Newsletter No. 14 | Term 2 Week 5 | Thursday 25th May 2023

Prayer

The theme for Catholic Education week is:

‘Let the Words you Speak Always be Full of Grace’  – Colossians 4:6

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

It has been a big couple of weeks at school! I hope you are all going well. Please note the following school updates:

Catholic Education Week

This week is Catholic Education Week. To celebrate, we are heading into St. Mary’s church tomorrow morning for Mass with the Catholic schools in Colac: St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart and senior leaders from Trinity College. We will then join the schools for playtime and play lunch. It is a joyous occasion when we all come together to celebrate our schools and Catholic Education.

Catholic schools have provided a quality education in Colac and surrounding areas, for many years and, in the case of St. Brendan’s School, over 100 years. 

A Catholic education not only gives students a solid foundation in academic subjects, it also gives a sound spiritual foundation. 

At St. Brendan’s we take an invitational approach to religious education and each child’s personal faith journey, respecting each child and family’s personal beliefs.  

We follow the example set by Jesus, and live out His message of being kind and loving in our daily interactions with one another.  

We also believe it is important for children to develop a generous spirit. We place a strong emphasis on social justice and find ways to reach out to the wider community to teach our children the importance of looking after people in need. 

Newsletter

As mentioned in an email to families, we have decided to put the Newsletter out on a fortnightly basis, rather than weekly. Whilst it is extremely important to us that our families are informed, we realise there are other ways to do this. Moving to fortnightly Newsletters will also allow us to put time into other areas which need our attention. 

In alternative weeks, we will be using the parent facebook page to communicate information. For families who do not have facebook, we will email you to communicate any other information you need to know.

Please note the summary of school/family communications at our school:

Newsletter: Weeks 1,3,5,7,9

Parent Facebook page: quick reminders, messages which may require a quick response, sharing photos of school events etc. If you are not on the Parent Facebook page and would like to be added, please see Leanne

Email: To notify parents of school issues that require more than a quick reminder. This is also a means of communication where we receive feedback from parents.

Community Facebook page: To share events and happenings with the wider community in order to promote our school and enhance community connections

SeeSaw: To enhance family/school partnerships in student learning, by sharing student work and classroom happenings. Parents are invited to view their children’s work and give feedback. 

Phone calls: To communicate with individual families. We are only a phone call away. Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any concerns or have something that you would like to share.

School Promotions

It is hard to believe that the enrolment period for 2024 is already in progress. We know that we have a great school here at St. Brendan’s and we aim to spread the word. 

Over the last two weeks we have been showcasing our school to the community in a number of ways. We have had Open Day, Little Learners, an advertisement in the Colac Herald, an interview and commercial on MIXX FM, and this week MIXX FM also did a live radio segment from our school. This week we have also had Kevin Cummins from Catholic Education Ballarat at school, doing lots of filming and interviews to put together a promotional video for our school. Stay tuned!

Thank you to Bec Lethbridge who happily agreed to share her thoughts about St. Brendan’s on the video. The children could not wait to be on video but parents were not so excited! I understand, it can be quite daunting. We appreciate you helping us out Bec, and for being so positive about your experiences at St. Brendan’s. Next stop Hollywood!

All of this school promotion has really caused me to reflect on what we do, and what we offer for our students and families. We really do provide an excellent education for our students. We educate the whole child: spiritually, physically, socially, emotionally and mentally. We offer a diverse range of learning experiences and importantly, we have lots of fun along the way. For a small school, we offer a big education!

It is important to do all of this promotion from the school’s end, but we also know that it is through personal recommendations that other families find us so we need your help. 

Please consider the following: 

• Sharing information about what goes on at our school
• Directing people to our website
• Liking and sharing our social media posts on facebook
• Bringing someone along to show them our school
• Sharing our promotional video when it comes out in the next couple of weeks

Help us to spread the word.

Cross Country

Congratulations to the following students who represented our school at the Colac Schools Cross Country event: Joe Bayne, Jimmy Armistead, Audrey Rock, Nellie Armistead, Grace Bayne, Kaitlyn Bourk and Jackson Scott.

