learnt a firework dance and loved moving like beautiful sparkling fireworks in the sky, waving our colourful scarves. We have written acrostic poems about the stars, painted firework pictures with plenty of glitter and invented very clever ways to catch our own star!
Year 1
Jacklyn Garwood - Year 1 Teacher
What an exciting start to the new term this week! The children arrived at school in their spookiest costumes ready to hollow out the pumpkins that they planted in the Pre-Prep garden. We measured and mixed all our ingredients together, making the most delicious pumpkin soup! We ventured into our garden using our senses to write poems about the Autumn season. The children were welcomed to the theatre by Neil Armstrong, who taught them some fabulous ways of walking like an astronaut in space! Well done Year 1 for all of your enthusiastic work this week!
Year 2
Louise Hawtin - Year 2 Teacher
Year 2 have been practising their geography skills this week by using atlases and adding geographical features to maps. Our topic this half-term is Amazing Amazon, so first the children located South America on a map. They then looked more closely at Brazil and found the rainforest, river and capital city, which they then added to their own maps, before completing a key. They were very neat and precise; well done Year 2!
Year 3 – Science - What is Light?
Carina Everist - Year 3 Teacher
Year 3 enjoyed their first lesson on 'Light and Shadow' this week. Using torches, magnifiers, washing up liquid and cardboard boxes, they explored four different investigative activities with great excitement. Mrs E was very grateful that she had Mrs Walker and Miss Campbell to help her supervise bubbles, boxes and whizzy wheels! Thanks to Dr Moore for setting up the prisms to show how visible light refracts.
Year 4B
Louise Barrett - Head of Juniors
Formal addition ... tricky to understand!
Year 4B – Science
Louise Barrett - Head of Juniors
States of Matter - Solids, Liquids and Gases - let's investigate.
Year 5 - A sweet treat for Year 5 in RS!
Carina Everist - Year 3 Teacher
Rosh Hashanah is a time to celebrate the New Year for Jewish people and, as Year 5 are exploring Judaism this term, they enjoyed apples and honey in their last Religious Studies lesson.
Art - Poppies
Tracey Konyu - Head of Art
For two weeks, Prep school pupils from Year 2 to Year 7 have been creating poppies from clay. The poppies have been delicately sculpted, with an added attention to detail and a sense of pride thrown in.
For the older pupils, the symbolism and importance of the poppy has been explained in class. For all those pupils who have made the poppies, it has been a chance to be involved in a project which has seen all pupils working together and passing their skills onto others.
NEWSFLASH FROM THE ART DEPARTMENT
The Royal Academy of Arts will be opening submissions for their Summer Art Show 2025 from 6th January 2025.
If you are interested in taking part in one of the biggest and most exciting Art exhibitions, then talk to Tracey Konyu.
Here is the link to find out more: Young Artists' Summer Show | Royal Academy
Drama
Mary Alderson - Head's PA and Director of Drama
Years 5-7 were very privileged to join a 'Create and Sing' interactive 'Discover Opera' workshop today hosted by the Royal Opera House in London. After a tour backstage, they met one of the Musical Directors who showed them how to warm-up their bodies and voices. Two wonderful singers joined the workshop and performed extracts from Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville', playing the roles of Figaro and Count Almaviva. The children made statues of the characters, learned some Italian and joined in the singing with great gusto. Pupils from 300 schools countrywide were able to learn how an opera is rehearsed and ask questions in a very engaging session.
Sport
Matt McKinnon - Director of Sport & Head of Co-Curricular
This week saw the boys play their last football matches of the term, with a few house matches and even a bit of golf for some.
The 1st XI has had a fantastic season and, although the result against Bede's this week did not go their way, John Newman and his team can be very pleased with their efforts against some very strong schools. Winning the plate at the IAPS qualifiers and the 4-3 win against a strong St Andrew's side are just two notable achievements from their season.
The 2nd and 3rd teams have tried hard to play the game in the correct manner and, although they have struggled to find the net as often as their opponents, they have not stopped playing and can be pleased with their efforts.
The Colts A, under the guidance of Zac Atwood have had a good term and, with two good results either side of the half term break - a 5-5 draw against St Andrew's and a 6-3 win against Bede's - have finished the season on a high. Kevin Higginson was very pleased with the Colts B on Wednesday and, although going down to Bede's, he was impressed with the team's perseverance and tenacity throughout. The C team had a tough game this week, but finished their afternoon with an entertaining penalty shoot out. I must thank the visiting King's Canterbury Year 12 pupils who refereed the Colts games at home this week.
