Newsletter No. 20 | Term 3 Week 2 | Thursday 21st July 2022
Prayer
Principal's Message
Dear Families and Friends,
I hope you have all managed to stay warm this week. There has been a chill in the air but at least the beautiful sunny days have given us all a chance to defrost! Some of the students have made the most of the sun and set up an outdoor hairdressing salon during Recess and Lunch. Their clients are extremely happy with the results, they look absolutely fabulous!
The prayer on today’s Newsletter was especially written to mark the revised Child Safe Standards that have come into place across Victoria from July 1st. The new standards recognise the critical importance of families and the broader school community in maintaining and promoting child safety and wellbeing and replace the previous standards which came into effect in 2016. There is also a strong recognition of the cultural needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
St Brendan’s has reviewed and updated our child safety policies and procedures to ensure they meet the requirements of the new standards. The first batch of these reviewed documents is available on the policies page of our school website:
We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures and practices.
Science Fun
Our Science unit got off to a great start last week when we had a visit from these three Mad Professors! The students are very excited to be learning about chemical science. We have some very curious minds at St. Brendan’s.
Student Attendance Rates
We ask all families to be aware of the attendance rates of children that were published on the school reports. For some families that have suffered through long bouts of illness and isolation these rates may be low for the first two terms. In a normal year we would send a letter home to families with low attendance rates, reminding them of the requirement of school attendance for their children. However, we understand the situation and are sympathetic to the reality that families have been in.
While we are grateful to families who have been vigilant in keeping symptomatic children home, we do want to remind everyone about the importance of regular school attendance.
Book Fair - Save the Date!
Beginning Monday 22nd August and ending Friday 26th August (Running in line with Book Week).
Our Diocesan Community Magazine
Below is the link to the June 2022 edition of the 'Our Diocesan Community' magazine. The aim of the magazine is to share the good news stories of our schools, parishes and agencies across the diocese.
This issue featues our very own Cassie Day! Hard copies are available in the office if you would like one.
If you or someone you know have a good news story to share with others in the diocese, articles and photos for publication in ODC and the diocesan e-News are always welcome. Please forward submissions to odc@ballarat.catholic.org.au
Covid Update
Reduction of Testing and Isolation Exemption Period: The period of time when someone is considered a recently confirmed case and therefore exempt from testing and isolation requirements has been reduced to 4 weeks. Previously, this period was 12 weeks. This means, staff or students that have recovered from COVID-19, are not required to get tested or isolate/quarantine again if they are re-exposed to a case within 4 weeks of ending your isolation period.
After 4 weeks, the relevant advice must be followed depending on the type of contact.
Additionally, where a student or staff member who is a household contact wishes to attend school (and not isolate for 7 days) they must:
- Continually test negative using a rapid antigen test, on at least 5 days out of the 7-day period (ensure tests are spaced at least 24 hours apart)
- Wear a mask indoors when outside your home (for those over 8 years of age) notify their employer/school, and
- Not visit hospitals or care facilities.
Masks: It is important to note that the wearing of masks is not mandated, but rather highly recommended. Schools will not be required to sanction staff, parents or students who choose not to wear masks.
Transport of children to school by positive cases: A further change to the pandemic orders is that from 11.59 pm on Friday 24 June,parents/carers who are COVID-19 positive can leave self-isolation to transport children to or from school via private vehicle.
The parent/carer must travel directly to and from the school only. They must remain in the vehicle at all times, unless it is reasonably necessary to leave the vehicle to walk the child to and from the entrance of the school safely. They must wear a face mask at all times.
RATs: Staff and students should only be tested with a RAT kit when symptomatic or when testing daily as a close contact over the 7 day quarantine period. RAT kits will continue to be supplied to families during Term 3.
Vaccination: The new COVID regulations have lifted the mandate for all employees and volunteers to be vaccinated. This means there will be no requirement for adults entering the school to declare their vaccination status.
Assembly / Liturgy Timetable
An important part of our Religious Education program is providing opportunities for liturgical celebrations.The class teachers prepare the liturgies with the children and children have an active role in leading the liturgies.
We would love parents to join us for these celebrations.. The liturgies are held on Thursday afternoons prior to our School Assembly, that way parents also have the opportunity to join us for Assembly. Two events for the price of one!
There will be three class liturgies leading into Assembly this Term. Please see the dates below:
- Thursday 11th August: Year 2/3/4
- Thursday 25th August: Year P/1
- Thursday 1st September: Year 5/6
CDFNL Finals Gate Fundraiser
St Brendan's has again been given the opportunity to man the gates during the CDFNL Finals Series this year. Some parents may remember helping with this in previous years and it was a fantastic fundraiser for the school. We are able to raise significant funds and all we need to do is show up with some volunteer power!
We are looking for parent helpers to assist in covering shifts working on the gate. If you are able to help in any way please contact the office and we can put your name on your preferred shift. Thank you.
Parent Survey
Thank you to the parents who have completed the Parent Survey.
If you have not had a chance to respond, the Survey is still open so feel free to jump on and let us know what you think.
