From the Principal

Almighty Father, source of forgiveness and salvation,

grant that our friend Dave who has passed from this life may,

through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the saints,

come to share your Eternal happiness through Christ our Lord.

Please keep in your loving care Dave’s wife Janelle and his family at this most difficult time.

Amen

Week 2

It has been a very challenging and sad week for the Sacred Heart Community as we mourn the loss of David Forsyth, a valued and precious friend, colleague and mentor. Dave is remembered for his devotion to our students, cheeky sense of humour, deep spirituality and sensitive and caring heart.

We continue to offer counselling for any student, staff or parents who would like to speak to someone. Please contact the school if you would like to organise a time to chat with a counsellor from Catholic Care. We are very grateful for the support offered by Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn and know that the impact of this tragedy will be felt for a long time. Our responses in these trying times are all different and valid. Please do not hesitate to ask for assistance if you are struggling during the coming days, weeks and months.

Help is also available from www.beyondblue.org.au, www.blackdoginstitute.org.au, www.lifeline.org.au, www.headspace.org.au and Access Line on 1800 011 511

Paddock to Plate

This evening we will celebrate the involvement of many farmers, growers, graziers, producers and specialists in their field who have supported our Agricultural Technology students. Our students and staff have been cooking produce grown by our students to serve to our generous supporters. All are looking forward to a lovely evening of delicious food and great company. Our sincere thanks to all involved.

Boorowa Touch and Netball Carnival

Good luck to all our students and staff involved in the Boorowa Touch and Netball Carnival tomorrow. We hope that you have a great day, filled with excellent sportsmanship, team work and fun! Thanks to our generous staff for their organising for the day, especially Mrs Patrece Maxwell.

Emma McDonnell

I met with Emma last week and she is looking and feeling terrific! Emma is continuing to make progress with her recovery and rehabilitation. She is eagerly looking forward to coming back to Sacred Heart in 2019. She greatly appreciates all the prayers and well wishes and may be making some short stay visits during the upcoming weeks as she starts her return to the classroom.

P & F Fundraisers

Thank you to everyone who came along and enjoyed the Fun Run last Friday. It was another huge success and wonderful community evening. Congratulations to Mel Finnigan and her dedicated band of mothers – fathers of the P & F who did a terrific job organising the event. Awards will be presented towards the end of the term.

Please join us for the Garden Viewings that will take place on Sunday 28 October (this Sunday).  The day commences at 10am – 2pm. The following gardens on display are: Ann & George Peacey ‘Kerrigundi’ 88 Warralong Road, Marie & Pat Ryan 9 Matilda Ave, Sue Priest 39 Thompson St and Pamela Cohen 20 Hovell St. Moring tea and lunch available to purchase at Ryan’s garden (toilet also available).

Alan Tongue

We are very pleased to have Alan Tongue visiting our students on Tuesday 30 October for a wellbeing and motivational session. Alan will be meeting with students from Years 3 to 10 at different sessions throughout the day.

Alan Tongue is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. A Country New South Wales representative forward, he captained the Canberra Raiders for several seasons in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition.

Alan now works closely with schools delivering a wide range of programs and as the recipient of the 2007 ACT Australian of the Year he understands the importance of inspiring greatness. Delivering inclusive and highly interactive mentoring programs, that give participants practical techniques and tools to build self-esteem and teamwork, tackle adversity, and set positive goals, is Alan's way of giving back. Participants tell Alan they value his personable approach, enthusiasm, and ability to teach key principles in a fun, active learning environment. 

We have fully funded Alan’s visit as part of our ongoing commitment to wellbeing and hope that all our students and staff thoroughly enjoy their sessions.

Disco 1 November

Our student leadership teams will be running discos on Thursday 1 November at the Cootamundra Ex-Services Club.

Primary will run from 5.30pm to 7pm. Secondary will run from 7pm to 9pm. 

THEMES

Primary – Tropical Summer.

Secondary - Tradies

Tickets will be on sale from Monday outside the library at $3 each.

Students need to be dropped off and collected by a parent or if another parent is collecting, please inform a staff member at the disco. Students must purchase tickets prior to the event and if a student does not arrive on time, we will contact parents.

If due to training or work commitments your child will be late, please let the school know what time they will be arriving.

Kindergarten 2019 Orientation Session 1

Our Kindergarten students will commence their first orientation session on Friday 2 November starting at 12noon. We are looking forward to welcoming our new students!

