Principal News 

TERM 1

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Dear Families and Friends,

There certainly was a most unusual tone across Sacred Heart as our Yr.6 students were away on our first ever Canberra camping experience this week. With a jam-packed schedule and little time to rest throughout the day, the students had a simply stunning time exploring and benefitting from the breadth of educational opportunities on offer in our national capital:

• Australian War Memorial
• High Commission
• Government House - Even received a personal tour with the GG, David Hurley. 
• Parliament House - Met local MP Zoe Daniels
• Royal Mint
• Electoral Education Centre
• Australian Institute of Sport 
• ANZAC Parade
• International Sports and Aquatic Centre
• National Capital Exhibition
• High Court of Australia
• Questacon

It is wonderful to hear that our students demonstrated exceptional behavior and manners while away, particularly as it may have been their first time away from immediate family for an extended period. However, it is also important to acknowledge the dedication and care provided by our staff in managing such a large group of students for the entire week. The responsibility of providing 24/7 care can be tremendous, and it is heartening to know that our families greatly appreciated the level of care required. The efforts of our staff in ensuring the safety and well-being of the students was outstanding.

In particular, we extend our deepest gratitude to Jayne McKay, our camp coordinator, for organizing this outstanding 5 day camp. Her passion, attention to detail and drive to pull this altogether for our senior students to ensure these 5 days were maximized has been extraordinary. 

What wonderful memories have been created for our students in their final year at Sacred Heart. We believe the greatest gains come from the first-hand experiences afforded over these days and the opportunities for our staff to interact more freely with the students. It is worth noting that ‘all’ staff from P-6 volunteered to attend this camp, such is their genuine love for these opportunities. 

We again thank the following staff for offering up their precious time this week to attend the Canberra Camp or cover various classes in the absence of staff: 

Staffing for Canberra

• Miss McKay
• Mr Thiessens
• Mr Brown (PE Mrs Beresford)
• Miss Healey (Yr.3H covered by Mrs Tucker & Mrs Hyslop)
• Miss Prosser (Mrs Biffin Yr.2P)

A special mention to Mrs Lisa Biffin for teaching Yr.6T in Mr T's absence for his recent wedding and honeymoon and then seamlessly stepping into Yr.2P while Miss Prosser was on camp. We have simply loved Mrs Biffin's versatility and having her back at Sacred Heart in this invaluable capacity. What a blessing it has been in recent weeks. 

While the cat is away, the mice will play, or in this instance move in. Noting the two vacated rooms upstairs this week with Yr.6 away on camp, Mr Blake saw an opening and quickly relocated his class upstairs for the week. The students and Mr Blake loved it so much, they may take some dislodging next week when the senior students return. 

We must say, the Yr.5 students have absolutely shone this week and stepped up in the absence of Yr.6. These little snippets and preparedness to take on roles and responsibilities such as the Little Hearts Playgroup, assembly, bins and notice boxes without prompting suggest we have a brilliant cohort ready to embrace leadership in 2024. 

In the absence of Miss Prosser, Miss Healey & Mr Brown, it was heartwarming to hear that the students have formed such a strong bond with their teachers and missed them when they were not around. The response on Friday when the Yr.3 students saw Miss Healey return from camp was priceless and required crowd control. 

Teachers play an important role in shaping the lives of their students and building meaningful connections with them. It's also reassuring to know that the staff stepping in have done a great job in filling in during time when additional staff are required for camps. We continue to celebrate and cherish these relationships and the impact that teachers have on their students. #relationship

It should also come as no surprise the above teachers missed their classes even more and checked in daily regarding their progress. 

LITERACY IS THE CURRENCY TO LEARNING

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, Sacred Heart has formed a Literacy Collective with some like-minded schools. The purpose of this collective is to share and celebrate best evidence practices in Literacy such as:

• MSL
• Structured Literacy Approach 
• Heggerty 
• Spelling Mastery 
• The Writing Revolution. 

At Sacred Heart we recognize the importance of literacy in driving academic success and have implemented measures to support this across classrooms. Literacy skills are essential for students to effectively engage with their learning and to succeed in various aspects of life.

By prioritizing literacy, students at Sacred Heart are likely to develop stronger communication skills, critical thinking abilities, and problem-solving skills. These skills are crucial for academic success as well as for personal and social growth.

At Sacred Heart, investing in professional development is an important step in ensuring that our staff have the skills and knowledge they need to deliver high-quality teaching to our students. Literacy is a crucial area of focus, and it's fantastic to see that we are prioritizing this core business.

