Sacred Heart Primary School Mildura eNewsletter

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students & Staff,

Welcome to this week’s newsletter.

School Sports Victoria (SSV) Region Netball - Swan Hill

We wish our boys and girls Netball teams all the best for the Region Finals which are being held in Swan Hill this Thursday 28th July. Mr O’Callaghan & Mrs Thompson will attend with our teams.

Grandparents & Special Friends Day

This Friday, 29th July we celebrate ‘Grandparents & Special Friends Day’. Please be aware of the following details:

Mass will begin at 9:15am at the Sacred Heart Church, Mildura
Grandparents are welcome to come to school in the morning and walk over with their grandchildren, others may choose to meet them at the church.
As this Mass is a special one, once the children are over at the church, they can sit with their grandparents/special friend.
After we return from Mass the children and their grandparents will go to their Family Group rooms.
Following this, Morning Tea will be held inside and outside the school Stadium.

No Canteen - Friday, 29th July

Due to the Grandparents/Special Friends Day morning tea there will be no lunch orders on Friday, 29th July.

Assembly - Eumeralla

Thank you to Minga who led our Assembly today. They did a brilliant job. Barramunga will host our next Assembly, which will be held in the Stadium at 2.30pm on Friday.

School Advisory Council

Our School Advisory Council (SAC) meeting will be held on Tuesday, 26th July at 5:15pm in the staffroom. An agenda has been sent home on Monday for our SAC members.

Prep Enrolments 2023

We still have five available spaces for 2023 Prep enrolments. If you know of anyone who is interested in enrolment at Sacred Heart please get them to contact the school.

Circuit Breaker Long Weekend

A reminder that our school, along with most schools in the Ballarat Diocese, will be closed on Friday 12th  August and Monday 15th  August. On Friday 12th August staff will participate in the already scheduled ReLATE professional development.

The circuit breaker weekend is in addition to any other school based measures that schools may take to manage staff and student absences throughout Term 3 and is designed to curb the predicted winter wave of the coronavirus and flu in a short, sharp way.

We understand that pressure has been great in all areas of our community this year and that this decision may place additional stress on some. Camp Australia has confirmed that after-school care will be available on these days. Please book if you require this service.

COVID Update

COVID is still out there in our community, we have had three confirmed cases in this past week and expect that this trend will continue for some time. We would encourage families to continue with twice weekly testing at home to help prevent the spread. RAT tests can be collected at any time from the front office and new kits have been sent home with all students this week.

To support us in keeping our school going we are requesting your support by:

Keeping your children home if they are unwell
Testing twice a week
Encouraging your children in grade 2 and above to wear a mask at school.

A big thank you to all of the wonderful members of our community who continue to support us.

Have a great weekend everyone and God Bless!

Mark Gibson

COVID Update

COVID is still out there in our community and we can expect that this trend will continue for some time. We would encourage families to continue with twice weekly testing at home to help prevent the spread. RAT tests can be collected at any time from the front office. We will still send these home at times throughout the term.

The COVID Schools Operations Guide has been updated to reflect that:

Visitors and staff are no longer required to meet COVID-19 vaccination requirements to attend school.
Staff and students must inform the school if they have tested positive to COVID-19 and isolate for 7 days.
If a student or staff member tests positive through a RAT test, but they don’t have symptoms or have not been in contact with anyone who has COVID-19 it is recommended getting a PCR test within 48 hours and staying isolated at all times until they receive their result. If the subsequent PCR test is negative, you can return to school.
Household contacts are required to test negative using a rapid antigen test on at least 5 out of 7 days if they are attending or working at a school onsite.
Household contacts are required to inform the school that they are attending during the 7 day period.
Social distancing, good hand hygiene, air purifiers and use of outdoor spaces for teaching are still recommended.
Students and staff refrain from returning to school if they remain symptomatic.
Parents/carers who are positive to COVID are able to leave isolation if other arrangements cannot be made to transport someone they live with to and/or from school.
After having COVID you do not need to be tested if you have been re-exposed within 12 weeks of ending self-isolation.
It is recommended that face masks are worn in indoor settings (except for close contacts, who must wear a mask indoors unless an exception applies).
Everyone including students aged 8 years and above must wear a face mask when travelling on public transport, taxis or rideshare vehicles.

