Deputy Principal

Dear Parents and families,

It is an absolute pleasure to be back at work after being on leave and back in a community I love. Thank you for your lovely welcome. Although it was only a fortnight away, with the holidays it seems like I've been away a long time . My interactions with the students and parents have filled my cup this week, it makes me want to come to work everyday, how lucky I am.

During my leave I was fortunate enough to visit Adelaide which was one of the ports we docked in by cruise ship. We thoroughly enjoyed a day at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens where the Chihuly exhibition was featured. Dale Chihuly is an American glass artist and entrepreneur. He is well known in the field of blown glass, moving it into the realm of large-scale sculpture. The sculptures around the gardens were absolutely stunning. I do hope this exhibition makes it to Melbourne. As I popped into the year 3 Art class this week, Mrs Hyslop was teaching the year 3 students about the same artist, what a conicidence! Both Year 3 and 4 students are studying Chihuly's art and will create some of their own creations inspired by Chihuly's artwork, I can't wait to see them.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

Over the past few weeks I have had an opportunity to reflect on the need for a break and relaxing time with friends and family. Although we were not at school over the school holidays the learning that takes place through travel and organising ourselves in new situations are fundamental life skills. As I travelled with my family and my two teenage boys they were learning many new skills along the way. They had to navigate luggage, read transport schedules, make bookings for leisure activities and arrive on time to designated activities, meals etc.

Giving children independence as they grow older to make mistakes and learn from them is so important. I hope you enjoyed some valuable family time over the holidays and your children learnt some new skills too, perhaps they have learnt to cook a new recipe, how to navigate public transport or how to pack for a holiday, all these skills can be part of the toolkit of lifeskills we need.

Some tips for home-

Talk openly about mistakes.
Share about a time when you made a mistake: what happened, how you handled it (even if it wasn't so well, at first), and what you learned. ...
Reframe mistakes as opportunities for learning. ...
Spot opportunities around you. ...
Make it a habit.

REMINDER ABOUT USING THE SCHOOL CROSSING

As student safety is paramount at Sacred Heart, please make a concerted effort touse our school crossing before and after school.The 2 minute zone is such a busy place before and after school and it frightens me watching families crossing in between and in front of cars. Please set an example to your children and cross at the crossing, even if it takes a couple of minutes longer.

A few highlights of my week- very flexible Year 5's, Miss Bull's birthday, Miss Bulte playing before school basketball with some excited year 3's going on camp and the year 1 girls sharing their plushies and the preps amazing reading!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and enjoy the Spring sunshine,

Brigid Pennington