The Sacrament of Reconciliation                             

Please keep these children in your prayers as they celebrate their first Sacrament of Reconciliation tonight at Sacred Heart Church.   

Kazuo. M

Isabella. D 

Natasha. L

Marissa. M

Destiny. M

Jeremiah. M

Jennifer. T

Charlotte. B

Claire. G

Amelia. H

We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. Each family should have received a Project Compassion box for their donations. These may be returned to school at any time unil the end of term.

Saint Oscar Romero is our inspiration for Project Compassion 2021, so in his words let’s “Aspire not to have more, but to be more.”

The Scholastic Book Fair is visiting our school library from tomorrow Wednesday the 24th February - Wednesday 3rd March. It will be open each morning from 8:15am - 8:45am and each afternoon from 3:15pm-4:00pm.

Students may also make purchases at lunchtime. Cash and credit cards are accepted.

Book fair sales help the school add new resources to the library collection. All students and families are invited to attend. 

Thank you to all the parents who have nominated to volunteer at our Swimming Carnival on Thursday 4th March. We truly appreciate the high number of volunteers helping to make our carnival a success. On Monday, we will be sending home with your eldest child, your parent volunteer pool pass along with your job allocation for the day. 

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Brendan Mitchell or Laura Stumbles. 

• For our enrolled participants, the Sacrament of First Reconciliation Celebration is 25 February 7pm in the Church
• For our enrolled participants, Sacrament of First Holy Communion Program Session #1 is 3 March 7pm in the Church
• For our enrolled participants, Sacrament of First Holy Communion Program Session #2 is 10 March 7pm in the Church; no longer Zoom
• Sacrament of Confirmation program enrolment window will open on 15 March via Qkr!; details are being finalised but will be posted on the parish website:  http://www.mhoc.org.au/sacraments/confirmation/
• For our enrolled participants, Sacrament of First Holy Communion Program Session #3 is 17 March 7pm in the Church; no longer Zoom
• For our enrolled participants, Sacrament of First Holy Communion Program Session #4/Practice is 24 March 7pm in the Church

NAPLAN Testing in Years 3 and 5

NAPLAN testing dates for 2021 are between 11-21st May.

We are beginning to prepare for NAPLAN testing. Children in Years 3 and 5 will practise question types and ensure their devices are ready over the coming weeks. Some classes will participate in the Practise Test on March 25th.

Students in Year 3 and 5 were given a note today. Please refer to the note or SZapp notice to assist your child to be ready for these mandatory tests. Information about the tests and examples of the questions can be found on the ACARA website. https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/parent-carer-support/.

School Photos

School photo day will be Tuesaday 20th April, Week One of Term Two. This year the school photos will be taken in the summer uniform. We ask that for Week One of Term Two your child/children wear their summer uniform.

Learning Assets and our Interim Reports at the end of term

Our reporting to parents and carers this term will be in the form of Term 1 Interim Reports and a Parent/Teacher interview. Reports and interview booking information will be sent home on Monday 15^th March. The interviews will be held during Week 8, 22-25th March.

The wording of Sacred Heart’s school-based reports are guided by the ‘General Capabilities’ in the Australian Curriculum and the ‘Learning Skills and Dispositions’ defined by Kath Murdoch. We refer to them as our Learning Assets. We use this language daily to talk about, and reflect on, how we learn.

In the newsletter over the next few weeks the five Learning Assets will be elaborated on to assist parents in understanding what they mean. It is hoped that this then will enable you to have conversations with your children about how they learn, using the language of the assets.

The Learning Assets are not curriculum based. This language applies as we encourage children to be life-long learners. They refer to transdisciplinary skills we need as 21^st Century learners.

‘When we consciously engage young people in inquiring into how they learn, we are developing skills and dispositions that act as important assets to them as learners – across the curriculum, in school and beyond.’

K Murdoch  ‘Power of Inquiry’ p97

The five Learning Assets that help us to be effective and efficient learners are - Researchers, Thinkers, Collaborators, Self-Managers, Communicators.

If you have any questions, please talk with your child’s teacher when you catch up early this term or speak to any member of the leadership team.

Researchers

When I am researching I might ask rich questions (a skill), but without curiosity to want to find out, courage to go beyond the known and an attitude to critique the information gathered, then the skill is of little real value. (K. Murdoch ‘Power of Inquiry’ p97)

Researchers formulate questions and locate and use a wide range of sources and techniques to investigate problems, interests, and issues. They think critically about the information they gather and are careful to acknowledge their sources. Examples of times when we use our assets and when teachers would be explicitly teaching about using learning assets may include:

• Decide what we want to find out
• Use our senses to find out about something
• Come up with ideas for how to find out answers to our questions
• Use the internet safely 
• Use pictures or photos to get information
• Cite the sources of information we gather in appropriate ways
• Record the information we gather in efficient and effective ways 

Kinder and Stage 1 will focus on the first disposition - Being Curious; Stage 2 and 3 will develop language about all three – Curious, Courageous, Critical.