Sacred Heart Primary School Mildura eNewsletter

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students and Friends,

Welcome to our Week Two Newsletter.

2024 Prep Transition

Begins on Friday 20th October with students joining us for the morning (9am to 11am). 2024 Preps will work with Mrs O’Callaghan & Mrs Collins in the Prep classrooms.

Mission Month

Mission Month fundraising is progressing well and continues this week with lots of fun activities happening. Icy Poles are being sold on Monday, Tuesday & Thursday. There are several Unit fundraisers with Prep & Junior Unit Silly Socks Day on Wednesday. Middle Unit Pyjamas Day & Coin Lines is on Friday. Hamper Raffles will be drawn at the Assembly on Friday.

Colour Run

On Monday there was a document sent home explaining that we are having a Colour Run to conclude our Mission Month. As part of this fundraiser we are asking students to collect sponsorships that will go towards Mission Month. Students are rewarded with prizes for the money they raise. This whole process can be completed online via this link.

Staffing Updates

Mr Isaac Fabich has shared with us that he will conclude his time at Sacred Heart at the end of the 2023 school year to relocate to Geelong. This presents an exciting opportunity for both Isaac and his wife Emma. We will have an opportunity to acknowledge and farewell Isaac at the end of the term.

All the Best - Miss Brittany Huddleston

Miss Huddleston’s last day was today before beginning maternity leave. We wish Brittanny & her partner Tim all the best during this special time and look forward to hearing some exciting news in the near future.

Assembly - School Choir

Thank you to Wahroonga for hosting today's Assembly. The School Choir will host our next assembly to be held in the Stadium at 2.30pm on Friday 20th October.

2024 Classroom Structure, Transition & Class Placement

Planning is in place for the 2024 school year. Part of this has been making decisions around classroom structure, transition and class placement. 2024 Classroom structure and Class Placement processes will be communicated to families next week.

Schools Sports Victoria (SSV) Events

It has been a big week of sporting events! Congratulations to all students who have represented our school during the week showing great sportsmanship and competitive spirit.

Region Athletics in Bendigo - Well done to the 13 students who attended Athletics at Bendigo Athletics Complex. All students maintained a positive attitude, supported one another and competed with pride. Well done! Congratulations to Ethan Dalla Santa who finished 1st in Long Jump for the 11 year old boys and to Pensimani Fangaloka for finishing 3rd in both the 11 year old boys Discuss and Shot Put.
Year 5/6 Division Volleyball - Our boys and girls teams finished second with both teams winning two games.
Year 5/6 Division Tennis - A great day was had by all involved with our girls team finishing first and qualifying for the Region Finals. Our boys finished second.
Year 5/6 Division Basketball - Both our boys and girls teams finished Runner-Up.
Year 5/6 Softball - Our girls Softball team were the overall winners and have progressed to the Region Finals, our boys had a great day and competed well.

2024 School Advisory Council (SAC) Parent Representatives

We are asking for interested parents to nominate as parent representatives for the School Advisory Council (SAC). Please consider taking an active role in this body. If you would like to be nominated as a council member, please contact the Office for a nomination form. If you have any questions about the role of a council member, please don't hesitate to speak to one of our current members; Taryn Hunt, Rachael Fyfe, Amanda King, Eric Oguzkaya, Warren Henderson, Melissa Waters or myself for further information. We ask that any nomination be handed into the Office by Tuesday 18th October.

Morning Pick Up and Drop Off

We have a few important safety reminders before & after school. A reminder to all using the ‘Kiss & Go’ to follow all the rules including:

Only enter Kiss n Go via Olive Grove.
Our Kiss n Go is a quick pick-up and drop-off area.
Then continue along 12th Street. No U-turns permitted.

Payment Option Calculation Sheet

Thank you to the families who have returned the Payment Option Calculation Sheet for the 2024 school year. There are still quite a substantial number of families yet to return these. I ask that they please be sent into the office as soon as possible, please check your child’s school bag. These are needed to complete the Direct Debits for the 2024 school year. Follow up phone calls and text messages will be sent until they are returned.

Camp Fees 2024

There was an error in the Camp Fees for 2024 on the School Fee Commitment Form that was sent out recently. The correct costings are:

These will be calculated on your Fee Option Payment Plan in the following weeks.

God bless!

