Newsletter No. 15 | Term 2 Week 7 | Thursday 8th June 2023

Prayer

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

Today we celebrated St. Brendan’s Feast day. The Mass was extra special this year, with members of our school community receiving the sacrament of Baptism. We extend a  big congratulations to Brennan, Eden & Ivy Robb; Caleb and Jordy Price and Janet Ross. We congratulate them all on taking this important step on their faith journeys. It was wonderful to be able to witness and share this special experience with you all. 

I would like to extend a big thank you to Liz McGuane who prepared the candidates and also organised a special lunch to celebrate this special occasion. Liz always goes above and beyond and we appreciate all that she does, many times quietly in the background. Thank you also to Fr. Michael for doing such a beautiful job of celebrating Mass for us. We also appreciate all that Fr. Michael does for us, nothing is ever too hard. Thank you!

Thank you also to parents, carers and parishioners who came along to celebrate our Feast Day with us. Many of them came laden with food to add to the lunch table. A special thank you to Sophie and Nenje who helped with preparing and serving the lunch and also cleaning up afterwards. Gathering in the hall to celebrate special occasions is such a special tradition of the St. Brendan’s community. A truly heartwarming experience. Thanks to all!

St. Brendan’s Feast Day

St Brendan's School has a proud history of providing a quality Catholic education to Coragulac and surrounding areas over many years. 

A brief history: 

The school was first established in 1899 and conducted by the Sisters of Mercy

In 1918 the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Order were asked to take over the Primary School from the Sisters of Mercy.  At the beginning of the 1919 school year the Good Samaritan Sisters began their association with the school.

The modern St Brendan's School was built in 1958 and was opened by Bishop O'Collins.  The Parish Priest at the time was Father J. Brophy. (More information can be found on the school website)

During my three years as principal, I have met many people who went to school here, who taught here, or who know someone who went to school here. Last year, I met a neighbour in our Caravan Park who told me that there is a plaque with his father’s name under the flagpole, Michael Finnigan. Sure enough there is. His father was the founder of the parents and friends and was instrumental in having the flagpole erected. His son (also Michael Finnigan) went to school here. He had some very interesting stories to tell. Let’s just say if he was around today, he might have made a few trips to the principal’s office! 

It is definitely a small world. Something that all of the past St. Brendan’s students I have met have in common, is that they all speak fondly of their time at St. Brendan’s. This has been without exception, many people have created some wonderful memories here. It is  a school that has a deep and lasting impact on its students, families and extended community.

4/5 Camp

The Year 4/5 bike camp to Timboon and surrounding areas was picturesque, challenging, exhilarating and lots of fun! Our students were an absolutely brilliant bunch to take away. They faced the challenge of riding 45kms head on, and they were clearly very proud of their achievements, as were we! 

I would like to extend a big thank you to Alice for making it all happen, and to Deb and Allira for joining us on the trip. Having you all there helped to make our children feel safe and happy.

The camp enabled our students to step out of their comfort zones, develop independence, build relationships and experience personal success. The smiles on the faces of the children said it all! 

One of the joys of my time at St. Brendan's has been the opportunity to explore the Otways through our outdoor learning experiences. We truly live in a beautiful part of the country and our children are very lucky to participate in such wonderful outdoor learning opportunities.

Cows Create Careers

The Cows Create Careers program, which runs for two weeks, is now over. We said a sad good-bye to Milo and Oreo, we loved having them at school. I would like to thank Tahlia and the Year 4/5/6 children for looking after them so well. The children learnt a lot about what is involved in looking after calves, as well as many facets of employment in the dairy industry. 

ATTENTION PARENTS/CARERS: School Advisory Meeting

Last night we had our first Advisory meeting of the Term. Some items that we discussed were: 

• The school logo: We are edging closer to finalising the new design. Stay tuned!
• Camps and outdoor learning opportunities : We are looking at creating an outdoor education program incorporating a challenging, yearly event for each class. Each year children will build on their skills and resilience. 
• Fundraising: So far this year, we have raised $536. The yearly target is $6 000. Upcoming fundraising events include the Footy Gate, the Warrion Flower Show and a Trivia night! The Trivia night will be on a Saturday night in August. The date is still to be confirmed. We will let you know as soon as we know. It should be lots of fun! 

Student Reports and Learning Conversations

Written school reports will be sent home on Monday 19th June. 

Learning Conversations are happening on Wednesday 21st June.

The reports are designed to provide a comprehensive description of your child’s academic progress against the year level standards, their social emotional learning, as well as their work habits.

