ISSUE 16: 24th May, 2024

Principal Message

Gospel Reflection

As we celebrate Trinity Sunday, we reflect on the profound mystery of the Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This central belief of our faith reminds us of the perfect unity and love within God Himself, a unity that we are called to emulate in our own lives. For parents and members of the Sacred Heart Primary School community, Trinity Sunday invites us to foster unity and love within our families and our school. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together in perfect harmony, let us strive to support, understand, and cherish one another in our daily interactions. May this celebration of the Holy Trinity inspire us to deepen our relationships with God and with each other, living out the love and unity that we witness in the divine example.

What’s on Next Week (Term 2 Week 7)

Coming Up in Week 8

Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff & Students,

Our Book Fair was a huge success! Ordered books will be delivered to students upon arrival. Many thanks to Miss Sophie Price for organising this opportunity for our school families. We had many students celebrate their Sacrament of Confirmation Across the Sunraysia Parish of St’s Anne and Joachim over Pentecost weekend.  Congratulations to our many Year 3 students involved.   STOMP lessons continue this Monday and Tuesday, preparing for our Year F-2 STOMP Extravaganza and Year 3-6 School Disco, the major events of the upcoming week.

Year 3-6 Disco

Our Year 3-6 Disco is on Monday from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM in the school stadium, coordinated by STOMP. This event is exclusively for staff and students.

Important Information:

• Parents must sign students in with their own classroom teacher upon arrival and out at pick-up.
• Gates and doors open at 7:15pm.
• Collection at 8:30pm.
• Entry/exit via Twelfth St, Olive Grove, or Tamarisk Ave.
• The gate between the Digital Tech room and portables, and the door on Olive Grove Breezeway, will be closed during the disco.
• Students should leave mobile phones at home; no cloakroom will be available.
• No food or drinks will be sold or allowed, but students can access water from drink taps.

STOMP Extravaganza

The STOMP Extravaganza for Foundation, Year 1, and Year 2 students will be on Tuesday night from 5:15 PM to 6:45 PM in the school stadium. This event is exclusive to these students and their parents.

Each class will present a dance and perform one with their year level. Later, all students will dance together, and parents will be encouraged to join in.

Important Information

• Stadium doors open at 5:00 PM for seating.
• Entry/exit via Twelfth St, Olive Grove, or Tamarisk Ave.
• Parents are asked to bring a shared supper:
• Foundation & Year 1: Plate of savoury food
• Year 2: Plate of sweets

School Sports Victoria Region Cross Country @ St Arnaud

We wish the following students all the best at this Tuesday’s Region Cross Country in St Arnaud: Morgan Boake, Lily Colbert, Ethan Dalla Santa, Austin Fox, Emmy Guthrie, Ivy Hards, Alexander Henderson, Lucianna Lazo, Jenson McGlashan, Max O’Callaghan, and Imogen Stafford. Mr O’Callaghan will be attending as the supervising teacher.

Parish Mass

Bundaleer will attend this week’s Parish Mass at Sacred Heart Church on Thursday morning at 9:30 am.  

School Sports Victoria (SSV) District Football & Hockey

We wish our boys' and girls' Football and Hockey teams the best of luck at Thursday’s district games against St Paul’s, Trinity Lutheran, and Henderson College. Football matches will begin at 9.45am at Sarah Oval, and Hockey games will start at 10am at the Sunraysia Hockey Association field at the Aero Ovals.

School Assembly Myalla

Year Four Myalla will host our Assembly at 2:30pm on Friday 31st May. Following the assembly, Myalla parents are welcome to join an afternoon tea in their child's classroom, offering an opportunity to view student learning and to mingle and meet other parents.

2024 Foundation Enrolment

Enrolments for Foundation students in 2025 have begun! If you're interested, you can inquire, apply, and schedule tours by clicking here. The deadline for enrolments is this Friday, May 31st, 2024, at 4 pm. If you know any new families considering Sacred Heart for their child, please share this information about our enrolment process with them.

