Term 1, 2024 Weeks 10 & 11

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Friends,

The end of Term 1 has arrived upon us incredibly quickly, and I wish to thank each and every one of you for your connection to our school and for the commitment and hard work you show every day in supporting your children to be ready for learning.

As we reflect on the past eleven weeks, we can see how lucky we have been to undertake our programs and all our school events have unfolded as planned during the term. This week our teachers continue to work hard to undertake their extensive planning for term 2, and we are hopeful that this will continue into next term. We look forward to welcoming back Mrs Scott.

We end a fantastic term that has seen some significant accomplishments with our Kindergarten students beginning their schooling and settling into their class routines and learning with their peers. The entire student group has begun their learning with rigour and intent and they have an incredible fascination and desire to learn. Congratulations to the staff and the whole school community who have all worked together to make this happen, with ongoing support to ensure all students' needs are being catered for, as some students have required additional support to ensure that they were ready to learn.

As you wander throughout the school, you can certainly see and hear the sound of students engaging in their learning and completing the day to day tasks. The time is right to refine our pedagogical practices, during this period of Curriculum Reform. The focus of this year is to support classroom practitioners to embed the new syllabuses, develop expert learners and create high levels of learning for all. Our teachers have worked tirelessly to make this happen and for that I applaud and thank them.

It was a great opportunity to meet with all parents this term to discuss your child’s learning. The feedback I have received from these interviews has been overwhelmingly positive.  The relationship between Parents and Teachers is crucial for quality teaching and learning.  Research clearly demonstrates that the significant influence of parental engagement with their child’s learning, results in higher educational achievements. These studies demonstrate that the children are more likely to develop positive self-esteem, be motivated to learn, be positive about school and achieve good grades. When schools and teachers operate from a belief of working in partnership, focusing on ways of connecting with parents to support what they are doing at home, and lay the foundations for a collaboration in which the actions of parents and teachers complement each other, good educational outcomes are achieved.

Thank you all, for your support this term and I wish you all a safe, restful and enjoyable break with your families.

Kind regards,

Jennifer Baker

Acting Principal

STUDENT ATTENDANCE

Students are expected to have above a 95% school attendance rate because days missed can add up to years lost. That’s why making sure your child comes to school every single day (unless genuinely sick) is important.

Maintaining a high school attendance rate, ideally above 95%, is crucial for a student’s academic success and overall development. Here are several reasons why consistent school attendance is important:

• Continuous Learning. Regular attendance ensures that students are consistently exposed to new information and lessons. This continuity is essential for effective learning, as concepts build upon each other over time.
• Development of Learning Skills. School attendance is not only about acquiring knowledge but also about developing essential learning skills. These skills, including critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration, are honed through active participation in the learning process.
• Establishment of Routine. Consistent attendance helps students establish a routine, promoting organisational skills and time management. These skills are transferable to various aspects of life and contribute to overall success.

Important Dates

Term 1 2024

11-12/4 - PSSA Swimming

12/4 - Last day of Term 1

25/4 ANZAC Day

Term 2 

29/4 - School Resumes

1/5 - ANZAC Day & Catholic Schools Week Liturgy

2/5 - Spelling Bee Years 3-6

6-10/5 - Catholic Schools Week

7/5 - Dio Cross Country

8-10/5 - Christian Living Camp Year 6

P&F Meeting Dates 2024

Term 1

Week 2 – 6th February

Week 6 – 5th March AGM -  Followed by meeting

Week 10 – 2nd April (additional meeting to plan for Dio cross country)

Term 2

Week 3 – 14th May

Week 6 – 4th June

Term 3

Week 2 – 30th July

Week 6 – 27th August

Term 4

Week 2 – 22nd October

Week 6 – 19th November

Annual School Improvement Survey

The Annual School Improvement Survey (2024) will be sent to all members of the school community on Thursday 2 May. The beginning of Term 2.

The purpose of this survey is to provide all stakeholders in our school community a 'voice' in how our school operates. The survey is straightforward and your responses are collected, collated and used to inform the school where we are operating well and areas where we may need to improve. This is an important tool that all schools in our Diocese participate in each year. Data from it forms and guides our annual improvement plans for the following year. I invite all members of our school community to be active in your participation with this survey.  

The survey will be 'live' for two weeks from the initial survey 'open' date. Please take the time to carefully respond and provide valuable feedback about our school. 

The Closing date is the 16th of May

Reminders for parents

-Please remember that no supervision is provided at school before 8:30am 

- Please send fruit cut-up in a separate container, ready for students to have at fruit break.

Winter Uniform

Term 2 -  As the weather is very changeable during Autumn, we will have a three week change over period for the uniform. 

