St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy

TURNING CONCERN INTO ACTION!

Mini Vinnies

 

We turn concern into action – We are inspired by Christ’s message to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Our Mission is to seek and find those in need, to help them in a spirit of justice and to tackle the causes of poverty where we can.

The Mini Vinnies play a vital role in the Catholic Life and SMSC life of St. Patrick's, and are supported by Miss H Mackinney, the Mini Vinnie Co-ordinator.

 Pupils across school have the opportunity to serve the school as part of the ‘Mini Vinnies’.

The Mini Vinnie Pledge

As a member of Mini Vinnies, I promise to make a difference to my world by:

Caring for, respecting and loving myself

Strengthening my friendship with Jesus by talking to him each day and talking to
others about him


Caring for others in my school and community by being a friend to those who are alone,
in need or in trouble


Making my family happy by my help, respect and showing kindness and consideration

Caring for and enjoying God’s world

Treating others, the way I would like them to treat me
The Mini Vinnie Prayer

Lord, thank you for our gifts and talents.

Lord, show us who needs our help.

Lord, use our hands to help those who are hungry.

Lord, open our hearts to love and comfort those who are sad and lonely.

Lord, let us share our time, gifts and talents with those in need.

Lord, help us to care for the sick.

Lord, may we all help and support each

other as Mini Vinnies to build a better world.  Amen

Our Commissioning Ceremony

Our members were commissioned in 2021-2022, during a special service on Friday 4th February, when they confirmed their pledge to the society, received their certificate and a blessing from Fr. Eamonn.

 

We are now looking forward to seeing how our Mini Vinnies put their faith into action, encouraging others also, to support those

who are less fortunate than ourselves.

OUR MISSION

Batley Food Bank Appeal

Humanitarian Crisis in Ukraine

We are extremely proud of one of our Mini Vinnies Laryssa, who carried out a bucket collection outside Asda for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine as part of her Mini Vinnies role. Collectively, across the week an amazing £883 was raised. Being of Ukrainian descent, Laryssa has been part of a number of fundraising activities as well as collected donations to help assist the refugees.

The wider group were also keen to get involved and turned our concern into action by extending our Batley Food Bank food collection day to include a request for donations to help Ukrainians fleeing from the Russian invasion.

We had an amazing response to our dual appeal and the donations can give hope to people in the darkest of times!

OUR PREVIOUS MISSIONS

Virtues to live by...

The Mini Vinnies have had an important role in the development of our character education here at school, the implementation of "virtues to live by"  - understanding how to be the very best versions of ourselves through how we behave.

We used the life of Saint Patrick as an inspiration for the main virtues and then thought about which other virtues we felt are in the same family. Below you will see a new piece off artwork that we have in our hall to inspire us to act like Saint Patrick and be the very best version of ourselves.

 

Helping the community during the Coronavirus pandemic

During the lockdown and school closure our pupils have been writing letters to the residents of the local residential home in Birstall. They were emailed to our Headteacher and sent to the home on a Friday morning. We hoped that by sending the residents a letter every Friday we would bring a smile to their faces and show them that we are all thinking about them. We recognise that it must be hard to not have your family around you.

We hope that this small action will have brought about some smiles at coffee time!

Cards for the Sick of the Parish

We made 'Thinking of you Cards' and sent them to the sick of the Parish, to make them aware that they are in the thoughts and prayers of the school.

The Development of a New School Motto

We had an important role in deciding our child-friendly school motto, which we launched in January 2018.

Mass for Mini Vinnies celebrated by The Right Reverend Marcus Stock Bishop of Leeds

We attend the annual Mass for Mini Vinnies which is held at St. Anne's Cathedral in Leeds, celebrated by The Right Reverend Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds.