Dear Parents and Carers,                                                                                                               

At this morning’s assembly we said goodbye to our leaving families and our Year Six graduates. This year we say farewell to the following teachers: Claire Brickley, Jane Harrison and Simone Jones.  We thank these teachers for their service to the school and your children. 

Last Friday you would have received a video of our Christmas Fair day and have seen what a fun day it was for our children. The profit for the day was $6022.02 which will be used in 2021 to build a sustainable garden and further our work in Science, particularly around the Science Week topic next year of Food: Different by Design.  Many thanks to all of our families for their generosity.

At this time of year I always thank our teachers, our students, and our parents who have all put so much effort into the year. This year is no different as I want to acknowledge all of the teachers dedication to their students, the parent support that we receive and the students who aim so high. To say we are glad that 2020 is finishing is an understatement as it has been a challenging year for everyone. But before we write the end of year report, close off the finances, say our farewells and bid cherished members of our community goodbye, it is time on our last day of school to reflect on the year past and see the good that has come about. As Austrailians we are at our best in dealing with disasters - our long traditions of bushfire, drought and floods possibly equipped us to deal more stoically and pull together to face the challenge of the pandemic this year.

Thank you to our teachers and staff who indeed did band together to share their talents and wisdom and work within the constraints we had to provide fun and challenging online learning during lockdown. We saw our teachers working from home, at school and regularly on Zoom (who would have guessed, “I'm going into a zoom meeting” would become the norm by Easter). Our teacher’s response this year to the changes in learning was heroic especially as children returned to school, a little shaken and shell shocked after living in their safe little cocoons at home. They returned to a new world that was dominated by social distancing, hand washing and covid safe plans. Our teachers have continued to support their students throughout the year ensuring that they were learning and they were safe. In our time of rapid change our teachers grew closer, collaborated more and added a creative and fun element to their teaching to support their students. A special mention to our diverse learning team led by Mrs Miller who worked in overdrive for much of the year helping and supporting students to ensure they did not fall behind. Thank you to all of our staff at Sacred Heart for always going above and beyond for our students and for being so generous and giving of yourselves this year.

Thank you to our parents who shared the teaching with us this year. We greatly appreciate the co teaching roles you shared and the collaboration that ensued. For most of the year we were unable to have parents on site and it has led to a disconnect that will hopefully be remedied and worked on next year. Thank you to the parents who complied with all the ever changing Covid rules and the plans A B C and D that we put in place and then still had to change. Thank you to the P and F for their support of the school and in particular of the leadership team. They have been a very available source of wisdom and guidance throughout this year. A special thank you to Chris Janes the P and F President for his support of the school and our leaders this year. Thank you to the parents who reached out to teachers and gave that note of support, the thank you email or asked how they were - that meant the world to us. Thank you to our class parents who went above and beyond this year in trying to keep our parents connected and sane! 

A very big thank you to our Sports Club led by Chris Chard and the parent volunteers who had a mammoth job of stopping and starting the seasons and ensuring that our children could be in the community and playing sport for our club. This went a long way to ensuring  good mental health for our children.

Thank you to our behind the scenes parents who contributed to the Christmas Fair and ensured that this was the highlight of the children’s year.

A very big thank you to Father Phil who has supported us throughout the year. Along with Father Henry and Father Noel they have enabled the children to receive all their sacraments and to celebrate all of our major feast days this year as well as put on a community mass on Friday mornings for our community.

Our final thank you goes to all of our students. All of your teachers would like to thank you for all of your hard work, the kindness you showed to each other and for meeting the goals you have set for yourselves for next year. You have worked to the best of your ability in challenging times. Rather than see this year as a deficit to your learning we see this year as one that has helped you grow many skills that you may not have learnt until many years in the future. For many of you the independence, the resilience, the ability to ask for help and the ability to negotiate are lifelong skills that you have developed or honed this year. A very special thank you to our Year Six students who leave us today. You have supported many of the young students and had to step in many times to be there for a younger student who needed help when their parents could not be on site. 

We wish you all a very happy Christmas and a wonderful holiday. Stay safe, stay well and enjoy your break.

Regards

Julie Caldwell

Please see the following link for highlights for Music Mates for Sacred Heart for the year. We haven't been able to showcase the students in the traditional manner (concert/performance) and this video is in lieu of that opportunity. 

https://youtu.be/9-b5rcBYg7k

COMPASS: