Principal's News

Dear Parents and Friends of St Brigid’s,

School Savings Bonus

Following last week's State Budget on 8 May, we are seeking your support to advocate against the unfair $400 School Saving Bonus that is available to all government school students, regardless of income, but only to Health Care Card holders in Catholic schools.

This is a departure from the previous position with programs such as the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund which were means-tested for all students.

We believe the payment should be means tested for all students or apply to all students.  It should not be based on which school you attend.

We encourage you to copy the template below and email our local MP Tim Richarson tim.richardson@parliament.vic.gov.au

Template email for parents to send to MPs

Please copy and paste

Dear Tim,

I am very concerned by the Allan Labor Government’s $400 School Saving Bonus for all schoo lstudents in government schools regardless of income, but only for Health Care Card holders in Catholic schools.  As the parent of a child in a Catholic school I believe this payment should be applied equally. Either means tested for all students or available to all students.  It should not be based on which school you attend. 

Families in Catholic schools are also experiencing cost of living pressures. This announcement discriminates against my family and punishes me for choosing to send my child to a Catholic school.  I have the right to expect the government treats me and my family equally regardless of our choiceof schooling.

Please vote against this discriminatory policy and treat all families fairly.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Your sincerely,

New Mathematics Curriculum

At the start of this year St Brigid’s introduced the new Mathematics Version 2.0 curriculum. The Mathematics curriculum was to be trialled and reported agsinst in Semester 2, 2024, howeve, for consistency it was recommended that we start it at the start of the year. Due to this our reporting on Maths will look completely different this year. We will have only 1 dot point to cover all 6 strands of math and underneath the dot point we will include a comment on math to explain what they have achieved rather than put the math comment in the general comment.

See below for an example of what the Math report will look like. 

As the achievement standards reported on have changed, Semester One report under the Mathematics Version 2.0 curriculum, will only show achievement and not progress. For all reports after this, progress will be shown. 

Mothers Day Stall and Breakfast

WOW! What an amazing morning we had with our mums for the annual Mother’s Day Breakfast. We had such an amazing turnout and both the mums and their child/ren enjoyed sharing breakfast together. The cupcakes were a great success and I hope the mums got to get a little taste of them! A huge thanks to the SB Squad or organised the food and decorations for the breakfast and a massive thanks to all the parent helpers who helped on the day!

See the SBSquads article for more good news about our fundraising efforts.

Cross Country

A massive shout out to our cross country team! What a great day you all had. From the cheering to supporting each other and the amazing race you ran! We are so very proud of you all!

As a team we placed 8th overall and took home 1st place on the handicap trophy. 

As all the schools don’t have the same number of students, the handicap trophy goes to the school who did the best for the amount of students they have at their school. We are super proud of all our student for representing the school at District Athletics.

Congratulations to Mikki who made it through to Division!  We wish her all the best when she races at the Division Cross Country.

Bike Ed 

In the last 2 weeks of Term 2, we will be participating in Bike Ed during our PE lessons. If you do not have a bike Thierry (bike ed instructor) will supply one for you or if you are happy to lend your bike to someone, we will put a marker on your bike. If you would like your bikes left at school during these two weeks, we will have an area fenced off and locked. More information will come out when we send the permission notes so keep an eye on Operoo later this term.

Aussie of the Month

Congratulations to Matilda L (Year 1), who was our April Aussie of the Month. Matilda won the award for being a:

‘Kind and caring student and a great friend to all. Matilda is inclusive of everyone and always ready to help a classmate or her teachers. She’s a team player and a wonderful member of our 1/2 class.’    

AEDC Data Collection

From May 2024, our school, along with thousands of others across the country, will participate in the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC).

The AEDC is a teacher-completed census (similar to a questionnaire) which provides a comprehensive picture of how children have developed by the time they start their first year of full-time school.

The AEDC is an Australian Government Initiative and is completed nationally every three years. Our Foundation teachers will be completing the AEDC on Wednesday 5th June. 

Children don’t miss any class time while the AEDC is completed, and parents/carers don’t need to supply schools with any new information.

The data collected through the AEDC is used by schools, communities and governments to better understand children and families’ needs, and identify the services, resources and support they need.

AEDC data is reported at a school, community, state/territory and national level. AEDC results for individual children are not reported and the AEDC is not used as an individual diagnostic tool.

Some teachers have found that completing the AEDC made them more aware of the needs of individual children and their class, and that the data was useful for planning for transitions to Year 1 and developing programs.

Participation in the AEDC is voluntary, however the AEDC relies on all schools with children in their first year of full-time school participating in the collection. 

Parents/carers don’t need to take any action unless they choose not to include their children in the census. Please see the link to the letter for  parents.

To find out more about the AEDC and how it is being used to help children and families visit: www.aedc.gov.au.

Before and After School Use of the Playground Equipment

Just a friendly reminder that the playground equipment is out of bounds both before and after school for our students. Unfortunately this is due to our inability to supervise during these times and for insurance purposes. 

The only balls that can be played with before and after school is the small rubber ball for four square. Footballs, soccer balls and basketballs are not allowed to be used.either before or after school - they are too big and with so many families around in the morning and afternoon I am worried someone could get hurt.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Yours in partnership

Wendy Sullivan.