ISSUE 2: 3rd February, 2022

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff & Students,

Welcome to the 2022 school year! It has been an absolute joy to greet students and their families this week as they have arrived at school. The excitement, anticipation and joy has been evident as they have arrived at school.  Some of our young people have grown so much over the holidays. There was also great excitement to welcome our 2022 Prep students as they began their learning at Sacred Heart on Monday.

A very warm and friendly welcome to the students, families and staff who have begun their school journey with us this year. We hope that Sacred Heart provides you with a positive and strong educational experience and a true sense of community and connection.

Please remember that I am always more than happy to assist with any queries, concerns, ideas or just to be a listening ear. You are always welcome to contact me by phone at school or call in for a chat. 

COVID Cases

Over this week we have eight COVID cases impacting the classes of Karinya (Year 1), Waminda (Year 2), Dourim (Year 6) and Illawarra (Year 5).  We encourage families to complete their twice weekly RA Tests as some cases within the school have had no symptoms but testing has indicated a positive test.  Please inform the school of positive cases.

Students with any COVID-19 symptoms should be tested for COVID-19 and kept home even if they test negative on a rapid antigen test, until their symptoms subside.  If students display symptoms at school they will go to the sick bay and parents will be called straight away to collect their child.

We are very thankful for the support families and students are taking to ensure our school environment is COVIDSafe. Please keep up this effort!

Beginning of Year Mass

Our Beginning of School Year Mass has been put on hold for the time being and will not be held this Thursday.  Our aim is to get through the next 2-3 weeks and hold this mass either at the end of February or early March.  With recent positive cases in our school community, we don’t feel that it is safe at this point in time to bring our whole school community together.  The new date will be confirmed asap.

Get to Know You Interviews

Get to Know You Interviews are a great opportunity for parents to talk with their child’s teacher about their child and to ask questions pertaining to classroom information which will be sent home to all families prior to these meetings. These will be held on Tuesday, 8th and Wednesday, 9th of February. Parents will need to book a time via PAM (Simon Everywhere).  Please come along to assist in building a strong partnership between home and school.  If you are finding it difficult to book via PAM please call the School Office.  Parents will only be able to enter the school via 12th Street Office and will need to show evidence of vaccination.  Parents that are not vaccinated can contact the office and we will arrange a Zoom link so that you can still attend.

Safer Internet Day

World Safer Internet Day is this Tuesday.  Safer Internet Day is a global campaign dedicated to creating a safer online world for everyone. The 2022 campaign theme here in Australia is #PlayitFairOnline. The eSafety Commissioner has teamed with the AFL to produce a wide range of resources to help Australians to stay safe and have fun when they are online, they can be found below. Parent information is available here: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents   Mr Fabich will focus on safe internet use during this week’s Digital Tech lessons as well as looking at the eRules and breaches.

School Photos

Next week families will receive information in regards to our School Photos that are scheduled to occur on Monday, 21st February.  Please keep an eye out for information. Orders will need to be completed online.  All students are expected to wear their full summer school uniform on this day.  Classes who have PE on this day will need to bring their runners to school to change into.

Assembly

Thank you to the Student Leadership for hosting today’s Assembly.  Narooma will host this Friday’s Assembly. Parents of students involved 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.

Sound System

Using our Parents and Friends Fundraising Levy that is applied to school fees we have been improved our sound system in the stadium.  This will be very beneficial for assemblies and special events held at school.  For those at assembly today would have witnessed the improvements.  As part of the system we have installed new speakers and amplifier, a new sound desk, four new wireless hand held microphones, two wireless headset microphones and a set of choir microphones on the stage. 

Prep Rest Days

When students first start Prep they can get very tired so rest days are built into the program up until the Labour Day long weekend.  Please see below the schedule for first term.  Miss Sheridan and Mrs O’Callaghan will work with students individually this Wednesday on reading and writing assessment tasks.

Have a great week everyone and God Bless!

Mark Gibson

Religious Education

2022 Sacramental Program

Dear Sacred Heart Families,

I am writing to you with information about the Sacramental Program for 2022. With the Covid Restrictions over the past few years and also a restructure of the program to realign us with the Diocese of Ballarat, I am inviting you to be part of the new program.

 Reconciliation will be now offered in Term Four for students in Year 2.

Confirmation in Term Two around Pentecost Weekend for students in Year 3.

