St Brendan's Catholic Primary School Coragulac eNewsletter

Prayer

Lord of all seasons, we thank you for the gift of this past term.

For the lessons learned and the friendships made, we give you thanks. For the challenges we overcame and the joy we shared, we are grateful.

Watch over our students, families, and staff as they rest and recharge during the break. Keep them safe in their travels and fill their days with peace and happiness.

As we look forward to a new term, help us to return with renewed energy and a spirit of gratitude.

Amen.

Principal's Message

What an incredible term it has been! As we head into the holidays, it's a great time to reflect on everything we've accomplished together.

We started the term with our fantastic Trivia Night, which was a huge success and a wonderful way to bring our community together. We celebrated our dads and special father figures at our Father's Day breakfast, enjoyed the creativity of Book Week, and braved the elements for our whole-school bush excursion.

We also welcomed back our wonderful teacher, Allira Kluver, and our Year 5/6 students were fully engaged in the Cows Create Careers program and their winter sports.

A very special farewell was also said to Leanne, and we wish her all the best in her retirement.

Finally, a massive thank you to Liz and Kate for their incredible flexibility and hard work this term. They seamlessly transitioned from teaching our Prep/1 class to leading our Year 5/6 students, and their dedication is a testament to the wonderful teaching staff we have at our school. I would also like to thank Alice for her wonderful support this term. She stepped in to do countless release days in the Year 5/6 classroom and did a fantastic job.

We hope you all have a relaxing and safe holiday. We look forward to seeing you refreshed and ready for an exciting Term 4.

Warm regards,
Gerard Douglas
Principal

principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

School Closure Days

Just a reminder that the first day of Term 4 (6th October) is a School Closure day.

We also will have two more School closure days later in the Term, Monday the 3rd and Tuesday the 4th November.

Year 3/4 Bike Camp

On Thursday the 9th of October Year 3 and 4 students will head off on the annual Bike Camp. This year the students will be riding from Beech Forest down to the Otway Football Ground where they will sleep for one night. Students must have bikes in great working order, gears, working brakes and a safe helmet that fits correctly with chin straps that fasten. Please start checking bikes and helmets and maybe adding in a few more bike sessions before Bike Camp. More information will be sent out in the next few weeks. Please ensure to check PAM and give permission.

Angel the Chook

We thank the Aurisch family who have kindly volunteered their time to look after our school chook Angel during the holidays. We know she will be in good hands.

Please keep in mind each holidays we require a family to look after our feathery friends so please don't hesitate to let us know if you're interested. Start having a think if you're able to volunteer for the summer holidays.

Sporting News!

What an exciting time for our netball stars! We extend our best wishes to Grace Bayne as she competes in her Netball Grand Final this weekend. We also celebrate Kaitlyn Bourk for her outstanding achievement, placing 8th in the league's Best and Fairest count. We are incredibly proud of both girls and we congratulate on their efforts.

Hats - Term 4

Just a reminder that Term 1 and Term 4 of each year are our sun safe Terms and all students are required to wear hats. Please note this year we will not be keeping any spare hats at school as the sharing of hats is discouraged.

We ask all parents to ensure that each student has a hat and it is clearly labelled.

If you require a new hat or any new uniform please pop into Borne Apparel Colac and they will be able to help you.

School Advisory Council

Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday the 13th of October at 7:00pm. Look forward to seeing you all there!

Building Project

We have made some final adjustments to the layout of our new building project. The plans are now with our architects, Morton and Co, who are implementing the changes. We will provide an update once they are complete and have been returned to us.

Wellbeing

Last week we acknowledged R U OK? day.

R U OK? is a national suicide prevention charity and registered public health promotion that encourages people to stay connected and have conversations that can help others through difficult times.

Our work focuses on building the motivation, confidence and skills of the help-giver – the person who can have a meaningful conversation with someone who is struggling with life.

R U OK? contributes to suicide prevention efforts by encouraging people to invest more time in their personal relationships and building the capacity of informal support networks – friends, family and colleagues - to be alert to those around them, have a conversation if they identify signs of distress or difficulty and connect someone to appropriate support, long before they're in crisis.

School Wide Positive Behaviours

We are Respectful We are Safe We are Learners

At St. Brendan's, our school values are the foundation of everything we do, and we have been so proud to see them in action over the last few weeks. This term, we continue to focus on our core principles: We are Respectful, We are Safe, and We are Learners.

In the classroom, our students have been demonstrating respect by actively listening to their peers during class discussions and offering kind words of encouragement. On the playground, we have seen great examples of students being safe by using their walking feet in the hallways and ensuring their friends are okay after a fall. And our Year 5/6 students showed us what it means to be learners during their recent ‘Cows create careers’ project, persevering through problems and working as a team.

These small but significant moments are a testament to our wonderful students. They show us that our school values aren't just words on a page, but a way of being for our entire community. We encourage you to ask your children about a time they have shown respect, been safe, or acted as a learner this week.

SchoolTV - Wellbeing Platform

Followers of our Newsletter will be aware that we offer our families access to School TV. Because parenting doesn’t come with a set of instructions, SchoolTV is a wellbeing resource that can support you in the challenges relating to modern-day parenting.

This award-winning resource helps build relationships, foster connections, enable understanding and break down barriers to navigate a pathway towards better mental health and wellbeing for young people. It can assist in starting conversations on topics that are sometimes awkward or difficult to tackle.

