Our School

The Sacred Heart School is the one and only primary school on the island. Even though it is a Catholic school, it accepts all denominations. Parents who do not want their child to follow the religious instruction can send in a written letter stating this. Every term we attend the Sacred Heart Church in the Bottom at least once. During the course of the year we also celebrate a certain theme.

Care

Its remains a heartfelt passion of every teacher to reach every child and to see them succeed in life.
The care for students at school is not solely the responsibility of one person, but that of the entire staff.

Each staff member; teaching and non-teaching has a vital role to play in the care and support of our students.

The teaching staff is responsible for the implementation of the school curriculum but also for social emotional and psychological developments of the students through modeling of caring for others, promoting positive attitude and identifying behavioral concerns.

The Care Coordinator plays a very important role. The main task of the care coordinator is to provide
safe and healthy learning environment for all students. The care coordinator strives to provide guidance, support to students who are struggling academically and /or have behavioral and social emotional difficulties. These difficulties may or may not have a negative impact on their general well-being or learning. These students who are unable to achieve academic success at ability level for various reason, are referred to the care coordinator by the classroom teacher.

If the CC sees that the problem is more severe than what was explained this will be reported to the Principal and to the CART group, which is the second line of care line with parental consent.

The out come of the CART meeting will result in special help for that child once the parents have been informed and have given their consent

Expertise Center Education Care Saba (Expertise Centrum Onderwijs Zorg) EC2 has the task to provide care for all youth on the island from Day Care throughout SKJ. That means from ages 4 until 24.

In practice the vision on education care results in the following tasks for EC2:
• Offer supportive activities to students with special needs.
• Offer ambulatory guidance to the teachers and parents of students with special needs.
• Help improve expertise within the schools and EC2 team by means of offering intervention,
workshops and hands on assistance.
• Perform action-oriented diagnostics.
• Give advice and consultations to colleagues.

We use various resources to ensure that the quality of student care are met. This is structured in the daily practice and remains open for improvement:
• At least twice a year an evaluation meeting is held, where points for improvement will also be
addressed.
• Adjustment of the School Plan and Educational Plans.
• Discussing pupils with the entire team.
• Group discussions.
• Performance Appraisal with Internal and External Care Team.
• Report conference with parents.

School Hours/Time

School starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m. The school buses start picking children up between 6:30 an 7:00 a.m. The kindergarten children (K1 & K2) start their day between 7:45 and 8:00 a.m. and end at 12:30 p.m.

Teachers give extra classes three times a week, this starts at 1:15 until 2:00 p.m.

Recess / Break Time

At school there are two recess periods. Each recess time last 30 minutes. One for the upper grades(3-6) and one for the lower Grades (K1-2). K1– Gr.2  recess time is at 9:30 until 10:00 a.m.; Gr.3-Gr.6 recess is at 10:00 until 10:30 a.m.

Parents are asked to provide healthy snacks for their children. (Snacks such as sandwiches, juice, fruit, cereal etc.). No sodas are allowed.

For students who come from low income homes, the school will provide them with warm milk and a sandwich. This insures that their little tummies are filled and they are ready and well energized for learning.

The school sells the following items during break time as well:

Daily
Sandwiches $2.00
Hotdog $2.00
Water $1.00(small)
Water $2.00 (big)
Capri-sun $1.00
Popcorn $ 0.50
Fruits
Wednesday
Pizza $3.00

Code of Conduct

  • Form of address: We use Principal, Teacher, Ms, first name
  • Respect towards each other is always our focus point. All members of our school community are treated with respect
  • We don’t use indecent or dubious remarks to hurt others, neither discriminating or sexual remarks nor abusive language.
  • We use a positive approach when correcting students
  • Everyone is held accountable for respectful and responsible behavior and must model such behavior
  • Proper behavior in the school bus must be shown as well
  • No electrical gadgets are allowed at school
  • Handle books, Tablets, Headphones and other material with care.

