ISSUE 31: 20th October, 2023

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students and Friends,

Welcome to our Week Three Newsletter.

Sacrament of First Eucharist

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

2024 Planning

Planning is under way for the 2024 school year, with consideration being given to the structure of the classrooms and staffing in the school. Whilst there is plenty of time for this to be formalised, it is important that this is organised effectively so that all of the students can make an easy transition and have a successful start to the upcoming school year. Next week we will send information out in regards to a Class Placement Survey that will give parents the opportunity to put forward any requests/considerations for your child’s education for the 2024 school year. Please be mindful that staffing arrangements have not been finalised and this won’t be an opportunity to nominate preferred teachers for your child/children.

If you know your family are moving next year, could you please advise the office as soon as possible (if you have not already done so) to aid with planning for classes for next year. Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Year 6 Swim & Survive 

The Year Six Swim & Survive Program is being held this week from Monday to Friday.  Year Six classes will attend at the following times:

• Dourim 10.45am to 11.30am
• Narooma 11.30am to 12.15pm
• Illawarra 12.15pm to 1pm

Year 5 Ballarat Camp

We wish our Year Five students all the best for this week’s Ballarat Camp which is being held from Wednesday 25th to Friday 27th October.  Mrs Johnson, Mrs Kotsiakos, Mrs Rowles, Mr Barbary, Mrs Driscoll, Mr Fabich and myself will attend with our students.  To revisit your permission form on PAM please go to School Activities under your child’s profile.

Schools Sports Victoria (SSV) Events

We wish our Girls Tennis team all the best at the Region Tennis on Thursday 26th October and our Girls Softball team all the best at Region Softball on Friday 27th October.  Both events are being held in Swan Hill. 

Mission Month 

Mission Month fundraising is progressing well and continues this week with lots of fun activities happening. Icy Poles are being sold on Tuesday & Thursday. Our Hot Dog & Ice Cream Lunch will be held on Monday 23rd October.

World Teachers Day (Friday 27th October) 

World Teachers’ Day will be on Friday 27 October 2023. We invite our school community to recognise and celebrate our remarkable teachers for their contribution to educating, inspiring our kids and acknowledge the support they provide each day.

We’d love and invite our students in this celebration. Students are encouraged to share creative content, such as a snippet of writing, a short video or a piece of artwork or drawing. Let your creativity and imagination run wild! After handing this content into the Office it will be shared via the DOBCEL social media platforms. Please ensure all content is submitted no later than Thursday 19 October.

For convenience, printable posters for our kids can be found below.

• Poster option 1
• Poster option 2

We look forward to celebrating World Teachers’ Day together and celebrating our dedicated teachers.

2024 Prep Transition Dates

Today we welcomed our 2024 Foundation students to Sacred Heart for their first transition day.  Below is a list of our 

• Session 2    Friday 3rd November 9am - 11.45am
• Session 3    Wednesday  15th  November 2023 5pm – 6pm Buddy BBQ
• Session 4    Tuesday 5th December 2023   8:30am – 1:30 pm.  Including a Parent Information Session from 9am-10am.

School Closure Days

Our Pupil Free and School Closure Days between now and the end of the year are listed below:

• Monday 6th November: School Closure Day
• Wednesday 8th November: Structured Literacy Pupil Free Day
• Thursday 30th November:  RE Pupil Free Day

Please note that our last day for students in 2023 is Friday 15th December.

Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

Sacred Heart will be closed on Tuesday 7th November for Melbourne Cup Day. 

Colour Run

Our Colour Run to conclude our Mission Month is being held on Friday 3rd November. 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.  

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.

God bless!

Mark Gibson

Religious Education

Mission Month Hampers

We sincerely thank all our school community for their generous donations for our Hamper Raffles. With ticket sales we were able to raise almost $900! Our winners were drawn today during assembly. Congratulations to the following winners!

Lexie Kerr                                                     Victoria Cirigliano

Noah Evans                                                   Mia Howard

Jack Milton                                                    Logan Oguzkaya

Londyn Balchin                                           Vincent Manno

Mercedes Leal-Kaiser                              Evelyn Miller

Jason Deiesi

Learning and Teaching News

Structured Literacy: Semantics 

Staff are continuing with their training of Structured Literacy and this week participated in a professional development session about Semantics.
Semantics is concerned with meaning and includes instruction in the comprehension and appreciation of written language. 

Vocabulary, language comprehension, written expression - sentence and paragraph composition as well as text composition and genre. 

Staff are further learning about The Writing Revolution, which is embedded into Structured Literacy. The Writing Revolution's method enables educators to teach writing skills and content simultaneously. Students need explicit instruction in Writing beginning at sentence level.

Prep Unit News

The Prep children have had another busy week continuing their learning about the concept of ‘Joy’ in Religion, playing hockey and exploring ‘natural and made’ materials in Science.

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Cooinda are preparing for their turn at hosting an assembly. It is on Friday 27th October at 2.25pm in the stadium. Please remember to practise the students’ assembly words every night after they do their reading. Cooinda students brought home their words along with a note suggesting how to help children learn their words on Monday. Please see Mrs O’Callaghan if you have any questions regarding Cooinda’s assembly.

