Dear Parents and Friends,

What a wonderful Monday it was - we were so excited to see all the children coming in the gate!! There was no ice cream van to celebrate the return (going to multiple sites is not recommended), but choc tops were delivered to the students for a special morning tea on Monday.

We are very busy organising the activities that have been planned and then replanned to suit our COVID conditions.

Just a reminder of a few important dates for your diary, more information on each event will follow shortly:

Friday 12th November - Colour Run, remember if you raise $100 you go into a draw to colour the principal (and a mystery guest!!) a rainbow!
Thursday 11th November - Year 1/2 excursion - Enchanted Maze
Thursday 18 and Friday 19th November - Lifesaving for Year 5/6 ‘s
Wednesday 24th - Friday 26th November - 5/6 Camp Merricks Lodge
Friday 26th November - Year 3 - Sacrament of Reconciliation
Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd December - Year 4 Urban Camp
Thursday 9th December - Year 6 Confirmation - 7pm
Please remember to supply masks for your children.

FOUNDATION 2022 TRANSITION SESSIONS

We are so very lucky to have our first Foundation Transition onsite for our 2022 Foundation students. It will be on Thursday 11th November from 9.15am - 10.45am. We are so looking forward to welcoming them all to St Brigid's.

CLASS STRUCTURES FOR 2022

Please see below the class structures for 2022.

CLASSES 2022
Foundation - 15 Students
Foundation - 15 Students
Year 1/2 - 24 Students	Year 1 - 14	Year 2 - 10
Year 2 - 24 Students
Year 3 - 17 Students
Year 3/4 - 17 Students	Year 3 -8	Year 4 - 9
Year 3/4 - 17 Students	Year 3 - 7	Year 4 - 10
Year 5/6 - 23 Students	Year 5 - 11	Year 6 -12
Year 5/6 - 23 Students	Year 5- 11	Year 6 - 12
Year 5/6 - 23 Students	Year 5 - 12	Year 6 - 11

Colour Run - Next Friday - 12 November

The Colour Run is next week on Friday 12th November. Do your final round of fundraising and prepare yourself for an awesome day! The event will kick off at 2:00pm at George Woods Reserve. See the Operoo Request sent today for all details. We look forward to seeing students get involved and splash some colour around. I am awaiting confirmation from Southern Region Office as to whether we can have parents at the event.

Click here for a video of the fun to come!

Tuckshop - Closed

Our Tuckshop will be closed tomorrow and next Friday 12th November. The Tuckshop will re-open on Friday 19 November. Instead of the usual menu we will be doing weekly special orders eg. Pasta Day, Sushi Day etc for four weeks ending on Friday 10 December. Once the menu for these special days has been finalised we will let you know and ordering will be via CDFpay.

Entry to St Brigid's School Buildings

We received the following directive from Dr Paul Sharkey - Acting Executive Director of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS).

The Directions require a school employer to take reasonable steps to prevent entry of unvaccinated workers or visitors who are, or may be, scheduled to attend a school on or after Monday 18 October 2021. If a school cannot confirm the vaccination status of a worker or visitor to a school site, they are required by the Directions to treat them as unvaccinated and deny permission to enter the school site.

Failure to comply with these Directions could result in the school receiving a fine in excess of$100,000.

The easiest way for visitors to provide proof of vaccination is for the worker or visitor to add theCOVID-19 Digital Certificate to the Service Victoria app. This will allow schools to confirm vaccination status upon check in using existing QR codes at building entry points. Instructions on how to do that are here: https://service.vic.gov.au/covid-19/add-covid-19-digital-certificate. Hardcopies of COVID-19 Certificates will also be accepted.

The health orders apply equally to staff, contractors and volunteers who attend a school site when children are present and, therefore, these orders also apply to priests, parish staff and parish volunteers.

All parents entering the school buildings must do so via the Office and must show proof of vaccination. Unvaccinated workers and visitors are not permitted to enter school buildings. Please remember - these are not rules established by St Brigid's but by the Victorian Government.

Squid Game

The new Netflix TV series “Squid Games” is having an impact on children at schools. Children are naturally curious and through the creative mimicking of behaviours on popular platforms, children are unsuspectingly exposed to adult themes associated with this series. Platforms that include You Tube, Tik Tok, Roblox and Minecraft. Please be aware of this. In addition, traditional playground games such as Marbles are transformed into an opportunity to battle for life and death, not positive interactive opportunities to build resilience, tolerance and friendship.

Squid Games is rated MA in Australia. It is legally restricted to people 15 years of age and above. Click here for further details

Please click on the following link. It provides an informative analysis related to Squid Games. I encourage you to click here and read about the practices employed by content developers to target and pique the interest of young children. Staff at school will monitor and discourage the use of inappropriate actions and phrases by children in and out of the classroom. Respectful Speaking, Active Listening and Care for Everyone and Everything are two of our Show Me Five Rules that will be referenced on these occasions. Should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to speak with your child/childrens’ classroom teacher.

School Fees

School fees are now overdue unless you have a specialised payment plan in place. Families on direct debit payments please review your last statement to ensure that your fees are paid in full by end of year. Thank you to those families who have made recent payments.

If you have any queries please contact Fiona Blair - finance@sbmord.catholic.edu.au

Yours in partnership

Wendy Sullivan

Principal

St Brigid's News and Events