Welcome to our first Vinelines of the new school year.
We give an especially warm welcome to our Vinehall community to the forty-eight new children, five new staff and thirty-eight new families.
Whilst the children have been whisked along in the excitement of all the new term holds in store, we are very thankful for the instinctively kind and selfless nature of our school community. New friendships have been formed and helping hands extended to anyone feeling uncertain. The Boarders have been an exceptional example of this supportive collaboration and caring thoughtfulness.
I look forward to seeing you all over the coming weeks. Plentiful events to prepare for and I am especially grateful to everyone supporting the FoV, who will be meeting next week to start planning for Apple Day, Fireworks Night and The Secrets Room.
Finally, our community’s considerable appreciation goes to Laura Vakil for her leadership in ensuring that the speed limit on the A21 has now been reduced to 40mph outside our school. This is a significant triumph and will, we know, keep our families that much safer as they arrive and depart from school each day.
Wishing you all a wonderful term.
Joff
Pre-Prep - Music for All
Nicky Whittaker - Head of Pre-Prep
It is always a joy to start teaching all the children music in their new classes at the beginning of the school year. Each class has a different composition of energy and personality, and each class quickly develops their own favourite songs and activities. However, the fundamental tenet of music in Pre-Prep is underpinned by the principle of "Music for All", whether it is taught in Nursery or Year 2.
The Year 2 children have started learning songs from “Strike up the Band!”, which is a series of songs designed to learn to play percussion instruments to accompany each song. The first song was entitled “Not too difficult”, and the children loved learning the new words and “being conducted” by the class conductor when they played their instruments; George VG did a great job of this!
Meanwhile in Kindergarten this week the children were exploring the different sounds made by the instruments. The concentration and fascination on the faces of the children is clear to see, as we had some virtuoso performances on the xylophone and castanets by Oliver M and Beau C!
Little Vines - New Beginnings
Sarah Wolford - Head of Nursery & Kindergarten
As we begin this new academic year at Little Vines Nursery we seek ways to build and strengthen our relationships and communities by working together with our families and children, just like our Pre-Prep Pal, Billy Bee.
All our children have settled happily and we are very proud of every one of them as they demonstrate the skills and interests to learn and explore through their play and start this new exciting adventure with us at Vinehall.
Kindergarten
Catherine Garlick - Kindergarten Teacher
It has been lovely to welcome the children to the Kindergarten class and they have made a fantastic start to the Michaelmas term. Our topic is, ‘The Hero in Me’ and this week our book focus was ‘Happy to be Me’. After reading this book we worked together to draw around children in our class and think about what the different parts of the body do and how we can be grateful for them. The children have enjoyed finger painting the initial letter of their name and creating their own self portraits. For our maths focus we have been exploring how old we are and looking at different representations of our age.
Reception
Claire Sparks - Deputy Head of Pre-Prep
What a wonderful first full week in Reception. The children have been very busy exploring their environment and have thrown themselves into their learning with gusto. They have produced some fantastic work, not least their beautiful self portraits. Every picture captures each unique child so perfectly, and everyone showed such care and attention while drawing them. The children have also done some super maths work - ordering numerals, comparing numbers to five and pretending to be the Numberblocks all in a muddle. Great work, Reception!
REMINDER FOR RECEPTION PARENTS
There will be a reading talk for Reception parents on Monday 16th September - from 8.40 to 9.00am.
Year 1
Jacklyn Garwood -Year 1 Teacher
The children in Year 1 have made an amazing start and we are so proud of how well they have settled. Much anticipated excitement, as we buried our Year 1 time capsule with pictures, memories and measurements in our Pre-Prep woods. We are already looking forward to unearthing it in July to discover how much we have changed.
We looked carefully at our faces in a mirror this week and used charcoal pencils to sketch self-portraits. Oh what fabulous acrostic poems the children have written about themselves to go alongside their self-portraits.
Come have a look at them in the Pre-Prep Hall when you have the chance!
Year 2
Louise Hawtin - Year 2 Teacher
Year 2 have been reading the story 'How the Rabbit Stole the Fire' and re-told the story by acting it out. They also had a wonderful first session at Forest School, exploring, playing in the shop and kitchen, painting, making things using sticks and conkers, as well as making a tasty apple crumble. What a lovely morning!
