Say hello to the new Presidents of our Mini Vinnies!They will lead the rest of the Mini Vinnies on their Mission, throughout the year! How fabulous are they! 🙏💕🙏 We look forward to seeing them lead their team throughout this academic year! Congratulations girls; truly well deserved! 💕💕

We had a great time with the members of the SVP this morning; coffee in the town! 🥳The Mini Vinnies shared all the plans to support the homeless in our community during the next half term! 🙏💕🙏 Thank you to the staff at Costa for making us so welcome! 

Mini Vinnies turn their concern into action! 💕 We raised funds for the thousands of people in Syria & Turkey, who have died, with many more injured in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
 

All of the staff & the children wore their own clothes and donated £1 each & families donated cakes for the children to sell in school. All funds raised, will be sent to the aid relief to support the survivors and their families. 
 

Every prayer, every gift, every action brings hope to people hit by disaster. 🙏💕

What a beautiful celebration of the Eucharist at Family Mass, with all the Mini Vinnies & the members of the SVP this morning! 🙏💕🙏 It was truly a wonderful show of solidarity.

Ava, Emmie and Amelia, all spoke so eloquently about not only their joy at being in our school, but about the faith & their Mission; called by God to carry out his good work, by Turning Concern into Action! 🙏💕🙏

It was such a privilege to listen to them describe the how important their OLSK journey has made them into the great Disciples of Christ that they are! 🥰 
 

Thank you all who joined us for such a special event, especially little Vinnie & his family💕💕 Thank you to all our children who read so beautifully- you were amazing! 

Thank you to our amazing team of Mini Vinnies, who organised a Super Hero Fundraising Day on Friday 27th January 2023,  for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital 🙏💕🙏 The children’s hospital is very close up our hear because our little mascot, Vinnie, has had life saving surgery to mend his broken heart there! 💔 We want to show our gratitude to all the doctors & nurses who cared for him! 💕💕💕

We had such a fun packed day & everyone loved it, including all the staff! 🙏💕🙏 #inspireintoaction  

Wow!! Look how our group has grown! We now have more & more children wanting to change the world by joining our Mini Vinnie Team!! 
They live and breathe our Gospel Virtues, following our Mission Statement by ‘Turning Concern into Action’! 
 

They are very busy planning all their activities, including meeting the members of our parish SVP, for coffee ( maybe squash & biscuits) in the Town Centre! 🙏💕🙏

Say hello to our new Mini Vinnie Presidents! They’ve already begun their work ‘Turning Concern into Action’, working across the school to support Mrs F & the staff💕 We look forward to seeing them lead their team & supporting those less fortunate than ourselves! 

The latest edition of Vincentian Concern has been published and our Mini Vinnies get a nice mention. Details here https://www.svp.org.uk/sites/default/files/content/Publications/Vincentian%2069%20Summer22-Final.pdf

We were delighted to welcome Vinnie, his mom and Aunty Julie to school today. He has grown so much! We haven't seen him in school since the pandemic but we have kept him & his lovely family in our prayers during this time. 

Vinnie is in YR in his own school but he loved our school and especially our outdoor area & forest school. He really enjoyed meeting Elma, our Dog Mentor, and loved spending time with all the Mini Vinnies in school. He congratulated them on their award and gave them all sweets to celebrate.

Please visit us again Vinnie! 

Great news! 💙 I am pleased to report that our Mini Vinnies have been awarded a Certificate of Merit by Her Majesty the Queen's Lord Lieutenant for the West Midlands for their efforts!  So proud! From Mrs F 💕 & everyone at OLSK! 

Today, our Mini Vinnies went shopping in Halesowen, to stock up on goodies for our school shop! 🛍We had a great time planning what we wanted to buy & working out costs; profit & loss! 🙏💙🙏 

Then this afternoon, Mike Weaver, from our Parish SVP, came to meet with us to hear all about our fundraising ideas to support those less fortunate than ourselves; including Naughty Elf Day! 🙏🤣💙🤣🙏 

Say hello to our Mini Vinnies 2021.

We have had a number of new children join our very successful team this year; they are truly welcome!

We also welcome our newly appointed Mini Vinnie Presidents; they are already doing a great job and we know that they will support us and follow our Mission.

Look at our super hero, Mini Vinnie on his first day at school. Please keep him in your prayers as he awaits a new heart.

Look who’s made it into the  newspaper today! Our very own little Mini Vinnie, is raising awareness about organ donation! 💕🙏💕 Please keep him and his family in your prayers 🙏 Organ donation is a very sensitive topic, and it takes one life to save another! We pray for all people who have lost a loved one in these circumstances, who have donated their loved ones organs, to save lives! 🙏💕🙏

Dear Mrs Finnegan & all the Mini Vinnies,

I hope that the end of this year finds you and your family in good health and good spirits. 

I believe that you are aware that, in recognition and appreciation for your school's great efforts in supporting Tabitha during our recent campaign, funds for a water well in Cambodia were donated in honour of your school. The well has now been completed, and attached please find a picture of that well. (Apologies that the lighting is not optimal!)