It is important for parents to understand that your child is expected to meet a different and more advanced year level standard each year.  While they may have successfully reached the previous year's standard, they may not yet be at standard for the current year.  This does not mean they have regressed.  It just means the degree of difficulty has increased and they are still working towards achieving it. 

This year, the Learning Conversations with your child and their teacher will take place on:                   

 Wednesday 21st June from 8.50am until 5.00pm

The Learning Conversations are an opportunity for your child to tell you about their learning successes and goals. 

Booking are now open via PAM, please login and select your preferred appointment times. Appointments are allocated on a first in, first choice basis. Please book one appointment per student. If you are having difficulty with this,or if this date does not suit you, call into school and we will give you a hand. 

How to book using PAM: Login to PAM and select the 'Parent Teacher Interviews' button on the homepage. Then select your child's classroom teacher and click on the 'Core Group' button that appears below their name. Available appointment times will then appear for your relevant classroom teacher, simply select the appointment time that best suits you, and then select 'Book Interview'.

Once complete you can return to the PAM homepage by clicking on the house icon in the top right hand corner and select your next child/student (if required) and repeat the process until one Learning Conversation has been booked per student.

Common Ground Excursion

On Thursday 25th May, the whole school went on an excursion to the Common Ground. The focus of our Inquiry Units this Term has been Sustainability and the sustainable practices in operation at Common Ground provided a wonderful extension of the learning in our classrooms. 

It was a very rainy day, a perfect day to pull out our outdoor learning mantra: there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing!

Some learnings from the day included:

• Nematodes wriggle and squirm, keeping the soil nice and healthy
• Worms have a protective clear covering around them when they need to carry their baby worms
• What is the difference between dirt and soil? Dirt is dry and soil is wet. Water bounces off dry soil - vegetables have nothing to drink if they are planted in dry soil.
• In 1tsp of soil there are billions and billions of tiny critters
• Funghi is a type of bacteria
• Worms have no gender
• Banana trees can be grown in a greenhouse, right down here in Southern Victoria
• A tropical fruit called barbaco was also grown in the greenhouse.

Thank you to Alllira for organising such an interesting and educational excursion.

Little Learners

I have really enjoyed spending time with our ‘little learners’. Our final session will be on Monday June 19th. 

If you know someone who might like to come along, they are more than welcome.

Learning Diversity

As our Learning Diversity Leader, Kate attends Zon Cluster meetings with other LDL’s around the Southern Zone. She came across this quote and story about neurotypical children. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive school at St. Brendan’s and the quote definitely sums up how we feel. 

You can check out the book on Youtube: 'Why Johnny Doesn't Flap.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRBbdEk9WQk&authuser=0

"Being NT is different and being different isn't always wrong."

Cross Country

On Monday 29th May the following students represented St. Brendan’s at  the School Sports Victoria Western Zone Cross Country Championships in Warrnambool. These students did really well to make it through to the second stage against students from so many other schools.
There were hundreds of people at this event and our students took it all in their stride. They all managed to finish on what was a pretty tough course. We are so proud of them all!

Lightning Premiership

Today some of our students represented our school at the Colac District Netball and Football Lightning Premiership. 

The footballers joined with one of the Sacred Heart sides and managed to make it to the semi-finals. Well done to Jimmy, Joe, Brennan and Jackson!

Thank you to Mel Drayton for taking care of the boys for us.

The netballers did a magnificent job. They won two of their games (and almost a third!) which was a fantastic effort. The girls are terrific netballers and they definitely benefited from having Gracesyn as their Supercoach. She did what all good supercoaches do, ensuring that she had a container of lollies to keep the energy levels high! Thank you for helping us out Gracesyn. I am not sure who had more fun, Gracesyn or the girls!

Well done to Lexie, Audrey, Ayla, Melody, Ava, Samiya, Nellie, Grace and Kaitlyn. 

Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge

The Premiers Reading Challenge is well under way here at St Brendan's & we have already had students surpass the challenge goals! Well done everyone.

If you haven't joined the challenge yet, there is still plenty of time to sign up with the initiative  running until 8th September 2023. Students in Year Prep - 2 are required to read 30 books and students in Years 3-6 need to read 15 books. If you would like login information or a hard copy reading chart please ask at the school office.

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.

Prep/1 Classroom News

We’ve had a very productive couple of weeks in the Prep/1 classroom. Thanks to Tahlia and Ellen who stepped in to take the class whilst I was away on bike camp.

Literacy: Students have finished working on their information reports and they are sounding fabulous! I’m excited at the quality of writing being produced - our sentence level work has been paying off. 

