May each of you know the beautiful gift that you are

during this most Holy Season

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

It’s hard to believe that the end of the school year has arrived and Christmas is a little over two weeks away! Coming into this time of year the message of Christmas heightens amongst Christian communities around the world. It is a simple message of new life – the birth of a baby in very poor circumstances. A similar thing is happening now as you read this. A mother and father are joyful at the miracle of the new creation. The newborn child is helpless, vulnerable. The parents celebrate birth and people gather around. Christmas is about the God of Love. The same God came amongst us who lived, suffered and died for each of us. The message, then, is one of personal love and of our challenge to believe in that love and grow with it.

I would like to sincerely thank families for all they have done throughout this year. Once again faced with the challenges of Remote Learning, you supported and encouraged your children in the best possible way you could. Thank you also for the tremendous support you provided your children’s teachers. This year has very much been a team effort and we certainly value and appreciated your support. It has been very evident how happy the children are to be back at school with their teachers and friends. Thank you to all the staff who provided a happy place for our children amongst the challenges and for their commitment to deliver the best quality learning and teaching no matter what was happening around them. Thank you to our children who despite everything did their best and discovered new talents and developed new skills.

As families are leaving us at the end of the year I would like to acknowledge and thank them for being part of our community. I hope you will always have fond memories of your time at Sacred Heart. We also farewell staff, Matt Cameron, Jessie Simpson and Kathryn Ferguson. They have been a much valued part of the Sacred Heart community and we thank them for all they have given during their time with us and wish them well in their new positions.

Teachers have been busy finalising assessments for Semester Two reports. Your child’s report will reflect their achievements during terms 3 and 4 this year and will be available through PAM today. Please spend some time together, reading and reflecting on the report as this clearly demonstrates to your child the value you place on their school life. Don’t forget to celebrate all their hard work, efforts and achievements after reading their reports! Please contact your child’s class teacher if there is anything you wish to discuss on their report.

Unfortunately, due to current restrictions we are not able to come together to celebrate our End of the Year Mass. However, Year 6s will celebrate their time at Sacred Heart with a Graduation Mass on Friday. This will be followed by a Whole School Assembly in the quadrangle where everyone will be together to say farewell to families, staff and reflect on the year. Unfortunately, we are unable to invite our whole parent community to these events and families involved will have received an invitation.

It was so lovely to welcome our new students on Orientation Day and it was very exciting to see our existing students move up into their new classes for next year. Watching our new Year 6s meet and spend time with their buddies is always a highlight. I’ve received lots of positive feedback about the transition and Orientation Day experience and especially about how much the Foundation children loved their buddies! It was great to see the students transition into their new classes with confidence and readiness for next year.

Dom Poppa, Cath Basile and Melissa Connors organised a Year 6 Reflection Day and Year 5 Leadership Day this week. Our Year 5 future leaders were engaged and enthusiastic about their new role next year and I felt a great confidence knowing they will be 2022 leaders of Sacred Heart School. The Year 6s, although with a little sadness were reflective about their time at Sacred Heart. Their engagement and responses gave great confidence that our 2021 Graduates will do great things. Over the years they have aspired to achieve our Graduate Outcomes and are a credit to themselves, their families and their school. Thank you, Dom, Cath and Melissa, for organising such a valuable day.

Thank you to all who have so generously donated to our Giving Tree. All donations will be delivered to St Vinnies early next week for families within our community who need some extra support during this Christmas season. This is a beautiful way to teach our children about the joy of giving and the importance of sharing with others. If you would like to donate to the Giving Tree you still have a couple of days to do so.

Congratulations to Urijah Gilboy for receiving the Term 4 Week 8 Principal's Award. Urijah is a friend to all and can always be trusted to do the right thing. His work is exemplary and he always aims to improve. He always offers to help both teachers and other friends when he can. Well done Urijah!

Next Wednesday, December 15th is the final day for students. Children will be dismissed at the normal time of 3:20pm.

The first day of Term 1 2022 will be Monday, 31st January for 1-6 students and Tuesday 1st February for Foundation students. I look forward to greeting all our refreshed students and their families on that morning.

I wish you all the blessings of the Christmas season and a safe and happy holiday break.

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus continue to watch over our school community and bless us always.

Pauline Hindson

Principal

Staffing 2022

Leadership Team
Pauline Hindson	Principal
Dom Poppa	Assistant Principal, Learning and Teaching Leader & Wellbeing Leader
Debbie Turvey	Religious Education Leader
Learning and Teaching Team
Katy Dundon	Learning Leader Junior Team
Michelle Cameron	Learning Leader Middle Team
Emily Slaughter	Learning Leader Senior Team
Debbie Turvey	Learning Diversity Leader
Teaching Teams
Foundation/Year 1	Katy Dundon, Kath O'Sullivan, Vanessa Tartaglia, Nikki Littlewood
Year 2	Bree Petrie/Bec Borzillo, Andrew Nilbett, Nikki Littlewood
Year 3/4	Michelle Cameron, Nicole Brown, Melissa Cassetta, Tayla Corbo, Tracy Marshall, Wendy Vincitorio
Year 5/6	Cath Basile, Emily Slaughter, Reilly Young, Melissa Connors
Specialist Team
Karen Nihill	Performing Arts
Matt Hooper	Visual Arts
Karen Nihill	Languages (Italian)
Rachel Fidock	Writers' Workshop
Laura Bradbury	Digital Technology
Administration
Admin Office	Debbie Worm, Sally Dickinson

Community Notices

NEW - CES Ltd Artist in Residence 2022

NEW - Greater Shepparton Family Day Care

NEW - Goulburn Valley Libraries

NEW - Tatura Community House

NEW - Catholic Education Sandhurst

NEW - Dillmac Entertainment Enrolment

NEW - Activities in the Park

SAS Program

School Readiness Program

Saver Plus

Berry Street Post Separation Services