St John Vianney School Newsletter 31.01.2025

Assistant Headteacher's Message

Mr G Damant

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you are having a great week. We are now 4 weeks into the spring term and it has been lovely to see most of our pupils settled well in school again this week. Attendance has been good since the start of January, at 92.3%. Please continue to support the school and your young person’s education, ensuring our pupils are in school every day and ready to learn.

The Holy Father, Pope Francis has decided that 2025 will be a year of Jubilee, something which happens every 25 years. The theme is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, and is a year of Hope for a world suffering the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a climate crisis. Last Friday, Fr Nick led an inspiring service, where we brought the whole school together to reflect on these issues, on our own impact and to pray for a brighter future.

Assemblies this week have been led by Miss Wilkinson on the theme of Holocaust Remembrance. 27th January this year was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. We have been reflecting on Dignity and Human Rights, challenging our young people to reflect on how we treat each other in school and how we can make school an even better place!

Our Post 16 pupils have been sitting their English Functional Skills exams this week and will be completing their Maths exams next week. We are aware that examinations are a stressful time in the life of any young person, please continue to provide emotional support at home and let school know if you have any concerns. That being said, I have been extremely impressed with the mature attitude pupils have shown this week, keep it up!

We have now been given a firm date for the handover of the new build to the school (which is progressing well). The handover will be during the Easter Holidays, on 11th April 2025. We are planning with the builders, Kier Construction, on how we will manage this move and we will need the days after the published Easter break, (which is Friday 4th April to Monday 21st April), to manage the move. That will mean that all pupils will not be able to return to school after the Easter break until Monday 28th April 2025. If you have any concerns with these plans please do let us know.

I do hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Mr G Damant, Assistant Headteacher

Key information and Dates for your Diary

Dates for your Diary

  • Fri 7th Feb @ 1:45-2:45pm - Valentine's Afternoon Tea and Social
  • Thu 13th Feb @ 3:15pm - School finishes for the half term.
  • Fri 14th Feb - All Day - Staff INSET Day. School closed for pupils.
  • Mon 24th Feb @ 9:00am - School re-opens after the half term.

Residential Trips

  • Thu 9th May overnight - Class 1 - Children's Adventure Farm Trust.
  • Mon 17th Mar - Wed 19th Mar - KS3 - Classes 3, 4 & 6 - Bendrigg Trust.
  • Wed 19th Mar - Fri 21st Mar - KS3 - Classes 2 & 5 - Bendrigg Trust.
  • Mon 28th Apr - 2nd May - KS4 - Classes 7, 8, 9 & 10 - Calvert Trust.
  • Wed 26th Mar - Fri 28th Mar - KS5 - Classes 11, 12 & 13 - PGL.

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 3rd February 2025:

Zones of Regulation Parent Course

Our new online course for Parents and Carers is now available. The online course will run over ten weeks and each short module will be sent out every Friday via email, it can also be accessed via our website: Training for parents & carers. This course will introduce to you the ten concepts of the Zones of Regulation. The aim is to encourage the consistent use of language at school and at home to help regulate your child/young person's emotions and behaviours. I will set activities for you to do at home and introduce some strategies for you to use. If you would like some more information about this course, please contact the school office. This week is Part 4 of the 10 week course; we hope you enjoy learning with your child!

- Miss M Rodgers, Assistant Headteacher

Valentine Social at school on Fri 7th Feb @ 1:45pm until 2:45pm. We hope to see you there!

