Principals Report

Dear Parents, Carers, and Friends of St Brendan's,

Welcome back to Term 4 I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable holiday break.

Our first week back certainly kept us on our toes. Over the holidays, we experienced significant water damage across our admin area, staffroom, staff toilets and library. Navigating these unexpected maintenance issues made Week One quite challenging for our team. I want to extend a massive thank you to our wonderful staff  for their patience, flexibility and positive attitude as we work through the cleanup and restoration process.

Despite the rocky start to the week, our students have jumped straight back into their many and varied learning opportunities across their first week back. We have already enjoyed two fantastic excursions to kick off the term. Our Year 1/2 students had a wonderful time exploring marine life at the Melbourne Aquarium, while our Year 5/6 students experienced the wonder of the giant screen at IMAX. It is always a pleasure to see our students representing St Brendan’s so beautifully out in the community.

We are commencing planning our class structures for the 2027 school year.

Placing students into new class groups is a complex process. Our leadership and teaching teams make these decisions based on professional knowledge of our students' academic, social and emotional needs.

To create balanced learning environments, we place students using the following criteria:

• Gender balance: Maintaining as close to an equal balance of genders as possible.
• Academic mix: Ensuring a diverse spread of learning abilities across all classrooms.
• Support distribution: Evenly distributing students who require additional learning support.

To ensure a fair and objective process, we cannot accept parental requests for specific classroom teachers or specific friendship placements. Classrooms are micro-communities that reflect the wider world where learning to adapt to different peers and educators is vital for your child’s academic and personal growth. Please trust our staff's professional judgment to place your child in an environment where they will thrive.

Action Required: Submitting Placement Concerns

If you have a strong educational or wellbeing concern regarding your child's placement, you must outline it in writing:

• Send your email exclusively to me at scarr@sbsomerville.catholic.edu.au. 
• Do not send requests to classroom teachers or other staff.
• All submissions must be received by Friday 16 October. Emails received after this date will not be considered.
• While we consider all formal submissions during our deliberations, please understand that we cannot guarantee requests will be met. If we need to discuss your letter further, I will contact you directly to arrange a conversation.

2027 Class Structure Update

We are delighted to announce that for the first time, we will welcome 61 Foundation students across three Foundation classes next year. This growth brings our school to a total of 15 classes for 2027.

Our full class structure for next year will be:

• 3 x Foundation
• 5 x Year 1/2
• 4 x Year 3/4
• 3 x Year 5/6

Thank you for your continued partnership, trust and respect as we finalise these important decisions for our students.

With the change of season, please note our Term 4 school uniform requirements. In line with our sun-smart policy, school hats must be worn during recess and lunchtime starting from the beginning of Week Two (Monday 12 October). Additionally, all students wear full summer uniform on Thursday 15 October for our whole school photo. We will transition to full summer uniform on Monday 26 October. Thank you for ensuring our students are well presented in full and correct uniform and that they stay sun-safe.

Looking ahead, the excitement is rapidly building for the St Brendan's Art Show, which will be held this Wednesday from 2:00pm to 5:30pm. Our students have been working incredibly hard on their masterpieces, and we cannot wait to showcase their amazing creativity to you all.

While you are enjoying the artwork, please don't forget to buy your raffle tickets from the school office, and please be aware that you can also purchase them at the Art Show itself. We have some truly amazing prizes on offer, and you have to be in it to win it. Thank you for your ongoing support of our school community, and I look forward to seeing many of you at the Art Show on Wednesday afternoon where we celebrate our amazing Art teacher, Meaghan Greenland and the talented students of St Brendan’s.

Warm regards,

Sue Carr