Newsletter No. 7 | Term 1 Week 8 | Thursday 24th March 2022
Prayer
FAMILY PRAYER
God be with our family,
From the youngest to the oldest,
Lighting up our relationships,
Sowing grace in our troubles.
God be with our family,
Weaving love into our work,
Our rest, and our play,
Amen.
Principal's Message
Dear Families and Friends,
Over the last week, I have reflected a lot on the importance of family. On the long weekend, my son Patrick married his long-time partner, Josie. It was a beautiful family time for us all.
There are many times in the lives of our children, when the pride and love we have for our families is heightened. A wedding is an occasion when we can all feel the love. It was extra special to have our two daughters in the wedding party (pictured).
Families come in all shapes and sizes and we are all fortunate to have our own family stories to tell. I know most of you are a long way off from your children getting married, but family celebrations are ongoing for us all, whether it be a birthday party, a graduation ceremony, or a wedding. It does not have to be a big event for us to appreciate our families, but it is often at times like this that we have an opportunity to reflect, and realise how blessed we truly are.
From Wednesday to Friday, I will be attending the Victorian School Principal Conference. I will be checking in with the school daily and ask that you email me if you have any concerns.
As I have advised you via emails, we have had a number of students test positive for Covid-19 this week. At this stage they are confined to the Year 5/6 room. Windows and doors are open and ventilators are operating in all rooms. Please continue to monitor your children and test them as advised. There are more Rapid Antigen Tests available at school if you need them.
Have a lovely weekend with your families. Stay safe.
Leanne Eastman
PRINCIPAL
principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
COLAC DIVISION ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
Congratulations to the students who qualified for the Colac Division Athletics Carnival on Monday, 28th March:
Brennan Robb Nellie Armistead Kaitlyn Bourk Levi Armstrong Abbey Campbell Tilly Scott Jimmy Armistead Davina Campbell Jasmine Bourk Annabelle Carlon Cassie Day Indi Sutherland Lindon Baker Lexie Johnson Joe Bayne Audrey Rock Maverick Lenehan
The children will travel by bus and will be supervised by Tahlia Whytcross and myself.
Good luck to all children. We know you will demonstrate good sportsmanship, do your best and represent St. Brendan’s with pride.
HELP NEEDED: St. Brendan's is required to supply someone to help run the shot put event on Monday. If there is anybody out there who can help out with this, please let Gracesyn know by Friday.
STUDENT NEWS
At our first SRC meeting, students requested that we do a Crazy Hair/Crazy Clothes day. The Crazy Hair/Crazy Clothes Day will be on the last day of Term, Friday 8th April. The SRC agreed to put the gold coin donations from the day towards Project Compassion which raises money for Caritas. Caritas is an organisation that works hard to improve the lives of the less fortunate, especially people in third world countries.
We look forward to seeing all sorts of craziness!
MAINTENANCE
I have only been gone for just over a week, but I am amazed with the changes around the place in such a short time. Anthony has cranked up his trusty excavator and made a great start on the bike track. The children have loved getting out there and riding down a couple of the new hills. Alice organised for cypress trees to be delivered (they will eventually be placed in our new outdoor area on the back square); Jared arranged for softfall to be delivered to spread under the playground and the garden has been given a bit of a makeover. A lot can happen in a week!
Many of you will have noticed that we have placed a list of maintenance jobs on a white board at the front of the school. Thank you to the families who have put their hands up to do some of the work.
I would also like to say a BIG thank you to Vanessa Tait, teachers and students of the Thomas Carr Campus who have taken on many of the jobs. Part of the program for Thomas Carr children is that they do some community service for the local area, so we were fortunate that they decided that we would be the recipients of their community service this Term. The boys really have worked hard and the school is already looking much better.
AUSLAN
It has been terrific to see so many parents logging onto our new communication platform, Seesaw. Teachers have now uploaded some AUSLAN videos so check them out. This is a brilliant way for you to engage in your child’s learning and learn along with them.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Earth Hour is happening on Saturday, March 26th. It is an action that encourages everyone to turn off power in support for stronger action on climate change and biodiversity loss.
Some ideas for those who would like to participate:
- Switch off all electrical devices for an hour - any hour on the 26th, although the formal hour is 8.30pm.
- Take the time to have a conversation about how your family could save money in the home.
For more information, visit: https://www.earthhour.org.au/
Catholic Culture
PROJECT COMPASSION
Lent began on March 2nd this year. As a Catholic school we use the time of Lent to raise funds for Project Compassion, a Catholic based charity ran by Caritas Australia.
This charity works to promote justice and uphold dignity for people living in less fortunate countries. Over the coming weeks we will share information about Project Compassion with you.
All students have been sent home with a donation box and we ask families to use this to start thinking about how you can support others less fortunate. If you have been filling your donation box with coins throughout Lent please return it to school before the end of the term so we can add your fundraising to the totals.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
The Stations of the Cross take place each year on Good Friday (this year; 15th April 2022) in the Botanical Gardens Colac at 11am. We encourage all families to attend this event, it is a wonderful coming together of many different religious groups from within the area to make a spiritual pilgrimage through contemplation of the Passion of Christ. Mrs Sutherland will be attending to speak at this event along with some St Brendan's senior students, let's try and get along to support them if we can!
Prep/1 Classroom News
We have had such a lovely week so far! Students have been absorbed in so many creative endeavours - painting, building, drawing and crafting. The Prep/1’s have been involved in some incredible learning. It’s exciting to see!
Word work: This week, the Prep’s have been learning about the letters b, c, g and h and the sound they represent. They have been practicing blending and reading words such as cat, bin and hat. The Grade 1’s are working on <th>. This is a spelling that can represent two different sounds - /th/ like in thin, and /th/ like in that.
