Newsletter No. 1 | Term 1 Week 1 | Thursday 30th January 2025

Prayer

Dear Lord

Thank you for the gift of our school, St. Brendan’s. We are truly blessed to be a part of such a wonderful community. We pray for our children, that their year at school is full of love, joy, learning, fun and personal growth. 

Help our whole community to be more like you and to treat each other as we would like to be treated. May our words and actions be positive and kind so that our wonderful school can be more beautiful every day. 

AMEN

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

Welcome to the 2025 school year!

I would especially like to welcome our new Prep students; Ariana, Everley, Kaiden, Lenny and Noah, and a new Year 3 student, Laura . A big welcome also to our new families. We are so happy to have you with us and we really hope you enjoy your time at St. Brendan’s school.  We look forward to giving you a proper St. Brendan’s community welcome at our Parent Information Night on Thursday 27th February. Thank you for choosing St. Brendan’s, we are so happy to have you here.

I hope everyone had a fabulous break and is feeling refreshed and ready to embrace the new year ahead. The beginning of the school year is always fresh and exciting. I am sure that there are many eager children out there looking forward to seeing their friends, working with their new class and teachers, and learning new things. I feel very proud of the school that we have and feel positive that we will all work together: students, parents, staff and the wider community, to make it a great year for everyone.

For new parents, the Newsletter comes out on Thursdays in Weeks 1,3,5,7,9,11 (If we have an 11 week term) so please take the time to read what is happening at our school. There is always a lot going on and we would not want you to miss anything. The Newsletter is received via email, please double check all folders after 4pm on a Thursday to ensure you have received it.

We also communicate with parents via the school facebook page so if you would like to be added to the page please contact me. 

The staff and I are excited for the year ahead and look forward to working with all children, families and the extended community to make this a great one for everybody at St. Brendan’s. I thank the Staff for the hours that they have put in before school begins to ensure that everything is ready to go.

Warm Regards,

Leanne Eastman
Principal

Senior Leaders

Our Senior Leaders for this year are: Aden, Archie, Brianna, Grace, Harriet, Jackson, Jerry, Kaitlyn and Zayne.  These students are wonderful role models for the whole school and it is clear that our younger students already look up to them. We look forward to providing our Year 6 students with many opportunities to take on leadership responsibilities and develop their leadership skills along the way. 

All Year 6 students will be attending a student leadership day in Geelong on Tuesday 11th February. Gerard and Leanne will be taking the children on the school bus. We will be visiting Edencraft Boats and exploring areas around Geelong. It should be a really valuable learning experience for our students. More details for Year Six parents will be available shortly.

Thank you!

I would like to say a special thank you to the following people:

• Jayne Robb: For ensuring that our school looked beautifully clean to begin the school year.
• Rod Newcombe: For his excellent lawn mowing skills
• Vanessa Tait: For caring for the chooks over the holidays
• Terry Whealan: For garden maintenance around the school. Terry is also our key maintenance man. In the next few weeks he will be constructing a new vege garden for us with a number of raised garden beds. We are excited about refreshing this area. The children will be very hands on with the planting and nurturing of the plants

School Advisory Council

Our first meeting will be on Wednesday, 12th February at 7pm. ALL WELCOME!

PLEASE NOTE: We will be requiring at least one new parent to join the School Advisory Council as some members have served the two year duration. If you would like to be part of it, please let a member of the Advisory: Kristy Robb, Ken Coates, Tracey Bayne, Ben Phillips or myself (Leanne). We warmly welcome Leigh Balcombe onto the Council. Thank you for offering to give up your time to support the school.  

If you are interested but would like more information please drop in for a chat. There is also some information below regarding the purpose of a School Advisory Council. We look forward to welcoming you.

The The School Advisory Council is intended to: 

• provide a voice for members of the school community

• actively support, in collaboration with the local parish, the Vision of the school

• provide input into and support for strategic planning and directions

• actively support and promote child safety practices including the National Safeguarding Principles for Child Safe Organisations

• provide input and contribute advice in the processes of school improvement and school review

• support the Principal in meeting his/her responsibilities and accountabilities for educational outcomes, effective stewardship of resources, and annual reporting
• actively support the Principal in the encouragement of family engagement
• support the ongoing sustainability of the SAC and its members in its succession and learning

Building Project

We are very excited to begin our new building project in 2025. The architects have forecasted that works will begin in Term 3, with the view of hopefully being completed by the start 0f 2026. Fingers crossed that all goes according to plan. 

If you would like to come in and see the plans and offer any feedback, please feel free. The more input and ideas we have, the better it will be.

