ISSUE 38: November 25th, 2022

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students and Friends,

This Sunday marks the start of Advent as we begin preparing for the coming of Jesus.  The first week of Advent symbolises ‘hope’ and calls Christians to delve into their hearts and put their hope in Jesus.  Advent reminds us of the sacred meaning of Christmas and encourages us to be thankful during this special time.

2022 Classroom Placements

We have nearly finalised Classroom Teachers for Sacred Heart in 2023.  We still hope to fill some positions.  As it currently stands these are our placements:  

• Prep: 
• Mrs Wendy Collins (Wahroonga)
• Mrs Rebecca O’Callaghan (Cooinda)
• Year 1: 
• Mrs Hayley Moore (Bundaleer)
• Mrs Katrina Groves {Mon-Thur} & Mrs Christine Sherry {Fri} (Karinya) 
• Year 2: 
  • Mrs Danielle Gunn (Up until Week 7 in Term 1) {Mon, Tue, Thur & Fri} (Nangare) {Wed - To be confirmed}
  • Mrs Maree Irvin  (From Term 1 Week 7) {Mon, Tue & Wed} (Nangare) {Thur & Fri - To be confirmed}
• Mrs Chris Carmichael (Barramunga)
• As Mrs Irvin will be on Long Service Leave up until Week 7 in Term 1 we currently have the following arrangements in place for Nangare. 
• Year 3: 
• Mrs Sarah Beckwith (Amaroo)
• Mrs Georgina Whitehouse (Yongana)
• Mrs Jaimi Willersdorf (Mootwingee)

• Year 4:
• Miss Sophie Price (Minga)
• To be confirmed (Eumeralla)

• Year 5: 
• Mrs Cathryn Rowles (Waminda)
• Mrs Natalee Johnson (Kyema)
• Mrs Emma Kotsiakos {Mon-Thurs) &  Mr Corey Barbary {Fri} (Myalla)
  

• • Year 6: 
    • • Mrs Jo Campbell (Narooma)
      • Mrs Loretta Thompson (Dourim)
        
      • Mrs Amelia Pacher {Mon-Thurs} & Mr Jacob Burford {Fri} (Illawarra)

Specialist Teachers

Digital Technology   Isaac Fabich

Physical Education   Jacob Burford

Performing Arts   Corey Barbary 

Languages   Lisa Cirillo

School Transition

Our first Whole School Transition was held today from 11.30am to 1.30pm.  Students were allocated into different classrooms, teachers and other students at their appropriate level in preparation for the 2023 school year.  This experience will help teachers as they are making decisions in regards to student classroom placement in 2023.   Our second Whole School Transition is being held on this Thursday from 8.55am to 10.55am for Prep, 1 & 2 and from 11.27am to 1.27pm for Years 3-6.

Our Whole School Transition Day (2023 Classes) is being held on Tuesday 6th December.  All students (including new Preps) will work with their 2022 classroom teacher in their 2022 classroom until lunch time.  Students will return to their 2022 classroom for the last hour of the day.  An information session is being held in the Stadium for Prep parents at 9am.  Year Six students will attend their 2022 secondary school.

House & School Captain Speeches

Today Year Five students gave their 2022 House Captain speeches.  The students delivered excellent speeches.  Voting was also completed by all students in Years 3-5, along with the 2022 Student Leadership Team and teachers.  

School Captain speeches are being held in the Stadium on Monday 28th November at 9am.  Year 3, 4 and 5 students and teachers will attend along with the 2022 Student Leadership Team.  Voting will take place after the speeches.  We congratulate all Year Five students who have nominated for school captain and wish them all the best. 

House and School Captains will be announced to the whole school community on Friday 2nd December at School Assembly.

School Advisory Council

Our final School Advisory Council (SAC) meeting will be held on Tuesday, 29th November at 5:15pm in the staffroom.  An agenda was sent home today.  This meeting will be attended by our new and past members of the SAC.  After the meeting we will be going to the Kkings Palace for dinner.

