ISSUE 33: 3rd November, 2023

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students and Friends,

Welcome to our Week Five Newsletter.

School Closures & Melbourne Cup Holiday

The upcoming weekend marks the start of the five-day Melbourne Cup break. Please note that there will be no school on November 6th, 7th, and 8th. During this time, teachers will be engaged in report writing and attending Structured Literacy Professional Development. We hope this break allows families to recharge before we resume our hectic term!

World Kindness Day Breakfast (16th November) Orders

Join us for a World Kindness Breakfast at school on Thursday, 16th November. It's a wonderful opportunity to promote kindness in our community. The breakfast is complimentary for students, parents, and guardians. To help with catering, please place your order via CDFPay. We'll offer bacon & egg rolls, fruit salad, corn flakes, and rice bubbles. Meals will be prepared based on pre-orders, so please ensure you finalise your order by 9am on Thursday, November 9th. We won't be able to accommodate on-the-day requests for breakfast.

2024 Prep Transition

Our 2024 Prep students had their second school transition session today. On Wednesday, November 15th, 2024 Preps and Year Five Buddies, along with their parents, will have a meet & greet at the school in the courtyard area from 5pm to 6 pm. Sausage in bread will be served to all attending families.

Assembly

The Assembly this week will be led by the Student Leadership Team, commencing at 2:30pm.  

2024 Classroom Structure, Transition & Class Placement

Last week, we provided families with information about Classroom Structure, Transition, and Class Placement for the 2024 school year. Please review the attached document for all the details. A printed copy of this note was also sent home with families. Parents interested in completing the Class Placement Survey can obtain it from the front office and should return it by Monday, November 13th.

Schools Sports Victoria (SSV) Events

Wishing our Year 3/4 Basketball teams success at the Interschool Basketball competition on Thursday, November 9th, at the Mildura Sporting Precinct. Also, congratulations to our Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 students who participated in the SSV Division T20 Cricket at the Aero Ovals.  Both our boys & girls Year 5/6 teams have qualified for the Region Finals which will be held in Swan Hill on Friday, 10th November.

Work Experience

Monty Maloney, a former Sacred Heart student now studying in Ballarat, will be participating in Work Experience with us on Thursday and Friday this week. He will be working with various classes during these two days.

Mission Month 

We extend our gratitude to everyone for their support during this year's Mission Month. Our school community has made a fantastic effort, with our families displaying remarkable generosity. Special thanks to the staff for their efforts in organising events, activities, and distributing icy poles over the past four weeks. Our fundraising concluded today with the whole school Color Run, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

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School Advisory Council Meeting

Our School Advisory Council (SAC) meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 14th at 5:15 pm in the staffroom. We invite parents who are interested in serving as parent representatives on the SAC to consider taking an active role. If you wish to be nominated as a council member, please request a nomination form from the Office.

Police Visit

This Tuesday, our Year 3-6 students received a visit from a local police officer who discussed online safety. As parents and caregivers, you have a deep understanding of your child and are best positioned to provide guidance for safer online experiences. This guide addresses essential online safety concerns for young people and offers practical tips and advice on how to respond if issues arise. Additionally, it provides a list of important support services.

God Bless!

Mr Mark Gibson

Religious Education

Reconciliation - Year Two & Above

Preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation continues for Year Two students who have registered.  This Sacrament will be held on - Wednesday 22nd November 2023 7pm SH Church.

Learning and Teaching News

Staff are ready and keen to attend the Structured Literacy professional learning session next Wednesday 8th November. The main purpose of the day will be implementing the SunLit Methodology in 2024. Staff have undertaken many SunLit professional development sessions throughout the year and will greatly benefit from the closure day session.   
Over the course of the year, staff have engaged in professional learning within the elements of a Structured Literacy approach. These included:
Phonology (the system of sounds in language)
Sound Symbols (matching sounds of spoken English to individual letters or groups of letters)
Syllables (a word, or a part of a word with one vowel sound)
Morphology (the study of the formation of words and their parts)
Daily Review (short, fast paced whole class activity including fact retrieval and skill rehearsal)
Syntax (the arrangement of words and phrases to create well formed sentences)
Semantics (vocabulary, language comprehension, written expression)
Paired Fluency (students reading out loud in pairs, accurately and with expression)

Prep Unit News

Fun, fun, fun! The Colour Fun Run was absolutely A.M.A.Z.I.N.G and the students had the best time. What a fantastic way to end our MISSION month activities. A BIG thank you to all of our Prep parents for supporting our fundraising efforts. This week we have revisited our learning on 2D shapes and made shape pictures, compared picture stories about Jesus’ Birth to the Gospel stories we have been reading from the Bible and looked at the different materials objects are made from!

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Some reminders for the beginning of term:

• Continue practising the letter sounds with your child at home. 
• 2 small lunch boxes: 1 for recess snacks and the other for lunch… this is so that they fit into our fridge containers.
• Students need to be at school on time each day (beginning of school is 8.38am). This allows them to settle into the morning routines and avoids disruption to learning. If you are arriving later than this time you need to come through the office and sign in.

• Learn all the tricky words at the back of the reading diary.

No Show and tell for this week. Reminder for week 7 = something that can fit into a matchbox.  

This extra long weekend will serve as a great opportunity to rest and return to school recharged ready for the end of our school year.

