VPS Newsletter

Welcome to Vauxhall's Newsletter:

Spring 1 , Week 6: Friday 13th February 2026

Remember- All newsletters can be found on our school website, which includes links to archived newsletters.

In this issue...

Headteacher's Comment
Children's Mental Health Week
Reading Challenge
A Town Explores A Book
New Balance Bikes
Art Club
Children's learning
#WakeUpWednesday - Mental Health Misinformation
Weekly Awards
Attendance and Punctuality
Safeguarding

+ our regularly updated Diary Dates, Term Dates, our weekly Headteacher Awards, Weekly Attendance & Punctuality figures and TT Rockstars.

Headteacher's Comment

As we reach the end of this term, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued support and partnership with our School. It has been wonderful to see our children thrive this term. From their resilience in tackling new challenges to the kindness they've shown one another, they continue to make us proud every day.

Thank you for the conversations you have at home that reinforce our school values and help your children grow. Our dedicated team has worked tirelessly to ensure every child feels supported and inspired and appreciate the kind words you share with them.

Wishing you all a restful and enjoyable break. We look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 23rd February ready for another exciting term of learning.

Remember to complete our safeguarding survey

Children's Mental Health Week

This week, we have been proud to take part in Children’s Mental Health Week. This year’s theme, This is My place, has encouraged our pupils to reflect on the importance of wellbeing and expressing their feelings. Our Wellbeing Ambassadors and Anti-Bullying Ambassadors led a range of activities on the playground, including bubble time, drawing with chalk, and a wonderful Fingerprint Parade to celebrate individuality and belonging. In class, children have also been focusing on breathing techniques and calming activities to help them manage their emotions and support their mental wellbeing. It has been a fantastic week of reflection, positivity and connection across the school.

Please see the guide for parents and guardians with some ways to support your child at home.

Children’s Mental Health Week 2026 – A Guide for Parents and Guardians

Reading Challenge

Copy of Template: WBD poster

To celebrate the upcoming World Book Day and inspire a lifelong love of reading at home and school, we will be taking part in Usborne’s sponsored reading challenge Ready, Steady, Read from 23 February to 26 March. Children are encouraged to read a little each day— books, comics, magazines, websites, recipes, and more all count! Pupils will receive a reading log to track their minutes, and families are warmly invited to join in by reading together and encouraging new discoveries. The class that reads the most minutes will be crowned our Class Champions! 📚✨

A Town Explores A Book

We enjoyed our annual visit from the A Town Explores A Book team who travelled all the way from St.Leonards on Sea, near Hastings to deliver a musical and literary assembly. Children were eagerly sketching along to live music linking their images to the festival’s book, John Agard’s “My Name is Book.” The final activity was to create a book that has never been created before. Children imagined some wonderful inventions and now have a chance to enter their ideas for a short writing competition. See the flyer for more details and enter by either returning on paper to Ms Coombs or online by the 20th March.

ATEAB26-writing-competition-flyer-A5_colour_2.pdf

New Balance Bikes

Every student leaves our school knowing how to ride a bike – and that journey starts with the very first push on a balance bike!

A huge well done to Mr Dave for completing his cycle training course. Thanks to his dedication and enthusiasm, our school has received brand new balance bikes to support our youngest learners as they begin their cycling journey.

These bikes will help build confidence, coordination and a love of riding from the very start. Thank you, Mr Dave, for helping us keep our wheels turning and our students moving forward!

Art Club

This week, Art Club brought together a fantastic mix of Year 1 to Year 5 students, all focusing on developing their watercolour skills. The children explored a range of techniques, including colour blending, layering washes, and adding fine details. They also experimented with a range of different brushes to create varied textures and effects, from bold strokes to delicate lines. The finished artwork was vibrant and imaginative, showcasing their creativity and growing confidence with watercolour.

EYFS- Caterpillars & Butterflies

This week in EYFS, the children have been learning ‘doubles’ in maths.

Doubles mean “two lots of something”, having two groups of the exact same number and adding them together to find a total. We used our fingers to show doubles.

For example, Double 1 is 1 + 1 (makes 2); Double 2 is 2 + 2 (makes 4); Double 5 is 5 + 5 (makes 10). Why not practice this at home? How far can you go?

Year 1 - Cheetahs

This week in Maths, Year 1 have been using counters and cubes to help them partition numbers to 10. They have explored different ways to partition numbers using part-whole models, bar models and number lines. The children have worked hard to find as many different ways as possible to partition each number and explain their thinking. Well done, Year 1!

Year 2 - Lions

This term, our Year 2 pupils have worked incredibly hard to prepare for their class performance, and we are so proud of them. The performance was a wonderful opportunity for the children to showcase their confidence, creativity and teamwork. Every pupil played an important part, and it was fantastic to see how much they supported one another.

Thank you to our parents and carers for your continued support in helping the children practise and encouraging them to do their very best.

Year 2 were also lucky to take part in a special cricket training session led by coaches from The Oval. The children learned valuable skills such as teamwork, focus and technique, while building their confidence and love of the game. We are very grateful to the coaches for sharing their expertise.

Well done, Year 2 — we are very proud of you! Enjoy your half-term break!

Year 3 - Eagles

Eagle Class had a lovely time on our trip to Pizza Express, where they made their own margherita pizzas. They washed their hands, put on aprons and chef hats, added mozzarella to their bases, and watched as the pizzas were cooked in the oven. They practised listening carefully, following instructions, working safely and hygienically, and taking turns. Eagle Class worked hard and were extremely proud of their delicious pizzas. Everyone had a fantastic time learning together!

