ISSUE 19: June 22nd, 2023

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students & Friends

As I mentioned last week, a big thank you to all families for your partnership and support throughout this term.  Wishing you a safe, happy and relaxing two week break.

Mark has enjoyed his Enrichment Leave, spending time in London and Ireland.  He will return at the beginning of next term.

Term Three Begins - Monday 10th July  

Term Three commences for all staff and students on Monday, 10th July.

Farewell - Ms Bianca Niutta & Miss Isabella Vartuli

We farewell two staff members in Ms Bianca Niutta & Miss Isabella Vartuli today. Ms Niutta, her husband Scott and their son Ted are relocating to Ballarat in the next couple of weeks, whilst preparing for their newest addition to the clan.  We thank Ms Niutta for her great contribution to our school community over the last four years and in particular her work as Teaching & Learning Leader over the past 12 months.  All the best to you and your family Ms Niutta!  Miss Vartuli is heading off on some overseas adventures.  We thank Miss Vartuli for her work supporting middle unit classes and students over the last two terms.  Good luck Miss Vartuli!  

Parent Teacher Meetings 

Meetings were well attended on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.  Thanks to parents for taking the time to meet with classroom teachers to have purposeful conversations about the progress of your children and their goals heading into Term Three. 

Semester One School Reports 

As most would be aware, Semester One School Reports can now be viewed via PAM.  Please contact the school office if you are having trouble locating these.

School Fees

Just a reminder to parents that it's getting to the middle of the year and families who have chosen to pay their school fees over the year, will need to be aware that at least half of the fees are now due and the remainder must be finalised by 14th September.  If you have any queries please contact Mrs Mary Avery in the office.

Assembly 

Thank you to our Student Leadership Team for hosting today’s Assembly.  Our first Assembly for Term Three will be held on Friday, 14th July.  All welcome to attend.

Have a greek break!

God bless

Ryan O’Callaghan

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Religious Education

2023 Sacramental Dates

Please note the change of date for First Eucharist.

First Eucharist

Parent Information Evening - Wednesday 6th September 2023 @ 7pm SH Church 

Sacrament of First Eucharist - Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd October 2023

Reconciliation

Parent Information Evening - Wednesday 11th October 2023 7pm SH Church 

Sacrament of Reconciliation - Wednesday 22nd November 2023 7pm SH Church

Learning and Teaching News

Structured Literacy

As mentioned in a previous newsletter, Sacred Heart is changing the way we deliver literacy instruction at school. This year is significant for staff as they undertake professional learning to become more aware of current evidence and best practice in this area. We are making small changes over the course of this year before really undertaking significant shifts next year. Some changes you may notice include a move away from levelled take home books, a focus on sentence level writing rather than whole compositions, phonics instruction in the junior years and the incorporation of knowledge rich content (geography, history, science etc) in reading and writing tasks. 

Structured Literacy is an approach to teaching, not a program to be followed and we are undertaking this change with the support of DOBCEL and Catholic Education Support Staff, Breeana Wade & Emma Rutherford. As this is undertaken in partnership with the Sunlit Project and Latrobe University our students’ literacy data will be used. A note regarding this was sent out on SIMON and is attached here for your perusal should you have missed it. 

 Learning & Teaching Leader Role

From next term, Kailla Coffey will become the Learning and Teaching Leader at Sacred Heart. Should you have any curriculum or report related queries, please feel free to contact her kcoffey@shmildura.catholic.edu.au or organise a time to meet with her.

Learning Diversity

Wellbeing Dog - Coco visited the classrooms on Thursday and Friday morning, this week. She is becoming more accustomed to being on the school grounds and looks to be more at ease with the smells, noises and general business of the school. Coco will be onsite, beginning two days a week from term 3. She is now fully vaccinated and will continue to be trained via her primary career and a core group of teachers in the school. We thank PetStock, her sponsors for donating grooming equipment and Puppy School.

Individual Learning Plans (ILP) - All students who have an ILP have had their term 2 goals and evidence of progress discussed with those parents who attend either the Program Support Group (PSG) meeting or the Parent/Teacher Interview. Term 3 goals were also communicated to parents. If you were unable to make the Parent/Teacher Interview, your child’s evidence of progress and term 3 goals will be sent out to you to review via email. Thank you for your ongoing support in this area of learning.

For the information of parents - EACH provides a range of health, disability and mental health services across Australia. Some of the services that each provides that are applicable to families are: NDIS, Health and Wellness, Child, Youth and Family Services, Mental Health Services and Counselling.   EACH

The NDIS provides funding to eligible people with disability to gain more time with family and friends, greater independence, access to new skills, jobs, or volunteering in their community, and an improved quality of life. 

The NDIS also connects anyone with disability to services in their community.

This includes connections to doctors, community groups, sporting clubs, support groups, libraries and schools, as well as providing information about what support is provided by each state and territory government.

