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Welcome back to Term Two! I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday break and that the blessing of Easter was kind to you and your loved ones. It was very sad to hear of the passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday. The Pope's commitment to simplicity, outreach to the marginalised and to lead the church in a more contemporary manner made him much loved and dearly missed.
Pope Francis Tribute - Anonymous
It’s almost as if he waited.
Pope Francis passed away on Easter Monday. The timing felt too tender to be coincidence—like he held on just long enough to hear the Alleluia one last time. To witness the Church rejoice in the Resurrection before quietly letting go. As if he needed to see the stone rolled away before stepping into the promise he had spent his life proclaiming.
He carried so much. The wounds of a divided Church. The ache of the poor and the forgotten. The weight of hope—for a world more merciful, more human, more like Christ. He walked with a limp, both in body and in spirit, but never without grace. He wasn’t perfect. But he was present. And he kept showing up.
And he was different.
He chose the simple path when grandeur was expected. He rode the bus. Paid his own hotel bill. Lived in a guesthouse instead of the papal palace. His first act as Pope was to bow and ask for our prayers. From the beginning, he showed us that true authority kneels. That greatness can look like humility.
He disrupted systems and comforted outcasts. He spoke boldly on justice, embraced the disabled, welcomed migrants, washed the feet of prisoners. He didn’t just talk about mercy—he embodied it. He made the Church feel like a place where the last could be first, and the forgotten, finally seen.
He taught us that holiness isn’t perfection—it’s presence. That the Gospel is clearest when it sounds like compassion. That faith, at its best, looks like love with skin on.
And now, just after Easter, he’s gone.
But maybe that was his final homily. Not delivered from a pulpit, but through the quiet timing of his death—a soft Amen to a life spent preaching hope.
It brings to mind these words:
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” — 2 Timothy 4:7
And he did. He fought—not with anger, but with mercy. He ran—not to be praised, but to make space for others. And he kept the faith—not flawlessly, but fiercely.
So yes, we grieve. But we also remember.
We remember how he made us believe again—in a Church that walks with the wounded, in a Gospel wide enough for the doubting, in a God whose love meets us right where we are.
He reminded me that faith isn’t something we hold onto for ourselves.
It’s something we hand off—with open hands and open hearts.
Pope Francis has finished his race.
And what he leaves behind isn’t just a memory—
It’s the echo of a life poured out.
The kind of life that makes you want to live differentl
More gently
More boldly
More like him.
More like Christ.
He waited for Easter—because he believed in the promise.
And now, that promise is his.
Light has found him.
And Love has brought him home.
Resurrection
We celebrate the greatest day in history, when Jesus rose from death, defeated darkness and bathed the world in stunning resurrection light. We welcome you to celebrate this significant event, which will be led by our Year 3 and 4 students, this Friday 2 May at the Church at 2pm.
ANZAC Day
This week, we will commemorate ANZAC Day, thank you to Miss Jackson and our Year 6 students who will lead us all in reflection and prayer. Sincere thanks is also extended to Elle Stuart, one of our Year 6 School Captains, and her family for laying a wreath on our behalf at the Dawn Service at Old Parade Ground, Georges Height Oval. We also acknowledge and thank Jamie Malcolm (Flynn and Roy’s Dad) who led the community in the Ode of Remembrance at the service. As we pause to remember the fallen, we are also able to reflect upon why Anzac Day is so important to our nation. We not only remember Gallipoli, but in person and in spirit, we commemorate the men and women who have served, and continue to serve our nation in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations.
As we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them.
nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we forget
Intervention Structure in 2026
In 2026, all Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) will transition from our current Reading Recovery model to a Foundational Phonics Program (FPP) which is firmly aligned with the principles of effective literacy intervention. It is designed to meet the diverse needs of students requiring additional support in early reading.
Principles of Foundational Phonics Program (FPP)
- SCS advocates supporting students who fall behind through early and ongoing Tier 2 phonics intervention, starting in Term 2 of Kindergarten, where necessary. The program is primarily targeted at students in Kindergarten and Year 1, although students in other years who lack phonic knowledge and phonological awareness to decode and encode will also benefit.
- The program is delivered daily in small groups based on need.
- The program is structured with a clear phonics scope and sequence and is fully equipped with all the essential resources needed for reading intervention teachers to implement it effectively.
- Ongoing support should be provided to all students, ensuring they receive the necessary assistance to meet key literacy milestones.
Further information will be shared as the progresses.
