St John Vianney School Newsletter 12.09.2025

Headteacher's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you and your families are keeping well?

The second week of term has been a good week in school with pupils contributing well to their lessons and during unstructured times. Many have shown themselves to be excellent role models to other children displaying cooperation, diligence and enthusiasm during the first 2 weeks. This certainly bodes well for the school year. I would particularly like to single out the new pupils who have just joined us, who have made some very impressive contributions to school life and appear really happy in their new setting. Thank you for the support you have provided for your child during the first 2 weeks of term; it has been really appreciated and has certainly helped pupils settle quickly.

A reminder please that we have a number of events coming up that we would like you to be involved in with us. On Friday 26th September we invite you to join us for a Coffee afternoon in the dining room from 1.30pm. We will be selling refreshments in aid of MacMillan Cancer support. It would be lovely to see you in support our first fundraising activity of the school year, for a very worthy cause.

On Thursday October 2nd we have arranged our annual ‘Welcome Evening’ for parents and carers. The evening will provide an opportunity to welcome parents into school to see how the first month has gone and meet the staff who will be working with your child this year.

The evening will start at 5pm, with a welcome from the Senior Leadership Team and then Mrs Griffin, our Family Liaison Officer, will provide parents with an opportunity to learn about how they can support their children, to get the best of their time at SJV.

Class Teachers will then welcome you into your child’s classroom to meet the class team and learn about what we have planned for them, in terms of their learning and events at School for this academic year. From 6pm we will meet informally over refreshments with staff and all parents in the dining room, to answer any other questions you may have.

Please make every attempt to attend; we want to ensure our liaison with you keeps you informed about your child’s progress in SJV and we want to have positive and lasting relationships with every parent/carer. The Welcome Evening will provide that opportunity for us all. The Admin team will be calling you, by phone, to confirm your attendance at some point in the next 2 weeks.

We continue to encourage you to let us know if there is anything we can support you with in relation to your child. If you have any worries please contact the Admin Team in the first instance and they will direct you to the right member of the staff team to support your concern.

Best wishes,

Mr Moloney, Headteacher

Key information and Dates for your Diary

Dates for your Diary

• Fri 26th September @ 1:30pm - Coffee Afternoon supporting Macmillan Charity.
• Thu 2nd October @ 5:00 - 6:30pm - Welcome Evening in School for all parents.
• Tue 14th Oct 2025 @ 9:00 - 10:50am - College Morning for Key Stage 4 & 5.
• Wed 15th Oct @ 1:45 - 2:30pm - Open Afternoon for prospective parents to attend.
• Fri 17th Oct @ 3:15pm - School closes for Half Term Break.
• Mon 3rd November @ 9:00am - School Reopens after the half term break.
• Tue 11th Nov @ 9:15 - 10:00am - Open Morning for prospective parents to attend.

Key Info

Allergies

Please be aware that we have a number of pupils in school with severe nut allergies. To reduce the risk of exposure for these young people, we aim to keep the school nut free. In order to support us with this we kindly ask that you:

• Do not give children nuts or nut products in their packed lunches.
• Do not give nuts, nut products or snacks/bars containing nuts for break time snacks.
• Do not send cakes or food items, containing nuts, in to school for birthday celebrations, cake sales or events.

Thank you for your support.

Lunches

Week commencing 15th September 2025:

Stars of The Week

• Class 1 - Nicholas - For a brilliant start to his SJV life.
• Class 2 - Noah - For settling in well and working well in lessons.
• Class 3 - Kymarni - For showing emotional maturity and settling in well in his new class.
• Class 4 - Victoria - For a great start to the week and doing well with change.
• Class 5 - Harry - For having an excellent first week and working well in DofE
• Class 6 - Khalil - For a great first week in his new class.
• Class 7 - James - For settling in really well into his new class and showing increased maturity and effort.
• Class 8 - Chael - For making a great start to the new term and displaying great manners and effort in class.
• Class 9 - Will - For being an 'always' pupil in Class 9.
• Class 10 - Mikail - For returning to school with a fantastic attitude to learning and exceptional Maths work.
• Class 11 - Harley - For having a great week, being fully engaged and being a good role model to his peers.
• Class 12 - Daniel - For being very helpful and mature in Post 16.
• Class 13 - Heaven - For having a brilliant first week in Post 16.
• Class 14 - Megan - For settling in really well and making conscious efforts.

Employee of The Week

Highlights of the Week

Our Catholic School

Our spiritual focus in SJV this week is in God's message:

"Cast your cares upon God; for you are his and he will not forget you."

-St John of the Cross

It has been wonderful to see how quickly our CYP have settled into their routines at SJV and eased back into school life. They have adjusted well and our new students have made an excellent start.

In our Catholic school, we celebrated our first staff and voluntary student Mass supported by the Chaplaincy Team. It was a blessing to begin the new term with God's guidance.

During our staff twilight session on Tuesday evening, we focused on our Catholic mission, exploring how we can best support our students, share God's light with them and continue to live out our Catholic values.

In R.E. lessons, the younger Key Stages have been engaging with our new RE Directory inspired curriculum, which has been very well received. Meanwhile, our older students have been exploring their own beliefs and life's big questions, leading to some excellent debates and thoughtful discussions.

Mrs Garfin

Poetry Corner

This week in Poetry News we are sharing a performance by our poet in residence Oliver Lomax. Oliver is an Ambassador and Judge for 'Poetry By Heart', a competition focussed on improving oracy within young people and aims to foster a deeper connection to poetry through performance. St John Vianney were Grand Prize Winners themselves three years ago! This offered our pupils the opportunity to attend celebrations in London and to perform their chosen poems at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Please watch the video below to see Oliver sharing his poem live at The Globe inspired by teaching in a SEND provision, we think this poem captures the amazing uniqueness of the children we are blessed to work with every day.

Oliver Lomax

Useful Information

The Museum of Transport Greater Manchester has free Heritage Open Days later in September on Saturday 13th / Sunday 14th and Saturday 20th / Sunday 21st. This includes free heritage buses (not wheelchair accessible) between Shudehill Interchange and the site on Boyle Street, Cheetham, Manchester M8 8UW, and to and from the Science and Industry Museum and People’s History Museum. Find out more and discover other Heritage Open Days around Manchester.

Supporting the wellbeing of children has never been more critical than it is right now. All custodians of a child, from parents, to teachers, governments and policy makers are more focused than ever on ensuring that children are protected from online harms.

The wellbeing outcomes of children are heavily influenced by their digital experiences. A child’s online activity, including what they view, who they interact with, and what they share can contribute to a deeply positive outcome, or pose a worrying threat to their wellbeing.

Developed by a team of world-renowned Online Safety Experts, the Hub is designed to engage and align the community on online safety and wellness by providing up-to-date and evidence-based information to all key stakeholders of a child’s life.

Parents will find a rich library of helpful resources, including app reviews, how-to guides and advice on an array of online safety topics.

Click here to visit our Online Safety Hub for more useful tips and advice.

- Mrs J Griffin, Family Liaison Officer, Deputy Safeguarding Lead.

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