Mini-Vinnies

Who are the Mini Vinnies?

Mini Vinnies’ is the name given to the St Vincent de Paul group for primary-aged children. At Holy Family, when pupils reach Year 5, they become members of Mini Vinnies. With the principles of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) at the heart of everything we do, we meet regularly to organise and run initiatives that help those in need within our school community, the local area and nationally.

What happens at a Mini Vinnies' meeting?

Miss McNulty, the Year 5 teacher, co-ordinates the group, offering help and advice to support our ideas.

Each meeting follows a simple structure:

The President opens the meeting with a prayer.
This is followed by a short spiritual reading, reflection, piece of music or meditation.
Members then discuss activities that have taken place since the last meeting and share future plans, deciding on actions to take forward.
Finally, we share our ideas with the rest of the school, encouraging everyone to support and get involved.

2025-2026:

We have appointed our President, Vice President, Prayer Lead, Treasurer and our new role of Display Lead for Mini Vinnies this year.

President: Sophia
Vice President: Sarah
Prayer Lead: Joseph
Treasurer: Arlene
Display Lead: Minnie

Reverse Advent Calendar

For our first big event this year, we wanted to give back to our local community. We therefore teamed up with our School Council to launch the Reverse Advent Calendar.

The idea is simple: instead of opening a door and receiving something, we open a door and give!

We set ourselves the goal of creating seven ‘Christmases in a Box’ to give to families in our local community who may be finding this time of year difficult, or who might not be able to enjoy many treats during the festive season. We decorated seven boxes and presented one to each class, explaining what the project was all about.

From then on, it was up to each class to organise their Advent donations — and WOW, you were incredibly generous!

Our hearts are so full. We never imagined such an amazing response from our wonderful families. Not only did we fill seven boxes, but we kept going until we had filled double that amount… yes, that’s right — fourteen boxes in total!

Mini Vinnies

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2024-2025:

Mini-Vinnies ‘Book Swap’

Helping to ensure that everyone at Holy Family has access to quality reading materials, our wonderful Mini Vinnies organised another of their popular ‘Book Swap’ events. All pupils were encouraged to bring in a book that they no longer needed and exchange it for a new ‘good read’ at no cost. The entire event was planned and co-ordinated by the pupils themselves, inspired by the belief that ‘Reading is King’ at Holy Family and determined to make sure that everyone has equal access to books.

‘Book Swaps’ take place regularly at Holy Family. Their aim is to ensure that all pupils can enjoy quality reading texts, even when families may not be able to afford to purchase them. After all, at Holy Family, ‘Reading is King’!

Through this initiative, we are living out the Catholic Social Teaching principles of the Preferential Option for the Poor, Solidarity and the Common Good.

Book Swap

'Open a Door' - The Pope's Jubilee Year - Pilgrims of Hope:

This project encourages us to reflect on ways we can bring hope and kindness into our community

Entering someone’s space requires an invitation and an open door. In this Jubilee year the Holy Door in Rome was opened inviting everyone to become pilgrims of Hope. A pilgrimage is a journey filled with the expectation of encountering God and this year Mini Vinnies want to remind us that behind every door we open and every doorway we enter we should anticipate meeting God

Every day Mini Vinnies members step through the doors of those in need of care and support and friendship and hope. Through small acts of generosity and compassion we can all make a meaningful difference to everyone we meet

Each month Mini Vinnies will share a new prayer and a special door to open in every class symbolising an opportunity to help others and grow in faith. Keep an eye on our class page to see all the wonderful things we will be doing in school and in the community during this pilgrimage year

During the Month of February:

In St Anthony's class, we have created beautiful pictures that will be sent to the local care home to spread the message of love and community. Our hope is that these pictures will bring a smile to the faces of the residents, to let them know they are not alone and that we are thinking of them.