Educating for Life SACRED HEART PRIMARY SCHOOL

Transcription

1 Educating for Life SACRED HEART PRIMARY SCHOOL Issue No 4 NEWSLETTER 22 March 2012 Thinking to Learn Learning to Think Camp Australia OSHC Parish Administrator Fr John Magri - Ph Principal Mrs Maree Ryan 2 Mora Avenue Oakleigh 3166 Telephone Fax website: office@shoakleigh.catholic.edu.au Dear Parents, What a busy term this has been. I can hardly believe that this is the last newsletter before the end of term and that we are actually almost at Easter. There will be an assembly to commemorate the special days of Easter on the last day of term at 12:15 before the children are collected. EUCHARIST : Please note that Fr John has agreed to accept enrolments at the parish masses this week end. This is an extra enrolment session and is definitely the last opportunity to enrol your child for the Sacrament of Eucharist for this year. Mass times are Saturday 5.30pm and Sunday 9.45am PLEASE SEE ATTACHED LETTER FROM FR JOHN MAGRI Please note: THERE WILL BE A SCHOOL CLOSURE DAY TOMORROW FRIDAY MARCH 23 RD. The whole staff will be working with the Catholic Education Regional Office staff reviewing the outcomes of the past 4 years in readiness for the School Cyclic Review by an external team in June. Thursday 22 nd NEWSLETTER P A Meeting 7pm Friday 23 rd School Closure P D Review with CEO Staff Review & Validate Documents Sacrament of Confirmation 7pm at Sacred Heart with Archbishop Hart Monday 26 th Assembly to celebrate Confirmation Prep Information Night 7:30pm Wednesday 28 th SCHOOL TOURS 9 10:30 AM for new enrolments 7:30 Education Board Meeting A G M Thursday 29 th SCHOOL SPORTS DAY Friday 30th TERM 1 ENDS 1PM Gold coin day to support the school where Kathy Brick who has taken leave for this year and last year to teach. Sausage sizzle. Assessment & Reporting Folder go Home Some Extra Curricula Activities that the students have been involved in this Term have been: CONFIRMATION Tomorrow night at Sacred Heart Church, the year 6 children will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation conferred by Archbishop Hart. All are excited and looking forward to this special celebration. A very moving Confirmation Family Night was presented by Jan Morice, the Religious Education Coordinator and the Year 6 Teachers to enable children and their parents to delve a little deeper into the meaning of Confirmation in their lives and how the gifts of the Spirit can strengthen and guide their lives. On Thursday the Confirmation Reflection Day for the Year 6 children was held at the Retreat house in Lysterfield as part of their preparation. The experience was heightened by the country surroundings. Monday 26 th we will gather as a school for an Assembly to celebrate those who have been confirmed. We have attached a prayer related to Confirmation - Prayer to the Holy Spirit - which you may like to read with your family. Camp Sovereign Hill Level 4 Year 5&6 students enjoyed their overnight stay at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat where they explored our early Gold Rush history and tried their luck gold panning. They were able to discover all the action and excitement of life as it was in 1850 s in Ballarat during the greatest alluvial gold rush the world has ever seen. A special feature of the trip was the Sound and Light Show depicting the history of the Eureka Stockade and early government. The story of the Eureka Rebellion, a dramatic battle between gold miners and Government forces at Ballarat on 3 December, 1854, is retold in Blood on the Southern Cross, an acclaimed sound-and-light spectacular.