Writing: The story Handa’s Surprise has quickly become a class favourite! Together, we mapped the story, learnt actions to go along with it and had lots of fun role playing. This week, it was extremely impressive to see the Prep/1’s innovate on this story, change the characters and come up with an entirely new story “Leafy’s Surprise.”
Maths: We have begun our unit on addition and subtraction. The Preps are learning about ‘more’ and ‘less,’ and have been identifying which of two numbers is bigger or smaller. The Grade 1’s are writing number sentences to match addition stories eg. There were two green teddies and four more came along: 2 + 4 = 6.
Religion: We have enjoyed learning about the Easter story and considering the symbol of the cross. The Prep/1’s created their own cross which will be used over the next couple of weeks when they have the opportunity to set up their own prayer table.
Integrated Curriculum: Our History unit has been very insightful! This week we are learning about the passage of time and how we mark time in days, months and seasons. We have also learnt about how Aboriginal people recognise different seasons to the ones we are familiar with - Summer, Autumn, Winter & Spring.
Keep up the home reading!
Allira Kluver
akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
2/3/4 Classroom News
Hello everybody!
Last week we had our annual Sports Day and McCarthy took out the title this year. What a fantastic effort from our senior leaders – they were very respectful and conscious of keeping up team spirit throughout the day. Go McCarthy!!
Often when we ask our children ‘What did you do today?’ we don’t receive much of a response. Sometimes presenting questions in a different way can elicit an array of information. Some things you could ask are:
What made you smile today?
Can you tell me an example of kindness you saw/showed?
What kind of person were you today?
This week we are focusing on the book ‘Possum Magic’ by Mem Fox. The book is an Australian classic where Grandma Poss uses her magic to turn Hush invisible so that she will be safe from the scary predators that live in the bush. But when Hush decides she no longer wants to be invisible, the two possums must travel across Australia in search of the magic 'Australian' food that will make her visible again.
Our EPIC efforts have helped us reach 250 books read. A wonderful effort 2/3/4’s!
We have been working on building sentences with detail and description. The Year 4’s responses were as follows:
The fast naughty boy ran as the cops chased him. (Brennan)
The little happy girl with the rainbow dress was walking around in the flower garden enjoying the sunshine. (Melody)
The beautiful thorny flower bloomed open slowly in the garden bed. (Ava)
The shiny blue motorbike went very fast in the race. (Caleb)
The Easter Bunny hopped in to my backyard and ate all my orange carrots. (Samiyah)
In Maths we are investigating addition and subtraction. We have been learning different strategies to assist us including counting on, counting back, the jump strategy and adding 2 digit numbers to 2 digit numbers.
This week for homework the activity is focused on times tables that need to practiced and learnt over the year.
The Star of the Week award goes to Claire Beardsley. Congratulations on your excellent effort!
If you have any concerns or queries please contact me at school or by email.
Cheers,
Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
5/6 Classroom News
Welcome to Week 8! We have had a different week in the 5/6 classroom this week, I’m thinking of everyone who is at home isolating at the moment.
This week is our second week learning and practicing AUSLAN. So far, we have been learning different greetings and the importance of being polite. We have also practiced having small conversations, such as “Good morning, how are you?”
In Writing this week we have continued our Narrative unit. The students have been using their characters, setting and structure planning to write their narratives and they are looking fantastic so far.
In Maths we have been working on vertical subtraction. The Year 5’s have been subtracting 4 digit numbers and Year 6’s have been subtracting 5 digit numbers.
This week in Integrated Curriculum we have been learning about Australian Citizenship. We have been discussing the rights and responsibilities of an Australian citizen, and have also been learning how someone becomes an Australian citizen.
In Religion we have been learning about the Islamic religion. We have been comparing and contrasting the Islamic religion with the Catholic religion. Specifically, we have been discussing each religions’ beliefs, holy book, symbols, followers, clothes and special events.
Highlight of the week: On Tuesday afternoon we went outside and tested out our new sketch pads. The students were asked to draw something they could see outside; we had drawings of wheelbarrows, flowers, the mountainside and some more. It was so nice to spend time outside admiring our beautiful surroundings.
I hope you all have a great week, please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions or concerns.
Tahlia Whytcross
twhytcross@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
Birthday Corner
We would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to everyone who has celebrated their special day this week and last, including:
March 15th - Liam Wilson (7)
Important Dates
MARCH
28th - School Advisory Meeting 7pm
APRIL
8th - Last Day of Term 1 (2.15pm Finish Time)
15th - Good Friday
17th - Easter Sunday
18th - Easter Monday
25th - ANZAC Day Public Holiday
26th - School Returns - Term 2 Begins
29th - Pupil Free Day (School Review)
MAY
2nd - Pupil Free Day (School Review)
6th - School Photo Day
23rd - Jump Rope for Heart Begins
JUNE
6th - School Concert
15th - 17th - Year 5/6 Melbourne Urban Camp
24th - Last Day of Term 2
Acknowledgement of Country
At St. Brendan’s Primary School we pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land, the Gulidjan people and pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.
We will respect the land, animals and waterways, from the roots of the earth to the tops of the trees. Through the example of our first Australians, we understand that if we look after the country, then the country will look after us.
About Us
School Vision: 'For you I have a destiny and a hope.'
PARISH PRIEST: Fr Michael O’Toole PRINCIPAL: Mrs Leanne Eastman
SAC CHAIRPERSON: Ms Gayle McNabb CHILD SAFETY OFFICER: Mrs Leanne Eastman