Newsletter No. 3 | Term 1 Week 3 | Thursday 16th February 2023

Prayer

Lord, 

Help us to be people who accept others for who they are.

Help us to be happy for the good fortune of others, even those people we do not agree with.

Help us to be good people who put the needs of others before our own needs.

AMEN

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Strong partnerships between home and school are vital in gaining the best outcomes for our children. As we begin another school year, it is an important reminder to us all. We always welcome conversations with parents, and we have appreciated the conversations we have had already this year. 

Last year our school went through the 5-yearly school review process. We identified that community engagement, specifically, partnering with families, was a goal for our school going forward. This is especially important given the disconnect felt across communities all over the world throughout the pandemic. 

As a parent, you know your child better than anyone else does. When you have a strong and respectful relationship with your child’s school and teachers, you’re in a good position to give them information to help your child get the most out of education. You and your child’s teachers can work together to support your child’s learning and wellbeing.

When everybody is working together in the best interests of your child, your child is likely to reap academic and social benefits, like:

• regular school attendance
• positive school results
• a positive attitude towards school
• good social and relationship skills
• a sense of wellbeing

How to build a strong parent-school relationship

You can build a parent-school relationship in several ways:

• Say hello to teachers and other staff at school pick-up and drop-off times
• Ask teachers for information or feedback about your child, and share your child’s special events or achievements outside school
• Attend parent-teacher interviews and parent meetings
• Check the school website, Facebook page and read emails regularly
• Be involved and help out in the school community in whatever ways you can
• Learn more about the school by reading weekly newsletters 
• Attend performances, gatherings and other school community event
• The 2023 National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests will be administered to students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 from Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27 March  2023. You can contact the school regarding any queries you have about this process.

Are you keen to help at school?

If you would like to help out in any way, there are many options available...Reading, cooking, gardening, maintenance & art classes, just to name a few.

Please Note: All volunteers in the school must hold a valid Working With Children Check.

Warm Regards,

Leanne Eastman
principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT - IMPORTANT: CHANGE OF DATE

Wednesday 1st March 2023

The Parent Information / Family Night will now be on Wednesday 1st March. The format of the night will be as follows:

5.00pm: Students and parents participating in activities in the classrooms. 

5.30pm: Parent Information session in the Hall  /  Students play outside (supervised by a Staff member)

6.15: Pizza Dinner ($10 per family)

THE RESILIENCE PROJECT

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY

On Monday 20th February our three class teachers and Liz McGuane will be attending a Professional Development Day at St. James School in Sebastopol. The focus for the day is on Pretend Play and will be led by Professor Louise Paatsch from Deakin University. 

Having visited St. James last year, I know that the teachers will find this to be an extremely valuable learning experience which will open their eyes to new and exciting education opportunities for our students.

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected to be  our SRC members for Term One. You have all started off the year so well and we know you will be excellent role models for the other students. 

Prep/1:  Ivy Robb & Ruby Wilson

2/3/4:  Archie Robb & Eden Robb

4/5/6:  Lexie Johnson & Joe Bayne

PARTY PIE LUNCH: We will conduct the first SRC Meeting over a party pie lunch NEXT Thursday, 23rd February at 1.15. I look forward to seeing you all there. 

THE SCIENCE OF READING

On Tuesday nights in February the teachers and myself are completing a course, The Science of Language and Reading. The course is run by Latrobe University and is focused on unpacking this evidence-based approach to teaching reading and writing. 

Last week the focus was on Oral Language which is the foundation of language. It has been said that ‘reading and writing float on a sea of talk’. If your child is a chatterbox and asks a million and one questions they could be one step ahead when they come to school. So keep smiling and nodding and encouraging them to keep talking and engaging in conversations, even if it does drive you a bit crazy at times!

LIBRARY NEWS

Library is back!

Today was our first day back with library sessions and it was wonderful to see everyone borrowing books again. Library day happens each Thursday, giving students time with their class to browse the school library and the opportunity to borrow three books per week of their own choice, to take home and read with their families.

Students are only permitted to have 3 books on loan at any given time, so it is important they remember to return their books each Tursday so they are able to borrow three new titles.

