Sacred Heart Primary School, Cunnamulla eNewsletter

APRE Report

Welcome to Week 6. We have officially hit the halfway point of Term 3. Mrs Haig and Mrs Goodman spent week 5 away at Principals forum in Chinchilla and we are excited to hear about all the wonderful successes and learnings from different schools in our diocese that the principals shared.

This fortnight we have continued to delve into vocabulary knowledge, our students have been demonstrating curiosity with learning new and challenging vocabulary across all the different learning areas. Students are challenging themselves to explore and understand tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary and begin applying these new words in their conversations and writing pieces.

This week on Friday we are also having our annual Book Week Dress Up Day. This year's theme is “Reading is Magic!”. Thank you to Mrs Fett for organising and helping us get our ideas and to Mrs Tammy Hickey for coming and judging our dress up parade.

Variety Bash Tour

On Monday we welcomed visitors from the NSW/ACT Variety B to B Bash . The Variety Bash is Australia's longest running and most iconic charity motoring event. Known for it's flare and fanfare. To show our appreciation for the bash bringing their charity through Cunnamulla, Sacred Heart hosted lunch for all the travelling members of the NSW/ACT branch. We were very excited to see the showcase of amazing vehicles and the importance of their fundraising efforts for children across Australia.

Thank you to Mrs Crick for her amazing effort in organising the day and being the pillar of support of all of us here at Sacred Heart ensuring the day ran smoothly and to Deadly Choices and parents who helped out on the day. Thank you to all the staff at Sacred Heart for the time and effort they gave to help our students with their performance practices. Thank you to Miss Bretherton for her dance routine and dance practices with our students, it was an amazing routine. Thank you to Miss Charlton and Mrs Kindelan for their support and guidance with our school choir, the students sang beautifully.

Sporting News

A big congratulations from all of Sacred Heart to Penny Schmidt who has been selected in the QLD Athletics Cross Country Team to compete in Tasmania at the Athletics Australia Cross Country Championships in October. What an exciting adventure ahead and a great achievement and reward for all her hard work.

Congratulations to Jakarlhem Munn, Henry Land and Claudia Land who all represented Sacred Heart at the Regional Cricket Trials in Roma last Thursday and Friday. All three students gave their best efforts and played extremely well. Congratulation to Henry and Claudia on making it through to play cricket at the State Championships on the Gold Coast in October.

Parents Partnership Forum Meeting

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

Miss Ailie Lewis

APRE/Teacher

Prep

I honestly can't believe it, but we are over half through the term! I feel like I say it every fortnight, but time really is flying by! The prep students have been so busy with their learning. I am so proud to say we made it to 100 days and celebrated in absolute style! We had a wonderful celebration.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve immersed ourselves in our integrated science unit on plants and animals! We’ve kicked off our plant experiment by planting grass seeds in soil, and we’ll be predicting, observing, and recording their growth. It has been fantastic to see their eager excitement every day to check if their plant has grown above the soil.

In English, the students have been thoroughly enjoying the storybook Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae. We’ve embarked on an in-depth exploration of the book’s rich vocabulary, encountering many new and unfamiliar words. The students’ curiosity has been wonderful, as they guess and then discover the true meanings of these words. I’m incredibly proud of our prep students’ efforts!

Additionally, we’ve delved into discussions about how animals move and their physical appearances. We’ve been exploring both the physical and personal attributes of animals as described in the book, making our learning experience even more engaging and insightful.

In Mathematics, we have been exploring numbers up to 20. This week, we introduced the exciting topic of data! The students have seamlessly picked up sorting, collecting, and interpreting data. We’ve also been tackling the tricky concept of ordinal numbers (first, second, third).

We’re continuing to emphasise handwriting and clearly forming numbers, using helpful rhymes as guides. Additionally, our daily reviews are helping to refresh our understanding of numbers across various topics, including number, algebra, measurement, space, and statistics. It’s wonderful to see the students’ knowledge expanding as they make connections between different areas of mathematics.

Wishing that you are all doing well,

Miss Sophie Walker

Prep Teacher

Year 1

Welcome to Week 6! I can’t believe we are already halfway through Term 3! The time has been going by so quickly!

In English we have begun our first assessment task. We will be designing an invention to solve a problem we encounter on an adventure and writing a procedure explaining how to build the invention. Some of the adventures we have come up with are: flying, travelling through time, hiking in the jungle. For each adventure, we have also then come up with a problem we could encounter, some of which include: getting stuck in the past, getting lost, freezing, crashing the plane and many more. I can confidently say, these inventions will be amazing and I am so excited to see what the students come up with! As a class we have created a Time Travel Backpack which was invented for the purpose of saving us when we travel back in time and get stuck with the dinosaurs! We have been practicing how to write the procedure and over the coming weeks students will be attempting this independently.

