3 August 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Catholic Education Week

Last week we celebrated Catholic Education Week along with 306 other Catholic schools in Queensland. This annual event is held to promote the special ethos of Catholic schools and to highlight the great things that take place in Catholic schools every day. The theme for this year’s celebrations is: A Spirited Tomorrow.

We kick started the week off with a Pupil Free day, so staff could travel to Quilpie for our annual Bishop’s In-service Day. We began the day with prayer and spiritual development around the theme, Faith Seeking Understanding, where we looked at what makes a school Catholic? As a staff, we reflected on, what makes Sacred Heart distinctively Catholic? Through discussions, it become clearly evident that our Habits of the Heart – Belonging, Compassion, Service, Courage and Excellence instil strong Catholic values into not only our students but our whole school community. We finished the day with a Eucharistic service held in the St Finbarr’s Church.

Bishop’s Inservice Day – Sacred Heart Cunnamulla, St Finbarr’s Quilpie and St Mary’s Charleville

As part of Catholic Education Week, we held an Opening Morning where our classroom doors were open to parents and community members to join in on classroom learning. It was a positive experience for both students, parents and grandparents as they enjoyed participating in learning tasks together from craft to measurement tasks, sentence writing trains to Olympic trivia using Kahoot!!

We also enjoyed welcoming our Pre-Preps and their families. Celebrations were concluded with a liturgy presented by the Yr 5/6 students. We were asked to think about; how others see God in me? And what gift of the Holy Spirit do I need tomorrow to be the best person I can be?

Opening morning and Catholic Education Week Liturgy

School Improvement Survey

Biannually, we are provided with the opportunity to complete a School Review and Improvement Survey which is managed by Research Australia Development and Innovation Institute (RADII). This is a great way for our school to gather valuable data and feedback from students, parents and staff for future directions of our school.

The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. You can complete the survey from anywhere you have access to the internet.

Respondents should follow this procedure.

1. Go to https://surveys.radii.org/surveys/
2. Enter the relevant Survey ID as listed below.
3. Click NEXT to save and record the responses

Parent Survey ID: 7983-CdqV
Closing Date: 9th August, 2021

If you have difficulty accessing the website parents are more than welcome to come to the school office and use a school computer.

Kindy to Prep Transition

To support the Kindy students who will be beginning Prep in 2022, we have begun the transition to school process. The first step in this process, is for the Kindy students to become familiar with key staff members and the Prep students from Sacred Heart. Miss Bretherton and I had the pleasure of reading the stories to the Kindy class each fortnight on a Monday.

The Sacred Heart Prep students have also visited the Kindy for a play date. They thoroughly enjoyed making new friends (or seeing their younger siblings) and playing outside games. We are looking forward to the Kindy visiting us in the next couple of weeks for a Teddy Bears Picnic.

The Prep students playing with the Kindy students.

Habits of the Mind and Heart

This fortnight students have been practising the Habit of the Mind, Persistence and Habit of the Heart, Courage.

Why is Persistence important?

Persistence is continuing to work hard and not giving up when things get tough. Students are able to analyse a problem, develop a system and strategy to attack it. Persistence is a key attribute for students to develop as it encourages a positive attitude towards tasks and a resilience for examining different ways a problem can be solved rather than giving up at the first sign of failure. This is a necessary skill for students to succeed. We teach our students to use the following strategies to encourage persistence:

• Getting in the learning pit
• Practicing to learn from your mistakes
• Not giving up and listening to the positive voice in my head
• Trying new strategies
• Starting again
• Not worrying if you get things wrong
• Excited to try new things
• Being adaptable

Why is Courage important?

Courage is the quality shown when deciding to do something difficult or showing bravery. Showing courage helps students to learn how to handle adversity and to try new things. Taking risks and making mistakes grows our brain more than getting things right. Failing allows us to think and see things differently. We teach our students to use the following strategies to support the development of courage:

• Staying focused when things get hard
• Showing confidence in my own abilities
• Standing up for what I believe in or the greater good
• Seeing a need and doing something about it
• Taking action
• Doing something out of your comfort zone
• Not being afraid to have a go and make mistakes

To further support our student learning of these skills, ask them at home where in their day did, they have a go at using these habits and how it helped them to learn.

Staffing 2022

The staffing process for 2022 has begun and I am delighted to announce that all teaching staff are continuing next year. This provides great consistency of teaching and learning for our students. Towards the end of the year, classes and their teachers will be confirmed.

Sacred Heart has also been allocated an additional teacher next year to assist with current teaching and learning practices as well as relief. I am delighted to announce that this position has been appointed to Abby Davidson. Abby joins us from ACU and is very keen to immerse herself in the Cunnamulla community. We look forward to welcoming her to our wonderful school community.

Miss Polly Crawford
Principal

Prep/1 News

Its only Week 4, but wow have we been busy in Prep/1! Over the last fortnight we have celebrated 100 Days of Prep/1, hosted the Crazy Hair Day fundraiser on Friday and also had an open classroom on Wednesday morning. We had so much fun on Thursday dressing up as ‘old people’ for 100 days of Prep/1. We crowned our two best dressed old people and also participated in some ‘100 Days of School’ themed activities. We also had so much fun with Crazy Hair Day! We paraded around the eating area, showing off our craziest hairstyles and also created some artwork to help us remember the special occasion. On Wednesday, we were lucky enough to open our classroom to our parents and some of the children from the Kindy. We did some painting and some other fun rotations and then went outside to play some more. In between all the excitement, we also managed to squeeze in some learning. This week the students have been learning about different patterns. The prep students made and continued repeating patterns, while the grade 1 students learnt about growing patterns. We also learnt about tally marks and created a fun new method of counting. Yesterday, we visited the Kindy and played with some of the Prep students for next year. We had a great time and cannot wait until they join us in two weeks for a teddy bears picnic at school. We have a busy fortnight coming up, but super excited for all the learning!