Junior Unit News

AWESOME and SPECTACULAR are the two words that our students used frequently today to describe the Colour Run. Teachers and students were involved in all kinds of challenges as the obstacle course not only put smiles on the students faces but also created an impressionable highlight of the year. Today raised a substantial amount of money for Father Michael McKinnon's Shared Table projects in Yanaoca, Peru. Without the generosity of families and the mission fundraising team, our students may not have had the opportunity to provide assistance or appreciate the life of those less fortunate. Thank you everyone for your valuable contributions over our Mission month.

Hats must be worn every day. Please have a look at home as teachers have been through the lost property and have been unable to locate any missing Junior Unit students hats.

Thank you endlessly to Elizabeth Gale and Mrs Sherry for starting off the Junior Unit library boxes. If you or a family member are able to assist your time (even just an hour) to sort books into topics or make box covers, please let your child/ren’s classroom teacher know. 

See you all on Thursday 9th November for a super quick week!

Middle Unit News

We’ve had another very big week in the Middle Unit. As we journey towards the second half of Term 4, we are encouraging all students to remember our behaviour expectations and have a positive attitude towards school. We appreciate your support in reinforcing this at home. This extra long weekend will serve as a great opportunity to rest and return to school recharged ready for the end of our school year. 

Police Visit

On Tuesday students in Year 3 and 4 had a very informative discussion led by Mildura Police’s Constable Arryn about bullying and cyber safety. We all came away with some important knowledge about the very serious ramifications of this. Students were provided with a Cyber Safety Contract to share with their parents. Please also see this great resource provided by Mildura Police.

Year 4 Design & Technology

Being a short week next week, Year 4 students will be participating in some hands-on learning in Science. If you have any cardboard or recyclable materials that may be useful for students to design and build a toy with, please send it along to school. 

Uniform

Unfortunately we are noticing an increase in students not having correct components of their school uniform. In particular socks must be white on sport days, not black. Students are also expected to be wearing navy blue sport shorts. Leggings, bike shorts or other styles of sport shorts are not permitted. Students are reminded to have their own hat at school everyday.

Sport Uniform Change of Days

Please note that due to a timetabling change, students’ Sport Uniform days have changed to the following:

Minga - Monday & Friday

Eumeralla - Thursday & Friday

Mootwingee - Monday & Friday

Yongana - Thursday & Friday

Amaroo - Tuesday & Friday

Senior Unit News

Science

During science this week, students have been conducting lots of experiments as part of their Changing Matter unit.

Please make sure you are checking in on Seesaw to see all the learning we have been doing this term.

Library News

Halloween Theme:

The Library Returns received a temporary upgrade this week, creating a happy stir amongst the students. Thanks to this group of Year 4s—Maggie, Henry and Kayden—a glittery Halloween Pumpkin adorned the area where students could feed their book returns. I congratulate these students for all their creativity and efforts to see them succeed independently in this extracurricular activity.

Also… Three books were enjoyed during library sessions this week. It was a storytelling time that was entertaining for the pure enjoyment of having a story read to the students. The House on Pleasant Street by Sofie Laguna was the favourite, and the illustrations by Marc McBride were amazing.

Scholastic Book Club News:

Issue #7 orders were distributed to the students this week. It was great to see so many happy faces.

Did you know that every purchase you make on Book Club earns our school 15% of the order value in Scholastic Rewards? We use these to purchase more books and educational resources for the school. It all helps!

Issues #6 and #7 earned SHPS library almost $120! This will be used at the beginning of next year to kickstart 2024. Thank you for supporting the students’ reading welfare and the SHPS library.

A Friendly Reminder:

We seem to be flying through Term 4, and there are some important library dates to remember.  The students’ last day of school is Friday, 15th December, so please check the dates below that correspond to your current library day and borrowing/returning duties.

Monday Library Sessions for Classes: 

Myalla (Yr 5), Dourim (Yr 6), Narooma (Yr 6), Kyema (Yr 5), Waminda (Yr 5), Mootwingee (Yr 3), Amaroo (Yr 3), Yongana (Yr 3), Wahroonga (Prep) and Cooinda (Prep).

 The last borrowing and returning library session for Monday classes is on the 20th of November.

 The last library session for Monday classes is on the 27th of November, and students will not be borrowing but must return all of their library books.

Friday Library Sessions for Classes:

Illawarra (Yr 6), Barramunga (Yr 2), Nangare (Yr 2), Eumeralla (Yr 4), Bundaleer (Yr 1), Karinya (Yr 1) and Minga (Yr 4).

 The last borrowing and returning library session for Friday classes is on the 17th of November.

The last library session for Friday classes is on the 24th of November, and students will not be borrowing but must return all of their library books.

Please note I rarely send overdue letters, as I converse with the students weekly. I appreciate the students, parents, caregivers and staff’s efforts when locating the students’ ‘missing’ library books—99% of the time, the books turn up! However, if a student has many overdue books after their last library session, a letter will be sent home. If this is the case, please don’t stress or worry, as a genuine effort to look for the book/s would be appreciated.

Looking ahead…

 Christmas is coming!

Even though library sessions will cease for the last two weeks of school, there is good news!

From the 1st of December, Christmas books will be available for staff and students to read and enjoy during class. Please find the Christmas display on the big blue shelf.

Please get in touch with me anytime for all library enquiries and borrowing/returning history.

Ms Zema at azema@shmildura.catholic.edu.au

Student of the Week Awards

No awards this week

Ray White Positive Behaviour Awards

No Awards this week