St John Vianney School

Contents

• Deputy Headteacher's Message
• Key information and Dates for your Diary
• Lunches
• Notices
• Stars of the Week
• Awards
• Highlights of the Week
• Our Catholic School
• Spotlight
• Useful Information
• Links to Our Website and Social Media

Deputy Headteacher's Message

Dear families & friends, As we come to the end of a busy and joy-filled term, I am delighted to share just some of the wonderful experiences and achievements from across our school community. Our Post‑16 students enjoyed an enriching residential visit to PGL in Shropshire this week. Residential trips play a vital role in developing independence, building confidence, and offering valuable opportunities for students to strengthen their social skills outside the classroom. It was fantastic to see our young people challenge themselves, work as a team, and grow in maturity throughout their time away. Throughout Lent, our school community has been hard at work supporting CAFOD through our £10 fundraising challenge. The spotlight section of the newsletter will extend further on this and the fantastic work our pupils and staff teams do at this time. We would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to all families who donated food for the Lalley Centre. Your generosity ensures that vulnerable individuals and families within our local community receive the support they need, especially at this time of year. As a Catholic school, Holy Week is always a significant and reflective moment in our calendar. Students have engaged beautifully with liturgies and activities that have helped them deepen their understanding of this sacred time. We were especially proud of the reverence shown during our end‑of‑term Masses, where we gathered together in prayer and preparation for Easter. As we conclude this term, I want to wish every one of you a peaceful and blessed Easter. May this season bring hope, joy, and renewal to all our families. With warmest wishes for a happy Easter, Kirsten Nesbitt, Deputy Headteacher/SENCo

Key information and Dates for your Diary

Dates for Your Diary

• Mon 20th Apr 2026 @ 9:00am - School re-opens for Summer Term 1
• Wed 22nd Apr 2026 - Class 6 CAFT overnight residential
• Mon 27th Apr - Fri 1st May 2026 - KS4 Calvert Trust residential
• Fri 22nd May - School closes for half term
• Mon 1st June - School reopens after half term

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 20th April 2026:

Notices

Stars of the Week

• Class 1 Mrs Jordan - Reuben - For using sign language to spell in class.
• Class 2 Miss Walsh - Abbie-Mae - For being kind and confident during CAFOD fundraising.
• Class 3 Mr Healey - Michael - For having a positive attitude to lessons.
• Class 4 Mrs Garfin - Neo - For being brave and trying new things.
• Class 5 Mr Whelan - Harry - For consistent, positive behaviour and effort in lessons.
• Class 6 Miss Shaw - Hassan - For a great Food Tech lesson.
• Class 7 Miss Graham - Matilda - For being fantastic all week and consistent in everything she does.
• Class 8 Mrs Wood - Aiden - For his positive attitude towards learning, showing real kindness and commitment and wonderful generosity; raising £95 for CAFOD.
• Class 9 Mr Donovan - Will - For being an excellent example to others.
• Class 10 Mr Wood - Mikail - For excellent English work on his superhero film.
• Class 11 Miss Sherwin - Rayyan - For always being an Always Pupil.
• Class 12 Ms Lord - Inaaya - For listening well to instructions when going outside at break times.
• Class 13 Mr Kanakides - Katie - For helping out with all the Lenten challenges.
• Class 14 Miss Wilkinson - Megan - For being very helpful and mature in class and displaying lots of acts of kindnesses.

Employee of the Week

Congratulations to Mr Donovan

Awards

"Pupil of the Term" This award recognises the contribution the children & young people have made to the School this term and is a small way of thanking them for the fantastic approach they display every day at St John Vianney. Well done to our winners: Class 1 - Zakary, Class 2 - Nico, Class 3 - Jaylen, Class 4 - George, Class 5 - Keldon, Class 6 - Adnan, Class 7 - Riley, Class 8 - Aiden, Class 9 - Zack, Class 10 - Jackson, Class 11 - Joseph, Class 12 - Katie, Class 13 - Justin, Class 14 - Nesrine. In addition to this our "Pupil of the Key Stage" award is given to only four recipients across the whole School, which is a great achievement. When nominating pupils for these awards Mr Moloney asked staff to consider those pupils who best reflect the School’s ethos and mission statement; through always giving of their best and being patient, kind and loving.  Well done to our winners: Key Stage 3 - Anea and Neo, Key Stage 4 - Charlie, Key Stage 5 - Micah Attendance Awards Our 100% Attendance winners this term are: Amanda, Ava, Benjamin, Bruno, Chael, Daniyal, George, Heaven, Isabelle, Jenna, Keldon and Sean. We also have some children & young people that have impressively achieved 99% or above attendance for their entire school career at SJV so far. Those winners are: Ava, Bailey, Bruno, Chael, Charlie P, Evie, Heaven, Isabelle, Jon-Paul, Nesrine and Sean. In addition to these awards, 5 pupils won a prize in our attendance raffle and 2 pupils won a prize for great improvement in their attendance. Congratulations to all of our winners!

