Dear Parents and Friends of St Brigid’s,

Term 1 is nearly done…. I cannot believe how quickly this term has gone. This is the time that I take to reflect on the term and look at what we have achieved in such a short time.

I would like to congratulate our children for the following things:

Their excitement about coming to school and the many good mornings I receive when I open the gates
Their beautiful manners
Their care and compassion for each other
Their work ethic; and
Always trying their very best.

I would like to thank the parents for:

Your wonderful support, friendliness and engagement with not only your child’s teacher but all the staff
Your willingness to give feedback.

I would like to thank our staff for:

Their professionalism
Their teamwork and caring for each other
Their kindness and support to our students.

Finally, look at all the activities we have done in the last 8 weeks!

Beginning of Year Mass and Feast of St Brigid
Sausage sizzle, ice creams, fairy floss and Kaboom.
Getting to Know You sessions
Shrove Tuesday
Ash Wednesday Mass and liturgies
Welcome Picnic organized by the Fundraising Team
Foundation Mass at Braeside Park
Year 5/6 Urban Camp
House Cross Country (Friday)
Naplan
Eucharist Family Activity Night and Commitment Mass
Swimming Training and Carnival - just to name a few.

In between all these activities, we have had lots of wonderful learning opportunities going on. The children have been very engaged in the classroom.

New Playground

It has been so exciting to see the progress of the new playground installation. Last Friday we started with the dismantling of the old playground and each day sees a new addition. Watching the progress has been a favourite pastime of many students. We can’t wait until it is complete! We will hopefully be able to enjoy the new playground by Wednesday next week - lets keep our fingers and toes crossed for it to be ready and wouldn’t that be a great way to end the term!!

Harmony Week - Harmony Day Thursday 21st March

It was lovely to see the splashes of orange the children and staff wore to celebrate the day. Harmony Week, explores the concepts of cultural diversity, respect and inclusion.

Principal conference

I am currently at Lorne with many Catholic Primary school principals from all across Victoria - the theme is Think, Engage, Lead with Strength.

We had 4 amazing presenters on Wednesday one of which was Craig Foster, former professional soccer player but now a human rights activist! He spoke about the importance of leading by example, always fighting for what we believe in and the importance of helping others.

I also really enjoyed a presentation by Ashley Fell. She co-wrote Child Alpha which examines our current generation of 0 to 14 year olds. This quote really reasonated with me.

This morning I was lucky enough to hear Saroo Brierle - author and the subject of the Academy Award film Lion. What an inredible story. Saroo ended his session with this amazing quote - "Sometimes the wrong train can take you to the right station". I am looking forward to hearing Jelena Dokic later today.

Enrolments For 2025

As you would be aware, enrolments for 2025 are now open. If you have a child joining St Brigid’s next year, please come to the office and pick up an enrolment pack. Enrolments for Foundation 2025 close on Friday 3rd May.

Easter Raffle

Congratulations all - we have succeeded! Tracey is officially hidden behind a wall of chocolate! Can you spot her?

Thank you to everyone who has kindly donated to our Easter Raffle. It's not too late to bring in your donations. Our Foundation parents will be wrapping the raffle prizes on Monday. We will draw the Easter Raffle at 2.30pm on Thursday 28th March. This will be preceded by Easter Sunday liturgy at 2.15pm.

Tickets are still available if you would like to sell some more - please see Tracey in the office (if you can find her!).

Easter Bonnet Parade

The teachers are working very hard on making their Easter Bonnets for next Thursday, so let's see how many bonnets we will have for our parade on Thursday 28th March at 9.00am. Families are most welcome to come and watch our Easter Parade.

Anaphylaxis Reminder

Our School is concerned about the safety and well-being of all our students. Many of you will know someone who is affected by anaphylaxis, a life threatening allergic reaction. Our school does its best to be an allergy aware school. Staff have had training in severe allergy management and we have implemented lots of strategies to help keep students at risk of anaphylaxis as safe as we can. We now have 5 students who live with the risk of anaphylaxis to foods and insect stings. Whilst these children are being taught to care for themselves at an age appropriate level, we ask that you help us educate your child on the importance of not sharing food with others, washing hands after eating and calling out to an adult if they think their friend with allergies is sick. With increased awareness and understanding of anaphylaxis, you will be able to help protect those around you.