Christmas Carols on the Oval

On Thursday 8th December from 5:30pm-7pm we will be having Christmas Carols on the Oval as part of our end of year celebrations.  From 5:15pm-6:15pm we invite families to have a picnic dinner on the oval and to mingle with other community members from the school community.  From 6:15pm each class will then lead a Christmas Carol with a karaoke style video clip displayed on a cinema screen allowing everyone to sing along with the students.  This should be a great community event.

Year 5 St Joseph’s College Mercy Campus Visit

Our Year Five students will be visiting St Joseph’s College Mercy Campus on Tuesday.  Students will be accompanied by their classroom teachers and will attend from 11.30am to the end of the day.

2023 Eating & Play Timetable Changes

A few weeks ago we sought feedback from parents and staff in relation to changing our timetable. Like many schools do now, we are looking at swapping our recess and lunch break times. You can look at the table below to see the proposed changes:

We thank everyone for their feedback on these proposed changes.  As you can see below we have strong support for the changes and hope to implement the above timetable next year.

As a result this is likely to lead to some minor organisational changes.  We may trial some of these changes before the end of the year.  These will be communicated into the future.

Girls T20 Cricket

Congratulations to our Girls Cricket team who won both games at yesterday's Region Finals and have advanced to the State Finals which will be held in Melbourne next week.  Thanks to Mr Burford & Mrs Thompson for transporting, coaching & supervising. 

First Day for Students 2023

The first day back at school for students in 2023 is Monday, 30th January. 

Important End of Year Dates

Year 5 SJC Visit - 29th November

Whole School Transition (2023 Classes) - Tuesday 6th December

Year Six Transition Day (2023 Year 7) - Tuesday 6th December

Carols on the Oval (Student Performance) - Thursday 8th December

Final School Assembly (Special Presentations) - Friday 9th December

Year One Fun Day - Friday 9th December

Middle Unit Fun Day - Friday 9th December

Graduation Dinner - Monday 12th December @ 6pm

Year Two Fun Day - Monday 12th December

Senior Unit Fun Day - Tuesday 13th December

Prep Unit Fun Day - Tuesday 13th December

End of Year/Graduation Mass - Wednesday 14th December @ 11.30am

Last Day Students School - Wednesday 14th December @ 3:10pm

Have a great week everyone and God Bless!

Mark Gibson

Religious Education

Reconciliation

Congratulations to many of our Year Two students who celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Wednesday evening.  A big thank you to parents and teachers for supporting students in the preparation phase of this Sacrament.  Thank you to Father Matthew, Father Anthony & Father Shaiju for celebrating with us.  2023 Sacramental dates will be published in next week’s Newsletter.

Learning and Teaching News

Our school is currently working on a strategic transition to an approach to Literacy instruction known as Structured Literacy. This research and evidence-based approach is grounded in the Sciences of Reading and Learning, and we believe that making this shift will improve Literacy outcomes for all students. This will be a major focus for Years 3-6 next year with Foundation-Year 2 taking on some aspects, while still teaching Structured Synthetic Phonics through the InitiaLit program.

In 2023 we will be working in partnership with Catholic Education Ballarat and other diocesan schools who are also making this change to practise.

Prep Unit News

This week in Religion the Prep students have been comparing The Birth of Jesus and how he had lots of visitors and received presents to their own birth stories. We ask that you talk to your child about how you celebrated their birth and some of the very special gifts they received. We will be drawing and writing about this in class next week. If you wish to send in a photo of your child with their special gift, please email it to your child’s teacher by Monday.

Reminders:

• Sounds to continue practising with your child/ren at home: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, r, f, o, c, d, h, e, n, g, l, k, u, b, j, w, ck, ll, ff, ss, sh, ee, qu, z, ch, y, v, x, wh, th, oo (as in moon), oo (as in book), ng and ay.
• Learn all the tricky words at the back of the reading diary.
• There will be NO more library borrowing for 2022 - all library books are to be returned to school Monday.
• This week (week 9) will be our last week of home reading.

Show and tell reminder for this coming Thursday = even week.

Junior Unit News

Another week closer to Christmas and the excitement is building. Our students are a bubble of energy when discussing Christmas and the season of Advent.