Prep/1 Teacher
Miss Bretherton

Year 1/2 News

The weeks are flying by and we’ve been busy. In English we’ve been concentrating on writing sentences in addition to working hard on our reading in readiness for testing in week 6. We’ve spent time analysing the reading data from last term and are teaching the strategies required for the children to reach the goals we have set for them.

During maths lessons we’ve been concentrating on counting patterns followed by multiplication which shall in turn be followed by division concepts. During Hass, we’ve been discussing our connections with the past and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our introduction to the Deadly Choices programme on Thursdays.

Year 2 Teacher
Mrs Shellshear

Year 3/4 News

Over the last fortnight, the Year 3-4 class have engaged in a variety of different activities. Week 3 was Catholic Education Week and to celebrate we held an open morning on Wednesday the 28th of July. The students engaged in three rotations including: Maths Measuring, Literacy Games and Climate Zone Art. Thank you to the parents who were able to join us for this wonderful morning.

In Maths we have been looking at all things Measurement. On Friday the 30th of July, the Year 3-4 class (alongside Prep-2 and some Year 5-6 students), competed in the Sacred Heart Mathlympics. The students began the day by creating their own team flag and country, as well as an Olympic Torch for the awards ceremony. Students competed in a variety of events including Pom-Pom Shotput, Pipe Cleaner Javelin, Right-Handed Marble Grab, Gymnastics Score Addition and Time Trials. All of these activities required the students to apply their knowledge of measurement to complete.

Year 3/4 Teacher Miss Charlton

Year 5/6 News

Welcome to Week 4! Students have been highly engaged in reading our focus novel, with all students begging to read more when it is time to pack up. The Year 6 students have been busy measuring up the school, solving area and perimeter problems. The Year 5 have been working on solving problems involving 12- and 24-hour time – quiz your kids on what time it is using 24-hour time. On Friday, the class will be making bread as a part of a science investigation, exploring yeast more closely. Have a great week!

Year 5/6 Teacher
Miss Daly

Class and Uniform Awards

This fortnight’s focus:

Habit of the Heart: Courage
Habit of the Mind: Persistence

Happy Birthday

District Athletics

Last Friday, 29 students from Sacred Heart participated in the District Athletics Carnival along with Thargomindah, Eulo and Cunnamulla State School. I was so impressed with the sportsmanship and participation levels I witnessed of all of our students on the day. Many staff and parents commented on the exemplary behaviour and manners of the students. You should be very proud of your efforts. Sacred Heart were also lucky enough to take away the overall winning trophy, clocking up 559 points! Congratulations to the following students who won Age Champion.

2012 Boy – Kaydan Munn
2011 Girl – Paige Tanner
2011 Boy – Jah-Corey Maxwell
2010 Boy – Goothala Rynne
2009 Girl – Ava Anderson

Crazy Hair Day

Last Friday, we enjoyed coming to school with crazy hair to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. There were definitely some creative and fabulous styles. Enjoy the pictures!

Prep Enrolments 2022

We are now calling for Prep enrolments for 2022. If your child is born between 1st July 2016 and 30th June 2017, they are eligible to be enrolled in Prep for 2022. Prep Enrolment packages are available at the front office or at the Churches of Christ Kindy. Prep interviews will be conducted over the next month. Please contact the office to pick up an enrolment pack and to make an enrolment interview.

To kick start our transition process, Miss Crawford visited the Kindy and read the story, First Day to the students. They were very excited to talk about beginning school next year.

Country School Photos

On Thursday 19th August we will be having our school photos done. Can all envelopes be back to school by Monday 16th August?

Homework Centre

Homework centre is up and running again for the term and will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00-3:45pm. It is a great way for students to receive support with their homework tasks. Miss Devey will be supervising the students.

Library Day

Library borrowing day is now every Thursday for all students. Students need to bring a library bag to school if they wish to take their library books home. Mrs Tolete and Mrs Haig are sharing the Teacher Librarian role for the remainder of the year.

Tuckshop

We are in desperate need of helpers for Tuckshop, 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. A reminder that ALL orders are to be into the Tuckshop by 9am on Friday.

Tuckshop Special this Friday 6th August – Spaghetti Bolognese (Pork Mince) - $5.00

COVID-19

At Sacred Heart, we continue to be vigilant with cleaning and hygiene protocols within our school community.

The staff continue to ask children to:

• wash their hands regularly with soap and water, particularly before and after eating, and after going to the toilet;
• use alcohol-based hand sanitiser if soap is unavailable;
• cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or the inside of their elbow;
• dispose of used tissues in the bin immediately;
• apply social distancing as far as possible at school.

We ask parents to ensure they do the following if their child develops flu like symptoms:

• keep the child at home and seek advice about undergoing COVID testing
• contact your doctor or contact 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) immediately
• call ahead to the medical centre or doctor’s surgery, advising of your child’s symptoms

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 several 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)
Mrs 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

Church Times

Mass/Services will be held at the Presbytery (27 Alice Street Cunnamulla)
Saturday 7th August – Mass @ 5:30pm
Sunday 8th August – Mass @ 9am – Eulo
Sunday 15thAugust – Eucharistic Service @ 9.00am – Cunnamulla
Sunday 15thAugust – Mass @ 10.00am – Thargo
Sunday 22nd August – Mass @ 9am
Sunday 29th August – Mass @ 9am – Quilpie
Sunday 29th August – Eucharistic Service @ 9.00am - Cunnamulla

Term 3 Important Dates