Sacred Heart Primary School Mildura eNewsletter

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Welcome everyone to this week’s newsletter. Students are settling very well back into school and are currently getting a good balance of work and fun times as they transition back into a normal school program. If you have any concerns in regards to your child please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s classroom teacher. Our Wellbeing Officer is also available for families or students to speak to if needed.

School Advisory Council (SAC) Annual General Meeting (AGM)

Thanks to the parents that attended our Annual General Meetings (AGM). Congratulations to Taryn Hunt and Rachael Fyfe (re-elected) and Warren Henderson who were nominated and accepted roles on the School Advisory Council (SAC). Renee Carruthers has finished her time on SAC. We thank her for her input over the last two years.

Below we have a copy of the AGM Report for families to read our many achievements, challenges and future goals as a school.

2021 Sacred Heart AGM Report.pdf

Hygge Hut

We were very lucky to have a guest speaker Dr Leah Wiseman who is a parent at Sacred Heart and is currently the Director of Mental Health at Albury Wodonga Health and is also working at Lime Therapy speak at our AGM on Wednesday. Leah spoke around the theme ‘Reconnection After COVID’. Leah focused on the importance of reconnecting kids, parenting peers and the entire school community. And this process was linked with one key projects to support this reconnection. We would love parent input to support this work.

The Hygge hut pronounced “H-You- guh” Hygge is a Danish word which roughly translates as: “coziness” or the feeling of a hug. Hygge life is a Scandi custom that's centered on calm, inviting interiors. It also values abstract principles like contentment, coziness, simplicity, relationships, and connection. Lime Therapy and Sacred Heart are working together to create a Hygge hut, a space that will represent a departure from the traditional sensory room and will provide a retreat for kids to go at times they are feeling anxious, tired, overwhelmed or needing any sort of space or comfort. We believe Hygge is the perfect word to describe the space as it represents, a vibe a doing word and a way of being. The space will incorporate elements of the natural environment and provide a home for structured activity like mindfulness as well as simple activities like lying on beanbag or chatting with a friend or teacher. We are aware we have parents and friends in our school community with just the right skills and passion to be involved in this project. If that is you, please contact myself or give your name to the Office.

Ballarat School Camp

We have been very lucky to secure an opportunity for our Year Five students to attend Ballarat Camp this year. We understand that families may have hesitation about sending their children away on this camp however we hope to gauge the willingness of families to send students on this camp. The students will stay at and attend activities at Sovereign Hill, who have many precautionary measures to minimise risk. The venue has their own SOVIDSafe Plan, they only allows adults who are double vaccinated, accomodation keeps our school separated from other schools and density limits apply and much more. We will send out a Permission Note via PAM to sense the willingness of parents to send their child to this camp before making a final decision on whether the camp goes ahead. This will occur next week.

Year 2 Sleepover (Thursday)

The Year Two Sleepover is being held this Thursday evening at school followed by offsite activities on Friday. Miss Hewitt, Mrs Taylor, Mr Fabich, Mrs Brooks, Mrs Groves and Mrs Sherry will be running Thursday night’s program and sleeping over with the students. On Friday Miss Hewitt, Mrs Taylor, Mr Dashington, Mrs Brooks & Mrs Deangelis will accompany students to their various offsite activities. We wish our Year Two students all the best for a fun and enjoyable experience.

2022 Prep Transition

Our first 2022 Prep Transition is being held this Monday morning from 8:45-11am. Mrs O’Callaghan, Miss Sheridan and members of Leadership will begin Kinder Visits this week. This will be an opportunity for teachers to observe 2022 Preps playing and working in their Kinder environment.

Our Prep 2022 Transition Program is attached below:

Prep Transition Program.pdf

Mission Activities

Congratulations to the school community on all our great efforts so far throughout Mission Month. Our Duct Tape the Teacher to the Wall, Hot Dog/Movie/Dress Up/Icecream Day and Colour Run were all enjoyable and successful events. Thank you to Mrs Guthrie and Mrs Deacon who co-ordinated these fun events this week. Between all our mission activities across the school we will be able to give a donation to Fr Mick and his efforts in Peru. As you can see from Fr Mick’s letter below the money will keep us informed of the impact money raised will have on his missionary work.

