Principal News 

Dear Families,

What a wonderful and action packed first term we have had. Thank you for welcoming all our new staff including me, and our new families. It has been a privilege working closely with the staff, students, families, Father Martin, Mrs Stroud, Miss Maloney and Mrs Matthiesson.  We congratulate our Prep families for their first school term. The children have settled so well and are really becoming very comfortable within their classrooms and the playground. We hope their families enjoy a few pyjama mornings, no school lunches and no rushing out the door! It has been great getting to know so many of you, especially our Demon supporters after our maddening game last Sunday. We remain respectful to Carlton supporters as it could have very easily been another story. The highs and lows of the season……..

We thank the School Advisory Council chaired by Helen and the P & F led by Luisa and Nico for their hard work this term. Their energy, passion for the community and support of me has made my entry to Sacred Heart a smooth one. We had a very Easter Day today, with the Junior Easter Bonnet Parade, where each child celebrated their creativity. Our assembly to finish the term, saw the community enjoy the Easter Raffle,  where loads of fun was had, with many prizes going home. We thank Kate Shawcross  for co-ordinating and leading this. All funds raised go directly to our new playground. 

Term One Highlights

It has also been a pleasure working with our School Captains. Enjoy reading their highlights from the term. 

This term at Sacred Heart the School Captains had the opportunity to read at assembly, meet our new teachers, and have a blast with Mrs Ferrari. We were a bit nervous and scared at first when we had to read the class awards. We were very happy for the award winners and friends, and we also began to be braver reading the class awards after this. It was so much fun and interesting to see so many excited faces.

 Meeting our new teachers was thrilling, because they were really funny and really positive. They are super cheerful when it comes to sharing new things, having fun, and being really passionate about learning. Finally Mrs Ferrari has continued to help grow this wonderful and fabulous school. She has helped others to learn at their own pace and potential. We have loved her start to the community and her love for us. We want her to keep shining with all the teachers including our LSO's. They have really kicked off things really well for us. Simon

This term at Sacred Heart, the Year 6’s and Year 5’s went to camp. The Year 6’s went to Canberra for 3 nights, we bused up and  flew back. We went to parliament house, Questacon, the national gallery, Mt Ainslie and we went to many more fun activities. We had a blast!

The Year 5’s went to camp Rumbug which is a very adventurous camp, they did many fun activities including the mud run, the zipline, the leap of faith, Tasha's ladder, and they sang songs around the campfire. They had an amazing time. We can’t wait for all the other year levels to experience this adventure. Back at school assembly all the Year 6’s got to run assembly every week and the School Captains get the pleasure of reading the class awards. I had so much fun this term and can't wait to come back to school after the Easter holidays. Milla

This term at Sacred Heart Parish School was full of successful and special achievements, events, and gatherings. In Week 8, Year six Captains and Leaders got the privilege to go to the city and take part in the St Patrick's Day liturgy at St Patrick's Cathedral. Simon and I got to represent our school for the first time, processing with the leaders from other schools at this yearly liturgy and we all had a fantastic day. After the liturgy we went to an incredibly fun festival with activitiessuch as soccer, cornhole, and a group game of tag that we all joined in with. As a result we had an amazing day and can’t wait for Sacred Heart School to go to this liturgy next year to experience this day once again. 

A few weeks before that we had our action-packed athletics day that our amazing P.E teacher Mr Jaynes organised. We had so many exciting activities and events including running, long jump, triple jump, shotput, discus, gumboot throw and many more special activities. For the result of the house points competition, Blue House managed to secure a very close win and took the athletics day title home but it was very close and the competition level was outstanding. Everyone was being a good sport and cheering each other on. The Year 6 students finally won against our athletic teachers in the students vs teachers relay. Altogether we had anAMAZING day and we thank Mr Jaynes and all the teachers for making this day possible. I had so much fun this term and can’t wait to come back to school after the Easter break. Geneva

This term at Sacred Heart Parish School we competed in a lot of sport events such as the Swimming carnival, and the Cricket Gala day. At the Swimming carnival Mr Jaynes and Years 3 to 6 students competed. On the day there were different times slots for each stroke and year levels, we had to compete against St Marys, St Joan of Arc, St Finbar’s, and finally Galilee. We came fourth overall, which is a great achievement.  On Thursday of Week 8 Term 1. Years 5 to 6 went to Dendy Park for a day full of cricket, all the players who competed on the day signed up to participate on the day. The schools we played against were both St Marys, St Joan of Arc, and St Finbar’s, and finally Galilee, we also played against St Joseph's. There were 4 teams, one All Star Boys and one All Star Girls, there were also 2 Future Stars teams. All participants had to provide their own food and water. I'm 100% sure that everyone had an amazing time. Both all star teams made semi finals. Unfortunately for the future star teams there were no finals due to the purpose being just for fun. After the day had finished everyone had an amazing time. Overall everyone had a great time with both the swimming carnival and the cricket gala day. Octavio