The NDIS now supports over 500,000 Australians with disability to access the services and supports they need.

This includes supporting approximately 80,000 children with developmental delay, ensuring they receive supports early so that they achieve the best outcomes throughout their lives.

If you are aged 7 - 65, a local area coordinator can help you understand the NDIS, apply and connect with other government and community supports. 

If you have a child aged under 7, an early childhood partner can provide support to children before they apply and let families know if the NDIS is right for their child. 

Prep Unit News

Congratulations on a successful term parents and students. We hope that your break is restful and enjoyable. Enjoy some photos of our learning this week! 

At the beginning of term 3 and in preparation for our Religious Education learning each child will be bringing home a note that will need to be completed and returned to school on Friday 14th July (we will be using this worksheet in our next Religion lesson).

Term 3 brings our Sacred Heart Athletics Day (don’t forget to keep training during the holidays), Grandparents Day, Book Week, Father’s Day and much, much more. We are looking forward to experiencing all the excitement the next Term has to offer.  

Today your child has brought home their holiday reading, please continue to keep a regular routine of reading each night and practising our sounds, blending and tricky words. Continue to write sentences and keep refining your child’s fine motor development.

 We wish everyone a safe and happy break and look forward to seeing you all back in Term 3.

Junior Unit News

What a fantastic Semester One we have had! It has been fabulous seeing our students blossom academically and grow in confidence.  

Our Feast Day hamburgers were also a huge hit with some students even going back for seconds! Students flourished in their family group activities and actively participated in a variety of enjoyable experiences throughout the day. 

Students are encouraged to read over the holidays to enhance their current abilities. It's also a great way to maintain routine, build on vocabulary and identify tricky words.

We greatly appreciate the time taken by many families to collaborate with us through our recent Parent Teacher Interviews.  It was rewarding sharing your child's social, emotional and academic growth. The partnership between school and families is highly valued and we look forward to working and celebrating together again in Semester Two. 

Wishing you all a restful, memorable and happy holiday time with you child/ren. 

We look forward to seeing our Junior Unit students back at school on Monday 10th July ready for another term of fun and learning.

Middle Unit News

Well done to all Middle Unit students on a fantastic Term of learning. Thank you so much to the parents who came in and discussed their children’s learning this week during our Parent Teacher Interviews. If you haven’t already, we strongly encourage you to read your child’s report with them and celebrate their successes and discuss possible goals for Semester 2. We hope everyone has a restful break and we look forward to seeing everyone back at school in Term 3.

Year 4 Towels for Science

Year 4 students are asked to please bring along a towel in Week 1 of Term 3 for Science. We will be creating a mountain range using towels as layers so any type of towel will work. Please ensure your child’s towel is clearly named.

Senior Unit News

Well done everyone on a great Term 2! Have a safe and healthy holiday!

A reminder to Parents to make sure you have given consent on PAM for the year 6 camp and all medical details are up to date.

Library News

Narrative Art Library Session:

This week’s library session saw two Year 5 students, Ivy Hards and Polly Ryan, use puppetry during Myalla’s story telling. 

The enthusiastic students pleasantly surprised their classmates with an engaging style of using a puppet and other props as they read the picture storybook, There was an old lady who swallowed the sea. 

The audience was captivated by the display of confident storytelling using puppetry.

When the suggestion was raised to the energetic and creative Ivy and Polly to put on a ‘puppet show’, they accepted the challenge without hesitation and with only a short time to practise.

The performance was outstanding, and Myalla enjoyed something different for library time. Their teacher, Mrs Kotsiakos, was impressed with how her class supported and enjoyed the interactive narrative using puppetry. 

Well done to Ivy and Polly, for their creative determination and to the rest of Myalla for being such a receptive audience.

Scholastic Book Club News:

Issue #4

The much-anticipated Issue #4 orders were sent home with students during the week. A big thank you to those who support Scholastic Book Club for SHPS because your contribution of approximately $36 in Scholastic Rewards will fund a variety of new books for the library for students to enjoy.

Thank you for supporting the students’ reading welfare and the SHPS library.

Holiday News:

The students could borrow extra books to set them up for the holidays if they wanted to. Most students accepted the invitation and were excited to choose from a big selection of picture storybooks, novels, graphic (comic) novels and non-fiction.

Please note that all books are due the first library session/first week of Term 3 to guarantee that each student can continue to borrow.

Happy and safe holidays! 

Ms Zema at azema@shmildura.catholic.edu.au

Principal's Awards

Congratulations and well done to our Term 2 Principal's award recipients!

What an achievement! 

Prep - Harper Campisi

Year 1 -  Archie Evans                                          Year 4 - Stella Brown

Year 2 -   Vivianna Ficarra                                  Year 5 - Tyler Notting

Year 3 -  Imogen Stafford                                   Year 6 - Jackson Avery

Student of the Week Awards

Ray White Positive Behaviour Awards