Mark Gibson

Religious Education

2023 Sacramental Dates

First Eucharist - Many of our Year Four students will be celebrating the Sacrament of First Eucharist next weekend, with masses on Friday 20th, Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd October. We keep these children in our prayers and wish them all the best for this special occasion.

Reconciliation - Year Two & Above

Thank you to parents who attended Wednesday’s information session. Everything for this Sacrament has been outlined in the purple folder. Please contact the school or email Ryan O’Callaghan (ryocallaghan@shmildura.catholic.edu.au) if you have any questions.

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

Learning and Teaching News

Structured Literacy: Syntax

Staff are continuing with their training of Structured Literacy and this week participated in a professional development session about Syntax.
Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences.

It involves:

Sentence knowledge - words, phrases, clauses, fragments and sentences, the four sentence types, compound and complex sentences and paragraphs.

Punctuation - sentence boundaries, apostrophes of contraction and possession, quotation marks and commas.

Word Knowledge - parts of speech, synonyms and antonyms, conjunctions and appositives.

Learning Diversity News

My CareSpace provides parents with valuable information and support regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS provides funding to eligible people with disabilities 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. Please have a look at the website -

Who can help me apply for NDIS

Provisional Psychologist Pilot - Rural Recovery Victoria are currently providing a provisional psychologist pilot that parents can access free of charge. This service provides a direct, free of charge, link to a provisional psychologist (someone who has completed their tertiary qualifications - 5 to 6 years of study, and is eligible to undertake a program of supervision (internship) as they develop their applied skills ‘on the job’. This person is mentored by an (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) AHPRA board approved supervisor. So basically, a provisional psychologist is someone who has completed a psychology degree and who undertakes ‘work experience’ to gain full accreditation.

You do not need a referral from your GP or a mental health care plan to access this service.

The service is for children, adolescents and adults who are noticing signs that they may not be functioning at their best, as a method of early intervention. The pilot is for people in rural and regional Victoria only. This is a great option for families that cannot access psychological or counselling assistance.

Areas of interest addressed via this service are:

Anxiety
Depression
Stress
Anger
Grief and loss
Sleep problems

If you are seeking help for something not listed here, please book a registered psychologist here.

Prep Unit News

What a fun-filled week it has been in Prep! We have been learning about the concept of ‘Joy’ in Religion, playing hockey and exploring ‘natural and made’ materials in Science.

A massive congratulations to Wahroonga for your very first assembly on Friday! Everyone spoke very well and danced spectacularly! It was great to see so many mums, dads and grandparents coming along to enjoy our assembly! Cooinda are preparing for their turn at hosting assembly. Please remember to practise the students’ assembly words every night after they do their reading.

For Mission Month, the Prep Unit is holding a ‘Guess the lollies in the Jar’. Students are able to purchase a guess for 50 cents. The competition began on Monday and the winners will be announced on Tuesday 24th October.

On Wednesday 18th October the Prep students will be having a SILLY SOCK day! On this day the students come to school in their normal PE uniform but with SILLY SOCKS, this Mission fundraiser will be a GOLD COIN donation.

Primary School Nursing Program

This week your child brought home a ‘Visiting Primary School Nurse Program’ envelope. The Visiting PS Nurse Program provides a free service to all Prep students attending Primary School in Victoria. Our school nurse is Denise Pragt and she will be visiting in term four. Denise has a background in Midwifery and Child and Family Health and has 36 years of nursing experience. It is an excellent free service to take advantage of.

Denise provides:

the opportunity for free hearing and vision screening and general development assessment
information and advice about healthy behaviours
a link for children and families to community based health and well-being services.
providing parenting resources

If you would like your child to participate, please tick the YES consent box and sign on page 5. Return the confidential questionnaire to the school in the sealed envelope provided by Monday 16th October. If you do not consent you will need to provide that information on the questionnaire and STILL return the envelope to school. Denise will send results to your email address and call you if you wish, or call you if there is any need to refer your child to other health services.

Some reminders for the beginning of term:

Continue practising the letter sounds with your child at home.
Please cover the Term 4 reading diary in clear contact.
2 small lunch boxes: 1 for recess snacks and the other for lunch… this is so that they fit into our fridge containers.
Students need to be at school on time each day (beginning of school is 8.38am). This allows them to settle into the morning routines and avoids disruption to learning. If you are arriving later than this time you need to come through the office and sign in.
Learn all the tricky words at the back of the reading diary.

