Dear Parents and Carers

Handball for Dads and Kids is on again in Week 8. Friday 2nd of December at 8am. 

Tell the boss you will be late again!

The Christmas Fair - 4 more sleeps!! See you at the Fair…Sunday 27th of November. 

This beloved tradition is back with rides, giant slides, showbags and great food. There is a lot of communication at the moment so please take time to read them all so you don't miss out. Many thanks to Carolina Briscoe for managing the communication across the Class Whatsapp groups and thank you to the class parents who manage communication across the grades. Many parents have said they could not manage without that invaluable help.

Congratulations to our Big Blue Award recipients.

Many thanks to McGrath Real Estate - Claudia Portale for her continued support of Sacred Heart and our very special Big Blue Awards.

KG - Aleksander Banjanin

KB - Charlotte Taylor

1G - Nellie Jones

1B - Charlotte Willico 

2G - Harper Wong

2B - Coco Jacotine

3G - Elle Stuart

3B - Cole Mathews

4G - Henry Higgins

4B - Augustin Dumont

5G - Gabriel Silvestre-Cortezi

5B - Edward Vallely

6G - Jenni Ha

6B - Sassika Jackson

Amadeus Concert

Many parents who attended the Amadeus Concert were very impressed with the bands that performed. The children have come along so much in the past 12 months. Many thanks to Mrs Luscombe for all the work she has done in managing the day to day running of the program. Thank you to Mr Brierley for liaising with the tutors and managing the timetable and program for Amadeus. Tomorrow all children should return their instruments and books as they are the property of Sydney Catholic Schools. Each instrument will be cleaned, serviced and reallocated at the beginning of next year. The children will receive their same instrument for 2023 in the first few weeks of school. 

Remembrance Day 

Thank you to our Year 2 students who led our Remembrance Day prayer service last week. While researching for our 100 Years Concert I came across the Maristian Book published in 1947. In it the Old Boys Union paid tribute, as we did on Remembrance day, to the large number of old boys from the school who had fought in the Second World War. They served across all aspects of the military and a number lost their lives; many served their country and a number were highly decorated. 

While I was researching for our concert a number of current family names kept resurfacing. We’d love to give a shout out to those families in our 100 year Concert. If your family has had connections with Sacred Heart for many years could you write a few details (decade attended) so we can mention those families as we move through the decades. Can you pop it in an email and send it to me please.

Swimming Carnival - Volunteers

Thank you to Mr DeVilliers for his wonderful organisation of our swimming carnival last Friday. It was so good to be back. Many thanks to all our passionate volunteers. 

Sports Club

Many thanks to all members of the Sorts Club. This is a small but dedicated group of very hard working parents who run our well regarded Sports Club. Thank you to Tim O’Connor who has held the position of President over the last two years which was not an easy task with Covid affecting the games one year and rain the next. Thank you to the other committee members who have put so much into their sports:  to Jo O’Gorman who is stepping down from Football and to Sara Costas and Justine Beasley who are stepping down from Basketball. Many thanks to Kami Dougherty and Emily Billiau who will be joining as Football co ordinators. Thank you to all our Sports Club Committee members for what you do for the school. Some registration notices for 2023 will be sent out this year so please look out for them. Please see the Basketball registration note in this Newsletter. 

Planning for 2023 so far...

• Reports are being written and will be released in Week 9
• All of our curriculum co ordinators have their action plans in place for 2023
• The Year 5 Leadership day is planned and elections will take place shortly
• The Year 5 and 6 camps are booked for 2023 
• New children to the school will transition over the next few weeks
• We welcome Austrie Calizar to our staff as PE teacher for 2023

Consider volunteering and joining in, 2023 

I am often amazed at how many of our volunteers at school do so while leading very busy lives or holding down very high level or complex jobs. Why do they do this on top of their very busy schedules? For our community, for our children? I spoke to our new Kinder parents and to several groups this week about the fact that I was drawn to work in this community as it was known to be a child focused community. To this day it is still a child focused community as the staff and parents will always go the extra mile for our kids. My hope is that Sacred Heart will continue to have as its focus the children in our care. Volunteering, being part of the fabric of the school, helps keep the students' needs at the forefront. 

If you volunteer, attend meetings and engage with the school you become more aware of the work of the school and your voice and your feedback is more relevant as you have a working knowledge of what goes on, the aims of the school and its purpose. Your children have a great deal to benefit from you being involved and it sends a strong message to your child that you care about them, their education and their wellbeing. There are many opportunities to volunteer so please let the P and F, teachers or the Sports Club know you are ready and able to help out either on a regular basis or for special events. This evening's P and F meeting starts at 7pm in the library.

Regards

Julie Caldwell

Faith celebrations with John Burland  

A huge thank you to our special guest John Burland who visited Sacred Heart yesterday for a fun faith-filled celebration. With the season of Advent just around the corner, John helped our school community begin preparations for the coming of Advent. Thank you to the parents who were able to join us for the celebration!

Upcoming Advent Liturgical Celebrations

All parents and families are warmly welcome to attend our Advent Liturgies led by combined grade groups.

Advent Liturgy Week 1- Hope led by Year One and Year Four

When: Monday, 28th November

Time: 8:40am

Location: Basketball Court

                       Advent Liturgy Week 2- Peace led by Year Two and Year Five 

When: Monday, 5th December

Time: 8:40am

Location: Basketball Court

                       Advent Liturgy Week 3- Joy led by Kinder and Year Three

When: Monday, 12th December

Time: 8:40am

Location: Basketball Court

Friday Grade Masses

Year One and Year Four combined Grade Mass is this Friday, 9:30am- families are warmly welcome to attend.

Sunday Family Masses

A reminder that the Year Five Family Mass is on this Sunday, 27th November, 9:00am. Year Five families are asked to please bring a plate for morning tea (plates can be left in the Parish Hall prior to Mass.)

End of Year Class/Grade Liturgical Celebrations

We would love to see parents and families at our end of year class/grade Liturgies.

• Year Four- Thursday, 1st December @ 2:10pm
• Kindergarten- Friday, 2nd December @ 2:10pm
• Year One- Monday, 5th December @ 2:10pm
• Year Three- Tuesday, 6th December @ 2:10pm
• Year Five- Wednesday, 7th December @ 2:10pm
• Year Two- Thursday, 8th December @ 2:10pm

Kristen Jackson

Religious Education Co-ordinator

We are looking for 2-3 Volunteers to run the second hand clothing pool with Orla Thompson (Hugh Thompson Year 5) for the 2023 school year. 

This is a very rewarding way to participate in the school on a voluntary basis, without being a full time role.  Parents can volunteer with a friend and it could be on a rotation basis, say once per week or once per fortnight dependant upon how many volunteers there are. 

Duties are:  Once per week - collect the second hand clothing from the office and put away, doing a running "stocktake".  The Qkr! orders are then fulfilled and taken to the office for distribution to the children. 

This can be an opportunity for just one year or a little longer. 

Pleae contact Orla Thompson (orla.neville@gmail.com) for any questions or to discuss further.  

COMPASS: