ISSUE 7: March 10th 2023
Principal / Executive Leadership Team
Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff & Students,
It was great to see Mr Gibson ‘back on deck’ on Wednesday! Mark is feeling well and will be easing back into day to day work at a steady pace. Please see an update from Mark below:
Dear Sacred Heart community,
Firstly, I wish to thank everyone who enquired and offered support to me during my recent illness. I am feeling much better but still have a couple of small hurdles to overcome in the coming month. It has been great to be able to come back into school this week.
Over the last week cardiologists have identified that I have a patent foramen oval (hole in the heart) which is the most likely cause of my mini stroke. This would have been something that I would have had since birth. Positively they are able to correct this through a PFO Closure where a device can be placed in my heart through a minimally invasive, catheter-based technique. This procedure will happen next week.
Between now and the end of term I will need to continue to attend extensive follow up appointments with specialists. I will also need to focus on recovery from my upcoming procedure. Due to these reasons I am likely to need to be away from school for periods of time. At this stage of my recovery medical professionals believe that I am more suitable for roles that would not precipitate high stress level both mentally and physically.
As a result of these suggestions, DOBCEL and medical professionals have come up with a Return to Work plan with myself that will allow me to return to work. Under this plan Mr O’Callaghan will continue to be Principal until the end of term. While I expect to be able to attend many days at school I will need to be very conscious of the Principal responsibilities that I undertake. This plan will give me the flexibility to attend appointments and to continue to focus on my recovery.
Once again thank you everyone for your understanding and support.
Kind regards
Mark Gibson
Labour Day Public Holiday - Monday 13th March
This Monday, 13th March is the Labour Day public holiday. We hope that everyone enjoys the long weekend and the extra day to relax, catch up with family and friends or to get away.
Region Swimming
Johnny Guthrie, Mercedes Leal-Kaiser & Jesse Sinclair will be competing at this Tuesday’s Swimming Region Finals in Swan Hill. Parents will transport students and supervise at this event. We wish them all the best!
Year 1/2 Swimming Program
Our Year 1/2 students are participating in their Swimming Program this week from Tuesday to Friday. Swimming lessons will focus on water safety, swimming technique and survival skills. Please provide permission for your child to attend this activity and refer to all details on the note that has been sent home. Further details are provided in the Junior Unit Report.
NAPLAN Assessments - Wednesday 15th to Friday 17th March
NAPLAN Assessments are being held this Wednesday, Thursday & Friday for Year Three & Five students. Students will complete Reading, Writing, Numeracy & Language Conventions assessments over the three days. Assessments will be held in the Stadium. Please see the Teaching & Learning section for some tips on how students can be well prepared for NAPLAN.
Year Four Camp
We wish our Year Four students all the best for their three day camp at Roses Gap. Students and teachers will leave at 7am on Wednesday morning and return to school on Friday afternoon. Miss Price, Miss Lennox, Mr Barbary, Mr Fabich & Miss Vartuli will attend with our students. We wish them all the best for a great camp!
St Patrick’s Day - Friday
This Friday is St Patrick’s Day - classes will be doing some learning about this special day. We are not permitting students to wear green this year as NAPLAN Assessments are taking place on Friday and we are conscious of the need for students to be settled. We will have a whole school Casual Clothes Day on the last day of Term One - Wednesday, 5th April.
School Closure (Pupil Free days) Change of Dates
Please note important information regarding Pupil Free days. Thursday, 6th April will now be a Pupil Free Day for staff to undertake learning in Structured Literacy. Monday, 24th April will now be the first day of Term Two and students will attend school as normal (originally this had been planned as a Pupil free day).
- Thursday, 6th April - Pupil Free Day (Staff Professional Learning)
- Monday, 24th April - First Day of Term Two (Students return as normal)
Term One will now finish on Wednesday, 5th April at the normal time of 3.10pm given that Good Friday is on Friday, 7th April.
PSG Meetings
Thank you to parents who attended PSG Meetings this week, along with classroom teachers and to Jacinda Deacon for her organisation and coordination. The meetings were well attended and very focused on the learning and wellbeing needs of students.
Narooma & Illawarra Parish Mass
Narooma & Illawarra will attend Mass this Wednesday at 9.30am. Parents are welcome to attend.