At this stage we have been allocated two Kindergarten classes for 2019. This is dependent on maintaining our numbers and will be reviewed until census in February 2019.

We congratulate Mrs Kate Maher who has been appointed as one of the Kindergarten teachers and we are yet to confirm who the second teacher will be but we are hoping that it will be Ms Emma McDonnell. If we have only one Kindergarten class in 2019, the teacher will be Kate Maher.

With blessings,

Mrs Janet Cartwright

Principal

In recent weeks it has been identified that there are concerns around cyber safety and what many students think is “normal” behaviour. The Office of the e-safety Commission has outstanding resources for parents, teachers and young people about how to navigate the perils of the cyber world. Many people do not understand the responsibilities, legalities and ramifications of cyber use which includes child abuse material. The consequences for a conviction involving child abuse material is severe. Everyone should be aware of what actually constitutes child abuse material. This week we have highlighted a section for parents about sexting that is an excellent read with valuable advice.

We encourage you to visit the site listed below for a range of information.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/education-resources/

This is an excerpt from this valuable resource.

Most sexting is done with a mobile phone but it also occurs through social media or other online activities. Sexting can include a range of behaviours and content, from sending flirtatious text messages to more intimate material, like taking and sharing nude photos or videos capturing sexual acts.

The term ‘sexting’ is not often used by young people or in popular culture. Most often, it’s called ‘nudes’, ‘naked selfies’, ‘rudie nudies’ or they might use other terms like ‘pic for pic’.

How common is it?

There’s a growing sense that sexting is becoming a normalised courtship ritual among young people.

A recent Australian study, Sexting and Young People, found that almost half of a total sample of 2, 243 respondents reported having sent a sexual picture or video of themselves to another person. Two-thirds had received a sexual image, with 13 to 15 year olds ‘particularly likely to receive sexual images’. It also found that most sexting occurred in committed relationships.

Why do young people sext?

The combination of natural sexual curiosity and growing up in a digital world means that children are likely to experience sexting at some stage of their lives.

Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that young people sext for a range of reasons, including:

• being in a romantic relationship where images are shared willingly between partners
• seeking attention—to increase popularity within a friendship group or among peers
• flirting and exploring their sexuality
• believing it’s a normal thing and that everyone else is doing it
• believing that it’s a form of ‘safe sex’ when they are not ready to have sex
• circulating images after a relationship breakdown with the intent to embarrass an ex-partner
• feeling pressured to send images unwillingly
• being in an extreme situation where they may be under duress or blackmailed by someone threatening to distribute sexual images of them.

What are the risks of sexting?

Sexting may initially seem like a bit of fun or innocent flirting for young people, particularly those in a relationship. Unfortunately, if naked or sexually explicit images are involved, there can be serious and unwanted consequences. This can potentially expose them to a range of emotional, social and legal issues. Even if a young person has received an unsolicited sext, there can be psychological and legal consequences.

Some of the consequences for young people can include:

• humiliation, guilt, shame, anger and self-blame—which can lead to ongoing emotional distress, withdrawal from school and family life and in severe cases, self-harm and suicidal thoughts
• bullying, teasing and harassment from peers—they may experience bullying, including cyberbullying, if photos are shared around their school community or friendship group
• damage to reputation—it may impact on their reputation and performance at school, as well as employment opportunities in the future
• criminal charges and penalties—it can be a crime when it involves creating, possessing and/or sharing sexualised images of people under 18 years.

Once an image is shared, the sender loses control on how that image is potentially used. Images can be copied and saved by others, shared with people the sender doesn’t know and posted on social media and public websites. These images can be extremely difficult to remove and the consequences from having these images posted online can follow a young person into adulthood.

Things can go wrong even if sharing takes place in a trusted relationship or friendship. A friend may, on impulse and without thinking, share an image more broadly than the sender intended. Sometimes when a relationship breaks down there may be an intent to embarrass and take revenge on an ex-partner.  We refer to this as image-based abuse.

A recent study by RMIT University, Not Just ‘Revenge Pornography’: Australians’ Experiences of Image-Based Abuse, suggests that the risk for image-based abuse is higher for those who share sexual selfies. The study found that participants who reported engaging in sexual self-image behaviours (37%) were more likely to have been victimised than those who had not ever sent a sexual selfie (10%).

