Principal's News

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

It’s hard to believe we have already nearly finished our first week of Term 4! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, spending time together as a family and catching up with friends.

Our children certainly enjoyed a wide variety of experiences over the break, from local adventures to the zoo, museums and parks, to travels across the state, interstate, and even overseas! They’ve come back full of stories and excitement to share.

Please make sure you read all communication from us so you stay up to date:

• Newsletters

• nForma

• Emails

School Uniform

Finally, the sun is starting to peek through the clouds after a long and cold winter! This term, full summer uniform is to be worn  including hats. Our policy remains No Hat, No Play, which means students without a hat will need to stay under the verandahs.

Please remember:

• Sports shoes are only to be worn on PE days (unless notified otherwise).

• Hair should be neat — no extreme styles (e.g. shaved sides), and hair below the collar must be tied up. - we have noticed some shaved sides and colour is coming into the school. Please be mindful that it is not part of the uniform and goes against the enrolment policy

• Jewellery should be limited to small stud earrings and a necklace with a cross or religious symbol.

• Nail polish must be clear only.

   

As the weather can still be unpredictable, winter uniforms may be worn on colder days for the first two weeks of term and we will give you 2 weeks of amnesty for hats.

Good Luck & Congratulations

A big congratulations to Inara, Ava, Jess, Jasper and Harry, who represented St Brigid’s at the Kingston Division Athletics today! What an amazing achievement - we are so proud of you!

Postscript: At time of publishing we are very excited to announce that Harry came 1st in the 800m and 2nd in the 1500m.   Ava came 2nd in Shot Put.  Harry and Ava will now go on to compete at Regionals.  Jessica did a PB in Triple Jump.  No results as yet for Jasper and Inara. Well done to all!

Biketober

Biketober is a fun, friendly competition to get everyone, students, parents and teachers, travelling actively to school. You can walk, ride, scoot, park further away and walk or catch the walking school bus to school each Friday this October. A reminder that our walking school bus leaves the 'Peanut' Park, Cnr of Chute and MacDonald Streets, every Monday and Friday morning during Term 4 at 8:15am!

Dates: 

• Friday 9th October 

• Friday 16th October 

• Friday 23rd October 

• Thursday 29th October

   

Classroom teachers will record students' methods of getting to school and we will go into a competition to try and win a sports equipment voucher for the school. 

This year we are putting on a breakfast to celebrate all those who travelled actively to school. The breakfast will be held on Thursday the 29th of October from 8:30am - 9.00am. The breakfast is kindly funded by the Kingston Council.  

We look forward to seeing everyone actively travelling to school this October. 

Happy walking, riding or scooting!

Italian Day - Friday 23 October

St Brigid’s  is excited to celebrate Italian Day!

Italian Day will be a fun-filled day celebrating Italian language, culture, food and traditions, with lots of exciting activities planned for our students.

As Italian Day falls during our Cultural Week celebrations, we will also be celebrating and embracing the many different cultures and traditions that make our St Brigid’s community so special.

Students are invited to come to school dressed in something connected to Italy or their own cultural heritage.

Some ideas include:

• The colours of the Italian flag

• An Italian soccer player or sporting outfit

• An Italian storybook character, such as Pinocchio

• A famous Italian person, such as Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo

• Something representing Italian culture

• Traditional Italian clothing

• Traditional or cultural dress representing your own family’s culture

   

Please do not feel that you need to buy or hire a costume. Simple, homemade and creative outfits are fantastic!

Please keep the weather in mind when choosing an outfit and ensure students wear comfortable shoes, as they will be moving around the school throughout the day. Please do not send students to school with expensive, valuable or precious items as part of their costume.

Students will have the opportunity to show off their outfits during a whole school costume parade in the school hall. Parents and families are welcome to come along and watch the parade, which will take place after morning drop off at 8:50am. This will be followed by an exciting Italian Amazing Race!

Students will be placed into mixed-age groups and travel around the school to complete a range of fun Italian-themed challenges and activities. Each group will receive an Italian passport and work together to complete their challenges and collect stamps along the way. Students will have the opportunity to practise their Italian, learn more about Italy and its culture, and have fun working with students from different year levels.

