St Brendan's Catholic Primary School Coragulac eNewsletter

Prayer

Pope Francis wrote this in the Hospital:

“The walls of hospitals have heard more honest prayers than churches...
They have witnessed far more sincere kisses than those in airports...
It is in hospitals that you see a homophobe being saved by a gay doctor.
A privileged doctor saving the life of a beggar...
In intensive care, you see a Jew taking care of a racist...
A police officer and a prisoner in the same room receiving the same care...
A wealthy patient waiting for a liver transplant, ready to receive the organ from a poor donor...
It is in these moments, when the hospital touches the wounds of people, that different worlds intersect according to a divine design. And in this communion of destinies, we realize that alone, we are nothing.
The absolute truth of people, most of the time, only reveals itself in moments of pain or in the real threat of an irreversible loss.
A hospital is a place where human beings remove their masks and show themselves as they truly are, in their purest essence.
This life will pass quickly, so do not waste it fighting with people.
Do not criticize your body too much.
Do not complain excessively.
Do not lose sleep over bills.
Make sure to hug your loved ones.
Do not worry too much about keeping the house spotless.
Material goods must be earned by each person—do not dedicate yourself to accumulating an inheritance.
You are waiting for too much: Christmas, Friday, next year, when you have money, when love arrives, when everything is perfect...
Listen, perfection does not exist.
A human being cannot attain it because we are simply not made to be fulfilled here.
Here, we are given an opportunity to learn.
So, make the most of this trial of life—and do it now.
Respect yourself, respect others. Walk your own path, and let go of the path others have chosen for you.
Respect: do not comment, do not judge, do not interfere.
Love more, forgive more, embrace more, live more intensely!
And leave the rest in the hands of the Creator.”

—Pope Francis

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends

I hope you all enjoyed the extended holiday period. We had many students tell us that they were excited to be back at school which was great to hear!

As you will be aware, the Catholic Church lost our leader, Pope Francis on Easter Monday. I found this to be a sad moment, the loss of a good man and an inspiring and respected leader of the Catholic Church, and indeed the world.

I remember that I happened to be watching the TV when the white smoke went up to signify that a new Pope had been announced. Pope Francis came out to greet the people. He had a warm smile and asked the people to pray for him because he would need their prayers to fulfil his role as Pope. He was humble, kind and made an immediate connection with the people in Rome, and an immediate connection with me at home on my couch. Pope Francis continued to inspire me throughout the years. He was a man of compassion, justice and hope. His message and example of love and humility, and the power of education, touched hearts around the world. Pope Francis was a strong advocate for caring for the world’s resources, to leave a beautiful world for the generations that follow. In my eyes, and the eyes of many, Pope Francis has been a wonderful leader for our Church. May he rest in peace.

During the first week of Term, the staff participated in a range of collaborative professional development opportunities with other schools. This included a day focused on Catholic Identity, professional learning in School Wide Positive Behaviours (in Noorat), exploring a new platform to centralise and improve data collection to inform our practice, and a day in Warrnambool for the launch of DOBCEL’s Strategic Plan for 2025 - 2035. The week was an extremely worthwhile one for educators across the Diocese. We feel excited to use this new knowledge to enhance learning and teaching in our schools.

Alice will be returning to school this week. Welcome back Alice! Gerard will be returning to school on Monday. We thank Jackie McKenzie for teaching the Year 5/6 class during Gerard’s absence.

As we send Newsletters out in odd weeks, today’s Newsletter will be short and sweet.

Looking forward to a great term ahead.

Leanne

PLEASE NOTE: Change to School Photo Date

Due to unforseen circumstances the date for School Photos has been moved to Wednesday 4th June.

As this is now closer to Winter than Summer, children will be in Winter Uniform. We are aware that not everyone has the woollen jumpers so we will have all children in their Sports jumper with navy pants or kilts.

We have a number of new sports jumpers here that we can put on the children if their own sports tops are old and faded.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Movie Night Postponed

Please note that the Movie Night which was set for THIS Friday night (2nd May) has been cancelled. We thank everyone who gave up their time to prepare for this event.

Stay tuned for more fundraising plans from our parent community.

Excursion on Friday

This Friday the students will be participating in an excursion to a goat farm in Barwon Downs. The excursion is fully funded by the Raising Aspirations in Careers and Education (RACE) in Agriculture program which runs across Victoria.

RACE – Victoria aims to provide engaging experiences that increase students' understanding, confidence, interest, and motivation for pursuing a pathway to one of the many different careers in the world of agricultural work.

Last year the students went to Schultz’s organic dairy farm Victoria which everybody said was a wonderful learning experience for our students.

We will all be back at school by 1.30, just in time for lunch. Please see the Excursion note on PAM for further details.

