Newsletter No. 14 | Term 3 Week 3 | Friday 8th August 2025

Prayer

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

It has been a positive start to Term 3. The children have settled into their learning well and have been having lots of fun in the yard, particularly the sandpit where students have worked together really well to build trenches and houses. They have demonstrated critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork, and had lots of fun along the way. It has been a delight to see them so excited with their very own building projects! 

Speaking of building projects, this week Gerard and I met with the architects. The starting date for works to commence on the building project has been pushed back to November. I was really hoping to have it started before I left so that I could help everyone set the wheels in motion but it is not to be. We are currently working on the ‘look and feel’ of the interior, if you have an interest in interior design and would like to share your ideas feel free to pop in and let us know.

Leanne Eastman
principal@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

Welcome to our New Families

This week, we welcomed three new students to our school.

Phoenix and Kaycee (yr 3) and Lacey (yr 1). Phoenix and Lacey's parents are Andrew and Kate, Cara and Cameron for Kaycee. 

We warmly welcome you all to our school. We hope that you come to know and feel the welcoming spirit of the St Brendan’s community, it’s a great place to be!

Trivia Night

As you would have heard on the grapevine or perhaps seen on our social pages, the Trivia Night  was a huge success. The night raised a grand total of $5575!!! This is the biggest fundraising total that I have seen for a single event, in the last 5 years at St. Brendan's. I extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped out in some way, donated goods or bought raffle tickets to support the school. 

An extra big thank you goes to Adele and Sophie who coordinated the event. You both put in a phenomenal amount of work. Sophie also presented on the night. I saw a bit of the Logies on TV the other night. I couldn’t help thinking that Sophie would have given the Best Presenter award a run for their money, she is a natural!

Thanks also to Grace for being a huge support to Adele and Sophie. Well done Grace!

School Closure Day - Change of Date

The school originally had 22nd August pencilled in as a School Closure Day for Structured Literacy. The professional development day has now been moved to Monday, 6th of October, the first day of Term 4.
Therefore the School Closure Day will now be on that day. Friday 22nd August will be a normal school day. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Bush Excursion

Tomorrow the whole school will be heading off to Beech Forest for a bush excursion. We love our bush excursions and really value the positive impact they have on our wellbeing. Benefits  include:

🌿 Physical Benefits

1. Exercise: Walking, climbing, exploring
   
   
2. Fresh Air: Clean air
   
   
3. Sunlight & Vitamin D: Exposure to sunlight can help with Vitamin D levels and improve mood.
   

🧠 Mental & Emotional Benefits

1. Stress Relief: Nature helps reduce stress and anxiety levels.
   
   
2. Mental Clarity: The peace and quiet of the bush can help clear your mind and improve focus.
   
   
3. Mood Boost: Natural settings are linked to improved moods and reduced depression symptoms.

We look forward to the excursion and thank Alice for organising the day.

Trinity College Colac Presents Fame the Musical

Our Year 5/6 students have been kindly welcomed to Trinity’s Dress Rehearsal performance of Fame. The performance will be held next Wednesday 13th August. Please keep an eye out for more information on PAM.

We look forward to what should be a fabulous show!

School Advisory Council

The next Advisory Meeting will be held on Monday 11th August at 7pm. Gerard and I look forward to seeing you there. 

We are looking for two more people to join the Advisory Council. It requires attendance to one meeting per Term (sometimes two). We’d love to have some new faces on board. If you are interested please see Leanne or Gerard. 

SRC

This week we had two SRC meetings - last Term’s group and this Term’s group. 

Our new SRC reps for this Term are: Eden, Jerry, Ruby, Cuba, Jack and Ariana. Congratulations!

The children discussed ideas that they have for our school.

Some ideas included: 

• Casual clothes Day every second Friday
• New lines painted on the courts outside
• Dinosaur Excursion

5/6 Winter Sport 2025

The Year 5/6 students have been enjoying the opportunity to mix with other students during the Friday Winter Sports. 

Our next Winter Sports Day will be on Friday 15th August at Elliminyt.

A Reflection from Harriet Rock and Eden Robb:
Last week on Friday 1st August we went to Colac West Primary for 5/6 Winter Sports. There were 4 different sports; Soccer, Netball, Hut building and AFL. 

We participated in hut building and Archie, Jerry, Zayne, Aden and Charlie played soccer while Grace and Kaitlyn played Netball.

At the hut building event, we got a lot of sticks and pieces of bark from a corner, then started making our cubby. While we were building our cubby we met some other kids who were nice.

The boys really enjoyed soccer and a little bit later all of the boys came over to hut building, except for Archie who stayed playing soccer. Kaitlyn and Grace liked playing netball too. 

Book Week is Coming!

This term, we'll be celebrating our Book Week Parade in Week 5 on Thursday, 21st August. Get ready to ignite your imaginations! The day will be here before we know it, so let's start brainstorming our constumes now! I can't wait to see all the wonderful creations the children come up with.

For those of you who are new to our school or are unsure, children will wear their Book Week costume to school and remain in it all day. 

The theme for this year's Book Week is Book an Adventure. Children can choose to dress according to the theme or dress up as any book character of thir choice. If you are stuck for ideas, I have added some links below for inspiration.
Details about the day will follow closer to the date.

Wellbeing
-School TV - Wellbeing Platform

Families today, with school-age children, have very busy schedules. This can sometimes make it hard to sit down to homemade meals every day when there is such an abundance of pre-packaged and processed food at the available. However, it is still important to teach your kids healthy eating habits. Diet and nutrition is crucial to your child’s development. Not only can it prevent many chronic diseases, but it also impacts on your child’s brain development and learning abilities.