For the safety of these children we do ask parents to avoid sending products containing nuts to school in an effort to limit the chances of these children being exposed to nuts.

CURRICULUM NEWS

Cross Country - TOMORROW

We will have our House Cross Country this Friday. This year we are trialing a new “look” for the running of the event.

We are all going over to the Governor Road park to participate in and encourage each other. All children are to come in their Sports Uniform tomorrow.

St Brigid’s Cross Country Schedule

Times are approximate

9:30 12/13 Boys - 3km

9:35 12/13 Girls 3km

9:50 - Year 2 Boys

10:00 - Year 2 Girls

10:10 11 Boys - 3km

10:15 11 Girls - 3km

10:40 Year 1 Boys and Girls

10:50 9/10 Boys 2km

10:55 9/10 Girls 2km

11:10 Foundation Boys

11:15 Foundation girls

SeeSaw/Social Media

Please keep an eye on your child/rens SeaSaw Digital Portfolios. These portfolios give you a snapshot of what is happening in the classroom.

Our socials - Facebook and Insta also give you a snapshot of the children’s learning.

Celebration of Learning

On Monday, we welcome all families to school, so our children can showcase their learning for the term. This term the Inquiry topic was all about Communty, starting in Foundation where the learn who is part of their community right through to Year 5/6 ‘s who are studying the 3 levels of government and how this system works.

Foundation will set up their work in their classroom
Year 1/2 and 2’s will set up in the hall
Year 3/4 and 4 will be in their classrooms and hallway; and
Year 5/6 ‘s will display their work in the open space upstairs.

The children are very proud of their work and would love to be able to celebrate with you the amazing information they have learnt.

Naplan

Well done to all the Year 3 and 5 students on completing NAPLAN over the last two weeks. We were very pleased with the confidence the students approached the tests with and a big thank you to Ange, Arch and Annemarie who prepared the children in such a positive manner.

We look forward to the results later in the year, which shows a ‘snapshot’ of their learning. We use that along with their regular and comprehensive assessments that we generate and report against to support the children in their le.

Holy Week Liturgies

This weekend marks the beginning of Holy Week which includes Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. As a school, we are celebrating these different events through a variety of liturgies led by level groups. We warmly welcome you to join us for any of these liturgies.

Friday 22nd March- Palm Sunday (F-2 leading) Conclusion of the assembly @ 2.15pm

Tuesday 26th March - Holy Thursday (3-4 leading) 12.55 pm 3/4H leading for the 5/6 students and 2.30 pm 4D leading for F-2 students (in the Hall)

Wednesday 27th March - Good Friday - Stations of the Cross (5-6 leading) starts at 9 am upstairs - classes to be rostered.

Thursday 28th March - Easter Sunday (Yr 6 Liturgy and Community leading) @ 2.15 pm in the Hall followed by Easter Raffle outside.

Running Club

This week at running club

laps run = 130

km run = 6.5km

Total Km = 373.8.3km

We are on the Hume Fwy/National Hwy in New South Wales heading towards Woomargama.

Welcome

This week we welcome the Stewart Family, Gillian, Graham, Holly and Eva, who have recently immigrated from Scotland. Holly started with us in Foudation on Monday. We welcome them to our St Brigid's community.

End of Term

The school term finishes on Thursday 28th March at 3.15 pm and Term 2 commences on Monday 15th April which is also the start of swimming for Foundation to Year 4 students.

Have a lovely and restful break.

Yours in partnership

Wendy Sullivan.

Community News and Events

St Bede's College

Kilbreda Secondary College

Junior Rockers

Bayside Dental Health

St Brigid's Community Hall Hire

Mentone Hockey Club

MBJFC