Thank you!

Sending a big thank you to Jayne, Wayne and the Robb family for looking after our Silkie chickens Angel and Gem over the extended Easter holidays. I'm sure they had a wonderful time on their little getaway.

If you'd like to help us in the future by looking after the chickens, please let us know at any stage during the Term and we can pop you down for the next holiday period.

Mural

We are thrilled with our new mural, designed and painted by ex-student Bella O'Dowd. Bella's design was centred around 'nature' which is very important to all of us St. Brendan's.

Some of you will remember Peter Higgs, a great friend to our school, who used to pop in after hours with his dog Lucky. Peter would check on the chooks, do a spot of gardening and he even painted the train. Peter died last year and kindly left us a bit of money which we have used for the mural. In the bottom left corner of the mural you can see a purple paw. This is our nod to Peter and his beautiful dog Lucky. We remember them both fondly.

Thank you to Peter and thank you to Bella! The mural has really brightened up the playground area.

Bike Wheels Wanted

If anyone has any bike wheels that you no longer need, we would be grateful if you could donate them to our school for an Art project. The painted bike wheels will be used to decorate the front of the sports shed.

A variety of sizes would be great!

Please note: We do not need the whole bike, just the wheels.

However, if you happen to have any bikes in good working order, we are always looking for bikes for the children to ride.

School Uniforms

School uniforms are now available for purchase. The online platform is up and running so if you wish to place an order scan the QR code below or get onto the Borne Apparel website and search for ur school.

Please Note: The last order preview did not have the school beanie on it. They are adding it to the online platform. It may take four weeks to come in so if you would like to order one for Winter it might be a good idea to do it soon.

A reminder that you are under no obligation to buy anything at this stage. The transition period is two years.

Fundraising

Why do schools run fundraising activities?

To raise money: Each year St. Brendan’s aims to raise $6000 to lower school fees for our families.
To build community: Fundraising events are not just about the money. They give parents/ carers the opportunity to build relationships and work together towards achieving a common goal, and also have lots of fun along the way!

It has been great to see parents volunteering to lead various fundraising projects this year. A reminder that these people who volunteer to lead a project need lots of support along the way. Sometimes it is difficult to know how we can help. I suggest offering your assistance by sending an email to Grace or myself, or speaking to the person organising the event.

I encourage you to get on board. Volunteering to help out has been proven to have significant health benefits. Check out the article below!

5 Feel Good Benefits of Volunteering

Australians spend a staggering 930 million hours volunteering each year. Beyond the satisfaction of helping others, there are many surprising benefits to volunteering on the health and wellbeing of volunteers.

From improving our health and happiness to promoting strong social networks, boosting mood and making friends, our experts explain the psychology behind volunteerism and why people help others they may never otherwise meet.

1. It provides a sense of belonging

Volunteering is a great way to promote strong social networks. This is because of what’s called “prosocial behaviour”, which means that what we’re doing benefits other people – this can be seen in helping, sharing, donating and volunteering.

Volunteering is an adventure. Meeting people from different walks of life and different ways of life brings together unexpected experiences.

University volunteer, Pauline Plumb (BVArts '04 MSA(Hons) '04)

2. It can improve your physical health

“When we’re helping others we’re more likely to feel good about ourselves which is, not surprisingly, a positive contributor to mental health. Mental and physical health are highly correlated so when we’re psychologically well, we’re also more likely to be physically well,” he says.

3. Generosity leads to greater happiness

People who “give” – either money or their time – have been reported to be happier and healthier than those who don’t. Dr Rebecca Pinkus, Lecturer in Psychological Statistics says, “Volunteering keeps you in a positive mood and can help lift you out of a negative mood.”

4. You could lift the mood of people around you

If a person is feeling positive and enjoying the process of giving, then this spreads across to other people nearby who become significantly more likely to give as well.

5. Increase your sense of satisfaction with life

Dr Sharp is backed up by the OECD Better Life Index, which says volunteers tend to be more satisfied with their lives because they’re interacting with other people, setting and achieving goals, and learning new things.

Volunteering gave me a sense of purpose to give back to the community that I value so much

Tissues

Each year, we ask that each family provides a couple of boxes of tissues for their classroom. As we are getting into the colder months we ask if you are in a position to supply some tissues it would be greatly appreicated. We thank the families that have done so already this year.

Social Media

A reminder that you can follow us on the following social media platforms to stay up to date with all of the happenings in our vibrant school community.

@stbrendansprimary

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.
Please remember students are not permitted to leave school unless permission has been granted. In these circumstances, the student needs to be signed out in the register at the Office. Thank you for your support in all these school matters.

NCCD Information Sheet