Dear Sacred Heart community,

We are now halfway through the season of Lent, a time of reflection, prayer, and preparation as we journey towards Easter. It is a wonderful opportunity to pause and consider how we can grow in faith, kindness, and generosity. Whether it is through acts of service, spending time in prayer, or simply being more aware of those in need, let us continue to walk together as a school community, embracing the true spirit of this sacred season.

Working Bee – This Friday 3:30-5:00pm
We need your help! Our Working Bee is happening this Friday from 3:30 to 5:00pm, and we would love to see as many families as possible lend a hand. We have over 10 metres of sand and mulch to move and spread, so if you can bring along wheelbarrows, shovels, weeding equipment, even whipper snippers, it would be greatly appreciated. A sausage sizzle and drinks will be provided as a small thank you for your efforts. This is a fantastic way to contribute to your school community, especially for those who cannot assist during school hours. Please come along, even if only for a short while, every little bit helps!

Boys at Marist Meeting
Thank you to the four parents who attended our recent meeting regarding boys attending Marist College. If you were unable to make it but have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I am happy to discuss any queries you may have.

NAPLAN Ends This Week
A huge well done to our Year 3 and Year 5 students for their efforts in NAPLAN this year. As always, we remind everyone that NAPLAN is just a snapshot in time and one small part of a child’s learning journey. We are incredibly proud of the way our students approached these assessments with a calm and positive mindset. Thank you to our staff for their hard work in supporting the students, and well done to everyone involved, we are nearly there!

Harmony Day – This Friday
We are excited to celebrate Harmony Day this Friday! This is a special day to recognise and embrace the diversity within our school community. Students are encouraged to wear traditional clothing or colours representing their nationality. If this is not possible, wearing orange (the official colour of Harmony Day) is encouraged. The Harmony Day Parade will occur at 8:55 AM on the playground—all families are welcome to attend!

Athletics Carnival – Next Thursday
Our annual Athletics Carnival is set for next Thursday at Woden Athletics Park. This is always a fantastic day filled with school spirit, friendly competition, and fun. Information has been sent out, and we encourage all families to come along and cheer for our athletes and their favourite house.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you for your ongoing support, and we hope to see many of you at these upcoming events.

In faith and partnership,

David Austin

Principal

We are celebrating Harmony Day this Friday. Parents and carers are welcome to join in the fun from 8.30am and watch the parade at 8.55am.

Term Dates

As we approach the holidays a reminder that Term 1 finishes for students Thursday 10th April and Term 2 starts on Tuesday 29th April. Teachers will be undertaking professional learning activities during the two pupil-free days.

Yours in working together

Kerry Wode

Compass Notifications

Please refer to Compass for the following notifications:

• Harmony Day
• Evacuation Drill and Emergency Policy Information
• Event: South Weston Swimming Carnival - AIS

Special Lunch Day

Wednesday 9th April children will be able to order: 1x Sushi roll (Gluten Free), a fruit box and a treat (Please indicate gluten free treat option on QKR) for $8. Extra rolls can be ordered for an extra $4:50 each. Orders available now via the QKR app.

Orders close Thursday 3rd April, 6pm. NO LATE ORDERS will be accepted as we are unable to change numbers with the supplier.

Kids Little Table and Chairs for Canteen

If you have a little set of childrens table and chairs that you no longer require, then the canteen would love them for when we have our volunteers little ones.

Clothing Pool Opening Hours

Wednesday: 8:30-9am

Thursday: 8:30-9am

Friday: 8:30-9am

Orders can also be submitted on QKR and then your order will be delivered to your child's classroom.

On Thursday 13 March, the Community Council held its AGM, electing a new council:

Chair: Matt Croger

Secretary: Elsa Hietbrink

Treasurer: Andrew Thompson

Parent Rep coordinator: Adam Hill

General members: Bernadette Bradbury, Pip Buchanon, Vanessa Miller

Following the AGM, David provided a Principal's report noting current enrolments and shared the Strategic Plan for the school. Council will review the uniform policy in coming months and noted planned changes to canteen operations from Term 2. A Term 3 Trivia Night was discussed, along with safety improvements for Hodgson Crescent.  

Council meetings are held on Thursday of week 5 each term and are open to all parents and carers. The next meeting is Thursday, Week 5 of Term 2, at 6:00 PM.

When Kids don’t want to go to school

What is School Refusal?

