Message from the Principal

The school closure day at the beginning of this term was dedicated to staff professional learning.

The day began with a member of our Parish, Susie Hii, leading us in the practice of lectio divina or divine reading.

Lectio Divina is a traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer. It includes five steps including the following:

Reading. Read a passage slowly and carefully within the bible.
Prayer. Having a loving conversation with God.
Meditation. Thinking deeply upon a spiritual reality within a text.
Contemplation. Resting in God's presence.

The purpose of this session was to extend our practice of imaginative contemplation which we have been doing with our students and to teach the children other forms of prayer.

Susie runs Zoom sessions for the parish each week, at the following times. Please email her if you are interested in attending.

Wednesdays: 9.30 – 10.30am Meditation

Sundays: 8.30 – 9.30am Scripture Reflection

The next session focused on Maths differentiation in the classroom led by Penny Willboughby, a Maths specialist. Penny shared with us resources titled Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler for teaching Maths. Mathematical Mindsets offers a demonstration of how to turn self-doubt into self-confidence by relying on the "mindset" framework.

Mathematical Mindsets is based on:

Brand-new research from the last five years that sheds brighter light on how to turn a fear of math into an enthusiastic desire to learn
Developed ideas about ways to bring about equitable grouping in classrooms
New initiatives to bring 21st century mathematics to K-12 classrooms

The necessary resources have been purchased and the teachers will now trial the approach next week with the support of Penny. As a staff, we will then reflect on whether this approach to teaching maths is something we would like to adopt and embedd as a whole school.

The next session was led by Evelien Scherp from Happyvine Training & Coaching. The purpose of the session was to:

Define our team norms - by defining how we want to work together: what are our specific, actionable, measurable norms for collaborating and communicating at school
Agree on accountability - by exploring how we will hold each other accountable to live up to the team norms. Defining and trying out a specific approach for our team that is respectful and effective
Make a commitment - each team member commiting to adhering to team norms and the accountability approach

This term we will continue to visit and reconnect with our local kindergartens as part of our community partnerships program. Each month, two of our Senior students serve at a kindergarten's library session. This month we visited Balwyn East Kindergarten.

On the 17th July some of our students celebrated their Sacrament of First Eucharist. Thank you to our teachers and Mrs Maher as our Religious Education Leader for preparing them.

Last Friday some of our girls participated in a girls only Chess Tournament. Of the 8 schools who participated, St Bridget's came 3rd. Our highest ranked student was Sophie. L placing 9th. Sophie received a gold medal for her efforts and qualified for the Girls State Final to be held later this year. Congratulations to all those students who participated.

Finally, we have our School Production 'Come Fly with Me' coming up on Wednesday 17th August at Siena College. Please refer to the below link to secure your tickets.

https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=935650&

Kind regards,

Mrs Robyn Thomson

Principal