LIFE’S CHALLENGES: ARE SIMPLY THAT.

Living is experiencing Wisdom is knowing why both paths of life - so we can see the difference peace and turmoil and finally find right and wrong the hidden path between, together and alone. where things rejoin. Author unknown.

I ask for wisdom to

help me understand that the challenges of life are just that. They are not battles. I am not out there to win or lose, only to develop my skills.

I ask for wisdom to

help me be proud of what I do. Whatever my hand touches, let me remind myself that it was my effort that added to the result, that my goal is not perfection but creativity.

I ask for wisdom to

help me remind myself, that what I take seriously about myself, also qualifies for a good laugh.

I ask for wisdom to

remember to be kind to myself. Loving companions are one of life’s treats, but they are not responsible for my care. Self-kindness can heal most hurts.

BLESSING

May God shield you in every steep place, May Christ steady you on every rough path, May Spirit go with you through every dark pass.

Amen.

Ancient Celtic Blessing.

Welcome back to a year full of Challenges.

Beginning a new year is a time for setting challenges, embarking upon adventures and putting together plans to push yourself. Challenges are one of the best ways to spark innovation, test your mettle, change the world and change yourself.

I’m exciting about lots of challenges this year. We very deliberately chose the idea of challenges for 2019. This will seek to become the hallmark of everything we do this year at Sacred Heart. We want to create a culture of challenge for all. Challenge is good!

What challenges are you going to take on and overcome this year?

LNAP Journey

We began the LNAP journey several years ago as a jointly funded initiative by the NSW Government and Catholic education to raise our literacy and numeracy outcomes. The Literacy and Numeracy Action Plan (LNAP) is a strategic approach to early intervention, targeted teaching to lift and challenge students, clear learning goals and a promotion of high-quality teaching to influence student engagement and outcomes. To assist us as a school community in improving our literacy outcomes we will be provided with the opportunity to embed challenging learning practices into our teaching. Over the course of the year as a staff we will be completing training in practical tools to support strategies to provide challenging yet interesting learning experiences for all students.

Kindergarten 2019

Our littlest students began their Sacred Heart journey yesterday. It was a joyous occasion to see so many excited little people bidding their families tentative goodbyes. It was a very settled beginning to a lifetime of learning and we hope and pray that they are always excited by what school can offer them. For the first weeks the Kindergarten students will have class with both teachers in the morning and combine in the afternoon session with Mrs Kate Maher.

Beginning the Day

To provide the very best care for our students to ensure their safety and wellbeing we have staff supervising the playground from 8.30am. Students are not to be on the playground before this time as there is no supervision. This is for K-10 students in all playgrounds. If there are extenuating circumstances, please contact me in the first instance. Similarly, our Infants students are to be on the Primary playground from 8.35 until a rostered teacher comes on duty at 8.50 and collects them to take them to the Infants playground.

Guest Speaker

We are very excited about welcoming John Coutis, the inspirational speaker, to our school community to give three presentations to our school on 21 February. John is a motivational speaker who tailors his presentations to the age and interests of his audience and aims to focus attention on positive wellbeing and meeting new challenges. We are pleased to offer, to our wider community, a breakfast presentation at 8am in rooms 7/8. Our Wellbeing committee will provide a light breakfast during the presentation. Everyone is welcome (please RSVP to the Front Office for catering purposes). Our Secondary and Primary students will attend presentations at 9.05 and 10.05 respectively.

Important Events this week

Already our calendar is crowded with important events. Please continue to consult the timetable as we strive to keep your informed of up-to-date information. This week we have the Years 3-10 Swimming Carnival on Thursday 7 February. All students are expected to attend the full day and support their House. Students must have a legitimate justification for leaving the carnival earlier than 3pm and must be signed out by an adult if that is the case.

Our Opening School Mass will be held Friday 8^th February beginning at 12noon. This will see the Induction of our School Leaders for 2019 and welcome our new Kinder and Year 7 students. All students are required to wear FULL SUMMER SCHOOL uniform. (Not sports uniform)

This year our school leaders will be presented to the Parish Community on Saturday 8^th February at the weekend vigil Mass at 6pm. Everyone is most welcome to share the Mass and light BBQ with our devoted Parish members.

Information Sessions and Welcoming BBQ– Kinder and New Families/IPad/Year 7

This year we have combined our Information Sessions to reduce the number of nights for families and staff. We hope to present in a brief and informative session pertinent details about our school processes, everything iPad and our wider parent bodies. This will be followed with a BBQ meal where families can meet staff and connect with other people in our school community. 

At this Information Session help sheets will be available to help with possible iPad issues. It is also our plan to have the necessary codes for app installation for Year 5, Year 7 and new students onto the iPads sent out this week (provided that the parent email in our system is current). Instruction sheets for installation will also be available at the Information Session.

Communication

We have so many different avenues and means for communication in our modern school environment, like the newsletter, facebook, emails but it is still important that if you have any issues with the school that you contact the Front Office to make an appointment to see the appropriate person. On any given day many different situations can arise and we endeavour to be transparent and efficient in managing day to day issues. Please strive to make personal contact so that we aware of concerns or events that are important to you. Likewise, we love to hear if there are things that are positive and enriching happening and any ways to improve our communication and service.

God Bless

Mrs Nicky Trinder

Principal