Principal's News
Dear Parents and Carers,
Every year I am required by Victoria’s educational authority to publish an Annual Report to the School Community. The report covers a broad range of aspects of school operations and must be submitted every May for the previous year. So the draft report has been submitted and it will be published on our website once I have approval to do so.
However, I presented a draft of this report to the School Council at our most recent meeting and I thought it worth highlighting part of the Learning and Teaching section to the wider school community.
The following figures are based on our students’ performance on last year’s NAPLAN Tests.
There continues to be a lot of debate about education in the media at present and at Sacred Heart we continue to do our very best. We know we will always have work to do as we strive to improve constantly and give our students the best opportunities that we can. And we know that the NAPLAN is only measuring our Grade 3 & 5 students on particular tests on certain days. But for the Principal it is important that I have a standard result where I can compare our school to other schools across the region, the State and the country. I trust you will find these results: a) interesting and b) reassuring.
n.b. All comparisons are with the Victorian results.
In 2023 64 Grade 3 children sat the NAPLAN Test.
In READING 79.7% of these students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 71.2% of all students across Victoria
In WRITING 79.3% of our students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 80.1% of all students across Victoria.
In SPELLING 65.7% of our students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 62.6% of all students across Victoria.
In GRAMMAR & PUNCTUATION 54.7% of our students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 57.5% of all students across Victoria.
and In NUMERACY 85.7% of our students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 69.3% of all students across Victoria.
In 2023 58 Grade 5 students sat the NAPLAN Test.
In READING 86.2% of our students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 78.9% of all students across Victoria.
In WRITING 84.4% of our students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 74.4% of all students across Victoria.
In SPELLING 75.9% of our students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 70.9% of all students across Victoria.
In GRAMMAR & PUNCTUATION 81% of our students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 67.2% of all students across Victoria.
and In NUMERACY 84.2% of our students were reported as Strong or Exceeding c.f. 70.3% of all students across Victoria.
ENROLMENT OFFERS Enrolment offers were distributed by email last Friday. For those who have submitted an application, please let us know if for some reason we missed yours. We would appreciate it very much if the 'Reply Slip' could be returned at your earliest convenience to assist with our planning.
FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART This Friday the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Sacred Heart, where the Heart represents God’s love for all of us. It is an important day in our school’s calendar where we want to be recognised as part of this Sacred Heart community by our love and care for one another above all else.
Every year on this day we celebrate Mass together, bringing gifts of non-perishable food, blankets, toiletries etc. to contribute to the St Vincent de Paul society’s Winter Appeal.
All parents and friends are invited to join us for this Mass which will be held in our Multi-purpose Room from 10:00am on Friday, June 7th.
As part of the Mass our school will “officially” accept the Diocesan Message Stick that is traveling around all schools in our Diocese as part of the Diocese’s 150th anniversary.
School leaders Natalie Farquharson and Nash Charles accept the Diocesan Message Stick from St Brendan’s students, Charlie Ferrari and Archie Robb.
The Message Stick was painted by Vicki Clark ,Mutthi Mutthi / Wamba Wamba elder. Coincidentally Vicki is a friend of our school having also painted the large distinctive cross that sits in our entrance at school as well as the crucifixes that hang in all of our classrooms.
THE BIG FREEZE PROMOTION Our Grade 6 leaders have identified the “Big Freeze” as a charity that they would like to support this year. Details about a Gold Coin donation and what to wear on Friday are included on today’s newsletter.
ASSESSMENT CONVERSATIONS Assessment Conversations are an important part of our school’s Reporting regime. Parents are urged to book a 20 minute appointment with their child/ren’s teacher(s) which will be held from June 14th through till June 24th. These bookings should be made via the PAM platform and will open later today.
The children are invited to participate in part of this conversation and parents will receive their child/ren’s mid-year report at this meeting.
FIRST COMMUNION AND CONFIRMATION PREPARATION There will be a Parent Information Meeting for those who would like their children to be Confirmed and receive their First Communion this year on Thursday June 20th. There will be one session at 5:00 p.m. and another at 7:00 p.m., both in St Mary’s Church. This program is designed for children who are in Grade 3.
STAFF NEWS With mixed emotions one of our school’s longest serving staff members, Carolyn Fraser has decided to retire from work. Caro has worked at Sacred Heart since July 1984, clocking up a tick under 40 years of service as a class teacher for many years before cutting back her time commitment and taking on the responsibility as a Reading Recovery teacher in our school. Caro has been such a mainstay of our school and we wish her all the very best for a happy and healthy retirement.
KING’S BIRTHDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY School will be closed this Monday, June 10th for the King’s Birthday public holiday.
Jack Lenaghan - Principal