On Monday and Tuesday the 1st and 2nd pupils from the whole school visited the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to participate in their School Concerts series.

Each year the Philharmonic plan a one hour concert based on a theme, this year they joined with the Liverpool City Council to celebrate the year of Innovation.

The pupils were able to listen to a wide range of music from The fanfare from the Back to the Future film to Symphonic Metamorphoses of themes by Carl Maria Von Weber. All members of the Orchestra dress in corresponding colours to the sections that they play in, giving the audience a visual guide to how the Orchestra works. Alasdair Malloy presents the concert and informs the audience of the background of the music and how it links to the theme.

Every year a new piece is commissioned that the pupils learn to sing to make one large Choir and Orchestra. This year the piece was called “Find a New Way” and included a verse in Chinese.

All our pupils thoroughly enjoyed the concert and made us proud with their exemplary behaviour.

Programme

Fanfare from Back to the Future Alan Silvestri
The Orient Express Waltz Sir Richard Rodney Bennett
Symphony No.101, Movement 2 Joseph Haydn
Four Minute Mils Judith Bingham
When I’m 64 (Percussive variation) Paul McCartney
Symphonic Metamorphoses of Themes Carl Maria von Weber
Jasmine Flower Fu Ren Chang
Motorcycle Scherzo John Williams
Find a New Way Jack Ross
On the Via Appia Ottorino Respighi
Futurama Theme tune Christopher Tyng

12th Feb School Closes for Half Term Break at 1pm
25th March Monitoring Evening
1st April School closes for Easter Break at 1pm
20th April Pupils return to school
3rd May May Day Bank Holiday
17th May GCSE programme begins

31stMay – 4th June Half Term

25th June Official School Leavers Date
28th June Inset Day
7th July Sports Day
16th July Prize Giving
21st July School closes for Summer Holiday
1st September Pupils return to school

The start of the first school term in the New Year saw many problems across the country, with schools unable to open due the inclement weather conditions.

Whilst here at St Vincent’s we have remained open throughout, the weather has militated against all of our pupils getting into school, so much so that last week was probably the first proper full week back in school.

Hopefully the bad weather is behind us now and we shall have an uninterrupted programme of activity until the half-term break.

Can I give a big thank you to all the pupils who managed to get in during the bad weather and the staff also who made it in, to ensure that those pupils in attendance received a full curriculum.

Those that have been in school throughout the poor weather have thoroughly committed and enjoyed themselves in all that they have done and clearly enjoyed greater attention that has been afforded to them.

May I take this opportunity to remind parents that at the end of this school term we will be having our annual Monitoring Evening on the evening of the 25th March.

GO-PENGUINS!

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
Go Penguins is the new, celebratory public art event taking place throughout Liverpool, St Helens and the Wirral during the festive season. From 22 November to 10 January, colonies of beautifully designed penguins created by artists, schools and community groups will form a Trail festive to celebrate the arts, culture and the environment. There are two types of Penguin – a 5ft model for artists and a 3ft model for schools.
Go Penguins has had an unprecedented response from the local schools with 93 schools taking part in the event. Each participating school received a Go Penguins creativity pack together with their own 3ft sculpture on which to create their own design. Each penguin will be exhibited in high profile locations across Liverpool City Centre, St Helens and the Wirral.

At the end of the project, each penguin will be returned to its school, as a permanent memento of their involvement with the event.

St Vincent’s have planned and decorated a schools penguin on the theme of environmental awareness. He is painted in icy colours, with arctic wavy patterns on his back, and a message in glass bead Braille on his front. To make him extra cool, he was given silver tinsel wings, glittery beak, and dark glasses! The pupils decided to name him ‘Mr I C Touch’.

Following a staring role on Granada reports last month, our penguin is now on display in the Walker Art Gallery! We plan to visit him there. As part of our Christmas activities, all pupils will also get the opportunity to decorate their own mini penguin. These will be on display in the dining room in time for our Christmas dinners.

To find out more about this fantastic project visit www.gopenguins.co.uk .

Dear Parents, Carers, Friends of St Vincent's

Our annual Christmas Performance which will take place on Tuesday 08th December, when the children will be performing “Tinsel and Tea Towels”

There will be both an afternoon and evening performance. The afternoon performance will start at 1.30pm and the evening at 7pm, in the school Chapel.

As the title of the Nativity suggests we will need tinsel and tea towels, if anyone has any donations of these items they would be gratefully received.

The two performances will be recorded and a DVD of both the Summer Concert and the Christmas Nativity will be available to purchase.

If you have any queries then please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Bradshaw, the Family Liaison Officer.

Further to our consultation with pupils, parents, staff, governors, trustees and the DCSF, I am writing to confirm that following the confirmation by DCSF that we can change our designation as of the 1st September 2009, all of our documentation and publications will be revised to reflect this change as of the 1st January 2010.
A reminder again as to our change of name and why,

St Vincent’s School - ‘A Specialist School for Sensory Impairment and Other Needs’

This change of name reflects more accurately our specialist school status and the wider range of need, other than a vision impairment, that the school successfully caters for. This was recognised by Ofsted when they inspected the school in December 2008, when they judged us to be ‘outstanding’.

The service we offer will continue to be first class and wide ranging; this change of title reveals how good we are at what we do across a range of sensory and other needs and how we have already changed to meet the changing and varying need of our pupils.

As the dark nights draw in there is nothing better than all curling up on the sofa warm and cosy, enjoying one of our amazing ‘pizza nights in’ which actually tastes better when we all share toppings and flavours from the box. The bubbly flows (coca –cola that is) and the best entertainment is on the box, well when we have all decided what DVD we are watching.

The busy Christmas term is drawing near and rehearsals are taking place for our budding actors and singers. You only have to come to group to hear our Christmas cheer being spread around - and that is just Danielle singing in her room! The band for our nativity play is in full force, ears buzz as you pass Salim’s bedroom as his drumming is definitely improving! But we all enjoy this festive term decorating the tree, baking mince pies and generally running around like ‘Santa’s little elves’.

Keller residents

This term we congratulate the boys on their skills and passing the football trials with LCFA, now they represent Merseyside in all football matches.

Our budding footballer/coach Mathew Pounder has not only been selected to represent the Liverpool Central Schools Network as a young Ambassador for the 2012 Olympics but has also been making waves on the International scene by being selected for England VI Trials. Good luck Mathew we are all rooting for you!

This year the pupils celebrated a bonfire night with a difference. There was no loud rockets or noisy bangers instead we enjoyed a selection of Chinese and Indian takeaways, disco and an entertainment slot with a choice of two new release DVD’s.

Pupils from Year 8 and 9 went on a week’s residential ‘Energy’ fieldtrip to Wales. The fieldtrip was a great success.

We stayed at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), Machynlleth, living in an ‘eco-cabin’, an unusual and educational place to stay. The nature of the living accommodation meant that pupils learnt to socialise with a mixed group, to share workloads and to undertake tasks such as fetching wood for the stove and monitoring water and electricity use! They all learnt the importance of teamwork.

As well as looking around CAT, we visited Dinorwig Power Station & Hydro Centre ‘Electric Mountain’, Padarn Country Park, Llanberis Hospital Museum, Llanberis Slate Museum, the beach and ‘King Arthur’s Labyrinth. The weather was bright and warm with no rain! Both staff and pupils enjoyed the trip immensely.