Principal's News

Dear Parents and Friends,

Welcome back! I hope you all had a relaxing break. Whether you went away or stayed close to home, I hope the holidays gave you some special time with your family. It’s been lovely hearing the children share stories about their adventures.

Can you believe Week 1 is already done?  This term may be shorter (just 9 weeks!), but it’s full of exciting learning and fun — finishing with our much anticipated school production:

School of Rock!

 We can’t wait to see it come to life.

🏃‍♀️ Athletics Carnival

Third time lucky — and what a beautiful day! The weather was perfect and the kids gave it their all. We’re so proud of the effort, enthusiasm, and sportsmanship shown by every student. A huge thank you to our amazing helpers: Anne, Erin, Cliedi, Aodhan, Elias, Leah, Eva G’s grandad, and Jacob F’s grandad — we couldn’t have done it without you!  In case I missed anyone we greatly appreciated your help too!

Quote of the day goes to Lily W in 1F who proudly told us she had just won her Twenty-Oneth ribbon!!

✝️ Confirmation

This Saturday, our Year 6 students will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. We’re so proud of them and know it will be a special day for their families.

Today, Bishop Tony visited and spoke with the children — as always, he made them feel calm and confident and even remembered all their names and their Saints’ names!

Congratulations to: Nicholas, Ava, Charlotte, Mason, Luke, Spencer, Laylah, Gemma, Daphne, Dash, Blake, Isaac, Rafael, Josh, Iris, Louise, Thomas, Saoirse, Liam, and Tahlia.

🏫 Open Classrooms

This term we’ll be holding an Open Classroom afternoon in place of our usual Celebration of Learning. You’re invited to come into your child’s classroom and take a look at their work. We’re doing this instead of our usual celebration to allow more time for production rehearsals. More details to come soon!

⏰ Arriving at School On Time

Just a friendly reminder that students need to be in their classroom by 8:45am to start the day settled and ready to learn. Classrooms open at 8:40am. If arriving late, students must sign in at the office and then head to class quietly. They’ll have time later to unpack — this keeps disruptions to a minimum and helps learning get underway smoothly. Thanks for your support with this!

⛑️ First Aid Training & Anaphylaxis Reminder

This week, staff completed the first part of our First Aid training, including CPR, using an AED, and managing asthma and anaphylaxis. Our assessors were really impressed with the team’s skills — a great result for everyone’s safety!  

As we begin Term 3 it is also timely to remind all families that we have a number of children at St Brigid's with life threatening allergies.

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that is potentially life-threatening. The most common causes of anaphylaxis in schools are allergies to food and insects (bees).  To help manage allergies, our school is following the National Allergy Council’s Best Practice Guidelines for Anaphylaxis Prevention and Management in Schools.

The Best Practice Guidelines recommend an Allergy Aware approach, which means we are supporting students at risk of anaphylaxis in the following ways:

• training staff

• educating students about allergies and anaphylaxis

• teaching students that we all have different needs and to be respectful of others

• teaching students the importance of getting help immediately if their friend with allergy looks sick.

For food allergies, we are also:

• encouraging students with food allergies to wash their hands before and after eating

• encouraging students to wash their hands after eating something their classmate or friend is allergic to

• teaching students not to share food with friends who have food allergy.

Food allergies are common in school aged children and avoiding the food is the only way to prevent an allergic reaction. Therefore, we have put a range of different things in place to help keep these students safe. 

Nuts: We do ask parents to avoid sending products containing nuts to school in an effort to limit the chances of children with anaphylaxis being exposed to nuts. We have also chosen not to stock nuts and nut products in our canteen.

We ask you to support the school’s Allergy Aware approach so that we can increase safety and provide an environment that meets the needs of all our students.

We thank you for helping our school be “Allergy Aware”.

❓Trivia Night – Saturday 9 August!

Our Parents’ Social Trivia Night is coming up on Saturday 9th August. We have two tables left!! Get your tables together — it’s always a great night. We hope to see you there!

💻 Free Parent Webinar – AI & Online Safety

Catholic Network Australia and the Cyber Safety Project are hosting a free online webinar on Monday 11 August (7.30–8.00pm) to help parents understand AI and digital safety.

Topics include:  AI tools, deepfakes, online misinformation, and how to support safe and ethical tech use at home. Click here to Register.

👵 Grandparents & Grandfriends Day – Friday 1st August

We’re excited to celebrate our wonderful grandparents and special friends next Friday. We’ll begin with a Liturgy in the hall, then classroom visits and a lovely morning tea. All guests will be greeted at the hall to sign in — a quick requirement we promise won’t take long!

🎭 School Production – School of Rock

The big event is getting closer! The students are working hard on their songs, and in Week 5, Stomp will join us to teach the dance routines. Please check the costume list below to make sure you have everything your child needs.

📚 Book Week & Book Fair

This year we kick off Book Week with our Book Fair in Week 4 - Monday 11th August to Thursday 14th August.  Our annual Book Fair is one of our biggest fundraising activities each year. We then follow on with Book Week and its celebrations in Week 6.  

We have some great activities planned during Book Week including our annual Book Week Parade.

Book Week Parade - Monday 18th of August - 9:00am - Come Dressed as your Favorite Book Character

Get your thinking hats on about your costume! The teachers have already planned their costumes! 

💯 100 Days of Foundation

Next Thursday, our Foundation students will be celebrating their 100th day of school! Expect to see a few “older” faces around — they’ll be dressing up and enjoying special activities, followed by a fun camp-style experience after school.

🗓️ Dates for Your Calendar

• Sat 26 July – Confirmation
• Mon 28 July – Year 1/2 Museum Excursion
• Thurs 31 July – Foundation 100 Days of School
• Fri 1 August – 9:00am to 10:30am - Grandparents/Grandfriends Day
• Mon 11 August to Thursday 14 August - Scholastic Book Fair
• Mon 18 August – Book Week & Parade
• Tues 2 Sept – Father’s Day Stall
• Wed 3 Sept – Father’s Day Breakfast
• Thurs 4 Sept – Year 4 Camp (Sovereign Hill)
• Mon 15 Sept – Dress Rehearsal at school
• Thurs 18 Sept – Full-day Rehearsal at St Louis de Montforts - 7:00pm - School of Rock at St Louis de Montforts

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We’re looking forward to a fantastic term ahead!

With thanks,

Wendy Sullivan

Principal