Dear Parents and Friends,

I hope you have had a wonderful week.

COVID RESTRICTIONS

On Sunday (8th) Daniel Andrews lifted some more restrictions for Metro Melbourne. I received notification from Catholic Education Melbourne yesterday (10th) about how these restrictions affect schools and unfortunately for us there are only minor changes.

As it stands the following still applies to schools:

No parents on site
Year 6 graduation can go ahead with limitations

Year 6 graduations are permitted face-to-face in Victorian schools, however only students from the graduating year level and staff can attend in person. Parents/carers and other family members or friends cannot attend in person but can engage via an online broadcasting of the event, if possible.

All schools are required to follow public health directions and apply the operational health and safety advice to schools during the graduation ceremony. This includes staff and students over the age of 12 years wearing face masks, physical distancing and practicing hand hygiene. Face masks can be removed briefly for photos or giving a speech. Singing and small ensemble groups (10 or less participants) performances can occur outdoors, with physical distancing of at least 5m between the performers and audience. No external performers are permitted.

Excursions can resume! Ideally, this would be just our school at the venue.
Incursions cannot occur.
Transition for our 2021 Foundation students can only occur in groups of 10. Further information will be sent to our Foundation 2021 students this week.

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2020

Yesterday we celebrated Remembrance Day. As a school community we took time in prayer to honour the brave men and women who have fought in all wars, especially in present day warfare. We prayed for all people who have died whilst fighting to protect the rights and freedoms of others. In sharing the ode, listening to the Last Post and sharing a minute silence we showed our respect for all those affected by war, especially for those that have given their life for the sake of peace and freedom for our country and for our world.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

NAIDOC WEEK

This week we have celebrated Naidoc Week. NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is celebrated by all Australians and is a great opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We will culminate our celebrations in our assembly this week- a link will be shared through Skoolbag tomorrow of the pre recorded assembly.

PARISH CHRISTMAS MASS

Due to COVID restrictions gatherings at church are reduced, so Fr Andrew will record our Christmas Mass so we can celebrate together. Father Andrew has asked both St Louis and St Brigid's to participate in the form of photos or videos to complement the Mass.

We are asking families to record a Christmas Message to our parishioners. It would be lovely to see you wearing something Christmassy!! If you do any other Christmas traditions that you would like to share please send us photos eg Christmas decorations around the house, Elf on the shelf.

Could photos and videos please be sent to familyweek@sbmord.catholic.edu.au by Monday 30th November. Thank you in advance.

We will also be taking photos and videos at school of children participating in Christmas activities. You will receive an Ooperoo note asking permission for your child/ren to be included in the videos/photos which will be put in Fr Andrews public youtube site “Catholic Mass with Fr Andrew. "

CLASS STRUCTURES FOR 2021

Our class structures have been set for 2021 and they are as follows:

Foundation x 1 class (20 students)
Year 1/2 x 3 classes (22, 22, 23 students per class)
Year 3/4 x 2 classes (19 and 18 students per class)
Year 4 x 1 (18 students)
Year 5/6 x 4 ( 21 ,21, 20,20 students per class)

SCHOOL ADVISORY BOARD

It is with pleasure that I announce that Caroline Morgan (Henry and Louise R's mother) and Trent Costelow (Adam’s father) are coming onto the board. Thank you for volunteering Caroline and Trent. We look forward to working with you on the Board in 2021.

TEAM KIDS

Thank you to Yasmin Allaf - Director of St Brigid's Team Kids for putting together this Virtual Team Kids Newsletter. The Password is 123. Click here for the link.

2021 YEAR 1-6 TRANSITION SESSIONS

Please remember this is the first of three sessions and the children will not necessarily be with the same children each session. The fourth session is when the children will meet their teacher for 2021. After each session we discuss and evaluate how the session has gone and make changes if required.

In making the lists we take into consideration:

Friendships - at least 1 person from the child's list
Teacher judgment as to who works well together
Parent requests that were sent to me in Term 3.

Foundation 2021 Storytime

Storytime had to be done remotely this year and activity packs were delivered to each of Foundation 2021 Students. They all enjoyed four stories delivered by Mrs Yass and Mrs Finster on youtube. We have loved seeing some of the beautiful work completed by our new students.

St Brigid's Spoonville

Thank you to Sigi and her talented team of students who participated in Art Club. They have made some wonderful Spoon People for our very own Spoonville. Make sure you pop around to the front of the school and visit the St Brigid's Spoonville Community. I wonder if one of them is modelled on me?

Yours in partnership,

Wendy Sullivan

LITERACY NEWS

School communities are invited to contribute to the Kingston Iso Project. This project is about collecting photos, videos, writings and artwork by people in the City of Kingston that reflect their experiences during the Covid-19 isolation time. It’s a local history project to preserve what life was like in 2020. More information can be found here - click here for the link.

Another resource from Kingston is LOTE Online for Kids. This is a resource full of eBooks in languages other than English. It includes classic tales and some early readers which students may enjoy. Over 15 languages are represented. All you need is a Kingston Libraries membership number to access it. More information can be found here.

Caz Yass

Literacy Leader

Community News & Events

Kilbreda Virtual Tours

OLSH College - Attention Year 4 Families

Mordialloc Preschool