2 As part of their unit of work Marvellous Melbourne, Level 3 visited the Eureka Skydeck where they had awe inspiring views of Melbourne from the observation deck of the highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere. After locating some of Melbourne s landmarks, they then toured the city to see these at a closer range. Level 2 visited the Traffic School where the children were able to practise rules they had discussed in class for safe road use through their unit of work Swimming trials Last week some of the children competed in the swimming trials at the zone level and Danny Phan from 3/4 D was selected to move to the area finals. Congratulations Danny for the fine effort. Junior School Professional Learning Program On Monday & Tuesday this week, all the staff from Prep to Year 2, attended Professional Learning days as part of Oral Language( OLSEL ) Professional Learning course (5days) they are undertaking with Professor John Munro from Melbourne University. There has been some excellent feedback from these sessions and adjustments are being made to programs to incorporate new ideas already. The same Emergency teachers will be employed to take classes on these days where possible. Literacy Training Sessions Literacy Training Sessions run by Travis Demarte our Junior Literacy Coordinator were well attended by parents willing to assist in the literacy sessions in the classrooms. We thank Travis and the parents for their attendance and look forward to their assistance in the classrooms. Subway Lunch Thank you to Liz Allan (Jordan & John Burns Mum) for putting in the time and effort to provide the children with the opportunity to have a change of lunch last Monday. It is essential that the orders are placed by the advertised date as the orders need to be sorted, lists collated and taken to Subway the week before. GOLD COIN DAY (or more if you wish ) Friday 30 th March Students may wear casual clothes Money raised from the Gold Coin Day will go to support building the dispensary which will service around 10,000 people of Mrawi, in Africa. A teacher from the school where Kathy Brick is teaching at present is in charge of this project. See the article at the end of the newsletter that Kathy has sent to us. Kathy Brick is a teacher from Sacred Heart School who has taken leave for this year and last year to teach in Africa. The Parents Association has organised a sausage sizzle on this day. ENROLMENTS FOR PREP 2013 Enrolments are now being accepted for Prep for For parents who already have a child at Sacred Heart School and another you wish to enrol for 2013, you will need to collect an enrolment form from the office, complete it and return it to the office with the required documents. New enrolment forms are now available. If you would like to make an appointment to discuss the enrolment with Maree Ryan, please make an appointment with Carmel Newsome. All applications are to be in by the end of April from families already in the school please. We have already received several applications for 2013 from families outside the school. Parents who do not have a child at the school and wish to enrol for 2013 at any level, can contact Carmel at the school office, in order to receive an information pack and application form. All applications are to be in by the end of June. OPEN DAY April 24 th On this day the principal will address visitors at 9:00am and this session will be followed by a School Tour with our Year 6 Leaders. SCHOOL TOURS with our Year 6 Leaders are on March 28 th, May 8 th, May 30 th, June 7 th, August 1 st Flyers have been sent to the local Kindergartens and Child Care Centres. If you know any families who are interested in enrolling a child/children, please inform them of these dates.

3 Sacramental Program Sacred Heart Primary School, being a parish school (like all other parish schools), assist the parish in the teaching of a catechetical curriculum, including a sacramental program. Through this they prepare the children, through instruction, with a program that should compliment their practice of the faith and celebration of the Eucharist (Mass). All this with the educational syllabus should provide children with grounding for their future and the future of our society. While the parish school has been allocated the responsibility of teaching sacramental programs the actual administration of the Sacraments belongs to the parish. Attending a Catholic School does not automatically admit a student to the sacraments. For this and other reasons we have enrolment weekends. I must admit I am not entirely pleased with the process. I applaud the school (administration and teaching staff) for all their efforts and hard work. I do not know if they can do any more than what is being done. Furthermore, on a parish level we are constantly reviewing and assessing ways to support the school and parents. The reception of the Sacraments is linked with parish life, not just the parish school community. All that is done in parish and parish school is to highlight THE EUCHARIST AS THE CENTRE OF OUR FAITH LIFE. This does mean that we should be attending Mass (Eucharist) on Sundays (or Vigil/Saturday evenings) and being involved in parish activity. If one is not committed to this then why impose the Sacraments on the children? There is a serious obligation linking Sacrament and practice of faith together. The Sacraments of Penance (Reconciliation), Eucharist and Confirmation are not awards given at the completion of a program but an experience of grace, linking all we do with the Eucharist as the centre of our faith life. The school is there to support the parents. If it isn t for the school children who make their first confession would be making their last as well. Parents should be encouraging the practice of this sacrament for their children and the Catholic members of the family. Similarly it could be said for the first Communion. The Sacraments should be an experience of grace of God s forgiveness, of Christ coming to us, and of our giftedness in the Holy Spirit. This grace is very much linked with Church an experience of the faith/parish community. Recently we had enrolments for First Holy Communion. There were two weeks of notification of this and a further two weeks of enrolment. In effect there were four weekends of Masses and still some families missed out. At one point or another I also need to take a stand. If I do not make the effort to bring matters back on track then we will see the further demise of the responsibilities (mine and yours) that should be there. Some families did not enrol their children for their First Holy Communion. This time I will make an exemption and say that at this weekend s Masses there will be the final enrolment for First Holy Communion for Parents write to me or tell me about their disappointments when they miss out on enrolling their children. Let me tell you I, too, am disappointed that this occurs, but also frustrated that they have not been to Mass in at least four weeks. There will be a change in the enrolment process for all Sacraments administered to school-age children. More information will be given about this is in the next few weeks. Please be aware that after the weekend Masses is not a good time to speak to me. There is usually a queue of people wanting to mention things and I have to go to East Oakleigh for Mass. Fr John Magri. Parish Priest.