It strikes me as important to explain the context of the well picture, as it may be interpreted as "just a pipe sticking out of the ground."  The funds for creating the well go toward digging deep into the ground to the water table and completing the well with a pipe up to the surface. That is what the picture shows.  In order to access the water for drinking and/or irrigation, a (petrol-powered) pump is needed.  This is a separate expense that the villagers bear, and it is common for villages to share use of a single pump which is moved between several wells.  The pump is not shown in the picture.  Sometimes a hand-pump is used as well.

A gift of water is often called the "gift of life" due to its huge impact on the daily life of villagers.  The first well in a village often means eliminating a several-hours-long walk to the nearest water source.  And it goes without saying what having clean drinking water and water for irrigating crops year-round can do in improving health and self-sufficiency.

In any case, please let me close by once again thanking you for your support of Tabitha.  We wish you all the best for a happy and healthy 2021.

Warm Regards,

Jeff Spaeth - Chair, Tabitha 

Our Mini Vinnies have donated money to support the SVP in their Mission this Christmas! It is lovely to be able to offer support and Christian fellowship to homeless men and women in Birmingham! 🙏💕🙏 Archbishop Bernard led the team through Birmingham City centre, offering clothes & hot drinks to the homeless people; what a lovely way to serve in the footsteps of the Lord! 🙏💕🙏

Please keep in your prayers over the next couple of days; our very own Mini Vinnie; who is going into hospital tomorrow to hopefully mend his broken heart! 🙏💕🙏 His family are extremely worried about him at this time! 😟 They also need our prayers to ask for courage to stay strong! 🙏💕🙏 May the Lord watch over him whilst he is in hospital! 
 

Today, all the staff & children wore their pyjamas to school, to raise funds for the Tabitha Foundation. The whole day was organised by the Y6 Mini Vinnies. They also organised a Lucky Dip and opened the Mini Vinnie Shop. 🤪😆🤗💕😃😝
 

Look at how fabulous everyone looks in their pyjamas ❤️🌈🙏💕😊 What an amazing group of young people they are. Thank you for all your hard work, love from Mrs F 💕💕💕

Congratulations to Zoe & Ava- Mae, who have just been elected as our new President & Vice President of our Mini Vinnies. All the children cheered when their names were announce; we are thrilled for them both. Congratulations girls, you truly deserve these jobs. ❤️🌈💕🙏😊

Happy Feast Day of St Vincent de Paul!

This coming Sunday is the 27^th September, the feast day of St Vincent de Paul. We have a variety of resources for you to engage with and a selection of virtual Masses at St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham, over the weekend.

We wish you a very holy and happy feast day!

Masses:

Four masses are being held over the weekend. On Saturday 26^th September we have two Masses at 12 noon and 2pm, then on Sunday 27^th September we have Masses at 10am and 12 noon. You can join us by visiting the link here: https://www.stchadscathedral.org.uk

Resources:

We have produced some brand-new resources over the past few weeks to help you reflect and learn more about the life of St Vincent de Paul.

-        Life of St Vincent de Paul resource sheet: https://www.svp.org.uk/sites/default/files/content/The%20Life%20of%20St%20Vincent%20de%20Paul_0.pdf

-        Life of St Vincent de Paul recorded reflection: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV1Sl30ALL4&feature=emb_title

Prayer:

Thank you, Father, for the life and example of St Vincent de Paul. With his help, we pray that we may see your Son, Jesus, in everyone we meet and remember it is Him we truly serve. Amen

(Taken from the brand-new Mini Vinnies Prayer Book)

Again, we wish you a very blessed and joyous feast day. Please let us know if you are planning to do anything special this year, we would love to hear about it.

Many blessings,

We are proud to announce our new Mini Vinnie Presidents and their Deputy! They have a mighty task ahead of them this year; supporting the SVP in our school Parish! Congratulations to Lily, Scarlet & Max!! 🙏💕

🙏

Mini Vinnies have been shopping today and bought all their stock, ready for when they open their shop next Friday! How exciting! 🙏😊🙏

All of the profits, will go to supporting the homeless people in our local community of Halesowen. Please support them; they have done wonderful items on sale- you will find them in the playground every Friday, starting next week! 💕💕

Today, we handed over our donations of £200 to Mike Weaver, who represents the SVP in our OLSK Parish! A group of SVP members from our parish, hit the road in June to help raise funds for Fatima House. We held a non uniform day to help with the fundraising! 🙏💕🙏

The Mini Vinnies have been busy this week preparing for their Lenten Fundraising activities. They have been brainstorming all the children’s ideas about how to  ‘Turn concern into Action’ this Lent, & raise funds for some very good causes. 

They have decided one very special cause is to support the members of the SVP in the Parish, with their mission to raise funds for the very much needed van, that distributes all the food from the Food-bank, to the people who need it! 

They have decided to hold a pyjama day in school for children & staff. They are hoping that everyone will take part to raise funds for this wonderful cause. 

Another project, which is very close to their heart is, inviting all the children in school to make religious Easter cards for all the parishioners in our Parish! They had a huge response last year & again at Christmas so they have decided to repeat it again this year.