Below are some of the responses regarding our Bush Excursions. We feel that these days provide wonderful learning and personal development opportunities for our children. It is great to see that parents agree.
Bush Excursions:
"I think it is very valuable for children to be allowed to get outside, get dirty, learn about nature, and do more nature play. We are a country school and I believe that nature based play is becoming more and more popular now, it is a great draw card for families."
"The slowing down and just embracing what is around you in an environment without time restriction is so special. Curiosity, sense of adventure, discovery, companionship, learning skills you never thought you would be able to, are exactly what our kids need. It's wonderful!! It's some of the best learning they can have."
"Personally for our family our kids would stay outside all day every day in any weather! They absolutely loved it and were counting the days down! We live in such a beautiful place and to have families willing to give up their time and properties to explore is unbelievably generous. I was disappointed I had to work so missed out on coming!"
"The excursions provide a fantastic opportunity for play and learning outside the classroom. It’s a day of creating, exploring , talking and relaxing the brain. Well-being is everything."
"Learning from nature, being present."
"Back to nature is very important - my kids love it."
"Different environment, challenges kids, exposure to different activities."
"It is a valuable learning experience for the children to be able to explore the wider community and all it has to offer as well as enjoy their time together in an outdoor setting having fun."
Year 3/4 AFL 9's Gala Day
Tomorrow our Year 3/4 students will be participating in the Colac and District Primary Schools AFL 9’s Round Robin Mixed Teams Gala Day.
It will be a wonderful opportunity for them to mix with students from other schools. We wish them the best of luck and hope they have lots of fun!
Next School Advisory Meeting: Monday 1st August.
Have a great weekend everyone,
Leanne Eastman
principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
Student News
Our Senior leadership groups have some news for us...
Earth Heroes (Environment): Audrey, Lexie, Tallow, Ayla and Joe.
We are going to be collecting plastic bottle lids for the Lids4Kids charity. Lids4Kids is an environmental charity where plastic lids are collected and recycled. This prevents them going into landfill and therefore protects future generations and wildlife.
Please donate plastic lids if you can, there is a box at the front office.
Think: milk bottle lids, water bottle lids and soft drink bottle lids.
Social Sunshine Creators (Social Justice): Tilly, Jimmy, Davina, Lindon, Cassie and Levi.
We will be having a pyjama day on the last day of Term 3 to raise money for the missions. Please bring a gold coin donation.
Happy Helpers (Wellbeing): Abbey, Jasmine, Maverick and Annabelle.
We will be having a ‘Fairy day’ on Friday 4th August. We will be running activities at lunch time, such as: fairy garden, treasure hunt, colouring competition and more. Please dress up if you want to.
Salon St Brendan's!
There have been some beautiful hairstyles getting around St Brendan's this week with the opening of a new hair salon in the school yard. In particular the braids and hair twists have been very popular and look fantastic. Perhaps we hae some future haird stylists in our midst!
SchoolTV
The Parent Survey responses indicate that a number of parents are finding the site helpful. One parent response on the school survey can be seen below:
With the continuing challenges in our everyday lives as parents/carers, any additional support to help guide us through is valuable. Giving simple strategies to help overcome big issues in the lives of our children, whether it be overwhelming emotions, technology, social media pressures, school refusal, can give us a gentle reminder that we are doing the best we can at that time and learn something new for next time.
In this edition of SchoolTV - RESILIENCE
Resilience is one of those skills that all kids need and should have. It refers to their ability to cope and adapt in situations when confronted with challenges such as adversity, trauma, tragedy, or even stress. It is essential to their mental health and wellbeing as part of their journey to adulthood. It is a skill that can be learned from an early age through the support of an adult role model.
However, being resilient does not mean your child won't experience any difficulties, but it will better equip them to manage those situations. Over-protective parenting can be viewed as being unhelpful towards the building of resilience. Although this may be a natural instinct, potentially experiencing failure is all part of the process. Encouraging children to take healthy risks will help them trust their capacity to deal with uncomfortable situations and increase their capacity for courage.
In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will gain an understanding of how to support their child’s brave behaviour to help them adapt and build resilience.
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 Resilience edition of SchoolTV
https://sbcoragulac.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/resilience
2022 Warrion Flower Show
Tombola Jars
Below are some ideas to help everyone with their Tombola Jars for our fundraising store at the Warrion Flower Show, which is being held on Wednesday 26th October.
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!
Last time the school collected 270 Tombola jars. Can we break the record this time?
Other ways to help with the Flower Show:
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
Families can assist by:
- Helping 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)
- Packing the trailer the day before
- Being 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
- Setting up on the day
- Packing up post event
Prep/1 Classroom News
Week 2! All students have settled back into the routine of school and are showing some excellent learning attitudes.
LITERACY: The Preps are working on the letters x and y, and their associated sounds. They have also been introduced to the concept that two letters can represent one sound eg. <ll> in bell.
The Grade 1’s are learning the five most common spellings of /oa/ like in ‘boat.’ These are <oa> <o> <oe> <o-e> and <ow>.
