The Mini Vinnies is a children's group set up by the St Vincent de Paul Society which encourages our young people aged 7-11 to begin on their journey to become possible "Vincentians for Life".  Following in the "footsteps of Christ and St Vincent de Paul", the SVP is  an international Christian voluntary organisation dedicated to tackling poverty in all its forms by providing practical assistance to people in need. 

At St Simon's, the Mini Vinnies was set up in 2023 by Kacper, Hanoc, Bernice and Kavithan for all Key Stage 2 pupils who are inspired to turn their concern for our neighbours in the local community and beyond into action!

Currently we meet in Year 5 on Thursdays from 12:45.  We begin our meetings by saying the special Mini-Vinnies Prayer, reading a chosen scripture and reflecting upon what the words mean to us.  We pray for all those who are in need and discuss ways in which we can actively help them.  We raised our first small amount of money by running a stall at the Christmas Fayre.  We will use this money to take us forward into 2024 with our future endeavours.

Our mission for the New Year is to support our own Reception Class children with settling into life at St Simon's and supporting and nurturing their spiritual growth through playing and praying with them; being ambassadors for Christ's love.

We are also currently seeking local projects to get involved with - we are especially keen to do a sponsored walk to raise money and awareness for our friends in need.

We welcome ideas and suggestions of who and how we could help and welcome any new members in KS2.

A very Happy and Blessed New Year to you all.

Hanoc (Chairperson) and the Mini-Vinnies.

Term 5

In Term 5, we have been thinking about how to help the lonely in our playground, classes and community. In our meetings, we have been debating what we can do to support those people, and try to include more people in meetings and activities. If you have any suggestions, feel free to come and tell one of the Mini Vinnies!

Hanoc and Oscar are leading Mini-Vinnies at St Simon's School.

Bernice is secretary.

We have had lots of new members join this term and all are welcome.