Please support them them in their mission! 

Other ideas include: 

walking a mile for the 40 days of lent

coin trail for each class

OLSK Mini Vinnie Bake Off

and many more! 

OLSK Mini Vinnies hand over the money, which they raised to support the homeless people in Halesowen, to Mike Weaver from Our Lady & St Kenelm SVP.

They have been extremely busy this term, organising their Christmas Card Appeal, for the housebound, homeless and lonely parishioners in our Parish.

Many children responded to their call ‘Turning Concern into Action’ and supported this wonderful cause. Thank you to all those who responded to their call & to the Mini Vinnies for all their hard work.

OLSK Mini Vinnies make their commitment to supporting the work

of SVP by reciting their Pledge in our Whole School commitment Mass.

Fr Bruce, our Parish Priest led them in their Misson and handed them a certificate at the end of Mass. Staff, Governors, parents and parishioners congratulate them as they continue their work by 'Turning concern into Action.' Members of the SVP at OLSK Church came to support them with their pledge.

 Congratulations to all existing Mini Vinnies and to our new members Annabelle, Lucy & Maisie.

Tonight in Church, the Presidents, Izzy & Sophie, along with their Vice President, Dominica, shared all that they have achieved and their planned Summer Term Project; OLSK Bake Off, with the members of the Parish at their termly SVP Meeting. 

They were invited to the meeting by Mike Weaver, who leads the SVP in Church, to share their ideas. The girls prepared a speech to read at the meeting, to celebrate all that they have achieved so far. The children in school are really committed to their Vocation; Turning Concern Into Action; and have pledged to raise enough money to buy gifts for the children at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. 

Mrs Finnegan stated; “These girls are so passionate about their Mission, and in turn, they pass this enthusiasm to all the other children in school. They are driven by the need to make a change; make a difference, and we couldn’t be any prouder of them.” Well done girls! 🙏🙂🙏

Today, some members of our Mini Vinnies travelled up to Our Lady of Fatima, in Quinton, to talk to their children about all the wonderful work we have been doing over this last year.

We had a very warm welcome form Mrs Harlow and her Mini Vinnies; when we then sat together to celebrate all our achievements and listen to how they’re getting on since they first started, earlier this year. We learnt such a lot from each other and we came a way with some great ideas, including an idea of hosting pyjama day, to raise further funds for the SVP. 

We we made some new friends on our visit and we look forward to welcoming them to OLSK before the end of term. Thank you to Mrs Harlow and the children for making us really welcome in their lovely school and sharing their squash & biscuits with us. Thanks to Izzy, for baking yummy cakes to present to them before the meeting. What a truly wonderful morning, sharing all our God given talents and supporting the SVP; Turning concern into Action. 

Our wonderful Mini Vinnies from Y6 went on a shopping trip today, to purchase crafts, stationery and gifts, with the money raised from the Mini Vinnie Bake Off.

The girls organised the whole trip, knowing which shops to go to, for the best purchases, which made great financial sense; & they only took Mrs F with them to pay the bill. Lol 😂 

All of the gifts will be taken to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital in the next few weeks, to support the children who are in hospital.

Thank you to all the children & parents who gave so generously and to those who took part in the Bake Off. 

Dear young people, do not bury your talents, the gifts that God has given you. Do not be afraid to dream of great things" Pope Francis

The Young Vincentians' Mission begins with the 7 to 11 age group (the Mini Vinnies). They are the youngest members of the St Vincent de Paul Society. With the permission of their parents and the support of their teachers, the children are encouraged to embark on their first steps as possible 'Vincentians for life'.

Mini Vinnies (MVs) gather and pray together at school, talk about those around them who need our help and think of ways they can help those people. MVs each get pledge and prayer cards, badges, certificates and membership handbook.

Based on the Gospel readings spiritual reflections provide suggestions and creative ideas of putting the Gospel into practice through "see", "think" and "do".

​Mini Vinnies' 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

To Be a Mini Vinnie

A Promise & a Prayer.

We have been chosen to follow Jesus.

Using the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit

We commit ourselves to Him & one another,

To work, learn & pray together,

To do nothing alone that we can do better together.

To serve the needy.

Amen

Mini Vinnies at Our Lady & St KenelmPrimary, in Halesowen, have their own little mascot to support them in their mission.

Miracle baby saved by surgeons who fitted him with a 'hand-made heart' is our own little ‘Mini Vinnie’.

Vinnie Holliday born with half a heart and had a life-saving operation at Birmingham Children's Hospital

He was diagnosed with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) while still in the womb and needed open-heart surgery just 24 hours after being delivered.

Surgeons at Birmingham Children’s Hospital ‘rewired’ his heart to construct a new aorta - to allow the right side of his heart to pump blood round the body.

Vinnie is now 7 months old and his parents have agreed for him to be our own little mascot. Our first fundraiser is going to be for the Birmingham children’s Hospital to enable them to continue their amazing work and look after Vinnie, and others like him, as he grows up.

On his visit to school, the Presidents, Izzy and Sophie, from Y5, presented him with his Mini Vinnie badge, certificate, pledge card and prayer card.