A special congratulations to the following students who have made it through to the next stage in Warrnambool:

Jimmy Armistead, Audrey Rock, Grace Bayne, Nellie Armistead

We are very proud of you all, it is an amazing effort to reach the next stage. We wish you the best of luck in Warrnambool on Monday. Run like the wind!

School Logo

Thank you to all children and families who sent in designs for our new school logo. We loved them all. In the next couple of weeks, we will make a decision. We can’t wait to put the new design on the school bus!

School Advisory Meeting

The next School Advisory meeting will be on Wednesday 7th June at 7pm. 

Reading

We are thrilled to see the enjoyment that children are developing for reading. We have recently upped exposure to stories and reading through  The Premier’s Challenge, National Simultaneous Storytelling Day, and through our recent purchase of a subscription to the Story Box Library.

We have noticed an increase in home reading and it is an absolute joy to see the children’s reading skills develop. Thank you to you all for reading to your children and listening to them read. 

By encouraging your children to develop a love for reading, you are giving them a gift for life. 

National Simultaneous Storytelling Day

On Wednesday at 11am, the whole school joined students from all across Australia and New Zealand to listen to a storytelling session live streamed from Taronga Zoo in Sydney. 

The story was Speedy Sloth written by Rebecca Young. The story’s illustrator Heah McKenzie then did a live demonstration of how he drew the character. 

Synopsis: It was finally time for the event of the year, Spike couldn’t believe it—THE GREAT RACE was here! The other sloths said it couldn’t be done, but Spike didn’t care, she was ready to run! From award-winning creators Rebecca Young and Heath McKenzie, comes this inspiring story to celebrate all winners… especially those who don’t come first.

Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge

Students have been doing an amazing amount of reading for the Premiers Reading Challenge, some have already recorded over 30 books in their online portals! Well done everyone.

The challenge is for students in Year Prep - 2 to read 30 books, with 20 coming from the challenge book list and for students in Years 3-6 to read 15 books, with 10 or more coming from the challenge booklist. Many from St Brendan's are well on the way to acheiving this or have already exceeded the goals set.

Login information and reading charts were sent home at the beginning of the challenge. 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 .

Walk to School Day

It was terrific to see so many families joining us for Walk to School Day. Thanks for joining us for the walk. What a great way to start the day!

MIXX FM

The MIXX FM duo, Jimmy and Lippy, enjoyed their time at our school. As they shared on their facebook page, they particularly enjoyed the gaga pit and realised that the game actually provides a very good workout!

Live radio interviews were done with Mandy, Nellie, Archie and myself. There were lots of laughs!

They later went into each class to play MIXX FMs very popular Family Feud game. Breanna, Eden and Ruby were the lucky winners of a movie ticket. Congratulations girls! Thank you to MIXX FM for coming out to St. Brendan’s, it was so much fun!

4/5 Camp

On Monday, the Year 4/5 children will be heading off on their bike camp to Timboon. Alice has done a lot of work to prepare for the camp and it looks like the weather is going to be good. Bring on the fun!

Gaga Pit

In Outdoor Learning last week the children worked hard to transport the sand from the Sports Day long jump pit to the gaga pit. The children are loving the new surface in the gaga pit. It is a great game for many reasons, but I think the biggest benefit is that it is a game the whole school can play together. The gaga pit has come back to life and it is heaps of fun!

Cows Create Careers

The Cows Create Careers program is running again this year. On Monday, Marlo  and Oreo arrived at school. Tahlia and the Year 5/6s are doing a terrific job of making sure that the cows are looked after and the rest of the school is loving having our new visitors onsite. 

Mother's Day Classic

We had a fantastic morning at the Mother's Day Classic, getting our 3km walk done in support of those living with breast cancer and other womens cancers. Team St Brendan's raised a huge $2338 for womens cancer charities, and placed 146th in fundraising Australia wide, this is a fantastic effort for a small school up against thousands of other teams. We would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who very kindly donated.

