Sacred Heart Primary School, Cunnamulla eNewsletter

Principal Report

Welcome to Week 4! This week we warmly welcome more visitors to our school, Ms Alana Deehan (TCS Speech Language Pathologist Advisor) and Cath Kimmorley (TCS Education Officer). Cath and Alana continue to support our teachers develop their knowledge of explicit teaching of vocabulary through observations, feedback, modelling and professional development. During our student briefing, we gathered student voice on their current understanding of the meaning of vocabulary. Some student responses across the classes included:

Vocabulary has to do with words
It helps you to learn more, to read more fluently and write better
Vocab helps us to upgrade our sentences
Vocab needs to be rich and robust
It is fancy words
Vocab helps me to comprehend and make meaning of a text

We were really impressed with our student responses and look forward to seeing how their vocabulary knowledge continues to grow and develop over the rest of the school year. You might like to ask your child what strategies they are trying to use to find out the meaning of an unfamiliar word!

Staffing Updates

I am excited to announce that Michael and I are expecting our second child in December this year. I will continue working in the Co-Principal role until Week 6 of Term 4, until I have to head away on maternity leave.

I can now announce that we will have three teachers sadly relocating at the end of this year, Miss Bretherton, Mrs Kindelan and Miss Lewis. Miss Bretherton will be relocating to St Joseph’s Primary School in Chinchilla, Mrs Kindelan and her husband Brody will be relocating to the sunny town of Mackay and Miss Lewis will be moving closer to family and working at St Joseph’s Primary School in Millmerran. All three teachers will leave a positive mark on the school and students and we wish them all the best for their new journeys ahead.

Kindy to Prep Transitions

This term we have begun our formal Kindy to Prep Transition process. This process has been developed based on research to ensure our Pre-Prep students are comfortable and confident to begin Prep in their new school. The first step in this process, involves building relationships between the Kindy students and key Sacred Heart staff members, Prep students and senior buddies. Mrs Haig and I have had the pleasure of reading the Kindy students a story, My First Day. They were keen to hear about the things they will need to have ready to start school!

Our Prep students have also visited the Kindy this week for a play date. They enjoyed playing outdoors and making new friends.

Key dates this term for Pre-Prep Transitions include:

Monday 29^th and Wednesday 31^st July: Prep Teacher, Miss Sophie Walker and the Prep students visit the Kindy to read a story and build relationships with Kindy students.

Tuesday 20^th and Wednesday 21^st August: Year 5 Students visit the Kindy to get to know their Kindy buddy and complete an ‘All About Me’ activity.
Tuesday 10^th September 9:30am: Sacred Heart Teddy Bears Picnic. Kindy students and Pre-Preps visit Sacred Heart to participate in a Teddy Bears picnic day with our Prep students.

In Term 4 we will host transition days where the Kindy students will attend 4 transition mornings at Sacred Heart. Further information about these days will be shared during Prep interviews.

NAPLAN Results

NAPLAN test results for students in Years 3 and 5 have arrived and are available to be picked up from your child’s classroom teacher.

Parents Partnership Forum Meeting

Our next PPF meeting will be held on Tuesday 20^th August @ 5.30pm in the Staffroom. We would love to see some new families come and join our school PPF group.

Mrs Polly Goodman

Co-Principal

Prep

We have reached Week 4 and the Prep students have well and truly dived back into learning, full steam ahead!

In English, we have started to look at the storybook ‘Giraffes can’t dance’ by Giles Andrea and we have had a deep investigation into vocabulary, as the book has a lot of unfamiliar words. The students have been so curious about new words and their meanings, it's been great to have a guess and then discover the true definition. I am very proud of the prep student's effort!

In mathematics, we are still investigating numbers to 20, with emphasis on a new number to explore each day. We have a big focus on handwriting and scribing numbers clearly with our helpful rhymes. We have also started to incorporate a daily review, to refresh our knowledge of numbers in all aspects of number, algebra, measurement, space and statistics. It is great to see the students' knowledge expanding, as they make connections between different topics to explore.

We have also started our connected unit in science! We are exploring plants and animals, with an emphasis on their defining external features. I brought in several different items, including; lavender, cotton, leaves, a kiwi fruit, an orange and a stuffed animal, for students to engage their senses of sight, smell and touch and explore in a ‘mystery box’. I was very proud of the students for articulating how they used their senses to make predictions and observations in science!

Soon, we will also explore the creation story in religion, with connections to animals and plants.

