Sacred Heart Primary School Mildura eNewsletter

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students and Friends,

State Government Election Promise

With less than two weeks until the Victorian state election, we are delighted to let you know that Sacred Heart have secured a commitment from both the Labor and Liberal/National political parties for major building works.

The Labor and Liberal/National parties have both promised to fund Sacred Heart Primary School if elected at the State Election. The $3 million funding is slated for stage one of our recently completed master plan.

Stage one will allow the school to either significantly renovate or rebuild a Foundation – Year Two learning centre. Current classrooms show signs of wear with evidence of structural and white ant damage. These upgraded facilities will support our teachers and give your children the high-quality education they deserve.

We welcome this commitment from both sides of politics and for their ongoing investment in Catholic education.

2023 Classroom Placements

We are currently in the process of finalising placements for classroom teachers and students in 2023. We hope to share our classroom teacher placements in the newsletter next Friday, 25th November. On Friday 2nd December parents will be informed of student’s class allocation.

Sacred Heart Employment Opportunities

We are currently advertising in the Sunraysia Daily from tomorrow for one full-time classroom teaching position, one part-time classroom teaching position, two Learning Support Officer positions and Library Technician (non-teacher) position. If you know of anyone who may be interested please refer them to our school website or to contact the school.

Evacuation Drill

On Monday, 21st March we will practise our Evacuation Drill, as part of student safety and OH&S requirements. Students will hear an evacuation warning and be required to evacuate to the oval. If this may concern your child, we encourage you to discuss with them what will be happening at school.

Staffing News

Next year Corey Barbary, who has been with us for the past three years as a Year Six and Year Four teacher, begins his new role within Sacred Heart Primary School as the Performing Arts Specialist teacher next year. With him he brings over fourteen years of experience of teaching Performing Art in a Primary School. Whilst at Mildura South Primary he ran an extensive Performing Arts program which included an Instrumental Program for students for Year Three to Six students, school orchestra, rock band, Choirs, various ensemble groups and a Circus, all of whom performed at various public events such as the Mildura Eisteddfod and The Beat State School Gala, as well as various schools and Aged care facilities.

Corey is an accomplished musician, with a particular passion for guitar, tenor banjo and mandolin, which he played in the local Irish Punk band Sibin who have performed at many Celtic and Folk Festivals around Australia.

He has also worked with several theatre companies within Sunraysia as a production member, coordinating and directing a number of performances around the district, these include Sunraysia Gangshow, Electric Light Theatre and Irish Echoes.

Corey is looking forward to establishing a new and exciting Performing Arts program at Sacred Heart Primary for all students as well as providing opportunities for those with a particular flare in the areas of music, drama and dance.

Christmas Carols on the Oval

On Thursday 8th December from 5:30pm-7pm we will be having Christmas Carols on the Oval as part of our end of year celebrations. From 5:15pm-6:15pm we invite families to have a picnic dinner on the oval and to mingle with other community members from the school community. From 6:15pm each class will then lead a Christmas Carol with a karaoke style video clip displayed on a cinema screen allowing everyone to sing along with the students. This should be a great community event.

2023 Student Leadership

Our Year 4/5 students have had a great day participating in the Student Leadership Development sessions. These sessions were run virtually by Unleashing Human Potential.

Nominations will now be taken from Year Five students for 2023 School & House Captains. These will need to be handed into your teachers by Monday, 21st November. Next Friday, 25th November all Houses will meet for House Captain speeches and voting at 9am. Good luck to all students!

2023 Prep Transition

2023 Preps and Year Five Buddies had a very successful Buddy BBQ on Wednesday. We had lots of parents attend and our new Preps enjoyed playing with and getting to know their buddies.

Work Experience Student

We welcome Katelin Day to Sacred Heart this week. Katelin is a Year 10 student at Trinity Lutheran College and will be joining us for a week of work experience. Also joining us this week is Daniel Nulty who is a first year Student Teacher. Daniel will be working in Waminda for the week.

School Advisory Council

Our final School Advisory Council (SAC) meeting will be held on Tuesday 29th November at 5:15pm in the staffroom. We will send out an agenda to parents next week. This meeting will be attended by our new and past members of the SAC. After the meeting we will be going to the Kkings Palace for dinner.

First Day for Students 2023

The first day back at school for students in 2023 is Monday, 30th January.

