Newsletter No. 28 | Term 3 Week 10 | Thursday 15th September 2022
Prayer
We thank you lord for this term.
For the challenges, the successes, and the mistakes from which we have learnt.
Be with us as we spend time with family and friends.
Give us strength and courage to do what is right; to be witnesses of our faith.
Help us to be a practical Christian these holidays, to appreciate what others do for us, to give time and effort to help others.
To be peacemakers in our family.
Keep us safe in our activities; give us good rest and good fun.
Bring us back refreshed and ready for a new term.
We thank you for our classmates, teachers, parents,
and a community that cares for us.
May we always be concious of you in our lives.
Amen
Principal's Message
Dear Families and Friends
It was lovely to be able to come together as a community on Sunday for Thomas Carr’s Open Day. The Mass, with singing led by the Thomas Carr choir, was a beautiful way to start the day. Mass was celebrated by Fr. Michael and attended by representatives of the Thomas Carr School, members of St. Brendan’s staff and families, and members of the Parish community.
After Mass, Thomas Carr led a variety of fun activities, with St. Brendan's school running the cake stall and the kindergarten running the sausage sizzle. It is not often that all of us who share this beautiful precinct are able to come together in such a way, it really was quite special. I brought my mum along and she commented on how beautiful our setting is and what wonderful people we have in our community. Congratulations to Vanesssa Tait (Manager of the Good Samaritan Campus) and her team for organising such a great event.
Thank you to all families and parishioners who donated baked goods for the cake stall and families who came along to support the event. Your generosity and presence was much appreciated. The school raised $370 which is a great result!
It has been heartwarming to see the school community come together to support our school over the last couple of weeks, with the cake stall and the footy gate. Thank you to our families for going above and beyond.
Holidays are nearly here so time for everyone to put their feet up before the Warrion Flower Show!
We would like to wish Gracesyn all the best for her upcoming wedding on Saturday 1st October. We hope you have the best day Gracesyn and we wish you and James much love and happiness in your future together.
Congratulations to Allira!
It is a Victorian Institute of Teaching requirement that, within their first two years of teaching, graduate teachers complete a work of inquiry in order to move from provisional to full teacher registration.
The focus of Allira’s Inquiry was: How does a structured, synthetic phonics program influence reading fluency for Grade 1 students?
Allira presented her work and findings to us on Monday night. It was interesting to see the results, indicating that we are definitely on the right track with the synthetic phonics program we are delivering to our Junior students.
Like Tahlia last year, Allira has put in many hours to complete the work and we congratulate her on achieving full teacher registration.
Bush Excursion
Last week’s bush excursion was to Lake Elizabeth in Forrest. Once again our students had the opportunity to actually be in nature rather than just learning about it. Stephen Moss states, ‘Nature is a tool to get children to experience not just the wider world but themselves.’
Our students are fortunate to have these experiences which provide wide-ranging benefits for their personal development and overall wellbeing. It has been wonderful to see the growth in our students since we first began our termly bush excursions. We have been on five bush excursions now and have noted overall growth in our students in terms of confidence in a bush setting, developing a sense of personal responsibility, resilience, independence, appreciation of nature and increased willingness to take on new challenges.
Once again we thank Alice for the work she puts into planning the excursions.
Basketball
On Wednesday, four of our students - Levi, Maverick, Joe and Jimmy attended a basketball tournament at Blue Water. The boys joined forces with Colac South West and once again, confidently mixed with students form other schools. Well done boys, it was a pleasure to join you for this experience.
Parking
PLEASE NOTE: A couple of years ago, due to wear and tear on the concrete around the church, it was decided that cars are not to be parked on the concrete, but rather the stone or grass area. New families are probably unaware of this arrangement . We appreciate everybody abiding by this rule. Thank you.
Friday
A reminder that Friday is Pyjama/Footy Colours Day, as initiated by the SRC and Senior Leadership Sunshine group. A gold coin donation will go to our Mission funds.
Please note that important dates for next term can be found at the end of the newsletter.
A reminder to please put hats back into school bags for Term 4. It is a requirement that students wear a wide brim hat at all times while outside in Term 1 and Term 4. Hats are available to purchase from the school uniform shop for $12, please see Gracesyn to purchase.
Have a fantastic break everyone!
Leanne Eastman
principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
Prep/1 Classroom News
Week 10
Congratulations to everyone for making it through another great Term! A highlight for me last week was observing all the students at the Bush Excursion. It was incredible to see their perseverance, tenacity and enthusiasm when exploring the outdoors. Nearly all the Prep/1’s completed the entire 4km walk around Lake Elizabeth. I was extremely proud and impressed. Thanks to Miss Alice for a fabulous day.
Literacy: This week the Preps have been working on the sound /ch/ like in chips. They have done a wonderful job sounding out and building words containing this sound. Grade 1’s are working on the sound /oo/ like in moon. There are five common spellings: <oo> <ue> <u-e> <ew> and <o>.
It has also been very impressive to observe the progress in students’ writing. The Preps are now writing their own full sentences! This week we focused on using ‘and’ to link two ideas together.
