ISSUE 14: 4th June 2021

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Guardians & Carers,

It was fantastic to welcome students back to school today.  For many students and families this week was a difficult time, for others it is a time to reset and recharge from our busy schedules.   Everyone had different feelings about this time and that is okay.   We thank you for your persistence in supporting your children to engage in learning at home. 

During these uncertain times our staff are very aware that some students require extra support and we are monitoring each child’s progress closely.  If you feel your child is experiencing high anxiety please communicate with your child’s teacher.  We will aim to put in the necessary supports for the children.

I will be on Long Service Leave for the last three weeks of this term.  While I am away Mr O’Callaghan will be Principal.  I look forward to returning to school next term.

This morning we did receive an updated COVID 19 Operations Guide.  Until further notice the following restrictions will be in place for parents and visitors:

• Whole School Assemblies and Liturgies will be for students and staff only.
• Afterschool Care will continue as normal for those children who attend Camp Australia.
• Face masks are mandatory when onsite.
• Any parent or visitor onsite for 15 minutes or longer must sign in using the QR CODE provided at front reception.

Amaroo will be hosting next week’s Assembly, which will begin at 2.30pm in the Stadium on Friday.  Unfortunately parents are unable to attend under our current COVID restrictions.  A video of the Assembly will be posted to our school Facebook page.

Our Sacred Heart Feast Day was scheduled to be held on Friday, 11th June.  With the recent lockdown, COVID restrictions and discussions with Father Matt we have decided to move this day to Friday, 25th June (last day of Term Two).  More details will be provided in coming weeks regarding our Poor Man’s Mass, Family Group activities and the Feast Day lunch.

Our Year Six students were scheduled to be spending the day at St Joseph’s College as part of their transition/orientation for 2022.  This day has now been cancelled due to COVID restrictions.  We will inform you if we get a new date.

There will be some other events that are rescheduled.  Please keep an eye on the School Calendar on SIMON as this is always being updated as dates change.  

The Region Cross Country is now scheduled to be held on Friday, 18th June in St Arnaud. We will await to see if this event will be able to go ahead. 

We are very pleased to announce that we have employed Christine Sherry as our Boost/Intervention Teacher.  Christine has previously taught at Sacred Heart in 1998 and contributed to the community in a very positive way.  Christine has recently been a coordinator and teacher at Mildura English Language Centre (MELC). We also recently announced, we will be welcoming Mrs Sarah Beckwith (Year Five teacher) and Mrs Kerryn Weaver (Year Four teacher - Monday/Tuesday) at the beginning of Term Three.  Sarah and Kerryn will be doing some days with their class between now and the end of term to ensure a smooth transition.

Student Semester One Reports will be available through SIMON from Friday 18th June from 8.15am. Parent & Teacher Meetings are scheduled for the afternoons of Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd of June.  Information on booking meeting times will be released via SIMON next week.

On Friday confirmation letters for 2022 Prep enrolments will be emailed to families.

Program Support Group Meetings (PSG) meetings will be held on Tuesday 15th and Monday 21st June. Parents will be notified of their child’s scheduled PSG meeting date/time via SIMON. Each student's PLP will be attached to an email noting the  date/time of meeting. Meetings that are not scheduled on the 15th and 21st June will be held as part of the Parent/Teacher Interview process on 22nd and 23rd June. Parents are expected to attend these meetings.

Mark Gibson

Principal

Religious Education News

Nothing to report this week.

Ryan O'Callaghan (Religious Education Leader)

Learning Diversity & Wellbeing News

PSG Meetings 

•           Tuesday 15th & Monday 21st June 

•           Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd June (PSG-Parent/Teacher Interview)

Email notifications will be sent out via SIMON on Monday 7th June. Parents are expected to attend these meetings. Please call the office to confirm your attendance.

Learning & Teaching News

Nothing to report this week.

General News

Administration News

Just a reminder, that if you are paying school fees by the Term, your Term 2 payment is now due and payable.  Any unpaid fees will be followed up by the end of Term.

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

A BIG congratulations on the fantastic efforts with Remote Learning! Here are some photos of the Prep students’ patterns they made with objects from home.

Junior Unit News

What an interesting 7 days! Thank you families for the correspondence, commitment and persistence in maintaining a safe and enjoyable time for our students. Congratulations to you all! We cannot wait to get back to routine and continue to support our students.

Middle Unit News

Thank you and well done to all students and families in the Middle Unit for their effort, flexibility and resilience with Remote Learning 4.0! Students can return their learning packs to school next week if they haven't done so already.

