Term 2 - Week 4 (12th May)

Student Protection Contacts

From The Principal

Dear Families,
The focus is on learning! At Sacred Heart, we can bring everything we do, back to our ‘why’. Our ‘why’ at Sacred Heart is ‘to nurture and empower, resilient, lifelong learners so that they can contribute to a positive future in a changing world'.

Anyone can be a ‘student’ by putting on a uniform and following the rules that keep us all safe. However, we, in partnership with you, are creating learners. At Sacred Heart, we are good learners. What does this mean and what do our children need to know and be able to do, to be good learners?

Our current, four-year professional learning plan at Sacred Heart, is about ensuring that all children can answer the following questions.

• What are you learning?
• Why are you learning it?
• How are you going?
• How do you know?
• How can you improve (at this learning)?
• Where do you go when you need help (in your learning)?

Children that can answer these questions are learners. World acclaimed research also tells us, that when children can answer these questions, they are experiencing success and this translates to them feeling good about themselves. When children feel good about themselves and their learning, they are more likely to engage deeper in the learning that follows. Children not knowing what they’re learning or why, are disengaged. They are those who feel like they come to school, have done ‘stuff’, and then leave for home when the bell goes. Children need to be engaged to be lifelong learners.

As teachers, we are working hard to make sure that children know every lesson, every day, how to answer these questions about what they are learning and how they can improve. Where once we felt a pressure to rush children through the curriculum, we are now slowing down at the introductory stages to ensure that children know what we are doing in this lesson or unit of work.

We are asking these questions of our children each week and then feeding their responses back to their teachers so that they know what it is their learners need to know more about, or what feedback the children might need. To date, we have been very excited with their progress.

As parents, you can ask the above questions, or you can simply ask: ‘What did you learn today?’ Doing this everyday will reinforce with your child that you expect them to be a learner. At first, they are likely to give you little in return. Keep going! Eventually, they’ll come to expect the question and they’ll have a response ready for you.

Uniforms – Thank you to all our families for your organisation in ensuring that the children are in the correct uniform, every day. The wearing of the correct uniform is not about ‘conforming’ or ‘looking nice’, it’s about learning. Consider if we were all able to wear the earrings we wanted to and the shoes we liked. We would have children starting to care less about the learning, and more about what they didn’t have, compared to their peers. This creates distractions for your children and arguments at home. It also leads to exclusion of children – those that ‘have’, and those that ‘have not’.

Happy Mother’s Day – Thank you to the work of our Parent Engagement Network (PEN) in putting on our Mother’s Day Stall again this year. This was no small task, and we thank our volunteers including our working party coordinator, Trina, for bringing it all together. Hopefully your child was able to purchase something nice for you at our stall today.

We wish all of our mothers, including grandmothers and mother-like role models, a very happy and restful Mother’s Day this Sunday. Where would we be without you!

God Bless,

Mr Tyronne Maher
Principal

From The APRE

Mother’s Day Liturgy
Thank you to our Year 5s and Preps for leading such a beautiful and reflective Mother’s Day liturgy to start our Week 4 Assembly! It was wonderful to see so many parents at this week’s Assembly and I was overwhelmed with the support for the reflection video as I am sure I received over 130 emails with beautiful photos to share in our video.

Congratulations to Mason A, Mackenzie, Lucy P and Jakobi B for being awarded a Golden Ticket to the end of term lunch with Mr Maher by having your Gotcha out of the ‘hat’! Well done to all the students who received a Gotcha this fortnight.

Join #Putonyourbirthmark
This coming Monday our Mini Vinnies' members will be raising awareness about vascular birthmarks, anomalies and syndromes by painting a red heart on students’ faces or hands. Next Monday is actually the International Day of Awareness for Vascular Birthmarks.

Term 2 Free Dress Day
On Wednesday the 31^st of May we will have a free dress day. Students are encouraged to wear blue if they support NSW and maroon if they support QLD in the State of Origin. Students will still need to be sun safe (polo shirt with a collar preferred and a hat) and safe by wearing closed in shoes (the Year 3s to 6s have PE on this day). We ask that students donate a gold coin, and we will split the money raised between two causes very close to our school community – Cystic Fibrosis Queensland and World MS Day.

Mrs Alice Lucas
Assistant Principal: Religious Education

Prayer of the Week

Retrieved from: Mother’s Day resources | pilgrimwr.unitingchurch.org.au

From the Learning Support Teacher

How do we support your children in our school? 
Our school has a strong commitment to inclusion and student wellbeing, catering for students with a range of personal characteristics and experiences. 

Planning for Personalised Learning (PfPL) is a system-based process that Toowoomba Catholic Schools have adopted to support teachers in designing a learning environment that caters for all learners.
Students within our school come from diverse backgrounds and have many and varied learning needs.
Personalised Learning places the student at the heart of the education process so as to tailor teaching to individual need, interest and ability.
At Sacred Heart learning is a shared responsibility, not just of the class teacher but of all within the school.  Teachers are supported by the Guidance Counsellor, Learning Support Teacher, and the Leadership Team in meeting the needs of the students in their class.  Discussions are held within Student Support Meetings twice a term in which student progress is monitored and referrals are made to other support personnel if required.
We value the relationships we have with our parents in supporting the students in our school. 