Parents and Friends Trivia Night

Our Sacred Heart Parents and Friends invite you to join us for a Music Trivia Night at Club DaVinci on Friday, June 21st, starting at 7pm. Tickets are priced at $85 and include beverages (beer, wine, and soft drinks), as well as antipasto upon arrival and supper. This event isn't a fundraiser; rather, it's an opportunity for our community members to connect and mingle with others from the school community. Special thanks to Pauline Tallent, Chantelle Hill, and Anna Cavallo for coordinating this event.

Cold Weather Dress Code

As the weather cools, it's important for students to dress warmly to stay healthy. Please remember to wear the winter uniform on chilly days. Avoid wearing tights with summer uniform, and note that the navy blue weather-proof jacket does not substitute for a jumper. Additionally, jackets cannot be worn in classrooms, so wearing a jumper is still recommended.

God Bless!

Mr Mark Gibson

2024 Dates of Interest

Religious Education

Congratulations to many of our Year Three students who celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation last weekend.  All of the masses were special occasions and were well attended by family, friends and the parish community.  Thank you to all families for preparing the students for this Sacrament and thank you to Father Matthew, Father John & Carmel Russo for coordinating the program and leading each celebration.

Sacrament of First Eucharist (Year 4 & Above)

• Parent Information Session - Wednesday, 28th August
• Celebration of Sacrament - Friday 25th, Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th October

Sacrament of Reconciliation (Year 2 & Above)

• Parent Information Session - Wednesday, 16th October
• Celebration of Sacrament - Wednesday 27th November

Learning and Teaching

Have you checked in to see the work on your child’s digital learning portfolio recently on Seesaw? Jump on and have a look, leave a comment and let your child know what you think of their work. If you are having trouble accessing your parent login for Seesaw, please let your child’s teacher know.

SWPBS News

Foundation News

The hard work continues in Prep this week with new sounds added to our knowledge bank. The sounds you will need to be continually practising at home are: m, s, t, a, p, i, n, f, r, o, c, h, d, e, g and the tricky words: I, the, my, a, is. We have also been creating our own sentences using our sounds and some tricky words. Practising writing at home will greatly benefit all students' learning - Nat sat in the tin, Sam is in the mud, Pat is in the pit. We have been learning to recognise, name and explain the properties of 2D shapes.  Today we have sent home a ‘knowledge organiser’ for External Features of Living Things. It has key terminology that students will hear during learning and will also be a good way to start conversations with your child about what they’re learning.

Also coming home are new sound and word fluency charts. These sheets help students to become automatic with their sounds and blending to read words.

We have been working hard to perfect our dancing ready for The Stomp Extravaganza. A reminder that this event is on Tuesday 28th May from 5.15pm to 6.45pm. Students will need to wear brightly coloured clothes they can dance in. Foundation students are to bring a plate of savoury food to share.

Now that the weather is getting colder, here is a reminder of what our students need to wear regarding winter school uniforms.

Reminders:

• All children should have headphones at school (named)
• School starts at 8:45am each day. If you are at school after 8:45am you must sign your child in at the office. 
• Your child’s library bag needs to be at school every day - kept in their school bag.
• Sports days are Thursday and Friday - sport uniform is needed.
• Practise the sounds caterpillars and fluency chart each night.
• Read and record ‘Enhanced Comprehension’ and ‘Reader’ in the reading diary each night.
• Library books are to be returned to school on Mondays.
• Sounds to continue practising with your child/ren at home: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, r, f, o, r, c, h, e, g.

Year One News

The Year One students have now had three STOMP dance sessions, with two more to go! They are feeling ready for the STOMP Extravaganza next Tuesday 28th May at 5.15pm - 6.45pm in the stadium. Year One families are asked to bring a plate of savoury food for our shared supper. Students are to wear their sports uniform on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week.  

It has been fantastic to see so many students beginning to read more complex words and become keen readers. They have felt so proud when using their sound knowledge and strategies to decode unfamiliar words. This week, students have been learning to read and spell words with the digraph /OR/ and trigraph /ORE/. They have also been revising their understanding of verbs, adjectives and nouns. In Maths, the focus has been subtraction with a goal to understand that subtraction means ‘less than’. We are coming to the end of our Inquiry Unit on Earth Science, which has seen the students develop a greater understanding of changes that occur in the sky and on the land along with daily and seasonal changes in the weather. The Inquiry topic for the remainder of the term is Biological Science: How can we improve a local environment to encourage living things to thrive?