Year 3 – Diet Riot
Carina Everist - Year 3 Teacher
Year 3 had fun playing a game in their first Science lesson, classifying Carnivores, Herbivores and Omnivores as part of their topic, 'Animals including humans'. They worked well together and earned their first collaborative disposition.
Year 3 – Hands on History
Carina Everist - Year 3 Teacher
An exciting first week for Year 3. They were treated to a morning exploring the Stone Age when 'Hands on History' visited Vinehall.
Violin Magic for Year 3
Carina Everist - Year 3 Teacher
Our lovely violin teacher, Aysen, performed the Gigue from JS Bach's 2nd Partita as part of Year 3's introduction to instruments.
Year 4 - Romans
Louise Barrett - Head of Juniors
Year 4 Had a wonderful afternoon with some visiting Romans! I was dressed in full Roman kit and cannot express how heavy it all was. I could not have walked 100m, let alone 30ks. The children were engaged and got a chance to handle different bits of Roman equipment. They particularly enjoyed the marching and fighting in the sports hall of course!
Year 4 - Outdoor Classroom
Louise Barrett - Head of Juniors
We were lucky to get the first outdoor classroom slot. As usual the children had a lovely time and thoroughly enjoyed the morning. We ate apple and blackberry crumble cooked on the campfire by the children; it was delicious.
Year 4 - Herstmonceux Science Centre
Louise Barrett - Head of Juniors
We had a great day at the Science Centre. Lots of exploration and fantastic workshops on sound and light. I was impressed by the children's knowledge.
Years 3 & 4 - Miss Trunchbull visits the Juniors on Roald Dahl Day!
Karen Walker - EYFS Higher TA
Miss Trunchbull (aka Mary Alderson) put Year 3 & 4 through their paces in the theatre. They mimed and took on some of the characters from Matilda. Some budding thespians!
Year 5 Humanities – Volcanoes
Louise Barrett - Head of Juniors
The children tried to create their own volcanoes this week. It was a lot of fun. At the end we used coke, mentos and bicarbonate which created the best eruption.
Year 5 Science
Louise Barrett - Head of Juniors
Year 5 have been learning about what is inside our planet. They made Plasticine models and then sliced them in half and labelled them.
Sport
Matt McKinnon - Director of Sport
It has been wonderful to see the football pitches, astro, swimming pool and netball courts alive with pupils this week. The Pre-Prep started their ball skills sessions with enthusiasm and determination. On Wednesday the boys and girls from Year 5 to 8 competed against Saint Ronan's, Rose Hill and Marlborough House, with the staff pleased with the efforts of all the teams. On Thursday the Year 3s played their first competitive matches for the school, to great excitement.
Congratulations to all our pupils who took a LAMDA exam back in June! All of them were awarded a Distinction.
Every single LAMDA pupil has developed their performance and communication skills significantly, brilliantly supported their peers and gained so much confidence in the last year. We are extremely proud of them all!
House News
This week saw the first House meetings of the new school year. Everyone welcomed the new members to their houses.
Saxton
Paxton
Ashton
Rushton
Boarding
Petra Campbell - Gapper
A great first weekend back in the boarding house after the summer break. Saturday morning the boarders had activities - most went to DT and art whilst some enjoyed playing games in the Sports Hall. In the afternoon the children all had time to put together a presentation about themselves and we shared them before dinner.
On Sunday we had a slow start to the day and everyone could enjoy free time to get to know each other. The Year 7 girls then did some baking with Miss Campbell and Miss Pearce, where they made cookies for everyone. Sunday afternoon we had an outing to bowling where we all played two games and enjoyed the arcades.
Accent Catering Team Awarded the Food Standards Agency 5* Rating
Roger Walker - Bursar
Tuesday – 9.00am.
Knock-knock.
“Who’s there?”
“Rother Council Environmental Health Team” came the response.
The Bursar’s heart sank. “How lovely to see you” he said through gritted teeth - and then threw Michael Wilding, the new Accent Catering Manager, to the wolves!
Not a problem for Michael though who is completely on top of his game and, three hours later, the catering department had sailed through the numerous checks on food handling, storage, preparation and compliance with the rules and regulations with flying colours and emerged with a 5* rating for hygiene and cleanliness.
A very big “Well Done” said the Bursar to Michael and the catering team, as he breathed a sigh of relief and retreated back to his office.
Seriously, this is a great achievement and no mean feat. All commercial catering facilities are inspected annually by the local Environmental Team – and only the very best awarded the 5* rating.