Newsletter No. 9 | Term 1 Week 9 | Thursday 30th March 2023

Prayer

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 Tuesday,  our Year Six students  attended a Leadership Conference at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne. It was extra exciting as it was the first trip we had taken on the new school bus. I am happy to report that it runs well! On the way back Tahlia and I had a moment where we talked about how lucky we were to be able to take our students to Melbourne for such a fabulous experience and to be able to do it in our own school bus. We have a real sense of gratitude for all that we have.

This is the second year that we have taken the year 6s to Melbourne for a Leadership Conference. It is an extremely worthwhile experience and it sets them up with a real understanding of what it means to be the leaders in a school. There were 217 schools represented at the Conference so we were amongst well over 1000 students from across the state. 

The conference was practical and interactive, a couple of our students even made it to the stage. Sessions focused on the following:

• How to be an ‘others first’ leader
• The People a Leader can Impact the Most
• Ideas that Impact Everybody
• How to Get Everybody on Board with a New Idea

Below are some comments from students about the day:

Audrey Rock: "I liked how they taught us in a fun way. I learned different ways to be a good leader and ideas to make fun things happen in our school."

Lexie Johnson: "I learned not to always think about myself and to try to think about others first. I liked how we played lots of fun games."

Ayla Saunders: "I enjoyed playing all the games and learning about how I can make a big impact and I also learned about how to be an other’s leader first."

Jimmy Armistead: "I enjoyed learning how to explain things to people and to make sure they understand what you mean before they go to do it. I enjoyed the loud noises game that we played."

Joe Bayne: "I learned how to look out for people in our school and I enjoyed playing loud noises."

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Leanne Eastman
principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

PRINCIPAL FOR A DAY

This Term, staff have been on the lookout to give students ‘raffle tickets’ to reward good behaviour. The tickets are placed in a Draw with the winning student being given the opportunity to be ‘Principal for the Day’. Today at the Assembly we drew the winning ticket.

I am pleased to announce that the winner for this Term is

Jordon Price

Jordy will be Principal of St. Brendan’s next Tuesday and he will select a special activity for the whole school to participate in. 

As for me, I think that the school will be in good hands so I’m off to a Day Spa!

SCHOOL PETS - HELP NEEDED

Our school pets are an important part of daily life at our school. They enhance the wellbeing of our students and give them the opportunity to develop love and a sense of care and responsibility for animals.

The children do a terrific job of looking after them during the Term but it becomes difficult when holidays come around to find people to look after them. We have put the call out but have had no response. 

Another option to taking the pets home, is to drop into school to feed the pets daily. This could be particularly suitable for people who live nearby. If we had a few takers, this could be shared, either one week each, or if we had more offers it could be divided up further.  

If you are able to help out with looking after either the rabbits, guinea pigs or chooks please let us know. Your offer to help would be greatly appreciated.

COLAC DIVISION ATHLETICS

Today, eleven of our students represented St. Brendan’s at the Colac Division Athletics next Thursday. They all gave it their best shot and represented our school proudly. Congratulations to the following students:

Nellie Armistead               Jimmy Armistead               Melody Baker

Grace Bayne               Joseph Bayne               Kaitlyn Bourk

Lexie Johnson               Samiyah McLeod               Archie Robb

Brennan Robb               Audrey Rock               Jackson Scott

Unfortunately not all of our students could fit on the school bus. Thank you to Terry Armistead for offering to take his children into the sports so that everyone else could fit on the bus. We really appreciated you helping us out Terry.

BUSH EXCURSION

Next week is our first bush excursion for the year. Thank you to Alice for all of her work with planning the day. The children will participate in a tour of the West Barwon Reservoir at Forrest and will then participate in the following activities:

• Sausage Sizzle lunch
• Free Play bush activities
• FernTree Gully Walk
• Looking for tiny houses: what sort of tiny habitats can you see? (Don’t disturb).

The Bush excursions are always enjoyable and a wonderful way to enhance our children’s wellbeing through connecting with nature. Families are welcome to join us for the day.

