Junior School News
Dear Parents,
Welcome back to the start of a new school year. It has been a joy to witness the junior school corridors come alive with chatter and laughter as children reconnect, spark new friendships, and eagerly anticipate the adventures ahead. As we approach the end of week four of Term 1, we have eagerly immersed ourselves in purposeful learning. We are thrilled to be back and straight into action, we’re excited to witness our bright, curious young learners grow, flourish, and truly shine as the year unfolds. We anticipate a year ahead filled with endless discoveries, daring ideas, and memories that will stick like glue.
Our Sacred Heart family is getting bigger and brighter! A warm welcome to our new Prep families and to all those joining our Junior School community.
Our New Families across Year 1 & 2
Our New Families across Year 1 & 2
Prep News
Exceptional! One word perfectly captures our fearless preps and the remarkable way they’ve embraced their first few weeks of school.
Every step, every smile, every 'first' is a milestone worth celebrating!
The Preps have truly flourished these past few weeks. They've appreciated the structured learning environment supported by consistent and predictable routines. Watch in awe as they gradually transition from play based learning to a stronger focus on letter formation and mathematical patterns!
In Literacy, Prep’s have been focusing on letter craft, learning sounds s, a, t, i, and p. The children have been practising correct letter formation, identifying beginning sounds in words, and making connections between letters and their corresponding sounds.
In Maths, Preps have been enjoying exploring patterns in hands on and engaging ways. They’ve been creating repeating patterns with two colours, working out the repeating unit, and predicting what comes next. Their gorgeous teachers brought movement into their learning by composing and performing action patterns like clap, stomp, clap, stomp!
Congratulations to our wonderful LSO, Lola, on graduating with Distinction in her Bachelor of Nutrition Science and Exercise & Sport Science, all while continuing to nurture the minds and hearts here at Sacred Heart!
We are delighted Zoe Porter has made the smart move to the heart of the action, joining our Junior School team. She has embraced Prep with such confidence and kindness that it’s hard to believe she’s a new recruit to the lower end of the school!
Year One News
It’s incredible to think these little learners are already in Year One! Not long ago, they were just starting Prep, and now they’ve begun the year with such energy and excitement, smoothly settling back into familiar routines. Their positivity and thoughtful behaviour are shining brightly, setting a fantastic example for our Prep friends next door.
In Writing, students have been building their understanding of basic grammar concepts. They have been identifying and defining nouns and verbs within sentences and explaining their purpose. Students have been learning that:
A noun is a naming word. It names a person, place, animal, or thing.
A verb is an action word. It tells us what is happening or what the subject is doing in a sentence.
During MSL, our Year One students have been learning about digraphs, where two letters come together to make one sound. They explored various blends some including; ch, sh, st and th, practising reading and spelling words with these sounds to strengthen their decoding and spelling skills.
Take a look at our studious Year One students and the wonderful progress they’ve already made with their neat writing!
In Maths, the Year One students have been developing their understanding of data collection and representation. They have been learning how to gather information and record it accurately using tally marks, understanding that tally marks help us organise and count data efficiently. Students have explored how data can be sorted into different categories and discussed why organising information in this way makes it easier to interpret.
Year Two News
Our most senior junior school students have truly set the tone this week. Leading by example, they’ve modelled calm, composure, and kindness in the corridors, and out on the yard. They’ve shown what it means to lead with calm, care, and kindness, inspiring those around them every step of the way.
The students have enjoyed revising and consolidating their understanding of open and closed syllables, strengthening their knowledge of how syllable types influence vowel sounds. Students also revised the concept of the 'magic e ' (also known as silent e). They recognise that when an e appears at the end of a word, it changes the preceding. vowel sound, making the vowel say its letter name (for example, cap becomes cape, and kit becomes kite). This deeper understanding of spelling patterns is supporting both their reading fluency and their written expression.
You should ask them about it, I guarantee, they'll teach you a thing or two!
In Writing, our Year Two students have been exploring the four sentence types; statements, questions, commands and exclamations. They have been identifying each one and explaining their thinking by looking closely at punctuation and purpose. Students have been learning to recognise nouns and pronouns, while practising accurate punctuation and using capital letters for proper nouns. ✏️📚
In Maths, students have been exploring place value and the use of number lines as a visual tool to compare and order numbers. They are learning how number lines help us clearly identify whether a number is greater than or less than another, reinforcing their understanding of magnitude and place value.
We are incredibly proud of our Year Two stars as they engage in daily Maths fluency practice. Over time, they will build speed and accuracy in simple addition and subtraction calculations. This growing fluency will lay strong foundations for the future, and as automaticity develops, it will free up their working memory so they can approach richer and more complex mathematical problems with confidence.
Berry Street Circle
Morning circle is the heart of our Berry Street approach. We begin each day the berry street way, gathering in our circle to share our news, settle our minds, and feel connected before learning begins.
Buddy Up & Shine!
The children were thrilled to finally spend some quality time with their buddies, enthusiastically building creations and working collaboratively in small teams. It was heartwarming to watch them naturally gravitate towards one another as new friendships began to blossom.
Parent Teacher Chats
It was so special for the teachers to put faces to names during our parent teacher chats. These moments of connection mean so much to us! The Junior Team is looking forward to partnering with you throughout the year. If you ever have a question, please feel free to catch us in the yard for a quick chat. It’s always the loveliest and easiest way to connect.
Get ready to parade into Easter with our egg-ceptional bonnets
Our Easter Bonnet Parade is just around the corner! We can’t wait to see the egg-stra special designs our students create! The Easter Parade will take place on the last day of Term, Thursday 2nd April.
Each Monday, we kindly ask that readers are brought to school to be exchanged. This consistent routine of reading nightly helps strengthen your child’s reading skills and supports their continued growth towards reading fluently.
For those of you who may have scrolled past it, this is a video definitely worth a double-tap.
Here’s to a year where thinking grows, friendships stick, and success follows curiosity everywhere it goes.
Louise Donnelly
Junior Leader
hwood@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au
zporter@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au
sprosser@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au
comeara@shs.catholic.edu.au kobrien@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au