ISSUE 2: February 3rd 2023

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff & Students,

Welcome to the 2023 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 walked through the gates.  Some of our young people have grown so much over the holidays. There was also great excitement to welcome our 2023 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.

Changing Arrangements

Before School Supervision

Thank you to everyone in the community for your cooperation with before school arrangements. We do discourage children from being dropped off before 8:15 am as no supervision is available.  Our Crossing Supervisor is not a staff member and is not responsible for supervising students.  If students arrive before 8:15am we ask that parents stay with them until the gates are open.  Just a reminder that our ‘ideal’ drop off time is between 8:25-8:40 am.

Lunch & Recess Swapover

Our lunch changeover seems to be working successfully with feedback from teachers suggesting it is working really well in ensuring improvements with learning focus during the middle learning block.  Teachers are also enjoying using the time to build relationships with students in their class and to follow up with students who may have had an issue in their break without it impacting their learning.  It is also a great opportunity for students to build relationships with students from within their class and sometimes year level group.

Beginning of Year Mass

Our Beginning of School Year Mass will be held this Thursday, 9th February at 9.30am at the Sacred Heart Parish Church.  Parents & friends are welcome to attend this Mass.

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, 7th and Wednesday, 8th of February. Parents will need to book a time via PAM (Simon Everywhere) before 1pm on Tuesday.  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.

Parent Information Sheets

Information in regards to organisational arrangements for classrooms will be sent home with students on Monday.  We encourage parents to have a look at these and bring any questions that you may have about the information to the Get to Know You Meetings and discuss this with your child’s teacher.  In addition, a GTKY Meetings questionnaire has been sent home.  We encourage parents to fill this in so that you can share your child’s strengths, challenges & interests at this meeting.

Safer Internet Day

World Safer Internet Day is this Tuesday, 7th February.  #Safer Internet Day is a global campaign dedicated to creating a safer online world for everyone. The 2023 campaign theme here in Australia is ‘Together for a better Internet’. 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, 20th 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.  Dourim will host this Friday’s Assembly. All are welcome to attend.

Shrove Tuesday Breakfast

On Tuesday 21st February we celebrate Shrove Tuesday, Shrove or Pancake Tuesday marks the end of Ordinary Time in the church's liturgical calendar. It signals that we are coming into Lent. We will celebrate Shrove Tuesday from 7:50am-8:40am with families welcome to join us for a free pancake breakfast at school. If any parents can assist with serving, setting up or cooking please let the Office know. 

Have a great week everyone and God Bless!

Mark Gibson

Learning and Teaching News

Digital Learning Portfolios- Seesaw

As in previous years, Sacred Heart will use Seesaw to share with families the learning that is happening in the classroom. Throughout the term items of work will be uploaded for you to see- this is a great way for you to connect with what is happening at school and leads to specific conversations about learning. Some tasks will be assessments and will be accompanied by a more extensive teacher comment while others will be incidental pieces of work or examples of when your child has achieved a specific and unique learning goal. We encourage parents to comment in a positive and supportive manner as children will be able to see the comments you post. 

New families- your child’s teacher will either send you a link via email or will send a paper invite with a QR code so you can connect. 

Social Emotional Learning- Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships

A core component of Social Emotional Learning at Sacred Heart comes from the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships framework. These learning materials cover 8 topics which will be taught over the course of the year with the purpose of developing students’ ‘emotional and positive relationship skills, to promote social and emotional skills and positive gender norms.’ 

We have a whole school approach to the implementation of this learning. In Term 1 all children will cover Topic 1: Emotional Literacy and Topic 2: Character Strengths. These topics are presented in developmentally and age-appropriate ways with different lessons for Prep, Years 1 & 2, Years 3 & 4 and Years 5 & 6. Over the course of the term, I will share with you some of the key concepts taught so that you can engage with your children about their learning in this area.

Religious Education

Reflection - Planting Seeds of Hope

As we begin 2023 it is a time to take a moment to discern what is most important in our work. Joan Chittister in the following piece, invites us as educators to reflect upon the symbolism of planting seeds, which could be interpreted as creating hope in our work through the ministry of Catholic Education.  

In every seed lie the components of all life the world has known from all time to now. In every seed is the reckless, electric, confounding power of creation made new again. In every seed is the gift of life to those seeking life, wanting life, denied the kind of life that is full of energy, full of hope.  

But the hope is a tenuous one, a sacred one, one to be treated with awe.  Seeds are the one thing that is the only genuine promise we have of the future. “Even if I knew the world would end tomorrow,” Martin Luther wrote, “I would plant an apple tree today.” 

What metaphorical seeds of hope are we going to plant this year?

Chittister, J (2022) Awakenings Prophetic Reflections John Garrett Publishing Mulgrave

Sacrament of Reconciliation - Extra Opportunity for students in Year Three & Above

The Sacred Heart Parish is offering an extra opportunity for any students in Year Three or above who 

missed out on receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation last year. This will be held on Wednesday, 22nd March at 7pm.  Please email ryocallaghan@shmildura.catholic.edu.au if you wish for your child to make this Sacrament or call in to the school office to pick up a Registration Form.  Registration for this Sacrament needs to be completed by Wednesday, 15th February.   