SOURDOUGH HOT CROSS BUNS

Laura Kate Bakes is now taking orders for her Sourdough Fruit Hot Cross Buns for Easter. These were a big hit last year! Orders must be submitted before Tuesday, 4th April for delivery to school on Thursday, 6th April. There are 6 Hot Cross Buns in each packet and packets are $15 each.

To place your order please email laura.newcombe@hotmail.com 

Catholic Culture

What is Holy Week?

During Holy Week, Christians recall the events leading up to Jesus’ death by crucifixion and, according to their faith, his Resurrection.

The week includes five days of special significance. The first is Palm Sunday which commemorates Jesus’ humble entry (on a donkey) into Jerusalem to observe Passover. According to the Gospel account, he was greeted by crowds of people who spread their cloaks and laid palm leaves in his path and proclaimed him the Son of David (Matthew 21:5). In many Christian churches Palm Sunday is celebrated with a blessing and procession of palms.

Holy Thursday marks Jesus’ institution at the Last Supper of the Eucharist, thereafter a central element of Christian worship. In Roman Catholicism, Holy Thursday is accompanied by the pope’s washing of the feet of 12 humble or poor persons, in imitation of Jesus’ washing of the feet of his 12 disciples at the Last Supper.

Good Friday commemorates Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross; it is traditionally a day of sorrow, penance, and fasting.

Holy Saturday, also called Easter Vigil, is the traditional end of Lent.

Easter Sundayis the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection, according to the Gospels, on the third day after his crucifixion. The modern observance of Easter, like that of Christmas, has become associated with various folk traditions that have little connection with the religious celebration; they include the Easter lamb, the Easter rabbit, and the painting of Easter eggs.

Prep/1 Classroom News

We are well and truly reaching the end of Term 1 now, with under two weeks to go! I can’t believe how quickly time flies. It's been so incredible to observe the growth in all students across the term. I can’t believe the Preps are now reading and writing short words and sentences. It's such a remarkable process!

Literacy: This week in writing, students have had a go at writing their own story openings using their story plans. The vocabulary used to tell their stories has been so rich and impressive. 

Maths: In Maths, we have been learning about addition and subtraction. Students have been writing addition sentences, turn-around facts and even matching subtraction facts. We’ve also enjoyed a new game called ‘Addition Golf’ this week. Check it out here if you want to play at home.

Religion: In Religion, we have considered the story of Zaccheaus, the tax collector. After seeing the story enacted through Godly play, we wondered about the story and asked lots of questions.

Integrated Curriculum: Our family presentations have been so successful so far! When your child is ready to present, email me to organise a time and date.

Bush Excursion: Our bush excursion is fast approaching. Next Wednesday, the whole school will be setting off to Forrest and West Barwon Reservoir for a day of bush walking and learning about our water systems. Cannot wait!

Keep up the home reading!

Allira Kluver
akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Hi everybody! Only one week to go of another busy term.

The staff attended a meeting last night with Luke from the Resilience Project. He was a great presenter and provided a range of useful strategies and ideas for us to help deliver the curriculum to our students.

The Year 3’s and 5’s finished the NAPLAN testing last week. When the reports are sent to us, we will notify you and they can be picked up from the classroom teachers.

Religious Education: This week we have completed our Portfolio work sample. The class recounted the story of the Good Samaritan and the children identified the loving choices made by the Samaritan man.

Literacy: This week we have been investigating how the letters’ ea’ can have a long ‘a’ sound and a long ‘e’ sound; for example: steak and clean.   We have started reading decodable stories as a class focusing on fluency and following punctuation cues. We have also been working on narratives for our Portfolios.           

Numeracy: This week we have been revising and working with number lines. The Year 2’s have been adding 1 digit numbers to 2 digit numbers and the Year 3’s and 4’s ’s have been adding 2 digit numbers to 2 digit numbers.

Integrated Curriculum: In I.C. the children have been revising the arrival of European settlers in Australia and the causes and reasons for the journey of the First Fleet.