Parent / Teacher Meet and Greets

We warmly invite parents to take up the invitation for a short Meet and Greet Session with your child's teacher. Research shows that when families and schools work together, it results in improved outcomes for children.
The Meets and Greets will be held on Monday 3rd Feb 3:30pm-4:30pm and Wednesday 5th Feb from 8:30-4:30pm.
Please respond and book via PAM or by email if you are unsure how to use PAM. 

Swimming

Swimming at St Brendan’s takes place on 5 Friday afternoons in Term 1 and 5 Fridays in Term 4. Students participate in a 30 minute lesson during each session. Dates for Term 1 will be 14th Feb, 21st Feb, 28th Feb, 14th March, 21st March.

Reminders - Hats and Spares

• Hats – Sun smart hats are compulsory during terms one and four. Please ensure your child’s hat is named. If you need a new hat please contact Grace in the office. Without a hat your child will not be able to play outside.
• Accidents sometimes happen. Please pack spare underwear, socks and anything else spare in your child's bag that you may think would be handy. We don't always have spares so it would be very helpful if students had a spare change in their bags.

KANA Parade

On Saturday 15th March St Brendan’s will be participating in the Colac KANA parade. A Parent Working Group will be required to organise the event. The theme for this year is: ‘A Country Fair’.

Fundraising

Fundraising is an important part of belonging to a school community. The funds are used to complement the acquisition of resources and to support activities that directly benefit your children.

Of course, fundraising doesn’t just happen! Committees and events need key people to drive them.

As suggested by our Advisory Council, we would like to set up a Fundraising Committee in 2025. This committee would be separate from the Advisory Council. The Fundraising Committee would set up a timetable of fundraising events throughout the year and coordinate families in the school to support them for various events. This will be a fun group to be part of and a wonderful way to build relationships with other parents and families.

Kristy is going to put a call out on the facebook page. Please have a think about answering her call. We are looking forward to making it a really successful fundraising year in 2025 with lots of fun along the way!

Special Community Events at St Brendan's

At St Brendan’s, we pride ourselves on creating a welcoming community environment. Families are welcome to pop into school anytime and there are also a number of special celebration days throughout the year where we encourage families to join us. Children love it when their parents and carers attend these events so pencil them into your diaries.

Beginning of Year Liturgy: Thursday 13th February 9.15am
Parent Information Night: Thursday 27th February 5pm
KANA: Saturday 15th March
Sports Day: Wednesday 19th March
Mother’s Day Celebration - Thursday 8th May 9.15 am
Book Week Parade: Thursday 21st August
Father’s Day Celebration - Wednesday 3rd September 5 - 6.30pm
Grandparent’s Day: Thursday 23rd October
Mission Day: Thursday 20th November
End of Year Graduation and Carols: Thursday 11th December

Other important dates:

School Photos Day: Wednesday 7th May
Year 5/6 Camp: 19th May - 21st May Warra Gnan Coastal Camp - Warrnambool
Year 3/4 Bike Camp: Thursday 16th - Friday 17th October

School Closure Days 2025

Term 1

10/3: Labour Day (PUBLIC HOLIDAY)
11/3: Structured Literacy

Term 2

21/4: Easter Monday (PUBLIC HOLIDAY)
22/4: Collaboration day with St Mary’s and Sacred Heart
23/4: Collaboration day with St Mary’s and Sacred Heart
24/4: Southern Zone Schools gathering - Delivery of Dobcel’s Strategic Plan
25/4: Anzac Day (PUBLIC HOLIDAY)

Term 3

22/8: Curriculum Day

Term 4

3/11: Curriculum Day
4/11: Melbourne Cup Day (PUBLIC HOLIDAY)

School Attendance and Absentee Notification

Please ensure you are logging onto PAM, calling or emailing the school to advise if your child will be away or late to school prior to 9:30am each morning. This is a very important matter and we wish to ensure each child arrives to school safe.

Prep/1 Classroom

Tahlia Whytcross
twhytcross@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

5/6 Classroom News

Gerard Douglas
gdouglas@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

Birthday Corner

Wishing a very big Happy Birthday to everyone who is celebrating their special day! Especially:

12th January - Aden Coates (11)

20th January - Kaitlyn Bourk (12)

13th February - Greta Rock (6)

Important Dates

Catholic Culture

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

https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ODC-July-2024-web.pdf

Click here to read all the news in the latest edition of Our Diocesan Community.

Community News & Events

Bluewater Sensory Quiet Time Pool Session
When: Every Saturday between 1-3pm
Please contact Bluewater Colac if you have any questions.