Principal News 

WEEK 1 - TERM 4

To subscribe to future Newsletters, please click here 

At the heart of a great school is an awesome community.

Dear Families & Friends,

And just like that we are back, and not surprisingly we have hit the ground running for remarkably our final term for 2022. Noted throughout the week by all staff has been a sense of calm across the school as the students and staff have quietly and quickly settled into a positive rhythm for our closing term - a wonderful sign and reflection on what we have collectively been focusing on this year at Sacred Heart. Perhaps the most affirming factor as I walked through the classrooms and corridors was this noted rhythm as all classes were in unison learning (and teaching) key curriculum pillars e.g. Literacy first up in the morning, followed by mathematics etc... This ‘flow’ and predictable and consistent approach from Prep to Yr.6 this year has seen a positive shift and sharpened focus across our school, and I sincerely thank our staff for slipping straight back into these routines from day one of Term 4.  

In the coming weeks we will commence our assessment schedule to determine the anticipated student growth over the year. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, Mrs Stroud has already gathered some data associated with the new MSL approach and these data sets have been amazing. Albeit a small sample size at this stage, there has been a considerable spike in the post assessments and we are hopeful this approach along with our structured literacy program i.e the highly explicit and systematic delivery of all important components of literacy every morning (e.g. decoding, spelling, phonetics, reading comprehension and written expression) in our junior school will see positive gains with all our students. 

Next year, we are thrilled to announce that Miss Rafferty will also be trained in MSL and will support Mrs Stroud with staff professional development and the ongoing rollout of this evidence based approach across the school. In addition, this week we have also had Mrs Pennington, Miss Rafferty, Mrs Stroud and Miss Mckay commence a training course on ‘The Writing Revolution.’ The Writing Revolution provides teachers with an evidence-based and proven instructional methodology. This method enables students to master the skills that are essential if they are to become competent writers. In turn, those skills equip students to become better readers, to communicate more effectively in writing and speaking, and most importantly, to elevate their thinking.

The Six Principles of this method

• Students need explicit instruction in writing, beginning in the early grades.
• Sentences are the building blocks of all writing.
• When embedded in the content of the curriculum, writing instruction is a powerful teaching tool.
• The content of the curriculum drives the rigor of the writing activities.
• Grammar is best taught in the context of student writing.
• The two most important phases of the writing process are planning and revising.

We look forward to working with this team as they support the staff with the delivery of this literacy approach to writing in P-6. Please note, this will come into full effect at the commencement of 2023 along with ‘another’ evidence based program in Yr.3-6, Spelling Mastery. This will be an exciting time at Sacred Heart for our teaching and learning practices. 

WE COULD NOT BE MORE PROUD OF OUR YEAR 6 STUDENTS

ST VINNIES BIG SLEEP OUT 

On Thursday the Yr 6 students and staff slept overnight in the hall to raise awareness and money for homelessness. Although their intentions were to sleep on the oval, the unpredictable weather forced a change of plans. 

Sleeping out for one night encouraged our students to better connect on a personal level with the issue of homelessness. Led passionately by Miss McKay & Mr Blake, the intention of this program is to create a greater awareness about the realities for people who have no place to call home. This is also an opportunity to make a tangible difference to locals experiencing hardship in raising money for St Vincent De Paul who will appropriately distribute these funds. We again thank our incredibly dedicated senior team Miss McKay, Miss Healey, Mr Blake and Mr Brown for supporting the children sleeping (very little Zzzz) out on Thursday evening and the Friday early breakfast and supervision staff, Ms Kehoe and Mr Thiessens. How blessed we are to have such quality staff at Sacred Heart.

Over the course of the evening and again on Friday morning the students worked with Miss McKay and repesentatives from the Mini Vinnies team furthering their understanding and awareness around homelessness and those members of our broader community who are less fortunate. 

Please note this remarkable total announced by Bowie and Ollie was prior to the sleep out funds raised were not finalized. On Friday afternoon we had reached a simply stunning total of $5,188. What an achievement from our generous community. 

