Principal News 

TERM 4 - WEEK 9

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*2024 Term Dates in Key Dates Page

Dear Families & Friends,

Thank you once again for your understanding regarding the recent school closure day. The timing was ideal for our students (and staff), especially considering their exhaustion after concluding our intensive swimming program last Friday. In speaking with many families and staff, it became evident that the students were truly 'wiped out' as they departed for the long weekend. While we were hopeful that this extra day would provide much-needed time to rest and reset, we still have many students who appear to be hanging on by a thread as we make our way to the finish line. To put it simply, the elastic band is stretching by the day, despite the best efforts of all trying to hold all their emotions together. That being said, their remarkable sense of calm and focus in the classroom continues to make us incredibly proud, reflected again in their impeccable manner during our Friday assembly to close out the week. So, as we enter the festive season, please be kind to all in the remaining 10 days to ensure that we collectively maintain good spirits.

The closure day proved to be a success as we welcomed our impressive new staff for 2024. They meticulously reviewed our comprehensive and positive data sets, annual action plan, and underwent a thorough handover process for all students (classes) to their teachers in preparation for the upcoming school year. I cannot express enough how excited we are as plans begin to fall into place. Additionally we are thrilled to see the positive impact of our hard work, particularly in the implementation of teaching approaches and learning strategies, which are already influencing our student outcomes, albeit only 12-18 months into this transformative journey, focusing on explicit teaching and evidence-based practices such as the Science of Reading and Structure Literacy (inc. MSL, Heggerty, TWR, Morphology, Spelling Mastery).

I am immensely proud of our dedicated team for their exceptional efforts to date, reflected in the outstanding work achieved on Monday as we celebrated our journey over this period. With the momentum we have built and our new team, we are well-positioned for a phenomenal and exciting year ahead. We eagerly anticipate further growth and impact through our strategic use of human resources, as detailed in the staffing news below, and are excited to see our plans reach new heights (doubling down on best practices in Literacy & Numeracy) in 2024. Next year, we are also pleased to announce our staff will be participating in an evidence-based professional development initiative, 'Teaching for Impact in Mathematics Series' (TIMS). What a fabulous opportunity for staff, and ultimately the students. 

Student Reports

In recent days, the leadership team had the good fortune, and dare I say privilege, to review draft report comments from all teaching staff. The quality of these comments has been outstanding, reflecting the intimate knowledge our staff have of their students. From identifying specific academic accomplishments and areas for future consideration to celebrating social and emotional growth, we congratulate the staff for raising the bar again with the quality of these personalised reports. We have the utmost confidence that our families will be thrilled by the standard and detail of these formal comments. 

Outrageous Writing Samples

On Thursday, I walked into the staff room and witnessed our teachers engrossed in reviewing writing samples from the junior school. They were excitedly comparing samples from the half-year to the present, spanning just six months. The atmosphere was particularly special as I joined the staff, gathered to celebrate the remarkable growth of the students in our junior school.

Every day, with unwavering dedication and explicit teaching, our staff from P-6 have been diligently implementing a structured and systematic literacy program, inclusive of TWR (The Writing Revolution). During our tightly run literacy blocks, the samples revealed significant progress across various key areas. Notably, there were improvements in the use of subordinating and basic conjunctions, expanding sentences, employing various sentence types, incorporating adverbs and adjectives, and showcasing complex spelling with legible handwriting – all of which are fundamental aspects emphasised in our literacy program.

The joy from our staff was palpable, with some even shedding tears as they observed the substantial growth of students they had taught in previous years. In simple terms, we have been 'blown away' by the dedication of both our students and staff in embracing this new direction. #investment #proud #qualityteaching #evidencebased

We again sincerely thank Mrs Stroud and Miss Rafferty for driving this approach and professional development, embraced and immediately enacted by our staff. 

It's Beginning To Look (and sound) A Lot Like Christmas

What a Christmas joy it has been to hear Mr Coutts work with the students for our upcoming Christmas Assembly. We thank our families for their understanding as we made adjustments to our traditional carols due to the significant time invested in the school production at the end of Term 3.

We also thank Mr Blake for supporting the staff with the resourcing and curriculum materials during the Season of Advent festivities. 

Staffing News

We are delighted to share that our staffing plans for 2024 are nearly finalized, and we are excited to announce increased leadership time for the following exceptional staff: Miss Rafferty, Mrs. Stroud, and Mr. Blake. This signifies a significant investment and a targeted shift in our school community, aiming to build upon the outstanding work in the past 18 months. Specifically, we are doubling down on our focus and practices in the key academic pillars of literacy and numeracy.

These changes will further empower our staff and key human resources to address the needs of our students in Year P-6 more comprehensively. The outcome is particularly beneficial for Sacred Heart, enhancing our capacity in intervention, enrichment, and staff support/coaching.

While detailed information about their roles will follow in subsequent communications, we are confident that Miss Rafferty, Mrs. Stroud, and Mr. Blake will continue to have a profound influence in impacting and supporting students and staff across the school. 

