Term 1 - Week 2 (3rd February)

Student Protection Contacts

From The Principal

Welcome back to another year of learning! Our learners have transitioned into a new year smoothly across all classes. This is, in no small way, a direct reflection of a shared expectation between home and school, that we are learners. At Sacred Heart, our ‘Why’ reflects this:

“To nurture and empower, resilient, lifelong learners so that they can contribute to a positive future in a changing world.”

When children understand that even we as adults are always learning, they come to understand that school is not the start of learning, but a part of life’s learning journey.

Spotting the ‘Positive’ - Our school’s ‘Positive Behaviour for Learning’ approach (PB4L) works alongside our school’s behaviour support plan. As part of our PB4L approach, children are rewarded for their positive behaviours with in-class reward systems and ‘hearts’. Hearts are ‘saved up’ to be used at the end of each term at the ‘Heart Shop’. ‘Gotchas’ are tickets we use in the playground (or class) that are entered into the Gotcha fortnightly draw. Winners of each fortnight in a term are invited to the ‘Pizza Party’ at the end of each term. These things help children identify those behaviours we want to see more of.

When it comes to correcting poor learning or behaviour choices, like many schools we use ‘Minors’ and ‘Majors’. The difference between the two comes down to the intent of the behaviour.  If the choice was a lapse in judgement that did not cause anyone large amounts disruption, we may issue a minor. A ‘minor’ will result in a chat with your child and loss of 5 minutes of play. A ‘major’ will result in a conversation and loss of a play time (morning tea or lunch – whichever is closest). In both cases, families will be contacted. For a minor, you will receive an email, text message or Sentral notification. The Principal or Assistant Principal will contact you directly by phone or in person for major behaviours. Communication with our families is key towards ensuring that we are working together to support our children in their learning choices.

School Leaders – Congratulations to those Year 6 students who ran for 2023 leadership positions. All of these learners managed to weave into their speeches the ways that they have helped and will help their fellow students under our school’s values of ‘Compassion’, ‘Hospitality’, ‘Excellence’ and ‘Integrity’. We look forward to watching our leaders develop their skills over the course of the year.

Leaving the School Grounds – Following the school bell at 2:55pm, we ask that all families depart the school grounds in a timely manner. This helps with the movement of children to where they need to be. Recently, we have had families waiting at the top gate for children to arrive, only to find their children down on the playground, seemingly under the supervision of other parents. With the exception of those attending our ‘Outside of School Hours Care Service’, no child is to be on our playground equipment after 2:55pm. We thank you for helping our children follow these routines.

Late Arrival Procedure – Occasionally we have children that are running late for school. Please note that the school day starts with the first bell at 8:30am. Children can be seated in the silver seat area from 8am onwards. When arriving late; past 8:40am; children are to be escorted by an adult family member to the office so that the student can be signed in (by an adult) and yellow late slip can be given to the student for collection by the teacher. From here, your child will be sent to class. Family members are not to be escorting children to class past 8:40am. Very young children (Prep and year 1 students) will be shown to their class by a member of staff. This procedure will take effect from Monday  21^st February.

Welcome to New Staff – this year, in addition to welcoming our new families, we also welcome new members to our team. I know you’ll join me in extending a Sacred Heart welcome to:

• Mrs Megan Radford – 5R Teacher.
• Mrs Genny McNair – Learning Support Teacher
• Mrs Melissa Nelson – Prep N Teacher
• Ms Maddy Parkes – Moller – Teacher Thursdays and Fridays in 6B.

Get Involved –  On Monday night (6^th February), at 6pm, you are invited to join us for our first ‘Parent Engagement Network’ (PEN) meeting.  The role of our PEN is to build community and to engage our families in how we support all children here at our school. An email was sent yesterday inviting agenda items. You are able to attend in our staffroom, face to face, or from the comfort of your own home, via Zoom – just click on the emailed link to join.

I invite you to come along to our PEN led ‘Meet and Greet’ on Friday 17^th February from 5:30 – 7:30pm. This is the first opportunity for your children to come along and have a play and for you, as families, to have a chat and get to know one another. I look forward to seeing you there.

God bless,

Tyronne Maher

Mr Tyronne Maher

From The APRE

A very warm welcome to the 2023 school year to all new and returning families. The years 2020 and 2021 were difficult years for all of us but 2022 gave us a new hope and a belief that life would return to normal where familiar things were once more part of our everyday. In 2023, we are challenged to embrace life, to chase our dreams, to aspire to new heights. The theme for our liturgies and prayers this year is Rise Up! Don’t Hold Back! 

