Newsletter No. 9 | Term 1 Week 10 | Thursday 7th April 2022

A Prayer for Holy Week

Let us spare this week for our God. 

Let us spend time for reflection and prayer.

Let us be thankful for all the blessings bestowed upon us. 

May we all have a meaningful Holy Week. 

AMEN

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

On Sunday, the church celebrates Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the most holy and deeply moving week of the Christian year. 

When I was growing up, Holy Week was a big week in our household.  Holy Week comes at the end of Lent when my siblings and I (along with many other children throughout the world) had spent five weeks making a sacrifice of some sort. In those days, giving up lollies or ice-cream during Lent were popular choices. Some children had a big jar to save the lollies which they would have normally eaten in those weeks, so that they could then have a lolly feast on Easter Sunday. This probably defeated the purpose and yes, I am guilty of doing this, at least once!  During Holy Week, we attended more Masses and services than usual, and as a child it often seemed like a long wait until Easter Sunday! 

I also remember it as being a very holy time. Lent was a time of fasting, prayer and reflection, a time when we were encouraged to become closer to God.  This preparation and closer relationship with God, meant that Holy Week was deeply meaningful and moving, and I clearly recall that being the case. It was the week in which we recalled the suffering that Jesus endured, and then celebrated His ultimate Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Today our students participated in a condensed reenactment of Holy Week created by Mrs. McGuane. They walked around the school to visit 4 stations: 

Station 1 The Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed the night before his death

Station 2: The Courtyard where Jesus was arrested

Station 3: Golgotha where Jesus was nailed to the Cross

Station 4: The Garden Tomb where Jesus was placed when he died

This was a powerful way for the children to retell the story of the last few days of Jesus on Earth. We all sang the Chorus of the song ‘We are God’s Hands’ on the way to each station. I asked some of the children what they thought it means to be ‘God’s hands’: 

They answered: ‘we are his love’, ‘we are the same as Him’, ‘we do good things like God would do’, ‘we be kind’. An important part of Catholic teachings is that our actions reflect the love of God, and it was lovely that the children were able to make that link.

We really appreciated that some members of our school and Parish community were able to join us, thank you for coming along. A big thank you to Mrs. McGuane for creating such a meaningful and prayerful Easter Liturgy. 

I wish you all a happy Easter and a relaxing holiday with your families and friends. We look forward to seeing you all in Term Two.

Take Care,

Leanne Eastman
PRINCIPAL
principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

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ANZAC DAY EXCURSION

The Year 5/6 students will be attending the Colac Schools ANZAC Service at Memorial Square.

This is the FIRST DAY back at school in Term Two.

There is a permission note on PAM. Please log onto PAM  to give permission for your child to attend. If you do this on Friday it might be best, as it may not be at the front of your mind over the holidays. Thank you.

SCHOOL WEBSITE

The St. Brendan’s School Website is currently being updated. It is still a work in progress, but if you would like to check it out so far click on the link below. If you have some feedback for us, we would love to hear from you.

PUPIL FREE DAYS IN TERM TWO

We would like to remind you that there will be two Pupil Free Days in Term Two. Staff will be working with leaders from Catholic Education, Ballarat on the School Review process. The Pupil Free days are: Friday 29th April & Monday 2nd May.

SCHOOL CONCERT  - CHANGE OF DATE!

Please note that the school concert date has moved to Wednesday 8th June.

TERM TWO DATES

 Tuesday 26th April: Year 5/6 Anzac Day Excursion

Friday 29th April: Pupil Free Day

Monday 2nd May: Pupil Free Day

Friday 6th May: Mother’s Day Celebration (9am)

Friday 13th May: School Photos

Friday 20th May: St. Brendan’s Feast Day Celebrations

Wednesday 8th June: School Concert

Monday 13th June: Queen’s Birthday Holiday

Wednesday - Friday 15th - 17th June: Year 5/6 Camp

Student News

Crazy Hair/Crazy Clothes Day: Friday 8th April - We look forward to seeing everybody decked out in crazy hair and crazy clothes for the last day of Term tomorrow. Gold coin donations will go towards our Project Compassion Appeal. School will finish at 2.15pm.

If you are at home isolating, feel free to send in some photos of some crazy fashion at home!

Strange Creatures in the School Yard:

At lunchtime on Wednesday, some Year 6 girls found some interesting looking creatures in the school yard. Indi and Jasmine have each written a report on their amazing discovery!

