Learning and Teaching

Foundation C Get Gardening in Brendan’s Garden

Our most recent Green Team afternoon coincided with the Senior Parish Sports, so we decided to give the Foundation C students the opportunity to spend the afternoon working in Brendan’s Garden. The students had been asking when they could come out and help in the garden, so there was great excitement when they discovered it was finally their turn!

The students enthusiastically planted our layered garden beds with a wonderful selection of herbs. Each student carefully planted their own seedling, including curly-leaf parsley, flat-leaf parsley, coriander, pink-flowering rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano. It was wonderful to see the students taking pride in their plants and learning how to carefully prepare the soil and plant their seedlings.

The students were also busy planting gladioli bulbs underneath the lemon and lime trees. We can’t wait to see the beautiful flowers emerge in spring!

We were very fortunate to have so many wonderful adult helpers join us, including Scott and Jess Young, Maureen (Rhett’s Nanna), Miss Afferi and Mrs Slavin. Their assistance made the afternoon extra special and ensured everyone had plenty of help.

It was a rewarding and enjoyable afternoon in Brendan’s Garden and we were very lucky to have the sun shining brightly as we planted, explored and learnt together. We can’t wait to watch our herbs grow and see the colourful gladioli flowers appear in spring!

Book Week

Next week is one of the most exciting weeks on our school calendar - Book Week! I have such fond memories of Book Week as a child, dressing up as Cinderella in rags, Goldilocks and many other much-loved literary characters. There is something so special about seeing stories come to life and celebrating the joy that books can bring.

This year’s Book Week theme is Symphony of Stories. Just like a symphony brings together different instruments, sounds and melodies, stories bring together characters, ideas, emotions and experiences to create something wonderful. Throughout the week, we will celebrate the many different stories that inspire us, entertain us and help us see the world in new ways.

We have a fantastic week planned.!

Monday – Book Week Dress-Up Day

We will kick off the week with our annual Book Week Dress-Up Day on Monday 24th August, with our parade beginning at 9:00am on the basketball court, weather permitting, otherwise we will host this inside the MPR. Students are encouraged to come dressed as a favourite book character, and we would love to see parents, carers and younger siblings join in the fun and dress up too.

Tuesday – Author Visit

We are very excited to welcome Peninsula-based author Jodie Fitzsimons, who will spend time with our students sharing all about the wonderful world of being an author. Our younger students will enjoy a special story time and Q&A, while our older students will take part in a workshop, developing some magnificent ideas to create characters of their very own.

Book Week in the Library

During Library sessions throughout the week, Mrs Donovan will lead students through a range of engaging activities inspired by this year’s Symphony of Stories theme.

Thursday – Prep Teddy Bears’ Picnic

Our Foundation students will celebrate their very first Book Week at St Brendan’s with a special Teddy Bears’ Picnic! They are invited to bring along a favourite teddy and a much-loved book to share. Their buddies will join them, bringing one of their own favourite stories to enjoy together. What a lovely way to celebrate a love of reading.

Mrs Carr will also hold a special Storytime session for younger siblings and friends in our beautiful library at 2:30pm, where she will read some of the staff’s favourite book choices.

Friday – Literacy Expo

To finish our celebrations, we will host a Literacy Expo on Friday 28th August at 2:30pm and invite families into classrooms to see Book Week activities and discover some of the wonderful learning our students have been doing in English this year. You may even get the chance to read some texts written by our very own St Brendan’s authors.

Whose favourite book?

Finally, keep an eye out on Monday 24th, when every student will bring home a ‘Whose Favourite Book?’ challenge. Our staff have shared their favourite childhood books and provided a clue to help you work out whose book belongs to whom.!

Students and families are encouraged to put their detective skills to the test and return their completed forms by Friday 28th. There will be prizes for our F–2, 3/4 and 5/6 students, with winners announced at assembly in Week 8.

Here are some sneak peeks.

Just like the Very Hungry Caterpillar, I love to wear lots of colour, eat red velvet cupcakes and I once had red, curly hair!

One of my favourites as I am fluent in Italian.

We can’t wait for a wonderful week celebrating books, reading, creativity and the Symphony of Stories that make our school community so special.