2026 February...

DATE	EVENT
Tuesday 10th Feb	Welcome Mass/Liturgy 9:15am Informal Parent Teacher Chats 2:30pm
Thursday 12th Feb	Informal Parent Teacher Chats 2:30pm
Mon 16th - Thurs 19th Feb	Yr 6 Camp to Canberra
Mon 16th Feb	School Advisory Council 6pm - 7pm
Mon 16th Feb	P & F 7:30pm-8:30pm
Saturday 21st Feb	P & F Cocktail Party
Monday 23rd Feb	Open Day # 1

Dear Families,

Welcome to a very exciting 2026 at Sacred Heart! There is nothing quite like the sound of a school coming back to life — the chatter in the playground, the greeting of friends, and the fresh enthusiasm of a new year. It has been heartwarming to see our students settle in so quickly, welcoming new faces and reconnecting with old ones.

In Catholic education we often talk about our parish schools being places where "everyone belongs." This week, I saw this in action at Sacred Heart. I saw older students helping our Preps; I saw parents chatting by the gates and on the basketball courts; and I saw our staff greeting the children and their family members by name. This sense of connection is the heartbeat of our school. As a new member to the community I have been so impressed with the children’s manners; in the morning, throughout the day and in the afternoon. You should feel so proud of your children and the way they have engaged with me from the first day, by introducing themselves and often with a welcoming handshake or high five. Thank you to all of our family community for introducing yourselves, welcoming me and checking in. I really look forward to all that we will achieve this year and beyond.

We warmly welcome our new families and look forward to having you join our Sacred Heart family. We know you will all feel at home in no time.

Welcome to: Acuzar, Badenhorst, Baltazar Cunha, Bryant, Buhagiar, Cooper, Delac, Denham, Doherty, Empuerto, Farrow, Ferrer, Gaudin, Glen, Hill, Hunt, Hutchison, Lawler, Magriplis-Hampton, McDonough, McKenzie, Moore, Robotis, Rowswell, Scott, Smyth, Trueman, Tubb, Valente, Walker, Webster and Wright families!

Community Updates

Prior to the children starting, Brendan Tudor reached out and on Monday of the Australia Day weekend, my husband and I came up to rake, trim and tidy up the grounds. I was most surprised to be greeted by Chloe and Zara’s families already hard at work. Then we had the Working Bee, where so many families generously gave their time on Sunday. It was all happening! We had teams trimming, raking, moving, weeding, leaf and sand blowing. The kitchen next to the hall was cleaned out and scrubbed top to bottom. The shipping container had a good sort as did the hall. The table tennis table was moved into place. A huge thank you to: Wade, Clare, Adam, Lucas, Aria, Allegra, Luisa, Elle, Quin, Ebony, Chloe, Toby, Brendan, Sam, Simon, Luke, Lucas, Melanie, Tim, James, Mel, Lucy, Amber, Matt, Natalie, Charlotte, Filipa, Jorge, Alice, Olivia, Brad, Abbey, Charlie, Jo, Matt, Emily, Zara, Nico, Faustina, Simon, Rosie, Craig, Summer, Mila, Andre, Zac, Octavio, Wes, Karen, Andrew, Amber, Luke, Beau, Luke, Lisa, Ben, Yoey, Roy, Matt, Charlie, Lilah and Avi. If I have left anyone out or misspelled their name, my apologies and thank you. Many hands certainly made light work of lots of the jobs and the school looks so good.

Staff Updates:

We warmly welcome Mr Luke Homer of Year 6H fame. Mr Homer is very familiar with Sacred Heart, with his casual relief teaching with us last year. Sienna, Della and Byron, join our amazing Learning Support Officer team. We are fortunate to have them working with us, with both Sienna and Della undertaking their primary teaching studies. In a week they have already made themselves invaluable. Over the holidays the Sarah’s had their babies. We congratulate Sarah McGrath and Billy for the arrival of Sol Thomas and Sarah Rafferty and Gary for their precious bundle Raina Mae. We congratulate Orla Moloney and her partner Diarmuid for their engagement and loved hearing the proposal story. Kate Flynn, now Kate O’Brien flew home to Ireland to marry Morgan and we congratulate them too.

Celebrating learning

I love sharing learning moments and have already had some visitors sharing their proud achievements and I had a special visit from our newest Sacred Heart members, with lots of questions.

2026 Year Six Leadership

Our Year Six students have had a great start to the year and each one will lead our community this year. Today at assembly we announced our 2026 student leaders.

We congratulate our School Leaders, RE/Social Justice Leaders, & Sports Leaders. Today they received their badges and at our Welcome Mass next Tuesday they will receive a blessing from Father Martin. Mrs Tench, Mrs Newey and Mr Homer have been hard at work preparing for the Year Six Canberra Camp. It promises to be a highly engaging and informative week for our students. We can’t wait to hear all about it.

Meet our School Leaders

2026 School Captains

Hi my name is Simon and I like to play lots of different sports. In my free time I build lego, draw and game.

Hi I’m Octavio, but you can call me Occi and I love playing soccer.

I’m Milla and I love playing netball and going to the beach.

Hi my name is Geneva and I love playing soccer, going to the beach and drawing.