It would be great if students could transport their library books to and from school each Thursday using a library bag. This will help protect the books, and doesn't need to be a new or particular bag. Anything you might have at home to use such as a calico or draw string bag would suit perfectly. There are a limited number of spare bags in the library that we can give you if you don't have anything suitable at home already. Happy reading!

LUNCH ORDERS

In keeping with government policy guidelines for promoting healthy eating at school, we will be making a change to the Wednesday lunch order menu.  The new menu will be coming out shortly, until then the old menu will be available. We will let you know when we will be moving to the new menu. 

KANA

The annual Colac KANA Festival will be held on Saturday 18th March. The theme of the day is CIRCUS. We are hoping to enter a float in the parade which will require a truck. We will also be calling on families to take part in the parade with us. The children love being part of it. 

It should be lots of fun so start digging out those old circus costumes. You know how we love to dress up at St. Brendan’s!

WANTED: Do you know anyone who may be able to lend us a truck for the day? It needs to be big enough to hold 20-30 children and some hay bales for them to sit on.

If you can help out with hay bales or the truck please call the office.

SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES

School Assemblies are held every Thursday afternoon. They usually start at 2.50 but this can sometimes vary, especially if we have a liturgy and an assembly together. We will let you know in advance if there is a time change.

At Assemblies we make an Acknowledgement to Country, sing the National Anthem, discuss school news, present class awards and birthday certificates, sing the school song and celebrate our learning. It is a wonderful time for the whole school to come together and celebrate. We would love to see you there.

Catholic Culture

SHROVE TUESDAY

Shrove Tuesday, also referred to as Pancake Tuesday, is NEXT Tuesday 21st Feb.  Shrove Tuesday preceeds Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of lent. Each class will be paricipate in making (and eating) pancakes.

SACRAMENTS

Baptism: Are you interested in having your child baptised? The parish will be offering any interested families the opportunity to have their child baptised in 2023. 

Other Sacraments: We are currently deciding whether we will run the sacramental program for Reconciliation, First Eucharist and Confirmation this year or 2024, this decision will partly be based on numbers so please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested. 

If you are interested in finding out more about Baptism or completing sacraments and have any questions please contact Liz McGuane on 0427041072. 

Parent & Community Book Club

We are excited to introduce the St Brendan's Community Book Club! 

We hope that Book Club will be a great chance for parents and other school community members to socialise and have interesting book discussion with other families twice per term.

This is an opportunity to catch up in a relaxed environment with nibbles and friends, and take time out for yourself, while also building community connection. Being a part of a book club is an excellent motivator to prioritise getting back into reading if you've been struggling to find the time.

We will aim to hold a book club night in week 4 and week 9 of each term, meaning we will read two books per term. As this term will be our first one we will start by reading one book and catching up in Week 9, book club nights will be held on a Monday at 7.30pm in the Hall.

To get our book club off the ground the number one thing we need is participants! If you are interested in joining please give Gracesyn a call on (03) 5233 1464. Once we have numbers we will announce our first book and details of our first catch up.

Prep/1 Classroom News

Congratulations to the Prep/1’s on a productive week so far. After spending the first two weeks settling in and getting to know our routines, the students have been eager to get stuck into learning this week. I’ve been impressed with the level of focus that all students have displayed in class. 

LITERACY: The Prep’s are learning the most common sound of the following letters: s, a, t, i, and m. They have been reading 3 letter words containing these focus sounds by pushing the sounds together and blending them into words. The Grade 1’s have been learning the 4 most common spellings of the sound /ay/. These are <ay> <ai> <ea> and <a->. I’ve sent home word lists in students’ reader folders. Practice reading these with your child at night time. It will help them develop fluency with these words so they can begin to recognise them automatically.

MATHS: In Maths this Term, we are learning about place value i.e. the value of numerals and their relative position when counting. The Preps are working on number 0-10 and Grade 1’s are exploring numbers to 100. We have begun our school ‘day count.’ This involves marking off the number of days we have been at school and representing in a variety of ways eg. in numerals, using dots and tens frame and counting icy-pole sticks.