For writing, students have been introduced to some of the tools an author uses when writing poetry. These include alliteration, rhyme and using ‘WOW’ words. They have had the opportunity to practice using these in their own writing.
MATHS: We have continued learning about fractions this week, and explored the different ways to represent ½ and ¼ eg. half of a shape, half of a collection. I was extremely impressed with how students tackled the ‘Maths Challenge’ on Tuesday. They were challenged to divide a chocolate bar (i.e. strip of paper) into halves and quarters. Students shared their strategies and discussed the pros or cons of each. Congratulations to Liam who managed to find a really accurate strategy which involved first folding the paper in half before cutting.
RELIGION: We have continued to discuss the concept of wisdom for Religion. Students have shared times in their own life when they might have made a wise decision. Eg. Choosing to eat fruit for a snack rather than lollies.
INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: Experiential learning has been high on the agenda in Science. Students observed a bi-carb and vinegar volcano eruption and then had the opportunity to complete this experiment themselves. It prompted the question, “Why does it bubble and fizz when you mix the two ingredients together?” After doing some further research, we discovered that during the reaction, a gas (carbon dioxide) is produced which causes the solution to bubble up.
DRESS UP DAY: Our ‘old people’ dress-up day is fast approaching. Today marks 91 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 Week 2!
This Friday some of our Year 3’s and 4’s will join with Colac West and participate in the AFL 9’s Gala Day. We wish them all the best and hope they enjoy a great day. It is always a wonderful opportunity to mix with other schools whilst being involved in sporting activities.
LITERACY: In Literacy we have been discussing and identifying common and proper nouns. For Writing the children are investigating poetry and have been exploring alliteration. Below are some samples of the work produced by Year 3:
Brianna buys brown bananas beautifully and buys bigger boxes.
Archie ate agitated alligators all afternoon.
Jerry juggles juicy jiggly jelly.
Awesome Aden ate an apple.
Kaitlyn keeps kicking kangaroos kindly.
Hungry Harriet has huge hippos.
Nellie nibbles nachos nicely not naughtily.
Grace gets great green gummies gracefully.
Jackson juggles juice joyfully.
Terrific work Year 3!
RELIGION: In R.E. we have been discussing how we are hospitable to others when they enter our homes and reflecting on our favourite times and meals shared with them.
INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: Our Integrated Curriculum theme for this term is ‘Changes happen all around us. What is the science behind it?’ This week we have been investigating solids, liquids and gases.
MATHS: In Maths we are looking at fractions focusing on the concepts below:
Year 2: identifying quarters of shapes and objects.
Year 3: identifying thirds and fifths of shapes and objects.
Year 4: identifying fractions of shapes and objects.
Homework has been sent out with a worksheet focused on basic mathematical concepts.
The Star of the Week award goes to Matilda Carlon. Congratulations on your excellent work and effort!
Cheers,
Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
5/6 Classroom News
Welcome to Week 2 of Term 3! We have had a busy week in the 5/6 room and have been doing lots of learning!
WINTER SPORTS: Last Friday we ventured to Sacred Heart Primary to participate in Winter Sports. Students chose to play netball, tennis, football or mixed games. It was fantastic to see our students mix with others from around the area, we even met a girl who rides a cow like Cassie!
PORTFOLIOS: It would be great if all portfolios could come back to school as soon as possible, thank you!
LEADERSHIP GROUPS: We have changed our leadership groups for this term. The new groups are as follows:
- Earth Heroes (Environment): Audrey, Lexie, Tallow, Ayla and Joe
- Social Sunshine Creators (Social Justice): Tilly, Jimmy, Davina, Lindon, Cassie and Levi
- Happy Helpers (Wellbeing): Abbey, Jasmine, Maverick and Annabelle
Each group has been planning an initiative for Term 3. Please Student News section for more information!
WRITING: This week in Writing we have been working on Shape poems. The students picked a theme such as nature, family or gratitude and have written their poem based on this concept. It has been great to see the students apply their knowledge of figurative language and use this to make their writing more descriptive.
MATHS: In Maths this week we have continued learning about angles. Year 5 students have been measuring angles and classifying them and Year 6 students have been estimating angles and finding the missing angles.
RELIGION: This week in Religion we have reflected on our theme of ‘hope’. We discussed the hope we had throughout Covid lockdowns and other situations where we have hoped for something.
INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: On Friday for our Science unit, Miss Kluver, Mrs Sutherland and myself dressed up as scientists and conducted an experiment where we mixed ingredients together to make a volcano explode. It was lots of fun!
In class this week we have been investigating solids. We have been looking at the properties of solids and have been discussing their shape, volume and mass.
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, including:
19th July - Jimmy Armistead (11)
Important Dates
AUGUST
1st - Advisory Council Meeting 7pm
3rd - 100 Days of Prep Celebration
9th & 10th - School Review Panel at St Brendan's
12th & 15th - NO SCHOOL (Catholic Schools Long Weekend)
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