Term 4 - Week 10 (6 December, 2024)

From The Principal

Rewarding Effort and Progress-  On Wednesday, your child’s Semester 2 Report, went ‘live’ on the Sentral Parent App. Reporting to an A to E scale is a mandatory government requirement and this happens in all state and catholic schools.  As adults, in a world of results, benchmarks to reach, deadlines to meet and promotions to be attained, it is easy to become focused on results. When we do this with our children, we are unaware of the negative message that we send to our children. When the result becomes the focus, our children come to think that not reaching the ‘result’, means that they are not progressing. Rarely, do we focus on the progress our children have made and the effort that they have applied. 

We would challenge all parents to talk about their child’s growth and the work that they have put in. They will talk about the A’s and B’s too, but this is often because we as the adults tend to focus too much on them. Instead, talk with your child about what they didn’t know, or couldn’t do, at the start of the year or semester, and compare it to what they know or can do now. Children need to feel that they are successful and need to be reminded of their achievements. A letter on a report card will not do this alone. 

Return to School – The 2025 school year commences the 29th of January. Please ensure that your child is ready by ensuring that they have the correct uniform, including the correct shoes and hair style. Please click here to access our policies that refer to these expectations. 

Congratulations and Farewell - This being our last newsletter for the year, on behalf of our school community, I would like to congratulate our Year 6 Leaders and our Prep Students. 

Congratulations to our Prep Students on completing their first official year of schooling. The engagement of our families in the progress of their children has been outstanding.  

Finally, to our Year 6 Leaders, well done on completing your 7th year of primary schooling. We have been blessed with a fine group of leaders this year and we are confident, with the continued support of their families, that they will continue to represent themselves well at their respective high schools. We wish you all the best for the future. 

For those leaving our school, we wish you health and happiness and thank you for being a part of Sacred Heart School. As mentioned in the Week 8 Newsletter, we wish Mrs Jan Watkins (Teacher Librarian), Mrs Gen McNair (Learning Support Teacher), Mr Reilly Young (Classroom Teacher), Ms Cherie Runciman (Music Teacher) and Mrs Kara Wann (Physical Education Teacher) all the best for the year ahead. We are very thankful for their time and energy. Teaching is one of the most rewarding, yet challenging and time demanding vocations in the world and behind each of us, is a supportive and understanding family.  

Farewell – Mrs Katie Horne who was our Acting Assistant Principal, Mission and Identity while Mrs Lucas was on parental leave for 12 months. In this time, she continued the development of our student representative council, supported our Minnie Vinnie’s Group in its outreach to the community, co-planned Religious Education curriculum with our teachers and planned and coordinated numerous sporting carnivals. More recently, this term, working one day a week, she developed our walking with Jesus lessons, in collaboration with our teachers. This series of lessons will be run for the first 2 weeks of each year with the aim of supporting teachers and students in building understanding of our school’s values and wellbeing foci. Thank you Mrs Horne for your leadership at our school during the 2023/2024 school year.

Staffing Update – last week it was announced that Ms Cherie Runciman, our Music Teacher, was taking on a 5 day per week position at St Mary’s in 2025. Circumstances have changed that now allows Ms Runciman to continue on with us at Sacred Heart for 2 days per week. Ms Runciman is very happy to continue on with our children at our school.

Thank you to all of you for your support of your children and our community at Sacred Heart Primary School this year. It’s been a pleasure working with such a professional school team and an engaged parent group. I look forward to continuing along with you all next year, in achieving our school goals, for the good of our learners. 

I wish you all a safe and blessed Christmas break. 

God bless, 

Mr Tyronne Maher

From The APMI

Advent – a time to reflect 

In a lot of our homes, Christmas trees, decorations and even Elves have started to take over, but I wonder have you taken a moment to also ponder on what this time of year – Advent – means for us and our families? Advent is a time to prepare our hearts to celebrate the wonder of Christmas. Advent means ‘coming’ and it’s the time before Christmas which celebrates the birth of Jesus. I hope these next 4 weeks are a time to reflect on the meaning of Christmas – not just the endless to do list – but to really take a moment to ponder what the birth of Jesus means for you and your family. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday!  

 Mrs Alice Lucas

Prayer of the Week

Student Protection Contacts

School Student Protection Contacts (SSPC) 
Our school has five School Student Protection Contacts. Mr Maher, Mrs Jackman, Mrs Lucas, Mrs Barrett and Ms Campbell. These are nominated staff members to whom students, staff and parents can raise concerns related to student safety. Although School Student Protection Contacts receive additional training, all school staff receive regular training and information to enable them to respond to student protection concerns. 

From The Middle Leader/Curriculum Co-ordinator

As we bid farewell to another remarkable school year, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude. Your unwavering support and partnership have been invaluable. Together, we’ve witnessed incredible growth and learning across all year levels; from learning how to be at school for the first time, mastering new maths concepts, expanding our reading and comprehension skills, to successes in the sporting and arts arenas; our students have truly shone. We now celebrate their achievements and look forward to the next exciting chapter of their educational journey in 2025.  

