A message from our Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers,
We now only have 2 weeks left of this academic year. We have had another very busy week in school with lots of activities for our children and young people to engage with and learn from.
Our Post 16 learners have been to their ‘residential’ this week and have had great experiences as part of the National Citizen Service programme at Colomendy, in Wales and also at CAFT, in Altrincham. Our staff have been working with the students and have informed me of their diligence, maturity and enthusiasm in all aspects of the residential programme activities. The staff are also sure that they have developed many social and independence skills this week, which we hope you will now see at home too. Well done to all involved and thank you for the staff who, this week, gave time away from their homes and families to support these learner opportunities.
Today we have had a PE Sport afternoon in School. Mr Whelan and staff coordinated a range of activities including Disc golf, Football, Cricket and Athletics in school and at Longford Park, which pupils engaged really well with. It was great to see all our pupils work so well in their teams and enjoying participating in a physical activity session with their friends in the warm weather. Well done to all.
Can I remind you please that we break for the summer holidays on Thursday 21st July at 1.30pm? We are certainly very busy preparing for the end of the academic year and also the start of the new one, which will begin on Wednesday 7th September at 9.00am for our pupils.
Best wishes,
.
Mr A Moloney
Headteacher
Stars of the Week
Each week a 'Star of the Week' is chosen by the class team to celebrate achievements; both academic and pastoral.
This week we are celebrating the following achievements:
- Ben - For always being a great role model in our school. For reading very well at the leavers mass.
- Troy - Improved attitude to lesson.
- Thomas - For having a positive attitude and mixing well with his friends.
- Leon - For improved attitude in class and when playing with his peers at breaktime.
- Harley - For a massive improvement in his reading and writing.
- Demarjio - For consciously trying to make the right choices and for listening to his teachers and friends, when they gave him good advice.
- Theo - For showing great independence with his personal development.
- Oskar - For spending more time in the classroom.
- Isaac - For his excellent attitude and behaviour and coping well with change.
- Adam - For having an excellent week.
- Alfie - For a positive attitude across the curriculum.
- Mia - For an excellent science lesson, and beautiful handwriting.
- Louis - For excellent work in Science.
- Callum - For his helpfulness.
SJV Class News
Class 12
Some pupils from Class 12 are having a fabulous 3 day residential trip, at the Children’s Adventure Farm Trust in Altrincham.
Class 12 have also been reading 'Cassie's Quest' in group Literacy time. They have met the author, Suzanne Downs and have all been taken back in time on a journey in Egypt with Cassie's magical servant Kesbet, the Ushabti. A journey that is based around the discovery and excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb.
Our Catholic School
This week in SJV, we are reflecting on this prayer and quote from St Ambrose 'Where Christ is, there is the kingdom of God’.
This week we are praying to help us build the Kingdom of God; Dear Lord Jesus, please help us to build your kingdom in our hearts and in the world- to do your work on earth with love and care for all. Amen.
It reminds us to give thanks for all that we have and prompts us that prayer is not all about asking for things but to reflect on the many wonderful parts of our lives that we take for granted on a daily basis.
Why should we give thanks? Simply because we are God's creation, we should do nothing else and nothing less. We rejoice in God's goodness. We do this by giving thanks and by our worship. Prayer and giving thanks should be a high priority for us, as we have a lot to be thankful for.
We give thanks at SJV for the amazing children and young people we get to work with. We have a very exciting event having this week with Mrs Foden, Sadie and I are off to London and The House of Commons. I entered Sadie for a 'million minutes' award for her work she did in lockdown and within SJV's chaplaincy team. 'Million Minutes' is a Catholic charity that enables youth action and advocacy activities to give voice and support to young people (aged up to 25) to transform their lives and their world. One of our Chaplaincy team, Sadie has been selected as one of four shortlisted nominees for the 'St Josephine Bakhita Award'. The St Josephine Bakhita Award recognises young people who have enabled others to live a life of dignity. Every human being is seen as equal. They’re lovingly and beautifully made in God’s image and likeness and this award recongnises young people who have tried to do this. It is national recognition of the hard work of Sadie and SJV’s chaplaincy team and their wonderfully caring attitude. I will let you know how we got on next week, fingers crossed.