Everyone resists going to school once in a while, but School Refusal is a frequent pattern of avoiding school and can cause real problems for a child.

Recognising School Refusal;

• School refusal can mean that children have trouble going to school or trouble leaving home, so they might not go to school at all. 
• School refusers tend to resist going to school for a long time (it’s not a one off).
• There is a lot of distress involved in going to school- crying, tantrums, yelling or screaming. They may complain of aches and pains or feeling sick- which resolves when they stay home. They may also have trouble sleeping as their anxiety about school keeps them awake at night.
• They resist going to school strongly and this resistance can cause a strain in family life.
• Kids with school refusal may also feel sick a lot and regularly visit the sick bay. Although they are at school, they are not staying in class all day so are not fully participating.

Considering all these parts of school refusal is important, because a child can still experience school refusal even if they attend school most days.

Sometimes kids may be anxious about going back to school after being home sick or after a school vacation. For these kids, it is important not to let them stay home. They need to get back in the swing of things as fast as possible to reduce the risk of this turning into a pattern of school refusal. 

Identifying why your child is having trouble going to school

If School Refusal goes on for weeks or longer, it’s time take action:

• To find out what is the cause of your child’s school refusal – it is important to validate your child’s distress and ask your child what they are finding hard about going to school? Show your child that you understand. For example, you could say, “I can see you’re worried about going to school. Tell me what you find so hard about school?” or “I know it’s hard for you…If you could change one thing about school, what would it be?”

• If your child finds it hard to talk about the problem, ask your child to rate each part of the school day – for example, the bus ride, classroom, specialist classes, teachers, peers, break times and being away from parents (separation anxiety can be an issue for school avoiders). Younger children might find it easier to tell you how they feel by pointing to symbols like sad faces or smiley faces.
• Could your child be worried about someone or something going on at home or in your larger family?
• You may also find it helpful to ask their teacher/s or other adults in their life to find out if anything is going on and work with the school to address these concerns.

Finding solutions to school refusal

• Help your child to use a problem-solving approach to the things that make it hard for them to go or stay at school.
• Tell your child that you are working with the school to help make things better to help them go to school.
• If school refusal is related to bullying, it’s always best to work with the school on the problem.
• Consider your child seeing the School Counsellor or a Psychologist if they feel they need extra support managing their worries or fears about school.
• If your child has a learning difficulty that makes it hard for them to enjoy learning, ask what support the school can offer.

It’s important for your child to go to school while they’re getting help with the issue that has caused the school refusal. When your child goes to school, it builds their confidence and resilience. It keeps your child connected with learning, and it’s important for social development. It’s often easier for children to return to school if they haven’t been away from school for too long.

Supporting your child

• Show that you believe your child can go to school by saying positive and encouraging things. For example, ‘You’re showing how brave you are by going to school’. This will build your child’s self-confidence.
• Use direct statements or choices that don’t give your child the chance to say ‘No!’ For example, ‘It’s time to get out of bed’ or “Will you have your breakfast or your shower first?”
• Stay Calm- if your child sees you getting stressed, it can make their anxiety worse.
• Plan for calm starts to the day by having morning and evening routines. Get organised for school the night before.
• Praise your child when they show brave behaviour like getting ready for school.
• Make home boring during the day- no T.V, video games or phone use, instead get your child to do the work provided by school while at home. This will help your child keep up and not inadvertently reward school avoidance behaviour.
• Make drop offs at school quick or get someone else to do the drop off at school if you can.
• Praise your child when they go to school and organise a reward for them for going regularly.

Getting professional help for School Refusal

School refusal often goes along with childhood anxiety. There are excellent programs that can help with Childhood Anxiety like the Cool Kids group program.

Cool kids Providers in Canberra include ;

https://mccg.org.au/services/next-step/

https://www.optimalhealth.com.au/cool-kids-anxiety-program

https://www.canberra.edu.au/health-clinics/clinics-on-offer/psychology

https://www.canberracounselling.com.au/counselling-services/cool-kids-program

Alternately, Psychologists also treat childhood anxiety disorders in one to one sessions. To get a mental health plan so your child can get Medicare rebates for up to 10 sessions per year with a mental health professional, talk to your G.P.

Look after yourself

Supporting your school refusing child can be stressful, so look after yourself with good self-care, rest and social supports. When you are healthy and well, you are best positioned to support your child in going to school.

With thanks to: https://childmind.org/article/when-kids-refuse-to-go-to-school/

How to make a school counselling appointment.