Division Lawn Bowls
Congratulations to our boys & girls Lawn Bowls teams who competed at today’s Division Finals.
Assembly
Thank you to Illawarra for hosting today’s Assembly. The Student Leadership Team will host this week’s Assembly which will be held in the Stadium at 2.30pm. All are welcome.
SHPS Family Footy Tipping 2023
The footy season isn’t far away! Our Family Footy Tipping competition is on again. Join the fun! See the note for all details.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the week ahead.
God Bless,
Ryan O’Callaghan
Religious Education
Sacrament of Confirmation
Year Three children received a Sacrament of Confirmation Registration form (blue) this week. If you wish to register your child for this Sacrament please do so by Wednesday, 22nd March. Hand this form in at the Parish office along with payment of $50. You also need to provide a copy of your child's baptism certificate. The Information session for this Sacrament is being held at the church on 22nd March at 7pm. Any questions, please contact the school or Parish office.
2023 Sacramental Dates
Confirmation
- Parent Information Evening - Wednesday 22nd 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
Project Compassion
Families have received a Project Compassion this week. Spanning across the six weeks of Lent each year, Project Compassion brings thousands of Australian schools, parishes and supporters together to raise funds for people living in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world. Your generous support can help change lives today - and For All Future Generations. We encourage families to support Project Compassion this year. Boxes are due back to the school office on Thursday, 6th April.
Fr Mick McKinnon Message
Please find attached an email from Fr. Mick McKinnon in Yanaoca, Peru. This gives further information as to the use of the money the Sacred Heart Community worked so hard to raise during pur 'Mission Effort Activities' in November last year. Please note that a portion of the money will also go to our 'Cuy Project' in the Andes (Cayara and Huancapi). Cuy is the term for guinea pigs and this is an agricultural and breeding program to give families the opportunity to farm the guinea pigs, to provide food and to sell them for other goods. This really shows how the money makes a real difference to those in need.
Learning and Teaching News
NAPLAN- Preparing Your Child
Children in Years 3 and 5 have undergone preparation with their teachers to ensure they are familiar with the expectations of NAPLAN, particularly the online nature of the assessment portal.
For children, NAPLAN is no different to any other assessment they do at school and so doesn’t loom as anything worrisome- which is the way it should be! In the lead up, keep your routine as normal as possible. Ensure your child gets a good night sleep prior to each test and has a decent breakfast to set them up well for the day. Keep your morning as calm and stress free as possible.
If your child does feel some anxiety around the assessment, encourage them to do their best which is what we are also encouraging at school.
Children must have a fully charged laptop at school each day for the assessments and working headphones. Please send some extra brain food for them as well!
Children who are absent on any of the days will participate in catch up sessions in Week 9 as outlined by the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority.
Structured Literacy
In 2023, Sacred Heart will be taking the first steps towards a renewed, evidence-based approach to Literacy instruction through participation in the SunLit Project. We are entering this phase with optimism and a willingness to learn, work with each other and change our practice.
Structured Literacy emphasises highly explicit teaching of six key features: Phonology, Sound-symbol association, Syllables, Morphology, Syntax and Semantics.
Staff will receive professional learning and then together in their teams to make changes to their delivery of curriculum to best fit current practice. We believe that a Structured Literacy approach will improve outcomes for all students specifically in reading and writing.
We look forward to beginning this learning journey with the support of Catholic Education Ballarat and leaders Emma Rutherford and Breeana Wade.
Prep Unit News
This week in Prep we have had lots of fun learning to blend and segment words that contain the SATPINM sounds. We have also had great discussions about our emotions and the students have been identifying and expressing a range of different emotions.
Next Tuesday (14th March) the students will begin bringing home their take home reading books. This is the book that they will need to read to you. It will be a decodable book so the students will be able to use their sounds to read most of the words. If there are high frequency sight (a, I, the) words in the book please tell them the word. Take home reading books need to be read each night and returned to school the next day where the students will choose a new book. Before reading the book, complete the ‘warm up’ page with your child.
Take home reading books also need to be recorded in your child’s reading diary each day - reading diaries are also returned to school every day. The picture below is how you will now need to fill in the reading diary.
