2 March 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome to Week 6! We are now over half-way through the first term and all facets of school life are in full swing. Our classrooms are places of learning where each student is being supported through the Planning for Personalised Learning Approach to ensure they meet their full potential. The netball students have been training hard each Monday afternoon, teachers have been participating in professional development in the area of Ignite learning and our school leaders are preparing for their commissioning this Friday morning at 9am.

Principal Forum Reflection

Last week, I met up with 30 principals from our Toowoomba Diocese at the termly Leadership Forum. The theme for the week was, Being Distinctively Catholic. The Acting Director, Julie Payne, shared wisdom from the text, Legacy by James Kerr. The book explores 15 practical and powerful mantras for leadership. Some other topics covered included the future of work and education, mental health, parental engagement in the learning journey and religious leadership learning. I was also lucky to attend the Health Hub opening at Saint Saviour’s College which enables students to access vocational learning in the healthy industry at school. Well done Saint Saviour’s.

Habits of Heart and Mind

This fortnight, students are focusing on Curiosity (Habit of the Mind) and Service (Habit of the Heart).

How do we define Service? Service is being willing to help others in our school and in our community. Service is about doing good deeds without wanting a reward or listening to the needs of others. When we are being of service to others it makes us feel fulfilled, worthy, appreciated, needed and much more. Service is a key value the Mercy sisters encompassed in their work they did.

How do we define curiosity? Curiosity is being eager and interested in learning more about a topic. It involves noticing things, looking for patterns and connections, researching, questioning, being proactive and thinking of possible reasons. When being curious we feel eager, interested, surprise, enthusiastic and awe.

We continue to encourage our students to practice and live out our Habits of Heart and Mind so that they can become expert learners!

Miss Polly Crawford
Principal

Prep/1 News

Happy Week 6! Over the last fortnight, Prep/1 have gotten stuck into all learning areas. We have started to look at different ways to represent our numbers, whether it is using the word, the number, a tens frame, or objects. We went on an adventure around our school looking for our different numberjacks friends. We have also been looking at our zones of regulation. This means understanding our emotions and sorting them into different zones accordingly. For example, if we are in the red zone, we might be feeling grumpy or out of control, if we are in the green zone we might be feeling happy and ready to learn. We have been doing lots of cutting and gluing to strengthen the little muscles in our hands and making some cool snakes along the way as well. Thanks for all your support so far parents and we are looking forward to the rest of Term 1!

Miss Aimee Bretherton
Prep/1 Teacher

Year 1/2 News

Setting up homework, Pancake Tuesday and leading the Ash Wednesday liturgy kept us occupied in Week Four and in between all of that activity, we started work on our units for Term One. The children are enjoying learning and our days together are happy ones.

During Mathematics sessions, we’ve continued our exploration of numbers to 100 for the Year Ones and 1000 for the Year Two’s, through counting patterns, place value and of course, our musical movement which is very popular. Our homework tasks reinforce what we’re doing in class; teen numbers for Year One and doubles in Year Two.

We began both reading groups and our homework reading program this week. Our library borrowing allows the children yet another opportunity to be exposed to quality literature, so please ensure they return their books each Friday in order to be able to borrow more. Spelling homework reflects what we’re doing in phonics each week, so completion of homework is important. The words are tested each Friday.

Creating spelling words and shapes with play dough have been a winner along with iPad time working on Mathseeds each Friday and reward time playing with toys. A busy time of teaching and learning interspersed with fun.

Mrs Jenny Shellshear
Year 1/2 Teacher

Year 3/4 News

The Year 3-4 class have been exploring the concept of pollination. To understand the relationship between animals and plants in the pollination process, we decided to see how this process worked. In order to do this, we needed a bee and a flower. We each made our own flowers with stamens dipped in coloured chalk and bees made from pipe-cleaners. As the bee landed on the stamens, the coloured chalk was transferred to the bee, who then flew to another flower and transferred the chalk to the new flowers stigma. This activity allowed us to really see how the process of how pollination occurs.

We have also been looking at the concept of Abstract Visual Art, particularly works by Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky believed Art didn’t have to be “perfect” as long as it had a message that could be shared. We decided to have a go at creating our own Abstract art pieces. This involved experimenting with colour, shape and line to create Abstract Circle Art and Abstract Shape Art. The students thoroughly enjoyed exploring this interesting and different art style.

Miss Ellie Charlton
Year 3/4 Teacher

Year 5/6 News

In the Year 5-6 classroom we have continued researching the different countries around the world, with a focus on the geographical diversity of Asia. Students have been very excited to learn more about the world. In English, students have been busy creating summaries and working on the structure of a summary. This week, the Year 6 Students will be preparing for the Leadership Liturgy which will take place on Friday at 9am. We hope you can all come along to support them and witness them receiving their badges.

We would like to congratulate Charlotte Ramsay from our class, who represented the district at Regional Swimming last Friday in Chinchilla. We are very proud of you!

Charlotte Ramsay at Regional Swimming Trials in Chinchilla.

Miss Lilly Daly
Year 5/6 Teacher

Class and Uniform Awards

This fortnight focus:

Habit of the Mind: Service
Habit of the Heart: Curiosity

Happy Birthday

Swimming Lessons

Swimming lessons with Miss Maryanne at the town pool have begun. 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 or phone the school office. All students need to bring their togs, towel, thongs (optional) and $1 to participate.

Class swimming days and times for the rest of the term are:

Thursdays

12:15pm – Year ½
2.15pm – Prep/1

Fridays

12:15pm – Year ¾
2.15pm – Year 5/6

District and Regional Sports

This year we will continue to work 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*.

Term 1 District/Regional Sports 10-12 years

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)
Ms Karen Bruggemann (School Guidance Counsellor)
Miss Polly Crawford (Principal)

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

2021 Fee Structure

Sacred Heart Parish

Church Times

Sunday 7th March – Eucharistic Service @ 8.30am
Sunday 14th March – Eucharistic Service @ 8.30am
Sunday 21st March – Eucharistic Service @ 8.30am
Saturday 27th March – Mass @ 6pm

Term 1 Important Dates