Mrs Genny McNair
Learning Support Teacher

From The Middle Leader/Curriculum Co-ordinator

You may hear your child talk about their teachers encouraging them to have a growth mindset. Across the whole school here at Sacred Heart we are teaching skills to provide students with the opportunity to understand and build a growth mindset towards their learning.
Developing the right mindset early on is crucial for a successful, happy life. When children learn putting forth effort and using the right strategies can help them get better at things, they feel empowered, and try harder. When they know their brains are capable of growing, they are more confident, resilient, and not afraid to fail! 

WHAT IS A GROWTH MINDSET?
We all have beliefs about our own abilities and potential. These beliefs are part of our mindset, which is so powerful they can fuel our behaviour and predict our success. Mindset shapes our everyday lives, helping us interpret our experiences and future possibilities. 

Research has identified two different types of mindsets:
A growth mindset occurs when we believe our intelligence and abilities can be improved with effort and the right strategies.
A willingness to confront challenges, a passion for learning, and viewing failure as a springboard for growth are all characteristics associated with a growth mindset. Not surprisingly, this type of mindset is strongly linked to greater happiness and achievement in life.
In contrast, those with a fixed mindset believe their intelligence and abilities cannot be altered in a meaningful way. As a result, mistakes are often seen as failures rather than opportunities to grow and learn. When stuck in a fixed mindset, we may fear new experiences, avoid risks, and feel the need to repeatedly prove ourselves over and over again.

Mrs Charlie Barrett
Middle Leader/Curriculum Co-ordinator

Classroom Awards

Class In Focus

Year 1/2T

Religion - The Story of Moses
We have been learning the story of Moses and how he saved the Jewish people. Like Abraham, Moses trusted God and found the courage to save the Jewish people from slavery and lead them out of Egypt.

Math
The 1/2T students have had a fun filled time in Math. We have been learning about shapes and have created some interesting buildings and figures using all different kinds of 2D and 3D shapes.

English - Writing Goals
Term 2 is a good time to introduce more in-depth goal setting as the students are now feeling more settled. They are now ready to move into some real nitty gritty WRITING!
We have our Writing Goals displayed in the classroom and parents are more than welcome to pop in and have your child share their writing goal with you. I will display only a few goals at a time so students are not feeling overwhelmed. The students place their peg name names next to their corresponding writing goal. To begin with Mrs Tevelein will choose the student’s goals for them, based on their current writing abilities and writing behaviours. Once the students achieve their goals, I will open it up to them to begin deciding what they would like to work on… with a little guidance from myself of course!
It is good for the students to have some ownership over their own learning, but this will come once they are aware of what ‘good writers do’. It is also important to note that not all children will move as frequently as others. Some students might be working on the same goal for a while and that’s ok.
Once we get in the rhythm of using our Writing Goals, it will be a great way for the students to know exactly which goal they’re working towards.
There is nothing that makes the students feel strong as learners than ticking off their goal once they’ve achieved it, and then receiving their next one!      

“Education is not the learning of many facts, but the training of the mind to think.” Albert Einstein                     

Mrs Angela Tevelein

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Year 3C

What a busy time 3C have had in Term 2 already! In between Cross Country and ANZAC Day, we have been learning about Fractions, our country ‘Australia’, the history of our local Parish, Sacraments and Information texts.

We had a great time at the Cross Country in Week 1! Well done to all students who participated and cheered each other on in their races. A special congratulations to Kyrie for winning his race!

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In HASS this term, we are learning all about Australia! We are writing an Information Text about one of the features of our beautiful country that we have been researching.

In Maths, we have had a focus on Fractions! We have learnt about wholes, parts of a whole, denominators and numerators, equivalent fractions and finding fractions on a number line.

Just a reminder to ensure that uniform items are clearly named. We are finding many jumpers and jackets without names (or with previous student’s names) which makes it difficult to return to the owners!

Stay warm and enjoy the remainder of Term 2!

Miss Allison Campbell

Sport News

Representative Sport
Congratulations to Clare for making the Toowoomba team for Football (soccer). She trialled for the Darling Downs team in Stanthorpe on Tuesday and although she was not successful in gaining a selection in the Darling Downs team Clare reported that it was a great experience!

Athletics
Term 2 is Athletics season for us here at Sacred Heart! During PE lessons students will be preparing for the Athletics Carnival; high jump, long jump, shot put and our 10 years will also be participating in discuss. Discuss is considered a high-risk activity, so parental permission needs to be obtained. By giving your child permission, this means that your child is able to participate in PE activities as well as our Athletics Carnival when we are practicing and competing in discus. If permission is not given, unfortunately, your child will not be able to participate in discuss.

