St John Vianney School Newsletter 28.03.2025

Assistant Headteacher's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week has been another busy week at SJV with lots of activity taking place both in and out of the classroom. We are continuing to focus on our Lenten themes of prayer, fasting and almsgiving as we move closer to the Easter Holidays. Our new building is nearing completion and staff and pupils are helping to prepare for the move.

Pupils have been busy arranging different Charity events to raise money for CAFOD as part of our Lenten Charity Drive. In School each class has been challenged to create their own class fundraising drives and we have some fantastic ideas including raffles, guess the name of the teddy, a ‘loom band’ sale, a ‘mystery box’, an office or classroom hoovering service and a beat the keeper competition (Featuring Mr Damant in goal). Pupils have also taken part in providing a bag packing service at our local Morrisons supermarket with each class spending an hour at the supermarket to raise money for CAFOD.

Our Post 16 Pupils went on a residential trip to PGL this week and pupils have enjoyed taking part in a range of activities as well as developing their independence and resilience by taking themselves out of their comfort zone. Many thanks to Mr Kanakides for his organisation and leadership of the trip.

The week was brought to a close by a whole school reconciliation service on Friday morning and a Staff Mass at the end of the day. The reconciliation service gave pupils the opportunity to reflect on any things they regretted or would like to apologise for and to think about how they could change for the better. The Staff Mass celebrated the end of our time in our current building and was well attended by past and current staff. Many thanks to Mrs Garfin and Ms Nesbitt for their organisation.

You should have now received your child’s end of term report. If you have not received this or have any questions about the report then please contact school reception.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend,

Mr T Harris, Assistant Headteacher

I would also like to remind parents and carers that School will break up for the Easter break on Friday April 4th at 1.30pm. This will allow some final packing by staff on the last afternoon of term, as we will move over to the new building during the Easter break. Transport teams have been informed about the 1.30pm finish on this day. Additionally, please note the week from April 22nd to April 25th School will be closed for all pupils. This is to allow the staff to return to work a week earlier than our pupils, to help ensure we are ‘building ready’ when the pupils return for the start of the summer term on April 28th. If you have any worries or concerns over this please do let us know.

Key information and Dates for your Diary

Dates for your Diary

• Fri 4th Apr - 1.30pm - (Transport teams have been informed) School closes for Easter break.
• Fri 18th Apr - Good Friday
• Sun 20th Apr - Easter Sunday
• Mon 21st Apr - Easter Monday
• Tue 22nd - Fri 25th Apr - School closed for pupils as we move to the new building.
• Mon 28th Apr @ 9:00am - School re-opens for pupils after the move.
• Tues 20th May 4.30pm-6pm - Parents Evening

Residential Trips

• Thu 8th May overnight - Class 1 - The Wingate Special Children's Trust.
• Mon 28th Apr - Fri 2nd May - KS4 - Classes 7, 8, 9 & 10 - Calvert Trust.

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 31st March 2025:

Stars Of The Week

• Class 1 - Oskar - For lots of confident swimming in the big pool.
• Class 2 - Freya - For showing a selfless attitude at Bendrigg.
• Class 3 - Tyler - For joining in all the activities at Bendrigg.
• Class 4 - Adnan - For showing bravery and resilience at Bendrigg.
• Class 5 - Joe - For having a settled week and trying hard in his lessons.
• Class 6 - Keldon - For making great progress on his first residential at Bendrigg.
• Class 7 - Leah - For representing the school well at the City football tournament.
• Class 8 - Chael - For trying realy hard this week to make good choices.
• Class 9 - Charlie - For doing well with his timekeeping and working very hard in class.
• Class 10 - Keenan - For having a really settled week and doing well in all lessons.
• Class 11 - Joseph - For working hard in food tech.
• Class 12 - Aliya - For working hard in all her lessons.
• Class 13 - Isaac - For being an always pupil and always being kind and respectful.

Employee Of The Week

Congratulations to Mr Dumville and Miss Watson!!

Highlights of the Week

Our Catholic School

Our prayer focus this week:

'Lent helps us fight against any of our faults. We all can improve and change for the better.'

- Pope Francis

Within our Catholic school this week as part of our Catholicity training, each class team had dedicated time to reflect on their responses to the challenges of Lent.

Class 6 enjoyed their retreat at the Spiritan Centre with Father Nick and reflected on friendship and prayer. Class 8 also enjoyed their retreat at the Hidden Gem church in Manchester City Centre, as part of The Pilgrims of Hope Jubilee Year, a sacred time of renewal, reflection, and grace.

Continuing in our Lenten mission this week, as well as our many acts of kindness, we have undertaken some fundraising in Chorlton. Each class has had the opportunity to offer their help to the customers of Morrison's supermarket by packing their shopping bags. These trips have been very successful and thanks to the generous donations from the local community we have raised over £400 for CAFOD.

During our RE lessons this week we have been looking at the events that lead up to Easter and finding out how Christians celebrate Easter throughout the world.

Mrs Garfin

Poetry Corner

Pupil Takeover; Football Special

This week's Poetry News is dedicated to a brilliant poem written by Megan in Class 12! Megan was lucky enough to attend the Manchester City vs Chelsea woman's football match at the Etihad Stadium last weekend, she was thrilled as she got to watch her favourite player, Sam Kerr. It was such a brilliant performance from Sam that it inspired Megan to work with Mr. Lomax to write this poetic dedication. We hope you enjoy this amazing piece as much as we do at school.

Here is Megan and Mr. Lomax celebrating with a kick around after finishing the poem:

Oliver Lomax

Useful Information

Fundraising during Lent

- 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