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Turning concern into action

We are very proud to say that we have recently made many children at Sacred Heart Mini  Vinnies, during a special Mini Vinnies ceremony.  These children work as ambassadors in our school and local community.  

see – think – do

The Society of St Vincent de Paul has been engaging with young people and education since its earliest days. Today the SVP England & Wales is pleased to highlight its continuing strong links with young people, through the development of its new ‘Mini Vinnies’ programme – a ground-breaking Primary Schools initiative, based on good work done in Australia, piloted in the Diocese of Shrewsbury, and which is seen as having, “the potential to significantly contribute to the future of our Society.”

‘Mini Vinnies’ are children aged between 7 to 11 (or younger) who, with the permission of their parents and the support of their Schools, are encouraged to embark on their first steps as possible ‘Vincentians for life’.

As Mini Vinnies, the youngsters have their own ‘treasured’ Prayer, Pledge and Badge, a dedicated website and a range of bright and colourful documents which guide them in their formative steps – helping and enabling them to become in every sense, young Vincentians – or ‘Mini Vinnies’.

Mini Vinnies follow in the footsteps of Christ and St Vincent de Paul.

The Mini Vinnies are the youngest members of the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP), an international Christian voluntary organisation dedicated to tackling poverty in all its forms by providing practical assistance to people in need. 

The Mini Vinnies at Scared Heart live out their mission of see, think, do, supporting their school community and beyond. Please take a look at all the wonderful things that we have done so far.

Each year, our Mini Vinnies take part in a commissioning ceremony welcoming them into the young Vincentian society. This year we were joined by the manager of the Mini Vinnie Society as we as our local parish priest Father Ben. We were also joined by members of the St Vincent De Paul Society from our local church. Parents were also invited to watch their child be presented with their Mini Vinnie badge, pledge and prayer card.

Every year, we are invited by The Catholic Children’s Society to attend the Advent mass to help raise support and awareness for children across London. Children enjoyed taking part in the mass as well as learning about the Advent story! Over the years, children have been readers, actors as well as bringing up the offertory.

On Thursday 10^th July The ‘ Mini Vinnies’ led an assembly for KS1 and KS2 about something that is very important to them. This is how to avoid food waste at Sacred Heart. 

They have led on this project and researched lots of facts to put together a very informative assembly. 

They told us how we can all support this by making choices such as ordering our school dinners with our parents so that we are happy with our choices. Having packed lunches on days that we don’t like the choices. Only ordering when we need to and cancelling orders when we have appointments or are absent from school. 

They led with a very important motto ‘ Together we can all make a difference’ 

The Mini Vinnies set a very important challenge for all of the children at Sacred Heart whether they have school dinners of packed lunch. They are going to try and reduce the amounts of waste in our bins at the end of lunchtime. We are hoping that Marissa will see a dramatic difference when she weighs the food wastage each day. 

Their goal is if at Sacred heart we manage to cut down from 22kg of food waste a day ( about 8 and a half full black bin bags) from lunch by July, children will be rewarded with an own clothes day in the new school year. 

 

In the Autumn term, we are going to continue with our Jubilee Pledge to reduce our food waste in school and at home

 

We are going to attend assemblies and visit classes to remind pupils about how they can reduce food waste.

 

Our main messages include:

•Ordering lunches with parents so children are happy with their options

•Eating all our pack lunches

•Eating all the food on our plates 

•We are going to continue working with Marissa on this until we see less waste in our school bins

 

Autumn projects this half term – World Porridge Day Friday 10th October

 

Gerrard’s Meals- to support Mary’s meals

 

What are we going to do?

Coffee Morning  for parents with different porridge recipes.

Friday 10th October 2025- 9-10.00 am

Location: School Hall

 

We will ask all children to wear one item of blue and their school uniform for ‘ World Porridge Day’

We will ask children for a donation at the school gate.

 

All fundraising proceeds will go to Mary’s Meals