Headteacher's Message
Dear Parents and Carers,
I do hope you and your families have had another good week.
Week 2 of this half term has gone well with the children now back settled into their routines and learning activities. The KS3 cohort are particularly excited about the forthcoming residential opportunity, which we are providing for them next week. The annual residential at Bendrigg, in the Lake District, provides a fantastic opportunity for team building and developing independence with our pupils. I am extremely grateful for the team of staff who are giving up time away from home and family to support next week's activities. For some of our children the residential will be the first opportunity for them to be away from their parents and I know this can be daunting for some of them. Please be assured that the staff team at Bendrigg and our own team are very experienced and will do all they can to make sure that every child has a fantastic experience.
Our Lenten work is well on the way with lots of opportunities in school for prayer, fasting and charitable work. Last week our children had assemblies based on developing an understanding of Fairtrade products. Mr Kanakides, with the Post 16 students is coordinating an opportunity for parents to buy some Fairtrade chocolates for Easter. He is sending out a letter and an order form and will purchase Fairtrade chocolate for any parent who wishes to support our work in this area. Please look out for the letter that your child will bring home from him early next week. A great opportunity to ensure that farmers across the world, and particularly in developing countries are being given a fair price for the products they make.
We are currently compiling the assessment information that evidences the progress your children are making at school. This will culminate in an interim report, which should be sent out to you on the 24th March. To follow up this report we are providing our annual Parents Evening on the penultimate day of this term, Thursday 30th March, from 4.30pm to 6.30pm in school. This is an excellent opportunity for you to gather further information from the teachers and class teams about the progress made by your child since September last year. Please make sure you have the date in your diary and that you make every effort to come and join us.
Additionally, on 17th March Ms Nesbitt and her BTEC hospitality and catering pupil team are coordinating a coffee afternoon. Tickets are priced at £2.50 and all funds will go to CAFOD. It would be great to see you attend school for this informal afternoon later this month. Please let the Admin team or Ms Nesbitt know if you want a much sought after ticket. We look forward to seeing you at both events.
Very best wishes for the weekend.
Mr A Moloney
Extra May Bank Holiday 2023
Please be informed that on Monday May 8th 2023 the School will not be open. This is because of King Charles’ coronation on May 6th. The Government have announced Monday May 8th will be an extra Public Holiday in Great Britain. This is in addition to the May Day Bank Holiday, which falls on Monday May 1st 2023.
Stars of the Week
Kenzie - For really trying hard to make good choices
George - For supporting his peers.
Demarjio - For having had a great week and making the right choices every day. He has also been very helpful to his friends and shown a number of acts of kindness, well done.
Leon - For being a helpful and always willing to support staff and pupils.
Micah - For a mature attitude towards challenges this week.
Evie - For working independently at the farm.
Abdul - For having great engagement all week in lessons and playtimes
Jon Paul - For a great improvement in behaviour!
Rome - For independent maths and a grown-up attitude.
Chael - For making better choices and having a more mature attitude.
Joe - For having had a really good week. He's joined in with lots of activities this week, and has also been kind and friendly to people around school.
Katie - For adjusting fantastically to her new timetable.
Leon - For being kind to his peers and showing maturity with his emotions.
Student Voice
Name: Dylan
What I’ve being doing this week:
I went to Cronkshaw Farm and cut down some trees and did some exploring. We chopped some wood, we made some pancakes and I got to use real fire.
What is the best thing about being in SJV?
The teachers are decent!! And I am a big fan of the lunch menu.
It would be even better if…
Nothing could make this school better, apart from the new school buildings.
Hopes and dreams for the future:
I'd love to be a care worker one day.
Class News
Class 3
On Thursday they were in Food Tech making and flipping pancakes, showing off their impressive Shrove Tuesday skills.
Class 4
Class 4 had fun this week conducting an experiment in Science as to what size parachute would work the best for the longest drop to the floor. We tried this from two different heights, with three different sizes of parachutes and recorded our findings.
Class 4 enjoyed making and recording our parachute findings.
A word from our Safeguarding Officer
Bridgewater Hall
This week KS4 visited the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester City centre to learn all about the theatre and music industry and the jobs that they offer. Our children toured the venue, visited the stars dressing rooms back stage and also the pit under the stage!
Our Catholic School
Our focus this week in SJV continues to be our work in Lent. Pope Francis tells us; ‘Lent is a time for drawing nearer to Christ, by listening to the word of God and celebrating the sacraments’
Within SJV we have really seen this come alive, with the whole school doing “40 Acts of Kindness” 40 Acts is the generosity challenge for Lent, created by UK Christian charity, Stewardship. 40 Acts has asked a question: what if Lent could be about more than just giving stuff up? What if it could be a time of radical generosity as well as spiritual discipline?
Within our Catholic school we have been thinking about our Acts of fasting, praying and charity with Mr Cassidy leading a staff reflection and the Chaplaincy team having a focus on this. The Chaplaincy team have selected an Act of Kindness for the staff, which is to say thank you and give praise to others and for the students it is to tidy their classrooms when leaving. The staff and students at SJV catch each other doing acts of kindness and record them on a form which are then placed in the chapel and are celebrated each Friday during the Celebration Assembly.
As part of our Laudato Si focus we have been celebrating Fairtrade fortnight and looking at how we can buy goods like bananas and chocolate and feel good knowing that the growers and producers are getting a fair deal. Our Post 16 team are now selling Fair Trade Chocolate for Easter to parents and Staff.
Class 6 went to see Father Nick at his Just Youth centre for a class retreat. They concentrated on the theme of prayer and friendship. It was a lovely time to have some time out of school and reflect on the importance of friendship.
Within RE this week we have been looking in more detail at Fairtrade fortnight. We investigated how much each grower/ producer got from each £1 for their products – the results might shock you! We have been discussing the ethics behind this and how we can make a difference.
SJV Eco Corner
As part of SJV’s Laudato Si project to better the earth, we are trying to recycle our wasted products such as paper, cardboard and plastic. We have new recycling bins in our classrooms to help us do this. This is just one thing we are doing in our school to help the environment. Please can you try to recycle more at home too.
Written by Dylan (Class 3)
Credits:
Created with images by Rawpixel.com - "Shiny golden stars glitter festive background" • Rawpixel.com - "People prepare a fresh vegetable" • Philip Steury - "Row Of Messy Colorful Paint Brushes And Containers On Isolated White Background - Creativity Concept" • bilanol - "Close up of brightly burning wooden logs with yellow hot flames of fire." • Copteranansak - "Paragliding in the blue sky" • Tymoshchuk - "Side view of sportsman in protective helmet riding bike" • AS Photo Family - "Background warm fire in the fireplace home" • chika_milan - "Hand holding shopping bag. Wall in background." • Iva - "Autumn still life, group of handmade homemade colorful natural woven bracelets of friendship on dry color leaves" • junce11 - "Giant passenger Steam Boat with blue sky copy space" • lotus_studio - "microscope with lab glassware, science laboratory research and development concept" • Atlas - "Many books textured background, top view. Multicolored books" • photka - "Rubbish that can be recycled on wooden background with copy space "