Principal News 

 Term 1 2025

Dear Families and Friends,

New Classrooms

We are thrilled to have our final classrooms (Yr.5B, Yr.5T, Yr.4P and Yr.4C) handed over on Monday, allowing students to settle into their beautifully refurbished learning spaces. After months of working in temporary settings (hall and art room), we couldn’t be happier for these students and their teachers as they finally move into their new classrooms.

A special mention to Ms. Hyslop, who is absolutely delighted to have her art room back after an extended period of taking her program "on the road" across the school. She’s more than happy to retire her portable art program and trolley at last!

A huge congratulations to our students and staff for their patience, adaptability, and understanding throughout this building phase—the last group to transition into the new facilities. We’re confident the wait was well worth it!

Athletics Carnival

What a spectacular day we had last Friday for our annual athletics carnival! In a closely fought competition, Blue narrowly came out on top, claiming the house points for the day - Well done Blue House!

A huge thank you and congratulations to Mr Jaynes for his outstanding efforts—his tireless work, attention to detail, and exceptional coordination made for a brilliant event. We are all so grateful for his leadership in making the day so special for everyone.

With perhaps our biggest community turnout yet, we also extend our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed—from scorers to marshals and class supervisors and cheer squad. It was a fantastic team effort—dare we say, the best yet?

A special shoutout to Zena, our resident professional parent photographer, for capturing the day so beautifully!

New Synthetic Grass - Quiet Area

Generously supported by our P&F funds, the quiet area received a much-needed makeover late last week with the installation of new synthetic grass. We are absolutely thrilled with how this space has come together, beautifully complementing the freshly planted gardens.

And just like bees to honey, children have flocked to the newly resurfaced area, making the most of it for handstands, quiet play, and games. We encourage all families to drop by for a sneaky peek at this stunning space—soon to be a highly sought-after outdoor learning area for our classes! Thank you families and P&F, such projects would not be possible without this level of support. 

Friday Assembly

According to all staff and students, Friday's assembly was one of the very best. Miss Maloney led our school in a liturgy celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Our students began with an Irish Sign of the Cross, participated in prayer, and celebrated Irish traditions and culture.

By all accounts, the highlight of the assembly was the Irish Dancing Troupe - Miss Maloney, Miss Moloney (spelling with an o — we have two of them!), Miss Porter, Mr Jaynes and Miss Flynn - followed closely by a staff-versus-student quiz. 

We are extremely fortunate to have Miss Maloney leading our school as Religious Education Leader, growing our students in faith. 

Apologies for missing this week’s special assembly! Mrs. Pennington, Miss Wood, and I were attending a special wellbeing morning featuring keynote speaker Dr. Billy Garvey, a highly regarded developmental paediatrician with over 20 years of experience working with children. Dr. Billy Garvey is a senior specialist at one of the world’s largest tertiary paediatric hospitals, where he supports families, trains clinicians and professionals, and conducts research in child development and mental health.

It was a highly insightful and invaluable session, and we look forward to sharing key takeaways with our staff and community in the coming weeks!

Upholding Cyber Safety - Inform & Empower

We are so grateful to our families who attended the invaluable and powerful parent information evening, Raising Kids in a Digital World, presented by leading experts Marty and Carley.

This session provided essential insights and practical strategies to help families navigate the ever-evolving digital landscape, ensuring our children develop healthy, safe, and balanced online habits. Your engagement in these conversations is crucial in supporting our students to thrive in the digital age! After many years attending these types of sessions, this was by far the best I have been to. A must for all families! 

Staff Professional Development 

Each week, our staff participate in two professional development sessions focused on upskilling and reinforcing evidence-based practices across key curriculum areas—namely literacy and mathematics—along with best pedagogical approaches. Led by our school leaders, these sessions are closely aligned with our annual action plan goals, continuously enhancing the way we do things at Sacred Heart. Importantly, they foster a shared understanding and ensure a consistent approach to teaching and learning from Prep-6.

In addition, we dedicate time each week to student wellbeing, focusing on identifying, supporting, and reviewing social, emotional, and academic needs. This whole-school commitment to both professional growth and student welfare remains an integral part of our culture at Sacred Heart.

We take immense pride in this collective investment, which has been a key driver behind our successes and strong enrolment trends in recent years. Our current and prospective families clearly recognise and deeply value this professional commitment from our staff. Well done, team, and a special thanks to our exceptional leaders for driving these positive changes!

This week, our staff focused on the five key concepts at the heart of effective reading instruction—the Five Pillars: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

While we have invested in these instructional approaches over the past few years, we recognise the importance of revisiting and reinforcing these critical strategies to strengthen how we teach reading at Sacred Heart. This ongoing cycle of professional development—revisiting core beliefs and refining best practices—is central to our commitment to excellence in literacy instruction.

Led by the exceptional Kate Stroud and Sarah Rafferty (currently on maternity leave), our staff’s growth and expertise in these fundamental literacy concepts have never been stronger!

Supporting Wellbeing: Mental Health First Aid Training for Our Staff

At Sacred Heart, we are committed to fostering a supportive and caring environment for both students and staff. As part of this commitment, Miss Wood (Wellbeing Leader) and Miss Prosser (Junior Leader) has recently completed Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training, equipping them with the skills to recognise, support, and respond to mental health challenges in our school community.

