Principal News 

WEEK 5 - TERM 3

To subscribe to future Newsletters, please click here 

BUCKLE UP AND ENJOY THE RIDE

Dear Families & Friends,

We’ve certainly had another fabulous and busy fortnight at Sacred Heart, and once again I take my hat off to our wonderful students and dedicated staff for their efforts.   Remarkably, as we hit the halfway mark of the term, we are about to step up another gear with much planned for our students and families in the coming weeks. 

It is perhaps worth noting this will be our first full Term 3 onsite in 3 years and we cannot underestimate the composure required from our students to sustain their learning routines and manage (hold it together) their behaviours/emotions over this period. *A gentle disclaimer, please do not be surprised if the children release and express their emotions in the safety of home in light of this particularly full term. 

Over the coming weeks, the key will be to maintain a balanced school/home routine for ALL our students to ensure a successful and positive closure to Term 3. Stripping a few things out of the weekly  before or after school or weekend schedule can sometimes help with this delicate balance. Below is just a sample of the activities and events scheduled:

• House Athletics - 16th August
• Respectful Relationships School Closure - 19th August
• Book Week - 22nd August
• Book Parade - 24th August
• Author visit- 26th August
• Dendy Athletics - 30th August
• Father's Day stall- 31st August/1st September
• Father’s Day Assembly - 2nd September
• Dad’s Footy Day - 3rd September
• End of Term - 16th September

HOOP TIME SUCCESS 

& 

MATHS WEEK

From the most successful Hooptime carnival results, to a fun hands on Maths Week and a FULL and uninterrupted academic program, we really have had so much to celebrate and be grateful for in recent weeks. Credit once again must be directed towards our students for their active participation and engagement (i.e. embracing all before them) and the staff for their outstanding investment in these programs for their students - they have not missed a beat. 

Last week, despite some significant challenges with the outsourced Hooptime program, we sincerely thank our commited staff, led by Trent Thiessens (PE) and parent volunteers in covering these organizational shortcomings to ensure the ‘show must go on’ for the benefit of the students.  We congratulate our two All Star winning teams, and acknowledge the collective efforts of all our teams for their brilliant manner over these two days. 

We also thank our families for their positive feedback in acknowledging the staff  - it means alot to our team. 

"I had the pleasure of helping out at Hooptime today and be a part of the amazing culture that is Sacred Heart- and I just wanted to pass on how grateful I felt to have such an amazing team of teachers supporting our kids through what could have been a disappointing day- without the help of Hooptime referees and organisers.

We feel so blessed to have our children supported by such amazing teachers- and today just demonstrated again how much hard work goes in  to making Sacred heart such a great community."

Wellbeing Sprints

This week we ran our termly wellbeing sprints with year level staff. This is a dedicated time for staff to share how the students are tracking and explore options and strategies to support their wellbeing. Shared with leadership and facilitated by Simon Brown our wellbeing leader, these have been invaluable check-ins for staff and we sincerely hope the benefits over time will be reflected in the wellbeing of our students.

On that note, I simply could not commend our staff more highly for their intimate knowledge and care of their students. A most notable take away from these meetings is that ‘all’ students are ‘ours’ and not just the responsibility of the immediate teacher. What a privilege it is to be part of this process. 

Maths Week

Many thanks to Mr Blake for organizing our special Maths Week festivities, starting with the Green Hats incursion on Monday. Over the course of the week students participated in a range of activities in addition to their typical maths classes. A sneaky highlight was dropping into the classrooms and seeing students working with other teachers as they rotated maths classes across the school. I was caught off guard as I visited and noted all the juniors in different rooms throughout the week for these activities. 

Congratulations to our '48' students who received special maths awards at assembly this week. That's an impressive 22% of our student population. We thank Mr Blake for his contributions at the Friday assembly in acknowledging these efforts and promoting mathematics across our school. 

• Richest Class and Lolly Jar Comp 
• Top Number Whizz per class. 
• Code Breaking 
• Maths Storybook 
• Maths Kahoots

Little Hearts Playgroup

To build further on our amazing community spirit, we are starting a 'Little Hearts Playgroup'.  It will start on Friday 26th August after assembly and will take place in the Library area.  It will run for approximately 60-90 minutes.  We encourage all families with preschool age children to come along, so please spread the good word to any friends or family with preschool age children.  The more the merrier for this exciting new initiative.  

Cup of tea or coffee and a bickie for mum, dad or nan or pa, while the kids do some activities.

Please see the attached flyer and distribute as much as you can.

Thank you to our P&F for organising parent helpers and Karen Matthiesson for planting the seed and getting this off the ground. From little things, big things grow. 

