St Paul’s Catholic Primary School has an elected council of ‘Mini Vinnies’, which is embraced by the whole school as an essential part of young people’s contribution to society. The Mini Vinnies program is a primary schools initiative developed by the Society of St Vincent de Paul to encourage young people to work in society to tackle poverty and support those in need.
Headteacher Mr Curry said that they ‘have made such a positive impact on our school in such a range of contexts’. Mini Vinnies has encouraged pupils to become more active in their faith and conscientious members of society.
So far the Mini Vinnies have raised £500 for Save the Children to help with the refugee crisis. They chose this charity to assist children who do not have the same opportunities as they do. All of these funds were generated on one special fundraising day. The school explained that it was part of the school’s ‘drive to support our global Catholic family’.
The children also help at the local homeless shelter to set up beds and prepare the parish hall for the arrival of guests. This gives the pupils an insight into what it really means to put faith into action in line with the Mini Vinnie motto of ‘turning concern into action’.
Another of the projects undertaken by the Mini Vinnie group at St Paul’s has been their Spirituality Week, which was held in February. This helped to nurture the spirituality of the whole school and helped to bring people closer in faith and learning. A series of prayer stations were set up in the hall and were run by the Mini Vinnies which allowed teachers to take part. The theme for the week was ‘individually we are one drop, but together we are an ocean’.
As part of the Year of Mercy the Mini Vinnies suggested that the school have a Holy Door. The door is by the front entrance and was designed by pupils and blessed by Fr Perry Sykes on the feast of the conversion of St Paul.