This training ensures that staff members can provide early intervention, guidance, and reassurance to students or colleagues experiencing difficulties. By understanding how to identify signs of stress, anxiety, and other mental health concerns, Miss Wood & Miss Prosser will soon be better prepared to offer immediate support and connect individuals with the right resources.

Investing in MHFA training aligns with our broader focus on wellbeing, including initiatives such as the Berry Street Model, Respectful Relationships and reintroducing Calm Club. We believe that prioritising mental health is just as important as physical health, and having trained staff members on-site is a crucial step toward creating a safe, inclusive, and caring school environment.

Container Deposit Scheme

Great to see our students, staff and families embracing the Container Deposit Scheme organised by Mrs McGrath. We are pleased to say we are very first school in the state to trial this scheme. Thanks Nate & Xavier for being the very first to contribute to this worthy environmental program, and fundraiser.

Staffing News 2025

Happy St. Patrick's Day to our wonderful Irish staff members—Miss Rafferty, Miss Donnelly, Miss Maloney, Miss Moloney, Miss Porter, Miss Flynn, and Mrs. McKeon! As an integral part of the Sacred Heart family, we know this day is always special for them and serves as a reminder of their friends and family back home in Ireland.

Message from Mr Blake:

Hi All,

Just a short message to say Happy St Patrick’s Day from Ireland. I hope you are all well and the Irish 🇮🇪 crew in Sandringham are celebrating today.

I climbed Crough Patrick (St Patrick’s Mountain) today and had an Australian priest say mass up the top in a small church, was really cool but extremely cold.

Have a great day!

A homecoming of sorts...

What a joy it was to welcome a VERY special visitor back into the classroom on Thursday! We’ve missed Miss Healey so much, and her return felt like a true homecoming as she arrived bright and early at 7am for a day’s work. Let’s just say the first 90 minutes were filled with hugs, laughter, and plenty of stories about her travels abroad!

Miss Healey, currently based in London, has returned for a short visit and to celebrate a friend’s wedding. 

Adding to the excitement, we also welcomed back Ms. Tench from partner leave on the same day! It was truly a joyous occasion celebrating these two treasured staff members.

Just love my job and capturing these precious interactions.

Building Update - It's coming together!

Key Milestones:

• 90% complete!           
• Admin offices and STEM facilities set for completion by Easter weekend
• Builders scheduled to be off-site by Easter weekend

Friday Running Club

Superbly organised by Miss Bulte, we had a record turnout for our weekly running session, with over 95 participants! What an incredible effort—our community truly is the best! 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️👏

School Advisory

As a key aspect of MACS Schools Governance, we are actively seeking nominations to join the School Advisory Council—a vital parent forum that plays a significant role in shaping our school’s future. This advisory board typically meets once per term to review essential areas such as school improvement initiatives, MACS policies, finances (including school fees), capital projects, and any arising school matters e.g. school communication platforms. Serving on the council offers a valuable opportunity to be a positive community voice and provide meaningful input toward the school’s ongoing development. Please email principal@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au for expressions of interest. 

P&F News

LITTLE GEMS💎

Japanese 

We had a flurry of students drop by the staffroom this week to showcase the fabulous work they’ve been doing in their Japanese class. Staff were blown away by the children's ability to converse in Japanese—especially at such a young age and so early into their journey at Sacred Heart!

Sadly, many staff present couldn’t help but note that my ability to reciprocate in Japanese during these beautiful exchanges was very limited!

Meisha & Milada's Maths 

Love your maths work Miesha. Proudly showing some of her wonderful workings from Miss McGrath's class and some strategies her dad has taught her at home. 

Mr Collis: Milada you are so very clever with your maths workings.

Milada: Mrs McGrath is a very good teacher and she is so intelligent.

Mr.Collis: Just the record, we think she is a pretty awesome teacher too. 

Basketball Magic

Last week Dylan and Max B had the good fortunate to play on Rod Laver Arena as part of the NBA final series. What a special moment!

Exciting Sporting News!

Over the weekend, families attended the Sandringham Athletics Club – Club Champion Awards, where the top three athletes in each age division were recognized, along with those who achieved the most personal bests throughout the season.

It was wonderful to see so many Sacred Heart students on the podium, including:

🏆 Hazel C. (U7 Girls) – 1st Place

🏆 Rio R-N (Year 2) – 1st Place

🏆 Noah J. (Year 4) – 1st Place

Congratulations to all our talented athletes—we are so proud of you!

Podium Placements:

• Myles (Year 1)
• Isabelle J. (Year 2)
• Elwood (Year 3)
• Amelia S., Nate D. & Noah J. (Year 4) 
• Milo (Year 5)
• Maddison R-N (Year 6)

A huge congratulations to all the athletes for their hard work and achievements! A BIG weekend coming off the back of athletics carnival 🎉🏅 🎉🏆

And finally...

I challenge anyone to find a better job than mine!

Together, we are building something truly special at Sacred Heart. 💙

A very proud principal,

Simon