Week 5 Term 2 2025

Dear Families,

It is wonderful to be back at school, and I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Ms Jhovana Fenu and Ms Jo Livingstone for their capable and thoughtful leadership during my absence.

It has been a busy and exciting time in our school community. We recently celebrated Catholic Education Week and participated in National Simultaneous Storytime, which was a fantastic way to share our love of reading across all year levels. Last Friday, our Reception students delighted us with a joyful and engaging assembly, proudly sharing their learning with confidence and enthusiasm.

Looking ahead, we are excited to welcome 15 new Reception students and their families as they begin their transition visits over the coming weeks. We look forward to helping them feel at home and part of our school family.

Learning Focus: Mathematics - Number Talks

Following recent professional learning, our teachers have begun implementing daily Number Talks in their classrooms. These are short (5–15 minute) sessions where students mentally solve math problems and then discuss the different strategies they used to find their answers.

Number Talks help students:

• Develop fluency with numbers
• Build mental math skills
• Understand number relationships
• Gain confidence in explaining their thinking

These sessions create a supportive environment where students learn that there’s often more than one way to solve a problem. They listen to their peers, consider different methods, and deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts.

By thinking, talking, and reasoning together, our students are becoming more confident and capable mathematicians every day!

PBIS Focus: We Speak Respectfully to Each Other!

At IHM, we are always working on being our best selves - not just in our learning, but in the way we treat one another. Our PBIS (Positive Behavioural Interventions & Supports) focus for Weeks 6 & 7 is all about speaking respectfully to each other.

Speaking respectfully means:

• Using kind words
• Saying please and thank you
• Taking turns when talking
• Listening when others are speaking
• Using a calm voice, even when we feel upset

Why Does Respectful Speaking Matter?

When we speak kindly and respectfully, we help everyone feel:

• Safe
• Heard
• Valued
• And ready to learn!

It also helps us build stronger friendships, solve problems peacefully, and show that we care about one another’s feelings.

What We’re Doing at School

• 📚 We’re reading stories that show how characters speak with kindness and respect.
• 💬 Teachers are modelling respectful conversations and encouraging thoughtful listening.
• 🏅 We’re giving PBIS shout-outs and rewards when students use respectful language!
• 👫 Classes are practicing how to disagree politely and express feelings in a kind way.

Try This at Home!

You can help by encouraging respectful speaking at home too. Try:

• Having family members take turns speaking at dinner
• Practicing how to ask for help politely
• Talking about how words can make people feel

Let’s keep working together to make our school a place where everyone feels respected, welcomed, and heard.

Building Project Update

We are excited to share that the breezeway project has now been officially handed over to us by our builders, Partek. While we’re still waiting for some fixed seating to be installed in the coming weeks, we have use of the space!

This week, we’ll begin setting up our Library and new Wellbeing Hub, and Auslan Room, ready for use by next week. The area is now open and accessible to the school community - we warmly invite you to come and take a look as we bring this vibrant new space to life!

Looking ahead, our next exciting development will be the construction of a lift. This project will begin later this year, once final approvals, tendering, and builder selection are completed. Edge Architects have provided some fantastic concept images that show what we can expect.

We are proud to be investing in projects that support accessibility, inclusion, and safety for all members of our school community.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday May 27^th -  Principals School Tour 10.00am
Wednesday May 28^th - Year 5/6 Mass 9.00am
Friday May 30^th - Sausage Sizzle Friday - Thank you to our P & F for organising this weeks Sausage Sizzle. Please order on the QKR app.
Friday June 6^th - Staff Formation Day - Pupil Free Day

Kind regards,

Julie Hancock
PRINCIPAL

We invite you to read Pope Leo XIV Speech:

__files/d/18959/Reading_Reflection_Pope_Leo_X1V.pdf

Welcome Fr. Rajashekhar Gundiga, CSC

We warmly welcome Fr. Rajashekhar to the Sacred Heart Catholic Parish. He has been appointed as the Assistant Priest and will be the celebrant for our upcoming Mass on Wednesday 28th May at 9am.

This Mass will be led by 5/6L and the theme is Vocation - God’s Call for us to lead lives of Service. All Welcome.

National Reconciliation Week 2025: Bridging NOW to NEXT

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2025 is ‘Bridging Now to Next’. This theme invitesus into deep reflection on the past, present and future. Urging, all Australians to work together towards a united and respectful nation.

What Is National Sorry Day?  (Reconciliation South Australia)

Teach About Reconciliation (Reconciliation Australia)

Catholic Education Week (Term 2, Week 3)

A sincere thank you to our IHM school community for embracing and celebrating the theme of SHINE WITH OPEN HEARTS for Catholic Education Week.

Together we highlighted the high quality teaching and learning and the strong and trusted relationship we have with our families.

PUPIL FREE DAY - Friday 6th June: Staff Formation Day

What is Formation?

A definition by A Framework for Formation for Mission in Catholic Education National Catholic Education Commission 2017, p.9

‘Faith Formation of Catholic School staff is Christ-Centred. It is an intentional, ongoing and reflective process that focuses on the growth of individuals and communities from their lived experiences, in spiritual awareness, theological understanding, vocational, motivational and capabilities for mission and service in the Church and the world’.

This year’s themes is: Growing in Faith through Conversations.

Catholic Charities

This term we will be supporting the St Vinnies Winter Appeal. Our SRCs will lead this initiative on the last day of Term 2, Friday 4th July.

Jhovana Fenu

APRIM

This year, we’re excited to celebrate World Environment Day at IHM with a special focus on sustainability and taking action for our planet.

On Thursday 5th June, students are invited to wear green to school and bring a gold coin donation. All funds raised will go towards purchasing a tree, which we will plant as our IHM World Environment Day Tree for 2025.

During the day, students will take part in engaging and hands-on environmental activities to deepen their understanding of how we can care for our world.

We look forward to a fun and meaningful day of learning and action!

Sausage Sizzle - This Friday 30th May 

A reminder to place orders for our Sausage Sizzle lunch by this Wednesday 28th May.

Sausage in Bread - $3.50 each
Fruit Box - $1.50 each

Please submit and pay for orders via Qkr!