Week 7 Term 2 2025

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

As winter settles in, our school community embraces the cooler months with warmth, resilience, and a sense of togetherness. With jackets, beanies, and hot milo in hand (thanks to Breakfast Club), we continue to engage in rich learning experiences both in and out of the classroom. This season brings new opportunities for creativity, reflection, and connection – and we are excited to share some highlights from across the school.

🌏 World Environment Day – Celebrating Our Planet Together! 🌿

On June 5th, we proudly joined millions around the globe in celebrating World Environment Day, a special occasion dedicated to raising awareness and taking action to protect our planet.

This year’s theme, Beat Plastic Pollution#, reminds us of the vital role each of us plays to refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink plastics use, every small action contributes to a healthier Earth.

At school, we marked the day with a range of meaningful activities:

Students worn green and gave a gold coin donation to purchase a new tree which we will plant together in the playground.
♻️ Classroom activities with buddies explored issues like deforestation, pollution, and climate change - and what we can do to make a difference.
🚯 Our school is a waste-free school. We encourage students to bring reusable containers and reduce single-use plastics.

These activities not only foster environmental awareness but also empower our students to become responsible global citizens. We encourage families to continue the conversation at home - whether it’s through recycling, conserving water, or spending time in nature. Together, we can nurture a culture of care and stewardship for the world we all share.

P & F News

Thank you to our P & F Committee for the recent sausage sizzle which raised $400.47.

This year’s fundraising total is $6,259.52 and is going towards new outdoor seating.

The next P & F fundraiser is a Used Uniform Sale which is taking place on Monday 23^rd June

Breakfast Club - Help Needed

Also, if you are able to help with our Breakfast Club on a Wednesday morning, any time from 8.00am, even if it’s to help spread toast at 8.30am, please contact the P & F as we have been short on volunteers with the inevitable winter sicknesses.

PBIS Focus - Week 8 & 9

We listen and follow instructions

One of the most important keys to minimizing problem behavior is making sure that children are getting the message you are trying to send. When it comes to teaching and parenting, sometimes the way instructions are given can be just as important as what you are trying to communicate. At IHM we are focusing on explicitly teaching using the following methods.

Here are ways to present information to children to make it more likely that they’ll hear you, and comply:

Be direct. Make statements rather than asking questions: “Please sit down,” as opposed to “Are you ready to get out your homework?”
Be close. Give instructions when you are near the child, rather than calling out from across the room.
Use clear and specific commands. Instead of “Go ahead,” say, “Please go start your reading assignment.”
Give age-appropriate instructions. Speak to the child at a level they will understand. If your child is younger, keep things simple and use words you know they know: “Please pick up the ball.” With older children, who are so often keenly aware of not being “babies anymore” it’s important to be clear without being patronizing.
Give instructions one at a time. Especially children who have attention challenges, try to avoid giving a series of instructions, like: “Please put on your sneakers, get your lunch off the kitchen counter, and meet me in the front hall.”
Keep explanations simple. Giving a rationale can increase the likelihood children will listen to a command, but not if the command gets lost in it. For instance: “Go get your coat on because it’s raining and I don’t want you to catch a cold.” Instead, try: “It’s raining and I don’t want you to catch a cold. Go get your coat on.”
Give children time to process. After you give an instruction, wait a few seconds, without repeating what you said. Children then learn to listen to calm instructions given once rather than learning that they don’t need to listen because the instructions will be repeated. Watching and waiting also helps keep us adults from doing what we’ve requested of our kids for them.

Kind regards,

Julie Hancock
PRINCIPAL

From the Assistant Principal

On Sunday 9^th June, our Church had a special birthday - the feast of Pentecost. We remembered that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with his disciples. Pentecost means 50 in Greek as the Holy Spirit came to the disciples 50 days after Easter.

This special day marks the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. Pentecost teaches people about living in the presence of the Holy Spirit. We are reminded to live the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - Self Control, Kindness, Gentleness, Patience, Love and Faithfulness.

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Sacrament of First Communion and Confirmation

We take this opportunity to pray for Norah, Eva-Lee, Harley and Artie who are currently preparing for the Sacrament of First Communion and Confirmation. Their celebration will take place on Sunday 17^th August at the Sacred Heart Parish, Hindmarsh.

Expressions of Interests are now open for the next Sacramental Cycle in Term 4 2025

If you would like your child/ren to take part in our Sacred Heart Sacramental Program alongside St Joseph’s Hindmarsh, please email Jhovana Fenu - jfenu@ihm.catholic.edu.au. All students need to be 8 years or older and have celebrated the Sacrament of Baptism in a Catholic Church.

5/6 L Mass

We thank our 5/6L students for leading our Mass on Vocation - God’s Call for us to lead lives of service. We had the honour of welcoming Father Rajashekhar (Assistant Priest) to our school and Sandra Bahlij, our St Vinnies Representative.

Feast of The Sacred Heart Mass/Liturgy

Everyone is welcome to attend our Sacred Heart Feast Day Mass at 9am Wednesday 25^th June which will be led by our SRCs.

OLSH - Our Lady Sacred Heart Enfield School Visit

On Friday 27^th June students from OLSH will be visiting IHM and together with our Year 6s will lead the Sacred Heart Liturgy at 9:30am.

Staff Formation Day: Friday 6 June: Growing in FAITH through Conversation

On this day we came together to reflect on the Gospel Story - Matthew 26:36-45 - The Agony in the Garden. Sometimes, we may experience troubles in our lives, but we know God is always close. We are called be hopeful and patient and to respond to others in love. Sometimes things happen that we cannot understand or control, and our faith in God is tested. Like Jesus, we pray that the troubles will pass, at the same time promise God’s call for us - to continue to strive to be God’s heart here on earth through our sacred heart pillars of Love, Hope, Connectedness, Inclusivity and Justice.

We thank Amanda Marshall and Andrea White from Centre 4Restorative Practices for their keynote on Restorative Practices/Conversations. We were able to align the restorative practice approach with our Crossways Curriculum, our 5 Pillars and our Missionaries of the Sacred Heart charism as well as our current practices within PBIS - Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports.

As a staff we also took time to reflect on how visible our Catholic Identity and Mission is within our school. We used the CESA Growing Deep reflective tool and reflected on the following key aspects:

Spiritual and Faith Formation
Learning and Teaching
Catholic Culture and Community

We will use this data to reflect on our current practices and strengthen our Catholic Identity strategic goals.

St Vinnie Winter Appeal - A message from our SRCs

The SRCs would like to donate the following items to support people who are homeless. Sandra, our St Vinnies Representative has informed us the MOST needed items now are:

Long Life Milk
Cereal
Cans - soup, vegetables and fruit

Every class, including the staff room will have a basket for donations until Friday 4^th July.

R M, R P, 1/2 H, 1/2 K - Long Life Milk and Cans
3 P, 4/5 F, 5/6 L - Cereal
IHM Staff - Any of the listed items

A heartfelt THANK YOU for your generosity.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

year of schooling
category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disabilities in schools
develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government Privacy Policy www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal www.nccd.edu.au
If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact Ms Jhovana Fenu: jfenu@ihm.catholic.edu.au

Kind regards,

Jhovana Fenu
APRIM