Week 1 Term 1, 2021

Celebrating our 70th Year

Dear Families and Friends,

Welcome to the 2021 school year! It’s been a fantastic start to the year with all children and classes being settled, positive and already establishing their routines and expectations for learning.

The children all look well-presented and are so happy! Thank you to all parents for ensuring your child is here on time, ready to learn with all they need and in correct school uniform. I love the start of a new year because for children, parents and teachers the start of the year brings with it a sense of freshness, a sense of hope, optimism, excitement, a desire for improvement and new possibilities. We are in for a great year at IHM and I look forward to watching everyone grow and flourish in this our ‘Year of Love’.

3.00 pm Dismissal

This year we have had to change our school finish time because of the requirements of the Enterprise Agreement for South Australian Catholic Schools (EA). The EA covers all the conditions of work for all employees in SA Catholic Schools. It stipulates the amount of timetabled time we must have in a school week and the amount of student contact time teachers can have per week.

This year, we needed to reduce the contact time for teachers, hence the 10 minute earlier finishing time was the best way we could meet the EA requirements, without having a significant and detrimental impact on the school budget. I assure you that in terms of minimum hours of timetabled time per week, IHM is still well within the requirements and this change will not impact on the quality of education your child receives.

I apologise that this was not communicated to the community earlier as the decision was made very late last year. When you look through the Parent Information Book you will see that we have reduced the number of pupil free days for this year, so this will offset some of the time missed for students. IHM’s after school care through Camp Australia will operate from 3pm - 6pm. As a school staff, we are very understanding of individual family situations and offer flexibility in drop off and pick-up times, when it is necessary and possible. I hope we can all settle into the new routine easily and smoothly.

Please call me if you have any concerns or queries. Parent Information Booklet 2021 Knowing our school expectations, routines and procedures is important to belonging, forming a basis for clear communication and respectful relationships.

Today each family received the 2021 Parent Information Booklet which outlines who we are, what we do and how we work together. I encourage you to read through the booklet and keep it handy for reference throughout the year. If you have not received a booklet please ask at the office or you can access it from our website.

2021 Staff

Three new staff members have joined the excellent IHM teaching team. We warmly welcome Ms Kristine Rebeiro as music teacher, Ms Rochelle Sharman as Year 4/5 teacher (0.6) and Mr Ryan Campbell as Year 5/6 teacher. As it’s always good to connect the name to the face, for your information, photos of staff members are included in this newsletter. Our staff are very friendly, dedicated and skilled and they value parent and community relationships highly, so don’t hesitate to say hello or come to speak with us. 

Building Update

Hopefully the building program to upgrade our school will begin this year, with significant renovations being made to the front of the school, the office area, the hall, OSHC and the upstairs classrooms. This has been a long and detailed planning process and plans are currently being approved by council. More details about how it will all unfold will follow once this has occurred. Exciting times ahead! 

Parent-Teacher Book-a-Chat

In the next few weeks all teachers will be holding ‘Book-a-Chat’ sessions where we invite parents to book a ‘chat time’ with class teachers. The purpose is to meet and share your expectations and hopes along with your child’s strengths, unique qualities and learning needs. An invitation notice about this will be coming home soon. Also please save the date for our Welcome Wine and Cheese night and Parent Forum, Wednesday 24th February 2021. More information on all these will come to you as the weeks unfold, so stay tuned! Lastly, warmest wishes to you all for a year filled with the goodness and inspiration of our pillar of Love!

Pauline Kinsman
PRINCIPAL

Each year, we focus on one of our pillars, to deepen our understanding of the concept in relation to scripture, our lives today and within our Catholic Tradition. In 2021 we celebrate our Pillar of Love. This year our scripture holds a simple yet powerful message: “Let love guide your life.” (Colossians 3:14)

The message is about choosing love over fear, doubt or hatred and embracing the love that surrounds us, whether it is from our families, friends or through a kind or compassionate act from a stranger. The love we have in our hearts and the love that surrounds us, helps guide us to be the best person we can be. We strive to live that love everyday at IHM.

At IHM, we are inspired by Jesus through the story and charism of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC). In 1951, the school began under the auspices of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH) and we have carried the Heart Spirituality as a central part of our Catholic Identity since then.

