16 March 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Essential Skills to Classroom Management

Last week, Brett Leadbetter visited to work with our Teachers and School Officers on the Essential Skills to Classroom Management Program. Part of Brett’s role, is to observe lessons, profile staff and provide feedback on ways to improve classroom behaviour management skills. By using the Essential Skills for Classroom Management, teachers will be able to reduce time spent conducting managing conversations and increase the time spent on conducting learning conversations. Improved and effective learning conversations (ie. clear instructions, clear expectations and well-sequenced pedagogy) will also reduce time spent on managing conversations. Brett commented on the significant progress we have made as a school over the last 3 years on embedding a learning culture within each classroom.

The Top 5 ESCM skills that are most beneficial include:

1. Descriptive encouraging (e.g. “Pencils down, eyes on me, thanks everyone. Wait 2-3 seconds. Thanks to the people who have put their pencils down and their eyes are on me”)
2. Cueing/parallel acknowledgement (e.g. “I like the way Fred ……..”)
3. Descriptive reality (e.g. “The group up the back is recording their ideas.”)
4. Verbal redirection to learning (e.g. “How are you going with questions 3, Ben?”)
5. Individual close talk (e.g. The teacher moves to the students and has a private conversation quietly in the classroom.)

Applying these skills to our everyday lessons helps us work towards our goal of developing all of our students EXPERT LEARNERS!

Bullying! No Way!

This Friday is the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence with the theme being, Bullying No Way – Take A Stand Together! Bullying is defined as, a pattern of repeated physical, verbal, psychological or social aggression that is directed towards a specific student by someone with more power and is intended to cause harm, distress and or create fear. By contrast, conflict between equals and single incidents are not defined as bullying although such incidents may require intervention by the school.

To recognise the importance of this day, students will participate in activities that explore the definition of bullying, learn about the different types of bullying and strategies on how to deal with bullies. It is important that our students have the chance to explore this topic including solutions, so we can appropriately address bullying in our community.

Parents are an important part of our work to prevent bullying and to respond effectively if it happens. Stopping bullying involves everyone. The image below shows some parent and student tips on what to do if your child talks to you about bullying. Parents know their children best and know the best way to tailor communication to their needs. Adapt these tips to what works for you and your child.

If you would like to watch the same clip as the students will this Friday on Assembly, click the following link:

Lots of further details, resources and clips can be found at the link below.

Success stories!

Congratulations to Goothala Rynne in Year 6 for making the South West Queensland Basketball. Goothala trialled in Chinchilla and will compete at the next level in Toowoomba in May. We wish him all the best. I am sure he will represent the South West Region with pride.

Congratulations to Justin Mitchell whose drawing won the CACH Health Check shirt design along with Jarib Branfield. Anita Wharton presented Justin and Jarib with their very own shirt along with a gift voucher to Ashley’s Sports. Well done students!

Justin and Jarib wearing their winning shirt design.

Miss Polly Crawford
Principal

Prep/1 News

Welcome to Week 8! We are so close to the end of term and in Prep/1 we have a lot of work to do! We are starting to get into our assessments in all subject areas. We have been practicing our word awareness, and learning to understand the difference between a letter, a word and a sentence. We practiced this with a lot of different activities, but our favourite has been the lily pads. We have also been discussing the different properties of materials in science as we begin to start creating our hats that are perfect for a sunny day or a rainy day. Last week, we had a visit from Mr Leadbetter who helped us create some fantastic class rules that are now on display in our classroom. We are enjoying bringing all our knowledge together in our assessment pieces and are looking forward to a great end to term 1! Have a great week!

Miss Aimee Bretherton
Prep/1 Teacher

Year 1/2 News

Much has been happening in our room over the last couple of weeks and so much teaching and learning is still to come before we all have a well-earned rest. The children have all worked so hard over the last two months.

In English we’ve completed reading testing with most showing pleasing growth. Reading each night with your child is so important and I encourage you to continue the practice. The children are beginning to become competent sentence writers, with most knowing to use the appropriate punctuation and the older children are learning to join two ideas with the coordinating conjunction ‘and’. We still have a few weeks left of reading together and further honing our sentence writing skills. Reading groups are operating four days a week, phonics and spelling lessons daily with consolidation happening through our homework spelling exercise each night. Words are tested on Fridays and a sticker is awarded if they get 100%, with five stickers entitling them to a trip to the prize box. The same system applies to reading and maths homework activities.

Exploration of number concepts is our term one center of interest in numeracy. Place value has been a huge focus lately during maths lessons, using bundling sticks and MAB to represent two- and three-digit numbers. Both representing and writing numbers, while learning all about each using terms number before and after, ten more/less and 100 more/less for some.

In Geography, we’ve been identifying natural and constructed environments, exploring places of prominence in our town and discussing how we care for them. We’ve graduated to exploring beyond our own town, talking about our country and then the world. Our Science unit shares some of the same ideas exploring both, natural and man-made environments and how they change over time.