Don’t forget our mission fundraiser…. ‘Guess the lollies in the jar’. Guesses are 50 cents a guess. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 24th October. Also on Monday 25th October it is hotdog and ice cream day! If your child would like a hotdog and ice cream for lunch they will need to purchase it on CDF pay.

Show and tell reminder for Term 4

Junior Unit News

We continue the  huge month of fundraising with a friendly reminder that  hot dog and ice cream lunch will take place on Monday 23rd October. Our lolly jars will be drawn next week (Tuesday 24th October) and our COLOUR FUN RUN will take place on Friday 3rd November  with students required to wear a white t-shirt and bring a full change of clothes along with a towel in a plastic bag for this event.

Our SILLY SOCKS day lived up to its name. The styles and hilarious stories accompanying them were enjoyed by all. Thank you for your creativity and generosity.

Middle Unit News

Middle Unit Mission Month Fundraiser - PJ Day & Coin Lines

Today was a great day to turn up to school in our PJ’s to raise money for the Missions in Peru. We also made some awesome coin lines as a Unit. We managed to raise almost $400!

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Sport Uniform Change of Days

Please note that due to a timetabling change, from next week students’ Sport Uniform days will change to the following:

Minga - Monday & Friday

Eumeralla - Thursday & Friday

Mootwingee - Monday & Friday

Yongana - Thursday & Friday

Amaroo - Tuesday & Friday

Senior Unit News

Year 6 Swimming 

The students will participate in this program in their class group. The session for the week will be as follows: 

Dourim 10:45am - 11:30am 

Narooma 11:30am -12:15pm 

Illawarra 12:15pm - 1pm

The students will walk to the Waves each day. Teachers will accompany students to the pool and supervise during the sessions.  We ask that students wear their bathers/swimwear with PE uniform over the top. They will need to pack their rashie, towel, goggles, thongs to wear whilst at the pool, a swim or plastic bag to place all wet items in. Please ensure that all items are named clearly. 

If for any reason your child will not be swimming (a note explaining the reason/s why will need to be given to your child’s teacher); they will remain at school as per pool restrictions.

Prep photos 

Year 6 students who did not begin their primary schooling at Sacred Heart please provide a Prep photo emailed to lthompson@shmildura.catholic.edu.au at your earliest convenience.

Graduation committee 

As we prepare of Graduation, we are asking any student who did not begin their primary schooling at Sacred Heart please provide a Prep photo emailed to lthompson@shmildura.catholic.edu.au at your earliest convenience.  Thank you to those who have emailed this is already.  Those who have emailed have been noted and will receive an email in regards to meeting in Week 6.

Matilda  SJC

The Year 6 students have been invited to attend the SJC,  Matilda the Musical Jr. on Thursday 2nd November, at the Mercy Theatre between 12:30pm-1:50pm. We will leave school after lunch at around 12pm and return after the show concludes around 2:15pm. Please ensure consent has been completed on PAM

Year 6 behaviour 

As we move quickly into the last term, we understand that our Year 6 students are very ready and excited to move onto secondary school. Unfortunately we have noticed that the behaviour as a cohort has not been to the expected level as it has been during the year. As we navigate the excitement and often nerves of our last term in primary school the expectations around good behavior will remain until the final day of school. 

Mission Activity - 

Senior Unit will be having a Movie Day on Monday 30th October. It will be $5 for a movie and popcorn, gold coin donation for casual clothes and can bring some extra coins to buy  snacks during intermission.  More information will be sent out later to the date.

Year 5 Camp 

Wednesday next week we head off for our adventures to Ballarat. Please make sure you are familiar with all of the information available on PAM.

The weather prediction is rain, please make sure you pack some warm and waterproof clothing.

Buddy Transitions 

Today the Year 5 students got to spend time with our buddies, we read books and did some colouring. Before they left we played together on the playground. It was fun getting to know our buddies.
Isla Njegovan

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Library News

Lots of happy faces: Rewarding recesses

Term 4 is in full swing, and students are exploring and expressing their creative side at recess in the library. It is great to see groups of friends and classmates coming together to discuss ideas and move forward with an agreed plan.

One group is creating an episodic, moving picture (mini-movies). They have been busy drawing and making the characters and backdrops, and others are concentrating on the storyline while some students work on the technical side of the project.

Another group is designing and creating bookmarks. It is great to see them listening to each other’s ideas and putting in the effort to work together.

Some students are happy to design and create posters independently, enjoying the creative outlet of sketching and drawing colourful concepts.

Scholastic Book Club Issue #7:

Orders closed yesterday, and we thank the parents and caregivers who placed their orders on this Issue of Book Club! 

The school will receive the books and items usually within two weeks. When they 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

Student of the Week Awards

Cooinda - Eadon Hendy                                                 Minga - Dustin Gray

Wahroonga - Oliver Tallent                                         Eumeralla - Ivy Baird

Bundaleer - Oliver Love                                                 Waminda - Eliza Evans                                           

Karinya - Izzy Waters                                                     Kyema - Victoria Cirigliano

Nangare - Emily Cirillo                                                  Myalla - Alexander Hawson

Barramunga - Ruby Joyce                                             Illawarra - Nicholas Cavallo

Amaroo -  Lachlan Dichiera                                         Narooma - Felicity Pike

Yongana - William Fangaloka                                     Dourim - Charlie Spratt   

Mootwingee - Ollie McClelland

Ray White Positive Behaviour Awards

No Awards this week