Mini Vinnies
Who are the Mini Vinnies?
The Mini Vinnies are quite literally mini St. Vincent de Paul’s. We are extremely proud to have out Mini Vinnies group.
‘Mini Vinnies’ can be children aged 7-11. At St Anthony’s we have children from Year 3 to Year 6 and is led by Martin and Ann. If children wish to be part of the Mini Vinnies group, they are invited to write a letter of application sharing why they believe they would be a wonderful member of the team, what personal attributes and skills they believe will help them with this role and any fundraising ideas that they may have.
Mini Vinnies is about doing good works in the community. The Vinnies model of ‘See, Think, Do’ is a great way to get young people thinking and talking about their spirituality; by connecting their beliefs and values with service activities and issues in their community, they can help to make their faith real, meaningful and relevant.
Coming Up
We are delighted to announce that our Mini Vinnies have formed a connection with another St Anthony’s School! St Anthony’s School in Preston have agreed to be part of our celebrations for our 50th Anniversary in June 2024. We will send them regular updates about our work and school life.
A choir from our Mini Vinnie group will be joining the Senior Citizens of Holy Rood Parish for a special Carol Service and lunch in December.
Latest activities and events
In October, the Mini Vinnies got together to help promote a new club that will help to bring children across Key Stage Two together at lunch times.
Also in October our Mini Vinnies worked on an alternative Halloween. We looked at ways we could spread light to others through good works and prayer. They did this by writing prayers and creating posters.
On September 29th we celebrated National Teaching Assistant Day. Our Mini Vinnies took the lead by creating some handmade flowers, gift cards and presenting cakes and biscuits to our dedicated team of TAs.
Our Mini Vinnies hard at work creating their flowers.
In May, the Mini Vinnies created a display to give information about St Anthony’s work with the FoodBank. The display is currently up at the back of Holy Rood Church, please see pictures below.
Also in May, the Mini Vinnies led the procession for the crowning of Mary. If you would like to find out more about this event, please see Our Lady page.
Our commissioned Mini Vinnies visited Holy Rood Church for Mass with parishioners on Wednesday 22nd March. The children were given a tour of the Church by parishioner Brian O’Riordan, who talked about the history of the building and the different aspects of the Church’s interior. Please see the pictures below.
Afterwards they had lunch with the local Ascent Group and spoke about the work they have been doing in St. Anthony’s.
One part of their role is to take on chaplaincy work around the school. Throughout Lent, groups of children from Key Stage 2 have visited classes in Early Years and Key Stage1 to lead them in prayer and collective worship. This gives our older children the opportunities for leadership and responsibility in the Catholic life of our school.
Mini Vinnies Commissioning Assembly
On Monday 28th November our Mini Vinnies were commissioned at the special Commissioning Assembly.
The assembly was attended by the children, their parents, Mini Vinnies Manager, Katy Ramsey and representatives of Holy Rood Parish’s SVP.
The children made their pledges to uphold the values and aims of the group, said the Mini Vinnies Prayer and sang the Mini Vinnies song.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan was read to remind us of the group’s motto: Turning Concern into Action.
They received their badges, booklets and certificates on this very special occasion.
The group meets every Thursday lunchtime to discuss projects and carry out different community-related tasks.
We have good links with Holy Roods Church’s SVP and with this support and the support of Fr. Alex, we will let you know about future projects on our school website.
St. Anthony’s Commissioning Assembly
For Our New
Mini Vinnies
Monday 28th November 2022
