St John Vianney School Newsletter 23.05.2025

Assistant Headteacher's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have now come to the end of our first half term in our new school building. The pupils have settled in well and are enjoying making the most of our fantastic new facilities!

The final week this half term has been a busy one with a number of different activities taking place in and out of school.

Our Year 9 pupils took part in a day of work experience in the Holiday Inn Hotel at Media City. The pupils impressed the staff with their maturity and willingness to get involved with the different activities. The day finished with staff and pupils enjoying pizzas that had been prepared in the hotel kitchen by our pupils.

On Tuesday our School Nurses led Personal Hygiene sessions for the pupils which included practical activities developing our pupils' knowledge of effective oral hygiene and hand washing. Pupils were given toothpaste and a toothbrush to take home with them after the session.

Our first Parents Evening in the new building was held on Tuesday evening and we were delighted to see how proud our pupils were when showing their families around the school. The evening also included sessions led by members of the Senior Leadership Team in the following areas: ADHD Awareness, The Zones of Regulation and Smoothwall: Online Safety.

On Thursday evening we held the first of our transition evening events for our new pupils and their parents. It was great to meet our new pupils and we are excited for them to join us in September.

GCSE exams continued on Friday morning with our Year 11 pupils sitting their first English exam. The pupils all showed great maturity and resilience and worked hard to complete the paper.

I hope you all enjoy the half term break and we look forward to welcoming the pupils back on Monday the 2nd June.

Mr T Harris, Assistant Headteacher

Key information and Dates for your Diary

Dates for your Diary

• Fri 23rd May @ 3:15pm - School closes for the half term break.
• Mon 2nd Jun @ 9:00am - School re-opens for the last half term of the year.

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

Stars of the Week

Congratulations to our Stars of the week:

• Class 1 - Aidan - For a great week and coping well with lots of changes.
• Class 2 - Tyler - For working really hard in maths this week and showing great independence.
• Class 3 - Alex - For fantastic work in English, expressing his creativity and imagination.
• Class 4 - Adnan - For great engagement and asking lots of questions during work experience.
• Class 5 - Harry - For trying his best and being helpful and thoughtful.
• Class 6 - Bailey - For managing his mornings in a calmer way.
• Class 7 - Charlie - For fantastic and consistent work and behaviour across the board.
• Class 8 - Aiden - For having a great week and being helpful and considerate to his peers.
• Class 9 - Ethan - For a great week and trying new things.
• Class 10 - Amanda - For excellent attitude and engagement this week and trying really hard in her maths GCSE!
• Class 11 - Evie - For having a very settled week and working hard in maths.
• Class 12 - Bruno - For being a very mature classroom monitor.
• Class 13 - Munir - For having a brilliant week and having an excellent session with his mentor.

Employee Of The Week

Congratulations to Mrs Mawn!

Highlights of the Week

Our Catholic School

Our prayer focus this week:

'It is not enough to say ‘I love.’ We must put that love into living action.'

- Mother Teresa

I can’t believe it's half term already, a lot has happened in these last few weeks. We, of course, keep Pope Francis in our thoughts and prayers as well as our new Pope Leo. The children have really settled into their new school and the new routines; they have done so well, it is like they have always been here.

Within our Catholic school this week, we are continuing with Pope Francis' theme 'Pilgrims of Hope' for this Jubilee Year. I joined Father Nick and Class 6 on a wonderful visit to the Hidden Gem in Manchester, which is a beautiful church right in the heart of the city centre. The GIFT/Chaplaincy team have been learning more about Mass so they can be more involved.

In RE lessons this week we have been reflecting on our work and using our green pens, making improvements where possible.

I hope you have a wonderful half term break.

Mrs Garfin

Poetry Corner

Poem of the week: ‘An Autistic Love Note’ by Katie Walters

Here at SJV we believe it is so important for our young poets to be inspired by the work of young Autistic and disabled writers. In this week’s Poetry News, we are sharing the work and story of the amazing autistic poet and writer Katie Walters. You can watch Katie perform this poem in the video below, please click on the Poetry Society link for more information about her wonderful and energetic poem.

Katie says:

"I've always loved writing, for as long as I can remember, but recently I was drawn to SLAMbassadors in particular because slam is a style of performance in which you can be extremely open and sincere about your feelings and your message. I am autistic (this is largely what the poem I entered with was about), and that can sometimes make it harder for me to express myself than it can be for others, because I'm not great at understanding social rules. SLAMbassadors gives me the opportunity to stand up and speak without the need to conform to social rules; I can just talk, and because of that, it's the best platform for communication that I could possibly imagine. To have the opportunity to bring that to a wider audience is just amazing!"

Oliver Lomax

Useful Information

We’re Excited to Launch Our New Online Safety Hub!

Supporting the wellbeing of children and young people has never been more important than it is today. Parents, teachers, governments, and policy makers are all working together to ensure that young people are protected from online harms. A child’s digital world plays a powerful role in shaping their overall wellbeing. From the content they view to the people they interact with and the things they share, online activity can offer wonderful opportunities—but it can also present real risks. That’s why we’re proud to announce the launch of our brand-new Online Safety Hub, now live on our school website.

Developed by online safety experts, the Hub is designed to bring our whole school community together around the shared goal of keeping children safe and well online. It offers up-to-date, evidence-based information tailored for all those involved in Children and Young People’s lives.

What’s inside the Hub?

Parents and carers will find a wealth of easy-to-follow resources, including:

• App reviews and safety ratings
• Step-by-step guides for setting parental controls
• Practical advice on key topics such as screen time, gaming, social media, and more

How to access the Hub: Visit our school website, click on the Parent tab, then select E-Safety. We encourage all families to explore the Online Safety Hub and use it as a trusted tool in supporting children’s digital wellbeing.

Let’s work together to keep our children safe, happy, and healthy—both online and offline.

Asda offers a Kids Eat for £1 deal at their cafes, which is also reduced to 60p for the entire month of May, including the May half-term week. This means families can feed their children a hot or cold meal for just £1 or 60p per child, with no minimum spend required and no need to purchase an adult meal. The deal is available at over 205 Asda Cafes.

- 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