St John Vianney School Newsletter 21.06.2024

Headteacher's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

I do hope you and your families are well?

We have had another busy week in School, with the highlight being the opportunity for 10 of our KS3 and 4 pupils to undertake their expedition element of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme at Wythenshawe Park on Thursday and Friday. The expedition has an overnight experience as a key part of the assessment and a range of physical activities to undertake too. The pupils have been planning and training for this all year. I am thrilled they have been excellent ambassadors of the school and really showed excellent resilience and cooperation on the trip. Well done to all pupils and thank you to the staff, Mr Freshwater and Miss Wilkinson, who have supported the pupils over the year and during the last 2 days. We are hoping they have all successfully passed the Bronze award.

Additionally this week we have had our KS4 pupils attend Greystones Adventure Sports to experience a range of activities we cannot do at school and a group of KS3 pupils who represented SJV at Middleton Cricket Club in their SEND competition. The children and young people represented the school really well and we have received excellent feedback on their contributions and attitudes.

We are also busy in welcoming into School the parents and carers of pupils who will join SJV in September 2024. The new children have started their transitions to SJV really well, as we have welcomed the first cohort into school this week. We hope these children and their parents have an excellent beginning to their journey with us.

Next Friday 28th June we will have our leavers’ service and celebration for the pupils who officially leave us at this time. It will be a sad occasion in many ways, but we will certainly celebrate the pupil achievements with them, before they leave.

There are now only four weeks left, before we break for the summer holidays, (Friday 19th July at 1.30pm; transport teams have been informed) and we are busy preparing for the end of the academic year and the start of the new one, which will begin on Tuesday 3rd September at 9.00am, for all our pupils. Monday 2nd September is an INSET day for our staff.

The collation of our annual reports is going well and we are undertaking our quality assurance process over the next 2 weeks. We are planning to send the report home to you in the week beginning 8th July. This, we hope, will give you time to read the reports and if required speak to the staff teams before the end of the academic year. It is certainly a busy time for us all in school and we appreciate, as always, the positive behaviour and engagement displayed by our pupils and the continued support of their parents and carers.

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend with your families,

Mr A Moloney, Headteacher

Key information and Dates

Dates:

• Tue 25th June at 9:30am until 10:50am - Key Stage 4 & 5 Careers Event.
• Wed 26th June - 'God's Creation' - Deep Learning Day.
• Fri 28th June - Leavers' Mass and Celebration.
• Thu 11th July - Anglesey Lifeboat Trip.
• Fri 12th July - Sports Afternoon at Longford Park.
• Mon 15th July - Class end of year trips.
• Wed 17th July @ 9:30am - End of Year Mass.
• Fri 19th July at 13:30 - School closes for the Summer Holidays.
• Mon 2nd Sept - INSET day- School is closed for pupils.
• Tue 3rd Sept @ 9:00am - School re-opens for the next academic year.

Stars of the Week

Congratulations to our Stars of the Week!

• Class 1 - Shawn - For a massive improvement in his behaviour this week.
• Class 2 - Zackariya - For his improvement in cricket and helping out at the farm.
• Class 3 - Adnan - For being helpful and kind to his friends.
• Class 4 - Mikail - For making good choices at D of E and supporting his friends well.
• Class 5 - Lee - For amazing, hard work in lessons.
• Class 6 - Aiden - For trying hard to listen in lessons.
• Class 7 - Charlie - For making better choices and showing maturity.
• Class 8 - Justin - For showing maturity and kindness to others when off site.
• Class 9 - Andrew - For having a good week and being an always pupil.
• Class 10 - Harley - For being an always pupil and his kindness and good attitude.
• Class 11 - Evie - For encouraging her friends to make the right choices.
• Class 12 - Katie - For working so hard planting herbs and sharing biscuits every Wednesday.
• Class 13 - Isaac - For all his hard work on his work experience placements.

Employee of the Week

Congratulations to Miss Edwards!

Miss Edwards is so proactive in thinking of engaging ideas to support our pupils. She has made such a positive impact on engagement and reduced anxiety. Well done Miss Edwards!

Highlights of the Week

Our Catholic School

Our spiritual focus in SJV this week reminds us to do our best for others and show how we are role models of the Kingdom:

‘The Kingdom of God is hidden within you; it is found in your own soul’

-St Isaac of Nineveh

Within our Catholic school we continue to celebrate with a weekly staff reflection and Mass to share God's love, comfort and support with one another.

Class 2 enjoyed their very first visit to the The Just Youth Centre for a Class retreat this week. These retreats are a great opportunity for pupils to reflect on their school journey at SJV, especially during their first year with us.

We are preparing for our leavers Mass, which is a bitter-sweet moment for us all as we say goodbye to our friends; it is approaching faster than we want it to!

In RE the students voted on the topics they most wanted to study, and chose 'world-wide religions'. So we have been looking at the many Gods that are worshipped in different religions; key stage 3 are looking at Hinduism, key stage 4 are looking at Islam and key stage 5 are looking at Sikhism. We are enjoying learning new things about the many Gods and Goddesses.

-

This week's Wednesday Word is "Calm''.

Mrs Garfin

Poetry Corner

This week at SJV we celebrated the arrival of our beautiful Poetry Anthology! 20 wonderful poems written by our talented young poets. Our pupils were so excited to see their work in print and hold a physical copy of the collection. We are all immensely proud of the poetry they have created. Here are some of the pupils featured in the anthology alongside our Head Teacher Mr. Moloney and Poet in Residence Mr. Lomax. Please keep your eyes on Poetry Corner over the next few weeks for some exiting news about our book launch and press release. All very exciting!

Oliver Lomax

Useful Information

Guidance for parents of neurodivergent gamers from 'Internet Matters'

Created with support from Roblox, these tips can help you keep your neurodivergent child safe as they play video games online. Click here to view the guide.

Supporting your child/young person with sensory processing.

As parents and carers of autistic children, young people and adults, it can be hard to find help when you’re trying to get the right support. Autism Central aims to make it easier to learn more about autism and services available to you.

They have launched a new podcast, bringing together autistic people, parents, carers and professionals to talk about different aspects of autism. In episode 1, series host Holly Sprake-Hill, a neurodivergent occupational therapist, discusses all things sensory processing with her colleague Denise Martin. We learn more about what sensory processing is and the differences that autistic people can experience. Click here to listen to the podcast.

To find out more about Autism Central's programme for parents and carers of autistic people, click here.

Click on the following link to open a directory of useful links and information about facilities, activities and support available to you and your young person: INFORMATION DIRECTORY