Welcome Back! Where did the holidays go? It seems like only yesterday that we were wrapping up for 2020 and planning feverishly for the new year and now we are already immersed in all that 2021 offers. 2021 promises so much, partly due to the fact that we no longer look too far ahead and are more appreciative of all that we had previously taken for granted. We are incredibly blessed that we can start the year as “normal” despite COVID protocols still hanging over all our planning and implementation. I will detail the most pertinent COVID protocols later in the newsletter. It has been wonderful to welcome all our students and staff back and we hope and pray that 2021 will be all we hope for it and more.

This year we have a new Annual School Improvement Plan which guides and focuses our professional learning for staff and new initiatives for the school year. We have three clear goals outlined to 1. Improve student outcomes for all students, 2. Build K-10 collaboration and 3. To strengthen student engagement. We are unashamedly striving to make sure that all our students progress in their skills and understanding in their learning in line with the NSW benchmarks. We have an awesome staff who collectively have enormous experience and capacity to support students learning journey. One important part of strengthening student engagement is the necessity of regular and constant attendance at school. It follows that students find it more difficult to learn if they are not at school so we are encouraging improved habits of attendance. Invariably students have to be away from school for a myriad of reasons but we are trying to promote that unless there is an unavoidable reason for being away that students are present in class every day.  Please support us in this endeavour by contacting the classroom teacher or PCA if you are experiencing difficulty in getting your child to school.

This year we have been blessed with the services of a new School Counsellor two days a week. CatholicCare were successful in securing the expertise of Ms Samantha Price who will begin with us in Week 3. We look forward to working with her to support our students in the mental health and wellbeing. There will be changes to the referral process for 2021 and they are releasing a new online permission form in coming weeks. As part of the transition to digital record keeping CatholicCare have developed an online referral form for schools to use. This referral form also emails parents of students under 14 years of age to obtain digital consent for these students to access counselling services.  For any families who may struggle to complete a digital form, please continue to use the paper consent forms, however relevant schools staff will be able to use the online referral form to refer new students to the service. Please note that CatholicCare requires the consent of both of the parent/caregivers (unless court orders specify otherwise or there are safety considerations) for all students under 14 years of age.

Today our 2021 Kindergarten class visited my office. It is a privilege to share their journey with them in their enthusiastic innocence and excitement. We will officially welcome our new students and staff at our Opening School Mass on Friday 5 February at 12noon. This will also be the celebration where we invest our new school leaders and pray that our generous God will keep us safely in the palm of his hand. All our new students in Kinder and Year 7 will receive a candle to welcome them into our Sacred Heart Community. We welcomed Fr Lolesio back from his holidays and he is very excited about being an important figure in our school community. We will still need to abide by a COVID safe plan and all parents who attend will need to be socially distanced at the rear of the church and sign in using the Service NSW app.

We are also in the throes of organising our biannual School fete to help raise invaluable funds to support our students. Despite a lack lustre response to the first Fete meeting at the end of last year our two coordinators – Nancy Smith and Sharon Williams, are keen to hold another meeting to gather some support for the big task of preparing for the fete. We will hold the meeting next Monday 8 February after the P & F meeting at 6pm in the Front Office. We ask anyone who can assist in any way from sorting raffle tickets to offering ideas for stalls and activities to join us. Already they are hard at work preparing the raffle tickets for distribution at the end of this week to each family. We have some fabulous prizes very generously donated by Chambers Garage and Blackie’s Power Equipment. First prize is a Husqvarna push mower valued at nearly $700 (donated by Chambers Garage), Second prize is a Stihl Battery powered blower (donated by Blackie’s Power equipment) and a $200 Fuel voucher from Chambers Garage. We are very appreciative of the generous support of our community. Please save the date 12 March to join us for the Fete on Friday evening. More details to come in subsequent newslettters.

The COVID protocols for 2021 are virtually unchanged from 2020. Students and staff who present with COVID-like symptoms are not permitted to attend, are asked to get a COVID test and present a negative test before they return to school. We will continue to supply hand sanitiser and have additional cleaning routines.

School Fees will be issued early next week. Please make sure that your email addresses and home addresses are up-to-date. Any changes please notify the Front Office asap. If school fees are an issue please contact the school to make appointment to meet confidentially with me at your earliest convenience.

The Uniform Pool will be open tomorrow afternoon from 2.30 to 3.15. We are appreciative of all the donations that have helped cater for the wide range of students at our school. If you have any pre-loved school items that you no longer require please send them into the school so that we can make them available to families.

Next Tuesday we will be hosting the Year 7 Information Evening and the Kindergarten Information Evening. We will also host the Welcome to Sacred Heart BBQ for all our new families on the same evening. More information about these important presentations will be sent home in coming days. We appreciate that there has been a lot of “notes” and “ information” flooding home as we try to make sure that we have communicated all the necessary “need-to-know” details. If you are unsure, please contact me at school to query any information. By doing this, it helps to clear up confusion and to alleviate any stress exists.

Remember: three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind. (Henry James)

Mrs Nicky Trinder

Principal