Principal's News

Dear St Brigid’s Families and Friends,

Last week was a short week due to the Melbourne Cup public holiday. That certainly did not stop us from having a fun but busy week!

1/2 Camping Experience

What fun the 1/2 children had on Thursday night last week. They learnt some circus tricks, decorated biscuits, did some groovy dance moves and finished with a dinner sitting all together. These camping experiences have been such a lovely way for the children to interact with each other, where they are having fun but still learning to be good friends. 

Tabloid Sports

Our Tabloid Sports were a resounding success, even if we had to cut down the time spent at Ben Kavanagh due to the heat! The children all participated fully and had a great day! The house chants were a welcome addition to the end of the day. Congratulations to Red House for winning the Tabloid Sports and to Blue House for the Spirit Award.   Well done!

Yoga/Mindfulness

What a relaxing day Monday was! Our children enjoyed a lovely session of Yoga and Mindfulness with Jade from ‘Kids with Wings' Yoga. This incursion links in with our Wellbeing focus of “Stress Management”. What a great way for children to learn how to take a bit of time to focus on themselves. Jade was very complimentary about our children, saying they had the most beautiful manners and were so respectful.

Year 4 Camp

Our Year 4 Camp to Melbourne is fast approaching and it was great to see so many parents at our Information Night on Tuesday. It is a great way to catch up and give the parents the information they need and give them an understanding of the activities they will be doing and where they will be staying.

Year 1 Baptism Night and Year 2 Pre-Sacrament Night

Many thanks to Jodie for presenting the Year 1 and 2 Baptism and Pre-Sacrament Night on Wednesday. The children enjoyed the interactive activities that helped to explain their Sacramental Journey here at St Brigid’s. It was lovely to see the parents and children interact engaged in discussion about their faith.

Just a reminder of the Level 1/2 Mass at St Brigid’s church on Sunday 19th November at 11.00am.

Visitors from Brisbane

On Wednesday, we had a Principal and 3 teachers from St Andrews, Brisbane who came to visit St Brigid’s to see how we collaborate and plan, the use of the classroom space and the role of support staff. They looked at our assessment and data and how we cater for the different needs of our children. They were very impressed with our buildings, open doors between classes and the way we plan and work together to get the best possible results for our children. 

Newsletter Article

One of our parents (Agi, Eddie in Year 3) is a journalist in Poland and has written an article about Education in Australia. I have just taken a snippet of the article that was about our school (our school was not named). What a great read it was to hear about the wonderful things all schools are doing in the Wellbeing space. 

In the morning, children are greeted by a smiling elderly man in a high-vis vest. He asks each of them, "How's it going?" and high-fives them, using a red "stop" sign to halt the cars. The kids safely cross the street, and enter the school grounds through an open gate. In navy uniforms and sun hats, they run around the playground, roll on the grass, joyous and loud. At 8:35, instead of a school bell, music plays (today it's The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love"), and the students head to their classrooms. There, they work at their desks, in groups, engage in various projects, seek solutions, write by hand or on computers. They spend a lot of time on the carpet, listening to their teachers. During every break, they must go outside for fresh air.

After intense lessons, there are short mindfulness sessions during which the kids can lounge on soft cushions, do simple origami, or color mandalas. The teachers encourage, motivate, praise. There's no shouting, no grades or punishments; there's diverse support and extra teachers in the classrooms because the schools are inclusive. For instance, children struggling with reading get a visit from an educator with a dog once a week. Students read books to their furry friend and share what they've read. Teachers ensure that the children feel comfortable at the school, communicate their observations with parents, and offer Zoom workshops (on topics like stress in kids, the impact of video games, and smartphones on concentration).

Students return home at 3:15 PM, and a smiling teacher opens the gate. They cross the street, bid farewell to the smiling man in the yellow vest. 

Yes, it's not a dream; it's a reality, unfortunately still far from Poland, in Australia.

 Colour Fun Run

Our Colour Fun Run is 2 weeks away (Friday 1st December). I hope you have been busy getting sponsors to help fundraise for our playground. The Fun Run will start at approximately 2pm on the Friday and finish by 3pm approximately. This year will be a little different in that we will use our across the road area to complete the run with a little obstacle course between paint sprays. 

On this day children can wear a white t-shirt and a splash of your house colour (black t-shirts for those who don't want to be coloured). We are looking forward to a fun afternoon. Mums, Dads and special people who may be picking up your child/ren you best bring a towel or two as it can get messy!

Christmas Carols

Friday 8th December sees our Annual Christmas Carols occurring. Our children have already started singing their carols for the night and we will have a lovely play from our Foundation students. 

We will have a sausage sizzle, choc tops and fairy floss to purchase or you may bring your own picnic.  We will have some face painting for the children for a gold coin donation and we will have some market stalls for you to purchase candles, cards, jewellery etc. 

Families are welcome to bring a picnic (and a chair or rug) to enjoy during our Carols and we will also have sausages in bread $2.50 and choc tops $ 5.00 for sale - Cash only.  

Students may wear their Christmas Concert clothes to school on Friday 8th December (closed toe shoes please).

As this is a child friendly event we ask that alcohol is not brought to school. 

School Advisory Council AGM

Our School Advisory Council will be holding our AGM on Tuesday 21st November. The AGM will go from 6pm - 6.45pm. All are welcome to attend. 

Position Vacant - School Advistory Council - Our SAC Secretary will be finishing up at the end of the year due to her child finishing Year 6. If anyone is interested in taking on this role please come and see me or send me an email. Thank you in advance.

Little Angler Fishing Kits

This week our Year 5 students received a free Little Anglers Fishing Kit from the Victorian Government.  

The kits will help youngsters get active, learn about the aquatic environment and have fun in the great outdoors whether they be down the coast, on Port Phillip Bay or by a river in regional Victoria.

We were very excited to see that Declan R got up really early Sunday morning and headed to the Mordialloc Pier with his Dad.  After half an hour fishing - you can see the result!! Unfortunately, Declan's fish was undersized so back into Port Phillip Bay he went!  Declan really enjoyed his fishing experience.

The Victorian Government is investing $1.5 million from the Recreational Fishing Licence Trust Fund to provide up to 95,000 Little Angler Kits to primary school aged children in Victoria.

The free kits provide a wonderful school holiday activity for children with their families and help ease the cost of living, providing a fun activity close to home.

Running Club

Running club this week 

Laps run = 361 

Km run = 18.1km 

Total km = 248.3km 

We are on the Hume Fwy/National Hwy passing the Wangaratta Airport.

We are now 83km away from getting to Albury for the summer holidays. 

Condolences

Our prayerful sympathy is extended to the Chillianis Family on the passing of George's Father, and Xander and Archie's (6D) Grandfather - John Chilianis.

Wendy Sullivan