Newsletter No. 13 | Term 2 Week 3 | Thursday 11th May 2023

Prayer

Next week from 15th - 21st May we celebrate National Families Week. This is the perfect time to come together to celebrate the power of family relationships in all their diversities, and the importance they play in our lives and community.

A Blessing for Families

Heavenly Father, please bless our families with Your everlasting love.
Give our families strength to overcome hardship and difficulties.
Give our families courage to admit our faults and forgive others.
Give our families joy to live life to the full and spread our joy to others.
May all families find comfort, support and guidance under Your loving care. 

Amen.

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

This week we conducted our first Little Learners session for the year and we also conducted our Open Day. Both of these events provided us with opportunities to showcase our school to new parents and students. The children seemed right at home at our school and the parents seemed really impressed with the school setting and what we have to offer. 

We are planning a few things to spread the word about St. Brendan’s. I will be doing an interview for the radio which will be played in Education Week and a videographer from Catholic Education Ballarat is coming down to help create a video about our school. Yesterday, along with the other Catholic schools in Colac, we were advertised in the local paper. All of this helps to get the word out there about our school but, as mentioned before, word of mouth is the best way for people to hear about our school. So spread the word!

School Logo

We are currently in the process of creating a new school logo and would love some input from families. We will be sending some paper home with each child today. Parents and carers, as well as children are welcome to work together to create a simple logo to represent our school.

The logo will need to have:

• The full name of our school
• An image representing the school eg children / boat / compass (representing the adventurous side of St. Brendan who travelled the seas to spread the word))
• A cross or something else to represent our Catholic faith
• Colours representative of our school

I have added a few below. You can tweak them in a small way or create something new, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Have a lovely weekend,

Leanne Eastman
principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

Mother’s Day Liturgy

Our Mother’s Day Liturgy will be held THIS FRIDAY at 9.15am. All mothers, grandmothers, aunts and significant others in our life are welcome to attend. There will be a morning tea after the celebration. We hope to see you there. 

Are you looking for something to do this Mother's Day?

This year St Brendan's are taking part in the Colac Mother's Day Classic to help those affected by women's cancers. The event is taking place on Sunday 14th May (Mother's Day - This Sunday) 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. It's not too late to register!

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 

SRC 

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected for the SRC (Student Representative Council) this Term:

Jordy Price, Brennan robb, Cuba Quinane, Lexie Johnson, Matilda Carlon & Audrey Rock

Our first meeting will be held next Tuesday. Weather permitting, we will head up to Red Rock to have our meeting over a picnic lunch. The advantages of having our own school bus!

Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge

The children have been invited to take part in the Premier’s reading Challenge. The challenge is set not as a competitive event, but rather as an individual challenge to each student, as well as to promote a love of reading books. 

Many children have taken up the offer and have already made a great start! Ask you child if they taken up the challenge. They will be able to show you what it is all about. 

The number of books that the children are challenged to read is as follows:

Prep to Year 2:

• Number of books: 30
• Number of books from the Challenge book list: 20 or more

Year 3 to Year 9:

• Number of books: 15
• Number of books from the Challenge book list: 10 or more
  

Login information and reading charts have been sent home with students who have chosen to participate. If you are having trouble logging in online, simply record the books you are reading on the reading chart that we sent home, and then bring the reading chart into the office and we can log the books online for you. If you have any questions please email gwatts@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au .

Please see the helpful hints for reading with your children...

Missing Library Books

We are missing some books from our school library and wondering if families could please have a search for them on their shelves at home? It is possible a student may have borrowed them without having them scanned. The books are 'Dear You, Love From Your Brain' and 'Hey Awesome', as well as 'Breathe'.

Catholic Culture

Our Diocesan Community - March 2023

The 'Our Diocesan Community' magazine aims to share the good news stories of our schools, parishes and agencies across the diocese. Follow the link below to read the March issue of the magazine.

If you have a good news story to share with others in the diocese, ODC welcome articles and photos for publication in the magazine and the diocesan e-News.  Please forward submissions  to odc@ballarat.catholic.org.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 3!!

Fruit snack is a time to replenish our bodies with delicious fruit, and this week, the Carlon girls surprised us with their incredible lunch box treats!

