4 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome back for another year of learning at Sacred Heart Primary School. We have had a fantastic first week back hearing the wonderful holiday stories of students and staff and meeting new students and their families.

Habits of the Mind and Habits of the Heart

This year we begin the journey of exploring and embedding the ‘Habits of the Mind and Habits of the Heart’ of Sacred Heart. Our ‘Habits of Mind and Heart’ framework, provides us with a guide for thinking and emotional dispositions. Our ‘Habits of the Mind’ allow our students to learn how to use their minds well to develop critical and creative thinking skills. Our ‘Habits of the Heart’ assist our students in developing social-emotional intelligence alongside the Mercy values.

At Sacred Heart we aspire to live by the Habits of the Heart of:
Belonging, Compassion, Courage, Service and Excellence.

At Sacred Heart we strive for success through practicing our Habits of the Mind including:
Curiosity, Persistence, Communication, Making Connections and Independence.

This fortnight our focus habits are, Belonging and Communication. Our students have been learning how to develop a sense of belonging in their classrooms and school community as well as appropriate and effective ways of communicating. Our fortnightly awards will now also focus on these areas.

The Learning Pit

Our core business is ensuring that all students at Sacred Heart experience success. The ‘Learning pit’ is for the teachers, leaders and support staff who wish to guide their students in the development of critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinking. It is a model that provides learners with a language to think and talk about learning. It helps build participants’ resilience, wisdom and self-efficacy and when it is used as a structure for learning, it can raise expectations of success.

We endeavour to teach our students these practices through the ‘Learning Pit’ process. I encourage you to watch the clip below to find out more about the ‘Learning Pit’. Students have begun learning about this process so ask them to find out what they have learnt so far. We are all very excited to be on the ‘Learning Pit’ journey.

Reading Improvement Strategy

The Reading Improvement Strategy and Phonics and Spelling Program remains a high focus again this year as well as the use of high impact strategies in every single classroom. New staff have received training this week from our Reading Coach Mrs Sue Keefer so that we can continue the great growth we have seen in these areas. Our teachers will continue to be supported by our wellbeing coach Brett Leadbetter, in the area of Essential Skills to Behaviour Management.

I look forward to sharing more with you as we share the journey of our ‘Habits of the Mind and Heart’ and the learning pit.

“We must strive to do ordinary things extraordinarily well”
Catherine McAuley

Miss Polly Crawford
Principal

Prep/1 News

Welcome back to another year and what a fantastic year 2020 will be! Welcome back Year 1 students and a very special welcome to the new Prep students. Prep/1 has had a great first week of school, settling into new class routines and forming new friendships.

In Literacy this term, we will be exploring a range of books and sharing our likes, dislikes and similarities about a book. In Science and Technology, we will be looking at how things move in order to create our own toy. In History and Social Science, we will be sharing our knowledge of our families and creating a family collage to share with others.

We have had a good look into what the ‘The Learning Pit’ is all about in our classroom. We have taken some great class photos of what it feels like when we enter each stage of our ‘Learning Pit’.

Keep up the great work Prep/1 and let the fun continue!

Miss Cornelius
Prep/1 Teacher

Year 2/3 News

We began our year well rested after our lovely long holiday and spent the week getting to know each other and establishing routines and procedures. We had a wonderful week together and by Friday the class was settled and content. We were able to celebrate Miss Ferguson’s special birthday with her on Friday before home time, you may have noticed traces of chocolate cake on them! They are a really great group and Miss Ferguson and I are looking forward to watching them develop over the coming months.

Mrs Shellshear
Year 2 Teacher

Year 3/4 News

2020 has started off with a BANG in the Year 3-4 classroom! Our theme for this term is ‘Around the World’! This week students have been learning and practising new classroom routines and have been participating in team building activities. The students loved building a tower out of sticky marshmallows and spaghetti.

