3 February 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear Families,

There is always a special feeling at the commencement of a new school year as we welcome new students, families and staff to our school and share new year blessings with existing families who have returned to the school community for an exciting year ahead. Thank you to all the parents who have provided positive feedback over the last two weeks as we establish new friendships and partnerships, consolidate existing strengths and challenge each other to provide a culture of quality learning and wellbeing for all.

Throughout this year, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School continues to reflect on how we can be an effective school in supporting staff, students, families and the wider community.

In term one, we have commenced a programme on nourishing our hearts, minds and bodies to support the wellbeing for all and to inspire and engage students in a positive learning environment.

I would like to officially welcome all new teaching staff and school officers who have had an amazing start to the year. A common theme in the feedback that I have received is that there is a sense of calmness in the school, especially in the morning as you walk past the classrooms. Our new prep students have started the year with a sense of wonder and awe and have settled in beautifully to our school community. Students in Year 4 to 6 and our Student Representative Council members have demonstrated a sense of bravery in participating to progress in their leadership capacity within the school. Every decision that we make has the students at the heart of our thoughts and actions. We look forward to strengthening our partnerships with students, parents and community members as we reflect upon our Catholic identity, our diverse cultural backgrounds and the unique gifts and life experiences that create the next chapter in the history of our school.

I hope that you have enjoyed looking through the school calendar for 2017. We have endeavoured to provide as much information in advance to parents in relation to school events and professional learning opportunities that staff with leadership roles will be attending throughout the year.

Mr Cale Fisher, the new Assistant Principal of Faith and Learning will be supporting the Religion and Curriculum Roles. We look forward to Cale sharing his expertise and knowledge across a variety of areas of leadership.

Finally, I would like to announce that the school was successful in receiving funding through the Building Grant Application Process in 2016 and can now celebrate a building programme that will take place this year on Hammond Island. The two main classrooms will be refurbished, the meeting room will also be refurbished with a new kitchen and staff room area, the toilets will be refurbished internally and a new staff and disabled toilet will be built to provide support to the staff and community, especially during events at the school.

We were also successful in our application for funding from TSRA in the area of Culture and the Arts, receiving $25,000 to support the school choir performing in Cairns. I would like to acknowledge staff and community members who assisted with both applications and look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Next week we welcome parents to the Thursday Island Campus on Tuesday night and Hammond Island Campus on Thursday night as we host our Parent Information Sessions. All parents and friends are invited to attend the Information Sessions, Explicit Teaching Programme Sessions and ‘How Do I Help my child with Reading?’ workshops that we are offering next week. Please see further information listed in the newsletter.

This year has commenced with an amazing atmosphere and we look forward to continuing to work together to support the children of the Torres Straits.

Au esoau
Sharon County
Principal

Introducing our APFL

It was with great privilege that I received the position as Assistant Principal for Faith and Learning at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School. I have previously worked and volunteered as an educator overseas. Prior to this position, I was appointed as Middle Leader for Social and Emotional Learning at Good Counsel College. In this position, and due to previous experiences in working overseas, I developed a strong passion for faith-based, social and emotional learning.

It is, therefore, an ambition of mine that we can further develop the social and emotional competencies of our students and bring growth to our faith. I hope for a strong sense of community, whereby the wellbeing of students and the wider school community is even further supported. It is also my aim to support effective teaching through informed educational decision making.

I would like to see our students be creative and freely express themselves in the classroom. Individuality is embraced and underpinned by inclusivity in everything we do at Our Lady of The Sacred Heart School. I would also like to see students reflect upon their own learning, so as to identify their own strengths and weakness to improve their own learning.

I am greatly pleased by the warm welcome I have received by parents, carers, students, the parish and the community in its entirety. The Torres Straits and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School is unique in its hospitality, warmness and sense of community; I am greatly looking forward to being part of this community.

Year 5 & 6

Our class embraced bravery, courage and all the teamwork skills which come with that kind of learning right from the get go.

Week One was full of learning about what an effective speech looks and sounds like. We viewed video examples, did role play and workshopped ideas about what we could write in student election speeches as we tried to convince people to vote for us.

By the time Friday morning came we were all very excited. Students who nominated for the positions of School Captain and Vice Captain gave their speeches at a special assembly. After that, nominees for Sports Captains gave their speeches in the sports houses.

The Grade Five and Six students did an excellent job at running the election campaign. Explaining how voting works, handing out ballot papers and marking students off the role as they voted.

A big thank you to all the students, staff and parents who supported the process.

Year 4 & 5

Welcome to all for 2017 and especially the families/carers of the children in Year 4/5.I hope you got to spend some quality time with your children over the holidays.

In Year 4/5 our class rules are Respect for Self, Respect for Others and Respect for Property/The Environment .We are striving to live these out in our actions and behaviours.

I have welcomed the opportunity to teach your amazing children and get to know more about this incredible part of Australia. Everyone has been so hospitable and it is not only a beautiful place to be, but full of very inspiring people who have shared so many incredible stories that have already made me appreciate how lucky we are to be part of this wonderful place we call the Torres Strait islands.

It has been a great start to the school year with a team feeling amongst the staff as we share our wisdom and knowledge for the children in our care and how we can assist the teaching and learning and wellbeing of all students and members of our school community.

