Newsletters

MESSAGE FROM MRS JONES

Dear Parents and Carers

The Summer term continues to be extremely busy. 

It's been lovely to have events onsite again and invite parents to our Infants Sports Day, new Nursery and Reception parent meetings and of course, our summer fayre, Vaughan Fest, on Saturday 2nd July.

We have lots of exciting events planned up until the end of the academic year, particularly the forthcoming Drama and Choir production of the Jungle Book.  Pupils have been rehearsing incredibly hard in preparation for the performance.  

There will be transition meetings for all existing parents where they will have an opportunity to join sessions to find out what the next academic year has in store for their child.  Pupils will also have the opportunity to meet their new class teacher and see their new settings (Reception to Year 5 children) in the last week of term.

I would also like to say a HUGE thank you for all your support regarding the FSPA initiative.  We have been notified that the school has been successful in gaining the Award!  Thank you for all the amazing things parents said about the school.  I am hugely appreciative of your continued support.

Mrs Jones
Headteacher

UPDATE FROM THE SCHOOL GOVERNING BODY

In the lead up to the end of term Governors continue to meet regularly to ensure the effective leadership of the school. 

Governors met earlier this month to progress developments to further improve our ways of working - with support from an external expert from “Herts for Learning”.

The Governing Body extend their thanks to Friends of Vaughan for organising Vaughan Fest, and to all those parents and family members that have volunteered their time on the day or will be coming to support.  Some governors will be in attendance on the day - at the “Lucky Lollipop” staff.  Please do come over and say hello. 

Nerys Anthony
Chair of Governors

FRIENDS OF VAUGHAN UPDATE

VAUGHAN - FEST - Saturday 2nd July

MASSIVE THANK YOU to Sam, Lucy, Sonal, Praj, Rekha, Lia, Jen, Gayle, Seet, Jackie, Zen and those I have inevitably forgotten for their unbelievable efforts helping to get everything ready for the Vaughan Summer Fair this Saturday 2nd July, 11am - 2pm.

And thank you to everyone else who has donated, bought tickets or signed up to volunteer to help on the day. We are really excited and hope it will be a brilliant event after two years off!

It is not too late to volunteer so if you can spare just an hour on the day it would be greatly  appreciate - take a look at www.pta-events.co.uk/friendsofvaughan 

We have our final donation collection on Friday 1st where we are just asking for Crisps as the school has kindly donated cakes.

A reminder that the event will be cash free so please remember to bring along any pre-bought tokens or visit one of the token sale points on the day where we will be accepting cash or card.

Entrance and exit to the school on the day will be through the main red gates and as usual there is no smoking policy, including vapes, throughout the day.

Look forward to seeing lots of you on Saturday and keep your fingers crossed for the sunshine!

HELPING FRIENDS OF VAUGHAN ALL YEAR ROUND

Raise Money While You Shop! 

You can support Friends of Vaughan without spending a penny extra by shopping through Easyfundraising or Amazon Smile. 

Sign up to Easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/vaughanschoolpta (or download the app) and use the links provided whenever you shop online with John Lewis, M&S, Ebay and more. 

Please use Amazon Smile whenever you buy from Amazon and select Vaughan School PTA as your charity. You can set this up on the app so you don’t need to remember each time.

Regular Giving

As with all charities, you can choose to support us through regular donations which are all eligible for Gift Aid.  If you, or a member of your community would like to do this then please contact our treasurer who can advise on the best way at fovtreasury@gmail.com.

Keep in touch: 

facebook.com/groups/VaughanPTA

vaughanpta@gmail.com

ATHLETICS COMPETITION

On Monday 11^th June, 8 children in Year 5 attended an Athletics competition at Bannister’s Sports Track. 

They competed against children in Years 5 and 6 from Grimsdyke,  Norbury and St John Fisher schools. 

They competed in a mixture of track and field events and a mixed relay. 

It was an amazing experience for everyone involved and everyone tried their best.  Here are some photos ...

STAFF VACANCIES

Due to the planned expansion and growth of our After School Club, and to meet the demands of increased lettings, we have published 2 vacancies on our website:  Vaughan Primary School - Current Vacancies

If you are interested in working at Vaughan, or you know someone who may be interested, please feel free to apply online.  

SCHOOL LUNCH REMINDER

We would like to remind parents to book their child's lunch IN ADVANCE (before midnight the night before). 

If your child is having a packed lunch, this needs to be chosen too on the Eduspot website (https://login.eduspot.co.uk/public/portal/parent/?app=schoolmoney).

