Dear Parents and Carers,

Access to masses and churches has been difficult this year and has led many of us to feel disconnected from our own parish as it has been more difficult to attend mass on the weekends. After discussions with Father Phil and with the appointment of Father Noel to the parish, Father Phil has added an extra weekday parish mass at 7.45am on Friday mornings from November the 6th. Staff, students, parents and parishioners are invited to this Sacred Heart community celebration of the Eucharist. Year 5 and 6 students may attend mass independently (and help with readings and altar serving), as there will be a number of teachers at each mass each week. Students from Kinder to Year 4 may attend mass with their parents. 

The 7.45 am mass will be a “busy person's” mass as it will only be about 30 minutes  long so we can return to school in time. The church is limited to 100 people. There is no need to book but you will need to sign in at the side door and be mindful of social distancing.

We hope to see you at this mass so together we can start to rebuild our community with the mass as a central meeting and focal point. 

You will have received the email with the winners of the Public Speaking Finals on Friday. Congratulations to our winners and all children who prepared their speeches and learnt about communicating well. At Sacred Heart we see this as one of the key skills for our 21st Century learners.

Yesterday was an excitement filled day as we celebrated this year’s Book Character Parade. There were many creative costumes especially from our senior students who really enjoyed their final Book Week celebration. Thank you to Mrs Jago and Mrs Spano for their work in organising our parade and Book Fair and for their enthusiasm and encouragement of our student’s love of reading. 

The students really enjoyed “meeting” authors Jacqueline Harvey and Lindsay Holliday. Thank you to all the parents who “tuned” in and to Mr Brierley who organised the live streaming. 

Congratulations to Miss Charlotte Allen who will receive a 2020 Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Teacher’s Guild of NSW. This award is for a significant contribution to their school. Miss Allen recently returned to Western Australia to be with her family.

Over the past few months we have been busily planning our 2021 Kinder Orientation. We begin this Friday with our zoom meeting and are very excited that we will be able to have our new Kinders on site on the 6th November.

Kind regards,

Julie Caldwell 

Last Friday, our students competed in the annual Public Speaking Competition. Students were given an opportunity to speak in front of their class, then their grade. Then students were selected to represent their grade at the school finals. 

We were lucky to have our speeches adjudicated by Hayley Jago, an experienced speaker and student currently studying law and international relations. 

The winners for 2020 are:

Kindergarten: Gussy Stanton, Oliver Issac, Roisin Joyce, Charlie Roberts

Winner: Gussy Stanton

Year 1: Emily Bezuidenhout, Charlotte Roy, Ben Bailey, Olivia Natal

Winner: Charlotte Roy

Year 2: Amelia Gray, Noah Byrne, Imogen Bentley

Winner: Amelia Gray

Year 3: Angus Bloomfield, Lucinda Hughes, Patrick Old

Winner: Patrick Old

Year 4: Charlotte Leberne, Chanel Bellomo, Ellie Bailey

Winner: Ellie Bailey

Year 5: Matthew Jureta, Elise Hector-Constant, Jack Whitson, Lina Warner

Winner: Matthew Jureta

Year 6: Lucy Rudd, Chloe Hector-Constant, Isabelle Wilkins

Winner: Lucy Rudd

The winners were presented with their certificates after assembly on Monday morning.

Absent - Amelia Gray

Teachers are busily planning a range of special activities designed to highlight the joy of the Advent/Christmas period. More details will be coming soon.

For the moment, we would like to invite the whole school community to contribute as many 2L milk bottles as possible. 

Students can bring them to school and leave them with their classroom teachers.

COMPASS: