ISSUE 26: 25th, August 2023

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students and Friends

Welcome to this week's newsletter.  

Father’s Day Stall

Our Father’s Day Stall will be held on Friday 1st September and students will be able to purchase an item from the stall for $5. Parents can make payment through CDF Pay (which has been set up) or some may choose to bring in cash. Children will come as a class to the stall and choose from a range of items that will be available. If you are free and would like to help we will require parent helpers on the stall between 8:30am & 11am, please contact the office and leave your contact details and the time you are available. 

Kinder Visits

Kinder Visits are happening over the next two weeks for our 2024 Preps.  Staff from Sacred Heart will visit our new students in their Kindergarten setting.

Work Experience

We welcome work experience student Gabby Strangio to Sacred Heart this week.  Gabby is currently in Year 11 at SJC.  Gabby will visit a range of classes throughout the week.

PSG Meetings

PSG Meetings are being held this Tuesday 29th August, Wednesday 30th August, Thursday 31st August and Friday 1st September in the Boardroom.

School Sports Victoria (SSV) Division Mini Olympics

Good luck to the students who will be participating at the School Sports Victoria (SSV) Division Mini Olympics at the Aerodrome Ovals on Thursday 31st August.

Year Two Sleepover (Thursday)

The Year Two Sleepover is being held this Thursday 31st August followed by offsite activities on Friday 1st September.  We wish our Year Two students all the best for a fun and enjoyable experience.

Book Week

We were all so impressed to see our students dressed up today to celebrate Book Week. Congratulations to both our students and parents for organising these costumes to make the day special.  Thank you to Ms Zema (Library) for her planning and organisation.

Parish Mass - Yongana

We have Yongana participating in the Parish Mass at the church this Wednesday 30th August. This celebration will begin at 9.30am and parents are welcome to attend.

Assembly - Bundaleer

Thank you to Mrs Collins, Mrs Coffey & Ms Zema for hosting our Book Week Assembly.  Looking ahead, our next Assembly will be hosted by Bundaleer. We invite parents to join us in the Stadium at 2:30 pm on Friday.

Finalising school numbers 

It is at this time of year that we begin to forecast how many students will be attending our school in 2024. These forecasts are very important as it tells us how many classes will be required for 2024. This of course impacts on how many teachers we need and how many classrooms we need. Subsequently, I ask that all parents advise me if children will be leaving Sacred Heart at the end of this year. Thank you.

School Hats

Please ensure children start returning school hats to school as they need to be worn at recess and lunch from 1st September.

SWPBIS Acceptance Focus

Well done to all students on your efforts to show ACCEPTANCE in all aspects of learning this week.  Staff will continue to teach these expected behaviours, provide regular reminders for students and acknowledge students who are demonstrating ACCEPTANCE in both the classroom and the yard.  Our commendations continue to accumulate.  We are currently only 29 points away from reaching our target of 2000. This has been a fantastic effort considering we have been only tallying points for three weeks now.

As this is the first time we have reached our 2,000 target students will be given a special opportunity on Thursday to watch well renowned performance group Backflips Against Bullying at school.  The group perform engaging scenarios using incredible acrobats, and then break it down by speaking with the students and discussing each scenario to reinforce the message.  The group will focus on the following:

• Empowering the bystander
• Exit strategies for victims
• Deliberate social exclusion
• The consequences of retaliation
• Whole school action against bullying.

This is a fantastic opportunity that will further reinforce our Acceptance focus.

School Sports Victoria (SSV) Division Golf

Division Golf was held today at the Mildura Golf Club.  Well done to Daisy Barber, Henry Guthrie, Oliver Hobbs, Harvey O’Brien, Jesse Sinclair, Lacie Coffey & Cooper Bush who represented the school at this event.  Well done to Lacie who finished second in the girls competition.

School Sports Victoria (SSV) - District Summer Sports

Congratulations to our Basketball and Softball  teams who competed at the District level this week.  All teams have qualified for the Division Finals.  Thank you to the teams for displaying good sportsmanship against their opponents and to the staff who coached the students.

Year One Stayback

Congratulations to our Year One students who had their stayback yesterday and participated in offsite activities and had dinner at school.  Thank you to Mrs Groves, Mrs Moore, Mrs Sherry, Miss Huddleston and Mrs Scott who supervised students during the stayback and to the Prep and Year Two teachers for helping with preparation of tea and activities.

God Bless!