4 ASSESSMENT & REPORTING On March 30 th you will receive your child s Assessment and Reporting Folder The contents of this folder will give you a snapshot of your child s progress at this point in the year. You will see assessment tasks and work samples accompanied by comments about your child s attitude and work habits. There is a section for the student to review his/her work for the term and set goals for the coming term. There is also a section for parents to add a comment after you have discussed the contents with your child before returning the folder to the school in the first week of the new term. The recent Parent Information booklet you received, contained an overview of the work that was to be covered this term which will assist you as you discuss the work in the folder with your child. MOTHERS DAY STALL We need volunteers to help gift wrap the mothers day presents for the stall. If you can spare some time please meet in the hall on Tuesday 24th April straight after school drop off. Also we are in need of plastic bags for the children to take their gifts home. So keep saving those bags!!! Mothers day stall this year will be held on Tuesday 1st May and Thursday 3rd May. Gifts will range in price from approx $3 to $10 with a maximum of 2 gifts per child, as per last year. We also need volunteers for the Mothers day stall on the Tuesday and Thursday. If you can help out at all please let Simone Calderone (Ella s mum) or Pina Tsoupiridis (Angelina/Nikita s mum) know. NAB AFL Auskick is starting again in 2012 and we at Murrumbeena Auskick are excited to once again offer our program to your children. We are kicking off the weekend of April 21/22 and will once again be running 90 minute programs both on the Saturday (9am) and the Sunday (10am) at Murrumbeena Park, Kangaroo Rd. We have coaches and separate groups for the younger groups (Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2) as well as combined groups for older children (Grade 3 upwards) providing a safe and engaging environment. Murrumbeena is large enough to offer great resources while offering small enough groups to ensure students get individual attention. Come along and spend quality time with your kids in a fun and engaging environment. Please ensure you register on-line by heading to and selecting Murrumbeena JFC as your club and then come along to our registration day on Sunday March 25 from 10am till noon to pick up your kit. Remember that if you register on-line before the start of the AFL season you will get AFL tickets for 2 adults and 2 kids. If you have any questions at all beena.auskick@gmail.com or call Mark on City of Monash Holiday Program brochures are available from the school office for interested families. AMF Bowling Chadstone School holiday vouchers $7.95 before 10.30am or Bowl Eat & Save - 1 bowling game & free hot dog meal $14.90 collect voucher from school office.

