St John Vianney Newsletter 21.10.22

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have and your families have had a pleasant last week of term?

The half term has been a very busy one and it is clear that both staff and pupils are ready and looking forward to a well-earned rest next week. The next half term is also a 7 week block, before we break for Christmas, and I hope we all have an opportunity to recharge our ‘batteries’, ensuring we are all ready for making the most of the opportunities provided in School in the lead up to Christmas.

We have had a great week in school. On Monday morning I announced the winners from last Friday’s ‘Laudato Si’ Art competition. I was really impressed with the standards and ideas raised by our pupils and have displayed many art pieces in the school hall. I’ve attached the winning entries to this newsletter; I am sure you will agree they are excellent! Well done to all those who worked on individual and class pieces of work. Mr Healey has kindly pulled together a great video of the work undertaken on #HelloYellow day last week. It reflects so well on their work, engagement and enjoyment; enjoy! The video can be found on our School YouTube channel and in the video below.

On Wednesday morning we had our Harvest Festival Service, in aid of increasing our understanding of the importance of World Food Day. We asked for pupils, families and staff to bring in Food donations, which we would pass on to foodbanks in the local area, to provide food for those families struggling at the present time. The response was overwhelming, and we filled the minibus with your donations, after the Service led by Fr Nick, to pass on to St John’s Church and Community Centre in Old Trafford. The volunteers there were really appreciative of everyone’s efforts and will now distribute the food through to other foodbanks and to families who need it. They asked me to pass on their thanks for your kind and generous donations.

On Thursday I attended the whole school learning trip to Chester Zoo; over 150 members of our School working really well together. We wanted the children and young people to have an understanding of animal adaptions and how conservation activities can help us avoid animal extinction in the future. The trip was a real success and we feel the children not only had a great time but enjoyed the learning opportunity too. Thank you to Mr Damant for organising the visit.

On Wednesday the new School Council were presented with their badges. Mrs Griffin has organised one elected member of each class team to represent their peers at School Council events, ensuring pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard. I look forward to seeing them participate in a range of activities, where they will be, I know, outstanding representatives of the school. Good luck to those elected.

It has really been a great end to the first half term. I do hope you enjoy the half term break and we look forward to welcoming your child back into School on Monday 31st October at 9am.

Best wishes,

Mr A Moloney

Headteacher

Hello Parent and Carers, I’m Mr Wood and I’m the music therapy coordinator here at St John Vianney School. Over the past few weeks we have welcomed back Olympias Music Foundation and the children have responded fantastically to the sessions.

We have also welcomed a new therapist in school, Georgie, who the children have taken a real shine too. She also runs a fantastic project called Songs, Signs and Sounds: http://www.songssignsandsounds.co.uk/.

The project does offer a free workshop every Tuesday at 10am on YouTube. To access all the past sessions, you can subscribe to their Patreon account for £20. If you have any questions or would like to enquire, please don’t hesitate to contact me via the school office. I wish you a very happy half term.

Mr. Wood