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Newsletter No. 9 | Term 2 Week 7 | Friday 31st May 2024

Prayer

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Much has been said about Fr. Michael in recognition of his 50 years in the priesthood. When we gathered to celebrate this milestone with Trinity, St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart last Friday to celebrate Mass with Fr. Michael, it was a special occasion. It is hard to express the sense of connection and belonging that we felt to our fellow Catholic schools. We were all united in wanting to honour and thank Fr. Michael. It was a truly joyous celebration with the children cheering Fr. Michael as he ran through the banner and did a lap of honour.

The Mass and accompanying celebrations were a fitting tribute to a man who has dedicated his life to his faith and the service of others. It is hard to meet anyone in Colac who does not know someone, Catholic or non Catholic, who has been supported in some way by Fr. Michael.

Well done and thank you Fr. Michael - you are a wonderful example of how to live out our faith.

Reconciliation Week

This week is National Reconciliation Week, it is a time for Australians to learn more about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, and to explore how we can contribute to building reconciliation in Australia. The theme for the week is Now More Than Ever. We all have a part to play when it comes to reconciliation and in collectively building relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Ialander peoples.

Diocesan Message Stick

To celebrate 150 years of Catholic Education the Diocese commissioned an artist to design an Aboriginal message stick to deliver to each school in the Diocese throughout the year. This week the message stick is at our school. It was very special that our school received the message stick during Reconciliation Week. All children at our school have been shown the message stick and learned about its meaning and significance.

On Monday I will be taking some children to Sacred Heart to hand over the Message Stick for the next stage of the journey.

PLEASE NOTE: This week, Assembly on Friday will be at 2.30 and will include a short liturgy focusing on the significance of the 150th Anniversary, and the significance of the message stick.

You are all invited to come along. At the same time you can check out the historical display of the history of St. Brendan’s in the hall.

At St. Brendan’s, we continue to educate and embed the importance of reconciliation and recognition of Australia’s first peoples. At our staff meeting on Wednesday night, we reflected on ways in which we build cultural awareness in our school. We noted the following visual representations of aboriginal culture:

Prep/1 ART WORK for RECONCILIATION WEEK

The Bishop at St. Brendan’s and the Commissioning of the Parish Committee

On Sunday, Bishop Paul Bird celebrated Mass at St. Brendan’s. The Bishop is travelling to all parishes in the Diocese in celebration of 150 years of Catholic Education in the Ballarat Diocese. Coincidentally, the message stick arrived at St. Brendan’s in time for the Bishop’s visit and for the beginning of Reconciliation Week. Mandy took the message stick up at the start of Mass.

During the Mass, the Bishop commissioned the parish committee. Maureen Finn has been the leader of the committee for the last 6 years and has now handed the reins over to Lucy Darcy. The Bishop acknowledged Maureen's wonderful work and thanked her for her contributions. I would also like to thank Maureen. When I arrived at St. Brendan’s 4 years ago, Maureen warmly welcomed me to the community and has been a strong support to myself and the school during her time as leader of the Parish community.

Reports and Learning Conversations

Teachers are busy completing assessments to inform their report writing. As for previous years,

the teachers will conduct learning conversations as part of our reporting process. Your involvement in your child's education is invaluable, and these meetings provide an opportunity for us to discuss their progress and address any concerns or questions you may have. Your participation and support mean a great deal to us.

For new families who may be unfamiliar with the process, the learning conversation runs for 15 minutes. Your child joins you for five minutes of that time to share their learning portfolios with you. It is a wonderful celebration of their learning.

Appointment times will be released via PAM shortly.

Little Learners
We have had two Little learners sessions this Term and as always, it has been lots of fun. If you know of any other 3 or 4 year old children who may like to come along, let them know they are more than welcome. The final session is next Monday, 3rd June, 9 - 11am.

CLASS AWARDS!

Congratulations to Breanna, Sophie and Jack for receiving the class awards last week!

Toasties on Friday

Toasties will be available again THIS Friday.

Thanks to Mel Drayton for offering to do this for the children.

Catholic Culture

In 1874 the Pope decreed that there be two new Dioceses set up. The population in the colony of Victoria had grown so much that there were too many people for the Bishop of Melbourne to care for. The Pope’s decree described the boundaries of the new dioceses. Ballarat Diocese and Sandhurst (Bendigo). The Ballarat Diocese would include the region of Western Victoria extending from the Murray (River) to the Sea with the Murray River being the Northern border and sea being the Southern boundary.