Our charism is that of Heart Spirituality – “Striving to be God’s Heart here on Earth”. We have five pillars which enliven our heart spirituality and help us make sense of the Jesus story in a contemporary and meaningful way. They are:

• Love
• Hope
• Justice
• Connectedness
• Inclusivity.

Each year, we focus on one of our pillars, to deepen our understanding of the concept in relation to scripture, our lives today and within our Catholic Tradition. In 2021 we celebrate our Pillar of Love. This year our scripture holds a simple yet powerful message: “Let love guide your life.” (Colossians 3:14)

The message is about choosing love over fear, doubt or hatred and embracing the love that surrounds us, whether it is from our families, friends or through a kind or compassionate act from a stranger. The love we have in our hearts and the love that surrounds us, helps guide us to be the best person we can be. We strive to live that love everyday at IHM.

As we live with COVID-19 we continue to be guided by SA Health and CESA to ensure that all in our community remain safe. 

Last year taught us to be flexible and to adapt quickly and this year will be the same. Overall, we have been very fortunate in SA, for which we can be grateful. Our practices will continue to depend on community transmission of COVID and up to date advice from the relevant sectors. The preventative measures such as social distancing, hand hygiene and density rules apply in our school, just as you would have experienced in the shops and public places. We ask that you continue to adhere to these and that each classroom has no more than 10 adults at any given time, so please use your judgement to determine whether you may enter the classroom.

QR CODE Implementation

You may have already heard that SA Health plan to implement QR codes in schools across the state very soon. This is expected to happen at IHM from Monday 8th February. The codes will be clearly displayed at all entry points. Please ensure you use the QR check in as you enter the school, whether through the gates or office in the morning or afternoon.

Fun at swimming

Welcome to 2021 at IHM! I hope you all had a wonderful break with your families. I look forward to seeing all our families in the yard over the coming days to hear about your school holiday fun. For those of you who are new to our school community I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Annette Diassinas and I am the APRIM (Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission) and Inclusive Education Coordinator. If you see me out in the yard, please come and introduce yourselves I would love to get to know you all.

Heart Spirituality – Love

Each year at IHM we focus on one of our pillars from our school’s Heart Spirituality. In 2021 we celebrate our Pillar of Love. This year our scripture holds a simple yet powerful message: “Most of all, let love guide your life.” (Colossians 3:12). The message is about choosing love over fear, doubt or hatred and embracing the love that surrounds us, whether it is from our families, friends or through a kind or compassionate act from a stranger. The love we have in our hearts and the love that surrounds us, helps guide us to be the best person we can be. We as educators, parents and caregivers all have a role to play in helping children to develop love for themselves, others and our world.We look forward to exploring this pillar of Love with your child/children at IHM this year.

Missioning Mass

On Sunday 14th February at 9.30am our school is having our Missioning Mass at Sacred Heart Church 252 Port Road, Hindmarsh. This mass is for student leaders and their families, along with staff and the School Board representatives to continue to strengthen our school and Parish relationship. Student leaders will be chosen over the next week and information for these children will be sent home to families. All families are welcome to attend.

Sacramental Program

The Sacramental Program begins this term with Reconciliation. The parent information session for all sacraments will be held on Tuesday 9th February, 6.30pm at St Michaels College Primary Gym 78 East Avenue, Beverley. The registration period for the Sacramental Program closes on Friday the 26th February. Please feel free to see me if you would like your child/children to participate in the program.

Wipe Out Waste – Caring For Our Common Home

At IHM we place the utmost importance on being Stewards of God’s Creation, meaning we must look after the wonderful world in which we live. We try and do this in many ways here at IHM and always seek the help of our families in supporting to reduce waste in our school and world. To help reduce waste in our yard we ask families pack Nude Food where possible. See the image of things to pack and avoid.

In 2020 we were collecting bread tags and bottle tops to be recycled for Lids4Kids and Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs. Due to the amazing support of our families, we are continuing these efforts in 2021 and your child/children can bring these items to their class for recycling. Have a happy fortnight.

God Bless,
Annette Diassinas APRIM