Miss Sophie Walker

Prep Teacher

Year 1

Welcome to week 4! We have had a busy 2 weeks in Year 1 as we continue with our learning. In English we have been reading The Imagineer by Christopher Cheng and exploring a range of vocabulary. We have been identifying different types of words in the text and using these to create our own sentences. The Year 1 students have been working very hard on creating grammatically correct sentences and improving them by adding Wonderful Words to them.

In Maths we have continued grouping and sharing collections of items into equal groups. We have used a variety of different manipulatives during our learning and the students have been drawing their groups with chalk on the carpet to clearly show the number of groups they have created. Our other concept this term is measurement. We have engaged in a variety of hands on activities to practice measuring the length of objects and shapes. Our next steps are to begin recording our results and comparing them to come to a conclusion.

In Religion, we have continued exploring the story of Mary and why she is important to us. So far we have explored the visit from Archangel Gabriel and Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. The students have found this very interesting and are showing a great understanding of these stories and why we learn about them. This will lead into the ways we honour Mary today both in our school and our church community.

Our Integrated Unit has seen us continue investigating push and pull. We have learnt how to plan and conduct experiments to explore our hypothesis. The students have been using their bodies to explore push and pull and how we use these forces in our everyday lives, particularly to move our bodies and other objects.

We look forward to showing you all we have learnt in another fortnight.

Miss Ellie Charlton

Year 1 Teacher

Year 2

Welcome to week 4 of Term 3. We have been very busy over the last two weeks deep diving into our learning. In Maths, Year 2 has continued to improve on their fractions and multiplication by applying these skills to simple and complex questions. We are continuing to use real life examples to assist with learning. We have been collaboratively learning to grasp fractions and multiplications, and i am super proud to say that each child is smashing it and have been encouraging each other immensely.

In English, we have started learning about Narratives, to begin we have started to pull apart stories by learning about the start, middle and end of a story. We have spoken about what a good and a bad narrative is and what that would include. These have included the stories “Uno’s Garden”, “Windows” and “Where the forest meets the sea”. We are now starting to watch the Olympics and we will be incorporating this into our narrative assessment later in the term.

On Monday, the teachers went to Quilpie to Bishops Inservice Day and learnt about faith, hope and love in our community. We then had a liturgy by the 5 / 6 class and had class rotations to learn about how we can action these in our school. The 3 / 4 joined us to do an activity on ‘crumpled hearts’ that helped the students to understand how their words can affect each other in a negative and positive way.

We are looking forward to a lot more learning and fun over the next coming weeks!

Miss Ailie Lewis & Miss Grace Carter

Year 2 Teachers

Year 3/4

Welcome to week four! The 3/4 students have worked very hard this fortnight and participated in lots of school and extracurricular activities.

Last week the students participated in the catholic education week open morning. We learned about our place in the catholic schools community. Students investigated and researched the diocese of Toowoomba Catholic schools and how we are an important part of this community.

Last Friday, some students represented Sacred Heart at the districts athletics carnival at the Cunnamulla State School. The students all represented their school with pride and showed excellent sportsmanship and participation. Congratulations to your students in their events.

In Maths students continue looking at fractions and discussing equivalent fractions and how to represent fractions. We have created a range of art representations of fractions which are on display in the classroom

Students have also looked very deeply into the three tiers of vocabulary. Students are very engaged and able to define new and interesting words which will be used through all areas of learning. This has been a very interesting learning area and she didn’t already demonstrating a stronger knowledge of vocabulary.

Have a great week!

Miss Aimee Bretherton

Year 3/4 Teacher

Year 5/6

Welcome to week 4! It has been a busy week here in 5/6! We have fine-tuned our learning dispositions while undergoing some challenging academic tasks. We also prepared and presented a liturgy for Catholic Education week and hosted a community trivia night fundraiser. I would like to again thank you to everyone who helped to make the trivia night possible.

In English, the students have been learning about hybrid genres. We reviewed textual features of informative and imaginative texts, analysed navigational pathways and worked on expanding our use of tier two vocabulary to create more vivid descriptions. The students continued to practice their fluency skills, spelling rules and vocabulary meaning making routines.

In Mathematics, we continued to consolidate our number knowledge during daily number talks and mental math activities. Perimeter and area are at the forefront of our minds as we work to determine missing sides and calculate the area of composite shapes.

Religious studies this term centre around Jesus’ mission to teach us how to be a good person. We have begun to study scripture which has helped us to identify Christian values of love, faith and hope.