Letter from Fr Mick

Dear member of the Sacred Heart School Community

On behalf of so many people here in Peru I would like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Marion Guthrie and the staff, students and families of Sacred Heart School for the extraordinary donation to the Shared Table and other projects here in Peru. Your efforts have been truly amazing and so greatly appreciated.

I am presently in Lima awaiting the completion of paperwork for my working visa and Peruvian licence, after which I will be heading up into the mountains to begin my commitment to the Parish of Yanaoca.

Hopefully by the end of next week I will be there.

I look forward to continued contact with the school community by way of a little report every couple of months to keep you all informed of the effect your contribution is having on our mission here. I know there is a primary school in the community where I will be living, and I hope to be able to make a connection between that school community and Sacred Heart.

Thank you all once again, and God bless you.

Fr Mick McKinnon

Remembrance Day

This Thursday is Remembrance Day. We honour and celebrate armed forces members who have died in the line of duty. Classes will be doing some learning about Remembrance Day throughout the week. Mrs Deacon, Mr O’Callaghan and the Student Leadership Team will go to Henderson Park to participate in the service and lay a wreath. At school, we will have a short service in the Courtyard beginning at 10.40am.

Year 4 & 5 Leadership Development Day

All Year Four & Five students will be participating in the Sacred Heart Leadership Development Day this Friday. This day is being facilitated virtually by Unleashing Personal Potential (UPP). Students will work in their own classrooms. The 2021 Student Leadership Team will provide support on the day (between recess & lunch) and will be allocated to a classroom.

Barramunga Assembly

On Friday our Year One Barramunga class will be presenting their first assembly as students at Sacred Heart. The assembly will commence at 2:30pm. Parents of Barramunga students and those who are receiving awards will receive an invitation to the Assembly. All visitors to school grounds must comply with vaccination requirements, density limits, face mask requirements, QR code check-ins and practise respiratory etiquette and good hand hygiene.

Australian Government eSafety Website

We do often encounter eSafety issues that impact on the wellbeing of students at our school. The Australian Government eSafety website has a wealth of information for parents and educators. This link will take you to the eSafety Commissioner website: eSafety. The site endeavours to help Australians have safer, more positive experiences online. In this week’s eSafety news, there is a section ‘New Resources’ that provides both parents and educators with information via it’s eSafety Guide updates. The eSafety Guide is just that, a guide to popular apps, games and social media has new and updated listings on RuneScape, Emerald Chat, Omegle, FIFA Soccer and Nintendo Switch.

God bless!

Mark Gibson

Religious Education News

Sacrament of Confirmation

We wish Max Fleri & Levi McClelland all the best as they are receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation this Sunday. We hope this is a memorable occasion for you and your families Levi & Max.

2021 Sacraments Photos

Any families who have participated in the 2021 Sacramental Program - Reconciliation, First Eucharist & Confirmation. If you have any photos of these celebrations, can you please email them to wcollins@shmildura.catholic.edu.au as we would like to include them in this year’s School Magazine.

General News

**2022 School Fees**

Thank you to parents who have returned their 2022 Fee forms back to the office. They are now overdue and need to be returned. If you haven't yet returned your 2022 Fee Form (blue) please complete and return back to the office ASAP.

Once we received your form a follow up Payment Option (white) form was/will be sent home. This needs to be returned back to the office ASAP.

Please make this a priority.

If you have any queries don’t hesitate to contact the office.

Prep Unit News

This week the Prep’s have enjoyed ‘Hot Dog, ice cream and movie day’ and ‘The Colour Run’ for our Mission fundraising. We also had the pleasure of welcoming Palwinder Kaur into our classroom to talk to us about ‘Holi’ the Indian Festival of Colour. We listened to how this celebration brings so much joy when the families take part in it. Now we will compare our colour run at school with the Holi festival.

A reminder that our Prep Unit Missions Fundraiser is our ‘Guess the lollies in the jar’ competition. 1 guess if 50 cents or 3 for $1

Prep Unit Team Contact Details

Unit Leader: Mrs Rebecca O'Callaghan
Cooinda (Year Prep): Mrs Rebecca O'Callaghan
Wahroonga (Year Prep): Miss Courtney Sheridan

Junior Unit News

WOW WHAT A WEEK! Thank you for supporting your child/ren to participate in the fun this week.