2026 RE/Social Justice Captains

Hi I'm Grace and I love playing soccer and playing with my friends.

Hi I am Max and I love playing soccer, drawing and having fun with my friends.

Hi I'm Taj and I love soccer, reading and I barrack for St. Kilda.

Hi I'm Laura and I love basketball and spending time with my friends.

2026 Sports Captains

Hi I am Tom and I love playing footy and soccer with my friends and I also love Maths.

Hi I'm Giselle and I love soccer and basketball.

Hi my name is Lily, I really enjoy netball and all sports and go for North Melbourne.

Hi I'm Milo, I love sport and dance.

Year 6 receive their Rugby Jumpers

A huge thank you to Tarn and Kate from the uniform shop. They look amazing and the students were thrilled to get them.

Swimming Trials

We thank Mr Jaynes supported by Miss Bulte, Miss Wood and Byron for organising the interschool swimming trials for our Year Three to Year Six students. It has been great to see the students try out and challenge themselves with different strokes.

Our Staff

I would like to acknowledge our amazing staff at Sacred Heart. Their passion for education is palpable as I pop in and out of classes and walk along the corridor. This can be seen in the classrooms, in the Specialist subject areas and in the Learning Diversity and Deputy offices.

Miss Wood, Miss Porter, Miss Maloney and Mrs Pennington presented at our Prep Information night on Tuesday. l know the Prep families felt their passion and expertise.

We also thank Mrs Matthiesson for her work in the office and supporting all of us within the community.

2026 STAFFING

		LEADERSHIP	FTE	RELEASE
Cathy Ferrari		Principal	1
Sarah Rafferty*		Deputy - Teaching & Learning	0.8	Mon - Wed & Fri Maternity Leave T.1-2
Kate Stroud		DP & Literacy 3-6	1
Bronagh Maloney*		*Deputy & REL Leader	1	Mon-Wed T1&2
Brigid Pennington		Learning Diversity	1	inc. Intervention 3&4
CLASSROOM TEACHERS
Hanna Wood	Prep	Wellbeing (Thurs-Fri)	1	Thur & Fri
Tiffany Levy	Prep	Thurs - Fri	0.4
Zoe Porter	Prep		1
Sophie Prosser	Yr.1	Literacy P-2 (Wed)	1	Mrs McKeon (Wed)
Ciara O’Meara	Yr.1		1
Kate Flynn	Yr.2		1
Louise Donnelly	Yr.2	Junior Leader (Thurs)	0.8	Miss Maloney (Th-Fri)
Jo Collins	Yr.3		1
Mak Bulte	Yr.4	Maths Leader (Wed)	1	Miss Moloney (Wed)
Tilly Tench	Yr.5	Senior Leader (Mon)	1	Mr Jaynes (Mon)
Orla Moloney	Yr.5		1
Luke Homer	Yr.6		1
Kate Newey	Yr.6		1
Lisa McKeon	Yr.1		0.2	Yr.1 Wednesday
SPECIALIST STAFF
Theo Jaynes	Yr.5	Physical Education	1	Yr.5T - Monday
Liz Hyslop		Visual Arts	0.6	Tuesday - Thursday
Mary Caliri		Italian	0.6	Tuesday - Thursday
Stephen Coutts		Music	0.6	Tuesday - Thursday
LEARNING SUPPORT OFFICERS & ADMIN
Karen Matthiesson		Office Administration	1	Mon - Fri
Cat Kranz		LSO		Mon, Tues & Wed
Karin Hartnett		LSO		Mon - Thurs
Louise Robertson		LSO		Mon - Wed
Joshua Smedley		LSO		Tues - Thurs
Anne Starke		LSO		Mon & Wed
Mary Bedford		LSO		Mon, Tues, Thurs & Fri
Sharon Gerussi-Lock		LSO		Mon - Fri
Lola Allen		LSO		Mon - Thurs
Jane Bertacco		LSO		Mon - Thurs
Oscar Cowen		LSO		Mon - Thurs
Alicia Smith		LSO		Mon - Fri
Ashleigh Chambers		LSO		Mon, Tues, Thurs & Fri
Byron Budin		LSO		Thursday & Friday

Literacy Acknowledgement

Our Deputy Principal and Years 3–6 Literacy Leader, Kate Stroud, has been recognised for her strong expertise in literacy leadership and her commitment to evidence-based practice.

The Literacy Consultation Group brings together eight skilled literacy leaders from across MACS’ 300 schools to share insights, shape system resources, and strengthen the connection between classroom practice and the MACS Vision for Instruction.

We proudly celebrate this achievement and look forward to Kate contributing at a system level while continuing to enhance and extend the high-quality literacy work already underway at Sacred Heart.

School Playground 2026

Our focus for this year is to work with our dynamic P&F to raise funds to support the exciting new playground project. Your support and efforts will be greatly appreciated by our students as we work to replace the outdated playground equipment. The children simply cannot wait! The P & F have many exciting events in the calendar. Please join in as you can, as each little bit helps. It is hoped that the project begins this term.

Last but not least, thank you to a beautiful family in our community that donated this wonderful table tennis set. It is already a welcome addition to out playground.

Take care and wishing God's blessings and peace upon each of you.

Mrs Cathy Ferrari

Newsletter and Term Overviews