VACPSP Conference 

Last week I attended the Victorian Association Catholic Primary School Principal Inc, with over three hundred colleagues. This biannual conference allows principals the opportunity to deepen our vocation as faith leaders, connect with purpose and build our leadership capacity. The theme of Nourish Your Purpose permeated throughout each session with Peter Merritt, Gilbert Enoka and Marlee Silva being my highlights. These speakers spoke about their experiences in building teams and cultures, sharing their challenges and successes. Thank you to Mrs Stroud and Miss Maloney for leading in my absence. The school was in excellent hands! 

Student achievements 

We have much to be proud of at Sacred Heart:

We congratulate Ivan for reaching the Beachside division for swimming. 

Four of our entrepreneurial students had a stall outside their house last week and raised $100.00 towards our playground. Avi, Lilli, Lilah and Georgia proudly presented their donation to me on Monday morning. 

Sacred Heart had a fantastic result at the Sandringham Little Athletics prize giving over the weekend, which celebrates athletes’ achievements across the 2025/2026 season. Points were awarded weekly for all track and field events based on performance and then tallied at the end of the season. We congratulate Amelia who received the Club Champion award for U11 girls, and Luca placed 3rd in the U8 boys. 

Zara continues to enjoy her long distance running!

A proud Harvey shared his writing with me, and we are very proud of him too! 

Term Two Updates 

We wish Miss Moloney all the best for Term two when she returns to Ireland, and welcome Miss Bull who returns to Year 5 for the term. We know that the transition with Miss Bull will be seamless and look forward to seeing Miss Moloney for terms three and four.  We also wish Miss Wood a well deserved Long Service Leave break and know that Miss Bunn will be a wonderful addition for the first two weeks of next term, in Prep WL. 

VRQA 

Yesterday we completed the final part of our 2025 School Review with our Victorian Regulations and Qualifications Authority, minimum standards compliance audit.  We thank and congratulate Miss Wood, Mrs Matthiesson, Mrs Stroud and Miss Maloney for the work involved in this important work to ensure our school is compliant and safe for all members within our community.  This completes our School Review which happens every four years. 

Flourishing Learners at Sacred Heart 

On Monday we had the MACS Program Leads/Flourishing Learners team film our explicit teaching excellence at Sacred Heart. Miss Prosser, Mrs Raferty, Mrs Stroud, Mr Collis and myself were filmed and interviewed capturing Sacred Heart’s implantation of this teaching model. Our school was congratulated and acknowledged 'for  the significant body of work that has been implemented across the school. They spoke to the clearly strategic, deeply considered, and strongly informed by the best available evidence-based research and practices in place. Most importantly, the impact of this collective effort is evident in your students, who are the true beneficiaries of your commitment and care.

It was also clear to us that students, teachers and leaders are all supported, known and respected, creating the conditions for the best possible outcomes for every learner. The strong relationships and well-established routines we observed across classrooms reflect the power and consistency of your whole-school approach. Thank you again for allowing us to document and share what you have achieved so that others may be inspired by your work.'

We are blessed to have our hard working staff at Sacred Heart and I am proud to be working alongside them. 

P & F Updates 

The Parents & Friends (P&F) committee would like to thank all families for a fantastic Term 1. We have a goal to raise $100k over 2026/2027 to go toward the amazing new playground. There was an incredible amount of activity during the initial term, including the Prep parents welcome drinks, cocktail party, dads’ bowls night, parents and kids camp, athletics day, zooper dooper & coffee vans, and our annual Easter raffle! We are only starting, as there’s a packed Term 2 with fun events. We wish everyone a Happy Easter and relaxing school holiday  

Wishing  everyone a safe and blessed Easter and holiday, where we celebrate the good news of Jesus rising and the importance of this for each of us. Enjoy this song by Gen Bryant & Ashen Warnakulasooriya presenters at our conference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P6uYpni-Yk

Mrs Cathy Ferrari