Leadership Induction and Welcome Mass
Today we will gathered as a whole school to officially induct our School Leaders and the Seniors of 2023. All of the students who nominated for Leadership roles spoke from the heart on Tuesday. It was wonderful to hear them speaking about wanting to make a difference – be it new sports equipment, starting up a gardening club or advocating for youth mental health awareness programs. I was so proud of all the students who presented speeches and their families should also be proud of them for striving for excellence by nominating and presenting their speech.

Father Roque's visits
This week, Father Roque, our parish priest, visited each of our classrooms. This is a special time for Father Roque to welcome students back to school and to pray with the students.

Sacramental Program
The Sacred Heart Parish Sacramental Program hopes to support your child to prepare to receive the sacraments of Reconciliations, Confirmation and First Holy Communion. Please see below the Sacramental Program Dates:

Please click below to access the Sacramental Program Information Pack or pop into the school’s office and there will be hardcopies of the information pack available.

Mrs Alice Lucas

Prayer of the Week

Accessed from: Prayers for Your Children As They Begin A New School Year - The Catholic Company®

From The Middle Leader/Curriculum Co-ordinator

The Australian Curriculum:
It is parents, families and carers who have the most influence on their children. When families are actively involved in their children’s education, children usually enjoy school and achieve better results. The Australia Curriculum sets the goal for what all students should learn as they progress through their school life – wherever they live in Australia and whichever school they attend. Below is an overview for parents to learn about how the Australian Curriculum is organised, including information about the learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curricular priorities. If you are interested in reading more you can visit the website for parent resources at:

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/parent-information/

Mrs Charlie Barrett

From the Learning Support Teacher

Thank you to the staff, parents and students you have made me feel so welcome at Sacred Heart.  I have been very impressed by the dedication of the staff to the students and the attitude of the students to their learning and their friendship with each other. 

Within each newsletter I will aim to explain various aspects of learning support at Sacred Heart as well as provide general information on disabilities and disability services.

Student Support Committee and referral processes
Student Support Committees (SSCs) have been established in our Toowoomba Catholic Schools (TCS) to ensure that the needs of our students are met in a socially just and transparent manner and that supports are put in place to enable students, who are experiencing difficulties, to access all areas of the curriculum.

The Student Support Committee is made up of members of the leadership team, Principal, APRE, Middle Leader, Learning Support Teacher, classroom teachers, together with the School Guidance Officer and TCS specialists as required.

The aim of the SSC is to

• coordinate efforts of teachers, parents and TCS support personnel in meeting the needs of all students
• Collaboratively discuss, plan and implement intervention programs
• Match student needs to available specialist services
• Identify the overall needs of the school population and assist with resourcing and staff training
• Monitor student progress and the effectiveness of interventions.

Teachers in discussion with the LST will put forward to the SSC, students who have shown challenges in their learning.  Parents will be notified prior to these meetings.

All students who are to access TCS specialists, including Speech Language Pathology, Occupational Therapy and Counselling services, need to have been referred to the SSC and a clear action plan to be followed.

Mrs Genny McNair

Class In Focus

Prep

Welcome to Prep! We have hit the ground running and are already getting into the busyness of the school year. The focus for the first few weeks of school is establishing routines that will set children up for the rest of the year and to help them settle into school. To help them to become familiar with the places and faces of Sacred Heart we went on a tour of the school whilst hunting for the green sheep. We followed the clues around the school and asked staff members along the way if they’d seen a green sheep. Eventually, he was found hiding on the playground!

We will be sending out a Prep news each week via email to keep families informed about the many activities that are happening. If you have not been receiving this, please see your child’s teacher.

Ms Jesse Curtis & Mrs Melissa Nelson

Year 6B

Our 2023 Seniors attended the first of their leadership activities last Friday at Emu Gully. They initially planned their day with the focus to be on team building and looking out for their peers. Encouraging each other through the first of the tunnels was a great way to start and everyone was successful in this challenge. Many of the courageous students helped through those who were initially nervous – but they all made it through successfully. Next was the boat activity where the teams needed to get supplies delivered and picking up their team mates for a return voyage on the water. This was a lot of fun and required co-operation and strategic thinking. We only managed to have 1 sailor slightly wet by the end. After morning tea the group were facing a larger set of tunnels and activity required trust and teamwork by all. We had lunch around the dam and then walked up to the bridge activity that again required strategy, trust and teamwork. Most students were successful at this challenge before we entered the “Kokoda (mud) Track”. The mud was very thick and the students worked well to help their buddies through the track, over logs and up mounds to complete a successful trek. The ended with the students sliding down the large water slide into a small dam and then walking to the larger dam to wash off as much mud as possible. We are certain that most students will still have taken home their share of mud in their ears and hair! 😊 Overall, the day was a complete success with this new group of seniors working as a team, leaving no one behind.

