Principal's News

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends of St Brigid’s,

Congratulations to our Graduating Class of 2024

Congratulations to our Graduating Class of 2024, who leave us tomorrow to begin their secondary school journey in 2025.  They have so many new and exciting learning opportunities  to look forward too. Each and every one of our graduating students have so much to be proud of - they have been such wonderful role models and leaders at St Brigid’s. As a staff and parent community we cannot be prouder of our Year 6’s - they have shown tremendous leadership and have shown such great care and compassion for each and every student and staff member at our school. We wish them all the very best and know they are welcome to come in and say hello when they get the opportunity.

We commenced their celebrations & farewells with a Graduation Liturgy on Thursday 12th, where we recognised their achievements and successes through their primary school years. The worthy recipients for the awards are as follows:

Mark Dreyfus Award: Community Spirit and Leadership

Declan R

Tim Richardson: Community Spirit & Leadership

Mikki G

Knights of the Southern Cross

Stephanie D

Jack W

Josh G

Principal's Award

Havana M

Ethan F

School Spirit Award

Grace B

Hugo B

On Friday, we celebrated the end of the year with our End of Year Mass and today, the Year 6’s had their Big Day Out where they went rock climbing followed by a pizza lunch at school  (again the weather is not our friend).  After lunch much fun was had with the signing of their Graduation Bears. 

Tomorrow afternoon at 1:30pm we will have our End of Year Assembly, where we will farewell our Year 6’s and introduce our 2025 leaders.

Meet the Teacher

Today we had our final transition session where the children met the teacher they will have next year.

I commend the staff who have put a lot of work into forming the Classes for 2025 – as mentioned in previous newsletters, requests made by parents are considered and are part of the process for class formation. I ask that you respect the decisions made as quite often there are many overlayed reasons for your child to be allocated to a class group each year. 

Specialist 

Physical Education - Miss Hannah Richards

Visual Arts - Mrs Sarah Kimball

STEM - Mrs Deborah Patterson

LOTE - Mrs Marie Talarica

Performing Arts - Mrs Jodie Marziano

Learning Enhancement Team

Hannah Richards

Mel Roberts

Christine Thredgold

Learning Support Officers

Glenn Steweart

Cathryn Scofield

Sigi Goetze

Deb Glossin

Erin McGeoch

Administration

Office Manager - Tracey Stackpole 

Finance Manager  - Fiona Blair

Learning Diversity and Wellbeing Leader - Christine Thredgold

Deputy Principal and RE Leader- Jodie Marziano

Principal - Wendy Sullivan

We are looking forward to working in partnership with our families and working together to give our students the best opportunities for learning in 2025.

Family Farewell

At this time of the year it comes the time to say a sad goodbye to the following families who are leaving us at the end of 2024.

We wish them all the very best for the future and thank them for being a valued part of our St Brigid’s community.

Christmas Carols

Thank you to our wonderful school community for making our Christmas Carols such an outstanding success. The children sang and danced with such enthusiasm and enjoyment and our hall was filled with Christmas joy!

Our hall was overflowing - it was so lovely to see so many parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to share with us our Christmas songs.  I think we could safely say Santa was the favourite of the night, so much so that he barely made it in the gate!

School Shoes for 2025

At our last School Advisory Board a brief discussion was had regarding school shoes for 2025. A lot of children are wearing the leather school shoes that you can purchase from shops like Athletes Foot and Clarks . I am happy for this to occur but they can only be leather and be a “school shoe” not a leather runner and they must be completely black. The shoe can then be worn 5 days a week. 

Below are examples of school shoes you can wear.

Reports Now Live  

School reports went live on Friday 13th December.

As mentioned over the last couple of week's this year your child/ren's school reports are available via the new Nforma App. 

By now we hope you have downloaded the Nforma App and viewed your children's reports.  

The process of downloading the app is very straight forward and once you have the App - it is very user friendly. Please see instructions below.  Moving forward this will mean all information about your child is in one place.

If you have any problems please email Arch Cochrane:  - acochrane@sbmord.catholic.edu.au.

CDFpay powered by Flexi Schools - new app coming soon 

St Brigid's will be using the new CDFpay mobile app for online canteen ordering, uniform shop, events and fundraising at our school from the start of Term 1 2025.   More information will be provided shortly.

Thank you’s

At this time of the year I have so many people I need to thank for their generosity, willingness to help and all the support that is given to us to ensure our students have the best educational opportunities as well as supporting extra curricular activities which couldn’t go ahead without parent support.

Parish Team

Many thanks Fr Andrew and Fr Huy for their ongoing support for our Parish and in particular the Parish Primary School community.   We thank them for welcoming our classes to Mass and for celebrating the Sacraments with us. Fr Andrew and Huy are inspiring leaders in our community, guiding our faith journey and are very supportive of St Brigid’s School—on behalf of the school community we wish you a very holy, happy and safe Christmas.

Families

On behalf of the staff team I thank each and every family for your support of the staff and your children throughout the year. We thank you for working with us and supporting your children in their learning journey.  A sincere thanks to our parent community who have supported our school in so many ways this year; listening to children read, assisting in the classroom, supporting staff on excursions, lending a helping hand to our Fundraising Team - Trivia Night, Mother/Fathers Day Breakfast and the Colour Run (just to name a few) and School Advisory Council. I thank you all for giving of your time and talent to make a difference to our community. 

A simple thank you doesn’t really do justice to how we, as a staff at St Brigid’s value the support, conversations and help you have given both us and your children to ensure they have such a successful year. 