5 OSHC AT SACRED HEART We Make Kids Smile Contact Us OSHC Direct: Head Office: Hours of Operation Before School Care: 7:00 8:30 After School Care: 3:20 6:00pm OSHC News: Over the next few weeks we will be focusing on a theme Being, Belonging, Becoming, part of the NQF for OSHC programmes. This means that OSHC leaders will be actively getting to know your children better, finding out their likes and dislikes and what they excel at. To this end we will be making a personal laminated placemat. We would love the children to start collecting and to bring some of their favourite copies of photos of friends, family, pets, pictures of hobbies, music, sport, comic characters ect that means something to themselves. There will be many other activities in this line and the profiling gives myself and staff an opportunity to connect with your children. So happy hunting. Congratulations to our latest certificate holders, Lydia.T. for her outstanding helpful efforts and Adrian.L., Laclan.C., and Megane.B. for their Scream Run efforts. Well done to all who participated. Best Wishes from the Staffing Team... Bookings Process. How to get started before using our programs register online for an account. Registering is quick and easy. our website to begin Once registered you can make bookings and cancellations, view your statements and manage your details anytime of the day online. Save on Care You can save 50% or more on Before and After School Care fees with the non-means tested Child Care Rebate. Almost all families are eligible. To find out more call our Customer Service Team on Monday to Friday. The School Holidays are fast approaching. Check out the latest Holiday Clubs in your area, visit Term 1- Activity Highlights Monday- Outdoor Activities Tuesday- Board Games/ puzzles Wednesday-Ball Games Thursday- Challenges Friday- Cooking Club (Art & Craft everyday)

6 SACRED HEART SPORTS DAY PROGRAM THURSDAY 29 MARCH 2012 These are the approximate times of the program for the day - 9:30 am 800m Boys & Girls (Grades 5 6) 10:00 am 400m Boys & Girls (Grades 3 6) 10:10 10:30 am RECESS 10: 35 11:35 am SPRINTS Prep 40m Grade 1-60m Grade 2-60m Grade 3-100m Grade 4-100m Grade 5-100m Grade 6-100m 11:40 12:40 pm LUNCH 12:45 1:15 pm RELAYS Prep 40m Grade 1-60m Grade 2-60m Grade 3-100m Grade 4-100m Grade 5-100m Grade 6-100m 1:20 2:20 pm ROTATIONS 2:20 2:30 Return to School

7 A Generous Spirit I had a feeling that I had met someone rather special one day when in the staffroom one of the teachers, James Kissima, was talking to me passionately about the responsibility of teachers to do their absolute best given the sacrifice that some families make to send their students to school (some sell part of their shamba family farm -to pay school fees, which unfortunately are unavoidable despite assistance given to the school). He then went on to talk about the place where he grew up and was raised by his grandparents after his parents died. This is a small village called Mrawi near Moshi (the closest town to Mt Kilimanjaro). Near his family home there are many widows who live in the area. They have very little and James does whatever he can to help them. Our conversation led to us going to Mrawi for a visit. We met many of the widows he had told me about (but there are still many more). There was one lady who had some beans that she wanted to eat for dinner (a bit like broad beans) but they needed sorting before she could cook them, as they were not all edible. As her eyesight was failing, she was unable to do this for herself. James and I spent some time assisting her quite a simple task which meant she would have something to eat that night. We also visited a site where a dispensary is being built (it has been in the process of being built for 10 years). On my first visit last November, things were at a standstill. It was exciting to see when I went with James again last weekend that some progress is being made and there were builders working to hopefully complete it, thanks to a donation that has been received. James told me that the dispensary will service around villagers i.e. four villages, as there is no medical assistance for 10 kilometres a distance that many of the people are unable to travel. The next plan, James tells me, is to build a ward Last weekend we also visited an elderly couple who are trying to build a house made of stones to replace the one they have that is made of timber but has gaps that allows the weather through not great for the cooler or rainy weather. The elderly man has managed to break up the stones but he has arthritis and can do this no more. They now need some sand to put between the stones. James, who has just bought a shamba so that he can feed his family (including relatives in need)and the many needy people of his village, was calculating how many bags of rice he would have to sell to buy the much-needed sand for this couple. He really believes in doing whatever he can for others with the little that he has and really puts into practice what he believes the gospel is calling him to do. Getting to know him is both a humbling and wonderful experience! P.S James is happy to receive s at jajoki@yahoo.com if anyone would like to like find out more about what he is doing to help the people of Mrawi. The dispensary which will service around people of Mrawi. The staff and I wish you all a very Happy Easter and hope that all who travel on the roads keep safe. May the blessings of Easter be with you and your families. Maree Ryan