2023 Sacramental Dates

Confirmation

Parent Information Evening - Wednesday 29th March 2023 @ 7pm SH Church 

Sacrament of Confirmation - Friday 26th to Sunday 28th May 2023

First Eucharist

Parent Information Evening - Wednesday 12th July 2023 @ 7pm SH Church 

Sacrament of First Eucharist - Friday 25th to Sunday 27th August 2023

Reconciliation

Parent Information Evening - Wednesday 11th October 2023 7pm SH Church 

Sacrament of Reconciliation - Wednesday 29th November 2023 7pm SH Church

Schoolwide Positive Intervention Supports (SWPBIS)

At Sacred Heart we want everyone in our community to be Respectful, Responsible and Safe. Our school wants us to develop these values so that they become a part of how we live our life at school each day. This will lead to a safer, kinder and more considerate school community and will help everyone to be able to learn and grow to their full potential. 

As a Catholic School, the example of Jesus is at the heart of all that we do. This is how Jesus lived his life and we encourage everyone to be the best versions of themselves each day and contribute to our school in a positive way.  

Our school has developed a School Wide Positive Behaviour Matrix which outlines the Respectful, Responsible & Safe expected behaviours that we would like to see everyone doing.  Currently we are having a few focusses or what we call blitzes from our Matrix to ensure students are following those expected behaviours.  These blitzes are:

• We walk around the office building before and after school.
• We move safely in play areas.
• We wear our correct school uniform.

As part of the focus we are using videos to show children the right and wrong way of doing things.

Prep Unit News

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.

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Some reminders for the beginning of the year:

• Each morning the students need to do their jobs before finding something to do. They need to bring into the classroom from their bag their drink bottle, lunch container, snack container and brainfood container. 
• The school library books are borrowed on Monday and returned on Friday. 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.
• Please begin to bring in a pair of headphones for use on the iPads.
• Remember to use 2 small containers for recess and lunch so that they fit into our fridge boxes. The time frame the students have to eat their lunch and snack is short so packing a sandwich and one other thing is often enough and then 2-3 snacks for recess. Here is an example of the perfect size snack and lunch containers. Please be mindful of students with allergies to nuts.

• Brainfood needs to be in a small container and placed on children’s tables in the morning.

• Sports days are Tuesday and Wednesday.

This week we begin our work in Religion. To assist with our learning we ask that each student email their teacher a family photo by Monday. This will be printed and displayed in our classrooms on our ‘Family Tree’. Cooinda - bocallaghan@shmildura.catholic.edu.au and Wahroonga wcollins@shmildura.catholic.edu.au 

Today your child has brought home a QR code. This QR code will connect you to your child’s digital learning portfolio. In this portfolio you will be able to see examples of your child’s school work.

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

We look forward to meeting parents this week for our Get to Know You Interviews and hearing about your child.

Junior Unit News

What a magnificent week we have had getting to know our Junior Unit students. Their holiday adventures sounded beautiful. 

We warmly welcome Archie Curruthers, Sophie Munro and Cooper Munro to our Junior Unit classes as well as Miss Hayley Moore who is teaching Year One Bundaleer. Welcome to our Sacred Heart community!

We thank you for organising headphones, hats, drink bottles and library bags for our students. These need to be clearly labelled and at school with them EACH day. 

On Monday, notes will be coming home regarding nightly reading and key days of the week for your child/ren (sports day, library day, stadium day). Should you need any further clarification around anything don’t hesitate to contact your child/rens class teacher. 

Some reminders for the beginning of the year:

• Each morning,  students need to bring into the classroom their drink bottle, lunch container, snack container, brainfood and library bag. (hats stay in their bags)
• On Monday we begin classroom borrowing. These books are read at school and  brought home to read with you. Please write the title and any comments from this experience into their diary. These books and diary need to be back at school the next day as they are changed over daily. 
• The school library books are borrowed each Friday and returned on Friday. 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 tub inside the classroom.
• If you haven’t already done so, please bring in a pair of headphones for use on the iPads. Headphones must have a cord. (Not bluetooth)
• Remember to use 2 small containers for recess and lunch so that they fit into our fridge boxes.
  

Those delicious healthy lunches you are packing are amazing! We greatly appreciate the effort that has gone into packing healthy recess and lunch boxes for our children. We are noticing our children are concentrating longer and are less hungry after each meal. Thank you.

We look forward to meeting you in person at our Getting to Know you interviews next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Photos of our first day:

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Middle Unit News

What an action packed week we have had for the beginning of the year! Middle Unit students should be very proud of how they have settled into their new year levels, classes and the changes that come with this. This week we have been focusing on establishing our class routines and expectations for the year. We have had a big focus on our new bell time arrangements. Next week we will be emphasising the importance of the correct school uniform. 

We have a number of new students in the Middle Unit in 2023 - welcome to our Sacred Heart community!