Prep Orientation 2022

Please note the following dates are set for the Prep Orientation Program for our 2023 intake.

• Prep Information Evening - 18th October 7pm
• Orientation Session #1 - 26th October 9:15am - 10:15am
• Orientation Session #2 - 2nd November 9:15am - 11:00am
• Orientation Session #3 - 9th November  9:15am - 11:30am

More information will follow and be sent directly to our 2023 Prep families. In addition, we always welcome our new Preps to visit the school at any time outside of the above dates to assist with this transition period. Assembly is run every Friday morning from 9am and this can sometimes be the perfect entry point for new students and families i.e. to get a sense of our community. 

Coding Club

It’s been terrific to see our weekly Coding Club in action facilitated by Miss Rafferty and Miss Healey. Last week the students were coding using Makey-Makey kits to program digital text messages. The club  focuses on providing a collaborative setting for students to solve programming problems, create projects and teach / learn from one another. This is a brilliant opportunity for students and entry point into the art of computer programming, and perhaps plant a seed for a potential career pathway, albeit at this junior age. 

DP Applications - Formal Letter Writing

As part of their writing sessions the senior students have been focusing on formal letter writing; specifically the language used. Some students have been writing to politicians regarding certain topical matters or opinions, while others have been focusing on formal applications.

Although Mrs Pennington has this position locked away, Miss Healey’s class have been writing applications for a Deputy Principal position at Sacred Heart. It was just delightful to drop in and have some students share their incredibly impressive applications, all celebrating their skillset and what they would be able to offer the school in this capacity. Look out Mrs Pennington, we have some pretty amazing applicants eying up your role in 2023, albeit without the university credentials. Thanks Alice, Felix and Sam, I loved your applications. 

Alice Butterly

21 Candy Lane 

Candyland PEN 1234

2 August 2022

Dear Mr Collis,

It is a great honour for me to be able to put myself forward for the role of Deputy Principal. I have completed a Masters Degree in Education at Deakin University. I would love to combine my passions for leadership and Education in the role of Deputy Principal. I have previously worked at St Joan of Arc and St Joseph's in Elsternwick so I have lots of experience.

I spent most of my childhood journey at Sacred Heart and I love that everything is still so great and there is still an amazing, supportive community. I know first hand that in this school, families make lifelong friends as I have done so myself. I love the happy atmosphere that this school has. I also have a strong understanding about the Catholic values and how you believe in God at Sacred Heart.

I have extensive teaching experience, skills to develop, review and deliver plans for great learning and I have excellent communication skills in formal and informal settings. I have an ability to motivate people which I find is useful with staff and students. I have credentials to be acting principal in the absence of you. I am great in a team and am very enthusiastic.

Finally, I feel excited and nervous by the possibility of rejoining and contributing to the Sacred Heart community.

Kind Regards,

Alice Butterly

Gardening Club

Great work Mrs Collins for organising our Gardening Club to visit the Bayside Nursery earlier in the week. Like our fortnightly kinder visits introduced this year, we look forward to broadening our community relationships in the future.  During their first visit, the children were taught the difference between indigenous and native plants and shown how to cut clippings to propagate. Well done to our passionate green thumbers, we have no doubt you're looking forward to the next visit.  

RUBBISH FREE LUNCHES DAY

Families, we ask for your support as we actively encourage the use of reusable containers in your child’s lunch box and seek to significantly reduce  wrappers or packaging. 

The SRC will be awarding points to the children who have NO wrappers in their lunchbox and the winners will be announced at Friday assemblies. Thanks for your support as we aim to 'reduce' the considerable waste at school. Sadly our bins are overflowing each week and this is not a sustainable model for a community of our size. 

NCCD Census

We extend our sincere gratitude to Mrs Pennington for coordinating the recent collection and analysis of NCCD data for our students and families. A critical component of our school learning and funding model, Brigid works alongside our teachers and LSOs to ensure our students are supported effectively with their learning and social and emotional needs. In addition, Brigid supports the staff with student individual learning plans and the facilitation of termly meetings with our families (PSGs).  

P&F 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.  More details to follow shortly from the P&F. 

Don't forget we also have the much anticipated Dad's Footy Day on the 3rd September. 

Communication Reminders

In recent days some staff have been contacted by families requesting dates or key pieces of information.  Unfortunately much of this information has already been circulated through various platforms, namely the newsletter, Operoo or the Skool Bag app. Whilst our best intentions will always be to support with these requests, we politely ask families to reference a key source of information, the newsletter, as this is stored (current and past publications) on the school website and generally includes all the necessary information and dates. Subscribing to this publication also ensures this will automatically be sent to a preferred email once published. 