I look forward to getting to know you all and being part of this great school community.

Kind Regards,
Peter Shorthouse

Year 2 & 3

Hello! I am Annette Whitton and I am teaching Year2/3. What a fantastic bunch of students!!!. I am happy to finally be here on T.I. !! (T is for TERRIFIC not Thursday!!) I have taught in many places but none have given me the views that we have from OLSH nor the smiles from the children. What a friendly school it is also. Staff and children have made me feel so welcome. I look forward to teaching your children and look forward to learning from them as well.

Year 1

After a long Christmas break, all the year one students have survived their first week and settled down into a routine. We have been very busy reviewing some sight words, handwriting, and the numbers 0 to 20. Over the next few weeks, we will be rapidly expanding the number of sight words the students will need to know, and will build more upon the numbers up to 100, looking at more than and less than a number. It has also been wonderful to see students trying new things that may be a little challenging, and persevering in working through these.

Week two will have a small amount of homework to start to get the students used to doing some review at home, so please ask your child to explain the games they need to play at home to review their sight words. Feel free to expand upon those games using the flashcards that will come home in the homework folder. The flashcards need to come back to school each day so they can be used for lessons too. In History, students will be looking at the roles of family members in the past and what people used to do, compared to modern day. Please encourage conversations around this with your child, to give them a personal perspective on what their own family would have had to do, in the past, on a daily basis. Getting a broad range of cultural perspectives on this would be a great basis for class discussion, so keep those conversations flowing! I have introduced some thinking skills and logic to the classroom to get the students to think outside of the box, and learn to develop a systematic thought process. So far we have been looking at logical order of progression which providing a few challenges but was tackled enthusiastically.

Thank you for the warm welcome from all the parents we have met. I realise that due to the busyness of the school day, it is difficult to have a chat, so please feel free to book in a time if you do want to discuss anything. I work with the year ones on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and Bradley works with them on Monday afternoon (shared time), Thursday and Friday.

Kind regards,
Stephanie Hogan

Prep Class

We’ve had a very successful start to Prep this term with our 10 new kids on the block all doing very well. Everyone looks smart, comes prepared to learn and are developing stamina whilst having lots of fun each day.

Congratulations Poppy McLean and Nate Jones on being our first award recipients last week for getting along with all your new classmates and practicing being confident in prep.

In Prep this fortnight we have had fun with;

• Meeting our buddies in year 5/6.
• Completing an obstacle course to start PMP with the Year 1 class.
• Sharing the role of “Mina Deadly Kid” around the room as each of us earns stars.
• Settling into routines in not only the classroom, playground and library but also with Miss Helen and Mr Worland on their days.
• Starting our History learning on the family and our “story”.
• Getting along with all our new classmates.
• Discussing the weather with Mr Worland in Science.

DON’T FORGET each prep student needs to bring in a baby photo for our History learning by the end of the week.

Please contact us at the school/email below if you have any further queries,

Helen Osborne
hosborne@cns.catholic.edu.au

Hammond Campus

Welcome back to P-3 at Hammond Island Campus.

We are looking forward to another productive year with your children and reaching their learning potential. Swimming lessons will commence in Week 3 on Friday 10 February at TI. Please ensure your child has all their swimming items (PLEASE HAVE ALL ITEMS CLEARLY LABELLED)

• a shirt to swim in, (no shirt = no swimming)
• togs or swimming clothes,
• towel and goggles (if your child wishes to wear them)
• school uniform and underwear to change back into after swimming
• lunch and water bottle

Our P & F Meet and Greet Information Night will be on the Thursday 9 February. This session will clearly outline the term expectations and goals to be achieved. It will also give you a chance to discuss your child’s progress or volunteer in the classroom if you have the time to do so. We endeavour to continue to provide a strong partnership with parents/caregivers to enhance students learning potential. Please don’t hesitate to come and see us if you have any questions or concerns.

Yours in Education,
Mrs Ceceila Davi
Mrs Briohny Jones
Miss Seba Sabatino

Excursion Notes

The children were handed excursion notes on Tuesday 31 January, for the Swimming Program this term.

If you have not received a note or form for completion, please contact the school office to request one. The completed forms should be returned to the Classroom Teacher or to the School Secretary as soon as possible.

2017 OLSH Staff

Jenny Evans
Year 4 & 5 School Officer

Week 1 Award Winners

Photos from Week 1

In The Library

OLSH School Choir

The OLSH School Choir will have some exciting news to share in the next few weeks.

Watch This Space!

P & F Association News

The OLSH P & F Association are hosting two special Meet & Greet Nights at Thursday Island Campus and Hammond Island Campus.

Thursday Island: Tuesday 7th February, 6 – 8pm
Hammond Island: Thursday 9th February, 5.30 – 7.30pm

Come along to meet the new and old teachers, have a look at the classrooms and see what is in coming up in 2017. This is also a great opportunity to network with other parents.

Please RSVP to the school office on 4069 2203 if you are attending one of these events as numbers need to be calculated for catering purposes.

Term 1 Events

2017 Special Events and Public Holidays

Community Announcements

If you have a special community event coming up, you can forward the details to our Principal at scounty@cns.catholic.edu to have it advertised in our Community Announcement section.

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