Show and tell reminder for Term 4 = this week is a silly or favourite hat!

Prep Unit Team Contact Details

Unit Leader: Mrs Rebecca O'Callaghan
Cooinda: Mrs Rebecca O'Callaghan - bocallaghan@shmildura.catholic.edu.au
Wahroonga: Mrs Wendy Collins - wcollins@shmildura.catholic.edu.au

Junior Unit News

It was a ‘(very) HAIRY CRAZY’ day on Thursday with our Juniors bringing their creativity and wearing bright colours with designs in their hair. Thank you for your generous gold coin donations. We certainly have many talented parents who supported their child/ren on this day with their hair styles.

Today we celebrated Miss Brittany Huddleston as she begins her maternity leave on Monday. We wish her and partner Tim all the VERY best as they embark on this exciting adventure and eagerly await the arrival of their precious little one. Thank you for all your support and guidance Miss Huddleston.

On Wednesday 18th October the Junior students will be having a SILLY SOCK day. On this day the students come to school in their normal school uniform but with SILLY SOCKS. This Mission fundraiser will be a GOLD COIN donation.

Thank you for all the generous donations to our school hampers. There is still time to bring in items should you wish to do so.

Junior Unit Team Contact Details

Click on the teacher's name if you wish to email them.

Unit Leader: Mrs Katrina Groves
Karinya (Year 1): Mrs Katrina Groves (Monday-Thursday) & Mrs Christine Sherry (Friday)
Bundaleer (Year 1): Miss Hayley Moore
Barramunga (Year 2): Mrs Chris Carmichael
Nangare: (Year 2): Mrs Maree Irvin

Middle Unit News

Year 3 Homework

This Term we aren't sending anything specific home for students to complete. Instead we are strongly encouraging nightly reading and for readers to be returned to school.

Mission Month

The Middle Unit will be holding our unit fundraiser on Friday 20th October (Week 3).

This will be a Pyjama Day where students are encouraged to wear their PJ’s or comfortable casual clothes to school for the day. Students will bring a gold coin donation for this. We will also be creating Coin Lines on the day so students are encouraged to bring in any extra coins (silver and gold) so we can see which class can create the longest line. All proceeds will be donated to our school’s Mission efforts supporting those in need in Peru.

Middle Unit Team Contact Details

Click on the teacher's name if you wish to email them.

Unit Leader: Miss Sophie Price
Amaroo (Year 3): Mrs Sarah Beckwith
Yongana (Year 3): Mrs Georgina Whitehouse
Mootwingee (Year 3): Mrs Jaimi Willersdorf
Minga (Year 4): Miss Sophie Price
Eumeralla (Year 4): Miss Rosie Lennox

Senior Unit News

In Year 5 we are beginning to have a lot of discussion about our upcoming camp in week 4. Please make sure you have received your notes this week.

Senior Unit Team Contact Details

Click on the teacher's name if you wish to email them.

Unit Leader Year 5: Mrs. Natalee Johnson
Unit Leader Year 6: Mrs. Loretta Thompson
Illawarra (Year 5): Mrs. Cathryn Rowles
Kyema (Year 5): Mrs. Natalee Johnson
Myalla (Year 5): Mrs. Emma Kotsiakos (Monday-Thursday) & Mr. Corey Barbary (Friday)
Narooma (Year 6): Mrs. Jo Campbell
Dourim (Year 6): Mrs. Loretta Thompson
Illawarra (Year 6): Mrs. Amelia Pacher (Monday-Thursday) & Mr. Jacob Burford (Friday)

Library News

Scholastic Book Club Issue #7

*** Last catalogue for the year for SHPS ***

Book Club catalogues were sent home with students during the week. A special feature of this issue is that there are many Christmas gift items and extra books to choose from.

Did you know that every purchase you make on Book Club earns our school 15% of the order value in Scholastic Rewards? We use these to purchase more books and educational resources for the school. It all helps!

Please order 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:

https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent/Login.aspx

If you are ordering gifts, please make sure to check the gift order and keep it a surprise!

Orders close at the end of the day on Thursday, the 19th of October 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.

Please get in touch with me anytime for all library enquiries and borrowing/returning history.

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