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 22

Next

Monday saw the Seniors participate in their last leadership activity, starting with a small liturgy before workshopping what traits a good leader demonstrates. The morning ended with our final captaincy nominations for our voting on Tuesday.

Tuesday saw our self-nominated seniors deliver their speeches to the Year 4, 5 & 6 classes sharing their thoughts on why they would be great school and house captains for 2023 before the school voted.

Congratulations to our newly elected school captains:   CLARE  & ALEXANDER 
and our new house captains:
BYRNE HOUSE: Noah  and Kristina 
KELLY HOUSE:  Layla and Jye 
KATTIE HOUSE: Justin  and Riley 

We are sure the rest of the senior cohort will support their peers in these roles and continue in the tradition of demonstrating our Mercy values: leading with integrity, hospitality, compassion and excellence for the year ahead.

2023 looks to be a bright year for this year’s senior class!

Have a wonderful fortnight ahead.

Mrs Barrett and Ms Parkes-Moller

From The Arts

I am very excited to be back at Sacred Heart School for my third-year teaching ‘The Arts’ which includes Music, Dance and Drama. This semester we are focusing on Dance and Drama and working towards our Easter Pageant that will be performed Thursday 30th March, 9am in the school hall. We will also be showcasing some of the class Dance and Drama work in a concert during Term 2, Week 5, more about this later. 
This year ‘The Arts’ Room has moved down near the hall and next to the OSHC Room. All classes with myself and the music tutor are held in this room. 

Choir 
Choir commenced last Tuesday afternoon 2.55 - 3.30pm in the Music Room. The choir is available for all students in Year 3 to 6. We had a wonderful turn up for the first week. We are currently working towards the Easter Pageant (March), the Toowoomba Eisteddfod (May) and the Catholic Arts Fest (June) where the students will have the opportunity to perform in a mass choir of 300 students and involved in a concert that includes 1000 students from around the Toowoomba Diocese.  
If you would like your child to be involved in the choir, please contact me or send them along next Tuesday after school.   

Instrumental Program 
Last year was our first year running the instrumental program here at Sacred Heart School. We had over 10% of the school population learning an instrument with our wonderful music tutor, Miss Jessie Joy. 

Thank you to all the parents who are supporting their child/ren in their music education and have enrolled them already in the 2023 program. There is wonderful research that shows that learning an instrument can help a childs education.  

“Music enhances the education of our children by helping them to make connections and broadening the depth with which they think and feel. If we are to hope for a society of culturally literate people, music must be a vital part of our children’s education.”  – Yo-Yo Ma 

There are still spots available for this year. If you would like to enrol your child, please fill in the online form below or contact me directly via email. Cherie.Runciman@twb.catholic.edu.au  

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_f1LV0RCBUK3EBaPWwxYDVbF2GR6D2hAo-dL1hpSKMRUQTBXNEcwWURNTk05MlgxNVJBRkRUQjI4Sy4u  

Course Outline for ‘The Arts’ 

Prep N and Prep C 
Students will develop body awareness (body bases, parts and zones), explore elements of dance (space, time, dynamics and relationships), create dance sequences (locomotor and non-locomotor movement) and experiment with simple technical skills and expressive skills.  

Students will discover how to communicate feelings, explore elements of drama (role, situation, language, place), accept and participate in fictional situations and reflect on their own drama experiences and contributions.  

1J and 1/2T 
Students will continue to develop body awareness (body bases, parts and zones), explore elements of dance (space, time, dynamics and relationships), create dance sequences (locomotor and non-locomotor movement) and experiment with simple technical skills and expressive skills. They will explore the different types of dances used in cultures, using “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes” book as learning tool.  

Students will continue to discover how to communicate feelings, explore elements of drama (role, situation, language, place), accept and participate in fictional situations and reflect on their own drama experiences and contributions. They will explore the different types of drama used in cultures, using “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes” book as learning tool for this. This learning will be done through different classroom games, songs and dances.  

2A 
Students will continue to develop body awareness (body bases, parts and zones), explore elements of dance (space, time, dynamics and relationships), create dance sequences (locomotor and non-locomotor movement) and experiment with simple technical skills and expressive skills, with a focus on African style dance. They will explore dances used in First Nation Culture, using “My Grandmother’s Lingo” interactive app as learning tool. Students will demonstrate improvised and structured dance routines through class activities.  