SATPIN Caterpillars: Daily practice of the sound caterpillars will help ensure your child learns these letter/sound correspondence automatically. Automatically is when your child can see a letter and say the corresponding sound without hesitation or having to pause and think. This is a critical foundation prior to learning how to blend and read whole words. If you feel your child has these sounds automatically please practise them in lots of different ways (so they aren’t simply memorising the order). For example: do the letters out of order, have the letters on separate cards, have your child write the letters when you say the sound (using the correct handwriting style).
Some Friendly Reminders:
- All children should have headphones at school (named)
- Please cover your child’s reading diary in clear contact.
- School starts at 8:45am each day. If you are at school after 8:45am you will need to sign your child in at the office.
- Each morning the students need to do their jobs before finding something to do. A new job to be added to their list is to bring in their Reading Diary each day and place it in the basket in their classroom (to be checked and signed by the teacher).
- The school library books and the ‘Enhanced Comprehension’ books are to be returned on Friday.
- Your child’s library bag needs to be at school every day - kept in their school bag.
Sports days are Tuesday and Wednesday - sports uniform is needed.
Prep Unit Team Contact Details
- Unit Leader: Mrs Rebecca O'Callaghan
- Cooinda (Year Prep): Mrs Rebecca O'Callaghan
- Wahroonga (Year Prep): Mrs Wendy Collins
Junior Unit News
This week our students continued to enhance their ‘Tricky Word’ knowledge, build upon their understanding of what a community is and revisit the ‘Zones of Regulation’.
Next week, we enthusiastically welcome back the magnificent Mrs Carmichael and marvellous Mrs Irvin. On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week, ALL Junior Unit classes will be bussed down to Mildura Waves for swimming lessons. On these days, students are required to WEAR their bathers to school under their sports uniform and bring in a separate bag containing: slip on shoes, a towel, goggles, change of underwear (just in case)..
Lesson times are as follows:
- Barramunga: 9:30-10:15
- Nangare: 10.15-11am
- Bundaleer and Karinya will have modifications made to their lunch times
- Bundaleer: 11:00-11:45
- Karinya: 11:45-12:30
As the children will be swimming, they may be using more energy than usual. We respectfully ask that our students be provided with additional brainfood or food in their lunch boxes please. Should you have any concerns or questions regarding swimming, please contact Katrina Groves.
On March 17th, students will be engaging in St Patrick themed learning experiences which we hope they tell you all about with enthusiasm.
Due to the short week, impact of swimming and St Patrick’s Day next week, Year One will NOT be participating in Show and Tell. Thank you for understanding.
We wish you all a magnificent long weekend and look forward to seeing our Junior Unit Students on Tuesday.
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 Christine Sherry (Friday)
- Bundaleer (Year 1): Miss Hayley Moore
- Barramunga (Year 2): Mrs Chris Carmichael
- Nangare: (Year 2): Mrs Maree Irvin
Middle Unit News
Year 4 Camp Reminders
We are so excited for our Year 4 Camp on Wednesday 15th March! Some final reminders:
- Please be at school by 6:30am on Wednesday morning. This allows us time to pack the bus and depart by 7:00am.
- Students need to have a backpack for the first day with their lunch, snacks, a water bottle and hat.
- Please ensure you have everything packed on the list, including shoes suitable for water activities, two towels (one for showing, one for after canoeing) and bedding.
- If your child has any medication please ensure you have emailed the details of this to Miss Price and it is labelled and handed to Miss Price at the bus.
- If you have any questions or concerns please contact your child’s teacher.
We encourage families to have an analogue clock at home and be referring to this to build students skills in telling the time.
Just a reminder that in Year 3 it is the child’s responsibility to be borrowing books for reading. In Year 3 we are really trying to build students’ independence and it is a morning task expectation.
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 Sarah Beckwith
- Yongana (Year 3): Mrs Georgina Whitehouse
- Mootwingee (Year 3): Mrs Jaimi Willersdorf
- Minga (Year 3): Miss Sophie Price
- Eumeralla (Year 3): Miss Rosie Lennox
Senior Unit News
Next week, NAPLAN testing will take place Wednesday, Thursday & Friday for Year 5 students. It is very important that ALL students have their laptop at school everyday and it is fully charged, as well as a set of working headphones.
