ISSUE 13: 28th May 2021

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,

Sorry for our newsletter being sent home at a different time than what we normally do. 

This week we have been able to finalise some appointments that were recently advertised.  We are excited to announce the following:

• Mrs Kerryn Weaver has been appointed as the classroom teacher of Grade 4 Nangare on a Monday and Tuesday to replace Mrs Jacqui Willis who is leaving the region.  Mrs Emma Kotsiakis will now work in Nangare from Wednesday - Friday each week.  Kerryn will be returning from maternity leave having been at Sacred Heart over 2019 and 2020. 
• Mrs Sarah Beckwith has been appointed as the classroom teacher of Myalla.  Sarah is a graduate teacher completing her study at Latrobe University in Mildura and has recently completed her final teaching practicum at Sacred Heart.
• We hope to finalise our Boost/Intervention Teacher next week. 

Unfortunately Minga were not able to present at assembly today but they have done a lot of preparation for their assembly and Mrs Johnson has been able to put together our Assembly today looking at our 200 Years of Catholic Education for Catholic Education Week.  Well done Minga!

Our teachers were busy on Friday planning for remote and flexible provision from Monday 31st May to Thursday 3rd June inclusive. We expect to return to school on Friday 4th June. I appreciate that this is a very challenging time for all in our community and your cooperation with the school closure and Remote Learning is very much appreciated particularly when we were all given such little notice from the government.

As with other remote learning periods, our school will provide on-site supervision for students in the following categories:

• Children where both parents and/or carers are authorised workers who cannot work from home, work for an essential provider and where no other supervision arrangements can be made:
• Where there are two parents/carers, both must be authorised workers, working outside the home in order for their children to be eligible for on-site provision
• For single parents/ carers, the authorised worker must be working outside the home in order for their children to be eligible for on-site provision.

• Children experiencing vulnerability, including:
• children in out-of-home care
• children deemed vulnerable by a government agency, funded family or family violence service, and is assessed as requiring education and care outside the family home
• children identified by a school or early childhood service as vulnerable, including via referral from a government agency, or funded family or family violence service, homeless or youth justice service or mental health or other health service.

Thank you to parents who have informed us of your intention to attend on-site supervision for students from Monday 31st May - Thursday 3rd June.   On Friday we set our staffing around those that responded to the survey.  Any new people who respond to this survey may not be able to attend on-site supervision if our numbers are too high. 

This will enable us to ensure that we have sufficient staff on duty to supervise students in attendance.

Students attending on-site supervision will be supervised by school staff however, I wish to advise you that your child’s teacher will not always be supervising your child if they attend on-site.

Vulnerable children or children of essential workers, travelling to school by car, will be required to be dropped off and picked up via Kiss & Go.  Gates will be open from 8.15am and students will need to be picked up between 3:10pm-3:30pm.  Students can still catch buses and supervision will occur for those students.  Students will follow the normal timetable for the day.  

A hard copy Learning Pack has been prepared for students to work on from Monday-Thursday.   Thank you to those families that collected them on Friday.  If you haven't collected your pack they can be collected from the Office on Monday morning.

A letter to parents has been included with the Learning Pack that is written by your child’s teacher outlining the work that needs to be completed.  This work is flexible and can be completed at a time that suits your family's situation. We encourage students to complete this work but understand that this may be difficult for some.  During this difficult time, we must all take care of ourselves and we trust that you will do what is best for your child and the family. 

All students will be marked as present for the four days on the school’s attendance system.  If you need to communicate with your child’s classroom teacher please do so via email.  

Lunch orders will not be available while we have on-site learning.

Camp Australia has confirmed that after-school care will occur.  Please book if you require this service.

Due to our lockdown, a number of events that were planned for this week have been cancelled.  These events include:

• Kaboom Kids Tabloid Sports (Monday) - new date to be confirmed
• Region Cross Country in St Arnaud (Tuesday) - new date to be confirmed
• District Football and Hockey (Thursday) - new date to be confirmed
• GRIP Leadership Conference (Friday)- new date to be confirmed
• Amaroo Assembly (Friday) - new date to be confirmed

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who may be unwell, and those who are working to keep our community safe.

If you require further information or support, please contact the school today between 9am-4pm.

Yours sincerely

Mark Gibson

Principal

Religious Education News

Thank you to all families who were present at last weekend’s Confirmation celebrations and congratulations to all students who received this Sacrament.  Thank you to Father Matt and Sr Helen for the support and guidance they have provided our children during the preparation and receiving of Confirmation.  All were joyous celebrations filled with the Holy Spirit.

Ryan O'Callaghan (Religious Education Leader)

Learning Diversity & Wellbeing News

Student Attendance

While it is important for all of us to stay at home when we are unwell, we have noticed that some students are missing a lot more days of school than others. 

Students are expected to attend school every day unless there is a reasonable excuse for non-attendance.  Absences must be notified to the office via the PAM, phone or note before 8:55am each morning.  

Late Arrival/Early Departure

A student arriving late or departing early from school is required to be signed in/out by the parent using the iPad kiosk in reception.

Every Day Counts - It’s Not Okay To Be Away

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind.  In primary school some students miss on average 3 weeks of school per year.  That’s half a year of schooling by the end of year six. 

Regular attendance at school is very important for your child's learning and social development. Very good attendance is 95% and above.

Of course, sometimes children are sick and need to stay home to get well - and that's OK! But other than that, children need to be at school as much as possible to ensure the BEST opportunity for learning.