There are many benefits to incorporating a healthy diet and good nutrition. It can stabilise your child’s energy, improve their mood and maintain a healthy weight. Not only will it improve their general wellbeing, but it can also have a positive impact on their mental health helping prevent anxiety, depression and ADHD.

Below is a URL link to the St. Brendan's School TV platform on Diet and Nutrition.

Enrolments

2026 Foundation enrolments are now open. We have upscaled our Social Media output to spread the word about our wonderful school. It has been really positive to see people responding positively to the advertisements. 

A reminder that one of the best ways to advertise a school is by word of mouth.  Spread the word!

Bike Wheels Wanted

In our ‘Bike Wheel Drive’ we have currently collected one bike wheel - thanks to Pat O’Shea! We need at least 20, so if you have any spare bike wheels it would be appreciated. A variety of sizes would be great!

As mentioned in the previous Newsletter we will be using them for an Art project. The painted bike wheels will be used to decorate the front of the sports shed. 

Please note: We do not need the whole bike, just the wheels.

However, if you happen to have any bikes in good working order, we are always looking for bikes for the children to ride.

Social Media

A reminder that you can follow us on the following social media platforms to stay up to date with all of the happenings in our vibrant school community.

Prep/1 Classroom

Welcome to Week 3!
This week we welcomed a new Grade 1 - Lacey. She has settled in very well and has already become a kind and hardworking part of our Prep / 1 team. 

100 Days Smart... 
Yesterday the Preps reached 100 days at schoolWe all celebrated this important event by dressing up as someone smart and wow did they all look smart. In the afternoon, the students welcomed friends and family and had a game of bingo, played with the Ozobots and then shared a delicious afternoon tea featuring scones made by the Prep / 1s. Thank you to those who attended. Your support is valued and appreciated. (See the pictures below).

Bush Excursion: We are looking forward to our Bush excursion tomorrow to Beech Forest. Reminder: plenty of water & snacks, lunch is provided -sausages. If your child doesn't eat sausages please pack their lunch. Clothing: warm, comfortable, old and boots/waterproof footwear  and a spare pair of socks & pants just in case!! Thanks to Alice for organising our Bush Excursion.

Religion: In Religion this term, our theme is Imagine. We started by discussing what it is to 'imagine'. Jesus' stories - called Parables -teach us how God would like our world to be so now we are working on 'God's Dream for the World'.

Integrated Curriculum: In Integrated Curriculum this term our focus is Science. We have begun by learning about Forces and moving objects. Students have been exploring how objects can push, pull, roll and slide and how their direction can change. 

Wellbeing: In Wellbeing the students are creating a Safety Plan. We have been discussing the Zones of Regulation.

By helping the students recognise and name emotions, we can then offer them strategies such as breathing techniques, taking a short break, having a drink of water. These simple strategies can help them to come back to the green zone.  We hope their safety plan will help them to practice self-regulation.

Kate and Liz

Liz McGuane - lmcguane@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au
Kate Parker - kparker@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 3!

We are very excited to be creating our own superheroes. The children are posting their designs on Seesaw and you can peruse them at your own leisure.
We are currently producing descriptions for our superheroes and will display them in the passage when they are completed. I am so impressed with the originality of their designs. You are amazing 2/3/4's!

We welcomed Kaycee Borthwick amd Phoenix Aurisch into our class this week. The boys have fitted in seamlessly, and we are happy to include them and their families, into our St Brendan's community.

Religious Education: Our concept this term is 'Hospitality'. We are investigating the importance of meals and celebrations. The children will unpack 'The Last Supper' and the importance of the Eucharist for Catholic Christians. We will also look at the the story of Mary McKillop, Australia's first saint.
Mary, later known as Saint Mary of the Cross, founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart. She was dedicated to providing educations, particularly to the poor, and was known for her compassion and unwavering faith. Despite facing opposition and even excommunication, she persevered in her mission and was eventually canonised as Australia's first saint.

Integrated Curriculum: We have been exploring forces and pondering on the question 'How can objects affect other objects with or without touching them?'. The children have looked at different types of forces and the role gravity plays in the world. 

The Star of the Week award goes to Declan Ellen. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

Warm Wishes,
Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

5/6 Classroom News

Next Wednesday, our class will be heading to Trinity College to watch an exciting production of FAME! This will be a great opportunity to experience a professional theatrical performance and see all the hard work the actors and crew have put in. 

In our recent R.E. lessons, we've been exploring the important concept of integrity. We've discussed what it means to be honest, to do the right thing even when no one is watching, and to have a strong moral compass. We've shared personal examples and talked about how integrity plays a vital role in our friendships and daily lives. We will continue to explore how this value is reflected in different religious and philosophical traditions.

Our Integrated Studies unit has been all about money and the impacts of our consumer decisions. We've been looking at how what we choose to buy, or not buy, affects not only ourselves but also the environment and the people who make the products.

Gerard Douglas

gdouglas@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

Birthday Corner

Wishing a very big Happy Birthday to everyone who is celebrating their special day! 

August 7th - Kaiden Rancic

Important Dates

Catholic Culture

St Brendan's Coragulac & St Joseph's Pirron Yallock Mass Times

Mass & Lay-Led Times.

1^st SUNDAY of Month             9.00am   Mass - St. Joseph’s, Pirron Yallock

                                                10.30am  Lay-Led - St. Brendan’s, Coragulac

2^nd & 3^rd SUNDAY of Month    9.30am    Lay-Led - St. Brendan’s, Coragulac

4^th & 5^th SUNDAY of Month     9.00am    Mass - St. Brendan’s, Coragulac

Community News & Events

Bluewater Sensory Quiet Time Pool Session
When: Every Saturday between 1-3pm
Please contact Bluewater Colac if you have any questions.