Principal's News

Dear Parents, Friends and Families

Car Safety - seat belts on before moving

Just a reminder about car safety around the school. We have noticed some parents are driving off with their children unrestrained. This is quite dangerous as we have a lot of traffic on the roads around our school.  Please make sure your children are fully restrained before pulling away. 

We also ask that children enter the car from the kerbside and not the roadside.  We do understand that this can be difficult with multiple car seats in the car, however your children's safety is our primary concern. 

Kiss and go area - not for parking

A reminder to families  - At St Brigid's we have two Kiss and Go Zones on Chute Street. The Kiss & Go zones are a short term stopping area where drivers are allowed to stop and park the vehicle for a short time – no longer than two minutes – while the student exits or enters the vehicle from the kerbside doors. This enables students to walk between the car and the school, using the safety of the footpath. Parents should not drive away from the Kiss and Go Zone until all occupants of the car are safely restrained.

We ask that all parents be respectful of our Kiss and Go Zones.

Congrats to Georgia B 

We would like to welcome Georgia B to the Catholic family.  Georgia was baptized on Sunday 5th of February. What a special day it must have been for you and your family. 

Child Safe Standards Briefing, Mandatory Reporting, Anaphylaxis Training

As we do at the start of each year, staff have to undertake training in relation to Safety and First Aid.

I have had a briefing with staff in relation to the Child Safe Standards. The aim of the Child Safe Standards is to protect children and young people, by requiring organisations to put policies, procedures and processes in place to prevent and respond to abuse. We have all the necessary polices and procedures in place at St Brigids.

Staff have completed the following eLearning modules:

• Anaphylaxis Training
• Dynamiq Evacuation Training; and 
• Mandatory Reporting eLearning module (which will be complted by all staff by next week)

Our First Aid face to face training will occur in Term 2.

Whole School Excursion - Friday March 31

We are so excited about having our very first whole school excursion (well, since I have been here!) We decided to incorporate a whole school excursion as a celebration, thank you to the students for a great term of hard work and welcome back to school. The excursion will be to Healesville Sanctuary. The children will explore the sanctuary and also participate in an educational session, with the F-4 looking an 'Aboriginal Culture & Life' and the Years 5/6 ‘s are looking at 'Endangered Animals'. 

We are going to leave St Brigid’s at 8.30am so we can spend as much time at the Sanctuary as possible and will leave by 2pm to get back to school by 3.15pm.  An Operoo note will come out next week.

Parents are very welcome to meet us at the Sanctuary and join us for lunch and a walk around the zoo. Admission to the zoo is $42 for adults, children 0-3 are free, 4/5 year olds are $21.00.  Should you wish to join us, families must pre-book tickets prior to arrival - Click here for the booking link.

St Brigid's Parents and Friends Team (P & F)

I would like to thank our P & F team for coming to all the information sessions last week to introduce themselves and explain what the P & F are going to run this year. 

The P & F  executive team are Krista, Georgia, Kate and Alex.  During the information sessions our team asked for Parent Reps in each class. Thank you to all those who offered to take on the role this year. 

The P & F, along with the Parent Reps have a twofold job. One is to encourage social get togethers within their level. It can be as simple as a coffee in the park with the children to a parents dinner out. The other role is to support the P & F team to manage fundraising activities or find parents to help man stalls, wrap easter eggs etc. 

At this stage we have the following Parent Reps:

Thank you for putting your names down to help out. We are looking forward to working with you this year.

Please note the change of date for:

Mothers Day Breakfast - Thursday 11th May so it does not clash with Kilbreda's Mother's Day Breakfast

Trivia Night - moved to Saturday 19th August 

School Advisory Council - Members and Meetings

Our School Advisory Council is made up of 4 executive members and then general members. The School Advisory Council is an advisory council and we discuss what is occurring at school from an academic, fundraising and wellbeing perspective.  All parents are welcome to attend the meetings as it is nice to hear different voices and their suggestions.

Our members for 2023 are:

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Carolyn M for her contribution over the last couple of years.  Carolyn stepped down from her role at the end of 2022.

Meeting dates for 2023:

1 - Tuesday, February 21 at 7pm

2 - Tuesday, May 23 at 7pm

3 - Tuesday, August 8 at 7pm

4 - Tuesday, October 31 at 7pm

4 - Tuesday, November 21 - AGM at 6.30pm 

Scholastic Book Club

Thanks to Erin for taking over the Book Club ordering for our children here at St Brigid’s. Book Club was sent out last week and is due Friday 24 February.  Please note we can only accept online orders.

Aussie of the Month Program

The Federal Government have launched a new program to all schools called “Aussie of the Month” - Reflect, Respect, Celebrate

It will give us an opportunity to recognise one student a month who is contributing to our community and reflecting the following values:

• Fair Go - providing opportunity for all
• Mateship - generosity of spirit and compassion for those in need
• Respect - of self, others, our community and the environment
• Inclusion - celebrating of differences and the rights we are all entitled to.

Once a month, from February to November,  the staff will select a student who demonstrates these qualities and they will be presented at assembly at the end of each month. 

Uniform

Our school cross country is coming up - Friday 24th March. It would be fantastic if all children were in their coloured sports top for that day. If you have not purchased a sports top yet, please do so before the 24th March. Please note our Size 10 Red and Size 10 Yellow tops are currently out of stock.  They will hopefully arrive in the next week or so.

Winter Uniform

As mentioned in my last newsletter our Uniform Shop will close here at St Brigid's on Monday 27th of March.  Moving forward PSW in Cheltenham are taking over the running of our Uniform Shop.  Hats, beanies and girls winter tunics will be the only items sold here at school. All other uniform will be available to purchase online or direct from the PSW Shop at 1 Age Street, Cheltenham.  Families are encouraged to get their winter uniform orders in before our onsite uniform shop closes.  Our Uniform Shop will be open every Friday 2:45pm to 3:30pm from tomorrow until Friday 17th of March.

Yours in partnership

Wendy Sullivan

Principal