The Year One’s enjoyed participating in the National Simultaneous Storytime along with 2 million other’s at 12pm on Wednesday. The story read was “Bowerbird Blues” which was then followed up with a beautiful colour poem activity using our 5 senses. 

Library Day Reminder: Karinya’s Library day is Tuesday and Bundaleer’s Library day is Wednesday. 

Show and Tell focus for Week 7: What are some ways you can be a ‘Bucket Filler’ at school?            - linked with Social Emotional Learning. Bucket filling means that you do your best each day to show kindness and respect to the people around you. Showing acts of kindness at school might be helping someone clean up their table, picking up items off the floor, giving someone a compliment, sharing, smiling at others. 

Bundaleer will be attending Parish Mass on Thursday at 9:30am, families are welcome to attend. 

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 22

Next

Year Two News

In our Science topic of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” we visited the school chickens with Mr Carmichael and the worm farm with Mrs Zalec. We saw paper bricks that had been made out of shredded paper. We also looked around the school to find all the recycling bins. All children were very engaged and respectful during this time and we would like to say a big thanks to Mrs Zalec and Mr Carmichael for sharing their knowledge with us all. Stella Roberts (Year 4) presented Mr Carmichael with an incredible painting of a chook, demonstrating her artistic talents and appreciation of the opportunities children are given each day at school. Mr Carmichael plans on displaying this painting in the SHEC shed for all to see.

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 17

Next

As our final task in our “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” topic, we undertook a survey of some issues around the school that we believe we need to fix. Year 2 students went around the school checking for wastage of food, leaky taps, doors open with heaters on, rubbish on the ground or in the wrong bins and damage to our gardens. Unfortunately we found a lot of things that could easily be fixed if students remembered to reduce, reuse and recycle! Waminda students have written some important messages for all students to take note of!

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 11

Next

We had a great time this week joining in with National Simultaneous Story time! After viewing some footage of bower birds in action, we joined 2 million other students at 12 pm to listen to the story “Bowerbird Blues” and then had lots of fun creating our own Bowerbird nests!

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 11

Next

We have now had three STOMP dance sessions and the children are getting excited about our STOMP Extravaganza next Tuesday 28th May at 5.15pm in the stadium. Year 2’s are asked to bring a plate of sweet food for our shared supper and please refer to the invitation for further details. 

Thanks Chris & Wendy

Year Three News

This term for Integrated Studies/History, we are learning about our changing community. For homework over the next two weeks, we would love it if our children had the opportunity to interview an older friend or family member. We have some questions and ideas on the task descriptor attached. This can be done on a basic scale, or your child might like to get creative and display their findings on a poster, electronic presentation or any other appropriate creative way. We will be presenting our findings in class time.

On Thursday we created marble runs for Design and Technology. We were impressed with our children’s teamwork, problem solving skills, adaptability and creativity.

This week we have also been enjoying Stomp.

Year Four News

Congratulations to Kyema for a wonderful sharing of Year Four learning at last week’s Assembly. Myalla looks forward to showcasing their learning at next week’s Assembly.

This week, in Year Four, we have used the 2024 National Simultaneous Story Time Book ‘ Bowerbird Blues’ by Aura Parker as the inspiration for our learning tasks. We have read the story, watched videos about bowerbirds and completed some reading, writing Math and Art tasks. Work samples of these tasks have  been or will be posted to Seesaw so please remember to check your child’s Seesaw as we continue to upload some of their work samples. This is a great way to see how they are doing and open up discussion around their learning and what they get up to at school! 

Below are some samples of writing that the children completed on‘ If I were a Bowerbird …. ‘ Please read and enjoy.

This week the Year Fours began taking part in their STOMP workshops which will run from Wednesday Week 6 to Tuesday, Week 7. They have enjoyed busting some moves in preparation for our School Disco! This will take place on Monday the 27th of May from 7:30-8:30 pm. Students will need to be signed in and out for safety reasons and are not permitted to bring in any mobile devices. This disco is for all middle and senior school students. 

