The Mini Vinnies are quite literally mini St. Vincent de Paul’s.

At St Bernadette's, our Mini Vinnie group is made up of pupils across KS2. They come together weekly to form a part of the St. Vincent de Paul Society England and Wales, a voluntary organisation dedicated to tackling poverty in all its forms. When Mini Vinnies meet, we pray and discuss ways in which can to help make a difference in our communities. 

Our Mini Vinnies truly turn concern into action as they use the simple formula of ‘see, think, do’ to find people in need and help them. Ways in which we helped our school and our community in 2022-23 include: 

• Running food collections for our local foodbank
• Provided calming boxes in each classroom in or school 
• We all grew £1. We used our best entrepreneurial skills and turned it into £1.89. We then donated this money between two of our chosen, local charities - Daft as a Brush and Walking With. 

In Autumn tern 2022 we plan to:

• Carry out a litter pick at the Rising Sun country park  
• Work closely with our Eco Club to contribute to their quest to gain Eco school status 
• Organise a visit from the Police so that we can find out what is happening in our community and decide how we might be able to help. 
• Our Staff leaders, Mrs Collins and Mrs Calboutin-Walker are attending a training event with Mrs Walker, our school SENDco, to see if we can support our school in achieving 'Sanctuary status.'
• We would also like to develop a Mini Vinnie newsletter, so we can share our work more efficiently.