8 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 2012 Level / Title Understandings Home Activities Level 1 Following Jesus Loving and Serving Jesus teaches people about God s love. The Bible has stories about Jesus life. Jesus had followers called disciples. Set up a prayer place at home. It might simply be a cross and a candle on a small table in the corner of a room. Say a morning or night prayer with your child. Level 2 Journey Towards the Cross Lent is a time of change when God helps people to grow to be better. Lent is a time when people are called to help and serve others. During Lent and Holy Week the story of Jesus journey to the Cross is remembered. Make a Lenten Tree at home with the children. The tree could be made as a poster or made from a small branch planted in a contained. Each day, as a family activity, add paper leaves which have written on them something special you have done, to acknowledge the season of Lent. Level 3 Alleluia He is Risen! Level 4 Confirmation Lent is a season when Christians think about the way Jesus Christ gave himself to others. During Lent groups and individuals share what they have to bring hope to others. During Holy Week and Easter Christians remember and celebrate that Jesus Christ shared the gift of himself in his Last Supper, and in his death and in resurrection. The symbols, signs, actions and rituals of Holy Week and Easter remember the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus asked God his Father to send the Holy Spirit to be with us always The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son to give the life of grace to all God s people. List the main symbols and colours of the season or feast and make a poster of the Lenten story.; With your children at home: Read the story Spirit of Wind, Fire and Water from To know, whorship and love with your children. Discuss the main ideas of this text. How can we use the gifts given to us to work in our community for the benefit of others?

9 Sacred Heart Footy Tipping Competition 11 years old, with 11 different winners no-one has won it twice. It s Footy Time Again Round 1 starts on March 24 th Saturday Night Calling all parents, teachers and students interested in participating in the Football Tipping Competition. Please contact Alison Holmes / holmes5@unite.com.au (I walk with the black dog for those of you that don t know me) & (Shakira 3/4D) How it works Cost $2.00 per week or $46 for the season, there is a bonus for getting 8 but you must be up to date with Round payment to get it. You can have multiple cards or a family card or even one with a friend but each card is $46 for the season, you can pay weekly, monthly or for the season by putting money with your card in the box or hand it directly to me at school. Weekly selections must be in by 7:00pm on the day of the first game of the round. All games must be picked for the whole round in each participating round. Footy Tipping box is kept in front office. Fill in your tips and place card or me the tips and correct money in the box each week. tips are accepted let Alison know if you require a card or not and I will put one for you in the box at the office, if I can some, not sure because I had trouble getting cards that year. Weekly updates are ed to participants (where address is provided) Last year s participants your address is still on file. If it has changed, you will need to be in touch to update it and anyone new just let me know your address. To fill in tips, cross out losing selection eg Brisbane v St Kilda means you tip St Kilda to win Please tear off and place in box at office or me (holmes5@unite.com.au) Name:- - Class:-

10 Prayer to the Holy Spirit Spirit of life, as I face each new day, Help me use the gifts you have given me. Help me use the gift of Courage. To be able to start each new day without fear or prejudice. Help me use the gift of Right Judgement. To know when to listen, advise, console and support those who need me. Help me use the gift of Knowledge. So I will lead my friends by example and they will be encouraged to follow. Help me use the gift of Reverence. So I can encourage my friends to believe in themselves and see that they are all beautiful in their own special way. Help me to use the gift of Awe and Wonder. To inspire my friends and family with my enthusiasm and love for life. Help me to use the gift of Wisdom. So that I will have the wisdom to guide others to understanding, acceptance and compassion for all. Help me to use the gift of Understanding. To recognise and understand the challenges my parents, friends and peers face each day. Lord of life, I thank you for your precious gifts. I pray that I will use them wisely.

11 Hi All, I am Damian Emery, father of Caroline and Alessia Emery. I have taken my first step to help the fight against cancer and have joined thousands of Australians to help raise valuable funds for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. On the 27 th and 28 th of October this year I will be taking part in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, 200km bike ride in support of individuals, families and friends who have personally being affected by cancer. Help me to help others! Contribute to this history-making event with a donation. I really appreciate any support and together anything is possible! Thank You, Damian Emery