If you would like your child to be seen by the School Counsellor, please either contact your child’s Class Teacher or David Austin-Principal for further information. Alternately, you can email the School Counsellor directly for more information; sarah.foley@mccg.org.au

AFL

Yesterday saw the commencement of our after-school AFL program with over 40 students enrolling in this four-week program. We are thrilled with the support that has come from parents. The program runs on a Tuesday afternoon from 3:30 till 4:30 and is linked with our AFL clinics that we are doing each Monday. Parents who are involved please note that AFL program have duty of care from 3:15pm so your child can leave their classrooms at the end of the day and make their way down to the oval where they will be ticked off the list for the Clinic.

Thank you so much to parents for supporting this.

Athletics carnival

Next Thursday is our Athletics carnival. There are a number of parents that still need to provide consent via Compass for their child to participate. We are really looking forward to a wonderful day and if you can volunteer, we would thoroughly appreciate it. Please make sure you sign up for this through the question section in the compass consent.

South Weston Swimming

Today the compass event was released, and the students who have qualified receive their note and the events that they have qualified for. Congratulations to all those students who made it to the next carnival.

Oz Tag clinics

Unfortunately, we did not have this yesterday due to an illness from an Oz Tag staff member. Next week is due to go ahead and we will do a makeup session for the missed clinic. Thank you to all the parents who were able to get their child into the right uniform for today we really appreciate your support in this.

This week is our third week of lent and again it’s another time to check in to see how we are going with our journey, both as an individual and helping those around us commit to their journey.

Prayer – strengthening the connection with God and the whole human family 

Fasting – making individual sacrifices and turning away from selfish concerns

Almsgiving – offering something of ourselves or giving material help, with a focus on others.

Our school will be participating in parish masses towards the end of this term this week.

Year 1 and 2 will be attending the mass this term, but we will not be having an active role in this mass.

Next Friday the 28th, Kinder, Five and Six will be participating in Parish mass. You are more than welcome to come and join us.

On Friday, 4 April, Year Three and Four will be attending Parish mass.

Friday, Week 9 at 2:40pm we will be having our Palm Sunday celebration hosted by our Kinder students in the hall. You are more than welcome to come and join us.

On Thursday Week 10 (our last day of school) our Year 4, 5 and 6 students will be taking us through the Easter story. We will be doing Holy Thursday (Last Supper and Washing of the feet), followed by Good Friday and the death of Jesus and then finishing our day with the resurrection of Jesus to celebrate Easter Sunday.

Please join us in the celebrations and keep an eye out for the newsletter for specific times at these events.

Please don’t forget to keep encouraging your children to donate to project compassion. We will be collecting the boxes at the end of this term to see how much money we are able to raise for project compassion. Every dollar counts to helping project compassion achieve their goal to 'Fight against Poverty'.

Last week Mr Sweeney reconnected with one of his former students who now brings her children to Playgroup!

We are celebrating National Playgroup Week – The Power of Playgroup

Our playgroup families have shared their thoughts as to what Little Hearts Playgroup means to them.

 

  “Playgroup means so much to us — it’s a place of inclusiveness, new friendships, learning, kindness, and building respect and rapport with the Sacred Heart teachers, students, and wider community”.

 The De Luca's

 

“Playgroup to me means: Connecting with other mums and dads through playing and fun with our children as they experience the enjoyment of their childhood”. 

Stephanie

 

“Sacred Heart playgroup has been the best introduction to preschool my child could have hoped for!”

Jasmine

 

“Playgroup gave us an opportunity to connect with parents and families in our area when it wasn’t possible because of COVID-19. Thanks to you, we feel part of a loving and caring community!”

Abi 

 

Kindergarten celebrated St Patrick's Day by participating in Irish dancing lessons with the talented Leanne McGrath from McGrath Irish Dance. We are so grateful that Leanne is part of our school community - thank you for sharing your gifts with us!

What a great honour to Perform at the Irish Embassy on St Patrick’s Day for McGrath Irish Dance.

Our Year 5/6 students commenced their democracy unit by visiting MOAD (Museum of Australian Democracy) and Parliament House today. It was great to have our local MP, David Smith MP speak with our students. Great to hear about Mr Austin’s great grandfather who was Prime Minister- Joseph Lyons and great grand mother Dame Enid Lyons (first female member of The House of Representatives) too. Great day- kids were outstanding, as always!