Friday Afternoon Sport
Last week, we launched the start of a Field Events focus for Friday afternoon Sport. Students who were born in 2011 – 2014 split into their age groups to rotate through two field events. A special thank you to our wonderful teachers and Mr Maher for taking on a field event for the afternoon and helping our students strive for Excellence! Weather permitting, we will all head out again this Friday and then again each Friday until the Athletics Carnival.
In Week 7, Mr Maher will run the high jump event during the day on Wednesday 31^st  May and then we will run the 800 m race during our Friday afternoon sport session on Friday 2^nd  June.

From The Arts

Choir

Sacred Heart Choir -Eisteddfod 2023
Well done to our choir for their efforts at last Sunday’s Toowoomba School’s Eisteddfod. The hard work and focus put into their after school rehearsals was evident in their performance. Thank you to our parents for their support and ensuring that the children were punctual and well presented. Thank you too to Ms Runciman both teaching and conducting our school’s choir. Congratulations to this group on improving with every performance.  

Instrumental Program 

Lessons will be moved to Wednesday with Miss Joy, instead of Friday for Term 2.
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

Dance/Drama Concert (Week 5): School Hall

This year I have changed how I am assessing the students and wanting to engage them more in public performances and sharing their performances with other classes and parents. 
Tuesday 16th May: 1.50-2.55pm PN, PC, 1J, 1/2T, 2A: Each class will perform a small poem and dance routine.
Thursday 18th May: 1.50 - 2.55pm 3C, 4G, 5R, 6B: 3C/4G will have the finalists from the Poem in Pairs and a dance routine. 5R will be performing a First Nation Drama and Dance routine and 6B will be performing different Fairy Tales.

Lunchtime Concert: Tuesday 6th June 1.00-1.40pm

We will be holding a low-key lunchtime Concert in the hall on this day. The purpose of this performance is for the school band to have a practice of their songs before their big Arts Fest performance in Week 10, the choir to sing and for the students learning an instrument to have a chance to perform a solo if they wish.

TCSO Arts Fest: 19-22nd June

This event is very exciting and we will be having students involved in the following events:

Music Theatre Singing, Verse Speaking/Drama Workshop, Belief in the Arts Concert (School band) and Sing for Joy (Sacred Concert at St. Pat's with over 600 hundred students involved). More information will be available regarding this and what students will be involved in. Parents and friends will have the opportunity to attend performances which will be held at St. Mary’s College, Empire Theatre and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Ms Cherie Runciman
Music Teacher

Library News

National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is an Australia-wide group reading and literacy event, where schools, libraries and other institutions gather school-age children together to read the same chosen picture book at the same time. Sacred Heart has been a part of this initiative since 2010 and are looking forward to the event this year, taking place at 11.00 on Wednesday May 24th.

James Foley and Gus Gordon -  authors and illustrators
Our visiting authors/illustrators, were a great inspiration to our Sacred Heart students.
James Foley presented to students in Yrs 4, 5 & 6, via video link, and gave them the opportunity to be illustrators themselves.

Gus Gordon shared his experience as an illustrator by sketching a sloth character for the students in Yrs 1, 2 & 3. Tying in nicely with the upcoming National Simultaneous Storytime session

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Wheelers Online Library     

Digital books are the biggest change in Libraries since forever.  Their purpose? – to complement the collection of print books - not to replace them. eBooks and Audiobooks enhance the collection and will appeal to even the most reluctant reader.
Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office currently pays for a subscription to Wheelers ePlatform, which provides 24/7 access to their digital library.
Students in years 5 and 6 have been given an introduction to the online site during their library lessons, with further lessons for year 4 to follow.

The following 6 steps provide a ‘how to borrow’

1. Open your Internet Browser and the following link
2. Resource Centre - Diocese of Toowoomba - Resource Centre - Diocese of Toowoomba (wheelers.co)
3. Click on ‘Sign in’ (top right tab)
4. Students login using their school User Name eg SACwatkinj and password and choosing Diocese Toowoomba
5. Click on ‘Start Browsing’
6. Find a title and borrow

Year 6 Winter Meal Deal Fundraiser

This term on the Wednesdays of weeks 5 & 7 (17/5 and 31/5) Year 6 is organising a MEAL DEAL consisting of a hot milo/chocolate (with marshmallow) and noodles for $4 at lunch time.
Gluten free options for both items are available.
Funds raised assist with the costs of the Grad Mag publication and end of year decorations for Graduation.
Please order on Flexischools as per previous meal deals.

The Uniform Shop

Thank you for your continued support of the school’s uniform shop.

PLEASE NOTE: WE CAN NO LONGER ACCEPT DONATIONS OF PRE-LOVED ITEMS
Thank you for your understanding in this regard.

*We accept EFTPOS only - NO CASH OR LAYBY*  
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.

Tennis Lessons

Sacred Heart Parish

Community Notices