Finally, there are photos of the Year Four winner and runner up in the NSST colouring competition.

Congratulations to Alexander Groves -First and runner up- Hugh Petrie, As you can see both did an amazing job with their entry. If you are calling into school, check out the Library windows that are displaying all entries from Foundation to Year 6.

That’s all until next week,

Natalee, Jaimi and Cathryn

Year Five News

This week, the Grade Fives began taking part in their STOMP workshops which will run from Wednesday Week 6 to Tuesday, Week 7. Students have demonstrated wonderful behaviour towards our visiting teachers and have enjoyed busting some moves in preparation for our School Disco! 

Our school disco will take place on Monday the 27th of May from 7:30-8:30 pm. Students will need to be signed in and out for safety reasons and are not permitted to bring in any mobile devices. This disco is for all middle and senior school students. 

Please remember to check your child’s Seesaw as we continue to upload some of their work samples. This is a great way to see how they are doing and open up discussion around their learning and what they get up to at school! 

This week, students took part in a session with Leading Senior Constable Joe Clarke, from Mildura Police. The discussion centred on social media use and its impact on young lives. 

Students have been working hard on complex sentences in writing. We are learning about independent and dependent clauses and how we can add different conjunctions to create more complex sentences. We have also integrated some text studies from both our Science and Geography Units to build our content knowledge. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Danielle, Jacinda & Amilea

Year Six News

Following on from last week’s newsletter section about using the Single Paragraph Outline as a framework to guide writing, please find below some photos of students putting into action what they have learnt.

This week, students had a great time participating in some STOMP  dance workshops in preparation for next week’s school disco. These sessions will continue on Monday and Tuesday next week.

This week in Science we learnt how to make a lightbulb glow. We have been learning about electricity this term and have discovered that you need an unbroken path of wires to create a circuit. A circuit allows electrical energy to flow. Through our investigations, we found out that the more batteries we used in our circuit the brighter the glow.

Izzy Zadow & Annie Kelly

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 10

Next

Our school disco will take place on Monday the 27th of May from 7:30-8:30 pm. Students will need to be signed in and out for safety reasons and are not permitted to bring in any mobile devices. This disco is for all middle and senior school students. 

Preparation for Year 6 camp, September 16th to 19th (last week of Term 3),  is underway. We will begin booking group activities in the next few weeks.  Notes will be sent out closer to the time, however, if you know your child will not be attending for some reason can you please let Mrs Thompson know via email as soon as possible.  lthompson@shmildura.catholic.edu.au

Library News

National Simulanteous Story Time (N.S.S.T)

On Wednesday our students participated in the National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS), joining over 2 million students in 59,000 locations to read the picture story book Bowerbird Blues.  

Every year the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) selects a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, to read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. The event serves as a timely reminder of the importance of reading books to and with our children.

Book Fair

We have had an amazing response to our Scholastic Book Fair this week, with many enthusiastic shoppers coming in to check out and purchase many of the wonderful books and items on display.

Well done to the many students who entered the NSST Colouring Competition! We had some amazing creations and awarded our winners and runners up earlier this week.

Book Fair Colouring Competition

Scholastic Book Club Issue #4

Due to our focus on our Book Fair this week, we will not be sending send out Issue #4.

We thank all families who have purchased books and await the arrival of Issue 5 early in Term 3.

Student Awards

No awards this week.

Parent Information

Arriving and Leaving Safely

Kiss & Go

To help keep everyone safe during drop-off and pick-up please take note of the following rules at Kiss and Go and the School Crossing that should be followed both in the morning (8:10-8:45am) and afternoon (3pm-3:30pm):

• Stay in your vehicle unless you need to assist younger students with their seat belts.
• Aim to keep your car in the Kiss & Go area for a maximum of two minutes to allow others to use the space too.
• Access the Kiss & Go only from Olive Grove, not 12th Street.
• Please refrain from dropping off students outside of cars in Olive Grove.
• Avoid performing U-turns within the Kiss & Go area.
• For your safety, use the school crossing if you need to cross 12th Street.


Thanks for helping us keep our school safe for everyone!

Pick Up and Drop Off Points

These designated areas serve as convenient points for collecting or dropping off children at the school if you are walking in with them. Please ensure you find a suitable and permissible parking spot for your car in order to use these locations.

Riding Scooters & Bikes

Certain students walk, ride bikes, or scooters to school and are requested to use either the 12th Street entrance or the Tamarisk Grove entrance at the rear of the oval. Riding into or through the school grounds is not permitted.

Collect Children from School Grounds

Feel free to come into school to pick up your child directly from their classroom. It's an excellent opportunity to meet other parents, have casual conversations with teachers, and ensure your child is organised at the end of the day. If you choose this option, please park appropriately and be outside the classroom by the 3.10 bell; otherwise, your child will be directed to the supervised Kiss and Go area. Students and young siblings should refrain from using the playground equipment.

School Crossings

Students walking home are advised to use the school crossings on Twelfth Street, Walnut Avenue and Eleventh Street to safely avoid heavily trafficked roads. All crossings are supervised by a School Crossing Supervisor, and it's crucial to follow their directions.  We also encourage parents to model expected behaviours by using the School Crossings also.

Buses

Several of our students catch buses home from the St. Joseph’s bus stop on 11th Street. Each day a teacher gathers these children together and accompanies them to the bus stop to supervise until they are all safely on the bus.

Drop Off Times

Preferred 'Drop Off' Time: 8.25 - 8.45 am. For safety reasons, please refrain from dropping off students before 8.19 am, as there is no supervision provided.  Our gates open at this time.

Pick Up Times

Recommended 'Pick Up' Time: 3.10 - 3.25 PM. While we understand occasional delays, if regular or extending beyond 3.30 PM, please consider enrolling your child/ren in After School Care.

Walking or Riding Home

If your children walk or ride home or to your workplace after school, please submit written permission authorising them to leave unaccompanied. They must exit through the main 12th Street gate or accompany the 11th Street bus group through Tamarisk Grove.

Alternative Pick Up Places

For safety, we strongly advise against arrangements where children wait unsupervised at public pick-up locations like Walnut Avenue or St Joseph’s College.

EATING AND DRINKING AT SCHOOL

Healthy Eating

To sustain learning and promote healthy eating we encourage students to bring to school predominantly healthy food choices.

Brainfood

Students have a brain food break during the morning to keep children’s brains fuelled for learning. We ask that families send an extra fresh fruit or vegetable snack for children to have during this time. When sending the snack, please pack it separately from your child’s lunch in a small, named container so it can be placed on their desk each morning.

Lunch Snack

The main meal of the school day; a sandwich or roll, a salad or a slice of quiche. A healthy ‘treat’ may also be appropriate here that is healthy and gives long-term energy.  Lunch is eaten usually in the classroom from 11:25am-11:40am.

Recess Snack

We encourage parents to pack fresh fruit or vegetables in your child’s recess snack box.  You may like to pack one or two other snack items for them at this time.  This snack is eaten at 1:40pm.

Packing Food

 The school has a bank of refrigerators for the storage of students’’ food. For the ease of packing and unloading the fridges, we ask that parents provide separate, small, well-labelled containers or zip-lock bags for their child’s recess snack and lunch. Insulated ‘puffy’ lunchboxes and ice-blocks are not required.

School Canteen

Our School Canteen operates on a Wednesday and Friday and provides a range of lunch options at low cost.    The current menu and prices can be accessed through and ordered via the CDFpay website https://shmildura.cdfpay.org.au

OFFICE INFORMATION

Office Hours

Office hours will run from 8:20am to 4:00pm every day. Phone calls can be made starting at 8:00 am.

Change of Personal Details

If there are any changes to your contact details (address/phone number/emergency contacts), kindly inform the office by calling 50231204, emailing office@shmildura.catholic.edu.au, or visiting the office in person.

Simon Everywhere and Parent Access Module (PAM)

Simon Everywhere is an App for smart phones that allows parents to access all information relating to their child/ren such as reports, attendance and much more. It also allows you to update medical information, give permission for excursions, access teacher emails and also receive notifications from the school.