Unfortunately, Mrs Sharon Roberts decided that coming out of retirement for the role as our Music & Drama teacher was just a little more than she first anticipated. Teaching back to back lessons across K-6 in two days requires lots of planning and preparation. She also has exciting travel plans this term which would have meant extended time off. We do thank Sharon for her time with us but we warmly welcome Miss Molly Cowan to our Sacred Heart team as our Drama and Music teacher. Molly comes with great enthusiasm and passion and spent last term meeting our children and staff. She willofficially begin teaching this week.
MOTHER’S DAY CELEBRATIONS- Friday 9 May
- Breakfast (8am) *order via Qkr
- Open Classrooms (8:40am)
- Mass (9:15am)
Mrs Leanne Meehan
EXECUTIVE PRINCIPAL
Welcome back to Term 2. I hope that you all had a happy Easter and relaxing break. The students have returned to school excited to see their friends and continue learning.
Winter Uniform
This week your child can wear either their summer, winter or sports uniform on their allocated days depending on the weather. All students should wear their full winter school or sport uniform starting next week Monday 5th May. Please ensure that your child wears the full winter uniform, not mixing and matching summer and winter together. School hats are also a very important part of our uniform and other sporting teams or leisure hats should be kept at home.
We thank you for your support with uniforms as this contributes to our school's positive behaviours of respect and responsibility.
Compass & Emails
We ask for your support with Compass entries and request emails to the office or teachers, only when necessary. As you can imagine, sometimes the office is receiving up to one hundred emails a day for information that only needs to go to the class teacher. Also class teachers are receiving emails about absences when they can see the information on Compass. The following procedures which would greatly assist us.
Absence - whole day
If your child is sick and will be away for the whole school day, please enter this directly on Compass. You do not need to email class teachers or the office as teachers can also access this information directly on Compass.
Absence - first part of the day or late to school
On occasions, students have appointments or arrive at school after the bell. Please don’t add an absence to Compass as parents should only enter whole day absences. For partial absences, there is no need to phone or email the class teacher or office. Even though you will receive an ‘absence’ sms, just ignore this if you know you are bringing your child to school later in the day and the Compass roll will reflect this once you bring your child to school. Parents just need to sign in on the office Compass Kiosk.
Absence - leaving early during school hours
Parents please sign your child out using the office Compass Kiosk. If you are entrusting another parent, friend or relative to collect your child during school hours, please email the office prior to the time to advise of this as we can not dismiss children to another's care during school hours unless advised.
If you have made arrangements for after school pick up, for example, one parent taking a few children to sport, dance, events, then as long as your child knows who they are going home with, we do not need to be emailed about this. Please phone the office if this is an unplanned arrangement - do not email as if the office is busy, your child may not get this message.
Emails
We encourage students to be responsible for their own learning and resources and most students should be able to tell the teacher if they have forgotten their homework or instrument, so no need for you to email. Should you need to advise the class teacher of anything of a ‘courtesy’ nature for example wrong uniform, please email teachers directly via Compass. There is no need to email the office as well.
Other items where we seek your assistance:
Amadeus Instruments
If your child forgets their instrument - they can learn without it for the day. This is part of students being responsible for their own learning. The Amadeus tutors will still involve them in the lesson.
Labels for clothes and containers
Please label all items of clothing and lunch containers. Winter uniforms especially need labelling as children tend to take off jumpers and jackets and they can only be returned if your child’s name is clearly marked.
Bardwell Street Parking
Please be mindful of residents' access to their driveways. Unfortunately we had a resident call on the last day of Term 1 advising that one of our families had parked over their driveway and when asked them to move, our parent refused to move or even acknowledge that they might be causing someone else a problem. Those of you who have been at the school for many years may remember that for a long time the Bardwell gate wasn’t opened due to residential complaints.
School Photos
The School Photographer has finalised the proofs and is starting to print and collate all of the photos taken last term. This process takes about six weeks, so we should receive them in the second half of the term. As soon as they arrive at school we will distribute the photos to our families.
Good News Story
Congratulations to James in Year 2 who participates in competitive gymnastics and has been selected as one of the top 32 boys from across the State to form the NSW State Development Team. Even though James is not yet 8 years old, he has been offered a position on the NSW State Development Team for 8-12 year olds. He was required to do some gruelling activities including muscle ups on rings, timed rope climbs without using his legs, circles on the pommel, holding a still handstand without walking for 10 seconds, and more.
James will be awarded a NSW uniform and attend State Camps and training days with the NSW Institute of Sport High Performance Coaches throughout the year. He is the youngest boy in the State to receive this honour. We are very proud and excited for you James!
