Miss Petrina's Message
Term 3, Week 7
Over the past two weeks, our school has been buzzing with learning, growth, and community. Students have enjoyed exploring toys of the past and discovering different perspectives of history, while our junior maths intervention has commenced to support targeted learning. We also launched our MHIPS programs with students and are continuing to seek bike donations for our Geared Up mental health initiative. In classrooms, we have begun exploring personalised meditation techniques, encouraging calm and focus throughout the day. Parents are warmly welcomed to respectfully join us in morning prayer as we begin each day together. We also celebrated our talented Master Chef winners, who were acknowledged across the school, and gathered as a faith community for our Eucharist Family Night – a special evening of prayerful reflection.
Morning Meditation
At St Brigid’s we are always seeking meaningful ways for our students to connect with themselves, with others, and with God. After some recent reflection and discussion with staff and students, we are trialling a new approach to our morning meditation.
Each day will still begin together as a school with our Vision Statement and the ringing of the meditation bell over the loudspeaker. From there, each class will continue their morning meditation in their own unique way. This may include prayerful silence, song, drawing reflections, “praying in colour,” guided meditations, or other practices that help students feel calm, focused, and connected in prayer.
By allowing classes to personalise their meditation time, we hope to build greater engagement, deepen reflection, and strengthen students’ relationships with God. Teachers will also be sharing ideas with one another so that, over time, we can develop a rich bank of meaningful practices that inspire and support all students.
This is a trial for the remainder of the term, and we will review it together as a staff community next term. Our intention is to ensure that meditation remains a prayerful and enriching part of each day for every child.
We thank you for your support as we continue to grow in faith and wellbeing together.
Respectful Communities – Working Together
As a school, we are committed to building a safe, supportive and respectful community for all. The Respectful Communities poster highlights the ways families can partner with us to nurture positive relationships, model kindness, and support our shared values. By working together, we can ensure our children feel valued, respected and ready to learn each day. We encourage parents to take a moment to read the poster and reflect on how we can continue to strengthen our school community through respect and understanding.
Phones and Smart Watches
This is a reminder that all students must hand in their phone and/or smart watch to the front office before the start of school or upon their arrival at school.
Communication with families during the school day is conducted by school staff. If a child needs to communicate to their family for a specific reason, then the staff contacts home on their behalf. As smart watches become more popular as a means of communication, we remind children that they are to be left at the front office during school hours.
PBL Spotlight
At St Brigid’s, one of our core focuses is supporting students through our Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL) approach. Each week, classroom teachers deliver PBL lessons that help students understand and practise our school-wide expectations of being safe, respectful and responsible. At times, we also gather as a whole school so that these important messages can be shared collectively. This allows all children from Prep to Year 6 to hear consistent messages, engage in meaningful discussions back in their classrooms, and build a shared understanding across our school community. Our current whole-school goal is centred on Respect. In the classroom, this looks like allowing others to learn, listening attentively to the speaker, and following instructions. In week 8 and 9 we will gather together as a whole school community to learn about PBL in a Catholic school and with a strong focus on our core value of respect.
Parent Teacher Interviews for Term 3
Parent-teacher interviews will be held over two nights on Tuesday 16th of September from 2pm - 4:50pm and Wednesday 17th September from 3pm to 4:00 pm. If you would like an interview please book via the Online Schools Interview Site .
NOTE: Please be advised that Michelle Haller and Annie Irwin will host interviews in Term 4 upon Michelle's return. We thank you for your support.
https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au and use the code dxybm
Bookings will open Thursday 28th August 9am and will close Friday 12th September at 3 p.m.
MACSSIS Survey
In 2025, our school is participating in Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS). MACSSIS is an annual process whereby schools listen to the thoughts and feelings that students, families and staff have about how their school can improve. These surveys help inform the ongoing improvement of schools across the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
One of the main goals of the family survey is to identify the strengths and areas for improvement in our school. MACSSIS data benefits everyone within our school and provides valuable community insights on areas that each school can focus on. Our school believes it is important to encourage families to have a voice and contribute to shaping the ongoing improvement of the school.
The survey is available online via a link and PIN emailed to each family, and needs to be completed by Friday 19 September 2025.
Eucharist Reflection Day and Sacramental Night
On Thursday 21st August, our Middles students engaged in a whole day of Eucharist themed Reflection day. We discussed Eucharist as a call to action to live out the church's mission of spreading God's love. When we go to mass our spirits are nourished by gathering, connecting, listening to God's word and sharing in his blessed meal as a community of Faith. When we leave church we are called to live each day with a focus on living in accordance with Jesus' example of living, loving and serving others as he did with kindness, compassion, empathy, inclusivity and care.
Our day encompassed creating pray for me cards for our commitment masses to ask for the parishioners prayers and thoughts as we embark on our Sacrament. We also made hearts for Foodbank, to give people our loving thoughts and to be spiritually uplifting when they might need it. We also looked at Matthew's gospel recount of the Feeding of the 5000. This miracle shows us that Jesus will always provide for our heart, soul and spirit when we have faith. This story connects to Eucharist as Jesus broke the break and blessed it. At a spiritual level, it asks us to take up his invitation to act in response to the needs of others in our lives, to respond to the 'hungers' before us, to find within us what people need to be fed and nourished. Some people are hungry for food, others for love, care, kindness, understanding or friendship. Students looked at artworks inspired by this story and we then created our own reflections on the scripture through our art. We sang, we connected and we enjoyed the help and company of our parishioners who came to assist us in our works.
A huge thank you also to all our Communicants and their families who attended our Eucharist Sacramental night. We hope the time spent together was meaningful and reflective. We know that Eucharist is our spiritual food to go out into the world and live, love and serve as Jesus did with compassion, kindness and inclusion. May we always be grateful for what we have and how we can give of ourselves with our hearts, words and actions to those who need it. We are looking forward to your First Communion in a couple of weeks.
Interschool Cricket
On Tuesday, September 3rd, our school’s boys and girls cricket teams took part in the Interschool Cricket Competition, playing against other schools from across the Macedon Ranges. The event was held at Dixon Field and showcased a great display of skill, teamwork, and sportsmanship.
Our boys team performed exceptionally well, finishing 3rd overall. A big thank you to Craig Robertson for coaching and supporting the team on the day, his guidance played a key role in their success.
The girls team showed fantastic improvement with every match they played, growing in confidence and teamwork as the day progressed.
Congratulations to all students involved for representing our school with pride!