Within in RE this week we have look at how we interact within our different communities and the community we belong to. In Post 16 we have been looking at Hinduism, with the students selecting the topic they want to study.
By Mrs Garfin
School Uniform Orders
Mrs Fitzgibbon would like me to draw your attention to the link below. This is the simplest way to order your child's uniform. The school office will be closed during the summer break and calls will not be answered. Any queries can be emailed to the Admin team, who will monitor the emails over the summer break.
St John Vianney School uniform order form.
A few tips from our emotional and mental wellbeing team here at SJV.
This week we will take a look at the Green Zone, this zone covers feelings such as calm, happy, focused, and content. It is characterised by a regulated state of alertness; your body will be feeling normal and steady. This is the zone students generally need to be in for schoolwork and for being social. Being in the Green Zone shows control.
To stay in the Green Zone you can complete your tasks, think happy thoughts and carry on with business as usual.
A word from our Safeguarding Officer
This summer, Family Fund are encouraging families raising disabled & seriously ill children and young people to sign up for this year’s iPad Summer School for a chance to build on their creative digital skills, have fun, and make new friends.
The iPad Summer School is a project we have run since 2020 during the school summer holidays, and with the help of partner organisation RNIB it will include sessions specifically designed for children and young people with a vision impairment.
The virtual school sessions, held via Zoom, will run online for six weeks between July and August and is open to any disabled or seriously ill child or young person, as well as their siblings, who have access to an iPad and want to take part.
All information on the Summer School programme, including themes and dates - can be found on our website: www.familyfund.org.uk/ipad-summer-school
With the summer holidays fast approaching children and young people will have more free time to spend with friends, family and online.
For some, this will be spent using the internet to keep in touch with friends, catch up with the latest apps and online trends, and playing their favourite games.
Sit down together
Summer holidays are a great chance to sit down with your child. Together you can visit their favourite sites and play their favourite games, this is a great way to stay up to date with online lives and show them that you’re interested in what they are doing.
The holidays are also a good opportunity to have positive conversations about the internet, so if something ever does upset your child online they would feel more confident in confiding in you. Our conversation starters are a great tool to help encourage an open dialogue with your child.
Social media and staying in touch
During the summer holidays, young people may want to keep in touch with their friends through social networking sites or games. It’s a good time to ask them about what sites they use, and check any age requirements as many social media sites require users to be at least 13 years old
Encourage your children to use the privacy tools on the services they use, so that the content they post is only available to people they know and trust in real life. To help your children set these up, UK safer internet centre have a guide to the privacy settings on the different sites . You can also download the UK Safer Internet Centre’s safety checklists for popular sites such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.
Talking about their time online
The holidays are also a good opportunity to talk to your children about their online friendships, the sites they use and encourage best practices online.
Mrs Griffin
Safeguarding Officer & Family Liaison
Well done to one of our parents who has had their book published!
Samuel’s Feather
The story is about Samuel who suffers from anxiety. His Autism Spectrum Disorder means that the chaos and noise of school can cause his breathing to shorten and panic to set in. The cloud that follows him chokes and frightens him – so much so that he doesn’t even want to go to school any more.
But one day, Samuel finds a feather, dropped by a simple pigeon who seems to be able to cut through the cloud. Is there a way that he can use the feather to banish the anxiety and take control of his breathing?
If you are interested in purchasing a copy it is available to buy on Amazon.
Enjoy your Weekend!
Credits:
Created with images by geralt - "board school done" • tatomm - "kitchen utensils for cooking on the wooden table, food prepare concept" • oksix - "Craft supplies for creative handmade, top view set" • andrei310 - "Pods of green peas grow on the garden" • MNStudio - "Cute young girl learning to start a bonfire. Father teaching her daughter to make a fire. Child having fun at camp fire. Camping with kids in fall forest."