St John Vianney School Newsletter 08.11.2024

Headteacher's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

I do hope you and your families have had a pleasant half term break from School. The pupils have returned to school positively this week and re-engaged with our learning activities and school expectations. They have certainly settled well this week, which bodes well for the forthcoming, 7 week half term before Christmas.

The build up to Christmas and Advent particularly, is a lovely time in school and we have many planned events, trips and experiences prepared which I know the pupils will really look forward to. We are planning some informal coffee mornings in the next few weeks, which will be a great opportunity to welcome you into school. We are also busy preparing the first interim report, where we will share the progress made by your child since September. This will be sent home in early December.

We have noticed a dip in our pupil attendance over the last few weeks, which is really disappointing, as in the first 7 weeks of term our attendance was the best it had been in the last few years. Can I ask please ask that you do not plan holidays during term time and additionally, you do all you can to send your child into school each day? The onset of the winter season will bring with it a range of illnesses, where children and staff will need genuine time away from school. Sniffles and tiredness however, are not excuses for absence; please send your children into school each day, if they are well enough to attend. Thank you for your support in this matter.

Can I remind you please about the proposed move into the new build in April 2025. We have now been given a provisional date for the handover of the new build to the school, which will be during the Easter Holidays, 14th April 2025.

We will need to plan with the builders, Kier Construction, on how we will manage this move and it is highly likely that 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. We are writing to inform parents of these dates, which I will confirm officially with you at the start of the spring term, in January 2025. If you have any concerns with these plans please do let us know.

Additionally, if there is anything we can offer to support you or your families with, throughout the winter period, do please contact the Admin team in the first instance.

Best wishes for the weekend,

Mr A Moloney, Headteacher

Key information and Dates

Dates for your Diary

• Tue 26th Nov @ 9:30-10:50am - College Morning for Key Stage 4 & 5 parents/carers.
• Fri 29th Nov - INSET Day - No pupils in school.
• Fri 20th Dec @ 3:15pm - School closes for the Christmas Break.

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 11th November 2024:

College Morning - Reminder to Key Stage 4 and 5 parents.

We will be holding our College Morning on Tuesday 26th November. This is an ideal time for parents to meet the colleges, discuss preferred options for your child and submit applications to prospective colleges.

• Parents of July 2025 leavers: This will be your final opportunity to collectively look at college offers before you are required to submit your child’s college application form.
• Parents of July 2026 leavers: This is an ideal time to start making enquiries and gain insights as to what the different colleges are able to offer, and best meet your child’s needs. You will then be in a strong position to articulate this to your local authority at their final EHCP annual review, along with school, in Autumn 2025.

Plan for the morning

A letter was handed out to pupils on 18th October. Please can you return the reply slip, confirming your attendance, if you have not done so already.

Yours sincerely, Mr Harris and Mr Cooper.

Stars Of The Week

• Class 1 - Aidan - For a great music session with OMF.
• Class 2 - Kymarni - For making a big effort with his regulation and following staff instructions.
• Class 3 - George - For volunteering to read the class text and deliver our class prayers.
• Class 4 - Isabelle - For great work in English, working on her reading and spelling.
• Class 5 - Joe - For attending all lessons, all work completed and being a good friend.
• Class 6 - James - For excellent work in Science lessons.
• Class 7 - K-Leum - For showing maturity when dealing with conflict.
• Class 8 - Sean - For his participation in class and his presentation of his picture news.
• Class 9 - Harley - For being very helpful with peers and staff in class.
• Class 10 - Justin - For much improved behaviour and a fantastic attitude.
• Class 11 - Arshvin - For working very hard on his communication and working independently in Maths and English.
• Class 12 - Laura - For starting to speak to her friends and staff more.
• Class 13 - Renee - For a very good week and being very involved at the class retreat.

Employee Of The Week.

Congratulations Mrs Garfin!!

Highlights of the Week

Our Catholic School

This week our prayer focus is:

'Be brave. Let us learn to face moments of difficulty with courage, certain that the Lord never fails to give His support.'

- Pope Francis

It is good to be back after the half term break, we are all relaxed, refreshed and looking forward to the term ahead. Within our Catholic School we are remembering and celebrating November as the Month of the Holy Souls and All Saints. If you have anyone who has sadly passed away, and you would like us to remember them in our prayers, please send their names into school and we will add them to our pious list. Father Nick will be praying for all our Holy Souls every day throughout November.

We are all preparing for our memorial day service on Monday 11th November, by creating class wreaths and prayers in our 'Faith in Action' lessons.

Within RE this week, we continue to look at November being the month of remembrance, focusing on patron saints and what it means to be a saint.

This week's Wednesday word is 'Gift'

Mrs Garfin

Poetry Corner

‘This is my story both humble and true, take it to pieces and mend it with glue.’

-John Lennon

This week saw whole school poetry interventions taking place at SJV, with students interacting with a 1957 archive letter by our founders Mr. and Mrs. Power. This is such a powerful and moving document, as it petitioned for the very first St John Vianney School to be built, offering provision for their daughter Veronica. The workshop was an exercise in ‘collage poetry’ that embraced and celebrated the Powers’ legacy, but also gave birth to new writing and poetry. Over 60 amazing poems were written yesterday, and it was wonderful to see our pupils engaging with and interpreting our history in such a unique way.

Oliver Lomax

Useful Information

Swiggle.org.uk Child Friendly Search Engine

Worried about what your children may stumble across when searching online? Even the most attentive parent can’t always be looking over their child’s shoulder 24/7, checking if what they’re viewing is appropriate. Swiggle.org.uk is an ad-free child friendly search engine from the Online Safety experts at SWGfL.

Good practice starts young and encouraging healthy attitudes and behaviours from your child as part of their online life is best when it involves you. After all, wouldn’t you want to be the first person your child goes to when they find online content that makes them feel upset, embarrassed or frightened? Swiggle has been designed to support young children when searching for images or content online. Generic search engines can throw up a host of difficulties and embarrassing incidents when children stumble across inappropriate content (either accidentally or deliberately). Even with “safer searching” filters switched on, image searches can often return thumbnails to content that is wholly inappropriate yet in full view.

Swiggle is built on Google Safe Search technology but has a number of active features that encourage children to respond to and report inappropriate online content they find, rather than “Whoops! Let’s move on!” Children are encouraged to report content they think should not be part of Swiggle, or should be blocked on your network. We even provide our “Swigglebot Screen Cover” to encourage seeking out help from a parent or carer. Active participation in managing online content.

Features Include:

• Customised Google Safe Search technology
• Active blocking of inappropriate search strings
• Active help from our Swigglebot
• Screen-cover widget that can be installed in the browser bar for all online browsing
• Easy to access reporting page for children and adults
• Clear and accessible design

It’s a safer sandpit to develop responsible skills before progressing on to more open and transparent online search engines like Google or Bing. It’s a great start in encouraging responsible online searching. After all, the best way to keep children safe and happy online is for them to have a safe and happy attitude. A better internet starts with you and them. Click on the link to try it now https://swiggle.org.uk/

Citizen's Advice

As the weather cools, it’s time to think about keeping your home warm and managing energy costs. Citizen's Advice can offer practical tips to help you stay comfortable and save money. If you’re struggling with payments, Citizen's Advice can advise you on what to do. Click on the link to find more advice on how to keep warm this winter and how to save energy and money: Citizen's Advice

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