Learning and Teaching News

Please find the Term Overview for each year level below. Teachers put these together to give families an understanding of the learning occurring within their classroom. This gives you an opportunity to ask children more direct questions about what they are learning.

Evidence of learning for many of the concepts covered will appear in SeeSaw journals over the course of the term.

We would love to see more families connecting with the learning tasks being uploaded to Seesaw in the form of encouraging comments or inquiring questions for your child.

Please remember that your children can view the comments so it is important to consider what you are writing. If you have any queries about work uploaded to SeeSaw, please contact the classroom teacher or specialist teacher directly by email, phone or in person

Religious Education

Grandparents & Special Friends Day

This very special day is being held this Friday, 29th July. Mass will be held at the Sacred Heart church at 9.15am. Following this, everyone will return to school where students & Grandparents/Special Friends will do an activity together in the classrooms. After this, morning tea will be held inside & outside of the school Stadium. We are really looking forward to this event as it hasn’t been held since 2019. Families are reminded to bring the following for morning tea:

Year Prep, One and Two families to bring a plate of sweets.

Year Three and Four families to bring a plate of sandwiches.

Year Five and Six families to bring a plate of savouries.

We kindly ask that all morning tea is brought in using disposable plates (cardboard/plastic).

2022 Sacramental Program Dates

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

eSafety - Social Media

It has come to our attention that students at Sacred Heart have created several TikTok accounts. Like many current TikTok trends the accounts include posts and comments that are hurtful to others. Some of the accounts relate to relationships, rumors or clues to guess who a student may be. These accounts can contain videos, content and associated comments that could shame and embarrass members of our school community. Ongoing and hurtful comments on social media can have a significant impact on young people in our current society. This bullying could lead to anxiety, depression or youth suicide.

While we discourage the use of social media we know that many parents have given permission for their students to use it with an intent to monitor what they do closely. If students are going to use TikTok or other social media platforms we all have a role to play in supporting our school community online. When we see something that may be hurtful we need to be upstanders by calling it out and letting the school or parents know what has happened. If the school are made aware we will deal with what has happened. We should also avoid joining in with inappropriate accounts by adding comments or sharing content with others. Collectively, we can reduce online abuse and ensure we have a positive school community.

Far more resources are now available to support parents when their children are using social media. The eSafety Commissioner is a great resource currently for educators and parents. We have included information below about the eSafety Commissioner and information to support children dealing with common social media issues. We hope you find it helpful.

The eSafety Commissioner also has brought out a video “Cyberbullying and online drama” that gives parents and carers great tips on how they can help children prevent and deal with online bullying.

They also offer many great eSafety's free webinars that provide parents and carers with the knowledge, skills and tools to support children to have safe, positive online experiences. Join eSafety’s expert education and training team for a FREE live webinar designed for parents and carers of young people aged 8 to 13 to learn about TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube to help your children stay safe online.

The eSafety Commissioner has joined forces with the AFL to tackle the important issue of online abuse within the AFL community. The partnership focuses on improving the online safety for AFL players, fans and the broader community and to raise awareness of the steps Australians can take to #PlayItFairOnline. Watch the #PlayItFairOnline video below and hear from some of the biggest names including Buddy Franklin and Chelsea Randall about how to stay safe online, be an upstander and report online abuse. Also, you can tune into tonights clash between Richmond and Fremantle at 7:50PM EST to watch see the partnership officially kick off!

The current ‘Do It for Dolly’ advertising campaign certainly highlights the impact that cyberbullying can have on young people and can be a great video to watch with your child to create conversation.