Tissues

Each year we ask families to please supply one box of tissues per student for use in their classroom. While this might seem like a very small expense to families, we see this as something that we can do to make sure school funds are used on vital classroom resources.

We are a little late off the mark asking this year, but would greatly appreciate it if families could please drop some boxes of tissues in to their childs classroom. As Winter and flu season is suddenly upon us, there is definitly a need for them. Thank you.

Catholic Culture

‘Let the Words you Speak Always be Full of Grace’  – Colossians 4:6

How we speak and how we are open to be changed through dialogue, has been subject to deep consideration in many different circles – political, social, ecological, theological. Dialogue opens us to the other, to learn and to change – it is an openness to be moved or influenced and allow for the spirit to be present – this is the invitation our 2023 theme for Catholic Education Week offers.

The way we live and act and the words we speak provide insight into the very essence of our individual being. Our use of language, with expression and gestures, brings us into engagement with others. Most regularly this engagement is through conversation or dialogue. For people of faith,  this dialogue may be with the divine or transcendent.

As we celebrate Catholic Education Week the words of Pope Francis, may inform, form and transform our lives and work we all do in Catholic Education.

“Dialogue is born from a respectful attitude toward the other person, from a conviction that the other person has something to say. It supposes that we can make room in our heart for their point of view, their opinion and their proposals. Dialogue entails a warm reception and not pre-emptive condemnation” 2013 Pope Francis

Dialogue includes speaking, listening and more. May the words we speak in the encounter of dialogue always be full of grace.

Project Compassion

Thank you to everyone who collected coins and supported our 'Project Compassion' Caritas Fundraiser. We raised $150 for Caritas Australia supporting the disadvantaged people of Nepal. A donation of this size could potentially support a family to start their own chicken raising program and improve their livelihood. Thank you to everyone who donated.

Prep/1 Classroom News

Wow this term is moving so quickly! We are already more than halfway through. This has been an exceptionally busy week so far. We welcome Ken (videographer) into the classroom this week as well as the radio hosts from Mix FM. The students were very welcoming of our new guests and enjoyed the novelty.

Literacy: We’ve continued learning about information reports this week. Students have started planning and writing their own reports on a chosen animal. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of writing so far. The focus has been on opening sentences. 

Blue Ringed Octopus by Luca Lettieri

The Blue Ringed Octopus is a type of octopus that lives in caves in the deep ocean.

Sausage Dogs by Ivy Rob

A sausage dog is a type of dog that lives all over the world.

Maths: In Maths, students have been using a variety of manipulatives (eg. tens frames, MAB blocks, icy pole sticks and counters) to practise representing numbers. Preps have been working on the numbers 0-10, whilst the Grade 1’s have been working on numbers 0-100. 

Religion: This week we looked closely at a piece of scripture from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. After learning about the story behind the text, we thought carefully about what each of the following sentences might mean. “Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not envious.”

Integrated Curriculum: Our farm is looking better and better every day! This week we added compost to the market garden in the hope that we might improve the soil. We also learnt about how different vegetables are good for different parts of our bodies. 

Everybody has been super excited for our excursion to Common Ground! Hopefully it turns out to be a wonderful day.

Keep up the home reading.

Allira Kluver
akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 5!!

This week is very busy! On Monday we had Kev from the Catholic Education Office floating between classrooms filming for our school promotional video. On Tuesday Kev was back filming again, and we had Jimmy and Lippy from Mixx FM entertain us with Family Feud and playing in the GaGa Pit!

On Thursday we are off on our excursion to Freshwater Creek and Friday we have Catholic Education Week Mass at St. Mary’s.

Next Monday and Tuesday the Year 4’s and 5’s are off to Timboon for their sleepover and bike ride. We hope they enjoy a great time together.

Religious Education: In R.E. we have been unpacking the Pentecost story. We did a Bibliodrama on the Scripture piece and reflected on different people and how they might react, or things they might be wondering.