STALLS DAY

 & HYGIENE PACKS

WHAT AN EXTRAORDINARY DAY

In addition to the sleep out, the students ran the most remarkable self-funded stalls (i.e. provided all the goods and resources) and put together over 100 hygiene packs to be distributed to disadvantaged families. We are so grateful and proud of our senior students (5&6s) and staff who truly embrace and value this unique opportunity to make a BIG difference to change the lives of people in need. It is worth noting many children stayed up VERY late the night before, baking special goodies for these stalls. Now that is dedication!

NEW FURNITURE

Over the holidays we received our beautiful new furniture so generously funded by the P&F. Let’s just say we had so MANY excited students and staff on Monday as they returned to their refreshed classrooms. It was also wonderful to see many parents visit the rooms noticing the significant uplift to these learning spaces. We are hopeful more will follow in the coming months as the next phase is to target the senior levels. We express our deepest gratitude to our P&F and families for their continued and generous support with such programs. 

For the record, the staff absolutely love the new ‘bean’ tables for their breakout groups. These tables have a whiteboard surface to support with their lesson delivery. 

We are pleased to acknowledge the old furniture will be shipped to Remexio in East Timor in the coming weeks. We dearly thank Heather McGrath for coordinating these efforts and her active and passionate promotion of this valuable social justice link between our communities. Thank you also to Mr Blake and his students for assisting with the lowering of the tables to ensure we maximize the shipping container capacity. We dearly hope these tables and chairs make a difference to our East Timor neighbours. 

STAFFING NEWS

We extend our deepest condolences to Ms Collins after the sad passing of her father this week.  We sincerely thank Ms Kehoe and Mrs Murphy for stepping in during Mrs Collins’ absence to ensure her class is well supported with their learning program during this period of leave.  The funeral will be in Seymour next week and some staff will represent our community. 

WELCOME NEW FAMILIES

We are blessed to welcome the following 6 new families and 8 students to our beautiful community this term and once again thank our current families for their active promotion and endorsements of our wonderful school:

Beckett Family:

Lily in Year 2, 1/2P

Sam in Year 4, 3/4T

Bodinnar Family:

Harper in Year 3, 3/4T

Coleman Family:

Evie in Year 1, 1/2RS

Hawkins Family:

Finn in Year 4, 3/4T

Jamison Family:

Molly Jamison in Year 3, 3/4CM

Sam Jamison in Year 5, 5/6BT

King Family:

Stevie in Year 5, 5/6B

Whilst we acknowledge the nature of this move, we must particularly thank our staff and students for their warm welcome to Sacred Heart, making this transition so much easier. 

Congratulations

We are thrilled to announce Ms Levy and her part Ryan will be expecting their first child early in the new year. As expected, Ms Levy's class was so excited to hear this news today, and needless to say the question and answer time was a little entertaining to say the least. Over the coming months we very much look forward to sharing part this special journey.  

Little Hearts Playgroup

Next Session -  14th October

This terrific initiative has been such a lovely connection piece and entry point for our families, and we look forward to building upon this in the coming months. Carol Mathias, one of our LSOs is an accomplished musician and has offered to do some music & songs for the next session. We are excited to see this program evolve in such a short period of time.  

Whilst the intentions are clear, it has also proven to be stunning opportunity for our senior students to assist, and let's just say there have been no shortages of willing volunteers. 

In the meantime, we encourage all families with preschool age children to come along and continue to spread the good word within your networks.  The more the merrier for this terrific program.  

Little Hearts Playgroup Sessions 

Term 4 at 10am, following assembly

• 14th October
• 4th November
• 18th November
• 2nd December

SCHOOL TOURS 

Keep spreading the good word families as we continue to have regular tours throughout the week with prospective families. Your messaging and positive endorsements are clearly working and we cannot thank you enough for this support. We are thrilled to welcome a number of new families to Sacred Heart in Term 4 as result of this advocacy. 

Many of the new students did transition days either last term, or this week. This gentle introduction/transition to Sacred Heart school life has been made all the easier by the overwhelming care and sense of welcome offered by our students and staff on these transition days. 

