St Vincent’s Young Enterprise team won two prestigious awards at The Young Enterprise Awards 2008 held at Parklands Centre in Liverpool on 9th April 2008. Our Young Enterprise team from Year 12 claimed the ”Best Product" award and an individual award for The Young Achiever of the Year.

The team's winning product, VIP Menus is primarily a Braille and large print transcription service for the catering trade. Due to the growth potential of this enterprise, we are now generating interest from other sectors in the business community who have heard about the enterprise and now want to buy into our service. The potential of the product as a viable business venture has also been recognized by one of the St. Vincent's Young Entrepreneurs, who is now considering taking this business venture and developing it further as a career.

During the summer term our Key Stage 2 pupils will be working with Sharon Mutch a noted artist and a former winner of The Woman of the Year award for her contribution to art and her work in the community. The pupils will be designing an environment for the future, using as inspiration the culture of the Native American Indians. Their work will form part of a final exhibition along with the work of other mainstream secondary and primary schools within our learning network community. It is an exciting project and a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to enrich their knowledge of other cultures and traditions. If anyone has any items that we could make use of in our project related to the theme of the North American Indians, please contact the school.

A McManus

Once again we left the school timetable behind us and headed for the freedom and challenges of The Lake District!
This annual event forms part of the Outdoor and Adventurous Activities Course, which in turn, is a component of the overall P.E. Curriculum.
We have attended The Calvert Trust Centre (just outside Keswick), for many years now and find it an excellent match for our needs.
The weather was mostly fine but cold, and the canoeing day on Lake Bassenthwaite was a little windy! We crammed a lot into a relatively short time: - horse riding, rock climbing, confidence & challenge courses at Mirehouse, archery, abseiling, swimming, hiking, ‘mine’ exploration and sight-seeing in Keswick. In addition, we made good use of the games room, tuck/gift shop and the sports hall.
Everyone had a great time! This was made possible by the motivation of the group, their willingness to overcome initial fears, and the encouragement and support of our instructor Lou, not forgetting many other Calvert Trust staff, and our own school staff members.
All those involved offer thanks and very best wishes to The Primary Club for their continued support.

A.Beach

The Summer term is always a busy time with lots to do before school closes for the summer break on Wednesday 23rd July. Both pupils and staff are currently preparing for course work deadlines, exams, annual outings and trips, activity and consultation week, school leaving etc.

Will parents and carers please note below holiday dates and particularly the additional staff training day on Monday 30th June 2008.

SUMMER TERM 2008
Tuesday 1st April – Wednesday 23rd July
Half-term: Monday 26th May – Friday 30th May
Training Day: Monday 31st March, Monday 30th June

AUTUMN TERM 2008
Thursday 4th September - Friday 19th December
Half-term: Monday 20th October – Friday 24th October
Training Days: Wednesday 3rd September, (Friday 17th October provisional)

SPRING TERM 2009
Tuesday 6th January – Friday 3rd April
Half-term: Monday 16th February – Friday 20th February
Training Day: Monday 5th January

SUMMER TERM 2009
Tuesday 21st April – Wednesday 22nd July
Half-term: Monday 25th May – Friday 29th May
May Day Bank Holiday – Monday 4th May
Training Day: Monday 20th April, Monday 29th June

This years ‘Open Evening’ has been arranged for Thursday 13th March from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

During the course of the evening parents/carers will have the oppurtunity to discuss their child's ‘Monitoring Progress Report Card’ with the teaching and support staff concerned. We are asking that, where possible, parents limit their interview with staff to fifteen minutes, to ensure that enough time is available for all parents to speak to the staff they wish to.

During the evening, scheduled for 6.30pm will be a 30 minute curriculum presentation about ongoing provision at Key Stage 4 and Post 16.

We are again pleased to be welcome representatives of Royal National College, Hereford; Queen Alexandra College, Birmingham; Henshaw’s College, Harrogate, and Knowsley Community College, who will be available to provide information, and to discuss with parents, the facilities and courses available for post 16 education. Representatives of the Care Staff, Connexions Service and other support staff will also be present on the evening.

We realise that it is difficult for some parents to attend because of distance, timing, or personal commitments. If you are unable to attend we will ensure that you receive the monitoring card, together will any other literature applicable to your child.

Pupils will be bring home a letter with all details can you please fill in the attached reply slip and return it to school as soon as possible. In order to ensure that the evening runs smoothly we would appreciate if you could also give an indication of the time at which you expect to arrive at school.

A belated welcome back to the spring term at St Vincent's. With Easter being very early this year this is indeed a short term. The school closes for the half term vacation on Friday 8th February and reopens on Monday 18th February. Will parents please note this date as the return date is incorrectly printed in the Daily Journals as Tuesday 19th February. The school then closes for Easter on Friday 14th March. We have an Ash Wednesday Service in the school on Wednesday 6th February at 3pm, all are welcome to attend.

In late November Mr. Roberts (Principal) went to Curitiba in Brazil, with eight other Headteachers from the North West area as part of a week long international study visit coordinated by the British Council and the National College for School Leadership.