Mark Gibson

Father's Day Stall

Our Father’s Day Stall will be held on Friday 1^st September and students will be able to purchase a gift from the stall for $5. Parents can make payment through CDF Pay or some may choose to bring in cash. Children will come as a class to the stall and choose from a range of items that will be available. If you are free and would like to help we will require parent helpers on the stall between 8.30am – 11am please contact the office and leave your contact details and the time you are available. All money raised is used to purchase resources for your children.

Religious Education

2023 Sacramental Dates

First Eucharist - Year 4 & Above

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

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

PLEASE NOTE - First Eucharist registration forms (blue) have been sent home with all Year Four students this week. Registration must be completed and handed in at the Parish Office by Tuesday, 5th September. If you have a child in Year 5 or 6 who is wishing to receive this Sacrament please contact the school office for a registration form. Please contact the school or email Ryan O’Callaghan (ryocallaghan@shmildura.catholic.edu.au) if you have any questions.

Reconciliation - Year 2 & Above

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

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

Learning and Teaching News

Book Week 2023

Book Week is an opportunity to draw attention to the joy of reading and advocating for stories in children’s lives. This is the reason behind this year’s CBCA Children’s Book Week theme: Read, Grow, Inspire. Storybooks are extremely powerful in teaching children how to deal with various issues such as friendships, mindset, grief and bullying. Children can see themselves in book characters, which helps make the message feel real. Parents don’t need to expect that a reading session will be a literacy lesson. Allow children to explore books, look at the pictures, have a discussion and make connections from the book to themselves.

The benefits of reading with your child for language development

The benefits of reading with children of all ages for their language (and general) development cannot be overstated. Reading with children allows for engaging, authentic and language-rich interactions. When they are read to by parents or educators, children are supported to:

• Learn new concepts and vocabulary.
• Learn new grammar and punctuation in an authentic way.
• Hear clearly articulated sounds and words.
• Hear about new ideas, concepts, places, people, cultures and situations.
• Learn about how texts work, and how we use language to communicate in more sophisticated ways.

Tips for sharing books with children

• Make a routine, and try to share at least one book every day. 
• Turn off the TV or radio, put your phone on silent, and find a quiet place to read so your child can hear your voice.
• Use gestures, facial expressions, funny voices, noises and so on. This can get your child interested and help them learn the meaning of words. It’s also fun!
• Make connections between your child’s life and the book. For example, ‘That little boy is playing in the sand. You did this too, didn’t you?’
• Let your child choose the books when they’re old enough to start asking – and be prepared to read favourite books over and over again!
• If you have older children, you can read together. Taking turns, asking questions and listening to the answers are all important reading and development skills.

Prep Unit News

We looked AWESOME… today all dressed up to celebrate Book Week. Congratulations to both our students and parents for organising these costumes to make the day special.

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 26

Next

Some reminders:

• Sounds to continue working on with your child at home: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, r, f, o, c, d, h, e, n, g, l, k, u, b, j, w, ck, ll, ff, ss, sh, ee, qu, z, zz, ch, v, x, y, wh, th (unvoiced as in ‘thick’). It is important that we continue this practice as we are reading and writing with digraphs in Literacy time.
• Make sure we are continuing to read every night at home and recording it in the Reading diary.
• Learn all the tricky words at the back of the reading diary.
• Library day is  Monday.
• Show and tell reminder = something that moves.

Junior Unit News

This week we solved problems, designed, created, celebrated and dressed to impress. 

Our Year One students enjoyed their Stayback on Thursday night. All students swam, laughed, ate and developed their social skills in the company of their peers and demonstrated excellent behaviour. We thank all staff and parents for your support in making this camp experience super memorable.

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 44

Next

This morning (Friday), students were almost unrecognisable with their fancy BookWeek costumes. The effort, excitement and enthusiasm students put into portraying their ‘characters’ was priceless. Thank you families, for enabling our students to appreciate the enjoyment of a great book.

As many families are aware, the children and teachers have been actively sharing their learning via Seesaw. You are encouraged to view and discuss your child/ren’s learning with them and contact your child/ren’s teacher should you have any questions. 

Next week is our YEAR TWO SLEEPOVER. The students are extremely excited about their camp experience. Please see attached note to ensure that your child/ren have everything they need and contact their teacher should you have any questions.
If you have not done so, please provide permission for your child to attend via PAM.

In the coming weeks we have:  Year Two Sleepover (Thursday 31st August), Father’s Day stall (Friday 1st September), Bundaleer Assembly (Friday 1st September), AFL Dress up Day (Friday 8th September), Karinya Assembly (Friday 8th September) and R U OK Day (Thursday 14th September).

Middle Unit News

We have had a wonderful week learning about lots of different books that were nominated for the Book Week awards! It was wonderful to see lots of students dressing up today as their favourite character!