Whilst our teachers at our school have had extensive training in pedagogy and the delivery of Literacy, we are thrilled to acknowledge in 2024 our staff will work with Dr Pam Snow and Dr Nathaniel Swain to consolidate the great work we are doing in this area. Both professionals are recognised as the leading experts in the Science of Reading and Structure Literacy, presenting and lecturing both at a national and international level. We thank Kate Stroud for sourcing these leading experts to present our staff next year; we cannot wait! 

It's great to see that families have been able to witness the daily Literacy Block in action and have been impressed with what they've seen. The commitment to dedicating a daily non-negotiable two-hour session to literacy instruction across all grade levels is a strong indication of Sacred Heart's commitment to ensuring that students receive the support they need to develop strong literacy skills.

The Structured Literacy Block, along with the hourly Numeracy session, provides students with consistent, explicit instruction in both foundational literacy and numeracy skills. This type of focused and intentional instruction is essential for helping students build a strong foundation of knowledge and skills that will support their academic journey.

By providing our families with the opportunity to observe these sessions, Sacred Heart is demonstrating transparency and a commitment to ensuring that parents are informed and involved in their children's education. This type of collaboration between schools and families is essential for creating a supportive and nurturing learning environment for students.

Sharing Best Practice Conference

We congratulate and thank Kate Stroud, Brigid Pennington, Bronagh Maloney, Sophie Prosser, Louise Donnelly and Tilly Tench for their dedication in attending an education conference last weekend in Geelong, showcasing best practices across schools. We are thrilled to acknowledge that all staff were affirmed that much of the subject matter covered over this conference was already being actioned at Sacred Heart. We again sincerely thank our staff for offering up their precious time to attend this valuable professional learning opportunity.  

RECONCILIATION

Congratulations once again to our wonderful students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation last week. Prepared beautifully by Miss Healey, Mrs Tucker and Mr Blake, this was such a lovely celebration for our students and families. 

It’s was pretty special dropping past Yr.3 this week to see their stunning Reconciliation display taking shape. Nice work, Mrs Tucker!

MOVIE NIGHT

On behalf of Sacred Heart community, we would like to express our thanks to Brooke Jamison and her team for their organization with the recent movie night. Your hard work and dedication in organizing and managing the event were truly appreciated.

Our students and families were able to enjoy a wonderful evening of entertainment and community spirit. Your commitment to our school is a testament to the kind of positive impact we can achieve when we work together towards a common goal - building community.

Once again, thank you for your support and contributions to our school.  A special call out to Molly (Yr.4) for going above and beyond on Saturday evening to clean the hall and grounds in readiness for Monday. Remarkably these spaces were cleaner than when they were found. You're a super star, Molly! 

JAPANESE

Our students just love the Japanese program and their passionate teacher, Bunn Sensei. Joining our team in 2023, Sensei has made a seamless transition from Mrs Reeds' program after many years at Sacred Heart. This year,  the Grade 1 & 2 students have been introduced to a Japanese educational application, 'Ella,' (see attachment). It is a play based Japanese learning tool that has 11 Apps covering a range of topics appropriate to the students age.  The students must use and speak Japanese to interact with the various applications. This will be used a couple of times a term to compliment what is taught in class.  Another way to diversify this terrific program, this has been a big hit with the students.

Bee Bots

This week, I dropped into Miss Rafferty's class and it should come as no surprise the students didn't even know I was in the room as they were so engaged with their learning, using Bee Bots. Bee-Bots are small, programmable robots designed for use by children and have simple controls that allow students to learn the basics of programming in a fun and engaging way.

Miss Rafferty taught her students some basic coding concepts such as sequencing, algorithms, and loops, and within no time they were off.  The Bee Bots were used as part of their maths lesson on position and directions. They had to problem-solve and use spatial reasoning to figure out how to program the Bee-Bot to reach its destination on the mat. Needless to say, they loved this highly engaging session and managed to programme their Bee Bot without fault. 

STAFF NEWS - LSOs

I wanted to take a moment to also express my sincere gratitude for all that our Learning Support Officers do in the classrooms. Their dedication, hard work, and commitment to our students is truly appreciated and makes a significant impact on their learning journey.

From assisting with classroom management, to supporting individual students, to helping with assessment tasks and administrative tasks, their contributions do not go unnoticed. An integral part of our school community, their presence and assistance make a tremendous difference in the lives of our students and teachers. We are truly grateful to have you on our team. In recent weeks we added another member, Karin Harnett, to this dynamic team and have already been so impressed by her seamless transition and impact across our classrooms in assisting the teachers and students with the delivery of learning programs. At present, Karin works three days week across the Literacy Block. 

CLUB NEWS

How beautiful it was to capture these moments before school this week. Mrs Collins thrives in this space (Gardening Club) working with our children putting a green stamp or thumbprint across our grounds. 