Stars Of The Week

  • Class 1 - Abdul - For a much more settled week and for using his words.
  • Class 2 - Bradley - For making a big effort with his behaviour and trying hard in lessons.
  • Class 3 - Zackariya - For being a positive role model and volunteering in class including reading poetry and tidying up.
  • Class 4 - Isabelle - For working hard on her speech and playing the narrator role in drama.
  • Class 5 - Ayla - For learning to ride a bike and not giving up.
  • Class 6 - Matilda - For being an always pupil.
  • Class 7 - Rodger - For fantastic attitude to work this week and communicating really well with staff.
  • Class 8 - Aiden - For trying really hard this week to do the best he can, producing amazing work and giving lots of answers.
  • Class 9 - Cormac - For good attendance and participation.
  • Class 10 - Alfie - For representing SJV brilliantly, and giving fantastic input into our inspection this week.
  • Class 11 - Evie - For being extra helpful all week.
  • Class 12 - Megan - For being kind and a good friend to others and showing independence in all she does.
  • Class 13 - Isaac - For being very helpful and hard working.

Employees Of The Week.

Congratulations Mr Donovan and Miss Nesbitt !!

Our Employees of the Week this week are Mr Donovan and Ms Nesbitt for leading and planning for the NAS review so well and in their own style.

Highlights of the Week

On Thursday Morning pupils in KS4 and Post 16 took part in a career's morning. The purpose of the morning was to learn about jobs in different industries and to develop an understanding of what these jobs involve. The pupils learnt about three different industries (Education, I.T. Support and Hospitalities) and heard from presenters from Kier Construction and The Holiday Inn. The Pupils asked some interesting questions and engaged in the sessions really well.

Our Catholic School

Our prayer focus this week:

'Jesus was sent to bring the Good News, to enter the heart of each one of us'.

- Pope Francis

Within our Catholic school this week we promoted and supported Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD); the international day on 27 January. HMD 2025 will be a particularly significant year as it marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and 30 years since the genocide in Bosnia. It is a challenge to look at this day, but that is part of our ethos and mission, to look at what happens when things are unchallenged. The students responded well and it is important to mark, especially considering that two thirds of millennials had not heard of the Holocaust, according to a recent survey.

During our Chaplaincy and RE time we discussed Lent and the Jubilee message, brainstorming fundraising ideas for CAFOD and ways in which we can help and support our local community.

Mrs Garfin

Poetry Corner

This week in poetry corner we celebrate SJV entering the Guinness Book of World Records! On National Poetry Day last year, we took part in the largest ever schools poetry workshop. Over 125,000 pupils attended nationwide (including 60 of our young poets) helping contribute to the largest group poem ever created! The workshop was led by poet Laura Mucha who said: ‘Tens of thousands of young people have come together to achieve something exceptional, and create a poem that both gives them a voice and encourages others to stop and think about what really matters. Huge congratulations to all our SJV record-breaking poets! You can hear and read the amazing poem created by following the link: What Do You Think Counts? - The Children’s Poetry Archive

Oliver Lomax

Useful Information

Safeguarding

Internet Matters provide advice on a range of online safety issues that your child may face to help them enjoy the digital world safely and smartly. They have created a number of internet safety advice hubs to help you learn more and find support regarding online risks, click on the link to view these hubs: https://www.internetmatters.org/

Celebrate Chinese New Year in Manchester as the city welcomes the Year of The Snake. Taking place over Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd February, it features the famous red lanterns, live performances, stalls and funfair, plus the legendary Dragon Parade. To find out more click on the following link: Visit Manchester.

- 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

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

Created By
Lorna Hamilton

Credits:

Created with images by Thanakorn - "Blue" • vectorfusionart - "Composite image of words exam" • Alva Steury - "Tacks On Calendar Page/ 29th" • Krtola - "Flying sparkling stars on a transparent background" • Romolo Tavani - "Shiny Blue Glitter In Abstract Defocused Background - Christmas And New Year Texture " • Somi Danita - "A dark interior space with a wooden floor reflecting the colorful light from a stained glass window" • New Africa - "International Holocaust Remembrance Day January 27. Burning candle on black background" • Md. Din islam - "Mystical Feather and Open Book, Magic of Imagination and Storytelling" • PimPhoto - "Abstract blue blurry unfocused sparkle glitter blue bokeh background wallpaper with copy space. Blue Christmas glitter design background." • jianhua - "Chinese new year 2025. A snake with a traditional red Oriental lantern"