As the term progresses we are uploading lots of wonderful work to Seesaw. If you are having trouble viewing your child’s profile please contact your child’s teacher.

Senior Unit News

MELBOURNE CAMP

Camp is fast approaching! Included in todays newsletter is a Google Site that the students and parents can access to see the exciting things happening during the week and when. 

This has also been assigned to each student via their class Google Classroom.

A hardcopy of the What to Bring note has been sent home today with your child. If they were absent they can collect from their classroom teacher. 

Children will need to have a look at the google form for Camp Week Food, and make their food selections byWednesday 30th August. 

Please ensure that your child’s contact and medical details are up to date on PAM prior to Camps.

If there are any questions or issue please contact Mrs Thompson.

BOOK WEEK

Year 6 students enjoyed completing some activities this week based on their favourite books.

Library News

Book Week News 

SHPS has had a fantastic book week! Many activities relating to the CBCA’s shortlist were enjoyed during library sessions and in the classrooms. The award winners and honours books were explored. While some were purely entertaining with subtle messages relating to the Read, Grow, Inspire theme, other books were more challenging, which were revisited a few times to learn more from their messages.

To explore the short-listed selection of books and various categories, please click on the link:

Book of the Year!

We explored four categories at SHPS this year, and CBCA 2023 awards went to the following:

Young Readers

Winner: Runt by Craig Silvey

Honours: 

Evie and Rhino by Neridah McMullin (illus. by Astred Hicks)

The Raven’s Song by Zana Fraillon & Bren MacDibble

Early Childhood

Winner: Where the Lyrebird Lives by Vikki Conley (illus. by Max Hamilton)

Honours: 

Bev and Kev by Katrina Germein (illus. by Mandy Foot)

Snap! by Anna Walker

Picture Book

Winner: My Strange Shrinking Parents by Zeno Sworder

Honours:

Dirt by Sea by Tom Jellett (text by Michael Wagner)

Paradise Sands: A Story of Enchantment by Levi Pinfold

Eve Pownall Award for Non-fiction

Winner: DEEP: Dive into Hidden Worlds by Jess McGeachin

Honours:

Come Together: Things Every Aussie Kid Should Know about the First Peoples by Isaiah Firebrace (illus. by Jaelyn Biumaiwai)

Wild Australian Life: Leonard Cronin (illus. by Chris Nixon)

Please click on the link to find out more details about the winners and those awarded with honours:

Colouring Competition

The book week colouring competition attracted 130 amazing entries. Mrs Coffey and I were very challenged as judges to pick just one winner per unit year level.  We thank the students who made the effort to contribute to this book week activity. They look great on the wall above the stage in the stadium.

 Dress-up day

Many students researched characters from their favourite books weeks before book week. They decided what to wear and how to create their costumes with family and friends. It was great to hear their ideas and see them come to life today. The SHPS staff and students looked incredible.

Where’s Wally Surprise

Part of today’s excitement was the surprise of Where’s Wally staff posters placed all over the school. The expressions on the students’ faces were priceless. Here is Mrs Collins as Wally!

Scholastic Book Club News, Issue #6

Thank you to the parents and caregivers that have placed their order on this Issue of Book Club! There is still time to order if you haven't already.

Orders via the online LOOP ordering system through the link provided or by following the instructions on the back of the catalogue. The school does not accept cash and cheques.

Please make your order via the link:

Orders close at the end of the day on Thursday, the 31st of August and will be delivered to the school within two weeks. When the orders arrive at the SHPS library, the students will receive them from their classroom teacher/s. If you have questions or issues with Book Club, please do not hesitate to contact me rather than directly messaging Scholastic.

Shout-out to the boys in Eumeralla (Year 4) for their quiet reading time in the library. 

Well done!

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

Student of the Week Awards

Cooinda - Ethan Bates                                             Minga - Gemma Carruthers

Wahroonga - Darcy Allan                                      Eumeralla - Ivy Baird

Bundaleer -  Thea Fleming                                    Waminda - Izzy Zadow

Karinya - Sophie Roberts                                       Kyema - Isla Njegovan

Nangare - Harlequin - Rose Hendy                   Myalla - Addison Stafford

Barramunga -Alyce Kilpatrick                             Illawarra - Dakota Tiller

Amaroo - Julian Farnsworth                                 Narooma - Baxter McCoy

Yongana - Lexi Kerr                                                  Dourim - Ivy Kerr

Mootwingee - Annika Madden - Hickey

Ray White Positive Behaviour Awards

Responsible -

Responsible - No Ray White Awards This Week

Responsible -