St John Vianney School Newsletter 19.04.2024

Headteacher's Message

Dear Parent and Carers,

I do hope you had a good Easter break and managed to spend some time celebrating with your families?

School reopened on Monday and we have had a very good first week of term. Our pupils have quickly returned to their school routines and attendance this week has been very positive. We have certainly benefitted from some slightly improved weather, which has helped settle everyone back into the expectations we place on our pupils, each day, in School.

Some excellent progress has been made with the new build project and the team have completed much of the groundwork needed. This week they have started to set in place the steel foundations, which have gone up really quickly. The site is a hive of activity, with more builders present and the children have been excited to watch the steel sections moved into place by the huge cranes they are using. The building work clearly impacts our work in school on a day to day basis, but the pupils have done really well in dealing with increased noise and dust and in having less space on site to what we are used to. I am confident we will continue to make the best of the current situation, whilst the building work continues.

Pupil attendance last term was very positive and frequently above the 92% mark. Nationally attendance for special schools is at 87%! It was fantastic to see so many pupils rewarded for their attendance at the end of the spring term, with many pupils making significant improvements in their attendance from term 1 to term 2. Attendance to school is excellent at SJV and is a real reflection that our pupils enjoy attending and are well catered for at school. Could I ask please, that you continue to help us by ensuring all pupils are present every day, unless they are genuinely poorly? Having teenage children of my own I know the excuses some young people use to avoid getting out of bed; so please continue to insist on your child attending school each morning. If they are not in School they are not learning and they could quickly fall behind their peers; it is essential if they are to maximise the progress they can make in these important developmental years that their attendance is maximised. Thanks in anticipation of your support.

The summer term will be another busy one in School. We have lots of activities planned for the children to enrich their learning and additionally we will begin our planning for the next academic year. As always we will keep you informed of all developments!

I hope you and your families enjoy the weekend.

Best wishes,

Mr A Moloney

Dates For Your Diary

• Wed 24th April - Friday 26th April - Post 16 PGL Boreaton Residential
• Mon 29th April - Friday 3rd May - KS4 Calvert Trust Residential
• Mon 6th May - School Closed for Bank Holiday

Stars of the Week

Congratulations to our Stars of the Week!

• Class 1 - Hassan - For being supportive and helping his friends at Playfactore.
• Class 2 - Zackariya - For being confident when bag collecting in Morrisons and speaking to the public confidently.
• Class 3 - Jenna - For trying hard in lessons.
• Class 4 - Kayden - For working consistently and making good choices.
• Class 5 - Maisy - For being a supportive friend.
• Class 6 - Sean - For a postive attitude during CAFOD fundraising.
• Class 7 - Isabella - For kindness to her friends and fundraising for Cafod.
• Class 8 - Kenzie - For having an amazing week and managing her emotions really well.
• Class 9 - Sadie - For being a great team player in all aspects of school life.
• Class 10 - Bruno - For always being kind and supportive to his peers.
• Class 11 - Arshvin - For improved behaviour in class and around school.
• Class 12 - Allice - For presenting an amazing Maundy Thursday assembly to KS4 and KS5.
• Class 13 - Liz - For having a good last week in Post 16.

Employee of the Week

Congratulations to Mrs Garfin!

Highlights of the Week

Our Catholic School

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter, its lovely to be back. I cannot quite believe we are in the Summer Term! We have a lot to look forward to in SJV this term and we can't wait to share it all with you.

Our focus this week is Pope Francis’ message to continue to have faith in our beliefs;

‘Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand’.

- Pope Francis

In our Catholic school this week we are launching our new ‘Behaviour and reward system based on the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching, led by Miss Rodgers. We are very excited about this. See below for more information about this.

In RE this week, we have been looking at the key words for the upcoming term including discrimination, British Values, human rights, democracy, community, rule of law, respect, tolerance and individual liberty. We will also be assessing our own, as well as each other's knowledge on topics such as community cohesion, British Values, prayer and the environment.

-

This week's Wednesday Word is 'Good Shepherd Sunday'.

Mrs Garfin

Poetry Corner-Pupil Take Over!

This week Mr. Lomax has offered one of our amazing young poets the opportunity to become the SJV Poet in Residence and curate this section of our newsletter, sharing their thoughts about the importance of connecting with poetry, some of their beautiful work, and a writer that really inspires them. Here is what Leah in Class 9 had to say:

‘Poetry means a lot to me, it’s a sense of freedom and creativity, and it allows me to express my own emotions through my words. Poetry can change the world, because it helps other people connect with their emotions and gives people empathy.’

The below video is a recital of Leah's poem 'Nana and the Sea'

A poet I would like to share with you all is Raymond Antrobus, he really inspires because he is also a deaf poet, and he writes about this in his work. Here is a link to an article about his life and poetry, you can also listen to an interview with him on this website: Interview: Poet Raymond Antrobus, Author Of 'The Perseverance' : NPR

Oliver Lomax

New Reward Scheme

I am really excited to introduce a new rewards system based on values in school this week. This has been inspired by our Positive Noticing Day last November 2023, when we positively noticed the many good things that our school community can do.

The new rewards system is based on the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching (Dignity, Solidarity, The Common Good, The Option for the Poor, Peace, Creation and Environment, The Dignity of Work and Participation). We have made this values-based system SEND and child friendly and I have explained this to the pupils this week in assemblies – it has been well received.

Pupils will be given a luggage tag with the seven principles on, staff will highlight which one they have achieved the reward for and write on the back what they specifically noticed the pupil doing. The tags will be displayed in their classrooms for everyone to see. Thus, making our rewards system more meaningful and enhancing our Catholic Values in school.

The top ten pupils each term will be rewarded with a breakfast or lunch out. At the end of the academic year the top five achieving pupils, (those who have the most tags), will receive a £50 voucher! At the end of the year all pupils can bring the tags home to be celebrated and shared with their families.

This approach is based on relational behaviour management, which will positively engage our learners to be the very best version of themselves. If you have any questions please talk to your child or speak to Miss Rodgers.

Here is a short video from CAFOD about Catholic Social Teaching:

- Miss M Rodgers

Useful Information

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