First Communion (Eucharist) in Term three for students in Year 4.

For students in Year 3 and above during this year (due to the restructure) they might be participating in a number of sacraments.

Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) 2022 Year 3 & 4 students

Parents Information Night Wednesday 23rd February 7pm Sacred Heart Church

Celebration of Sacrament Wednesday 6th April 7pm 

Sacrament of Confirmation 2022 Year 3, 4 & 5 students

Parents Information Night Wednesday 27th April 7pm Sacred Heart Church

Celebration of Sacrament Friday 3rd June, Saturday 4th June & Sunday 5th June  

Sacrament of First Communion (Eucharist) 2022 Year 4 students

Parents Information Night Wednesday 7th September 7pm Sacred Heart Church

Celebration of Sacrament Friday 21st Saturday 22nd Sunday 23rd October 

Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) 2022 Year 2 students

Parents Information Night Wednesday 12th October 7pm Sacred Heart Church

Celebration of the Sacrament Wednesday 23rd November 7pm Sacred Heart Church

Enrolment forms will be sent home with students or can be collected at the Parish Office; any enquiries please contact the office or talk to Ryan O’Callaghan (RE Leader Sacred Heart Mildura).

Thanks,

 Fr Matthew Thomas

Parish Priest

PLEASE NOTE - Reconciliation Enrolment forms will be sent home with all Year 3 & 4 students next week.  If you choose to register your child for this Sacrament, the Registration form and payment needs to be handed in at the Sacred Heart Parish office.

Learning and Teaching News

Digital Learning Portfolio - Seesaw

Parents will be invited to join the child/rens class Seesaw.  Seesaw is an online platform which we use as a Digital Learning Portfolio. This portfolio is a collection of student work where teachers empower students to create, reflect, share, and collaborate.  Students “show what they know” using photos, videos, labels and more and share with families.

The Digital Learning Portfolio is not extra work from students rather learning tasks teachers have planned from across the semester that support and supplement some of the judgments expressed in the formal reports.

Parents will see only their child’s work and have the opportunity to post encouraging comments about their work. At the end of the school year parents will be able to download their child’s portfolio as a PDF.

We encourage all families to connect to this as it is a great way to stay in touch with your child's learning in real time. 

Isolation Learning Portal

Year levels from Year 1 to 6, teachers have created an online portal for students to access during periods of isolation.  This portal will include some generic literacy and numeracy learning tasks that can be accessed by the shared links.  Students will have access to work they can complete whilst at home. Links to each Isolation portal will be shared via the classroom teachers.

General News

Fee Statements

We have started to email our fee statements out today, you should receive yours in the next few days.

Please dont hesitate to contact the office if you have any queries about it.

Prep Unit News

Welcome to the 2022 school year! The preps have had a great week working with their teacher, getting to know their classmates and settling into school routines. We have also spent a lot of time with our Year 6 buddies: playing games, doing activities, reading stories and eating recess and lunch together.

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 28

Next

Some reminders for the beginning of the year:

- The school library books can be kept at home and brought back each Thursday ready for library borrowing. If your child does not bring back their books or does not have their library bag on library day they will not be able to borrow new books.

• Your child’s library bag needs to be at school every day - kept in their school bag.
• Show and Tell will begin on Thursday 17th February.
• Please begin to bring in a pair of headphones for use on the iPads.
• And lastly, remembering to use 2 small containers for recess and lunch so that they fit into our fridge boxes.

We look forward to meeting parents this week for our Get to Know You Interviews, where we will provide you with some additional Back to School Information.  

We came across this article that we thought might be extremely helpful as we transition to school. Karen Young Article

Junior Unit News

Our students were very full of fun this week chatting to their peers and teachers about their holiday experiences and were eager to participate in classroom tasks.

We appreciate the time families have taken to check in with their children regarding how they are feeling and staying at home should their child be unwell. It is certainly not the way we would like to start the school year and we look forward to seeing all our students back when they are in good health. 

Thank you very much for providing our students with healthy food,  labelled hats, working headphones, their drink bottles and  library bag this week.  As you have noticed, students have started borrowing. Students are required to have their library bag, take home reading book and their diary with them at school each day.

Teachers use the diaries daily to check in with student reading and literacy games may be played using their diary. 