The Junior Unit got creative! We dressed up, enjoyed food and watched a movie on Thursday. We became super colourful (and wet) today when participating in our SHPS Color Run as well as working really hard. The laughter was infectious!

It has been pleasing to see the engagement of our students in our Mission Fundraising efforts over the past week. Our Lolly Jar guesses are coming in quickly at .50cents a guess with many different mathematical theories being thrown about regarding the exact number of lollies.

Next Week the Year 2 students will celebrate their Sleep Over. Information notes have been sent home, however if you require clarification, have any concerns or need to share your child’s dietary requirements, please contact your child’s teacher before Tuesday 9th November.

During Science, the Year 1 and 2 students have been learning about forces. We made our own car launchers and have attached some photos of our students experimenting with these.

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

Unit Leader: Mrs Katrina Groves
Karinya (Year 1): Mrs Chris Carmichael
Barramunga (Year 1): Mrs Katrina Groves (Monday-Thursday) & Mrs Wendy Collins (Friday)
Bundaleer (Year 1): Mrs Maree Irvin (Tuesday-Friday) & Mrs Wendy Collins (Monday)
Waminda (Year 2): Miss Georgina Hewitt
Kyema (Year 2): Mrs Kim Taylor

Middle Unit News

This week Year 3 students have enjoyed their Science Immersion Days. We have learnt about forces and how these impact objects causing them to move. Year 4 will participate in these days before the end of term.

We had such a fun day on Thursday celebrating Book Day and enjoying a hot dog, ice cream and relaxing in front of a movie! Our Colour Run today was an absolute blast too! We are certainly enjoying being back at school!

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 Xana Priestley
Yongana (Year 3): Mrs Cathy Rowles
Mootwingee (Year 3): Miss Sophie Price
Minga (Year 4): Mrs Natalee Johnson
Eumeralla (Year 4): Mrs Maria Beer
Nangare (Year 4): Mrs Kerryn Weaver (Monday-Tuesday) & Mrs Emma Kotsiakos (Wednesday-Friday)

Senior Unit News

Graduation Dinner

The Year 6 Graduation Dinner will be held at Willow and Ivie on Wednesday December the 8th. You can access the menu options for your child and pay for their meal using CDF Pay.

Mission Month Fundraiser

The Senior Unit will be running a ‘Guess the Number of Lollies in the Jar” competition next week as our Mission Month fundraisings initiative. Your child will have the opportunity to guess the number of lollies in their class’ jar each day during Week 6. The winner will be announced on Friday. The cost per guess is .50cents.

Science Immersion

The Senior Unit will be having their Science Immersion days next Wednesday and Thursday. Year 5s are in need of small torches and mirrors to be used over the two days. If your child is able to bring in a torch, mirror or both items that would be greatly appreciated!

Senior Unit Team Contact Details

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

Unit Leader: Mrs Jo Campbell
Myalla (Year 5): Mrs Sarah Beckwith
Illawarra (Year 5): Miss Belinda Zappia
Narooma (Year 6): Mrs Jo Campbell
Dourim (Year 6): Mr Corey Barbary

Student Leadership News

The Student Leadership Team will be representing the school on Thursday 11th November at the Remembrance Day Ceremony, Henderson Park. Students will walk down to the park accompanied by Mrs Deacon and Mr O’Callaghan. A permission notification will be sent out to parents of the SLT.

A brief service will be held back at school for the rest of the school.

Library News

It was great to see so many children dress up in book character costumes this week for our delayed Book Week dress up day! Check out some of these photos!

Scholastic book club - thank you for your patience this year with the deliveries of Book Club. Due to uncertainty around postal deliveries, we have decided not to run with Issue #8. We look forward to beginning orders again in 2022.

Children are only able to borrow during their class visits at the moment, as the library is currently closed at lunchtimes. Therefore, please ensure all students bring library bags and books to school every day, as library days may change due to various school activities. At this stage, next week’s library timetable is as follows:

Monday - Year 6, Year 5, Bundaleer

Tuesday - Year 2

Wednesday -Mootwingee, Nangare

Thursday - Karinya, Eumeralla, Preps, Yongana, Amaroo

Friday - Barramunga, Minga

Overdue notices will be sent home next week to children who have books outstanding. It would be great to take some time to have a hunt at home for any more books that may be at home.