We wish everyone a very safe, merry and blessed Christmas! 

Mrs Charlie Barrett

From the Learning Support Teacher

Car Travel games that build children’s language and memory 
It’s that time of the year when many of us will be travelling on the road, visiting friends and catching up with relatives for Christmas.   

Do you remember the days before ipads, portable DVD players etc etc, when taking a car ride, we would play word and listening games.  Not only were they great for passing the time and keeping the children entertained, but they also developed speech and language skills at the same time.  Here are some of those games that may be useful for passing the time on your next road trip. 

‘I spy…’ sound  
Rather than the leader saying I spy something beginning with a letter name use a letter sound eg …something beginning with sssss.  This allows younger children to join in the game and teach them to listen for beginning sounds. 

‘I spy ….’ colour 
This is also an easier form of the game as most children can identify colours from a younger age and can also give an opportunity to learn the names of colours for younger children. 

Shopping game – great for developing auditory memory 
First person starts the game with… ‘I went to the shop and I bought a Barbie’.  The next person needs to say ‘I went to the shop and I bought a Barbie and a yo yo’.  Keep playing this way, adding an item each time until the items can’t all be remembered. 

Groups game 
A person names a group, for example animals.  Each person in turn has to name an animal without repeating one that already has been said.  As an extension, this game can be played by naming animals/objects in alphabetical order.  

20 Questions – Helps with describing, vocabulary, forming and answering questions 
One person thinks of an object and the rest of the players get to ask up to 20 questions to try and figure out what it is.   For younger children, it may be easier to start by telling them the category that the item is in, like “Food” or “Animal”. 

Make Up a Story – great for developing literacy, grammar and story sequencing skills 
Tell your child that everyone in the car is going to make up a story together.  Each person will add one sentence to the story.  You can start the story by saying something like “Once upon a time there was a girl, her dog, and a very old treasure map.” Then, ask your child to add a sentence to the story.  After each sentence, it is the next person’s turn to add a sentence.  If your child is having trouble with this activity, give him some prompts like “The girl has a treasure map.  What could she do with it?”.  Younger children may need a lot of help during this activity at first, but they will get better at it as time goes on.  As you build these stories, you will be helping your child to understand story/literacy skills such as how a story develops and is put together. Encourage your child to use complete sentences with good grammar during this activity. 

I hope you find some of these activities helpful as you travel this Christmas Holidays.  We wish you a very Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year. 

Mrs Genny McNair

Classroom Awards

Mercy Value Awards

Kindness Week

Week 7 of each term is ‘Kindness Week.’ Although we stive to walk in the footsteps of Jesus every day, Week 7 is when we celebrate our kindness. Throughout the week students can earn, not one, but two gotchas. They also go to the Heart Shop, to trade their heart cards in to buy a variety of cool treats- ice blocks, popcorn movies, special guest lunches and even extra play.  

Prep Enrolment

The Arts

CHRISTMAS CONCERT:

Thank you to everyone for your support of the Christmas Concert! It truly was a magical night!  

INSTRUMENTAL PROGRAM:

If you are interested in having lessons in 2025, please contact Cherie Runciman cherie.runciman@twb.catholic.edu.au 

Ms Cherie Runciman

Sport

Cricket 

Last week we were lucky enough to have two Development Officers from QLD Cricket here at school to run a cricket session with all the students during their PE lesson. Students enjoyed playing catching and passing games in small groups! Let’s hope that these skills may transfer to backyard games of cricket over the holidays!  

 Mrs Alice Lucas and Mrs Kara Wann

HAIR WITH HEART - RUBY'S BIG CHOP

You can help by joining 'Team Ruby' and register for a chop yourself or by making a donation to help with wigs or other vital equipment. Time, date and Venue of Ruby's big Chop is to be advised.

Vera Lacaze Kindergarten - 60 Years Celebration

The Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop hours:
Mondays (THIS INCLUDES PUPIL FREE DAYS) & Thursdays 8.00am - 10:30am.  If a Public Holiday falls on a Uniform Shop day, the Uniform Shop will be closed.

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*  

SCHOOL BAGS: School Bags are COMPULSORY to the WHOLE SCHOOL.
Do you have the correct bag?  These are available from the Uniform Shop for $39.50 

SCHOOL PULLOVERS - This is a compulsory uniform item for Years 1 to 6.

SPRAY JACKETS are compulsory for students in Years 1-6 only.
PREP STUDENTS DO NOT REQUIRE SPRAY JACKETS!

FREE BUTTONS available for boys’ red shirt, girls’ red and white blouse & Prep red polo.

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

 Mrs Fay Rhodes
Uniform Shop Convenor

Sacred Heart Parish

SACRED HEART PARISH DATE CLAIMERS:

Tennis Coaching 2025