The senior and Colts girls continued their hockey season with competitive matches against Skipper's Hill home and away. Hannah McAlister was pleased with the 1st & 2nd teams' efforts in a combined 4-4 draw. The Colts A played well for their win and the Colts Bs continue to make pleasing progress on the astro.
The U9, U11 & U13 Cross Country teams take part in the Claremont Cross Country event this Friday; fingers crossed the weather plays ball and the course/track is not too muddy.
Nicki Towner and the U13 Gymnastics team travel to Guildford for the IAPS 2 piece competition this Saturday. They have been working hard in training and I wish them every success.
Next week is another busy one with two galas, the first against Claremont on Tuesday, followed by the St Andrew's Cup on Thursday and the start of the rugby season. Please may I remind the parents of the boys in Year 4 to 8 that mouthguards are compulsory.
Maths Week England
Kevin Higginson - Head of Mathematics
‘England Rocks' on Times Table Rock Stars
As part of our commitment to make Maths exciting and high profile at Vinehall, we are taking part in a friendly competition involving schools across England called 'England Rocks'.
The competition runs from Tuesday 12th to Thursday 14th November 2024, and it is all done online via play.ttrockstars.com.
Children can play in any game mode, with every correct answer to a multiplication or division question, earning themselves, their House and the school a point. The best average scores will earn a certificate and prize.
STEM Club sparklers!
Becky Prior - Head of Science
We made our own sparklers using iron filings, copper chloride and sodium chloride to observe flame colours. We then used our observations to design a firework display, planning which metal compounds would be needed to create different coloured fireworks.
Anti Bullying Week
Today we all wore odd socks for Anti-bullying week. Here are Year 3 showing off theirs ...
We had lots of amazing carved pumpkins!
Congratulations to the winners - Albert P (Y5) and Henry P (Y3).
COMING SOON ...
FoV SECRETS ROOM
The FOV Secrets Room will be on Wednesday 11th December. Can everyone please start collecting donations!
International Classical Concert Series at Vinehall
MODIGLIANI QUARTET Sunday 10th November at 3.00 p.m.
The Vinehall concert series continues its 36th season of International Classical Concerts with a performance by the distinguished French Quartet, the Modigliani. Their programme starts with an early Mozart quartet written when he was 16 and visiting Milan. Then we have the Spanish composer Alfred Turina's Toreador's Prayer - the bull fighter reflects as he goes into the area. This is followed by Ravel’s only quartet. Hearing French musicians playing the works of one of France's greatest composers always provides an extra insight.
After the interval we will hear Beethoven's second Razumovsky quartet. It is full of passion and drama - absolutely the best of Beethoven as a chamber music composer.
"There’s a bright, youthful spark to the Modigliani quartet’s playing – and I mean youthful in the best possible way. The sound is mainly light and shiny (...) the litheness is invigorating, and there’s a stripped-back beauty in the slow movements that stopped me in my tracks."
The Guardian, Kate Molleson
"The Modigliani played Dvorak's American as if it had been specially written for them and in the hands of the players, Schubert's musical magic embraced an audience which listened in absorbed silence"
The West Australian
"This French ensemble is beautifully modulated, in the sense that every player has equal presence and voice, expressed with dashing fervour in Dohnányi (Quartet No 3) and gossamer brilliance in Ravel's quartet."
The Guardian
“Modigliani musicians show they’re a fab foursome.”
Seattle Times
“One of today’s best quartets in the world … Balance, transparency, symphonic comprehension, confident style, their performance reached a very high and inspiring level.”
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Harald Eggbrecht
“The Modigliani quartet clearly belongs to the world’s greatest."
Le Monde
“A gripping and persuasive performance, played with awesome individual and communal brilliance ”
The Strad
Not surprisingly, this concert is sold out, but we do get returns.
If you find yourself free on Sunday then please email geoffreywhitehead@vinehallschool.com to go on the list for returns.
If you would like to receive the newsletters with updates of all our concerts, then please email geoffreywhitehead@vinehallschool.com. If you have friends or family who would enjoy hearing top level International musicians at Vinehall then please forward their email address.