Highlights of the Week

Our Catholic School

Our focus at SJV this week:

"Holy Week is a time to give Jesus our hearts. On the Cross He gave us His love."

- St. Teresa of Calcutta.

As we enter our final week before the Easter holidays, it’s hard to believe how quickly this term has passed. Throughout our Lenten journey, the whole school has taken time to pause in silent prayer, to fast from unkindness, and to celebrate the many acts of generosity and compassion shown by our pupils. Being in school during Holy Week has felt especially meaningful.

We gathered together for our Easter services, led by Father Nick, who guided us in reflecting on the true meaning of Easter and the hope it brings. In the spirit of Maundy Thursday, staff washed students’ feet - a powerful reminder of how we are called to serve one another, just as Jesus did. In RE lessons, classes have been exploring the events leading up to Easter and discovering how Christians around the world celebrate this sacred season in diverse and beautiful ways. I hope you all enjoy a peaceful and joyful Easter break. May our staff and students return rested, refreshed, and ready for an exciting final summer term.

Mrs Garfin

Spotlight

Lenten Fundraising: Growing in Faith, Compassion, and Community

Each year, the season of Lent invites us into a journey of reflection, prayer, and generosity. At our school, this time becomes an opportunity not only to deepen our faith but also to live it out through action. This year’s whole‑school fundraising challenge has once again shown what a generous, creative, and determined community we are - especially our pupils, who put extraordinary effort into every part of the challenge.

Learning Through Doing

Every class was given just £10 and asked to find a way to “grow” it during Lent. What unfolded was a wonderful display of imagination and teamwork. From hamper raffles and tombolas to vacuuming services, portrait drawing, games, competitions, and the ever‑popular “guess the number of mini-eggs,” our pupils embraced the challenge with enthusiasm and pride. For many of our students with SEND, these projects became powerful learning experiences. They practised:

• Communication skills while selling tickets and explaining their activities
• Teamwork as they planned and organised their ideas
• Independence and confidence by taking responsibility for their roles
• Numeracy skills, whether by counting money, pricing tickets, or estimating costs
• Creativity and problem‑solving, turning £10 into something much bigger

Most importantly, they learned that their actions—small or large—can create real change in the world.

Supporting Our Local Community

Alongside fundraising, our pupils have also been living out the call to charity by collecting food and toiletry items for The Lalley Centre in Collyhurst, North Manchester. The Lalley Centre is a community food bank, allotment, and community hub run by Caritas, the official charity of the Catholic Church. Their work provides essential support to individuals and families across Manchester. On Wednesday morning, two of our Post‑16 pupils, Callum and Scarlett, accompanied by Mrs Rouse and Mr Harris, delivered our school’s generous donations to the centre. The staff at the Lalley Centre were extremely grateful and asked Mr Harris to pass on their heartfelt thanks to everyone at SJV for their kindness and efforts during Lent. This act of service helped our students see firsthand how their compassion directly supports people within our wider Manchester community.

Joy Across the School

The atmosphere throughout Lent was filled with excitement. Classrooms buzzed with preparation; corridors echoed with friendly competition; and staff and students alike enjoyed taking part in the raffles, games, and services on offer. Seeing the smiles of the lucky winners was matched only by the pride on the faces of the pupils who had worked so hard to make their fundraising ideas a success.

Impact Beyond Our School

While we are still calculating the final total, we are delighted to share that we have already raised over £1200—a remarkable achievement from an initial £10 per class! Soon, our pupils will be selecting a range of CAFOD World Gifts, choosing life‑changing, practical gifts for communities around the world. Their fundraising will help provide education, clean water, emergency aid, food supplies, and support for families living in poverty. This is the heart of Lent: giving, serving, and putting faith into action.

A Community Living the Gospel

Our Lenten projects have once again reminded us that:

• Small beginnings can lead to great things
• Every pupil has gifts to share
• Acts of kindness ripple far beyond what we can see

Thank you to every child, member of staff, and family who supported this year’s Lenten activities. Together, through creativity, generosity, and love, we are helping to build a more hopeful and compassionate world—one thoughtful act at a time.

Useful Information

Kooth; Supporting a child through exam stress

It’s coming up to that time of the year that many students dread: exam season. Whether it’s coursework, assessments, or exams, this can be a really overwhelming period for students, and many are understandably stressed. As a parent or carer it’s natural for you to want to make this time easier for your teen, there are some things that you can do to support, encourage, and motivate your child during this time. Click on the link to find out more:  https://explore.kooth.com/supporting-a-child-through-exam-stress/

What's going on in your area?

The latest news and updates for parents/carers and children and young people  Click on the links below to find our more what's going on in Manchester, Stockport, Salford and Trafford:

• Manchester
• Stockport
• Salford
• Trafford

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Click here to visit our Online Safety Hub for more useful tips and advice.

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