Dear Parents and Carers

Over the last week leaders in Sydney Catholic Schools attended a leadership retreat with a focus on wellbeing. The sessions were run by SCS staff and external coaches. A few of the aspects that I found interesting were to look at the attributes of high performing teams (I am proud to say that Sacred Heart Mosman “team members” or staff tick almost everyone of those boxes!) After our recent goal setting work with teachers and students it was interesting to look at the different type of goals we can set for ourselves - the presenters who had coached many high performance athletes spoke in terms of achievement goals (winning a gold medal or attaining a position in life or a company) compared to identity goals - this really resonated with many of the leaders at the conference as we are constantly reviewed as schools on our achievements in external tests and measurements (which can leave a void when you achieve your best). We would hope in future that our identity goal for our students and community members is to be the best Sacred Heart student or community member they can possibly be - to be faith filled, to be generous and to be courageous - this is an identity goal we can hope that we all strive for.

The whole school is abuzz with their Science Week learning. Science Week has become a big focus for the school and we are proud of the work we are doing in this field as well as the strong link with sustainability. Many thanks to Mrs Petersen who is the driving force behind our Science Week work. Please see her report in a later part of the newsletter.

Please see Mrs Lozina’s wrap up of the Vinnies sleepout. So far $1500 has been raised by our community to support The St Vincent de Paul homelessness appeal. The link is still live in Mrs Lozina’s Heartfelt if your family would like to donate. 

We are continuing our appeal for St Vincent de Paul through our Book Week (held in the last week of the term). On the 23rd of September, our last day of school this term we will be holding a pyjama day (please note: no dress ups or parade this year). This will be a donation day (via Qkr) for St Vincent de Paul because they support families in very difficult situations and help make their dreams of having a safe place come true. This links with the theme of Dreaming with Eyes Open. Parents are invited that morning to assembly for a cup of coffee donated by McGrath Mosman and a reading picnic afterwards.  Please see Mrs Jago’s note for all the details.

Our Father’s Day preparations are in full swing. Please purchase your breakfast as soon as possible and book dad or a special friend in for the morning. We would love all our dads and friends to stay for assembly, prepared by Year 3.

Please note that our Parent Engagement - Everyday ways to manage Anxiety and Peaceful Kids is tomorrow. Peaceful Kids gives students and families the tools to cope with difficult situations. Being able to have the ability to stay calm, to quieten a busy mind is a great help in any crisis or difficult situation a child encounters. Being able to teach them how to do this before they encounter problems means they are well on their way to being equipped to face many of life’s challenges.  The Zoom link is:

• https://scscatholic.zoom.us/j/93167645966  
• Password: parents

Next week’s Parent Engagement session (24th August 9.30am) is on Mathematics - multiplication and division.

Thank you to the parents and families who were able to attend Father Mark’s first mass and the Year 1 mass and Blessing of the Basketball season. We have also held two whole school masses over the last week. The whole school attended the Mary of the Cross mass for Mary McKillop’s feast day and the whole school attended the mass for The Assumption. Yesterday we also had about 120 children here for our First Communion Retreat Day. Thank you to Miss Jackson who coordinates our very busy Religious Education schedule.

Best wishes to our Netball teams playing in semi-finals this weekend - SH 01 and SH 05. 

Our netball conveners would love to have photos of all our teams as part of their end of season wrap. Please send them to shmnetball@gmail.com

Regards

Julie Caldwell