In Maths we have begun exploring the concept of Mass in our Measurement Unit. The students enjoyed exploring how to weigh the mass of everyday objects in the classroom using informal units. The two ways we have explored are hefting (using our hands as the scales) and balance scales. We will be exploring comparative language which will allow us to compare the mass of different objects and communicate our thinking using mathematical language. We have also continued developing our Number knowledge and have moved on from equal groups into skip counting. I am excited to see how the students skip counting skills develop over the next few weeks.

There has been lots of sickness going around lately so I hope you all stay healthy and look after yourselves over the coming weeks.

Miss Ellie Charlton

Year 1 Teacher

Year 2

Welcome to week 6! We are halfway through term 3, it has gone so fast and year 2 have been having a blast.

We have been super busy doing a lot of learning in the classroom. In English, we have been studying toys and games from the past into the present. The students have enjoyed learning about how they have changed and doing comparisons. We have begun to study what toys we will bring for the ‘Night at the toy museum’ which will be in Week 10 following our connected and English unit.

Throughout maths, we have started to learn about time on an analog and digital clock. The students are beginning to become confident with reading and saying the time aloud and we are excited to see their improvement over the next couple of weeks.

We were very lucky to have the variety bash come through on Monday, it was a lot of fun welcoming people from everywhere to our school. Congratulations to the dancers and singers in the choir that did such a fabulous job. A huge congratulations to all of the students who were in the Auslan song that went so fabulously!

We have Book Week Dress Up this Friday. The students (and parents) will be creating some magical costumes. Thank you to all that will help make the dress up day magical!

Miss Ailie Lewis & Miss Grace Carter

Year 2 Teachers

Year 3/4

Happy Week 6! Another fortnight of fun and learning is done with my excitement to come as we start the downhill decent of Term 3!

Last week, students took a deep dive into all learning areas and are starting to demonstrate connections across the subjects. A real point of interest for the students this term has been vocabulary. With regular discussions about words, the students are demonstrating an eagerness to learn more and are curious to find definitions for unknown words. The vocabulary wall and tiered vocabulary display encourages the students to use more sophisticated vocabulary in their reading and writing.

In Maths, we began looking at algorithms. The students participated in a range of activities and began looking at Excel. We learnt how to input formulas and control them, and spread them across our document. This process and skills we learnt definitely tested some patience. We are continuing our work on algorithms this week and will continue to discuss fractions.

In Religion, the students began a discussion around morality and why is it important to us. It was interesting to see how the students used their skills from deconstructing vocabulary to deconstruct the word morality. We discussed how morality talks about good and bad choices and the feelings associated with these choices. We read and deconstructed the Decalogue and compared this to our own experiences.

On Monday, we welcomed the Variety Bash to our school. A particularly special shoutout to the Sacred Heart Dance Group! I was so proud of all the students hard work and perseverance to learn and practice this dance. You performed so well and I am very proud of all of your efforts. Thank you to all the parents as well for organising the students costumes!

Have a great week!

Miss Aimee Bretherton

Year 3/4 Teacher

Year 5/6

Welcome to Week 6! Last fortnight, during English lessons the students truly amazed me with their engagement during vocabulary lessons. They showcased their growing skills by using sophisticated vocabulary in their writing, impressing everyone with their creativity and command of language.

In Math, students explored 3D shapes and practiced drawing nets. They also continued to refine their multiplication and division strategies, demonstrating great progress and understanding.

As part of our exciting spy unit, students completed their gadget designs in Design Technologies. They also directed and produced advertisements during Drama lessons. We can’t wait to see the final productions this week!

Students have been diving deep into the Australian government, learning about the three levels: local, state, and federal. Year 6 students are particularly excited to see this in action during our visit to Parliament House next week.

A reminder that Year 6 camp is happening next week! We will be leaving this Sunday, August 18th, for a fun-filled week. Our itinerary includes visits to a koala sanctuary, Parliament House, a science centre, an art museum, laser tag, St. Helena Island for a historical tour, and ending at Tangalooma Island where we will feed the dolphins.

There is still a lot of learning left for the term, so please ensure all students maintain high attendance. We look forward to another fantastic fortnight of learning and adventures!

Mrs Abby Kindelan

Year 5/6 Teacher

Class Awards

Birthdays

Variety Bash

On Monday 12th August Variety - the Children's Charity NSW/ACT visited our school. We had about 100 cars and a helicopter. Sacred Heart PPF catered. A big thank-you to Deadly Choices and all Parents who helped out. The students were also lucky to have a superhero called Super Hubert. Super Hubert is a magician who performed for the students.

Book Week Dress - Friday 16th August

Book Fair - Week 7 Monday 19th - Thursday 22nd August

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, 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.