During Thursday's lunch we had a stream of students lining up outside Miss Maloney's classroom eagerly awaiting the half-time break that signifies Mindfulness Colouring Club is about to commence. Such were the numbers, they spread across two classrooms, requiring three teachers to supervise this gorgeous gathering.  Once again, I have been blown away by the commitment of our staff in offering up their time to these clubs - going above and beyond. 

OPEN DAY NEWS

What a success!

Although we only offered three official open days, it has been fabulous to show more prospective families around our beautiful school outside of these days to see the teachers and students in action. 

What you see, is what you get. No marching bands or red carpet, we just love showcasing our classrooms and sharing our best practices with these special tours on any given day. This week, we have shown MORE families around and we have another full week next week with tours outside of these open days. There clearly is a great vibe in the broader community and many families are citing connections or exchanges with our current families. Keep spreading the good word; we are creating something pretty special at Sacred Heart. 

LITTLE HEARTS 

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SANDY PLAY GROUP

With another 20+ pre-schoolers and toddlers today, it's great to see that our playgroup is thriving and that families are showing such interest in joining. Providing opportunities for young children to socialize, play, and learn in a group setting has numerous benefits for their development. It's also fantastic to have a talented performer like Carol (LSO) who can engage and entertain the children, creating memorable experiences for them.  We also thank our Yr.5 students for assisting with the session today, they loved it!

Next Sessions:

• 28th April 10am
• 26th May 10am
• 2nd June 10am

Family and friends are most welcome to attend. No age limit on toddlers or pre-schoolers. 

Visits to Mercy Health Fernhill 

We are thrilled to announce Year 5 will start visiting Fernhill retirement home in Term 2 on Wednesday mornings to meet and engage with the residents. We dearly hope this inter-generational relationship will flourish and become an ongoing feature for our social justice program. Thanks Mr Blake for setting up this beautiful opportunity for our community. 

LOCK’EM IN

• Berry Street Staff PD - 3rd April - Pupil Free Day
• School Photos - 5th April
• Stations of the Cross at 9:15am and End of Term 6th April at 1pm

TERM 2 KEY DATES

• Term 2 Commences - 24th April
• ANZAC Day - 25th April
• Yr. 5 Camp - 3rd-5th May
• Mother's Day Assembly - 12th May
• Mother's Luncheon - 20th May
• Principal Conference - 22nd - 26th May
• Confirmation - 25th May
• P&F Kids Disco - 2nd June
• Berry St School Closure - 9th June

STATIONS OF THE CROSS 6th April 9:30am

All families are most welcome to attend the very special and must see Stations of the Cross presentation on the last day of Term 1. Our senior students have been doing such a remarkable job preparing for this presentation. 

LITTLE GEMS

We have commissioned a new school uniform and Will H has started trialling this across the community. Please note this is subject to a Blues win, and based on history, this will likely be worn intermittently throughout the season. Nice to see Mr Blake is also onboard with proposed addition. 

The Writing Revolution in Action

These two superstars from Miss Donnelly's class shared their incredible Writing Revolution samples. The Writing Revolution teachers students about how to best construct a sentence. Some of the words used by Morris and Olivia in their sentences were outrageously impressive for Yr.2 students: cautiously, ferociously, pranced, gracefully and casually. Our teachers are already seeing some great gains since we introduced this program in 2023. 

Mrs Tucker loves a good maths activity and on Thursday the students rotated through a range of maths tasks and challenges during their numeracy block. Always engaging and purposeful, the students were just so focused on their learning and range of activities. 

What a coincidence as these two champions stepped in to cover the technical support  for assembly this week in the absence of their respective brothers on camp. Look out Thomas and James, Elsie and Amber have you covered. 

We also need to congratulate Immi, Edie, Claudia, Abby, Will, Tilly, Spencer & Miles for their leadership on Friday in running the various assembly items. Collectively our Yr.5 students have had the best week. 

And finally...

As we come to the end of Term 1, I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for the outstanding efforts and dedication shown by everyone in making this term a success. I cannot commend you all highly enough for your hard work, support, and commitment to our school community.

With high expectations, the positive foundation we have laid together, embracing and delivering rigorous academic standards, has been a highlight of my time as principal of Sacred Heart. Our dedicated staff has been exceptional, and our students have responded with enthusiasm and commitment to this new way of doing things.

As a result of our collective efforts, Sacred Heart has established itself as a school of choice in the Bayside area, and I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved so far.

As we head into the Easter period, I encourage everyone to take the time to relax, recharge, and spend quality time with loved ones. May this holiday season bring you joy, peace, and renewed energy for the term ahead.

Thank you again for all that you do to make Sacred Heart the thriving community it is today.

A pretty proud, 

Simon Collis

Principal

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