 Consequences for inappropriate behavior may include:

  • Assignments such as extra work or cleaning duties
  • Behavior plan
  • Confiscation of property that is not allowed in the school
  • Contact with parents or guardians
  • Damage or loss items must be paid for by parents
  • Loss of privileges
  • Reminder or warning
  • Suspension from school or bus

Zero Tolerance

Our school policy allows no tolerance for aggressive behavior. This means that we do not tolerate:

  • Bullying
  • Disrespectful body language
  • Fighting
  • Rude gestures
  • Rude language
  • Rude play
  • Screaming
  • Teasing
  • Threats

At times students are confused with rules at home and at school, because they are usually not synchronized. Nevertheless, at school we can’t tolerate certain behaviors. Sometimes children lose their self-control. During these moments we teach them other ways to express their feelings or solve a problem.

If students persevere in rudeness they will consequently be punished.

Students’ behavior will be communicated to their parents by phone or by asking you to come in.

Assemblies

On Monday morning we usually start out with an assembly. Each class gets a turn to share something that they have learned during the week. At the assembly we also sing our anthem, school song, birthday song and we share the house points of the week. Every month the house with the most points will get a treat. There are also special activities planned throughout the course of the year.

School uniform
The uniform is a symbol of the school and as such should be worn with pride. Students are required to wear the correct school uniform on school days unless otherwise stated.
Our school uniform is a blue polo shirt, along with either a short or long navy blue pants and skirts for girls, with black sneakers or black school shoes.
NO SWEATERS OR JACKETS during P.E. or RECESS
Our new P.E. uniform is a blue t-shirt with a navy blue pants with the school logo on it. It is our aim that by next school year all students will have the full uniform set for school and P.E.

The house color button is part of the uniform

Absence of teachers
When a teacher of grade 1 – 6 is absent or ill, they will be replaced by a substitute teacher.
If this is not possible, the students will be divided amongst the other groups. By doing this we aim to
minimize cancellations of classes.

Accidents
• Minor incidents such as scratches, bruises etc will be handled here at school.

Major accidents 
• The situation will be assessed by a first responder
• Steps will be taken to ensure the child is stable/comfortable
• A call to parent/ hospital
• Do a follow up check with hospital/ family
• Have a talk with students

Birthday celebrations
We find it a pleasure to celebrate each child’s birthday at school, but we strongly recommend that parents do this at the last period of the day. For k1-
k2 it’s at 11.45 – 12.00 and for Grade 1-6 between 12.15 –12.30. As we promote healthy eating; please share healthy snacks and treats during the
celebration time. Parent or students who chooses not to celebrate their birthdays we highly respect your decision.

Closure Protocol in the case of severe weather conditions
The Island Governor is allowed to close the school for safety reasons. One of the main reasons due to (severe) weather circumstances. Once the Island
Governor or Acting Governor decides to close the school, The Governor, or a civil servant on behalf of the Governor, will inform the director .

The order to close the school can be for a limited time or open ended depending on the situation.

Term Dates – Term Dates may vary

Term 1: August 18 – November 21 = 64 school days
Term 2: November 24 – March 13 = 64 school days
Term 3: March 16 – July 3 = 65 school Days

The House System

Yellow—Freddie Johnson

Green—Lambert Hassell

Red—Laura Linzey

Purple—Rebecca Levenstone

  1. The school is divided into four Houses named after Sabans who contributed to in one way or the other to the island.
  2. Houses will be identified by their colors.
  3. A House button will is part of the school uniform. Each student will be expected to wear this button every day. Failure to do so will lead to your house losing points.
  4. A jersey with your House color will be worn on special occasions: walkathon, sports day etc.
  5. The house System will encourage everyone to act responsibly. You will be obligated to ensure that you contribute in gaining points for your House every day.
  6. All points gained and lost by students in every House will be tallied weekly. The winning House will be announced during assembly every week. A price will be given to the House of the Month and theHouse of the Year.
  7. A list of students in each House and the points gained and lost is posted in each class.

Criteria for awarding and deducting house points: Maximum 13 points per day

Complete uniform 5 points (1 point each):

  • Blue uniform shirt
  • Dark blue pants
  • A black belt
  • Shirt tucked in
  • A house color button

Academic Performance 3 points (1 point each):

  • Completing class assignments
  • Completing homework
  • Positive work attitude

Appropriate Behavior 5 points (1 point each):

  • Showing kindness and respect to teachers
  • Showing kindness to peers
  • Working cooperatively
  • Lining up punctually/ orderly
  • Acting responsibly