St John Vianney School Newsletter 02.05.2025

Headteacher's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been lovely, after a 2 week break, to welcome our children and young people back into school. We managed to have the new building ready for them and I am sure they are really impressed with the outstanding facility we have created for them. They certainly seemed amazed with the size of the new building, their classrooms and all we have managed to fit into the new building.

My assembly this week has focused on the high standards we have set in school and that we all have a responsibility to really look after the building for future pupils of our School. The pupils have responded really well and have been really careful around the school; they are clearly, like the staff and Governors, really proud of what we have achieved and want to keep it a fantastic resource.

Key Stage 4 pupils have this week been in Calvert Trust, on their annual residential in the Lake District. They have been blessed by wonderful weather this week and the staff have reported back that the 36 pupils who attended, with 12 staff from school were really engaged with their learning there and were really considerate of each other and the staff who attended. I must really thank the staff for supporting the residential this week and for giving of their time so freely in being away from their homes and families. I know the pupils really appreciate the work Mr Donovan and the KS4 team have done to provide them with such an exceptional experience. Thank you to all the staff who attended.

You will be aware that we have rearranged the annual Parents Evening for Tuesday, May 20th from 4.30pm to 6.00pm, which will provide you with a great opportunity to meet with the teachers and staff to discuss the progress in learning made by your child since last September. The evening will also provide a fantastic opportunity for you to have a look around the new school to see the amazing facility we have been provided with. Please keep the date in your diary and make every attempt to attend. Additionally, we are preparing for parents 3 x 15-minute workshops on key areas of school business, which will be led by senior staff from 4.45pm. We look forward to seeing you on 20th May.

Can I remind you please that Monday 5th May is a bank holiday and school will be closed. We look forward to welcoming the full cohort of pupils back to school on Tuesday morning next week, at 9am.

Best wishes for the long weekend,

Mr A Moloney, Headteacher

Key information and Dates for your Diary

Dates for your Diary

• Mon 5th May - Bank Holiday
• Tues 20th May 4.30pm-6pm - Parents Evening

Residential Trips

• Thu 8th May overnight - Class 1 - The Wingate Special Children's Trust.

Key Info

FAQs regarding the move to the New Building

Each class in school compiled a list of questions that they wanted answering about the new school. Hopefully we have answered them all. You can view all of these fantastic questions and answers by clicking on the following link: FAQs Our New School

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 6th May 2025:

Employees Of The Week

Congratulations to Mr Cooper, Mr Goodwin and Mr Thomas!!

Highlights of the Week

Our Catholic School

Our prayer focus this week:

'We cannot grow up by ourselves; rather we journey and grow in a community, in a family'

- Pope Francis

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break, it's lovely to be back, I cannot quite believe how lovely our new school looks! I think it shows how much the Governors and the staff care about SJV to be able to bring this wonderful opportunity to our students. We have a lot to look forward to in SJV and we cannot wait to share all that we do with you.

In our Catholic school this week we have been reflecting on Pope Francis and his life and amazing contributions to the world.

In RE this week, we have been looking at the key words we will learn for the upcoming term, self-assessing and peer-assessing our knowledge on topics such as love, marriage, peace and life after death.

Mrs Garfin

Poetry Corner

As a school community we are embracing the exciting time ahead as we transition into our beautiful new school, however, we are all still mourning the loss of our spiritual leader Pope Francis. Pope Francis dedicated his life to the marginalised, displaced and dispossessed. A rare voice for humanity, he spent his final days on this earth calling for peace. Let his enduring legacy of empathy, courage and kindness inspire us to build a more humane world for all.

Poets and writers can also inspire us to build a fairer society, their poems are vessels of empathy but can also question how we live our lives, this is certainly true of the great poet Ilya Kaminsky. His amazing poem ‘We Lives Happily During the War’ certainly asks us all to search our hearts and minds in the way Pope Francis always did.

Oliver Lomax

Useful Information

- 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