Thank you for your continued support, we can't wait to celebrate Italian Day with our St Brigid’s community!

Save the Date - St Brigid's Art Show - TONIGHT - 6pm to 8pm

Our school is looking spectacular!!!  We can't wait to show you the incredible work or our students - including painting, collage, sculpture, papier mache and animation.  So many exciting things to view and admire! Tickets ON SALE NOW via CDFpay Flexischools App - Adults $10.00 - children 12 and under - free or can be purchased at the door - cash or Eftpos.

Art Show Class Auction

Our stunning student artwork is officially open for bidding at 6pm tonight.

We are thrilled to open our online Class Artwork  Auction ahead of this year's annual Art Show.  Every single piece was lovingly created by our incredibly talented classes, and now you have the chance to take a masterpiece home.

Whether you want a beautiful keepsake for your living room or a special memory of your child's school year, every bid directly supports our school programs.

How to Participate:

Browse & Bid - Check out the Class Artwork online.  Bids opens at 6:00pm TONIGHT.

See them in person - All class canvases will be on full display at our Art Show Thursday night.

Auction Closes: Bids close at 12noon on Thursday 15 October.  Don't miss out!

Click here for the link to our Auction site.

Tuckshop

Our tuckshop team are on holidays and won't be back until Friday 6th of November.  Don't worry though we are looking forward to our special Pizza and Gelato lunch on Friday 23rd of October to celebrate Italian Day.  We will be enjoying Hawaiian and Magherita pizza!  This lunch will be provided by the school.  If you have any dietary concerns please speak to your child's classroom teacher.

School Advisory Council

Our next School Advisory Council meeting will be held on Thursday 15th October at 7:00pm. All welcome.

Parking

Kingston City Council’s Parking Enforcement team will be commencing school patrols and applying the road rules to ensure compliance and safety around schools in the morning and afternoon throughout the last term.

Council will be prioritising schools that receive concerns from School Crossing Supervisors and concerns from public, as well as the schools themselves with parking enforcement.

Council’s Parking Enforcement team will be enforcing the road rules for illegal parking that is observed, and due to plenty of warnings that have been conveyed throughout the year to parents illegally parked, the team will be enforcing Infringement Notices for any illegal parking.

Some of the parking offences observed are due to parents overstaying in timed areas are in the following:

• No parking signed areas (often have ‘Kiss and Go’ signage) which allows only 2 minute parking.

• 2-minute zones

• 5-minute zones

• 10 minute zones

• 15 minute zones

While these seem harmless, they have a flow on effect for more dangerous parking due to no turn over such as:

• No stopping zones
• Bus Zones
• Double parking
• Parked over school crossings which is vital for sight line
• Too close to the intersection

Council has unfortunately had repeated reports of verbal abuse and threatening behaviour towards parking enforcement officer’s last term. Please note, this will not be tolerated by Council and any reports of this will be referred to the police to follow up.

We also remind families not to use the staff carpark due to health and safety regulations.

Allergy Aware

As we begin Term 4, I thought it was timely to remind families that we do have students at St Brigid's with life threatening allergies.  We are seeking your help to support these students in our school.

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.  In younger primary classes, we may send letters home to suggest ways to support a child with food allergies that are additional to those listed above.

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.

Thank you for helping our school be “Allergy Aware”.

 🏅 Champions Corner

A BIG Congratulations to Inara who recently particpated in the Ballarat Girls Cup 2026. Inara’s team from Elite Football Academy, finished as First Runner-Up. There were eight teams in her age group that participated in the tournament.

Well done.  We are so proud of you Inara.

Nforma Connect App

Parents are reminded that Nforma released a new app in July called nForma connect.  The old app is now no longer in operation.  All families are asked to download the new nForma Connect app as this is our primary way of contacting you with updates, notices, school reports and excursion requests.  Families are also asked to regularly check your children's profile and update medical information as required. 

We also note that the Audiri App was decomissioned by our school at the end of last year.  Parents please don't send notifications through the Audiri App as they will not reach us.

Assembly

We will have our firsst Assembly for Term 4 tomorrow at 2:15pm.This is a general assembly.  All welcome.

Warm regards,

Wendy Sullivan

Principal