Maths: We have been learning about direction and location in Maths this week. Students investigated their left and right hand and learnt to use left and rights to give directions.
Religion: For RE, we have been reflecting upon our learning across the unit and been creating artworks that show ‘wise people.’
Integrated Curriculum: To summarise our Science unit, students explored the properties of playdough and its shape can be changed when a force is applied eg. a push or a pull.
Have a wonderful holidays everyone!
Allira Kluver
akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
2/3/4 Classroom News
Welcome to Week 10.
Our final week is here! We have worked hard and produced some excellent work this term. Portfolios will be sent home on Friday for you to look at over the holidays. I hope you all enjoy a safe and fantastic break and I look forward to seeing you all next term rested and healthy.
Literacy: In Literacy we have been watching clips and making inferences about the events happening.
We are also finalising and practising our ads and completing the associated videos. We have revisited suffixes looking particularly at adding ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ to base words.
Maths: In Maths this week we have been investigating location and creating maps of our bedrooms and designing treasure maps. We looked at the directions on a compass – north, south, east and west. Ask your child the trick to how we remember them.
There is no homework this week!
Integrated Curriculum: In Integrated Curriculum the class conducted the bubble experiment again. It is a wonderful activity and brings much joy and excitement to us all.
The reigning champion is Samiyah McLeod who managed to blow a bubble with the diameter of 47 centimetres! It was huge. Congratulations Samiyah!
NAPLAN results have arrived at school so parents can collect them from me at a time that is convenient.
The Star of the Week award goes to Archie Robb. Congratulations on your excellent work and effort!
Cheers,
Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
5/6 Classroom News
Welcome to Week 10 of Term 3! I hope everyone has a wonderful holidays, hopefully we have some nice weather.
NAPLAN: Our NAPLAN results have arrived. Can Year 5 parents please come and see me before or after school to collect them, thank you!
Plastic bottle lids: Thank you to everyone who donated bottle lids over this term. The Earth Heroes have been busy sorting out the lids and we will drop them off for recycling very soon!
Writing: This week in Writing we have finished our multimodal advertisements (magazine poster, audio and video advertisements). Each group presented their advertisements to the class, everyone did a fantastic job!
Maths: In Maths we have been working on Probability and have been discussing the possible outcomes of different events.
Have a nice holidays and please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions or concerns.
Tahlia Whytcross
twhytcross@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
Community News
WARRION FLOWER SHOW
The flower show is fast approaching and the Tombola Jars have been rolling in thick and fast, thank you so much to everyone who has already donated and dropped some in, they look amazing. Please keep creating jars with the kids over the holidays, we really want to top our jar tally from 2019! Let's see if we can get even more this year.
A reminder that we will need vases for the flower show as well, so if you're spring cleaning over the holidays and find any at home you would like to donate they would be much appreciated! Otherwise please keep an eye out at the Op-shops. Vase donations can be dropped at the school office.
COROROOKE TENNIS CLUB
Cororooke Tennis Club welcomes current and new players on the 19th and 20th of September 2022 from 4pm-6pm at the Cororooke courts for a grading night. Join in the fun and have a hit with others!
Interested players note that there is coaching available.
Raquets available on the night or please bring along your own if you have one. Information about teams, uniforms and the club will be available. Working Bee for the up and coming season will also take place during the second week of the school holidays. Everyone welcome!
SOCCER COMPETITIONS
Fun, Fast, Action!
Colac Indoor Sports Centre is looking forward to offering junior soccer competitions for Term 4 and welcome all Colac & District Grade 4-6 students to come and join in!
The competition will run on Tuesdays after school. Younger Grades are on waitlist at this stage.
Call Paul to Register Now on 52314788 or text 0425792949
Important Dates
SEPTEMBER
16th - Final Day of Term 3 Early Finish at 2.15pm
22nd - National Day of Mourning for the Queen (Public Holiday)
23rd - AFL Grand Final Eve Public Holiday
OCTOBER
2nd - Daylight Savings Time Begins
3rd - Term 3 Begins
14th - Swimming Session 1 (12 - 1pm)
18th - Cororooke Open Space AGM
19th - Trinity Transition Visit
21st - Swimming Session 2 (12 - 1pm)
26th - Warrion Flower Show
28th - Geelong Cats 'Healthy Heroes' Session
28th - Swimming Session 3 (12 - 1pm)
31st - School Closure Day
NOVEMBER
1st - Melbourne Cup Public Holiday
4th - Swimming Session 4 (12 - 1pm)
4th - Pre Prep Program Begins
11th - Remembrance Day
11th - Swimming Session 5 - Final Session (12 - 1pm)
11th - Pre Prep Program
18th - Mission Day
18th - Pre Prep Program
23rd - Trinity Small Schools Transition Day
25th - Pre Prep Program
DECEMBER
1st & 2nd - Year 4 Bike Camp
5th - Prep/1 Night
6th - Orientation Day
7th - Year 2/3 Night
9th - Graduation Mass & Christmas Carols Night
13th - Wide Smiles Dental Visit
13th & 14th - Learning Conversations
16th - Whole School Excursion & Last Day of Term for Students
20th - Last Day for Staff
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