Miss Mel's Message

Term 4, Week 8

Sustainability

Middle students enjoyed working collaboratively to create a new sandpit in area B. It was lovely to see their commitment, problem-solving and creative thinking put to practical use, for the benefit of all. 

The whole area is coming along nicely with juniors maximising their cubby time. 

Building Update

Building works continue to progress well. We do however have a new handover date of December 22nd. Downstairs cabinetry has arrived and is awaiting installation, plastering is completed, and painting is continuing. New furniture is arriving soon, as well as some additional pieces we have managed to secure from a school in Chadstone. Stay tuned for more on this front, as we would love some support to move in the new and out the old, when the time comes. We hope to have more information in the coming weeks. 

Student Leadership Committee

Year 5’s are currently preparing their leadership speeches and presentations for 2024 Year 6 leadership committees and roles. In conjunction with senior students, we as a school have decided to introduce a new student leadership role, and committee in 2024, titled Leading Learning. This team will consist of a designated leader, and supporting student committee. 

The committee will be part of our 2024 plans that focus the direction of the school on strong, engaging, learning and teaching practices. They will meet with the Student Representative Council students to gain perspective and voice from students in regards to learning, lead learning activities and clubs during lunchtimes, promote learning within our community with displays and celebrations of learning achievements, write posts for FaceBook, Instagram and the Gazette about learning at St Brigid's, meet with school Leadership, such as Maths, RE, Literacy, IT to create clubs and activities and run events, and enter competitions that celebrate learning.

Uniform Update

Uniform survey results have been mixed. We had 158 responses. 

• Most responses (126) preferred a shorter 2-year changeover for uniform rollout
• 84 responses indicated they would like to wear sport uniform on as many days as they like
• 88 responses indicated they would like tracksuit pants to be worn on any day
• 127 responses preferred to have a suite of uniform items that could be worn on any day they choose, as opposed to the school dictating the days/seasons etc
• Most preferred to keep the school dress and the kilt, skort/shorts and have the addition of tracksuit pants
• Most responses indicated that the hoodie should not be for sport days only, however, the personal comments indicated some families would not like to introduce the hoodie at all, so this is an area we will seek more feedback around at a later date

The new uniform process will begin mid-to-late 2024 at this stage. The new pieces coming in at the beginning of 2024 are for the Year 6 named jackets and named polos. 

We will provide a more detailed timeline and uniform guide in 2024, once we have samples to show the community, and have continued to work through additional parent and student feedback, and the uniform policy and guidelines with our Advisory Council. 

Specialist Days Update

Specialist day results are coming in, with 115 responses so far.

• Most students would prefer their specialist days over two days
• Interestingly, the comments for the two-day preference showed that the students preferred two days because they wanted to wear the sport uniform more often. 

We will seek more information about this soon, as this data does impact decision-making for 2024 specialist days. Is uniform choice impacting the decision of how to run specialists, as opposed to other reasons more specific to the structure of the day?

Other News...