The school library books can be kept at home and brought back on your child's library borrowing day. (Days are located in the library section of this newsletter) 

Next Friday, your child/ren will bring home their workbook/ writing book that needs to be covered in CLEAR contact. You may also choose to contact their school diary. These will be returned to school on Monday morning for use (14.2.22), however if you don't have time over the weekend, please arrange another time with your child's teacher.

We look forward to seeing/ meeting you at the ‘Getting to know you’ interviews next week.

Middle Unit News

Welcome back to the 2022 school year! The Middle Unit have had a fabulous week getting to know their classmates and routines in their new classroom. This week we also enjoyed learning all about Heat Energy during our Science Immersion Days.

Some reminders for the beginning of the year:

• Please ensure your children’s workbooks are covered in contact or a book cover. Children are welcome to have coloured contact on their books but we do ask that the subject cover we have competed at school is placed on the front with clear contact. 
• A reminder that library bags are expected to be at school every day. This is very important as regular reading is an important part of our classroom routines. 
• Students are reminded to have a face mask at school every day to wear. We do encourage children to bring their own. 
• All students require a set of working, over ear headphones that are labelled with their name. 

We look forward to meeting parents this week for our Get to Know You Interviews, where we will provide you with some additional Back to School Information.  

Senior Unit News

What a wonderful first week back it has been. Students have had a great time reconnecting with each other through lots of team building challenges and activities.

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 16

Next

All students are asked to bring in a named set of headphones to be used in the classroom. 

Narooma will be hosting next Friday’s assembly. We look forward to seeing you there.

Isolation Learning Portal

The Senior classes have created an online portal for students to access during periods of isolation.  This portal can be accessed by clicking the links below or via your child’s Google Classroom.  Students will have access to work they can complete whilst at home.

Year 5

Year 6

The Year Six students have been super supportive big buddies. They have LOVED working with the Prep’s this week and have been amazing in helping their buddies settle into the routines of school.

Student Leadership News

Congratulations to our Student Leaders for 2022.  Our Captains are:

School Captains - Alice Siale & Thomas O’Callaghan

Murray House - Isla Keyte & Alby Woollard

Mallee House - Harper Roberts & Nate Wade

Hattah House - Eva Tuohey & Lachlan Farley

Kulkyne House - Maya De Rosa & Aidan Njegovan

Year Five & Six Class Captains will be announced very soon.  Those elected to these roles will join the 2022 Student Leadership Team.

Students will meet once a fortnight during school time, beginning this Wednesday 9th February.

All the best to our student leaders this year.  I’m sure they will be great role models and leaders within our school community.

(Ryan O’Callaghan) 

Library

Our school library is very well resourced, and we have many different types of books available for children to borrow. All children are able to access the library and will need a library bag to store their books in. We are open each day before school for returns and borrowing; at lunchtimes for reading, borrowing and passive play (puzzles, colouring in, games, chess); and after school for returning books only. Each class will attend the library once a week (usually on the days listed below), but please ensure children have library bags each day as sometimes circumstances change and they might attend on a different day. Children can borrow UP TO 3 books from the library. Over the term holiday breaks, they may be able to borrow a few extra books. Younger children will choose from picture story books, football books, Mr Men, simple non fiction, etc, whereas older children will borrow novels as well. Children in Prep - Year 2 can have their books for up to 2 weeks, Year 3-6 for 3 weeks due to longer novels. Preps and Juniors are encouraged to change their books weekly. Once books are overdue, notes will be sent home and children reminded when they come in. They may not be able to borrow if they have overdue books. If you receive an overdue note, please check at home then send me an email if you are unable to find it. It is best to keep library books inside library bags. If you have any other questions regarding the library, please see your child's teacher or email me on wcollins@shmildura.catholic.edu.au

Library timetable:

• Monday - Mootwingee, Bundaleer, Yongana, Year 6
• Tuesday - Year 5, Kyema, Barramunga
• Wednesday - Eumeralla, Amaroo, Waminda
• Thursday - Preps
• Friday - Minga, Karinya

A Special Thank you

Our family would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Sacred Heart Primary School Community for the tribute to Thomas which is hanging in the foyer of the school.  Our son Thomas was such a beautiful boy who touched the lives of so many people he met.   Thank you to all of his class mates, his teachers and staff but especially Fiona Driscoll who was an amazing person in Thomas’s life.    Thank you to all those who created this priceless piece of artwork.   

Yours sincerely

Fiona, John and Will.    

Students of the Week

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 10

Next