The Resilience Project: This week we completed an online resilience survey as part of The Resilience Project.

Homework has been sent home with an Easter activity focused on times tables and new spelling words to learn. There will be no homework in the last week of term.

The Star of the Week award goes to Eden Robb. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

If you have any questions or queries please contact me via email.

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

4/5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 9 of Term 1! We have had a very busy couple of weeks in the 4/5/6 room. The Year 5 and 6 students went to Sovereign Hill for camp last week and we had a fantastic time. Additionally, Leanne and I took the Year 6 students to Melbourne on Tuesday to the GRIP Leadership Conference and we had a great day! One of the things that students learned was about being an ‘Other’s First’ leader. They can do this by hearing others’ opinions, helping with the little things, displaying happiness and displaying humility. 

Homework: Homework was sent home on Monday and this is due back to school on the last day of Term 1; Thursday 6th April.

Maths: In Maths we have been working on our Addition and Subtraction unit. Students have been solving sums in a range of different situations, for example; money and measurement. 

Writing: In Writing we have been writing persuasive texts on being good citizens. Students read the book ‘What can a Citizen do?’ by Dave Eggers and have been writing why we should be good citizens and how to be a good citizen.

Religion: In Religion we have unpacked our focus scripture; Ezeikiel 3:1-3. We have also been looking at the Catholic Social Teachings and reflecting on the principles; participation, subsidiarity and preferential option for the poor.

Integrated Curriculum: In Integrated Curriculum we have been writing our arguments for our debates which we will have at the beginning of next week. Our topics are: students should/should not be paid to attend school, students should/should not do homework and students should/should not be able to go home at lunchtime.

The Resilience Project: This week in the Resilience Project we focused on changing our thinking from negative to positive thinking when we’re in a tricky situation. This tied in really well with what we learned at the GRIP leadership conference.

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

School Photos

Annual school photos have been taken by Arthur Reed Photos.

To view the images of your child and order photos, you will need to first register online.

1. Go to https://order.arphotos.com.au and enter the 2023 image code for your child (from
   their personalized flyer)
2. Tap on ‘Add another child’ to enter the image codes of any siblings
3. Fill in your email and mobile details and then review all details before confirming your registration

That’s it! When 2023 photos are ready, you will be notified by email and SMS.
Even if you registered last year, it’s important that you do it again each year using your child’s new
image code to link their photos for the current year with your contact details.

To ensure you are ordering school photos for the current year, please wait for notifications that
2023 images are online before placing orders.

In the webshop you can view photos and customize your photo package; Choose ANY layout, ANY
image and purchase multiple digital image downloads.

All photo orders will be sent directly to the address you provide when ordering.

REGISTER ONLINE NOW to be notified when 2023 school photos can be viewed and ordered.

Community Book Club

A reminder that our first Book Club Night is happening this Monday, 3rd of April at 7.30pm in the Hall. Even if you haven't read the book we would love it if you could join us on the night for some drinks and nibbles to celebrate the end of the term.

What should we read next? If you have suggestions for our next Book Club read please email them to gwatts@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au . Options will be presented on the night so everyone can vote on our next book. We look forward to seeing you there!

Birthday Corner

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

15th March   -   Liam Wilson (8)

Important Dates

MOTHERS DAY CLASSIC EVENT

This year we are taking part in the Mother's Day Classic to help those affected by women's cancers. The Colac event is taking place on Sunday 14th May at the Botanic Gardens with two categories on offer; the 3.3km run which begins at 9am or the 3.3km walk which kicks off at 9.05am.

We have created our own fundraising team called 'St Brendan's Coragulac' and we would love it if you could register to join us in walking or running on the day. If you can't make it on Mother's Day please feel free to leave a donation in  lieu of participation. To register or donate with 'St Brendan's Coragulac' go to: https://www.mothersdayclassic.com.au/fundraisers/StBrendansCoragulac11182 

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: Mark Robb          CHILD SAFETY OFFICER: Mrs Leanne Eastman