Sexting may not always be voluntary. Young people may be forced or pressured into sending explicit content. This is particularly a risk when communicating on a dating site or with strangers whose real motives might not be known or understood. Even teens who know each other may experience coercion or badgering to send a nude.

Sometimes sexting can lead to sextortion, which is extortion with a sexual component. This is when a person threatens to distribute sexual or intimate images or text messages they have already received unless the victim pays money, provides sexual favours, sends the person more sexual images or videos of themselves or complies with some other demand.

Educating yourself about the risks and talking to your child is one of the best ways to help protect them from any life-changing behaviours and consequences.

Susan MacLean, cyber safety expert, says it is not uncommon for children in primary school to be involved in sexting behaviours.

Here are some of her tips:

• talk early talk often
• promote self-confidence and respect for self and others
• teach your children about consent & that it’s OK to say no
• just because others send nudes doesn’t mean you have to
• ensure your children know about the law & possible criminal charges
• let your children know that they must speak up if feeling uncomfortable & they can come to you regardless.

Stage 3M Class Mass

Stage 3 M celebrated their class Mass on Wednesday. The theme of this mass will be Witness- We are all called to Spread the Good news of the Gospels.

Soctober- Catholic Mission Month

Let’s Sock it to Poverty

We have had a wonder week making sock puppets and raising money for Catholic Mission.

All classes created a coin line longer than their sock puppet line. Great wok everyone. Next week we will be about to let everyone know how much money was raised and which class will win the hot chip lunch.

Money raised from this event will go towards supporting the Catholic Church and education in Myanmar.

Catholic Mission supports the Catholic Church in Myanmar in a number of ways, including through funding, missionary collaboration and providing expertise in sustainability, and in 2016 Catholic Mission entered a five-year partnership with the Archdiocese of Yangon, and the dioceses of Kalay and Hakha. In 2017, Catholic Mission provided funding to support 326 catechists, including 82 in Yangon and 239 in Hakha. The Church in Myanmar has a strong focus on education as the key to moving forward, and is engaged in a range of education specific projects. These include building and funding hostels which ensure access to education for children who are disadvantaged or live in remote areas, some of whom are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. Catholic Mission has supported the construction of two churches and a clergy house in Myanmar in 2017/18.

Upcoming Faith Formation special events.

Year 9/10 Weekend Mass 4 November 11:00 pm

Year 5 Reflection Day 21 November

Year 9 Leadership Day 22 November

Year 6 Thanksgiving Mass 30 November 12 noon

Stage 2 Weekend Mass 1 December 6:00 pm

Year 10 Farewell Mass 14 December 12 noon

Advent Liturgy 17 December 12 noon

Yours in Faith

Cootamundra Annual Touch Carnival.pdf

1 Mudyi Literacy Groups Term 4.pdf

Secondary Mass.pdf

Year 9 Melbourne Itineray and Costing update.pdf

Boorowa Touch and Netball

We have 80 students travelling to Boorowa tomorrow to participate in Annual Touch and Netball Carnival. We wish them all the best. Thank you to those parents who have offered to manager teams or transport students.

Gala Cricket Day

Secondary Touch Carnival

We are holding our annual Secondary Schools touch carnival on Friday 16/11/19. Year 10 parents assist with running the canteen. Offers of Parent assistance can be directed toward Andrew Alderman. We are also looking for the assistance of a high number of referees. If we have anyone about to offer their time, please speak to Patrece Maxwell

Primary Dates:

TERM 4

Boorowa Touch and Netball Boorowa 26/10/18

Secondary Dates:

TERM 4

Sacred Heart Annual touch Carnival Cootamundra 16/11/18

One behalf of the P & F I would like to thank everyone who participated in the Colour Run last Friday night. It was a great to see families from the Cootamundra community all coming together and having fun, also thanks to everyone who helped on the night in setting up and selling food.  A special thanks to the Tiernan Family who finish up at the school this year. Sean and Deb have given years of service to the P & F. We could always count on you and I am very greatfull for all your help and guidance given while I have been president.

Thank you to all the families that sold and sent back their 1200 club tickets it was a huge challenge but we had a very happy winner of $10,000 going to Nat Wilkinson followed by 5 draws of $20 going to Al & Dot Bryant, Matt Holt, Leanne Hirzel, Brigid Holder and Jodi Evans who both donated their winnings back to the school. In all, it was a very successful night which raising around $15,000 for the school.

Mel Finnigan