Mrs Jane Taylor
Assistant Principal
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Dear Parents and Carers, Welcome back to Term 2! I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday break. Just a friendly reminder about our Parent Engagement Workshop - Understanding your Child’s Reading Development, focused on supporting your child's early reading development. This is a collaborative workshop for parents from both Blessed Sacrament and Sacred Heart schools, which is a wonderful way to interact and meet one another in a relaxed and friendly environment. Workshop Details:
This workshop will provide you with valuable insights into:
We believe that a strong partnership between home and school is essential for your child's early reading success. Your active involvement in their reading journey makes a significant difference. The workshop, presented by Mrs McCartney and Miss Hollingsworth, will be held in-person and unfortunately will not be recorded or available via Zoom. RSVP: To help us prepare for the workshop, please RSVP via the Google form link if you wish to attend. We look forward to welcoming you and working together to support your child's reading success. Nerissa McCartney
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Nerissa McCartney
Leader of Teaching and Learning
As you are aware we use the Grow Your Mind Program here at school to support the children with fostering positive mental health and wellbeing. We are pleased to invite all parents to a special Grow Your Mind Parent Information Session via Zoom on Monday 26 May at 6:30pm.
In this session, you will:
- Learn about the research behind the Grow Your Mind program
- Meet the fun animal characters helping children understand their brains
- Explore the positive mental health strategies being taught at school
- Discover ways you can support and extend these strategies at home
RSVP via this [link] to secure your place!
We look forward to seeing you online for this important and engaging evening.
The zoom link and a reminder will be sent out closer to the date.
Have a great week!
Amanda Macourt
Leader of Wellbeing and Engagement
Welcome everyone to Term Two and here’s hoping you all had a restful Easter break with your loved ones over the school holiday period. As we begin this new term, may we keep Pope Francis in our thoughts and prayers.
Please see important information for our Term Two Religious Education calendar.
Holy Week Reflections
Thank you to all teachers and students for presenting their beautiful Holy Week Reflections on the last day of Term 1. A very special thank you to our Vice Captain Hugo Valenti, for playing the role of Jesus in each reflection. Hugo did an incredible job, showing a great deal of respect for the role. Hugo, congratulations on your efforts and thank you for the time that you gave to contribute to our Holy Week reflections.
Easter Reflections presented by Years 3 and 4, this Friday 2nd of May 2pm
Families are warmly welcome to join us this Friday, 2nd of May from 2pm at Sacred Heart Church to watch Year 3 and Year 4 present their Easter reflections.
Mother’s Day Celebrations, Friday 9th of May- Week Two
Join us for our annual Mother’s Day celebrations at Sacred Heart!
- Mother’s Day Breakfast
- Open Classrooms
- Sacred Heart Mother’s Day Whole School Mass, Friday 9th May commencing at 9:15am
Mother’s Day Photo Presentation at the Mother’s Day Breakfast
If you would like to be part of the Mother’s Day photo presentation at the Mother’s Day breakfast, please send your photographs to: kristen.jackson@syd.catholic.edu.au by next Monday, 5th of May. Please include your child’s full name & class- thank you!
Whole School Masses for Term Two
- Sacred Heart Mother’s Day Whole School Mass, Friday 9th May @ 9:15am
- Mary Help of Christians Whole School Mass, Friday 23rd May @ 9:15am
- Sacred Heart Feast Day Whole School Mass, Friday 27th June @ 9:15am, followed by special feast day celebrations for the students.
Sacramental Program dates
Sacrament of Confirmation
Lesson 1: Wed 30th April choose 5pm or 6.30pm
Lesson 2: Mon 5th May choose 5pm or 6.30pm
Lesson 3: Wed 14th May choose 5pm or 6.30pm
Confirmation Retreat Day: Tues 20th May
Creed Masses: Weekend of May 24th and 25th
Confirmation Ceremonies: Thursday 29th May & Friday 30th May
Feast of St Joseph the Worker - 1st May
St Joseph was a great man, but where would he be without his family, without Jesus and Mary? I doubt he would make many appearances in 21st-century blog posts—most 1st-century Jewish carpenters don’t. Joseph’s holiness came through Jesus and Mary, by serving them and receiving from them. Similarly, God draws us to Himself through those around us. We do not become saints as isolated individuals, but as members of a family or community.
Of course, Joseph’s family isn’t your normal family. There’s a special grace about Jesus and Mary (understatement of the year). If we compare our families to the Holy Family, we might be tempted to be discouraged, but by God’s goodness, Jesus and Mary are not distant, but rather intimately close to us:
Jesus is our saviour and brother, and Mary is our tender mother.
