15th March  2019

Dear Parents and Carers

Last week was the first Sunday of Lent. The responsorial psalm struck me as a very special one for Lent: “Be with me Lord when I am in trouble.”

It can be used as a quiet prayer in times of need, as a guiding thought each day or as a Lenten theme. The children have responded well to their Lenten Challenges. Some families now have beautiful prayer spaces at home. Please check out with your child the Lenten challenge for the week.

This Sunday is St Patrick’s Day and we invite you to the Family Mass at 9am at Sacred Heart. At the end of mass there will be a farewell morning tea for Father Sebastian who is leaving our community to study in Rome for the next five years.

Many thanks to Mrs Petersen and the students of 1 Gold. We have had to relocate the class to the library as we have a leaking pipe which is  unfortunately encased in concrete. XRay machines this week have been unable to locate the leak and more machinery has been brought in today to attempt to locate the leak. Sydney Catholic Schools have been very supportive as have our builders.

For your information we have a number of confirmed cases of Influenza A within our school community. We will be encouraging good hand hygiene and careful coughing (into our arm). Please keep your child at home if they are developing any flu like symptoms.

There will be a Winter School Uniform POP-Up shop at school on Tuesday the 9th of April.  Entry to school is via the main entrance to visit the POP-Up in the senior undercroft from 7.45am until 9.30am.

National Day of Action

Today our students joined in the National Day of Action against Bullying. Year Six held lunchtime activities for students to encourage and model  friendly and productive play. We reinforced the idea of Bystanders becoming Upstanders by taking an action appropriate to their age and stage of development.

In light of recent events in our community and the church I feel that a proactive response to these events is to inform ourselves of the best ways to keep our children safe and a commitment from us all to do so.

Some of the things parents can do are:(and school teaches in child protection lessons)

• Use proper body names and be open and willing to talk about our bodies and sex. Knowledge helps keep your child safe.
• Know which are our private parts (ones covered by swimmers) and that no one should touch without permission.
• Discuss the difference between good touch and bad touch.

• Explain your child’s right to say NO even to an adult.
• Have your child name 5 trusted adults who they would go to if they had a problem. Explain if the first one doesn’t take action then move to the next until they listen and take action.
• Encourage children to trust their feelings.Talk about feeling safe and unsafe and work together on plans of what to do if they feel unsafe.
• Teach the difference between safe and unsafe secrets. The only ones that are ok is if someone gets a nice surprise.
• Discuss what the children have learnt in Child Protection lessons at school. Child Protection week is in September .

Our school Protective Behaviour lessons are taught in September. I have included a copy of the note that is sent out each year regarding these lessons. Please have a look at the lessons that each grade is taught and you will see the age appropriate  knowledge that each child can cope with. This information comes from the NSW syllabus and child protection specialists.

School Sequence of Lessons for Child Protection  LINK

Support for parents Resource

If you need any support with these resources or with your family please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Spring Fair

Thank you to Emma Lund and Katie O’Brien who will lead the committee for the Spring Fair 2019. We are grateful to the many parents who have already committed to helping. This is a child centred event that happens in Spring.

Sacred Heart Celebrates

Over 250 tickets have been sold to this event. We’ll see you there!

To date, the upcoming compulsory Years 2-6 Athletics Carnival & Cross Country Trial received good permissions to attend, thank you.  Please see the tabs lower down in this newsletter for completing your Online Permission Forms if it is still oustanding.  We will run a Volunteer Induction at the Athletics Carnival commence at the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation Wakehurst Pkwy, North Narrabeen.

Regards

Julie Caldwell