RELIGION: Our concept for RE is ‘relationships.’ This week we considered the relationship we have with our family. We created small framed pictures (made from icy-pole sticks) of our families to hand in the hallway. 

INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: Our overarching theme for IC is ‘community.’ This week we have been thinking about the different people that make up our school community.

REMINDERS:

• Keep up the wonderful home reading! Reader folders also contain words lists for sounding-out practice, ‘high-frequency words’ and some suggested Maths activities

• Swimming is scheduled for this Friday. Make sure to pack a bag containing bathers, towel, goggles & drink bottle

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Allira Kluver
akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Hi everybody! I hope you have been enjoying our warm days. Next Monday I will be in Ballarat for the day having a look around St. James Primary School in Sebastapol to see how they run their play-based curriculum.

On Tuesday we will be making pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, and on Wednesday we are having a mass in the Church at 12.00 to celebrate Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. You are all welcome to come and join us.

On Wednesday 1st March we are having an Information Night and we look forward to seeing you there. Further details will be supplied elsewhere on the newsletter.

Some of you may already know, the Year 4’s come together as a class for Integrated Curriculum(with Tahlia), and for The Resilience Project and R.E.(with Mandy). This gives them an opportunity to be a full grade and interact with their peers.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: In R.E. our concept for this term in ‘Choices’. We have been discussing the impact our choices have on our lives and the lives of others. We have talked about the positive and negative consequences that these choices can bring.

LITERACY: This week we listened to the story of David Attenborough. We discussed the main events in David’s life and could all see his passion for animals and plants started from a very young age. He is in his 96th year and still passionate about the survival of plants and animals. We have started our narrative writing and the children are constructing stories about the zoo.

NUMERACY: In Maths we are investigating Place Value. The Year 2’s are reading, writing and modelling numbers up to 1,000; the Year 3’s are reading, writing and modelling numbers up to 10,000; and the Year 4’s are reading, writing and modelling numbers up to 100,000.

INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: In I.C. the children will learn about the lives of the First Australians before European settlers arrived in Australia and the causes and reasons for the journey of the First Fleet. They will practise thinking and acting like historians as they are immersed in stories of first contact between Indigenous Australians and European Settlers.

THE RESILIENCE PROJECT: This week we looked at Mind Full as opposed to Mindful. The students were given the opportunity to document what was currently in their minds and then engaged in a mindful activity. They compared the two and discussed feelings associated with both.

Homework has been sent home with new spelling words to practice and an activity related to our Maths concept of Place Value. Homework is due back by Monday.

The Star of the Week award goes to Pearl Armistead. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

If you have any questions or queries please feel free to contact me by email.

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

4/5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 3 of Term 1! I hope everyone has been enjoying the lovely weather this week.

READING AT HOME: Students are expected to read each night for a least 20 minutes and this needs to be written in students’ diaries and signed by a parent or guardian. There are a wide variety of books to choose from in the library and in the classroom, please let me know if your child needs help finding an appropriate book.

HOMEWORK: Spelling words and maths homework were sent home on Monday. Students have 2 weeks to complete this work and it is due back on Friday 24th February.

MATHS: This week we have continued to work on our Place Value unit. All students have been partitioning and expanding numbers, Year 4 students have been working with 5 digit numbers, Year 5 students have been working on 6 digit numbers and Year 6 students have been working on 7 digit numbers.

WRITING: This week we have been working on our Narrative writing unit. We have been learning when to begin a new paragraph and how to correctly use quotation marks in our writing.

RELIGION: This week we have begun our unit on ‘Commitment’. We have introduced the concept and have made a class definition of commitment.

INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: In Integrated Curriculum this week we have begun our learning cycle of Community: Making Democracy. We have been learning about being a citizen and how someone becomes an Australian citizen.

THE RESILIENCE PROJECT: This week in our Resilience Project session we focused on Empathy. Students brainstormed the meaning of empathy and how we can show empathy to everyone around us.

Have a great week and please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Tahlia Whytcross
twhytcross@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

Birthday Corner

Wishing a very big Happy Birthday to everyone who has celebrated their special day this week! Especially...

19th February   -   Brianna D'Altera (9)

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: TBC          CHILD SAFETY OFFICER: Mrs Leanne Eastman