I am so happy the children have been enjoying the new take home Prayer Bear. We have resumed Prayer Bear rotations in kindy classes this week. Please remember to take some photos and encourage the children to pray with the bear, they could draw pictures in the activity book of the things they are grateful for.
Term 2 - Initiatives for you to join in,
Monday fortnight’s - 9am- 10:30am playgroup in parish hall.
Tuesday - Walking for Wellbeing, Short walk & talk followed by morning tea.
Wednesday - SPaR, Mass, morning prayer followed by coffee & conversation
Tomorrow begins May the Month of Mary.
We are honouring Our lady with a, Pilgrimage to Mary Mackillop Place. We are excited to invite you to a special network event for our school communities. It is our privilege to announce our May Pilgrimage to the Mary MacKillop Place on Tuesday, 13th May, which coincides with the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. In the Catholic Church the month of May is dedicated to Mary, and it is a custom of our faith to undertake a pilgrimage during this month to show our love and appreciation for Our Blessed Mother. This is a wonderful opportunity to come together as a parish and school community to celebrate faith, history, and connection.
Invitation in the link
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=623f067dae&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1828886449677275045&th=196182893f8a0fa5&view=att&disp=inline&realattid=f_m9990n460&zw Please save the date and share the invite with any family, friends and carers that may be interested in joining us!
Anna Macri
Family & Faith Educator
Welcome to the beginning of Term 2! I hope you all had a wonderful and restful break. We are now getting into the swing of things for this term with lots of big events planned ahead.
To start us off, I would like to open with some great news regarding one of our students’ in Year 6. At the end of last term, I received news from NSWPSSA that Zachary Meacock in Year 6 has gained selection into the NSW Primary State Cricket team, and will now participate in the School Sports Australia Cricket National Championships later on this term. It is a tremendous effort for Zachary, with last year being one of the youngest students selected to make the team. Not only has Zachary been selected for the State team for the second year in a row, but he has also this year been appointed as the Captain of the NSW State side. Such a remarkable feat for Zachary and we wish him the best of luck at Nationals.
On the topic of trials, on Friday May 9th, Eve Grover will be representing Sacred Heart at the MacKillop Netball Selection trials and Jorge Pyke will be representing Sacred Heart at the MacKillop Basketball Selection trials on Tuesday May 13th. We wish these students good luck. If successful in their trial, these students will progress into the PSSA trial for their respective sports.
On Tuesday May 6th, we will also have 30 students from Sacred Heart attending the Sydney Catholic Schools Cross Country Primary Championships at Sydney Motorsport Park in Eastern Creek. These are the students who progressed from our school level cross country carnival. Successful students will progress into the Sydney Catholic Schools Cross Country team.
The month of May seems to be a very busy one within the sporting sector. Also in May, Stage 3 (Year 5 and Year 6) will be having their interschool sports gala day. This is a fun gala day used to allow children to build friendships outside of their school environment and participate in a friendly game of European Handball. The schools involved for this gala day will include:
- Blessed Sacrament, Clifton Gardens
- Marist College, North Shore
- St Mary’s Cathedral College
Lastly, our school's K-6 Athletics Carnival will be occurring on Wednesday 28th of May. We will be partnering again with Zing Activ to assist with the running of the day. With the success and the facilities provided last year, we will be holding the carnival again at Rotary Athletics Field, Lane Cove North with access to equipment hire and a long jump pit. Please also note that the 200m sprint event will only be held if time permits. As per usual with the running of any sporting event, any parent volunteers are greatly appreciated to assist with carrying out the roles required for the day. If you are interested and available, please be sure to contact me and have all of your volunteer documentation up to date and submitted to the school office.
That’s all for now in sporting news. I look forward to giving you all further updates on our student achievements. Until next time!
Kind Regards,
Miss Austrie Calizar
Sports Co-ordinator
“READING IS MY SUPERPOWER!” – such a bold and empowering motto. Books open doors to infinite worlds, knowledge, empathy and imagination. Literacy is the key to learning and achievement. Don’t forget to enrol in our Leader of Teaching and Learning – Mrs Nerissa McCartney’s Parent Literacy Workshop on Friday 16th May.
On the 21st May, we will participate in the NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME where the same book is read aloud in libraries, schools and homes nationwide. This year’s featured book is “The Truck Cat” by Deborah Freckel.
The PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE is well underway, so far 70 students have logged books they are reading and 10 students have finished. Congratulations Claire Killen, Yr2 who was the first student to finish her challenge for this year. Students have until Friday 19th September to log their books read.
HAPPY READING!
Cecilia Jago and Jpsie Spano