If your child is cyberbullying it can have a significant impact on future employment opportunities. Many significant workplaces and universities or schools who may offer scholarships pay investigators to research online history before employing them or offering scholarships. If there was evidence of poor online safety they could miss out on the opportunity.

While we discourage our students from using social media, we believe that if they are going to use it it is vital that you take an educative approach and have regular and open communication in relation to what they are doing online and how they can protect themselves and others. If you have any concerns in relation to online safety we encourage you to talk to your child’s teacher or a member of the Leadership Team.

Learning Diversity News

Nothing to report this week.

Prep Unit News

We have had a fantastic week of learning in Prep for week 2 of term 3. We have learnt 4 digraphs! Digraphs are two letters that make one sound - the digraphs we have learnt are ck, ll, ff and ss. We have had many InitiaLit lessons on how we generally find these digraphs at the end of words… see if you can spot any in the books you are reading at home to your child. Athletics training is in full swing as we prepare for our annual athletics day in week 5. For our Being Healthy, Safe and Active lesson next week could all families please email their child’s teacher a photo of each student as a baby.

Sounds to continue practising with your child/ren at home: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, r, f, o, c, d, h, e, n, g, l, k, u, b, j, w, ck, ll, ff, ss.
Learn all the tricky words at the back of the reading diary.

A reminder our library day is now on a Monday instead of Thursday, so please bring in your library books each Monday.

Show and tell reminder for this week (odd week):

The Preps will be celebrating their 100th day of school soon… we will be dressing up as 100 year old people (see the example below).

On Monday your child will bring home a ‘Visiting Primary School Nurse Program’ envelope. The Visiting PS Nurse Program provides a free service to all Prep students attending Primary School in Victoria. Our school nurse is Denise Pragt and she will be visiting early in term four. Denise has a background in Midwifery and Child and Family Health and has 36 years of nursing experience. It is an excellent free service to take advantage of.

Denise provides:

the opportunity for free hearing and vision screening and general development assessment
information and advice about healthy behaviours
a link for children and families to community based health and well-being services.
providing parenting resources

If you would like your child to participate, please tick the YES consent box and sign on page 5. Return the confidential questionnaire to the school in the sealed envelope provided by Friday 29th July. If you do not consent you will need to provide that information on the questionnaire and STILL return the envelope to school. Denise will send results to your email address and call you if you wish, or call you if there is any need to refer your child to other health services.

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

Today, students came home with their work books that we ask you to cover in CLEAR contact and RETURN to school on Monday morning as they will be needed MONDAY. If you require more time to cover these books, please make arrangements with your child’s teacher.

Thank you for encouraging routine in your home by supporting our children to read nightly, fill in their diary, practice their tricky words and bring these back to school in their library bag each day. This assists with their routines to ensure our students are able to follow instructions with ease.

Year 2:

Homework- Each Tuesday students will bring home their homework book with the new set of work to be completed throughout the week. Homework books are due back at school the following MONDAY.

Sleepover- Our sleepover will take place on Thursday 4th Aug with super fun activities at school the following day. You will need to grant your child permission to attend and this has been sent out via PAM.

Year 1:

Your child has brought home some interview questions to ask their grandparent/s in preparation for Show and Tell in Week 3 and 4. If you require additional information, please contact Mrs Pacher- apacher@shmildura.catholic.edu.au

If possible, please email a photo of your child's grandparent/s to their teacher.

Year One students have also been enhancing their knowledge of angles, lines and 2D shapes which will continue in Week 3. We hope that you have had a chance to access Seesaw and check out these authentic learning experiences to create some followup discussion with your child.

Library borrowing days:

Monday - Waminda

Tuesday - Karinya

Wednesday - Bundaleer, Barramunga

Thursday - Kyema

Isolation Portal

Junior Unit Team Contact Details

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

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

Middle Unit News

Week 2 was a very busy week in the Middle Unit. As we have returned to our routines we appreciate your support with ensuring your child is completing their homework and filling in their reading diary.

