Principal News
Dear Sacred Heart Community,
Prayer
Those of you who have read the special bulletin from Tuesday, will be aware of my announcement about my period of Long Service Leave (LSL) commencing in three weeks and then my retirement after thirty seven incredibly fulfilling years in education.
On Wednesday I met with my Leadership Consultant Craig Carlin from Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) to finalise details for Antoinette taking on the Acting Principalship position for the fifteen weeks I am on LSL.
Craig was able to confirm that MACS looks upon Sacred Heart PS with great confidence around its future. Our Foundation enrolments for 2024 and 2025 are some of the best amongst other Catholic Schools in our area. As of yesterday, we already have eight enrolments for Foundation 2026 (and enrolments have not officially opened). Both our financial and data around school performance are very positive.
When the principal position is advertised (date to be determined) it will be with great optimism that it will be a much sought after position. The future of Sacred Heart school is bright and it will hopefully be educating students from Preston/Reservoir and surrounding areas for another 110 years.
Student Leadership Positions
This year we are changing our student leadership position's title and how the positions are chosen.
Firstly, the positions of School Captain and Vice Captain will be changed to an inclusive School Leader position/s. The traditional two males and two females holding the position has changed as of this year to the four students with the most total votes being appointed to the School Leadership positions. The only condition is that within the four students gaining the most votes, at least one male and one female student have to be appointed.
This decision has been made after discussion with our students and staff.
School Saving Bonus (SSB)
For Non-government schools, the SSB is a $400 bonus for students receiving the means tested Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) only.
To ensure the SSB benefit applies to eligible students for the 2025 school year, the Department of Education has recommended that the bonus is allocated to eligible students once the CSEF process has been completed for 2025.
Non-government schools are required to apply the benefit for eligible families in a manner that is consistent with the intent of the bonus. SSB can be applied to the following programs/expenditure:
camps, trips, excursions and incursions
swimming and sporting programs
graduations
school uniforms
SSB cannot be applied to tuition charges.
Sign In/Sign Out Procedures
We ask that parents of students arriving after 9.00am and leaving before 3.20pm come to the school office and complete the relevant documentation.
Altar Server's Program
Some of our students were part of the Altar Serving program at weekend Mass in 2024. It was a great success last year and the Sacred Heart parishioners really loved seeing our students helping Father Aloysius. They will again have a short refresher in the coming weeks during school hours and then a roster will be organised. In 2024 we had some students serve at Sunday 10.30am Mass and some at Saturday evening Mass. If you would like your child to be part of the program in 2025 just email me and let me know.
Meet Our New After School Care Coordinator
From The Uniform Shop (Cettina)
Track tops
As indicated in our last newsletter, we are aware that some school track tops have the school logo printed incorrectly on them (back-to-front). Please check your child's track top and if the logo please return the top to the office before next Thursday 20th March with your child's name so I can arrange a replacement.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your patience as we work with our supplier to rectify this error.
A Very Special Visitor
Leadership royalty visited our school on Wednesday. Our 2019 School Captain and 2025 School Captain of Our Lady of Mercy College Heidelberg, Jasmine Pham and her great mum Vy met with our Year Five/Six students this afternoon to talk all things leadership.
P/T interviews
(From Antoinette's page)
Parent-Teacher Interviews will be held on Wednesday, 19th February. Meeting times will be available from 1:00pm to 7:00pm. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents and carers to meet their child’s teachers and build a strong partnership to support your child’s growth and learning throughout the year.
From The Playground This Morning
Whilst in no way insinuating that dads Glenn and Jack are any where as old as the two Muppets pictured, and it's a given that Glenn and Jack are of course much more handsome, but something in their disposition this morning reminded me of the two gents in the Muppet's show. Of course you may not agree.
Sacred Heart Parish Dance Party
Lock the date in your calendar:
Yours Sincerely
Mark