We are increasingly spending more and more time chasing parents who have not chosen their child's lunch for the day, and we ask that parents please remember to book lunches themselves, including indicating if your child is having packed lunch. 

If you need any help booking lunches, please see this guidance:  download.asp (vaughan.harrow.sch.uk)  Section 3 gives instructions for booking lunches. 

Thank you for helping us in this area.  

ATTENDANCE REMINDER 

At Vaughan we pride ourselves on very good attendance across the school, and we are very grateful for parents and carers who help us by ensuring their children are in school when they are well.

From September, we will be returning to normal school hours for all year groups - 8.50 am until 3.25 pm every day (children can enter classrooms from 8.40 am for 'soft start'). 

Children are expected in school every day unless there is a valid reason for absence - e.g., unwell or medical appointment.  We ask for proof to be shown or emailed to school for any appointment during the school day, and for any illness over 5 consecutive dates (or 3 days either side of a holiday) 

The school's attendance target is 96.5%.  We expect all children to have attendance of at least 95%.

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS

We have been so pleased to be able to offer after school clubs to children again this term.  We have also had some outside organisations in school teaching tennis and cricket to some of our children. 

Please find below some quotes for children involved, along with some photos.

Year 4 Art Club

Quote from Elijah, 4C. 

"I really enjoy Art Club.  I especially like origami and painting. I  can't wait to do more."

Year 4 Tennis

Quote from Anika, 4C: 

"What I liked about tennis was the quality of the teaching and the way they showed us how to play a rally.  They also taught us to control the ball at certain points and their explanation was very clear."

 Year 4 Cricket

Quote from Jokubas, 4C:

"I enjoyed the cricket because I like hitting or throwing the ball far, so I enjoyed being a batter. It was also fun being a fielder because I am good at catching and throwing. I really like cricket, so this session was really fun."

KEY MESSAGES FROM WELFARE

Please remember that we have a 48 hour policy for sickness and diarrhoea.  This means that we ask parents to keep their child at home for 48 hours after the last time their child has vomiting or diarrhoea.  This is to minimise infection to other members of the school - children and staff.

Medication

If your child is prescribed medication which has to be administered at school, please complete a consent form which can be found on the school website with clear instructions.  It must come via the school office or alternatively, call Welfare tel: 0208 427 7222 Ext 2 and arrangements can be made to collect from outside the school office.

Any medical queries, please contact Mrs O’Rourke or Ms Goodspeed in Welfare.

Medical appointments during the day

And lastly a reminder about medical appointments.  If your child has a medical appointment during the school day, please remember to email attendance@vaughan.harrow.sch.uk with the details and with proof of the appointment.  We do ask however, that appointments during the day are kept to a minimum and that you book appointments for outside of the school day.  Thank you.

SAFEGUARDING UPDATE

Keeping Your Children Safe Online

With the summer holidays just around the corner, our children will be using devices more than ever to play their favourite games or stay in touch with family and friends… maybe even looking at their new school’s website if they are leaving Vaughan to go to Year 7!

It’s a good time to ask them about what sites they use and check any age requirements as many social media sites require users to be at least 13 years old.

Encourage your children to use the privacy tools on the services they use, so that the content they post is only available to people they know and trust in real life. To help your children set these up, the UK Safer Internet Centre has a guide to the privacy settings on the different sites.  You can also download their safety checklists for popular sites such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.  

Follow the links https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/social-media-guides and https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/social-media-checklists to find out more.

When They’re Out and About

It can be hard for you to relax if you’re busy worrying about your children!  So, what can we do to make sure our children are safe?

Follow the link below to find 12 ways to keep safe from best practice in the sun to useful information for family trips.  There’s also some ideas you can share with your teenagers to help them if they find themselves in uncomfortable or worrying situations with strangers.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/summer-school-holidays-safety-tips-13364433

Safeguarding at Vaughan

If you have any concerns, please contact safeguarding@vaughan.harrow.sch.uk or speak to Miss Rogers, the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL).

If you ever have a concern about a child, and you can't get hold of the school, you can call the Golden Number directly (see below):

HARROW FOODBANK

Further information is available from the following website:
https://harrow.foodbank.org.uk/

TERM DATES

School will close at 1.35pm on the last day of each term
(Thursday 21st July 2022, Friday 16th December 2022, Friday 31st March 2023 and Friday 23rd July 2023).

Afternoon Nursery will be closed on the last day of each term.

After School Club finishes at 4.00pm on the last day of term. 

Please do not book holidays for during term time as these will not be authorised.  If you wish to request leave from school, please complete a Request for Leave form and email it to attendance@vaughan.harrow.sch.uk for Mrs Jones' attention.