We acknowledge this is a lengthy fortnightly publication, however, this user friendly format enables our families and friends to scroll at ease between pages of interest (hopefully all) typically over the weekend. 

In addition, we sincerely thank the staff for their most considerable contributions ensuring they capture, showcase and celebrate the various happenings and learnings across the school. 

To subscribe to future Newsletters, please click here 

New Calendar 

Karen has linked our school Google calendar to the school website. This live calendar reflects  key events within the community. 

Drop Off & Pick Up Observations

We commend and thank our families during these busy times for our school community. This well-oiled and orderly routine has been most affirming to watch each day. To date, not one car horn has been sounded and the responsive and respectful manner of our drivers has been nothing short of first class. Despite some backing up of traffic at times, we have appreciated the patient manner of our families during these highly trafficked periods. #studentsafety101

It has been terrific to see the students remind their parents and carers to use the crossing rather than perhaps take a shorter route to a vehicle on the opposite side of the road. 

School Tours 

In recent weeks (even over the semester break) it has been terrific to take families around the school on tours. Either looking to join our Prep intake or enter at another year level, we have just loved this opportunity to showcase our school and share our story. Keep up the great work families as many families are citing your referrals #bestschoolinthebayside

Staffing News

We are thrilled to announce Miss Maloney had her working visa extended and is able to extend her time at Sacred Heart beyond 2022.  Although it was quite a lengthy process, the wait has certainly been worth it for our treasured Prep teacher. We look forward to continuing to wrap Miss Maloney up as part of her extended family at Sandringham. Thankfully the visa application criteria didn't included AFL team support, otherwise we may have had a different outcome. 

We wish Miss McKay the happiest and safest of travels as she will commence her long-service leave next week until the end of the term. Miss McKay is finally taking this precious opportunity to do the Camino Walk with her parents; a long overdue bucket list item. We once again thank our most adaptable Ms Kehoe for taking 56M during this period. It's great to know our students are in such good hands.  

Little Gems

This week we bid a fond farewell to Billie and Jake Shawcross as they head to their second home in England for a few months before returning for the new school year. We thank Billie for her courage in sharing a stunning and heartfelt farewell speech at assembly last week to acknowledge her treasured time at Sacred Heart. We think Billie may have started a new tradition for our students who may relocate over their journey. On that note, we sincerely hope we do not have too many students relocate over this precious primary school journey. We wish the Shawcross family much happiness over the coming months and cannot wait to see you soon. 

Mr Brown continues to weave his positive influence across the school with his wellbeing messages and lessons he takes weekly during his leadership time. This week he was in Yr.1/2 and Prep looking at the importance of gratitude. It was pretty special to have these students drop by my office to share this powerful message.

These two proud students shared a fantastic poster on their immigration topic. Elodie and Eloise had to create a poster on why people should come to Australia. I loved their message and will be forever grateful for my family migrating to this great country. 

Toastie Tuesday

Toastie Tuesday is a nice little addition introduced to our staff agenda/menu this year. Staff are rostered on to provide the bread and fillings each week and it's been terrific to see this grow over the weeks. From the staple fillings of ham and cheese in the early days, to a shift in recent weeks to pesto, fried mushrooms and pumpkim, we are doing OK at Sacred Heart.

What pleasant surprise it was to have these senior students drop by my office on Friday afternoon with a small fundraising proposal. Whilst we are mindful of not saturating our community with fundraising projects, I have loved the 'student voice' and passion of our socially minded seniors at Sacred Heart. More details to follow. 

Key Dates and Reminders

• 13th August - 3/4 Mass
• 16th August - House Athletics (Whole School) @ Sandringham Athletics Track
• 19th August - School Closure - Respectful Relationships Staff Training
• 22nd August - Book Week
• 24th August - Book Parade
• 30th August - Dendy Athletics (Gr. 3-6 students that qualify)
• 2nd September - Father's Day Assembly
• 3rd September - Dad's Footy Day

Camps 2023

• Yr.3 Zoo Snooze (Overnight)
• Yr.4 Camp Maldon - inclusive of Bike Ed (3 days) 6th - 8th Sept
• Yr. 5 Philip Island (3 days) 3rd - 5th May
• Yr.6 Canberra (5 days) 27th - 31st March

And finally...

Gee whiz, it's hard to keep up as there are just so many fabulous things happening across our school community. 

Keep it up Sacred Heart, unlike my football team, we're kicking some pretty awesome goals in the bayside,

Simon Collis

Principal