Newsletter No. 19 | Term 3 Week 1 | Thursday 14th July 2022
Prayer
Lord, as people working in schools,
we are lucky to watch our students conquer
important milestones in their development.
May they carry into the future a spirit of determination
to follow their dreams and goals.
Amen.
Principal's Message
Dear Families and Friends,
I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing and rejuvenating break during the holidays. It has been a positive start to the Term with children happy to be back at school and ready to learn. The Term 3 Integrated Curriculum unit will focus on chemical science so be prepared that there may be some mad professors floating around the place!
This Term, preparations for the Warrion Flower Show will be in full swing. As well as being a good fundraiser for the school, it also builds a wonderful community spirit, with everyone pitching in to help in some way or another. Please check further details below. We are very excited that this year’s Show will be going ahead. It should be lots of fun!
As mentioned in previous Newsletters, Covid has caused many interruptions to student attendance and learning. Schools all around the world are finding that some children are finding it difficult to re-establish routines. Thank you to all parents for doing your best to ensure your children are at school. It is great to see attendance numbers heading back to normality.
The Director has given us a ‘circuit-breaker’ in August (12th-15th). His letter to parents (sent to families via email last Term) stated:
As we move into the second half of the year, we are seeking to be proactive in the interests of students,families and staff by creating a planned opportunity to pause next term. We appreciate that there may be some concern about lost learning time with the inclusion of a brief pause in Term 3, but we know that healthy educational communities optimise learning by being deliberate about wellbeing and planning proactively.
Fingers crossed our children remain well and achieve full attendance up until this long weekend. From the school’s perspective, Term Three will have fewer interruptions to the normal routine, we hope that this will allow everyone to feel settled and connected to school.
Leanne Eastman
principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
PARENT SURVEYS
Thank you to the parents who have responded to the Parent Survey. It has been fantastic to receive your feedback. The school belongs to all of us, it is not my school, or the teachers school, or just the students school. It belongs to us all, so it is important that we can all have our thoughts and ideas heard, in order to ensure best possible outcomes for the education of our students.
The email has been emailed to all families so please check your emails if you have not seen it yet.
MELBOURNE CUP VISIT
After a number of cancellations last year, the Melbourne Cup finally made it to St. Brendan's. It was very special to be part of the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour and have the 2022 Melbourne Cup at school. It was also great to see that some parents and members of the general community were able to make it along.
A big thank you to Joe McGrath and his team from the Victorian Racing Commission for bringing the Cup to our School and for teaching us so much about the history of the Melbourne Cup, the race that stops a nation.
A BIG thank you also to Alice Armistead for putting in so much effort and work to make it happen.
WINTER SPORTS
During Term 3, the Senior students will be participating in inter-school sports. The main purpose of the Winter Sports is to help students with the transition to Secondary School. The Sports offers students the opportunity to mix with students from schools around Colac, building confidence and social connections before moving onto Secondary School. The added bonus is that they mix through sporting activities, also enhancing their wellbeing through physical activity.
Round 1 - Sacred Heart v Colac West/St Brendan's Friday 15th July
Round 2 - Colac West/St Brendan's v Colac South West. Friday 5th August Round 3 - Elliminyt v Colac West/St Brendan's Friday 12th August
Round 4 - St. Mary's v Colac West/St Brendan's Friday 26th August
Round 5 - Colac v Colac West/St Brendan's Friday 2nd September
Thank you to families for replying so promptly via PAM. It has been really pleasing to see the new system of communication for permission to events working so well. Thanks for your support.
MAINTENANCE UPDATE
Outdoor Learning Space: In order to increase spaces for outdoor learning, the government gave schools the opportunity to apply for a grant to build an outdoor shelter. Our shelter is now complete. You can’t miss it, it is big and yellow. We look forward to seeing the children enjoying the new learning space.
Painting: The purple trim in the hallway and staffroom has been painted blue over the holidays. It looks a lot fresher!
Guttering: The guttering around the roof of the hallway and classrooms is having a clean out. There were some interesting ‘gardens’ growing in the gutters!
PARISH MEETING
Last night we had a Parish Meeting. These meetings are held twice a time and are a wonderful opportunity for the school to maintain our strong connection with the Parish. Many of our parish members have been connected to the school with their children and grandchildren attending St. Brendan’s in the past.
Our school is very grateful to the parish community for maintaining support and connection with the school over so many years.
SCHOOL ADVISORY MEETING
The next School Advisory Meeting will be held on: Monday 1st August at 7pm.