Drama has been a highlight over the past two weeks as the students have taken part in a process spy school drama, whereby, they act as their created spy every lesson. The students have developed voices, backstories and movement skills to represent their spy character. This has been linked to design technologies, which has had the students designing and constructing spy gadgets.

Last Friday many students participated in districts athletics carnival. All students represented the school with pride. They showcased a great sense of belonging throughout sporting events and were humble when accepting their awards and to all students who participated! Congratulations Sacred Heart for winner on the day and to our Age Champions:

2015 Boys - Lake Wilson
2013 Girls - Penny Schmidt

Mrs Abby Kindelan

Year 5/6 Teacher

Birthdays

PPF catering Variety Bash

On Monday 12th August the PPF are catering for 210 bashers here at school. We are looking for volunteers to help with preparing and serving food and cooking pumpkin soup. If you are able to help out, can you please let Mrs Crick know at the office.

School Photos - Tuesday 13th August 2024

On Tuesday 13th August will be our school photo day. Can all envelopes be back to school by Friday 9th August. Students are to wear their every day uniform (Green Shirt, Green Skorts/Shorts, white socks and black shoes)

Book Week Dress Up - Friday 16th August

Book Fair - Monday 19th - Thursday 22nd

Choir

Dance

2025 Prep Enrolment

Uniform Policy

The school uniform represents the pride we have for our children and our school. A smart, neat and user-friendly uniform encourages the children to take pride in their appearance and in the school. The school uniform requirements:

Hats: Our school policy is ‘NO HAT – NO PLAY’. A green school hat must be worn and can be purchased form the office.

Jewellery: The only jewellery allowed is one set of fine studs or sleepers, a chain with some form of religious significance and watches.

Nail Polish: Nail polish is not to be worn.

Hair: Children’s hair must be neat and tidy. If hair is below the collar it needs to be tied back with appropriate white or green accessories. It is expected that hairstyles reflect the code of dress required by the school. The colouring of hair and unusual hairstyles are not acceptable.

Tuition Fees

Term 3 Fees have been sent home receipting is done up until 30th June 2024, can these please be paid by Friday 6th September. At Sacred Heart, we have several payment options for your convenience: Cash, Cheque, ETPOS, Direct Debit and Centrepay. For further details on these payment options please see the school office.

Student Protection

At Sacred Heart the safety and wellbeing of our students is our highest priority. All children should grow up free of violence or exploitation and be able to learn in a safe and supported environment. Schools have a number of specific child protection reporting obligations that are detailed in our Student Protection Processes and Guidelines.

It is a legislative requirement that all non-state schools have at least two nominated staff members to whom a student can report the behaviour of another staff member that the student considers inappropriate. We call these specially trained staff members School Student Protection Contacts, or SSPCs. Each SSPC has been nominated by the principal in recognition of their integrity, approachability and knowledge in the area of student protection. Whilst students are encouraged to speak up to any trusted adult in the school community, it is important that they know they can access these specific staff members at any time should they have worries, queries or concerns. You will have noticed posters throughout the school depicting our current SSPCs. The SSPCs are also published on our school website along with information about our student protection processes. In everything we do at Sacred Heart Primary School student safety is our highest priority, therefore the SSPCs at our school are key personnel in our overall safeguarding processes.

If a student wants to talk to someone about harm, abuse or inappropriate behaviour toward themselves or others, they can speak to a trusted staff member or one of our School Student Protection Contacts (SSPCs). The SSPCs receive additional training and are identified in the student protection posters displayed around the school.

Summary documents have been developed for parents and caregivers about our student protection obligations and our broader strategy for maintaining safe school environments.

Further information on all of the above topics can be found on the Toowoomba Catholic Schools website at the link below:

Embed Link - https://www.twb.catholic.edu.au/parents-and-community/student-protection/

Our Schools Student Protection Contacts are:

Miss Ailie Lewis (APRE)
Mrs Carolyn Crick (Administration Officer)
Mr Jesse Kupper (School Guidance Counsellor)
Mrs Cara Haig (Co-Principal)
Mrs Pollyanna Goodman (Co-Principal)

Tuckshop

You can ONLY order Tuckshop on the App. Please down load the Flexischools App.

Flexischools App

The tuckshop uses the App called Flexischools. This will make ordering and paying for Tuckshop easier. Attached are the instructions to download and use the App. Make sure you update your child's class name.