We continue with our discussion of the Creation of the world in religion lessons, taking a look at how each one of us are beyond special, we are unique and made in the image and likeness of God. I write this having just been to a very special ceremony, where Zara Field in Year 2 became a member of the Catholic Church through baptism. A beautiful, meaningful ceremony conducted in our Parish church with Sr Maureen. It was very special.

Swimming lessons are continuing until the end of term, which the children are enjoying, as is our You Can Do It program. This year we’ve met Charlie Confidence and Penny Persistence. Last week we learnt three very important things to use in our everyday at school with regard to persistent thinking. The harder I try, the more successful I will be, to be successful sometimes I have to do things that are hard or not fun to do and lastly, I have done hard things before- I can do this!

All in all, a busy time, however there’s a rest for all of us coming up soon. I shall be finishing up a little earlier as I’m taking five days of long service leave to prepare for the wedding of my youngest son in a couple of weeks and wish you all a happy and safe Easter. I look forward to returning in term two to join my beautiful class for another term of teaching and learning.

Mrs Jenny Shellshear
Year 1/2 Teacher

Year 3/4 News

In the Year 3-4 class, we have continued exploring the relationship between plants and animals, particularly focusing on the pollination process. After our bees and flower experiment, the students decided they would like to grow their own flowers and vegetables here at school. We went out to the gardens behind the big shed to investigate what we needed to do. The students took some before photos so they can reflect on the changes once the seeds are planted. We can’t wait to begin the process of preparing the gardens, planting the seeds and nurturing them as they grow.

In week 7, we had Mr. Leadbetter visit our school. He came into the 3-4 class to run a LEGO Serious Play session. Mr Leadbetter gave us 5 minutes to build a tower with the only criteria being it had to stand on its own. This activity offered students the opportunity to work together, share and discuss their thoughts and ideas. The students thoroughly enjoyed this experience and can’t wait to engage in more LEGO Serious Play in the future.

Year 3/4 Teacher
Miss Ellie Charlton

Year 5/6 News

It has been a very busy week in the Year 5/6 Classroom. We were very lucky enough to have Dan and Lawrence, from Strong Families Strong Community, visit the classroom. Dan and Lawrence spoke to the class about Australian Indigenous culture and shared stories of their own cultural experiences. There is an interschool soccer competition on Friday, held at John Kerr Park. Most of the Year 5/6 students will be competing and training for it this week. Feel free to come and support your child on Friday.

Miss Lilly Daly
Year 5/6 Teacher

Class and Uniform Awards

This fortnight focus:

Habit of the Mind: Making Connections
Habit of the Heart: Compassion

Happy Birthday

Behaviour Level Promotions

Congratulations to the following students on their promotion to Behaviour Level 2. The following students have met the Behaviour Policy requirements:

Penny Schmidt, Amy King, Sophia Tolete, Kirsten Higgins, Maddison Hickey, Kelisha McDermott, Charlotte Ramsay, Ava and Bella Anderson, Max Manning, Felicity Higgins, Lily McCarthy and Goothala Rynne.

Leadership Liturgy

On Friday 5th March, our school leaders were commissioned, blessed by Sr Maureen and received their leadership badges. They are all very enthusiastic about their roles and making Sacred Heart the best place it can be.

Enjoy the happy snaps from the ceremony.

PPF Easter Raffle

The PPF are calling for donations for our school Easter raffle. If each family are able to donate an easter chocolate (e.g. bag of eggs, block of chocolate, chocolate bunny) it would be greatly appreciated. All raffle tickets and Chocolate drive money are due back by Friday 26th March.

Interschool Sport

This Friday 19th March, 11 of our Year 5/6 students will be participating in an interschool soccer game with the Cunnamulla State School. They have been practising their skills with Geoff Rynne at lunch time and at after school sports at SWIN. The game will be held at 1:30pm this Friday at John Kerr Park and some of our classes will be attending to cheer the team on. If you are free to come along and cheer the students would greatly appreciate it. Go Sacred Heart!

Sacred Heart soccer team practising for the interschool soccer game.

Winter Tracksuit Uniform Orders

The school is happy to place orders for tracksuits from our usual uniform supplier if parents are interested in purchasing them. Cost will be approximately $35-$40 per tracksuit. The tracksuit top V-neck jumper will be bottle green with embrioded school emblem and tracksuit pants are doubled knee bottle green. School will only order what is needed. If you wish to order tracksuits, please have amounts/sizes to the office by Friday 26th March 2021.

Swimming Lessons

Next week will be our last swimming lessons for Term 1. 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

Tuckshop

We are in desperate need of helpers for Tuckshop this year, so if you are interested please contact Tom King on 0457 990 027 or ring the school office. Tuckshop runs on Fridays 9am – 1.30pm during Term. 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.

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

School Fees have been sent out; can these be paid before the end of Term 1. 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 21st March – Eucharistic Service @ 8.30am
Saturday 27th March– Mass (Palm Sunday) @ 6pm\
Thursday 1st April – Holy Thursday Service @
Friday 2nd April – Good Friday Service @ 3pm

Community

Term 1 Important Dates