In Term 1, students will be; learning place value and number concepts in Mathematics, learning to write narratives and will be investigating chemical reactions in Science. The students are excited about learning and performing choreography for the Parish Fete and practising their swimming skills in HPE for the swimming carnival. Year 3 students will be participating in NAPLAN this year! To prepare for this I recommend students complete their homework every week as I will include NAPLAN specific content for the year 3’s! I have loved getting to know all of the new faces in 3-4 better and I am excited to see the students grow and flourish as a TEAM!

Miss Sore
Year 3/4 Teacher

Year 5/6 News

Lots of fun has been had in the Year 5/6 class in the first week of school. Students have been participating in a number of team building activities with Mr Leadbetter (Education Officer: Wellbeing) as well as learning about the qualities of being a responsible school leader. Our students have also been writing their leadership speeches and will be presenting them on Wednesday morning at 8:30am in the Church. All parents and community members are welcome to come along.

This Term the Year 5/6 students will be learning about number and place value to and beyond millions, investigating the impact of natural disasters, exploring structures and formations of volcanoes, developing narratives, learning swimming stroke skills and water safety and will be choreographing a dance for the Parish Fete. Bring on the Term!

Year 5/6 Class

Class and Uniform Awards

This fortnights focus:

Habit of the Heart: Belonging
Habit of the Mind: Communication

Happy Birthday

School Leaders

This Wednesday 5th February at 8.30am, our students who wish to apply for a school leader role will be presenting their speeches. Parents are welcome to come along. Students will vote after all speeches are made and the winners will be announced at Assembly on Friday.

Assembly and Opening Liturgy

This Friday 7th February at 8:40am, will be holding our first assembly for the school year as well as our Opening School Liturgy. All parents, friends and community members are welcome to come along and join in on the first celebration for the year.

Sacred Heart Swimming Carnival

This Friday evening the 7th February, we will be having our annual school swimming carnival at the town pool. The evening will kick off at 5:30pm so we ask for all students to be at the pool by 5:15pm. We encourage all students to attend and to participate in the events.

Students are to wear their full school sports uniform (white top, green bottoms, white socks, black shoes and green hat). We will be looking for some parents/community volunteers to help on the night so anyone who is able to lend a hand please let the office know.

Get ready to cheer your team on!!!

Swimming Days Week 2

Swimming lessons with Miss Maryanne at the town pool begin this week. All students are expected to participate in these lessons as it is part of the HPE curriculum. If your child is unwell and not able to participate in a lesson please write a note for the classroom teacher. All students are to bring their togs, towel, thongs and $1 to participate.

Class swimming days for this are as below:

Thursday 6th February:

12.15pm - Year 2
2.15pm - Prep/1

Friday 7th February:

12.15pm - Year 3/4
2.15pm - Year 5/6

Parent Information Night

Next Monday evening the 10th February, we are holding our Parent Information Evening. This will be an opportunity for you to meet teachers and find out how each class will run and what they will be learning about this Term. We encourage all parents/guardians to attend this evening. There will be a free a hot dog for all who come along so bring your children along as well!

Sessions times are as follows:

Prep/1 – 5:30pm – 5.50pm
Two/Three- 5.50pm – 6:10pm
Three/ Four- 6:10 pm – 6.30pm
Five/Six – 6.30pm – 6.50pm

During this evening we will also demonstrate how you can download our School App!!

Sacred Heart Parent Partnership Forum AGM

Sacred Heart Parent Partnership Forum AGM

On Tuesday 18th February at 5.30pm the Sacred Heart PPF will be holding their AGM. We would love as many parents as possible to come along. Many hands make light work!

District and Regional Sports

This year we will be working with the Cunnamulla Sate School to support the district and regional school sports of Swimming, Cross Country, Athletics, Rugby League, Touch Football and Netball. However, if you wish for your child to participate in an additional sport listed below you are welcome to pursue that yourself, we will provide you the information. The timetable of regional trail dates for this Term are as below. *Please note that students need to participate in a district trial before a regional trial*.

Please see Mrs Crick or Miss Sore if you are interested in any of the sports above well before the trial date so nominations can be made.