#bestschoolinthebayside

Prep Orientation 2022

• Prep Information Evening – Tuesday 18th October 7pm – Yr.1/2RS (Enter via front office)
• Orientation Session #1 – Wednesday 26th October 9:15am - 10:15am
•  Orientation Session #2 – Wednesday 2nd November 9:15am - 11:00am
• Orientation Session #3 – Wednesday 9th November  9:15am - 11:30am

Children attend all Orientation sessions, and the times are extended each time from the first one hour block, to build up confidence and stamina.  We will have refreshments for parents who wish to stay on site during the orientation sessions, or alternatively you can take advantage of having some time to enjoy the local cafes.

Class Structures 2023

We wish to assure all families that much professional consideration has, and will continue to go into our straight class stuctures for next year. More information will follow next week regarding these structures. Please note, we will not be looking to do a combination of composite and straight, but rather running just straight classes from P-6.  We ask for your trust, patience and support with this exciting transition for our school. 

SWIMMING PROGRAM

Next week our Yr.1-6 students start the newly introduced swimming program scheduled over the fortnight (Tues-Fri only). We again thank you for your overwhelming support  (100% take-up) of this invaluable life-skill program and trust all families have kept up to speed with important communication threads.  As previously noted, this program has been heavily subsidized to support the participation of all children regardless of swimming competency.  

BUILDING GRANT 2023

As briefly touched upon late last term, we were notified verbally by MACS that Sacred Heart was successful with a grant submission to access additional funds to support a school funded building program likely to commence in mid to late 2023. At this stage we are unable to provide further information other than the intention is to refurbish (modernize) our current classrooms with joinery, carpets, technology infrastructure, wall fabrics, classroom entry points, make better use of the smaller rooms adjoining the classrooms currently partitioned by glass walls and maximize the spacious corridor spaces. Please note, while the architects have completed a master plan this will need to be revisited to accommodate our funding capacity. In addition, given the likely scope of the ‘refurbishment’ works, we do not expect classes to be displaced for extended periods i.e. we anticipate this will be staged accordingly to ensure minimal disruption.  

P&F NEWS

Annual Masquerade Ball 

26th November 

A must for all families, so lock in the date and start your planning for what is certain to a stunning and fun night in Term 4 for the inaugural Sacred Heart Masquerade Ball.  

We cannot wait to reach our next goal for the Yr.5&6 furniture after the exciting arrival of the junior furniture. Our juniors just love the transformation of their learning spaces.

Little Gems

Apologies for the delayed Footy Day snaps as we didn't have a newsletter scheduled for the last day of Term 3. Albeit a little bit late, these stunning photos were just too precious not to share.

It appears we may have some proud new cleaning contractors at Sacred Heart. Well done to Ms Kehoe and her team of helpers for cleaning up the hall today after a busy few days of activity in this space. We are so, so grateful for these considerable efforts as the hall space is sparkling clean now. 

Key Dates and Reminders

 (Check Key Dates page for full listing)

• 3rd October - Term 4 Commences
• 10th October- P & F Meeting 
• 17th October - Day for Daniel 
• 27th October - Art Show 4pm - 7pm
• 28th October - School Closure - Berry Street Training
• 31st Oct &1st Nov - Melbourne Cup Long-weekend School Closure
• 7th, 8th & 9th Nov - 3/4T, 3/4L & 3/4CM Zoo Snooze
• 12th Nov - Prep family Mass 5pm
• 8th Dec Christmas play & Carols 
• 9th Dec - End of Year Mass
• 12th Dec - Moving Up Day
• 13th Dec - Yr.6 Big Day Out
• 14th Dec - Yr.6 Graduation
• 15th Dec - Students' Last Day
• 16th Dec - Staff Last Day

And finally...

Congratulations once again to our fabulous seniour students and community for embracing the Vinnies fundraising appeal. Collectively, our community has so much to be proud of at Sacred Heart for this phenomenal result. Coupled with the recent donation of furniture to Remexio in East Timor and $350 from the Friday after school stall, it is wonderful to celebrate these outward facing community programs at Sandringham.

A pretty proud principal,

Simon Collis