This Sunday we light the first purple Advent Candle representing ‘Hope’- We Light This Candle- Hope by Andrew Chinn (Advent, 1st Sunday, Prophets' Candle- Hope) Students have been enhancing their knowledge of Advent and the meaning behind the Advent wreath.

Borrowing finishes for our students this Friday to allow students time to return all books to the school library. Daily reading will still be happening in our classrooms and nightly reading at home is warmly welcomed. Please contact your child’s teacher if you require school library books to pursue at home reading. All school library books are required to be brought back ASAP please. 

This week, students will receive a note regarding the end of year fun day. SIMON permission will need to be completed by parents to ensure students are able to attend. 

CONGRATULATIONS to our Year Two students who received the Sacrament Reconciliation for the first time this week. 

Our school End of Year concert will take place on Thursday 8th December. It would be lovely to see as many Junior Unit students there as possible. Each class will be performing a Christmas Song. Everyone in the crowd has the opportunity to join in and sing along.

Middle Unit News

As we are getting closer to the end of the year we are asking students in the Middle Unit to please bring in a plastic or green bag for our end of year clean up to send home books and folders. These can be bought in at any time and your child’s teacher will set them aside ready for the final days of term. 

This week permissions for our End of Year Fun Day were made available on PAM. Please ensure you have responded for this event. Details of this event can be found on PAM. Parents have also received an email and hard copy of this note. 

Don’t forget to be checking Seesaw to see some awesome work from your child!

Senior Unit News

Year Six Graduation Dinner

The Year 6 Graduation Dinner will be held at Willow and Ivie on Monday December the 12th.  You can access the menu options for your child and pay for their meal using CDF Pay. Please complete this by Friday December 2nd.

Year Six Kris Kringle

Next week, your child will bring home a note explaining how Kris Kringle will work in the Year Six classrooms this year. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher.

Senior Unit Fun Day

Next week you will receive information regarding our End of Year Fun Day. The students will spend part of the day on Tuesday, December 13th at the Merbein Pool and then be provided with lunch when they return to school. Please keep an eye out for this on PAM where you will be able to give permission for your child/ren to attend.

Year 5 St Joseph’s College Visit

Next Tuesday the Year 5s are visiting St Joseph’s College to take part in their STEM program. The Year 5s are very excited for this event and are looking forward to seeing all of the amazing STEM projects that their students have put together. A reminder that students are to attend school as normal. We will walk over to the Enright Campus on Twelfth Street at 11:30am. Students are to wear their PE uniform and lunch and drinks will be provided. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher.

Library

Scholastic Book Club Issue #8 has been sent and will hopefully arrive within a week or two to be handed out or left at the office for collection. 

ALL children’s books are to be returned to school NO LATER than Friday 2nd December. If you are unable to find a book, please email on wcollins@shmildura.catholic.edu.au to let me know. 

In the Library this week, children in the Middle Unit have begun making a character profile for a favourite book character. Other year levels have listened to the story “Sunraysia Sun”, written by local first -time author Alison McGann, and illustrated their own picture of The Sunraysia Sun.

Year 5 students have been able to share their Buddy Books with their buddy on Wednesday. This was a lovely experience for both our Senior buddies and their new friends!

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Students of the Week

• Dourim - Leah Schofield
• Narooma -  Alyssa Calis
• Illawarra -  Ryder Alderton and Daisy Barber
• Myalla - Thomas Simonetta
• Yongana - Mischa Byra
• Mootwingee - Sienna Caldarelli
• Amaroo - Ariana Simonetta
• Eumeralla - Calisto Maher
• Minga - Stella Brown
• Barramunga - Grace Frasca
• Waminda - Hudson Rodi
• Kyema - Gracie Baird
• Karinya - Tessa Dean
• Bundaleer - James Driscoll
• Wahroonga - Leo Golding
• Cooinda - Ilario Frasca

Ray White Positive Behaviour Awards

Responsible- Kasey Waters

Respectful - Nate Wade

Responsible - Saige Jordan