Message From Our 

Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

As we remember this week, Holy Week classes have presented meaningful, prayerful reflections of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Each of these reflections have been presented and watched with such reverence. It has been a very special way to reflect on the significance of the Easter story. Well done everyone. All families are most welcome to join the parish for the coming Easter celebrations this weekend and can find the Easter Mass Timetable below:

I’m pleased to announce changes to our staffing beginning Term 2.  Laura Bradbury will commence Maternity Leave as of April 30th and Reilly Young has been appointed in that position. Reilly, who brings a wide range of skills and experience, has been teaching in Shepparton for several years and is very much looking forward to teaching 3/4LB for the remainder of the year. Rachel Fidock will be teaching as part of the Specialist Rotation each Tuesday and has extensive knowledge and experience in the areas of Literacy and Literature which she is looking forward to sharing with our 3-6 learners. Barbara Ferguson has begun working in OSHC. Barbara comes to us highly recommended and is already settling into her new role. We welcome Reilly, Rachel and Barbara and are looking forward to all they will bring to our learning community. Debbie Turvey will coordinate small group work across the school under the Tutoring Program. 

Congratulations to all our 3-6 students on your enthusiastic participation and great team spirit during the District Athletics yesterday. Thank you to the many parents who came along to encourage the athletes.  Well done to everyone who tried their best in all the events. Special congratulations to Elliana Gray who was the champion girl at the event. A particular thank you to Emily Slaughter and Matt Cameron for all their organisation to ensure the day was a safe, enjoyable event for all. 

Early next term all the Year 3/4 children will head to Billabong Camp for an overnight stay and two very full days of activity. As camps were cancelled last year, this will be the first school camp for this group and brings lots of excitement. There will be lots of fun, however school camps are also an important part of the curriculum and enable learners to explore, extend and enrich their learning and their social skills development in a non-school setting. I’m grateful to the teachers for all the careful planning and organisation that happens to allow these experiences to take place.

Foundation and Yr 1 also enjoyed their first excursion to the Kyabram Fauna Park yesterday which will enrich their learning for their Biological Science topic next term. Thank you to the staff for organising the excursion which adds new learning and enthusiasm to this topic.

Our School Advisory Council met last week. As Advisory Councils are no longer required to conduct AGMs it was decided that the Sacred Heart Advisory Board and the school community would come together at the end of the year to celebrate the achievements of the past year. An Annual Report for our community will be prepared in June and made available on our website and in a hard copy at the front office.  New Advisory Council members will be nominated during Term 4, ready to take up their position in the following school year. Past members will be farewelled and thanked at the End of Year Mass and new members Commissioned at the Beginning of the Year Mass. The current Advisory Board members will continue their roles until the conclusion of the 2021 school year. We will call for nominations for new members towards the end of Term 3. If Advisory Council is something you have considered please feel free to speak to myself or one of our present Council members for more information. This is an excellent way to be actively involved in your child’s school.  The Council also spent time looking at the plans of the our new Visual and Performing Arts centre and provided valuable input. These plans are available for all parents to view in the front foyer of the school and can be viewed below.

Thank you to families who have nominated their fee payment option with the office and have commenced paying your 2021 school fees. Fees for 2021 should now have started to come out of your nominated accounts, unless you have elected to pay annually. If you have not yet taken the option to pay with Centrepay, direct debit or your own payment plan can you please contact the office and notify them as to which method you will use to pay the fees. Fee statements will be sent out to families early next term. Please contact myself or Debbie Worm if you have any concerns or questions regarding fee payment options.

This week Term 1 Religious Education Assessment Task was released on PAM. I invite all parents/carers to go to the Learning Task on PAM and review and discuss your child’s work with them.  We are working towards having learning assessment more readily accessible as work is completed.

Congratulations to Isabel Daniel and Owen Terry who recently received the Principal’s award. Isabel is an excellent role model. She is always positive and cheerful and treats everyone with kindness and respect. She happily offers her time and assistance to help whoever and wherever she can. Isobel is reliable and responsible and always does her best. Owen received the award for his leadership in ensuring each and every assembly is set up and ready to go.  Owen displays commitment, patience and effort in making sure the PA and all other resources are ready to go before each assembly and packs up afterwards as well.

As we come to what has thankfully been a busy term it is wonderful to see and hear so much exciting learning taking place around Sacred Heart. We have been able to once again have some of the extra curricular activities we enjoy and we have really appreciated having parents and carers join us for some of these.  A reminder that tomorrow is the last day of Term 1 and classes will be dismissed at 2.20pm. There will be no Assembly.

I would like to wish you all a very joyous and happy Easter and hope that you enjoy some time with your family and friends during this break. We will see everyone back at school on Monday, April 19th.

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus continue to watch over our school community and bless us always.

Pauline Hindson

Principal