WARRION FLOWER SHOW
This morning a group of parents met to begin planning for our school’s involvement in the Warrion Flower Show for 2022. The event has a rich history in the area and I know that the return of the Flower Show is a much anticipated event.
This year’s Warrion Flower Show will be held on Wednesday 26th October.
In the next month or two, a working group will be meeting to get our stalls up and running. We understand that we have new families in the school who may not know what is involved or how they can help out. There is a list below to give you an idea of what is involved.
St. Brendan’s Stalls 2022 (to be confirmed)
- Petting Zoo
- Flower Crowns
- BBQ
- Tombola jars
Ways that families can assist:
- Donate tombola jars (see information on tombolas attached to the Newsletter and contact Sophie Allibrand for any questions regarding tombola jars) Last time the school collected 270 Tombola jars. Can we break the record this time?
- Help out at a working bee in the hall the day before the show, decorating the jars and doing other small jobs in preparation for the next day (the added bonus is having a coffee, a chat with other families and feeling good about working with others to do something for our school)
- Pack the trailer the day before
- Be rostered on for a shift on the day of the Show. This may be to sell Tombolas, help out with the bbq or supervise the petting zoo
- Set up on the day
- Pack up post event
THOMAS CARR
Thomas Carr will be hosting an Open Day on Sunday and have kindly offered us the opportunity to run a Cake Stall on the Day, with the proceeds going to our school’s fundraising. The date of the Open Day is Sunday September 11, from 11 - 2. It should be a fun day. We hope that our school community will be able to help support this event. Add the date to your Calendar!
SCHOOL REVIEW
As mentioned in previous Newsletters, the school is under a Review process this year. The Review takes place every five years and is an opportunity to reflect on our school goals, celebrate successes, identify areas in which we can improve and set goals for the next five years.
Part of the Review process involves interviewing focus groups within the school. These groups include students, staff, parents and community members. Interviews will take place when the Review Panel visits our school Tuesday 9th August and Wednesday 10th August.
SchoolTV
In this edition of SchoolTV - FRIENDSHIP & BELONGING
Learning how to make new friends and keep them involves a number of skills every young person needs to understand and develop. For some these skills will come very naturally, allowing them to easily move between different friendship groups, sharing their experiences and opening up to new people. For others, this can be much harder to navigate. Belonging to a group that is like-minded with similar interests is highly beneficial to a young person’s wellbeing. It gives them a sense of security helping them feel valued which in turn builds their confidence.
Positive friendships are an important part of the journey to adulthood. Adult carers can support their child or teenager by providing guidance in the many social and emotional skills required for a healthy relationship. This will help them to obtain, retain and maintain friendships. However, not all friendship are regarded as positive. Sometimes young people develop negative or toxic friendships. Therefore it is also important for them to learn how to identify, avoid or deal with such a friendship.
In this edition of SchoolTV, adult carers can learn how to support their young person’s friendship so that they experience a sense of belonging.
We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV 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 Friendship & Belonging edition of SchoolTV
https://sbcoragulac.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/friendship-belonging
Tombola Jars for the Warrion Flower Show
We thought we’d put together a sheet of ideas to help everyone with their Tombola Jars for our fundraising store at the Warrion Flower Show.
It is not necessary to buy a brand new jar. Try to reuse/recycle jars you already have. Just give used jars a clean with hot water and vinegar to take the smell out of the jar.
Get the kids involved and it becomes a school holiday activity for the kids, as they decorate the jars. To have lots of jars to display for Tombola would be fantastic, as it would result in both a great looking stall and maximum fundraising potential for our school. Variety, colour, and the element of surprise is a big part of the fun of Tombola.
Ideas include, but are obviously not restricted to...
- Making a batch of jam/chutney/preserves/pickles? A jar of homemade goodness would be a lovely jar to receive in Tombola.
- You can reuse jars from the kitchen, simply wash, dry and fill.
Think pasta, nuts, lollies, lentils, mints, biscuits, spices.
- Perhaps make up a couple of biscuit/brownie/cookie mix jars (google it)
- Items do not even have to be edible.
Think pencils, puzzle, beads, buttons, screws, nails, clothes pegs, washing powder, bath salts, pot pourri, seeds for the garden.
- When at the supermarket grab a couple of extra items in jars. Job done!
- Have a family member or friend with a business to promote? Perhaps they’d like to contribute a voucher ($ value or deal offer) ...Pop it in a jar!
