Principal News
Dear Sacred Heart Community
Remembrance Day
In a world that seems to be more divided and unaccepting of "others", the symbolism of Remembrance Day takes on even more importance. Today our students and staff stopped and remembered those brave men and women who have gone before us, and to pray for peace. To pray for peace in our wider world but even more importantly, to be peace makers in our school community.
Coloured Clothes Day
During this upcoming season of Advent, we have been invited to join the Ray White
Reservoir Office's ,"Little Ray of Giving" initiative, to give children in our community whose parents are struggling financially, a present at Christmas. The Ray White Office, Reservoir has been a great support to our school during my time as principal, supplying numerous advertising boards. We will be having a colored clothes day on Friday 26th November.
Writing Competition
The creative writing competition organised by our Year Six students Anni and Hanna, has been affected with interruptions caused by Covid lockdowns. However our judges will be reading all entries next week. Anni and Hanna pleasingly have many entries to read but have assured me that they will be able to announce the winners in the newsletter next week. Well done to all those students who have entered.
Principal's Conference
I will be on a conference next Tuesday and Wednesday. In my absence Liz will be in charge of our school.
Auslan comes to Sacred Heart in 2022
I am extremely excited to announce, that after a significant period of research and being confronted with closed doors, we have been able to secure the employment of an Auslan skilled LSO to work in our school next year. Erin is completing her Bachelor of Education and currently works at Bundoora PS fulfilling the exact role we wish her to undertake next year. It is incredibly exciting because of the difficulty of finding Auslan skilled staff to work in schools. Erin comes highly recommended from her school.
Next year Erin’s priority initially will be working with our hearing impaired student and as the first term progresses, going into other grades and helping our teachers to give our students a “taster” of Auslan.
Uniform Shop
We welcome back on Monday morning, our two sensational mothers Danni (mum of David Year 6) and Jarina (mum of former student Zara), who voluntarily run our uniform shop. Both Jarina and Danni are double vaccinated. I ask when visiting the uniform shop, parents and careers remember to wear their facemask and use the QR code at the entrance to the school. A reminder that parents can drop a uniform order at the office at any time for Danni and Jarina to fill when they come in on a Monday.
School Fees
As mentioned in our last couple of newsletters, all families have received their Term Four school fees. These past three weeks, many parents rang and dropped in to pay their child's fees and for this we are most grateful. I ask that you please fulfill your financial commitment to our school by tomorrow Friday 12th November. We have also had a number of families commit to the direct debit method of paying fees in 2022 and beyond.
Student Safety
Our student's safety is of paramount importance. I know that no parent or guardian would have their child educated in a school where they were not confident that their child was safe. I would like to take this opportunity to address three student safety issues that I have recently been made aware of:
Smoking: By legislation all schools are smoking free sites. As the principal of Sacred Heart, I am compelled to enforce this legislation. Smoking outside the school is another matter. However I would ask that in the event of waiting for your children at pick up time, you please avail yourself of a cigarette well away from the school gates and if possible on the other side of Clifton Grove. We would really appreciate all parents following this direction.
Sunscreen: I would strongly encourage parents and guardians to give their child a tube of sunscreen to have in their bags as our days get hotter. Our students are outside at lunch for 45/50 minutes and on a Wednesday, have a sport lesson for an hour. I will ensure that teachers remind students with sunscreen, to apply it before they go to lunch and sport each day. With the uniform shop open this Monday, our school sunhat policy will be enforced as of next Tuesday.
Parking: Recently there have been some issues with parking and congestion outside out school. For our children’s safety and your safety, parents are requested to note the following rules and laws. Please note that there is no parking either side of the school – this is a drop off and pick up zone only (driver in their car for 5 minutes).
With regard to parking – our crossing supervisor was almost knocked over last week because cars are parking almost on the crossing. Jodie’s vision is obstructed when people park either side of the crossing and therefore cannot see oncoming vehicles entering Clifton Grove from Bell Street. This is a very dangerous situation for all concerned.
Other issues include parking in the church driveway. Please note that Church driveway leading to the presbytery must be kept clear at all times to allow for emergency vehicle access. In next week's newsletter we will detail the road rules regarding driveway and other parking rules around school zones.
Enrolments
Our teachers will begin allocating students into their classes for 2022. We still have some positions available for year Prep in 2022. We also have some positions in other classes as well for 2022, so please spread the word to your family, friends and neighbours who live in the area, that Sacred Heart School is well worth considering for their child's primary schooling years.
School Concert
Next Monday there will be a special bulletin from Kate, outlining details about our upcoming school concert in December.
Lunch Orders
There will be no lunch orders next Friday 19th November as the Preston campus of Parade College will be closed.
Special Visit
Yesterday Rachelle, the Director of the Gower Street Kindergarten (I am a member of their Board) visited our school on some business. It was a great opportunity for her also, to catch up with some of her former students who were so happy to see her.
Please take care.
Yours sincerely
Mark Tierney
Principal