'On Wednesday morning, Jasmine and I each found one massive caterpillar. In my opinion, they were so creepy. There were thousands of baby caterpillars devouring the trees. 

Everyone, if you see a caterpillar, pick the leaf AND THROW IT OVER THE FENCE! Now you are safe.'

Love Indi Sutherland

'On Wednesday morning Indi and I found two humongous caterpillars eating the trees. We think they might be in a cocoon soon. On another tree there were multiple smaller caterpillars munching on the tree. Most of them are gone now, and they are peacefully living on the other side of the fence. (No caterpillars were harmed in the making of this article.)'

By Jasmine Bourk

Bike Track:

The bike track is still a work in progress but the students  are already loving it! Thanks to Anthony for creating a course that provides challenge and fun for our keen bike-riders!

Student of the Week Award Winners:

Congratualtions to our Student of the Week award winners for this week; Alexandria D'Altera, Archie Robb and Indi Sutherland. Congratulations also to last weeks winners; Ayla Saunders, Eden Robb and Millicent Carlon.

Thank you to our SRC for Term 1 -You have done an outstanding job!

Catholic Culture

EASTER MASS TIMES 

St Brendans Church Cororooke

Holy Thursday - 7pm Mass

Good Friday - 2.30pm

Easter Saturday - 7pm Mass & Easter Vigil

St Josephs Church Pirron Yallock

Easter Sunday - 10.30am Mass

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

Week 10

How time has flown! I can’t believe we are in the last week of school for Term 1. Congratulations to all the Prep/1 students for a fabulous start to the school year. The new Preps have all settled in so well and taken everything in their stride.

Crazy hair day: To celebrate the end of Term and to raise money for Project Compassion, students are invited to wear crazy hair and dress this Friday. Bring along a gold coin donation. 

Word work: The Preps have continued practicing the sounding-out words this week continuing the focus letters b, c, g and h. Grade 1’s have moved onto words containing the digraph <ng> such as king and ring. 

Writing: Students have finished and published their narratives this week! It has been wonderful to observe the students grow in their ability to tell a well-structured, cohesive story. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of their work and the independence shown when telling or writing a story.

Maths: This week we have been learning about subtraction and have modeled subtraction stories using manipulatives and counters. 

Religion: To summarize our unit on belonging, students have been creating artworks to show their understanding of the concept. I look forward to sharing the finished products.

Integrated Curriculum: This week we have been exploring Australian History and particularly the Indigenous history of Australia. We read and discussed the story, “Finding Our Heart” which details the creation of the ‘Uluru Statement From the Heart.’

I hope you all have a wonderful and restful holidays! Happy Easter!

Allira Kluver
akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Hello everybody!

On Friday we will celebrate the end of term with a movie and popcorn. It has been a very busy term and I wish all our community members who are unwell a speedy recovery.

In R.E. this week we have been discussing Holy Week and the events that happened during this time.

The children completed a booklet that gives an explanation for each event. When they are at home they can share it with you.

We have watched several clips about Holy Week and the children have been participating in the Think-Pair-Share strategy reflecting on what they have viewed.

Our EPIC efforts have helped us reach 400 books read. A splendid result 2/3/4’s!

In Maths we have been looking at vertical addition and subtraction with the Year 3’s and 4’s and revising adding and subtracting 10’s with the Year 2’s.

We have also enjoyed doing some Easter activities including making Easter baskets. Hopefully Easter Bunny will find his way to us at school!

In the last week of school there is no homework for the class.

The Star of the Week award goes to Jordy Price. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

I hope you all have a lovely Easter and spend precious time with your loved ones. Enjoy the holidays and I look forward to seeing everybody back in Term 2 relaxed and rejuvenated!!

Cheers,

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 10! Congratulations to everyone for making it to the end of Term 1!

This week we have been incorporating Easter and Holy Week into our learning. The students have been completing various Easter activities and had some fun making Easter bunnies from paper cups (see below).

In Writing we have been publishing our narratives. Students have been editing and typing their stories. Each story that has been written is fantastic.

In Maths we have been focusing on fractions. Specifically we have been changing improper fractions into mixed numbers.

This week in AUSLAN we have been learning the alphabet and numbers from 1-20. A reminder that there are some AUSLAN videos on Seesaw in case you would like to practice at home.

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter and a safe and relaxing holiday with their friends and family. See you in Term 2!

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:

April 5th   -   Joseph Lamb (6)

Important Dates

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