A very warm welcome back to the Sacred Heart school community. I have been very heartened by the enthusiastic and calm way the children have settled into new classes and school routines. This is a great credit to you parents, and to our staff, for whom the children are our first priority.

Welcome to all of our new families – those with children in Kindergarten and those whose children are moving into other classes across the school. I would especially like to welcome our new staff also. 

I ask our community to please make yourself known to our new parents and staff; I know you will want to make them feel part of this beautiful school community too. I wish all of our families abundant blessings during 2023.

I must acknowledge the warm welcome I have personally received from our staff, students and parents. I feel genuinely blessed to be part of this school community and I look forward to our journey ahead. In Week 6, Wednesday 8 March 9:15-10:15 am, Mrs Taylor (Assistant Principal) and I invite you to the school hall for a morning tea as a meet and greet. We look forward to meeting you.

Each year, a theme is created for Sydney Catholic Schools that is centred on Pope Francis’ message for youth and the Churches’ WYD themes. The theme for 2023 is ‘Walking with the Holy Spirit in our hearts’. With that in mind, let us look forward to the year ahead and the many opportunities we may have as two separate schools to work more closely together for the benefit of our students.

I draw your attention to important dates in Mrs Taylor’s section of this newsletter and I would like to remind our Kindergarten parents of a few important dates and points in preparation for tomorrow and the next few weeks:

• All school supplies are provided by the school.
• Lunch box with a fruit break, water bottle and hat are the only essentials required.
• Sports days are Tuesday and Wednesday. Please ensure all students come in full sports uniform. 
• Library will be on the following days beginning in Week 3:
• Kindy Blue- Tuesday
• Kindy Gold- Friday 

*your child is required to bring their library bag so that they can borrow some books each week. 

• Class allocations will be published via email on Friday 3 February. Please drop your child to either class by 9:30 am tomorrow morning and then make your way to the hall for ‘Tea and Tissues’ at 9:40 am.

MONDAY 6 FEBRUARY

We have 3 options for going home:

1. Kameruka 
2. Car line 
3. Afterschool Care- if your child is attending after school care, a team member will collect them from the classroom at 2:55 pm.

Children who are going home via car line or Kameruka will be walked to that area by a teacher. 

May God bless all our families.

Leanne Meehan

PRINCIPAL

I would like to say a big thank you to the staff, parents and students for their warm welcome to Sacred Heart Mosman and wish everyone a very happy 2023.  The students have been excited to reconnect with their friends and have shown great enthusiasm for learning.   To promote wellbeing, we focus on our core values of ‘Faith, Generosity and Courage’ and I have been pleased to see students living these values as we start the new school year.  A special thank you to our Year 6 leaders who are wonderful models and who will buddy with our Kindergarten students to ensure they have a positive start to school life.  May God’s love be with you all. 

Information Evenings - Week 3

An opportunity for all parents to meet the teacher and each other, to hear about the learning for the year.  The ‘Class Parent Newsletter’ will be sent home on Friday 10th so you can read through and then if you have any general questions about class routines or expectations, you can ask the teacher during the information evening, which is held in your child’s classroom. Should you have children in multiple classes and can’t attend the allocated time, the teachers will be happy to share their slides afterwards.   

Goal Setting Sessions -  Weeks 4-5

This ten minute session is an individual time between you and the class teacher to be held during Weeks 4 & 5.  The purpose of the session is for the teacher to have a conversation with you as to how your child has started the year and to set a goal for their learning.  Each class teacher will allocate session times and will advise when you can go onto Compass to choose and book your session. 

Pickup and Drop off

Our school is located within residential streets and we need to be good neighbours. We should all work together to make drop off and pick up safe for our students, as efficient as possible for our parents/carers and to cause the least amount of inconvenience to our neighbours.  For those parents who are new to our school and as a refresher for existing parents, please be aware of the folowing guidelines and courtesies around pickup and drop off:

- Before school

Our staff supervision starts at 8:10 am. Children should not enter the school gate before 8:10 am unless they are going to before school care.  Please do not drop your child before 8:10 am as they are not supervised.  

- Bardwell Gate

• Park only where there is a parking spot - do not park across driveways or double park.  This gate will open from 3pm for 15 minutes. The council regularly patrols. 

- Car gate 

• Parents and carers can only use the car gate to drop off and collect your child/ children if they are old enough to get themselves in and out of the car from the curb side.  They should be able to buckle and unbuckle their own seatbelt.
• Students should have their school bag on the floor or seat next to them and for safety reasons and to speed up drop off, should not have to access the car boot. 
• Please be patient and wait for your turn at the front of the line - do not double park or pull out from the curb before the car in front of you.
• If your child is not already waiting at car gate, you may be asked to circle the block again so that we can keep the line moving.

Attendance

Teachers mark rolls directly onto the Compass system each morning.  The roll is a legal document and any unexplained absences are a concern for your child’s attendance record.  Please ensure as a priority that you record your child’s absence directly in Compass.  If you are unable to access Compass for any reason, please phone, email or visit the office to let us know of the reason why your child is absent so that it can be recorded.  There is no need to provide a follow up note.  

Late arrivals (NEW!!)

Parents should enter the school to accompany their child if arriving after 8:50 am, as any students who enter without an adult are marked as an unexplained absence.  We ask parents to be diligent in accompanying their child to the office.  All late arrivals will be automatically entered onto the computer roll and no paper late notes will be issued.  

If you have any queries regarding using Compass, please feel free to come to the office and Mrs Imlach can assist you. 