On Tuesday Kyema and Dourim were very lucky to be invited to be part of ART BUS TV. This is an initiative that inspires kids to use the arts to challenge themselves, build belief and improve wellbeing while showcasing our school and the Sunraysia region. Kyema had a very interesting interview with ‘Otto the Orange’. Over the past few weeks the children researched information about our local area to gain knowledge and then generated questions for Otto to ask them.
Dourim invited recently retired AFLW star and local identity Courtney Wakefield to join them. They chatted about childhood influences, her journey to a career in the AFLW, and life after footy. We look forward to sharing the episode of ART BUS TV which will be available mid year.
Well done to the Year 6 students who participated in the Division Lawn Bowls today.
Narooma and Illawarra will attend the Parish Mass next Wednesday 15th March at 9:30am.
The Student Leadership Team will be presenting Assembly next Friday, 17th March. We hope everyone enjoys their long weekend.
Year 6 Polo T-Shirts
We have been in contact with Totally Workwear regarding the inconsistencies in the Year 6 polo shirts and hope to have this issue rectified as quickly as possible. If your child’s t-shirt does not look like the picture provided, please click the below link (from Totally Workwear) to complete the form outlining your details and any faults.
Senior Unit Team Contact Details
Click on the teacher's name if you wish to email them.
- Unit Leader Year 5: Mrs. Natalee Johnson
- Unit Leader Year 6: Mrs. Loretta Thompson
- Illawarra (Year 5): Mrs. Cathryn Rowles
- Kyema (Year 5): Mrs. Natalee Johnson
- Myalla (Year 5): Mrs. Emma Kotsiakos (Monday-Thursday) & Mr. Corey Barbary (Friday)
- Narooma (Year 6): Mrs. Jo Campbell
- Dourim (Year 6): Mrs. Loretta Thompson
- Illawarra (Year 6): Mrs. Amelia Pacher (Monday-Thursday) & Mr. Jacob Burford (Friday)
Library News
Library Bags
It is part of the SHPS routine for students to bring SHPS library bags to school every day. The bags may store important notes, or students' work distributed that day, and the bags also protect library books and prevent damage. It is an effective way to keep the books all together.
At SHPS, the students are encouraged to be safe, respectful and responsible as they go about their learning and play breaks. It is safe, respectful and responsible to keep library books in their library bag.
If students need a new bag or a replacement—follow this link to the SHPS website uniform page, and scroll down to the library bag section. There is an assortment of colours and an option to have the student’s name embroidered on it.
Book Club News: Scholastic Book Club Issue #2
Book Club newspaper catalogues have been sent home with students. 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.
Overdue Books
Please return overdue library books asap. Even though I am in the library on Mondays and Fridays, books can be returned any week day and placed in the Minion returns box. I discuss each overdue item with the student during their borrowing sessions. When students have outstanding books, it affects their borrowing power by limiting how many books they can borrow. SHPS encourage their students to read and enjoy our library books. It would be wonderful to have all students being able to borrow their preallocated limit suitable for their year and reading levels.
Shout-out
A big shout-out goes to the entire school for conducting timely library sessions and enjoying the quiet learning environment. It was great to see students making wise choices and choosing different genres of books or challenging themselves with something a little harder to read.
Have a sensational long weekend, Ms Zema.
Students of the Week
Cooinda - Eadon Hendy Wahroonga - Oliver Tallent
Bundaleer - Sevanna Panuccio Karinya - Archie Evans
Nangare - Adeline Miller Barramunga - Estelle Creighton
Amaroo - Eva Ried Yongana - Grace Frasca
Mootwingee - Jeffina Jembit Minga - Cooper Bush
Eumeralla - Ned Fyfe Waminda - Benji McWilliams Kyema - Benjamin Anstey
Myalla - Mischa Byra Illawarra - Sophie Evans Narooma - Isabella Mammone
Dourim - Charlie Spratt
Ray White Positive Behaviour Awards
Respectful - Lana Menhennet
Responsible - Xavier Robinson
Respectful - Archie Coffey
Admin News
Dont miss this years Easter colouring competition with Banjo's Mildura.
Each Child will get a free hot cross bun when they drop their picture into the store, and will go into the draw to win an easter prize pack for their age group.
*Hard Copies available at the School Office.