Students will continue to discover how to communicate feelings, explore elements of drama (role, situation, language, place), accept and participate in fictional situations and reflect on their own drama experiences and contributions. They will explore and create a drama piece using “My Grandmother’s Lingo” interactive app as inspiration. Student will also participate in group and individual Speech and enunciation activities focusing on diction, projection and changes of emotions.

3C 
Students will develop body awareness and explore elements of dance (space, time, dynamics and relationships), create dance sequences (locomotor and non-locomotor movement) and experiment with simple technical skills and expressive skills. Students will discover how to communicate feelings, explore elements of drama (role, situation, language, place), accept and participate in fictional situations and reflect on their own drama experiences and contributions. They will explore dances used in First Nation Culture, using animal tracks as inspiration. Students will demonstrate improvised and structured dance routines and drama improvisation through class activities. 

PE News

PE - Football
Our first two lessons of PE have focused on developing routines and making the no opt-out expectation known and understood. From Week 3 to 7 we will be focusing on developing the students’ ability to work as a team when playing football (soccer). We’ll have a specialised football coach in for our PE lessons for the next 4 weeks. The football coach has been provided by the Australian Government’s Sporting Schools program. Our school has also purchased new soccer balls which the students will enjoy during our PE lessons and also during lunchtimes.

Swimming
Next Friday, 7 students have been selected to participate in the Toowoomba Catholic Primary Schools Association’s Swimming Carnival. We wish Ella G, Kimberly A, Orla F, Lillie G, Liam F, Ellie and Alexander A all the very best next Friday. I am sure you will all represent yourselves and our school with pride. Ella G and Lillie G have qualified to trial for West Zone Swimming trials, which is in a month’s time.

Friday Sport
This term, our Year 5s and 6s will be going out for Sport on a Friday afternoon. Our Year 5 and 6 teachers have organised games which have encouraged maximum participation and involvement from our students. In the past, our Year 5s and 6s have participated in Inter-School Sport, however, this term we will run sport here. The thinking behind this decision is to reduce the amount of travel time and increase the level of participation of all of our students.

School Fee Payment

The school accepts payment via a bank transfer, direct debit or Centrepay.  Our preferred method of payment is direct debit.  To access the direct debit form, please click on the link below.  Thank you to those families who have already actioned the direct debit form.

The first instalment of school fees will be billed to family accounts in the next week or so.  You will receive this bill via email.  If you choose to pay via a bank transfer, our bank details are at the bottom left of the statement.  Please make the reference, your account number and name, ie. SAC111 Johnson. Your account number can be found at the top right of the statement.  Please don’t hesitate to contact the office for assistance.

The Uniform Shop

*We accept EFTPOS only - NO CASH OR LAYBY*  
Thank you for your continued support of the school’s uniform shop.
Normal Uniform Shop hours:
Mondays & Thursdays 8.00am - 10:30am.
If Monday is a holiday, the Uniform Shop will open on a Tuesday.

SCHOOL BAGS: School Bags are COMPULSORY to the WHOLE SCHOOL. Do you have the correct bag? Available from the Uniform Shop for $39.50 
SCHOOL PULLOVERS - This is a compulsory uniform item for Years 1 to 6.

FREE BUTTONS available for Boys’ red shirt, girls’ red and white blouse & Prep red polo.
The uniform shop carries donated pre-loved items (including Prep).
Thank you for all the donations to the uniform shop these are greatly appreciated. Please continue to support the uniform shop with donations. These can be left at the office.
Ms Betty Davison
CONVENOR

MEAL DEALS for Term 1

(replacing weekly snow cones)

Funds raised support the 2023 Seniors and their end of year Grad Mag publication

Week 4 (Tuesday 14^th February)

Week 7 (Wednesday 8^th March)

Week 4: $5 meal deal – sausage in bread & snow cone 
(Order on Flexischool - orders open NOW
- ORDER CUTOFF IS 8.30am MONDAY 13th FEBRUARY!)

2023 Shrove Tuesday Fundraiser for Missions

Pancake Tuesday is in Week 5 – 21/2/23 (the day before Ash Wednesday) and it is when traditionally Year 6 students sell pikelets to raise funds for the Missions.
Pikelets will be sold for morning tea for 50c each.
Order forms will have been sent home in Week 2.

2023 Student Residential Data Collection

Tennis Coaching in 2023

Sacred Heart Parish

Community Notices

ST URSULA'S COLLEGE 

2023 Open Day 

Please book using the link below
https://www.trybooking.com/CEQER