Year 4 - Leopards

Year 4 Pedal to Success with Bikeability!

Year 4 had a fantastic time taking part in their Bikeability training. The children learned essential bicycle safety skills, including how to check their bikes are roadworthy, signal clearly, position themselves safely on the road, and ride with confidence and awareness. They showed great focus, responsibility, and enthusiasm throughout. Well done, Year 4, for developing such important life skills — we are very proud of you!

Year 5 - Ravens

Year 5 have had a productive and creative week, as the half term drew to a close. We completed our recyclable theatre set designs and children created dramatic scenes based on simple sentences they were given. It was great to see how children thought on their feet and let their creative sides take over.

We also took part in Safer Internet Day and a live lesson from BBC. Here they explained how important it is to be able to use AI in a responsible way and our children designed their own responsible AI engines.

Have a great half term!

Year 6- Tigers

Year 6 have worked incredibly hard this term, developing and refining their SATs strategies across reading, maths and SPaG. Their focus, determination and growing confidence have been wonderful to see.

During Children’s Mental Health Week, we also made time to rest and reset — recognising that looking after our wellbeing is just as important as academic success. We are all very proud of the mature and positive way the Year 6 class continue to approach both their learning and their wellbeing.

#WakeUpWednesday

The 'WakeUpWednesday' guides empower and equip parents, carers and educators with the confidence and practical skills to be able to have informed and age-appropriate conversations with children about online safety, mental health and well-being, and climate change.

Each week we will post a relevant guide to support our school community's knowledge and understanding of how to keep safe online and new things to be aware of.

This week's online safety/wellbeing focus is ''Mental Health Misinformation Online". Please click on the PDF to enlarge it.

Archived #WakeUpWednesday guides

what-parents-educators-need-to-know-about-mental-health-misinformation-online.pdf

Weekly Awards

Rights Respecting Award

A big congratulations to this week’s Rights Respecting Award winners!

Your kindness, sense of fairness, and respect for others shine through in everything you do. Thanks to your actions, our school continues to be a safe and welcoming place for all. Keep leading by example — we’re incredibly proud of you!

Right Respecting Award Recipients 13.2.26

Going for Gold Champion

Let’s give a huge cheer for this week’s ‘Going for Gold’ superstars!

Our Wall of Fame is glowing brighter each week, thanks to the incredible efforts of our pupils! We’re thrilled to celebrate those who’ve reached Gold, your children are doing a fantastic job, and we couldn’t be prouder. Let’s keep cheering them on as they continue to shine!

Going for Gold Champions - 13.2.26

Most Valuable Players - 24.10.25

Most Valuable Players - 13.2.26

Times Table Triumphs!

Our Times Table Rock Stars have wowed us this week with their fantastic progress! A huge round of applause to our Most Valuable Players (MVPs), your children’s dedication and determination are truly shining through. Let’s keep supporting them as they practise, grow in confidence, and continue to rock those times tables!

Remember to encourage your child to practice every day for at least 5 minutes.

TIMESTABLES ROCKSTARS

Attendance & Punctuality

Whole School Target 95% 🎯🥳

This week's punctuality award goes to 🥁🥁 ... Lions (Year 4) 🥳

Attendance & Punctuality matters.

I'm delighted to share that our attendance is improving – thank you for your commitment to getting your children to school every day. Every school day is a great day, and we know that good attendance is crucial for your child's learning, wellbeing and future success.

However, we do need your help with punctuality. Too many children are arriving late, which means they're missing important learning at the start of the day and can feel unsettled when joining lessons already in progress.

From next term, we're asking all families to:

Aim to arrive at school by 8.50am so children are ready to start learning at 9.00am
Set alarms or reminders to help with morning routines
Plan ahead the night before – lay out uniforms, pack bags, and prepare packed lunches
We're here to help!
If you're finding mornings difficult, please speak to us. We're here to help and can offer practical support and strategies to make mornings smoother.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility!

Your child's safety is our priority. If you have any concerns about a child's wellbeing, please contact our safeguarding team via the school office : office@vauxhallprimary.org.uk

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL):

Miss Bennett

Deputy DSLs:

Mrs Henry,
Mrs Coombs
Ms Darteh

Key information and resources:

📋 Our Child Protection Policy: Click here

💻 Online safety curriculum: View our SMART online safety overview

If you need support or have concerns outside school hours:

NSPCC: 0808 800 5000
Childline: 0800 1111

Dates for the Diary

🏫Back to School - Monday 23rd February 2026

📚World Book Day- Thursday 5th March 2026

☪️Iftar Event - Friday 6th March 2026

🚌EYFS Trip - Wednesday 18th March 2026

💬Parent/carer evening - Thursday 19th March 2026

❌INSET DAY- School Closed - Friday 20th March 2026

Oval Learning supports as many people as they can within their school communities including children, young people, parents and carers. Click here to find out more and for low cost no cost family activities this weekend

Article 31 (leisure, play and culture) Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

2025 / 26 -Term Dates

Contact Us

Vauxhall Primary School, Vauxhall Street , London, SE11 5LG

Call us: 020 7735 4535

Email us: office@vauxhallprimary.org.uk

Website: https://www.vauxhallprimary.org.uk/

Any queries should be directed to the School Administrator

Any queries related to SEND please contact Mrs Coombs, school SENCO.

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