St Brendan's Coragulac & St Joseph's Pirron Yallock Mass Times

St Brendan’s Coragulac: 9.30am Sunday Lay-led / Mass 5pm 4th Sunday of each month
St Joseph’s Pirron Yallock: 10:30am Mass 1st Sunday of each month

Our Diocesan Community Magazine

Prep/1 Classroom News

Week 7

This week has been quite special in a number of ways. On Monday, St Brendan’s received a message stick to recognise 150 years of Catholic Education in the Ballarat Diocese. The students in Prep/1 were very intrigued by the message stick and its intricate artworks. We learnt all about what a message stick is used for in Aboriginal culture, and explored the meaning of each of the symbols within the art. This week is also National Reconciliation Week so we have been learning about Aboriginal culture and the importance of acceptance and understanding as we move forward. Congratulations to all students for the respect they have shown as they have engaged with these important messages.

Literacy: This week, we have continued to practice expanding sentences, by answering questions such as; where? When? And why? It has been wonderful to observe students demonstrating their knowledge of sentence structure when completing these activities.

Word work:

Foundation students are working on the letters j, w, and z. They have been reading and writing short words containing these letters, such as web, zip and jet
Grade 1 students are working on the sound /ow/ like in cow. There are two common spellings: <ow> and <ou>

Maths: We have been learning about sharing and equal groups within Maths this week. Students have been learning how to share a collection equally between groups, and have been working on making arrays! We had lots of fun dancing to Kung Fu fighting, whilst learning to remember which way columns and rows go. Ask your child about this!

Religion: In RE, we have been considering words to describe God. Students were able to share their understanding of God and brainstorm many fabulous words eg. peaceful, loving, forgiving, creator.

Congratulations to all students!

Allira Kluver

akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 7!

We are so grateful to experience some stunning weather this week. The children have enjoyed being outside and particularly have loved the stumps out the front!

We participated in a beautiful Jubilee Mass for Father Michael last Friday. It was an amazing experience to celebrate with over 700 children plus staff at St. Mary’s Church. We are so blessed to have Father Michael as our Parish Priest, and it was evident that the children respect and value him highly.

Learning Conversations are coming up soon and I look forward to discussing your child’s learning journey with you.

Religious Education: In R.E. we have been looking at the Scripture from Mark 1:40-44 (Jesus
cleanses a Leper). We discussed the events in the story from Mark’s Gospel which led us to
discussing Human Dignity. Human Dignity is the foundation of Catholic Social Teaching.

Literacy: Our phonics focus this week is ‘ae’ for Year 2’s (aid, apron, bake, clay, eight, obey)
and the ‘r’ sound as in mirror, rhombus, write, and brightness for the Year 3 and 4’s. We are
building the words and identifying the sounds represented in each of the words.
In writing, we are constructing a report about our lives, which we are presenting to the
class. We are focusing on expression, volume and pace. We are also discussing events from
our class novel Uncle XBox.

Numeracy: Our new concept is Multiplication/Division. The Year 2’s are investigating
arrays, and the Year 3 and 4’s are working on times tables.

Homework: This week for homework, an activity related to our current concept
multiplication has been sent home to complete. Nightly reading is part of the homework
expectation for each year level. Just a page or two is sufficient but any extra is a bonus.

Integrated Curriculum: This week we are investigating the journeys made by other
explorers. The children have been assigned groups and are learning about
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan and Vasco da Gama and their
exploration around the world.

The Star of the Week award goes to Jess Beardsley. Congratulations on your excellent
effort!

Kind regards,
Mandy

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

4/5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 7! We are over halfway through the term!

Homework: Spelling and maths homework was sent home on Monday. This is due back to school on Friday 7th June. A reminder that students are also expected to be reading daily and filling this into their diary.

Leadership Groups: The Environment leadership group decided that they would give the school yard a clean up, so last week we spent an afternoon walking around collecting rubbish. We were surprised at how much we found! The Wellbeing group are also busy planning a fun activity for a lunchtime coming up and the Social Justice group are busy creating cards for residents in local retirement homes.

Phonics: In Phonics we’ve been focusing on the sound /r/ and exploring the different spellings of this sound. Year 4 students have been working on words such as; rhythm, wrong and mirror and Year 5/6 students have been working on words such as; reliable, wrestling and territory.

Handwriting: In handwriting we have been working on speed loops, focusing on the letter ‘b’.

Maths: In Maths, Year 4 students have been working on Multiplication; they have been creating arrays and writing matching number sentences. Whereas, Year 5 & 6 students have been working on fractions. Students have been comparing, ordering, adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators.

Religion: In Religion we have been creating our own prayers of Gratitude. Students have each written a prayer to say thank you to God for different things in their lives.

Integrated Curriculum: In Integrated Curriculum we have been creating dioramas on different events that shaped Australia. The topics are; the First Fleet, the Gold Rush, Port Arthur Settlement, the Stolen Generations and the Freedom Riders. Once we have created our dioramas we are going to be adding sound effects to enhance our displays.

Tahlia Whytcross
twhytcross@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au