Story Boards: Our storyboard has been divided into 5 sections: a farm, the rainforest, the grasslands, the ocean and the mountains. The children were put into small groups and created each environment together. Different scenarios will be proposed to them, and as a group they will reflect on and try to solve the issue whilst protecting the environment they are representing.

Literacy: We have been unpacking the /ow/ phoneme and different ways to represent it. Our spelling words are focused on the ‘ow’ and ‘ou’ graphemes.

In class we have been investigating prefixes; where the words originate from and what they mean.

For example: tri means 3, and un means not. In Writing our focus has been persuasive texts and language.

Numeracy: In Maths we have completed our pre - test for Multiplication. The Year 2’s are looking at counting by 2’s and the 2 times tables. The Year 3’s are revising the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. The Year 4’s are looking at the 3 and 4 times tables.

Integrated Curriculum: This week we are exploring deforestation and investigating endangered animals. We are finding out reasons why animals are becoming endangered or threatened.

Homework: Homework has been sent home with new spelling words to practice.  For Year 3 and 4 our Maths focus is finding different times tables that represent specific numbers. The Year 2’s are working on the 2 times tables. Homework is due back by Monday.

The Star of the Week award goes to Jackson Scott. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

Cheers,

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

4/5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 5 of Term 2! We have been very busy over the last couple of weeks. The highlight has been welcoming our 2 calves, Oreo and Milo to school. We will be taking care of Oero and Milo over the next 2 weeks, this will involve feeding them, brushing and measuring them and keeping their pen clean.

Winter Appeal: The Social Justice group have decided to collect donations for the Vinnies Winter Appeal. We are looking for any blankets, gloves, beanies and scarves in good condition, canned soups would also be great! There’s a basket at the front of Gracesyn’s office if you would like to donate, thank you!

Police visit: Last week we had a visit from a local police officer, Josh Goonan. He spoke to us about social media and how to be safe online. Here are some reflections from the visit:

Kaitlyn: I learned that people online aren’t always who they say they are and that we should think twice before sending a message. I liked that Josh let us hold his police vest, it was really heavy! 

Grace: I learned that 13 is the legal age you should be to have social media. I liked that Josh told us that the police can find out when and where a message was sent.

Samiyah: Something I learned from Josh is that you can’t trust everything on social media.

Cows Create Careers: Last week we had a visit from Emily from Webber and Chivell Fertilisers. Emily spoke to us about her job as an agronomist. She taught us about the importance of taking care of soil and all of the benefiting and limiting factors that come into play. We planted rye grass seeds with her and we will (hopefully) watch some grass grow over the next little while.

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

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

We had another fabulous night at Book Club last Monday night! Lots of new faces and lots of thoughts about ‘Educated’. All agreed it was a harrowing story of survival but very inspirational. There were also lots of opinions about Tara’s mothers book (written in rebuttal to ‘Educated’) called 'Educating' which is definitely worth a Google search. Overall I think we would all recommend 'Educated' as an extremely worth while read. Thank you to everyone who came along!

We voted on our next Book Club pick and are excited to announce that we will be reading 'Daisy Jones & The Six' by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This has been a very popular book in recent times that was picked up and adapted for the screen. It is a much lighter read, compared to 'Educated', with some suggesting it is loosly based on the band Fleetwood Mac.

There are 8 copies of 'Daisy Jones & The Six' available at the Colac Library, however they do appear to be heavily reserved. Alternitively, if you would like to purchase a copy; the book is available at Kmart for just $12. Follow this link: https://www.kmart.com.au/product/daisy-jones-and-the-six-by-taylor-jenkins-reid-book-43129195/ . Don't forget the audiobook is available online as well, which might be a nice alternitive if you're not a reader.

Our next Book Club social night is Monday 19th June at 7.30pm in the school hall. As always there will be drinks, nibbles and a little bit of book chat. All welcome, we hope to see you there! In the meantime follow us on Instagram at @community.bookclub for other recommendations & updates, and 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...

15th May   -   Ayla-Maree Saunders (12)

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