In addition, our Deputy, Mrs. Pennington's role will be more specifically focused on addressing the key learning diversity portfolio, providing essential support to staff, LSOs, and, ultimately, students and families in this critical space. Recognising the weight of this responsibility, we will be passing the Literacy Yr.3-6 reins to Mrs. Stroud in 2024. We extend our sincere thanks to Mrs. Pennington for her dedication over the past two years, overseeing this curriculum area, in particular the rollout of Spelling Mastery. This has been such a beneficial program for our students and staff reflected in the incredible growth in student data. More on Mrs Pennington's LD role in the Deputy News. 

Leadership Team 2024

Principal

Mr Simon Collis  

Deputy & Learning Diversity

Mrs Brigid Pennington 

Teaching & Learning P-6

Miss Sarah Rafferty* 

(Coaching, Planning Support & Intervention Yr. 3-4 Mon-Fri)

RE & Maths P-6

Mr Dara Blake

(RE & Maths P-6 & Maths Enrichment Mon-Wed)  

Literacy P-6  & Intervention

Mrs Kate Stroud*

(Literacy P-6, Intervention P-2 Mon-Fri)

Wellbeing P-6

Mr Simon Brown 

Junior School P-2

Miss Bronagh Maloney

Middle School 3-4

Ms Tilly Tench

Senior School 5-6

Miss Jayne McKay 

Administration

Mrs Karen Matthiesson

Monday-Friday

*Practicing MSL Educational Specialist

We are thrilled to present our Teaching & Learning Team for 2024. See attachment. 

And yes, we can expect to see a lot of Miss Healey throughout Term 1 as a casual relief teacher before her travels. 

Building Program 2024 Update

As mentioned earlier, we are thrilled to announce that our $5.25 million refurbishment program is set to commence in 2024, likely between Term 2 and Term 4. While the finer details are yet to be confirmed, we have proposed a two-stage program to minimise costs, reduce the timeline, and ultimately ensure the best outcome for our students.

Throughout the entire program we are confident that we can accommodate and settle all students and classrooms within the current building envelope by utilising all available spaces, thereby avoiding the need for portable arrangements that could impact vital playground space. 

Starting from the beginning of the new school year, all grades, except for our Year 6s, will be relocated to other classrooms for the commencement of Term 1. This move is designed to assist with the transition of the program to Stage One works and minimize disruptions i.e. unnecessary moves. Our primary objective is to ensure that children are settled in designated learning spaces for extended periods before transitioning to another stage.

Please note that we have prioritized the Prep, Year 1, and Year 6 classes, ensuring that they do not have to relocate throughout the majority of this program. They will only need to move once, and that will be back into their newly refurbished learning spaces. 

Clash of the Courts

Congratulations to Amanda Molony for organising the highly successful Clash of the Courts tournament last Sunday. Raising over $8,500 for Team Sports 4 All, which supports disadvantaged youth, we were thrilled to see our fabulous and inspiring mums commit to this terrific event. In its second year, we are hopeful that this will become an ongoing tradition across our school communities. Well done mums! 

Basketball & Dodgeball Tournament

Many thanks to our amazing Year 6s and Social Justice Leaders – Alice, Joel, and Johnny – as well as Mr. Brown and Mr. Blake for coordinating two timely and enjoyable sports sessions for our year levels (P-2 and 5-6) in the past few days. The gold coin donations collected for entry into the respective tournaments will be directed towards the charity, Team Sports 4 All. Rest assured our Year 3-4 students will not miss out as they have their tournament scheduled for next week.

Little Hearts of Sandy Playgroup

Family and friends are most welcome to attend. No age limit on toddlers or pre-schoolers. Last session we had over 20 pre-schoolers (inc. 2024 & 2025 Preps) and toddlers and it has been fabulous to see lots of new faces at these sessions. Thanks again to our talented LSO and musician, Carol for entertaining the children and families throughout the morning. We love these sessions! 

Only ONE more to go:

• 8th Dec. 10am

Thanks for organising this wonderful initiative, Ms Hyslop. Please don't hesitate to drop down to the Sandy train station to support the team and add a little bit of colour. 

New Baby Alert

Congratulations to the Zhukov familiy on the healthy and delightful arrival of Michael, a baby brother for Milada and Sasha. We look forward to seeing Natalia and the latest beautiful addition to our community in the coming days. 

P&F NEWS

P & F would like to invite you to the first event of the new year.

"SAVE THE DATE"

Saturday February 10, 2024 

7pm onwards 

Sandringham Club, 92 Beach Road Sandringham 

More information to follow in the coming weeks. 

LITTLE GEMS

It's was truly delightful to have these superstars visit my office with their persuasive writing pieces. They were tasked with convincing me why they deserved a special end-of-year treat at the beach. Their smiles alone almost won me over, but their exceptional writing pieces further reflected the tremendous growth of our students across all corners of the school. Without a doubt, it was a resounding YES from me. Enjoy your beach day, Year 2!

More superstars. Well done girls for your fabulous fundraising efforts at the recent Clash of Courts tournament. We are so proud of your efforts and dedication to supporting this worthy cause. Missing from the photo - Pippa. 

How good are these Sacred Heart playground elves?

And finally....

Hang in there team, we've got this. It's hard to believe we are in our final two weeks in what has been nothing short of a truly remarkable year,

Simon Collis

Principal

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