All Students must be in full Winter Uniform by MONDAY 20th May 2024.

Please note the following guidelines below.

School Uniform List

 Hair - Boys and Girls: 

Long hair (below collar length) is to be worn tied up

 Ribbons/scrunchies should be maroon

No hair adornments should be worn

 Jewellery/Nail Polish:   A wristwatch, religious cross or medallion, plain stud earrings or sleepers are permitted. Any other form of jewellery is unacceptable as is the use of nail polish.

In winter maroon scarves and maroon beanies may be worn during exceptionally cold periods.  

Your assistance in supporting the standard of the school uniform would be appreciated.

Term 1 Learning Highlights

What have you learnt at school this Term?

SPB4L Focus

Weeks 10 & 11

We speak respectfully to our parents, carers, teachers and classmates. 

Kindergarten

Warm and Fuzzy Party

Our class had a wonderful time at our recent warm and fuzzy party.

Religion

During religion we learnt how to make clay pots like they did in Jesus’s time! 

Easter Hats

We had so much fun making our Easter Hats and joining in with the Easter Hat Parade.

Science

We loved getting outside and investigating in our science lesson.  We found lots of different living things both plants and animals.

Year 1 & 2

Stage 1 Science and Technology Unit focused on the Living World and the features of living things, their environment and how they change and their life cycles. Students investigate how plants and animals are used to satisfy our needs for food and fibre. This unit developed students’ understanding of how living things and their environment play a central role in the support for and survival of humans. 

We watched a butterfly life cycle and how they grow and change, made grass heads and also had a baby guessing competition.

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Year 3 & 4

The last day of Term 1 we enjoyed some time working with our friends in Kindergarten, Year 1, Year 2.

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RFF with Mrs Pettet

Recently one of the children asked me what RFF stands for. In case you don’t know, it means ‘Release From Face To Face.’ One of my job roles at Sacred Heart is to release classroom teachers from teaching time so that they can work on their teaching programs, resource collection, lesson preparation or anything that relates to their teaching role. For Kindergarten, I take them for Creative Arts. Creative Arts encompasses Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Dance. For every other class, I teach Music, Drama and Dance during their teacher’s release time.

During the second half of this term, Kindergarten has created artwork connected to the picture books ‘Five Little Ducks,’ ‘Elma the Elephant,’ ‘Edward the Emu’ and coloured an animal mask to use during Drama. They have also been exploring sounds in their environments and experimented with utilising various percussion instruments to create environmental soundscapes.

In Drama, Kindergarten has used pre-made puppets, toys and their own body parts to create shadow puppets behind large white sheets. They have also coloured in an animal mask to wear whilst joining Mrs Pettet on secretly entering a museum to steal, or should I say ‘borrow,’ treasures displayed throughout. Still in role, the ‘animals’ introduced themselves and told the class about the treasures they found. It is without a doubt that each and everyone of them is becoming increasingly more confident with stepping into a role to act in front of their classmates.

Year 1/2 have also been creating noise by creating in pairs their own 30second composition using sound sources in the classroom that are not a percussion instrument. The students' compositions included incorporating different note lengths played for the count of one, two, and four beats. They also had to include variations in dynamics in relation to playing at different volumes, including getting louder or softer. Year 1/2 has also had some fun with shadow puppetry and masks. They’ve created their own shadow puppet skits, and worn masks to create freeze frames, to mold each other into mask-wearing statues and improvised short skits. It has been wonderful to witness the children work together to entertain each other including me - Mrs Pettet.

Unfortunately, in recent weeks, Yr 3 to 6 Music, Drama, and Dance lessons have clashed with events such as the Easter Hat Parade and the School Cross Country. Nevertheless, there have been some lessons on learning how to play the ukulele and exploring puppetry through the use of self-created paper plate puppets and shadow puppetry.

The photos below show some of the artwork completed, as well as some Drama work in action.

The elephant and duck artworks were created by our friend Charlie. Charlie is certainly missed by his Kindergarten classmates and the staff at Sacred Heart. He really did make Drama activities come alive! I thought it would be nice to include something he created and  to let him know that we often think and talk of him.

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ANZAC DAY - Thursday 25th

Students, Parents and ex-students are invited and encouraged to join our school community for the march. We will assemble above the post office near the old NRMA building at 10:15am. The students are to wear full winter uniform and a hat, please.

P&F DIOCESAN CROSS COUNTRY RAFFLE

Maths Online

Macquarie Regional Library Holiday Program

Step Up Dance Academy Holiday Activities

Step Up Dance Academyis running some holiday dance programs in their Mudgee Studio.