Below is a URL link to the St. Brendan’s SchoolTV platform.

THIS WEEK’S TOPIC: PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & EXERCISE
In this edition of SchoolTV - PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & EXERCISE

In the last decade, children's participation in physical activity and excercise has been in declin. In this digital age, children are using computers and mobile devices, not only for learning, but for relaxation and recreation purposes. This sedentary lifestyle is having a detrimental effect on today's youth. The key is finiding the balance.

Research shows, that regular activity and excercise leads to changes in the brain. It improves cognitive function, elevates mood, enhances learning and improves academic outcomes. Playing sport helps kids develop fundamental movement skills impacting positively on their confidence, self-esteem and ability to develop social skills. Parents play an important role in helping children establish positive habits that will benefit their children in the long-term.

In this edition of School TV, parents will discover practical advice relating to the benefits of regular physical activity and excercise, as well as tips on how to get their kids motivated and moving more.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of School TV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Physical Activity & Exercise edition of SchoolTV:

CHILD SAFETY STATEMENT

Enrolments

2026 Foundation enrolments are now open. We have upscaled our Social Media output to spread the word about our wonderful school. It has been really positive to see people responding positively to the advertisements.

A reminder that one of the best ways to advertise a school is by word of mouth. Spread the word!

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

Prep/1 Classroom

This week in Prep/1, we've continued our great learning streak!

For RE, we've been considering how we can care for creation. The students brainstormed ways to help and care for our natural world. One suggestion was to plant shrubs and trees. We decided to head out to the back square and do some planting. Fingers crossed our native plants add some colour to the existing space.

In Integrated Curriculum, we've been studying Geography and learning all about maps. This week, we created our own town map in the classroom and added a range of shops and facilities to our town. After this, we developed our very own maps showing the important places in our town.

We look forward to the last day of school tomorrow and our walk to the Open Space.

Enjoy the holidays!
Allira Kluver

Allira Kluver - akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 9!

We have survived another busy term! I hope you all enjoy a restful and rejuvenating break.
Thank you to the families who have returned the Portfolios. If you have not, could you please send them along ASAP.

We have been enjoying our novel Max and the Millions. As a class, we have been designing mini worlds. The photos below are snapshots of the work being created.

We welcomed Carter Chapman into our class this week. We hope Carter and his family enjoy being part of our beautiful school.

Literacy: We have completed the descriptions of our super heroes. We invited the Prep/1's into our classroom and presented the super heroes to them. Thank you Prep/1's for being such an awesome audience!
The children's work is displayed in the passage and they are uploading pictures onto Seesaw.

Maths: The Year 2's and 3's have been working on fractions, identifying parts of a whole, counting by fractions to a whole and dividing collections into fractions. The Year 4's have been investigating perimeter and area od shapes.

The Star of the Wek award goes to Kaycee Borthwick. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

Warm Wishes,
Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to the final week of Term! What a joy it has been to work with the 5/6 students over the past 3 weeks! The attitudes and work ethics of the students in the 5/6 classroom is really exceptional. It will be a very lucky person who enjoys the role of 5/6 teacher at our school next term!

Cows Create Careers: On Friday we said goodbye to Marge & Homer, our calves from the Cows Create Careers project. The calves were with us at St Brendan's for a week and a half and students diligently cared for them over that time.
Students were responsible for mixing up milk, bottle feeding, cleaning bottles, teats and jugs, ensuring calves had clean bedding (straw), refilling their water and pellet bucket.
The project also included creating a poster or diorama that included facts and figures about dairy farming and the dairy farming industry as a whole. During this experience we discussed all the careers that stem from the dairy industry and we were really impressed by the plethora of jobs directly and indirectly related to the dairy industry, from 'Jacka the Knacka' to Bulla staff, Machinery sales people, Agronomist, Truck Drivers - The list was endless!

We thank Ben Phillips for visiting our classroom and informing us all about the work he does at Bulla and the many different career opportunities that Bulla offers. The students asked lots of excellent questions - thanks Ben for your great answers. We also discovered that most students know at least one person that works a Bulla!

Over this experience we really noticed that there are quite a few students within the group that really shone and may have careers in the dairy industry- It was very exciting to see our students enthusiastic about this experience and their learning.
As part of this unit we visited 3 different styles of dairies to highlight how innovation and technology have changed the industry. From a walk through dairy to a herringbone then to a rotary diary.

We thank the McCarthy family for allowing us to visit their farm where we saw some of the 600+ cows being milked in their rotary dairy.

Eden “I learnt that the cows know when to enter and exit the platform”

Aden “I learnt that the McCarthy’s can milk 50 cows at once”

Literacy: Students have been revising the sounds covered this term. We have been writing information texts using the knowledge we have gained from our ‘Cows Create Careers’ unit.

In Mathematics, students have been exploring transformations and tessellations. They are learning how shapes can be moved, flipped, and rotated to create repeating patterns without gaps. Inspired by the work of artist M.C. Escher, students are combining maths and creativity to design their own tessellation artworks. This unit is helping them build strong spatial reasoning skills while seeing the connections between mathematics and the world around them.

Have a safe and happy term break!

Kate and Liz

Kate Parker - kparker@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

Liz McGuane - lmcguane@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au