Today was a wonderful celebration of the current Year 6 cohort as they officially completed their Primary Education. They celebrated the Thanksgiving Mass, with the whole school and their parents, where they gave thanks for all the blessings they have received throughout their time at Sacred Heart. We wish them every success as they move onto Secondary schooling and hope they will continue to make the most of all their opportunities and reach for the stars. They will get to enjoy the sites and scenes of Canberra next week when the Stage 3 students spend a night and a couple of days in our nation’s capital. We thank the Stage 3 teachers for their organization and determination to provide our students with this opportunity. We can’t wait to see the photos from their adventures.

As a school we pride ourselves on staying up-to-date with current and relevant developments in education and strategies for teaching and meeting the needs of our students. Next year we will embark on a journey of classroom management practices that support the students to achieve the most out of any classroom engagement. The Classroom Mastery program will be introduced in the early Professional Learning days of Term One 2024. This has necessitated that all K-10 students will return to school on FRIDAY 2 FEBRUARY instead of the previously published THURSDAY 1 FEBRUARY. Kindergarten students will begin their Wednesday rest days in week 2. A full list of dates will be published through COMPASS early next week.

Our Year 10 students are currently on Work Experience and having a ‘blast’ according to all reports. Work Experience is now a ‘legal’ minefield with the paperwork proving exhausting. We are very proud to be able to offer this opportunity to our students and appreciate the enormous generosity of our employers in taking on the additional responsibility of managing students. Thank you to Ms Withers and Mr Mahon for their support in organizing these placements.

This week we conducted our annual Leadership speeches and the election process for the new academic year. The Year 5 and Year 9 students who contested the Leadership vote were outstanding in their speeches. All students clearly and succinctly outlined what they understood about Leadership and the type of leader that they would aspire to be like. We are so blessed to have so many fine candidates and young people who are willing to put their hand up and take on the challenge of leadership. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to wear a badge but everyone gets a chance to be a leader. We will announce the results in coming days.

We are still in the process of securing teachers for next year. As soon as we have our staffing finalized we will be able to assign teachers to the respective classes. Teachers are busy finalizing class lists with a clear balance of students in all classes. We aspire to offer an education where it doesn’t matter which teacher is in front of the class and all students get the same, equitable and excellent education from our school. If you have an issue that you would like considered in class placement then please make an appointment to see me. I am very happy to discuss options and expectations around class structure.

Next week will see the start of the Infant Swimming program. This is an excellent program to consolidate invaluable life skills that could well save a life. Thank you to Mrs Hunt for her excellent organization. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us but be ready for some very tired little people in the coming week.

Our Annual Award ceremony for 2023 will be held on 6 December in the church. We will continue to host two ceremonies – an Infants/Primary one at 10.30 and a Secondary one at 12noon. An official invite will be released next week on COMPASS.

Remember, there is always a reason to be kind.

God Bless

Ms Nicky Trinder

Principal

K - 6 Learn to Swim Program - Monday 27 November

Stage 3 Canberra Excursion - Thursday 30 - Friday 1 December