• Lacie Coffey (Eumeralla)
• Matilda Sims (Eumeralla)
• Willow Butcher (Mootwingee)
• Elizabeth Dichiera (Yongana)

Students are strongly encouraged to bring a fruit snack to school each day. Cut up fruit or vegetables that can be eaten in around 5 minutes is preferable. 

This week students have received all their stationery. They are highly encouraged to label these items over the weekend. All students require a named set of headphones at school. Could all Year 3 students please bring an old sock to use as a whiteboard eraser to school. 

A reminder that this year school gates do not open until 8:15am and classrooms do not open until 8:30am. Year 4 students who arrive prior to 8:30 are asked to put their bag away and head around to the Courtyard area where they are supervised. Once classrooms are open students are asked to do their morning jobs independently, ensuring they are organised for the day. Mornings are a very busy time so should you need to discuss any concerns with your child’s teacher we ask you to please arrange a time that is mutually suitable. 

On Monday students will bring home an information sheet outlining all the important details in Year 3 and 4. We ask parents to carefully read this information and do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher should you have any queries. 

We look forward to our discussions with families next week during our Get to Know You Interviews on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. 

Sport Uniform days:

• Amaroo (Mrs Beckwith) - Tuesday & Wednesday 
• Yongana (Mrs Whitehouse) - Wednesday & Thursday
• Mootwingee (Mrs Willersdorf) - Monday & Wednesday 
• Eumeralla (Miss Lennox) - Wednesday & Thursday 
• Minga (Miss Price) - Wednesday & Friday

Library days:

• Year 3: Monday
• Year 4: Friday

Senior Unit News

What a wonderful first week back it has been. Students have had a great time reconnecting with each other and their new teachers. 

Congratulations to those students who presented for Class Captain in their respective classes. It was great to see the confidence and the enthusiasm to take on a leadership role from many of our students. 

With the change of eating times, it is highly encouraged that the students bring a small snack of fruit or cut up veggies. Students will eat this snack around 10am in their classrooms. 

Year 5/6 Swimming Program information will be sent out via PAM on Monday. 

Stationery has been sent home over the weekend, we ask that this is clearly labelled and returned to school Monday. All students are reminded to bring in a named set of headphones to be used in the classroom. 

We welcome Mercedes Leal - Kaiser to Year 6. Mercedes and her family are new to the Mildura area, the students of Dourim have been kindly showing Mercedes around and helping her settle in to life at Sacred Heart. 

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

Library News

Welcome to the 2023 school year at SHPS. Students and staff have had a great first week and have enjoyed their library sessions. Each class has explored and borrowed books to read and engage in, some to take home and others to enjoy in their classrooms. 

Mrs Wendy Collins is back in a full-time teaching role (Prep— Wahroonga), and we wish her and her students all the best for the year ahead.

I am happy to announce that I have taken her place in the library part-time. My name is Ms Agata Zema, and I work Monday and Friday. Please feel free to contact me at azema@shmildura.catholic.edu.au

Scholastic Book Club Issue #1

Book Club ‘newspapers’ have been sent home with students this week. Each order made contributes to “Scholastic Dollars” that the school can use to supplement resources. Orders must be made via the online “LOOP” ordering system that can be found here or follow the instructions on the back of the newspaper pamphlet. Cash and Cheques will NOT be accepted at school. 

https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent/Login.aspx

Orders close not later than Wednesday 15th February and will be delivered 1-2 weeks after that. They will be distributed to children when they arrive. 

Library Timetable:

Monday - Dourim, Narooma, Year 5, Year 3, Prep

Friday- Illawarra, Year 4, Year 2, Year 1

On Library days, students are expected to have their library bags and books to return/borrow. 

The Library will also be open before school and after school till 4 pm, and at afternoon play (recess) on Monday and Friday. On Tuesday,  Wednesday and Thursday, Mrs Deacon may be able to borrow and return books during afternoon play.



Administration Updates

Camps Sports and Excursion Funding:  If you have a current health care card you are eligible to apply for funding.  This funding will be allocated to your child's camp fees.  You will also be eligible for Family Fee Assistance which is a significant help towards your school fees.

Application forms are available from reception.  A copy of your current health care card must be attached to your application. Any queries, please direct them to Mary Avery.

School fee statements will be emailed out during the next few days.  Please watch out for this in your emails.  Fees will be sent out to the email we have, please ensure you let the office know ASAP if there has been any changes to your email addresses.

Students of the Week

Cooinda - Bryce Deiesi           Wahroonga - Londyn Balchin

Bundaleer - Harrison Miller          Karinya - York Taylor

Nangare - Ivy Loxton               Barramunga - Vivianna Ficarra

Amaroo - Ted Cleary                 Yongana - Imogen Stafford

Mootwingee - Harry Gaylard           Minga - Aria-Rose Marciano

Eumeralla - Sebastian Manfield          Waminda - Tully Wade          Kyema - Morgan Boake

Myalla - Adelina Mazza            Illawarra - Teddy McNamara      Narooma - Anastacia Dini

Dourim - Edith Golding