Prep/1 Classroom News
Welcome back! We’ve had a wonderful start to Term 3. It has been wonderful to see all the kids’ happy faces back at school.
LITERACY: We’ve jumped straight into poetry writing this week. The students were very excited to learn that a wolf had visited our classroom. On Tuesday morning, there were ominous footprints on the carpet and a video of wolves playing in the background. We read the poem, “Recipe to make a wolf.” Over the next few weeks, we will unpack this poem and have a go at writing our own.
MATHS: This week we have been learning about fractions. Students were very excited to practice cutting whole pieces of fruit into smaller parts. As we completed this activity, students learnt the definition of ‘whole’ and ‘part.’
RELIGION: Our overarching concept for Religion this Term is “wisdom.” This week we have been considering the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs.’ We have discussed the poor decisions the wolf made and also decided that wisdom is all about ‘making good choices.’
INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: Excitement levels are high for Science this Term. This week we have been exploring the properties of different materials e.g. soft fabric, smooth glass, crunchy paper.
DRESS-UP DAY: Our ‘old people’ dress-up day is fast approaching. Today marks 86 days at school. This means that the 3rd August is the designated date for 100 days of school. Students are invited to dress-up to mark this special occasion. Some ideas include:
- Walking sticks
- Caps or hats
- Long tweed pants
- Blazers
- Knitted shawls
- Long skirts
- Wigs or grey hair
- Aprons
- Braces or suspenders
- Stockings
If you need help to source a dress-up, please let me know!
Allira Kluver
akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
2/3/4 Classroom News
Welcome to Term 3!
We were very lucky to have the Melbourne Cup visit our school yesterday. Not many people have the opportunity to see it up close and get a photo with it. Thank you to Alice for organising this wonderful event.
LITERACY: In Literacy we have been discussing NAIDOC Week and reading Indigenous picture story books. For Writing the children are investigating poetry and have been exploring acrostic poems.
Below are a couple of samples of the work produced:
How good!
Amazing holiday
Lots of people
Lots of things to see
Sit back and relax
Great place
Animals are everywhere
Pinnacle
By Archie Robb
Gumtrees are there
Echidnas live there
Lots of leeches
Little fish in the river
I love it here
Bush all around
Rainy weather
All around the rivers are flowers
Nice when warm
Dogs live on our farm
By Matilda Carlon
Our EPIC reading total is at 996 books. A wonderful effort 2/3/4’s!
RELIGION: In R.E. our concept is Hospitality. The concept of HOSPITALITY encourages all of us to consider what hospitality is and how an understanding of it helps us be our best selves.
INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: Our Integrated Curriculum theme for this term is ‘Changes happen all around us. What is the science behind it?’ We will be exploring chemical and physical change.
MATHS: In Maths we are starting our new topic of Fractions for the Year 2’s and 3’s, and Fractions and Decimals for Year 4’s.
Homework has been sent home with new spelling words to learn and a worksheet focused on times tables.
The Star of the Week award goes to Harriet Rock. Congratulations on your excellent work and effort!
Cheers,
Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
5/6 Classroom News
Welcome to Week 1 of Term 3! I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday, I can’t wait to start a new term.
WRITING: This week in Writing we began our Poetry unit. We have been learning about figurative language and how it is used in poetry to help the reader imagine things. We learned about similes and metaphors and the students did a fantastic job writing their own.
MATHS: In Maths this week we started our Geometric Reasoning unit. To begin, we have been looking at the different types of angles and have been classifying them into groups. We have also started using protractors to measure the size angles.
RELIGION: This week in Religion we started our unit on Hope. We created a class definition of hope and have been discussing the different types of hope that we can have in our lives. Our class definition of hope is: ‘Wishing for something that you want in your life’.
INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: In Integrated Curriculum we began our unit on Physical and Chemical Science. We jumped straight into it and have been learning about Matter and the different states of matter; solids, liquids and gases. The students also learned about the particles in these 3 states and created posters to represent this new information.
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 or throughout the holidays, including:
13th July - Jessica Beardsley (6)
Important Dates
AUGUST
1st - Advisory Council Meeting 7pm
3rd - 100 Days of Prep Celebration
9th & 10th - School Review Panel at St Brendan's
22nd - Book Week Begins
22nd - Scholastic Book Fair Begins in the Hall
26th - Book Week Dress Up Parade. Theme: 'Dreaming with Eyes Open'.
30th - Indian Classical Dance Performance by Chandralaya
SEPTEMBER
11th - Thomas Carr Open Day
16th - Final Day of Term 3
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