Assistant Headteacher's Message
Dear Parents and Carers,
I do hope you and your families are keeping well and looking forward to the Christmas holidays as we approach the end of a long and successful term.
During the second week of Advent, we have been focusing on the theme of Peace. Staff and pupils have been challenged with how they can bring Peace to the Saint John Vianney community. Pupils have reflected on the way they treat each other and how we can all work together to bring Peace to ourselves and the lives of others.
Next week is the last week of term and there are a wide range of events and activities planned for all our children to enter into the spirit of joy, which is the theme for the third week of Advent. We have planned Christmas trips on Monday, our Christmas Mass and Dinner on Wednesday and Thursday and Christmas parties for the last day of term. A reminder please that we break up for Christmas this year on Friday December 22nd at 1.30pm. The school will reopen to pupils on Monday 8th January.
On Wednesday, Mr Wood led a group of pupils in song at the Limelight hub in Trafford. The school choir performed a medley of Christmas carols that brought festive cheer to our local community. A few pupils performed impromptu solos and residents were moved to tears by the power of these performances. On Thursday, Miss Hunter led two classes on a Christmas celebration at the Children’s Adventure Farm Trust where they had a wonderful time. They watched Woody’s Wacky Magic show, toasted marshmallows and visited the animals. Santa visited whilst the pupils were having lunch and all received a gift bag. On Friday, we welcomed displaced people to SJV; they shared a meal and were supported by our school community.
Our interim pupil reports for the Autumn term were sent out earlier this week. We hope they will provide you with the opportunity to discuss the reports with your child and be able to discuss any concerns or worries you have identified in the report with the class teachers before the Christmas break. I do hope you have a great weekend and, as this is my last entry of 2023, a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
God Bless,
Mr G Damant
Dates For Your Diary
- Friday 22nd Dec - Christmas jumper day.
- Friday 22nd Dec @ 1:30pm - School closes early for the Christmas Break.
Stars of the Week
Congratulations to our Stars of the Week!
- Class 1 - Abdul - For showing confidendence in front of his peers.
- Class 2 - George - For improved behaviour whilst off-site.
- Class 3 - Ethan - For helping farmer Dot at the farm.
- Class 4 - James - For great independent work and improved self regulation.
- Class 5 - Bailey - For full effort in class and working hard on his social relationships.
- Class 6 - Kyan - For incredible maths work and staying focussed.
- Class 7 - Miya - For resilience in handling her anxiety.
- Class 8 - Kenzie - For communicating how she is feeling to staff and making excellent choices!
- Class 9 - Jake - For becoming an independent worker in Maths.
- Class 10 - Bruno - For some fantastic work this week.
- Class 11 - Joseph - For positive social interractions and increased independence during swimming.
- Class 12 - Amy - For being kind to others and trying hard with her work.
- Class 13 - Isaac - For making extra progress with his work.
Employees of the Week
Congratulations to Mr Lengden!
Alan is just consistently brilliant. He is an amazing support in class and has a fantastic relationship with the students. He is kind, patient and never stops. He's always positive and a joy to work with.
Attendance Awards
Congratulations to our Attendance Award winners who achieved 100% for the whole term! Well Done!
Next week we will be announcing the winners of our Attendance prize draw. Good luck to all those who have achieved 100% attendance in at least 1 week so far, you might win a £10 voucher!!
Introducing....
Mrs Dinsdale
- What is your role in school? Speech and Language Therapy Assistant.
- What have you been doing this week? I have had another fun packed busy week in school, with Lego therapy sessions, friendship/team building sessions, zones of regulation groups, AAC chat club, Blanks levels of questioning groups and speech sounds work. I have really enjoyed observing the pupils in Class 2 and 5 in particular, working together in teams to complete building challenges.
- What is the best thing about being in SJV? The amazing pupils, I have built lots of positive relationships with many of our pupils over the last (almost) 7 years in my role across school. The staff are so supportive and feel more like a family than work colleagues, there is always someone to cheer you up or tell you that you are doing a good job when it's needed.
- How could SJV be even better? SJV will be even better when the new build is finished, the pupils and staff will be very fortunate to learn and work in a brand new school.
- What are your hopes and dreams for the future? I am hoping to go back to university next year to complete a degree in Speech and Language Therapy, I would love to continue my career through SJV and one day run the SaLT department (maybe)!
Keenan
- What have you been doing this term? I went to the Maritime Museum. We focused on learning about the Titanic in English.
- What is the best thing about being in SJV? The community of people what makes life interesting in SJV.
- How could SJV be even better? If the new build came faster.
- What are your hopes and dreams for the future? Go to College, get a degree; I'm interested in Sports, Arts or be a Poet. You can read one of my poems below in the Poetry Corner.
Highlights Gallery
Thank you from Ghana
The Spiritan Senior High School in Ghana recently received some of the sportwear we sent after our recycling of sportwear initiative in the summer. We are thrilled the children and young people will make fantastic use of the kit we sent. It is amazing to see so many happy and proud faces; thank you for your donations.
Carols at The Limelight
Our Catholic School
This week in school, we have celebrated the second theme of Advent, 'Peace'. We looked at ways we can be peaceful with each other; using our indoor voices and thinking about our words and actions.
We had a wonderful event today; we had our version of ‘Come dine with me’. We hosted around 20 visitors, volunteers and displaced people from St Johns Centre. It was lovely to share a meal with them and talk about their experiences. Our Chaplaincy leaders were a great support.
In RE this week we have been looking at Advent and how it is celebrated around the world and the many traditions associated with it. We have learnt a lot!
This week's Wednesday Word will take us through until after Christmas:
- 13th Dec - Joy
- 20th Dev - Mary
- 27th Dec - Family
- 3rd Jan - Guidance
Mrs Garfin
Poetry Corner
Last week we sadly lost the great poet and educator Benjamin Zephaniah. His work was taught in schools and his poetry featured on the National Curriculum. Benjamin was a truly original voice and taught us that poetry is for everyone. What better way to celebrate his life than by taking inspiration and writing new work. Please enjoy this beautiful and powerful poem by Keenan, he is proud to be entering this piece into a national competition this week. Well done, Keenan! Amazing work.
Keep up to date with SJV on our website and on social media. Just click on the buttons below:
St John Vianney R.C. School. Rye Bank Rd, Firswood, Stretford. M16 0EX.
Tel: 0161 881 7843