Sacred Heart Central School Cootamundra eNewsletter

We hope the glorious autumn days continue until Friday when we will hold our annual Sacred Heart Athletics Carnival. This is an important day in our school calendar and is a compulsory school day for all students regardless of their athletic predilections or abilities. We would love to see all our students from K-10 involved in the day and as many parents as possible cheering on all competitors. If you are able to assist on the BBQ or in the canteen then that would be gratefully received. Please contact the front office if you are able to assist.

So much has been happening over the past two weeks and the most pressing has been the increase in COVID infections amongst our staff. We have had a significant increase in infections and we have been grateful for the casual staff who have been able to cover classes. If your child is exhibiting symptoms please keep them at home to prevent the spread, especially to the more vulnerable of our staff and families. We are encouraging all our students to continue to use sanitiser at all times and return to COVID safe practices as much as is practicable.

The annual Year 7 camp last week at Camp Hudson was a wonderful time to all reports. Mr Alderman, Ms Wade, Mrs Maxwell, Mrs Maher and Mrs Black all gave glowing reports of the behaviour, engagement and attitude of our Year 7 students. Hopefully we will be able to include a report in coming weeks.

The CECG Cross Country was an opportunity for our students to demonstrate their exceptional athleticism on Mt Stromolo. Our students came away with some impressive results and we had many students who figured in the championship medals. Congratulations to all who participated. There will be a Sports report next week detailing for all our results and medal winners. Many students will progress onto the state level. Next week we also have three swimmers contesting the NSW All Schools for swimming at the Homebush Aquatic Centre - Halle Johnson, Jake Winsor and Jake Harris. We wish them safe travel and every success. We have also had two of our Year 10 girls - Josey Hoey and Hallie Kelly involved in the NSW CCC 16s Rugby League Trials in Wyong. We are yet to hear how they fared against some of the top female athletes in the state.

Last Saturday we held the first of our House Parish Masses. De La Salle House led the ministries at the vigil mass and also some of our new altar serving recruits were introduced to the Parish. It was lovely to have so many attend mass and be involved in the Parish. We hope that this is a tradition that will continue to grow and promote a more regular attendance at Mass for many of our staff, students and families. We are always in the Parish prayer and we are grateful for their prayerful support.

Last night we welcomed many new families to our school community who have enrolled (or are considering) enrolling their children into our 2025 Kindergarten classes. Mrs Chesworth and our Year 10 School Captains Thomas and Lucy led an informative session on what Sacred Heart has to offer . Thank you to our Year 10 students who also came and supervised the younger students so that their parents could fully appreciate the presentation. Our senior students are always willing to help out and this is one of the very best things about Sacred Heart, that we have a community K-10 that are always willing to support each other. Thank you to Emily Fry, Amelia Smith, Lucy Paterson, Tom Peacey and Ashlee Peacey for generously giving up their time.

Next week we will farewell our fabulous School Counsellor Laura Maxwell who will be taking maternity leave to wait for the impending birth of her first child. Laura has been an important asset to our school community and we wish her and Brenden every happiness with their new addition. We are still waiting on news of a replacement counsellor and we hope that we will be able to continue this important service in coming weeks.

Below I have included a copy of the latest information coming from ESAFETY that is important reading for any parent. The content to which it refers is very distressing but it is important that parents are aware of what is happening in the cyber space for their children. The attached resources are invaluable and well worth a read.

Sadly there is an extreme rise in the reports to ESAFETY regarding “Sextortion” and scammers targeting children and young people. These issues are of great concern and headspace works closely with ESafety to guide families, schools, and young people toward the right supports.

Please see the helpful links and resources below for distribution in how you see fit.

You may have seen media recently about a number of suicides of young people who had been scammed hence why we are trying to educate young people (particularly young men) and parents carers about these rising issues.

HEADSPACE - resource for families is now live on our website,

How to help a young person experiencing sextortion | headspace

Sexual extortion guidance from ESafety

LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7192028821716410368/)

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/eSafetyOffice/posts/pfbid021qjHTZZatpQXMDUwxGV5hhTCpvD8cZq2MExNBkFHJMMZKPD7BSaRGWVcJMmA8zV5l)

Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/C6fnVHjPvPf/)

X (twitter. (https://twitter.com/eSafetyOffice/status/1786260138237862102)

Online safety resources for parents: www.esafety.gov.au/parents

Next Week is also a very important week in terms of recognising our First Nations people and the importance of Reconciliation week. With the theme ‘Now more than ever’ for National Reconciliation Week 2024, it is a time to reflect and continue building momentum towards reconciliation in our schools and early learning services, workplaces, and broader communities. This theme invites all Australians to learn more about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and explore how everyone can contribute to promoting reconciliation in our everyday lives - in our homes, workplaces, and social circles. Our Year 7 students will be involved in the community recognition of reconciliation week with other Cootamundra Schools by participating in a walk to the Girls Home and cultural activities. More details will be made available as they come to hand. As a school community we will host a Reconciliation breakfast on Wednesday 29 May from 8am. Please join us to celebrate inclusion, diversity and harmony. It is also a uniform Free day and children are encouraged to celebrate by wearing their favourite colour.