Word work: The Preps are working on the phonemes /x/ /y/. They have also been learning that sometimes two letters can represent one sound eg. <ff> <ll> <ss> <zz>. They have been reading and writing words containing these spellings. 

The Grade 1’s are working on the phoneme /ow/ like in cow. There are two spelling choices - <ow> and <ou>.

Maths: We have been learning about sharing and grouping this week in Maths. Students have learnt how to make equal groups. They were then challenged to represent the following situations: 2 groups of 3, 3 group of 3 and 4 groups of 2.

Religion: This week we’ve been considering all of creation and how we need to protect and enhance it. In light of ‘World Environment Day,’ we’ve started making nesting boxes to provide habitat for birds at school.

Keep up the great home reading!

Allira Kluver
akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 7!

On Friday the 26^th May we gathered with the other Catholic primary schools for a lovely service officiated by Father Michael. It was amazing to see over 800 children together in one place!

Last week was Reconciliation Week and we celebrated Indigenous history and culture in Australia. At assembly we listened to the Aboriginal Our Father and we have been singing it this week in prayer time.

This Thursday we are attending Mass to celebrate St. Brendan’s Feast Day. We are also excited to be part of the Sacrament of Baptism for Caleb, Jordy, Eden, Brennan, Ivy and Janet. We wish them all the very best as they start their faith journey in the Catholic tradition.

Religious Education: In R.E. we have been looking at the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit, what each gift means and what it looks like for us individually.

Literacy: We have been unpacking the /oo/ phoneme and different ways to represent it. Our spelling words are focused on the ‘oo’, ‘ew’ and ‘ui’ graphemes. We have also been investigating the prefix ‘re’ which means back and again. In Writing, we have been designing our own world and presenting facts about it to the class.

Numeracy: In Maths we have been revising times tables and related division facts. We are  investigating fact families learning how to make 2 multiplication and 2 division number sentences. For example: 2x6=12, 6x2=12, 122=6 and 126=2.

Integrated Curriculum: We are still exploring why animals are endangered, and are working towards creating conservation posters related to specific critically endangered animals from around the world.

Homework: Homework this week is to practice the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. To know your tables well means you are able to answer them randomly not in order. Feel free to practice any other times tables that you would like!

The Star of the Week award goes to Charlie Ferrari. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

Cheers,

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

4/5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 7 of Term 2! Wow, this term is flying by!

Cows Create Careers: Our two calves, Oreo and Milo have been and gone. They stayed with us for 2 weeks and we fed them, brushed them, measured them and led them around. We have now been finishing our course work required to do the program. We have been learning about calf rearing, the Australian dairy industry, technology and sustainability on farms, types of milking sheds, farm safety and careers in the dairy industry.

Winter Appeal: A reminder that the Social Justice group are collecting 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!

Writing: In Writing we have started Information Reports. Linking with our Integrated Curriculum unit, we are writing information reports about natural disasters. We have been talking about paraphrasing information, thus while we are researching our natural disaster we will be focusing on writing the information in our own words.

Spelling: In Spelling this week the Year 4 students have been working on various spellings for the sound /ow/, for example: lounge, drought and shower. Year 5/6 students have been working on the prefix /hyper/. We have been discussing the origin of /hyper/; it comes from the Greek language, meaning ‘over, above or beyond’. Examples: hypersensitive, hyperthermia and hyperlink.

Maths: In Maths we have started our Multiplication unit. Year 4 students have been working with arrays and solving and writing their own word problems. Year 5 students have been learning how to solve multiplication problems using distributive property. Year 6 students have been learning how to solve multiplication problems using distributive property and the area model.

Religion: In Religion we have been learning about the architecture of the Catholic Church. We went over to our school church and drew a bird's eye view of it. We have also been learning about the history of the Catholic religion in Australia, drawing timelines of important dates in history.

Integrated Curriculum: In Integrated Curriculum we have been learning about extreme weather. We have been discussing natural disasters in Australia and identifying which state or territory experiences them the most. We have also been looking at our storyboard. Students have been given a dilemma on their storyboard and have been brainstorming ways to solve it. The dilemma is: “Next Tuesday the weather forecast is predicting torrential rain and possibly flooding. How are we going to prepare for this? How are we going to save different parts of our storyboard?”

Homework: Homework was sent home this week. This is due back to school on Friday 16th June.

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 recently! Especially...

4th June   -   Luca Lettieri (7)

4th June   -   Archie Robb (10)

4th June   -   Jerry Robb (10)

7th June   -   Emily-Rose Laird (6)

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