Amadeus

Our Amadeus Program will return to Sacred Heart in 2023 with some of the tutors from last year and some tutors new to our school.  As part of the program, all students have a weekly one hour lesson with our Creative Arts teacher, Ms Conroy.  Students in Year 3 - 6 participate in the instrumental program which includes an hour of band or string ensemble and a half hour of tutoring for each student. 

Year 3

Year 3 will be new to the instrumental program so will be sized and allocated an instrument based on their preferences and amount of instruments and sizes the school has. 

Years 4-6

Students continue to play the instrument they were learning in 2022.  Students with a string instrument will be resized to ensure the best fit. 

During weeks two and three, there are no ensemble lessons however students attend a 30 minute tutorial for their instrument.  We hope that all instruments can be sent home by week four.

Homework 

Homework for 2023 will have an English and Mathematics focus which would mainly consist of reading nightly (see recommendations below), some word work and some number practise and consolidation. Some weeks our Religious Education ‘To Know Worship and Love’ texts will be sent home so that students may share what they have learnt in class.  Homework can be oral (reading, practicing sight words, learning number facts, praying) as well as written and may include life skills. 

English Homework might include:

• Reading - this is the most important homework activity. Reading might consist of your child reading to you as well as you reading to your child.  Reading a page of a story alternately is also beneficial as parents are wonderful models of ‘reading aloud’. 
• Learning sight words, spelling rules or grammar tasks
• Some comprehension tasks

Recommended maximum English homework time each night:

• ES1 (Kindergarten): 5 - 10 minutes
• Stage 1 (Year 1 & Year 2): 10 - 15 minutes
• Stage 2 (Year 3 & Year 4): 15 - 20 minutes
• Stage 3 (Year 5 & Year 6): 20 minutes

Mathematics homework might include:

• Counting 
• Learning addition and subtraction number facts 
• Learning multiplication and division facts 
• Revising concepts that have just been learnt 

Recommended maximum Mathematics homework each night:

• ES1 (Kindergarten): 5 - 10 minutes
• Stage 1 (Year 1 & Year 2): 10 - 15 minutes
• Stage 2 (Year 3 & Year 4): 15 - 20 minutes
• Stage 3 (Year 5 & Year 6): 20 minutes

We hope that this approach to homework will offer you the opportunity to balance school and home life whilst consolidating your child’s learning from school.  

Kind regards,

Jane Taylor

Assistant Principal

Religious Education Updates, Term 1 Week 1, 2023

A very warm welcome to everyone in our Sacred Heart community. Here’s hoping that you all had a safe and happy break over the Christmas holiday period.

Our Sydney Catholic Schools theme for 2023 is: Walking with the Holy Spirit in our hearts. This year we will reflect upon how we can be guided by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is present through the kind and caring actions of the people in our school and parish community. We see the visible Holy Spirit through the guidance of our Parish Priests and in the supportive members of our Sacred Heart Parish. We see the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the love of our parents, in the care of our teachers and in the kindness of our students. 

Please see some of the upcoming important dates on our Term One Religious Education calendar:

Friday 3rd February

Beginning Year Mass led by Year Six @ 9.30am- Sacred Heart Church. 

Shrove Tuesday, 21st February and Ash Wednesday, 22nd February

Students in Kinder, Year 1 and Year 2 students will participate in an Ash Wednesday Liturgy held in the school hall @ 12pm. K-2 Parents are warmly welcome to attend.

Students in Years 3 to 6 will partake in the Ash Wednesday Mass held at Sacred Heart Church @ 12pm. Years 3 to 6 parents are most welcome to attend.

Sacramental Program for Term One

The Sacrament of Confirmation is celebrated in Term 2 of the school year, for students in Year 6 or above who have received their First Communion. There is an online enrolment period which begins 20th of February and runs until the 6th of March.

Confirmation Family Night: Tuesday, 21st March

Confirmation Commitment Masses: 25th/26th March

Confirmation Sessions begin in Term 2.

School Grade Masses- parents are warmly welcome to attend! 

Each grade will visit the Church once each term to join in a Friday Mass at 9:30am. Parents are most welcome and we would love to see you there!

Friday 10th February- Year Five Grade Mass @ 9.30am

Friday 17th February- Year Three Grade Mass @ 9:30am

Friday 24th February- Year 4 and Year 1 combined Grade Mass @ 9:30am

Friday 3rd March- Year 2 Grade Mass @ 9:30am

Friday 10th March- No School Mass due to School Photography day.

Friday 17th March- Years K & 6 School Mass & 9:30am

Kindest Regards,

Miss Kristen Jackson

Religious Education Coordinator

Calling all angels! 

If you love to cook and would like to make some home-cooked meals for members of our wider community please consider becoming an angel! The angel meals service has provided thousands of meals over the years to people in the community that may need a bit of TLC in moments of grief, hardship, sickness or in times when life is too overwhelming. If you would like to cook for us, please contact Valerie at: shmangelmeals@gmail.com or 0468 872 738. We have a roster of parents cooking each term, and would only require a meal once a term, if that.

Similarly, do you know someone in need of a meal? If you know of a family or someone who may need a helping hand by receiving some home-cooked meals, please let us know. Deliveries are made confidentially and discreetly.

Thursday 9th, 16^th, 23 February 6.30pm-8pm, Mosman Youth Centre

International Triple P Practitioner Award recipient Laura Hurstfield will be facilitating a seminar program.  Triple P gives parents with children ages 2 to 12 years practical strategies to help them build strong and healthy relationships with their children.

Triple P helps you to:

• Promote your child’s development and communication skills
• Manage your child’s behaviour and emotions
• Build a good relationship with your child
• Assist your child to build their resilience and confidence

Participants are required to attend all three seminars as the content is built on in each session.

For information and bookings visit: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/970749