For parents familiar with PAM, the new App works mostly the same as PAM and you can still access PAM through the web site: pam.shmildura.catholic.edu.au, however the app has additional functionality such as Push notifications and the ability to sign in without having to enter your username and password each time.

1. Go to the App Store or Google Play Store and search Simon Everywhere
2. Download and open the App and Allow Notifications
3. Enter your name and phone number and press verify, you will receive a code via SMS
4. Click on 'Add School'
5. Select Sacred Heart Primary School, Mildura - Parent Access
6. Enter your PAM username and password. If you do not know your credentials, please call the school.

7. Click on the Home icon.
   

Simon everywhere works best when notifications are turned on. You can check the notifications setting on your phone to be sure by going to the Settings – Notifications – Then find the Simon Everywhere App.

Sickness at School

Children with severe colds, flus, or other debilitating illnesses must stay at home. Do not send the child if they have:

• Fever: Children with a fever over 38 degrees should stay home.
• Prescribed antibiotics: Keep a child at home for at least 24 hours if prescribed antibiotics for an acute illness.
• Diarrhea: Children with watery stool should return only after being symptom-free for at least 24 hours.
• Vomiting: Children who are vomiting should stay home until at least 24 hours after it has stopped.

After School Care

After School Care is available for Sacred Heart students and is located on our school grounds.  Camp Australia run this program for students from Sacred Heart Primary School and St Paul's Primary School.  The program runs from the Art House building which is located on Olive Grove.

Sacred Heart families can make use of the Camp Australia After-School Care Program that is held on the grounds of Sacred Heart.  The service is available from 3:10pm through to 6pm on school days.  A healthy snack is provided to children.  Registration needs to be done through the Camp Australia website www.campaustralia.com.au .  Further information can be obtained by calling 1300 105 343.  Each day the office will print out a list of students attending Out of Hours School Care and notify the students at the end of the day via the announcements.

Marking Child’s Absence 

1. Log into the App - SimonEverywhere or login via PAM (type pam.shmildura.catholic.edu.au in your address bar).
2. You can either log by clicking on the large blue calendar section that says Parent Notified Absences or you can click on the 3 menu lines at the top right-hand side of your screen. NOTE: On your phone it will appear below your child/ren’s name.
3. You will then need to click the blue + Add Absence button circled below
4. Then select your child, and in reason

If your family is going on an extended family holiday. Please contact the school to inquire about an Student Absence Learning Plan.

School Day

• 8:19 am - Gates open & students can access Courtyard
• 8:34 am - Access Courtyard and play on Oval (classrooms opening optional for teachers)
• 8.49 am - School day begins - classroom open
• 8:55 am - School starts.
• 9.55 am - Brain Break
• 10:55 am - Lunch Play
• 11.25 am - Lunch Eat
• 1.40 pm - Recess 
• 2.10 pm - Recess Finishes
• 3.10 pm - School finishes

Sports Uniform Days

Prep:  

• Cooinda (Mrs O’Callaghan) - Thursday & Friday  
• Wahroonga (Miss Moore) - Thursday & Friday  

Year One: 

• Bundaleer (Mrs Coffey & Mrs Priestley) - Tuesday & Wednesday 
• Karinya (Mrs Groves) - Tuesday & Wednesday 

Year Two:

• Barramunga (Mrs Carmichael) - Tuesday & Friday
• Waminda (Mrs Collins) - Monday & Friday

Year Three:

• Narooma (Mrs Beckwith) - Monday & Tuesday
• Dourim (Mrs Kotsiakos & Mrs Irvin) - Monday & Thursday

Year Four:

• Illawarra (Mrs Willersdorf) - Monday & Tuesday 
• Myalla (Mrs Rowles) - Monday & Wednesday
• Kyema (Mrs Johnson) - Monday & Thursday 

Year Five:  

• Minga (Mrs Deacon) - Monday & Wednesday 
• Eumeralla (Mrs Gunn & Mrs Pacher) - Monday & Wednesday

Year Six:  

• Amaroo (Mrs Campbell) - Tuesday & Friday 
• Yongana (Mrs Zaxos) - Monday & Friday
• Mootwingee (Mrs Thompson) - Thursday & Friday

Term Dates