St John Vianney R.C. School Newsletter 08.12.23

Headteacher's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

I do hope you and your families are keeping well and that you have had another good week.

This week we have started our work in preparing for the birth of Jesus; our Advent preparation. On Wednesday we had our start of Advent services led by Fr Nick in the Chapel, which the pupils participated in wonderfully.

The last week of term is almost upon us and we are preparing events and activities for all our children to enter into the spirit of fun, which Christmas always brings. On the final week of term we have planned Christmas trips, our Christmas Mass and Dinner 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.

Today we had our Christmas Coffee afternoon in the dining room, which was hosted by Ms Nesbitt and the KS4 BTEC Hospitality group. It was great to welcome so many parents and friends of school into the event and seeing the hard work the children and staff put into making the event really special. Thank you so much to the parents and carers who attended in support of today’s event; it was lovely to see you in school.

Our pupil interim reports are now completed and these will be sent out next 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.

Mr A Moloney

Dates For Your Diary

• Friday 22nd Dec @ 1:30pm - 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 - Shawn - For excellent work during his SALT sessions.
• Class 2 - Zackariya - For being a good friend to his peers.
• Class 3 - Ezra - For excellent Maths and English work.
• Class 4 - K-Leum - For better engagement in lessons.
• Class 5 - Riley - For a positive attitude and improvement in his work.
• Class 6 - Ishaaq - For brilliant English work.
• Class 7 - Charlie - For being a role model on school trips and scoring a wonderful goal in the tournament.
• Class 8 - Justin - For having an amazing week and interacting brilliantly with peers.
• Class 9 - Leah - For her effort and making a big improvement.
• Class 10 - Munir - For great regulation and a mature attitude.
• Class 11 - Reece - For trying really hard in Maths, including spending his own time completing worksheets.
• Class 12 - Curtis - For trying hard to make the right choices and for great voluntary work in the local community.
• Class 13 - Ben - For a much happier and settled week.

Employees of the Week

Congratulations to Eleanor Blackwell and Blanche Ratcliffe!

Eleanor Blackwell is a great support in Class 1 on Friday afternoons and fantastic in supporting the office team. Blanche Ratcliffe is super resilient in her approaches to supporting Class 10. She is always flexible and prepared to put herself out for the benefit of the children.

Introducing....

Miss Harris

• What is your role in school? I'm a dinner Lady.
• What have you been doing this week? We've been very busy in the kitchen this week preparing and cooking dinner for the children and staff.
• What is the best thing about being in SJV? I really enjoy working at SJV because I love my job and I love seeing and talking to the children. I work in a great team.
• How could SJV be even better? I don't think SJV could be any better. All the staff and children are treated very well, it's a privilege to be a part of the SJV family.
• What are your hopes and dreams for the future? I wish I could win the lottery and I would share my winnings with my colleague Jazz!!

Justin

• What have you been doing this week? I have been developing work skills. I have also been working in the office for work experience.
• What is the best thing about being in SJV? The best thing about being in SJV is helping people, the teachers are understanding.
• How could SJV be even better? SJV could be better if everyone was nice and kind.
• What are your hopes and dreams for the future? My hopes and dreams for the future are to get good grades and my future job is to be a chef.

Highlights Gallery

Our Catholic School

I really love this time of the year, I love the whole season of getting ready and preparing for Christmas and Jesus' Birth and the eventual second coming of Jesus.

Our prayer focus this week is from Pope Francis:

'Dear Parents, teach your children to pray. Pray with them. Prayer will strengthen their lives’

Our Chaplaincy team helped to support and deliver our Advent launch and our reconciliation services. It was wonderful to get their input at our Chaplaincy retreat last week, as student led liturgy is so important to us at SJV.

In RE lessons this week we have been looking at the season of Advent, we have been looking at the symbolism behind the Advent wreath and what each candle means. We have also been making four promises to do during Advent, to be extra kind and to spread hope, joy, love and peace.

This week's Wednesday Word is 'Hope'.

Mrs Garfin

Poetry Corner

Shall I Compare Thee To An SJV Day!

This year marks the 400-year anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare's 'The First Folio' (all his plays being put into one huge book) and this week at SJV we have been celebrating all things Shakespeare in our English lessons. Miss Graham has been teaching his play 'The Tempest' and inspiring our pupils to write their own love sonnets, which is a rhyming 14-line poem and a difficult skill to master. All our pupils did so well, here is the beginning of a Sonnet by one of our pupils in Class 7, excited to share more poems next week. Thanks for the inspiration William! Love and festive cheer are in the air at SJV.

Useful Information

Christmas can be a tricky time for neurodivergent children and children with SEND. This could be the case if your child is autistic or has ADHD or a sensory processing disorder, or if your child experiences anxiety or anxious feelings.

How can I help my child with special educational needs cope over Christmas?

Mrs Griffin