PRINCIPAL
NORMANDY FEAST DAY
Normandy Feast Day was celebrated on Wednesday. Normandy House is named in honour of Euphrasie Barbier, Founder of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions (RNDM Sisters), who was born in a French town called Caen in Normandy. The House gathered for a morning Eucharist celebrated by Fra Oscar Aguilera OSM and heard a reflection given by Damian from Shopfront, a Catholic homelessness agency that Normandy House support. Thank you to all staff and students, Fra Oscar and Damian for making the celebration so successful.
PROGRESS REPORTS
The Progress Reports for all year groups were released yesterday. These Reports are most valuable and provide information on how your child is performing academically. Students in Years 11 and 12 should use this information to review their subjects and make amendments if necessary.
Next Thursday 23 March (Week 8) is a Pupil Free Day for students in Years 7-9 and an Independent Learning Day for students in Years 10-12. It is also the Years 7-12 Learning Conference Day. This is a great opportunity for parents/caregivers to engage in discussion with teachers regarding their child’s academic progress. More information is available in this Newsletter.
NAPLAN 2023
The implementation of NAPLAN 2023 commenced this week with Writing and Reading. Thank you to Deputy Principal - Teaching and Learning, Mr Michael Chiera, for organising the roll out of these tests. Also thank you to Mr Justin Whitt, Assistant Deputy Principal - Year 7 and Mr Adrian Goh, Assistant Deputy Principal - Year 9, all staff who supervised sessions, our Relief Coordinators, and to our IT Department for ensuring access to the NAPLAN portal ran without any complications.
Conventions of Language will take place on Monday and Numeracy will take place on Tuesday.
PAUL DILLON
In partnership with our parents, Sacred Heart College is committed to educating our students on drugs and alcohol as they overcome obstacles navigating the teenage years. As part of this commitment, we invited Drug and Alcohol Research Training Australia
(DARTA) Founder, Mr Paul Dillon, to present to our Years 10-12 students in the RNDM Theatre yesterday.
Paul has been working in this area for over 25 years and is passionate about delivering relevant up to date information to our students. Paul has developed a number of resources for parents including fact sheets and podcasts on vaping and e-cigarettes. Access to these resources is available below.
YOUNG VINNIES
On Wednesday afternoon, our hardworking Young Vinnies group paid a visit to Trinity Village, a residential care facility in Duncraig which is part of the Catholic Homes network. The students brought a lot of joy to the residents through their chatter and interactions, with an Irish dancing performance by two of our students being the highlight of the visit.
One of the carers shared an insight with our staff about a resident who rarely spoke but who was seen talking to our students. Research has shown that connecting young adults with seniors benefits both groups with students gaining knowledge, feeling inspired and creating relationships within our community. Thank you to Mrs Rossana Hywood, Administrative Assistant - Social Justice, for organising this excursion and to all students and staff involved.
ST PATRICK’S DAY
I would like to wish all our Irish community a very happy St Patrick’s Day. I hope you all enjoy celebrating this significant religious day. For many, it is a day to celebrate culture, however it is traditionally the day to commemorate St Patrick, who is the patron saint of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Celebrating important feast days is an important part of the Liturgical Calendar and keeps alive those special religious events, bringing them into our everyday lives.
God Bless.
Mr Leo Di Gregorio
Principal