I hope all our mums have a delightful Mother’s Day and enjoy precious time with their loving children and families.

Religious Education: In R.E. we have listened to the Scripture reading from 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

(One Body with Many Members).

We looked at St. Paul’s background and the environment he lived in during the time of writing his letters. We also discussed what the text means and the message it has for us today.

Literacy: We have been unpacking the ‘er’ phoneme and different ways to represent it. Our spelling words are focused on the ‘ir’, ‘ur’, ‘or’ and ‘er’ graphemes.

As a class we have been reading decodable readers to increase fluency and have more exposure to the current graphemes we are working with. We are investigating adverbs and double letters.

Numeracy: In Maths we are investigating adding and subtracting 10 from a 3 digit number. We have been identifying the patterns in numbers and working out how to bridge tens. We have also been revising basic addition and subtraction facts when playing the game, “Get Out Of My House!” from Michael Minas.

Integrated Curriculum: We have been looking at life cycles of animals and are researching endangered animals in Australia. We also looked at sustainability words and their meanings.

The Resilience Project: This week we looked at different scenarios and thought about how we can show empathy in these situations. We also acted out emotions to the class and people had to guess them.

Homework: Homework has been sent home with new spelling words to practice and a variety of basic mathematical concepts to work through. Homework is due back by Monday.

The Star of the Week award goes to Matilda Carlon. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

Cheers,

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

4/5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 3 of Term 2! I hope everyone has been staying nice and warm this week. We have some exciting events that we’re looking forward to. The calves for Cows Create Careers are arriving on 22nd of May and they will be staying for 2 weeks and the Year 4/5 bike camp is also approaching very quickly!

Homework: A reminder that homework is due back to school on Friday 12th May.

Writing: In Writing this week we have been working on our persuasives that we began last term. Students began writing about how and why we should be good citizens.

Spelling: In Spelling this week the Year 4 students have been working on various spellings for the sound /er/, for example: verge, squirm, worse and surge. Year 5/6 students have been working on the prefix /dis/. We have been discussing the origin of /dis/; it comes from the Latin language, meaning away or negative. Examples: disappear, dishonest and disappoint.

Maths: In Maths this week the Year 4 students have been finishing their Subtraction unit and have been finding missing numbers in problems. The Year 5 & 6 students have begun their Decimals, Fractions and Percentages unit. Year 5 students have been learning how to read, write and order decimal numbers. Year 6 students have been learning how to add and subtract decimal numbers.

Religion: This week in Religion we have been looking at the history of the Catholic religion and how it has progressed over time. We have also been discussing our own heritage. If possible, can year 5/6 families please send a basic family tree history to school with your child. It doesn’t need to be large - anything you can write down would be great. 

Integrated Curriculum: In Integrated Curriculum this week we have been creating weather instruments. We have created a rain gauge, a barometer (measures air pressure), an anemometer (measures the speed of wind) and a wind vane (direction of wind). Next week we are going to use our instruments to collect data on the weather and then we’re going to anaylse our data and look at weather patterns. 

Storyboard: This week we began brainstorming ideas for our storyboard. We are going to use our storyboard (see pictures) as an opportunity for play and to use our imaginations at various points throughout our day. To begin, we have been brainstorming what type of town we would like to build on our storyboard. Students have been thinking about the environment, buildings, people and jobs that we should have.

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

Community Book Club

Book Club Social Night is happening this Monday 15th May! 7.30pm in the Hall for drinks, nibbles and a little bit of book chat about 'Educated' by Tara Westover. Even if you haven't been able to finish the book before the night (or even start it), we would still love you to join us!

On the night we will also be voting on our next Book Club pick. The options for Book #3 are:

• Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (This one was suggested by a fellow Bookclubber)
• Beartown by Fredrik Backman
• Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Feel free to look up the books before the night so you know in advance what you're going to vote for. Don't forget that we have a Book Club Instagram page and we're always recommending other books, our Instagram is @community.bookclub . If you have suggestions for future Book Club reads please email them to gwatts@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au . 

Birthday Corner

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

7th May   -   Esther Lethbridge (6)

11th May   -   Ruby Wilson (7)

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: Mark Robb          CHILD SAFETY OFFICER: Mrs Leanne Eastman