Senior Unit News

Early this week the Year Six students received a letter from Betty, our tour guide, who volunteers at the Shrine of Remembrance. Betty was very impressed with our students and the way they conducted themselves while visiting the Shrine.  Betty also sent us a Victorian State flag.  We have attached this letter for you to read.

Melbourne Camp Recount

During Week 5, the Year Six’s went on a school camp to Melbourne and we had lots of fun planned for the trip. We had to be up early because it was a six hour drive and we had to be at the MCG by 2pm. When we arrived at the MCG we had lunch out the front. After we finished eating, we had a tour around the MCG. Once we finished we headed down to the National Sports Museum and learnt about heaps of sports in the interactive games. Then we went to see the penguins on St Kilda beach and then soon headed off to the Soda Rock Cafe where we had a yummy meal.

On Tuesday we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Scienceworks. We learnt heaps of things and after that we went to the Shrine of Remembrance where we learnt about the war and the war heroes. We went to the Leveson Hotel for dinner before going to Kingpin. At Kingpin we played ten pin bowling, Laser tag and played in the games arcade. We went back to the hotel and had a good night's sleep. 

Written by Max

On Wednesday morning we went to Latitude. All of the Year Six’s were excited, just to get there. We first got split up into three different groups and had free time in a small zone. After that we went to the rock climbing walls but it took forever just to strap up. Next we got to go to the trampoline walls and it was really fun. In the last hour we got to go wherever we wanted. We got to have Maccas for lunch and it was delicious. After that we went to the Old Treasury Building and it was really cool to see all of the history of Australia and how much Melbourne has changed. We next went to the Museum and saw the history of animals and how humans used to live. For dinner we had pasta and pizza and Universal Restaurant. To end the night we went to the  Eureka Skydeck. It was so high and the elevator hurt my ears. It was a massive but great day.

We woke up earlier than usual on Thursday and went straight down to the zoo. The animals there were really cool and a lot of the animals were funny.  We learnt about animal adaptations while we were there. Next we went to the Aquarium and some of the marine life was massive. The biggest animal was probably the crocodile, it was absolutely huge. After that we went to ArtVo and we took so many cool pictures. Next we went to the food court and we got to spend $20 on choosing our own dinner. Last of all we went to the ice skating rink and it was very slippery and hard but lots of fun and most people caught on at the end.

On Friday we got up early and cleaned up before going to the Victoria Market. Everyone bought heaps of things and everyone was so happy. We got on the bus and headed for home. It was a great camp and everyone had heaps of fun.

Written by Levi

Science Immersion

Last week we had our Science Immersion day. We learnt about the states of matter solids, liquids and gases. We did some experiments to find our answers. My favourite experiment was the first one we did which was, ‘Xan liquids stack on top of each other like solids?’ To find our answer we used honey, glucose syrup, detergent, water and oil. We found out that liquids do stack on top of each other like solids and the science was that less dense liquids stack on top of higher density liquids. We also learnt about the properties of solids, liquids and gases. For solids we learnt that their particles are close together and they can't flow from one container to another. For liquids we learnt that their particles are reasonably close and they can flow from one container to another. For gases we learnt that their particles are spread apart and they don't have a fixed volume or shape.    Written by Harper Roberts, Myalla

Confirmation

Last weekend some year 5 and 6's were lucky enough to be able to do our last initiation sacrament  which was our Confirmation. Some of us got presents but we were all  blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit which was the best present of all. My favourite parts were when Father Matt placed the oil on my head and being able to do it with some of my friends. Father Matt did a wonderful job doing 5 masses over the weekend, so we thank him along with Sister Helen and our teachers for helping to make it possible, especially Mrs Guthrie for the music. I also thank our families and sponsors for being a part of this special occasion. Written by Alice Siale, Myalla

Congratulations to our Senior Girls Team who represented our school last week in Interschool Soccer.  

Student Leadership Groups

Nothing to report.

Library News

Scholastic Book Club Issue #4 was ordered yesterday and will be distributed on arrival. This can take a few weeks, depending on Australia Post. Thank you for your patience with this.

LIBRARY TIMETABLE

MONDAY: Year 5, 6 & Bundaleer

TUESDAY:  Year 2 & Minga

WEDNESDAY: Mootwingee & Nangare

THURSDAY:Preps, Amaroo, Yongana, Karinya & Eumeralla

FRIDAY: Barramunga

A number of children borrowed a few extra books over the last week, whether they were library books or classroom Take Home books for Preps & Juniors. Please check that all children have their books in their library bags so they can return and borrow new books. 

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.