Royal Flying Doctors Service Visit - Thursday 28th of July

Next week we are very excited in the Middle Unit to have a visit from the Royal Flying Doctors Service. They will show us one of their planes and explain what they do in their very important job. Many thanks go to Mr Barbary for his organisation of this activity.

Local History Excursion - Week 4

Our excursion to support students learning in history is drawing nearer. If you have not responded with permission on PAM for this please do so as soon as possible.

Year 3 Camp

Permissions for Year 3 Camp were made available last week. Please respond with permission for this on PAM as soon as possible. Further details of the camp will be provided soon. At this stage please ensure that your child’s medical profile is up to date and you have answered the questions on the permission form. If you have any questions please contact your child’s teacher.

Diorama Materials

As part of our History unit next term, students will be making a diorama. Could students please begin bringing in any items that may be useful such as boxes (including shoe boxes), cardboard, bottles, material scraps,wool, buttons etc.

Year 3 Isolation Portal

Year 4 Isolation Portal

Middle Unit Team Contact Details

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

Unit Leader: Miss Sophie Price
Minga (Year 3): Mrs Cathryn Rowles
Eumeralla (Year 3): Mrs Sarah Beckwith
Amaroo (Year 4): Mrs Natalee Johnson
Yongana (Year 4): Mr Corey Barbary
Mootwingee (Year 4): Miss Sophie Price

Senior Unit News

Nothing to report this week.

Year 5 Isolation Portal

Year 6 Isolation Portal

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 Kerryn Weaver (Monday-Wednesday) & Mrs Emma Kotsiakos (Wednesday-Friday)
Illawarra (Year 5): Miss Belinda Zappia
Narooma (Year 6): Mrs Jo Campbell
Dourim (Year 6): Mrs Xana Priestley

Library

This week in the library the Preps and Juniors have been discussing the characters in Aaron Blabey’s book series, Pig the Pug. Preps made their own Trevor and the Juniors all made Pigs!

Year 3 & 4 are continuing their work on writing reviews and have been learning how to find books on the shelf using the spine labels. Year 5 & 6 have begun working on a “Passion Project” This type of project is very popular at Google - employees are able to work on a Passion Project for 20% of their work time there - so if they work 5 days a week, one day is spent working on their project. Students will decide on an inquiry question based on a passion of theirs and will research this using the school library and approved websites. We look forward to seeing where their passion will take them!

Scholastic Book Club Issue #5 was sent off today. These orders should arrive at school within 2 weeks and will be delivered to students. Quite a few families have taken the opportunity to receive free books with their order!

CBCA Book Week

Book Week will be celebrated from Monday August 22nd through to Friday August 26th. We will be having a dress up day during this time, so start putting your thinking caps on! The theme for Book Week this year is “Dreaming with Eyes Open”. Children may dress up in this theme, as a book character or in “comfy reading clothes”. More details to come in the following weeks!

We have recently purchased new Take Home books for our younger students which are in the process of being catalogued for use. We ask that students please look after all books as there are a few that have come in with water or other damage. Library and Take Home books need to be kept safely inside library bags and brought to school each day. Thank you to Barb McDougall (Jed and Max’s Nan); Anna Cavallo (Rosie and Nicholas’ mother) and Vicki McCarthy ( Mrs Collins’ mother) for helping to cover these books. This is a huge job and your help is greatly appreciated!

Timetable:

Monday - Eumeralla, Preps, Waminda

Tuesday - Illawarra, Amaroo, Minga, Karinya

Wednesday - Bundaleer, Barramunga, Year 6, Mootwingee

Thursday - Yongana, Kyema, Myalla

Italian

Dear Years 3-6 Parents

During Italian classes children are learning to describe clothing. Children will use a photo of themselves to describe what they are wearing. Can you please take a photo of your child in an appropriate outfit (Ideas: favourite, special occasion, an interesting, creative or fashionable outfit they’d like to describe). Once you have taken the photo could you please email it to your child’s school email address before their Italian class in week 3. (Their Four digit code @shmildura.catholic.edu.au)

Grazie Signora Cirillo