Enjoy a wonderful Christmas with your families and we look forward to you joining us again for the commencement of the 2025 school year. 

Children

As we conclude the school year we reflect on all that has been achieved. As always I am amazed how much we continue to fit into the school calendar. 

What a wonderful addition it was to have our whole school participate in the inaugural St Brigid’s Athletics Day. 

There have been many wonderful opportunities for the children to engage in purposeful learning and the experiences have been rich and varied. 

We thank our children for bringing joy and laughter to our daily work, for being kind and always giving their best. We congratulate our children on the level of engagement that they have demonstrated throughout the year as well as the sense of pride they take in themselves, their work, their belongings, the school buildings and grounds.  We also thank you for the respect that you show each other and all the adults in our community. 

Congratulations to the graduating Year 6 class of 2024! We thank them for being great role models and leaders. We wish them all the very best as they journey into the next stage of their education and their life. We hope that their secondary school years are full of reward, great friendships and learnings that set them up for positive futures. 

We look forward to our Year 5 children stepping up to be our new leaders in 2025, which they have already displayed this year when they have been asked to run Masses or liturgies. We are looking forward to welcoming our 2025 Foundations who will bring their own sense of joy and excitement to our community.   

I congratulate all the children on their efforts this year and hope that the Christmas break will offer them rest and refresh them for another productive year in 2025. 

School Advisory Council

I would like to thank and acknowledge the contribution of the School Advisory Council for the time they have given to sharing in discussions about matters relating to the school throughout the year. I have valued the ideas and thoughts they have shared and through these discussions new initiatives have been implemented at St Brigid’s.

Thank you to Allie, who has led the Council meetings efficiently and effectively with the support of Margeaux (secretary), Alex, Amy and our SBSquad - Vanessa, Lisa, Louise, Kylie and Hayley. Mel is resigning from the Council and we thank her for the contribution she has given to St Brigid's over the years. 

Personally, I would like to thank the Council for the tremendous support they have given me. Your loyalty, approachability and willingness to support the school’s decisions has been wonderful and I feel very fortunate to have had such great Council members to work with.

A big thank you to the SBSquad - Vanessa, Lisa, Louise, Kylie and Hayley, who this year raised over $11,000. What an amazing effort! The money raised has gone towards new Robotics and to help refurbish the library.

Staff

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated staff for their calm demeanour, positive attitude, and passion for teaching and learning. 2024 has been an incredible year for St. Brigid’s, and I am deeply thankful for the extra effort our staff have put in. From planning and delivering engaging learning experiences, to writing reports and ensuring a smooth handover to the 2025 classroom teachers.  Your professionalism has been exemplary. 

A special thanks for helping to create memorable events this year, including the Trivia Night Parent Event, the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist, and Confirmation, various incursions and excursions, the Foundation 2025 Orientation Program, the Art Show, Camp Experiences for Years 4, 5, and 6, the 2024 School Leaders Program, the Big Day Out, Graduation, and many liturgies. The introduction of a whole-school Athletics Day was a fantastic addition, bringing joy to students and staff alike—thank you, Hannah and Mel, for organising such a wonderful event. 

Amidst all these achievements, I am especially grateful for the way our staff consistently support one another and care deeply for our students. This care is evident in the way they prioritise both the wellbeing and academic growth of every child. It has been truly rewarding to see how targeted curriculum delivery has positively impacted our students. 

I extend my sincere thanks to our Learning Support team, whose individual and group programs are invaluable in supporting both our students and teachers. Your work truly makes a difference in the classroom. 

To Jodie, thank you for your unwavering partnership and commitment to the smooth running of the school. Your dedication to our students, staff, and parents is exceptional, and I deeply appreciate all that you do. 

To our School Improvement Team—Jodie, Christine, Cassie, Suzie, and Arch—thank you for your leadership, knowledge, and skills in developing programs and practices that help us grow and learn together as a community. 

A special mention goes to Tracey Stackpole, our ever-flexible Office Manager, whose cheerful manner and willingness to help everyone makes her an absolute joy to work with. Tracey, you make my role as principal so much easier. Fiona Blair, our Finance Manager, has done an outstanding job managing our finances and is always willing to lend a hand. Between Tracey and Fiona, the office has been a rich and rewarding place to work. I am personally grateful to both of you for your incredible support. 

I also want to acknowledge the hard work of Steve and Tania, who maintain our school site to the highest standards, and John and Denver, our wonderful crossing supervisors, whose kindness and loyalty ensure our families cross safely each day. 

Staff Farewell

This year, we also bid farewell to two cherished colleagues, Angela Kavadias and Bec Hampton. Your dedication, enthusiasm, and commitment to St. Brigid’s have been a gift to us all. Thank you for the love and care you have shown to every child and family. We wish you all the very best in your future endeavours. 

END OF TERM - 3.15PM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER

We finish our formal classes for 2024 on Tuesday.  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are School Closure/Time in Lieu Days  for Staff Planning 2025. TheirCare is available for bookings on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The school year for all students commences Tuesday 28 January, 2025 for Staff.  All students return on Wednesday 29 January.

See Dates for your Diary for 2025 dates.

Thank you all for making 2024 such a remarkable year for St. Brigid's. I wish you all a very safe and happy Christmas and you get to spend time with family and friends. 

If you are travelling, please stay safe.

Yours in partnership.

Wendy Sullivan

Principal