Hearing

Ann-Marie Mitchell from CACH will be conducting Hearing screens at Sacred Heart School on Monday 17th & Tuesday 18th February (Week 4). A Consent form needs to be filled out and signed for ALL students. Forms will be sent home Wednesday 5th February and need to be returned these forms to the school office by Friday 14th February

Tuckshop

Tuckshop has started up again for the year and will be held every Friday. If you are a Parent, Guardian or Friend of someone attending Sacred Heart School we need helpers for tuckshop. Tuckshop runs on Fridays 9am – 1.30pm during Term. We are looking for more volunteers, so if you are interested please contact Carla Mills on 0448130067 or facebook. We just ask that cars be parked outside the school grounds to ensure student safety. Thank you to all the parents who volunteer in our school tuckshop.

REMINDER: CHICKEN NUGGETS ARE NOT AVAILABLE AT LITTLE LUNCH

Tuckshop Roster

Student Protection

At Sacred Heart the safety and wellbeing of our students is our highest priority. All children should grow up free of violence or exploitation and be able to learn in a safe and supported environment. Schools have a number of specific child protection reporting obligations that are detailed in our Student Protection Processes and Guidelines.

If a student wants to talk to someone about harm, abuse or inappropriate behaviour toward themselves or others, they can speak to a trusted staff member or one of our School Student Protection Contacts (SSPCs). The SSPCs receive additional training and are identified in the student protection posters displayed around the school.

Summary documents have been developed for parents and caregivers about our student protection obligations and our broader strategy for maintaining safe school environments.

Further information on all of the above topics can be found on the Toowoomba Catholic Schools website at the link below:

Our Schools Student Protection Contacts are:

Mrs Cara Haig (Deputy / LST)
Mrs Carolyn Crick (Administration Officer)
Mr Mike Thomason (School Guidance Counsellor)
Miss Polly Crawford (Principal)

Uniform Policy

The school uniform represents the pride we have for our children and our school. A smart, neat and user-friendly uniform encourages the children to take pride in their appearance and in the school. The school uniform requirements:

Hats: Our school policy is ‘NO HAT – NO PLAY’. A green school hat must be worn and can be purchased form the office.

Jewellery: The only jewellery allowed is one set of fine studs or sleepers, a chain with some form of religious significance and watches.

Nail Polish: Nail polish is not to be worn.

Hair: Children’s hair must be neat and tidy. If hair is below the collar it needs to be tied back with appropriate white or green accessories. It is expected that hairstyles reflect the code of dress required by the school. The colouring of hair and unusual hairstyles are not acceptable.

School Tuition Fees

At Sacred Heart, we have several payment options for your convenience: Cash, Cheque, ETPOS, Direct Debit and Centrepay. For further details on these payment options please see the school office.

Direct Deposit Details

Please see the table below for the Fee Structure for 2019. A portion of the Capital/Building Levy may be utilised for other capital education purposes within the Diocese, for example the provision of Kindergarten and Outside School Hours Care.

2020 Fee Structure

There will be an additional charge of $10 per student for the whole year for the Special Purpose Levy.

Sacred Heart Parish Fete

The Sacred Heart Parish Fete will be held on Friday evening the 13th March. All students are learning about Dance elements which is apart of the Arts Australian Curriculum. All classes will be performing the dance they have been working on and choreographing throughout the term at the Parish Fete.

Sacred Heart Parish

Church Times

Sunday 9th February – Eucharistic Service @ 8.30am
Sunday 16th February – Mass @ 6pm
Saturday 22nd February – Mass @ 6pm
Wednesday 26th February – Ash Wednesday School Liturgy 12:30pm
Wednesday 26th February – Ash Wednesday Service 6pm
Sunday 1st March – Eucharistic Service @ 8.30am
Sunday 8th March – Eucharistic Service @ 8.30am
Sunday 15th March– Mass @ 6pm
Saturday 21st March – Mass @ 6pm

Term 1 Important Dates