Curitiba is the capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. It has a population of approximately 1.8 million, bigger than Manchester and Liverpool put together. Curitiba is the important city of Southern Brazil, being its cultural, political and economic centre. It is also one of the most eco friendly cities in the world that prides itself on its public transport policy.

Whilst in Curitiba the Headteachers visited six schools over an intensive five day programme that covered a wide range of provision. The group was charged with a brief to look at Community Leadership and is to prepare a document for publication by the NCSL. They saw some very inspiring school leaders in a range of different and challenging settings. The visit was featured in the local media, on TV and in newspapers.They found many similarities with the English education system and indeed some significant differences. The group are to meet again in December to draw together its report.

We warmly welcome all friends of St. Vincents to join us on Tuesday 11th December at 7.30pm to enjoy a very special perfomance of 'The Box'.

This wonderful production displays the wealth of talent of both pupils and staff and highlights the true meaning of christmas.

This term our Key Stage 2 class have continued their links with St. Oswald’s Catholic Junior School, Old Swan.

Not only do we enjoy break time in their yard with the whole school, but we are joining their literacy lessons. Our three Year 6 pupils join a Year 6 class, and have been studying play scripts, writing styles and report writing. The younger pupils have joined another class and studied connectives and clauses, poetry, and newspaper articles.

Everyone is enjoying the visits, and making new friends.

We are thrilled to welcome Fuse Theatre Company to St. Vincent’s, on Wednesday 5th December at 11am, to take our young people on a journey through snowy, wintry places to meet some very loveable and comical characters.

Currently touring community libraries, children’s centre and schools, actors Bekan Sloan and Michael Chapman will present 'Winter Tales', three theatrical adaptations of well loved stories for us all to enjoy.

Many thanks to Bookstart and Merseyside Art and Cultural Fund.

On Thursday 6th December 2007 St. Vincent's is holding a one day course for parents and professionals to support the mobility needs of Blind and partially sighted children and young people.

The course will run from 10 am to 3 pm. The content will address mobility needs from early years to Post 16 and give strategies and techniques for support.

Course costs
Free to Parents
£50 for professionals
Lunch will be included

Please contact J. Bradshaw on 051 230 5093
To register interest or attendance.

St. Vincent’s was again invited to participate in this inter-borough event. Our group travelled to Lansbury Bridge School & Sports College in St. Helens, where we enjoyed a full day of sporting challenges!

Each of our pupils was included in one of six different Borough Teams, and earned points for their team by performing in a number of activities including Running Relay, Seated Throw, Speed Bounce and Foam Javelin.

The Mayor of St. Helens opened the event and the local T.V. cameras were rolling throughout the day. In addition, a Documentary DVD was being produced to promote the event both locally and nationally. As a result, we featured briefly on the following evening’s ‘Northwest Tonight’ programme!

Mathew Pounder competed for the Liverpool Team, and at the closing ceremony his team were identified as overall winners of the shield trophy. Well done the Liverpool Team!

An enjoyable day was had by all, and the group returned to school proudly wearing their well deserved medals.

Teachers, Learning Support Staff and Care Staff recently attended a conference at Aintree Racecourse, organised by West Derby Learning Network Community. The theme of the day was 'Creating Their Future' and focused on creativity in the curriculum and new technologies.

A variety of wide-ranging workshops were attended; and St Vincent's staff also hosted a workshop called 'Giving your resources an extra dimension'.
The school displayed work and photographs on a stand in the Exhibition Hall.
The conference was attended by 400 delegates, and offered St Vincent's staff the chance to meet with colleagues from local schools. The day was enjoyed by all, and everyone returned to school with a variety of interesting and creative ideas.

St Vincent's School would like to invite parents and carers of Visually Impaired Children to join us on November 29 2007 at a help/support day from 11am - 2pm.

Don't miss this great opportunity to share ideas, gain advice and guidance on services available, mobility, provision, learning through play, ICT and accessibily equipment, christmas gift ideas and meet other parents and carers at the lunch provided.

Interested! Contact Julie Bradshaw on 0151 230 5093 or email julieb@stvin.com.

On Thursday 15th November a group of St. Vincent's pupils are due to visit Henshaws college, Harrogate. Information about the visit, including times of departure and arrival and permission slips, have been forwarded to those pupils who are invited.

We would like to encourage and welcome the parents of these pupils to join us at the venue, as these visits are the first steps to helping our young people make informed choices about the provision on offer after their courses of study at St. Vincent’s is complete. If you would like further information please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Karen Meighan at school and visit http://www.harrogate.co.uk/henshaws.

On Thursday 1st November a group of Year 11 and 12 pupils accompanied by parents and St. Vincent's staff enjoyed a very informative visit to Queen Alexandra College in Harbourne, Birmingham. These visits help our young people to make informed choices about the provision on offer after their course of study at St. Vincent’s is complete. If you would like further information please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Karen Meighan at school.