The Infants department will celebrate the annual Infants Liturgy next Friday at 11.45am. Everyone is most welcome to attend this traditionally reverent, inspiring and joyful liturgy. It is always a delight to see our youngest students celebrate their faith and values in such a positive and happy manner., Thank you to our Infants staff for the preparation of our students.

Remember, there is always a reason to be kind!

God Bless

Ms Nicky Trinder

Principal

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Yr 7 Camp Hudson Retreat

At Camp Hudson Year 7 had the opportunity to participate in a retreat session based around the theme of being a spiritual person. They reflected on where they feel, they are on their personal faith journey, listen and responded to scripture, where Jesus himself come to crossroads in his life and wrote letters to their Year 10 self on goals and personal beliefs. These letters where then placed in individual message sticks that are given back to the students I at the end of Year 10. To conclude the retreat the students celebrated a liturgy sitting around a campfire. It was amazing to witness the engagement and reverence all these young adults gave to the experience.

Upcoming Faith Formation Events

Confirmation Sacramental Program Session 1 - Thursday 23^rd May 3:30-4:30pm

Confirmation Sacramental Program Session 2 - 30^th May 3:30-4:30pm

Infants Liturgy - Mary Mother of Christians - Friday 31^st May

Confirmation Sacramental Program Session 3 - Thursday 6^th June 3:30-4:30pm

Sacred Heart Feast Day Mass Thursday 7^th June 12nonn

Confirmation Sacramental Program Session 4 - Thursday 13^th June 3:30-4:30pm

Healthy Relationship Secondary Program - Tuesday 18^th and Wednesday 19^th June

Confirmation Sacramental Twilight - Thursday 20^th June 3:30-7pm

Sacrament of Confirmation - Saturday 22^nd June 5pm

NAIDOC Liturgy Thursday - 4^th July 2:30pm

Infants/Primary Awards
ES1C	ES1M
Ava Vesperman	Jaxon Talbot
Isaac Lawson	Ned Shaw
S1A	S1B
Casey Jordon	Sophie Becquet
Lucas Speering	Tyler Reid
	Peter Polsen
S1H	S2B
Kade Phillips	Cooper Vitnell
Audrey Clark	Oliver Manwaring
Miley Kemp
S2N	S2W
Ella Sannazzaro	Joshua Knewstub
William Herritage	Juliet Daley
S3M	S3S
Lachlan Cram	Mina Park
William Stephans
S3W	Secondary House winner
Olivia Godber	Kelsey Smith
Rose Lang

https://mccg.my.site.com/housing/s/school-referral-form

Sacred Heart Athletics Carnival

Our annual Athletics Carnival will be held on Friday 24th of May. This is a whole school carnival. Please see compass for event details. If you are able to assist on the day please contact Megan.withers@cg.catholic.edu.au or wendy.vankerkoerle@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Primary Sport

Mortimer Shield

Reports from the Mortimer Shield Gala day was that everyone played well, and had a great time. Well done stage three. Players of the day were: Reuben Smith, George Clark, Zoe Lake and Mikayla Parsons.

CG Cross Country

Congratulations to our Cross Country team who ran in Canberra last Friday. Our team included:

Josh Knewstub Sophie Knewstub Archie Byrne Alex Byrne

Polly Manwaring Campbell Hardie Oliver Daley Estee Mcleod

Zoe Lake Ava Sannazzaro Max Winsor

Students ran their very best and we have three qualified for Sydney on the 5th June.

Alex Bryne- 1st

Zoe Lake 2nd

Estee McLeod 4th

A special congratulations to these three.

Primary Sport Dates

Secondary Sport

Representative Sports

A reminder to keep checking the Secondary Sports Google Classroom page for all notifications and processes for registration for the many representative sports coming up this term. IMPORTANT - Please take notice of the due date. There are many reasons for the due date and we need to stick to them.

CG Cross Country and NSWCCC U16 Boys Soccer Trials

Congratulations to the students who attended the CG Cross Country in Canberra today, and to Alex English at his trials for the NSWCCC U16s Soccer. Full results and more photos will be included in next week's newsletter.

SHC Team

Jake Harris, Eamon Sutherland, Liam Drum, Roy Dunk, Darcy Thompson, Chase Cullen, Declan Emery, Jessy Fisher, Aidan Smith, Austin Beddow, Thomas Peacey, Jake Winsor, Caileigh Sides, Sophie Boxsell, Ruby Harris, Sacha McLeod, Sophie Sannazzaro, Ellie Lake, Grace Derrick, Hallie Kelly, Amelia Smith.