Principal News
Dear Sacred Heart Community
My thoughts that follow (ie. not original, but information gleaned from reading educational experts on the challenges of distance education) are presented in this newsletter as suggestions to alleviate the challenges of home schooling. Again, your efforts, patience and willingness to accept the challenges the COVID 19 virus has presented, are a great example of resilience for your children. I reiterate how impressed the staff have been, with your work so far with your children.
Please remember, no one expects parents to be full-time teachers or to be educational experts on content matter. Yes, providing support and encouragement is important, but expect your children to do their part. Struggling is allowed and encouraged! Don’t help too much. Becoming independent takes lots of practice. At school, your child usually engages with other students and any number of adults hundreds of times each day. Only a proportion of these social interactions will continue from a distance, but they will be different. You cannot replace them all, and that’s OK. Living and working at home, we will all need some room to let off steam. Moving (independently and together as a family) is vital to health, wellbeing, and readiness for learning. Set new fitness goals and plan hands-on, life-ready activities that keep hands busy, feet moving, and minds engaged. You may want to think about how your children can help more around the house with chores or other responsibilities. Now’s a good time to think about increasing personal responsibility, and pitching in.
The initial excitement of school being closed, is naturally beginning to fade for some of our students who are missing their friends, classmates, and teachers. The teachers, in particular from Years Three to Six, are investigating ways that the students can interact socially using online forums that are safe, and putting together protocols that ensure interactions are respectful and appropriate. Information regarding this initiative will be forthcoming in the days that follow.
News from Our Year Prep and Year One/Two Teachers, Teaching Remotely
As part of home learning students have been participating in Creative Time. During Creative Time students have been using skills such as, problem solving, critical and creative thinking and more. This week, Veer has been a very busy engineer, making a fan using batteries, he is also able to explain how it works. Connor has also been cooking up a storm in the kitchen using Play Doh, and Harper has been creative and crafty with her new room display. (Year 1/2 Teachers Alexandra and Ann)
Change is always scary and distance education seemed like a daunting task, however three weeks in, everyone seems to be adapting quite well. Communication, although different, has strengthened. Parents are setting a part time to learn, play and be creative with their children and are taking the time to understand how their children learn. It is great to see siblings learning together and hear of them encouraging one another. Below you can see our two Preps, Chloe and Frankie (who had only been in a school setting for 32 days) teaching their younger sisters how to read and write. As you can also see below, the P-2’s have been busy continuing to develop their writing skills by handwriting letters to one another, in order to keep in contact during this time. Under these different circumstances, learning continues to happen for students, parents and teachers alike. Bethany (Year Prep Teacher)
Letters to Parishioners Our students in Years Five and Six have answered the call from the Sacred Heart Parish, to make contact with some of the elderly parishioners who are unable to attend Mass on a Sunday, and like many elderly people during this time, are isolated from their friends and family. Our Italian specialist teacher Claudia coordinated the letter writing exercise. Some of the students wrote their letters in Italian for parishioners whose main language is Italian. About fifty parishioners will receive letters early next week from our students. We hope that this gesture brightens their day during these times.
Paying Tribute
Today our students at school paid tribute to the four brave police officers who tragically lost their lives last week. Georgia lowered our flags to half mast for the next two days as a sign of respect. This afternoon we took a moment to reflect on the tragedy, to pray for the police officer's families, and to ask God to protect the brave men and women who serve the public with their role in our police force.
Please stay safe
Yours sincerely Mark Tierney Principal
Very Exciting Music News Welcome to our Sacred Heart School Choir website. Anyone can use the website, you don't have to be part of the school choir to take part: Music and singing is so great for everyone's wellbeing! We will be adding new things onto the website each week, so make sure to check back in. If you have suggestions of songs to add or if you see some great music for everyone at Sacred Heart to watch whilst the world is in isolation please let me know.
kharris@shpreston.catholic.edu.au
We will also have games and challenges to take part in throughout the term. Remember to smile when you're singing and have fun!
Kate & Amalie