Important End of Year Dates

Year 5 SJC Visit - 29th November
Whole School Transition (2023 Classes) - Tuesday 6th December
Year Six Transition Day (2023 Year 7) - Tuesday 6th December
Carols on the Oval (Student Performance) - Thursday 8th December
Final School Assembly (Special Presentations) - Friday 9th December
Year One Fun Day - Friday 9th December
Middle Unit Fun Day - Friday 9th December
Graduation Dinner - Monday 12th December @ 6pm
Year Two Fun Day - Monday 12th December
Senior Unit Fun Day - Tuesday 13th December
Prep Unit Fun Day - Tuesday 13th December
End of Year/Graduation Mass - Wednesday 14th December @ 11.30am
Last Day Students School - Wednesday 14th December @ 3:10pm

Have a great week everyone and God Bless!

Mark Gibson

Religious Education

Our Diocesan Community - newsletter

First Reconciliation

Many of our Year Two students are making their First Reconciliation this Wednesday evening. This is being held at the church at 7pm. We wish our students all the best with this Sacrament.

Learning Diversity News

Program Support Group (PSG) Meetings

PSG Meetings will be held on Wednesday and Thursday 23rd and 24th November. Parents and caregivers of students who require a PSG meeting have been notified via email. The email included the day/time of the meeting and the child’s Term 4 goals and evidence of progress. Term 1, 2023 goals will be discussed during these meetings also. Meetings will be held in the school’s boardroom or via Zoom.

A letter was sent via email to the parents of those students attending St Joseph’s College next year in regard to the handover process between the two schools. Information of the students not attending St Joe’s; who receive adjustments to their learning program, will be forwarded to their respective secondary schools.

Prep Unit News

This week in Literacy we have continued our learning about non-fiction texts. We learnt so many facts about dogs and even had a visit from a real life puppy! Mrs Finlayson brought in her 10 week old Goldador (Golden Retriever x Labrador)... she was so cute, soft and playful. A big thanks to Mrs Finlayson for introducing us to your gorgeous puppy and letting her be an important part of our learning.

Some reminders:

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, sh, ee, qu, z, ch, y, v, x, wh, th, oo (as in moon), oo (as in book), ng and ay.
Learn all the tricky words at the back of the reading diary.
Library day is Monday. ALL prep students need to return their library books each FRIDAY.

Show and tell reminder for this coming Thursday = even week.

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

Welcome back Harry Gayland. We are thrilled to have you and your fabulous family back at SHPS with us. We sincerely thank Miss Sarah Valente for her time and experiences whilst she was on placement in Karinya. We wish her all the very best with her studies and look forward to seeing her again in the future.

We are beginning to wrap up library borrowing in the coming weeks so we ask that families have a good look at home for any library or classroom books and return them to school.

A big congratulations and many blessings to the Year Two students who are receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time next Wednesday. May they always know the Peace of Jesus, the Light of his Love, and the Joy of his Life.

Notes will come home in the following few weeks regarding the end of year fun days. These are days that each year level celebrates with their friends and teachers. Year One Fun day is Friday 9th December and Year Two will be held on Monday 12th December.

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 Jaimi Willersdorf

Middle Unit News

This week the Year 4’s enjoyed participating in our Leadership Day. We learnt all about what makes a great leader and students are looking forward to putting their new skills into action.

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

Leadership Discovery Day

On Thursday Year 5s participated in a Leadership Day which was run by Aspire Higher- Unleashing Personal Potential. This was a great experience for all students, where they were highly engaged in various activities that were aimed to develop their leadership skills. Yesterday’s leadership day began the process of students nominating, presenting and voting for 2023 student leadership.

We are enjoying our Physical Sciences Unit ‘Seeing the Light.’ We have learnt about light rays and shadows. On Tuesday we had a lot of fun experimenting with shadows to determine how changing the distance from the light source affects the height of a shadow.

Year 6 Reading

Could parents please check the reading material that students are bringing to school. It has been noted that a number of books that are being brought in are not appropriate to be read at school. If you allow your child to read these books, please keep them at home for nightly reading.

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 Danielle Gunn (Monday-Wednesday) & Mrs Emma Kotsiakos (Wednesday-Friday)
Illawarra (Year 5): Miss Belinda Zappia
Narooma (Year 6): Mrs Jo Campbell
Dourim (Year 6): Mrs Maria Beer

Library

Scholastic Book Club Issue #8 orders will close on Wednesday 23rd November to allow for delivery. Please ensure you click the “gift” box if you do not want your child to receive the order at school. Gift orders will be left in the office and parents contacted to pick these up.

In the library this week, the Junior Unit students have been participating in a Scavenger hunt! They were required to find different books related to specific criteria and share these with the class. Lots of fun was had with children working alongside a partner to find books about feelings, a book they hadn’t read before, one with a lion as the main character and various others!

This coming week is the final week of borrowing for students. ALL books must be returned no later than Friday 2nd December to allow time to check all books back in. Please make sure you encourage your child to have a hunt for any missing books - we currently have about 100 books that are overdue! ( a little better than last week but still too many overdue!)