(DET Every Day Counts)

Program Support Group (PSG) Meetings

Term Two PSG meetings will be held during Week Nine and Ten -Tuesday 15th and Monday 21st June. The parents of students who require a PSG meeting will be notified within the next fortnight with the day/time of meeting. These meetings are very important in providing ongoing support and monitoring of individual student learning and progress and to adapt goals and make adjustments accordingly.

Some meetings will happen during the mid-term parent/teacher interview. More information regarding this procedure will follow in  next week’s newsletter. 

For more information of PSGs please refer to the following link: 

Parent Guide To Program Support Groups

Learning & Teaching News

Learning packs have been collected by parents to assist with the 4 days of remote learning next week from Monday to Thursday. 

General News

National Sports Academy - Basketball Program Prep-Year 2

Sacred Heart Primary School have been offered an after-school program for all Prep to Year 2 students that will be delivered on our school grounds for an 8 week period on Thursdays from 3.15pm-4.15pm  commencing on 3rd June. This is an introductory program for Basketball however students will also learn and develop motor skills to gain self-confidence in a friendly and encouraging environment.  

Navigating Tricky Issues for Teens

St Joseph’s College would like to invite parents of Grades 5 and 6 students from our school to attend an event. Bookings can be made via Try Booking at the following link - https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=760598&

Allie Collyer from Mallee Family Care Community Legal Centre will present an information session to St Joseph's College parents and carers covering the following topics:

•         Sexual Harassment and sexual consent;
•         Sharing of intimate images ("sexting");
•         Keeping your teens safe online - social media, cyberbullying, grooming etc;
•         The importance of a positive digital reputation;
•         Where to find resources and support.

Do you find it difficult to keep up with the digital world of your children?

Do you want to know the laws around sharing of intimate images, sexual harassment and consent?

Do you struggle with knowing where to find quality resources to help with these often difficult to talk about issues?

This presentation will cover the issues in general and also from a legal perspective. No lectures or judgement - just important information to help navigate this often challenging time.

 Please join us on Tuesday June 8, 7.30pm to 9.00pm at the Mercy Theatre. Bookings are essential.

Canteen News

Please be advised that you can no longer cancel lunch orders online.  This has come about due to parents running a continuous credit and not using this up on the next lunch order placed.

If you require to cancel an order, please phone the office (50231204) during school hours.  Your label will be given to the canteen and you may use this order on another day, by phoning the school and placing that order. This will only be valid for one month.

If when logging onto your account you see that you have a credit, please use the credit and not pay with a Credit Card.  All current credits will be valid until the end of this Term (25^th June).  If unused they will be not valid after that date.

To use a credit on your account you order your child’s lunch as normal.  Once you have submitted your order, the option to use the credit on your account will come up in the payment section.  Please be aware you cannot use Bank Transfer, only Credit Card to pay any balance owing after the credit has been used.

Prep Unit News

This week in writing the Prep students took part in a ‘Pirate-tastic Experience’. Firstly, we followed a procedure to make a pirate hat. Then we fine tuned our pirate speaking and set off in search of treasure. We were all lucky enough to find some very tasty, edible treasure! The next day we wrote about our experience. Here are some photos of our Pirate Preps and their treasure…

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Junior Unit News

We continue to follow the Golden Rule ‘Treat Others the Way you want to be treated” in the Junior Unit and are furthering our understanding about the impacts our choices have on us and the wider world.
Please remember that Tabloid sports are happening Monday morning and all students will need to wear their sports uniform.

Middle Unit News

This week to celebrate Catholic Education Week, students in the Middle Unit looked at the symbol and theme of this 200 year celebration. We looked at the meaning of the symbols and colours used, and students had the opportunity to design their own logo for Catholic Education week. Here are some examples of our amazing work.

Senior Unit News

Congratulations to the Year Six students for the way they represented our school whilst on their Melbourne Camp.  We received many positive comments about engagement, manners and behaviour.  You should all be very proud of yourselves.  Stay tuned for some recounts of students’ experiences of camp over the next few weeks.

Student Leadership Groups

A big thank you to those Year Five and Six students and their parents who have volunteered to help set up and serve when SHPS is rostered on for Sacred Heart Parish’s Soup Kitchen. The response to this social justice action has been overwhelming. Our rostered night is on a Monday, once a month. Three students (accompanied by their parents) have been rostered on with staff members, until the end of July so far. You will be notified one week prior to your Soup Kitchen duty via a phone call. Thank you to the following students and their parents for helping so far: 

George Miller - Lisa Miller 

Noah Slorach - Rachael Slorach 

Macey Campbell - Jo Campbell 

Levi McClelland - Kelly McClelland 

Arnold McCoy - Katie McCoy 

Julian Deacon - Jacinda Deacon

Library News

Scholastic book club issue #4 closes on Wednesday 2nd June. Please place any orders via LOOP prior to this. 

Overdue book lists have been sent home to children this week. Thank you to those parents who have contacted me regarding this. This will be a good time to go through book shelves at home to see if there are any Sacred Heart books there! They can be returned to the library when we return to onsite learning.

Sacred Heart students received access to a variety of eBooks through our library system. Students from Year 3-6 are able to access this using their google login credentials. If your child is looking for extra reading over the next few days, please feel free to follow the instructions on the links below. 

Accessing the school Library system

eBooks on Sora

Weekly Awards

Students of the Week

Due to lockdown, there is no awards this week.

Ray White Award Positive Behaviour Award

Due to lockdown, there is no awards this week.