Dear Parents, Friends and Families,

Welcome to the Week 8 newsletter - it is remarkable how quickly the weeks are flying by and how settled our children are. It is only 2 and a half weeks until our whole school excursion to Healesville Sanctuary - both the children and staff are very excited about the day. Please remember if you would like to come down and have lunch with us, make sure you pre-book your tickets.

We hope you all had a lovely long weekend and spent time with family and friends. It was lovely to hear of our families who got together and went camping over the weekend. We are so lucky we have such a caring community here at St Brigid’s.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN testing for our Years 3 and 5 students started this week and will continue into next week as well. NAPLAN tests the skills that are essential for students to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy.

It is important to remember that NAPLAN is not about passing or failing, but about assessing learning progress.

NAPLAN is now completed online for all students in Year 3 and 5 with the exception of Year 3 Writing which will be completed on paper.

The NAPLAN assessment for our students will be conducted at the following times:

Wednesday 15th March - 9:00am Year 3 and 5 Writing

Thursday 16th March - 9:00am Year 3 and 5 Reading

Thurs 16th March - 11:30am Year 3 and 5 Conventions of Language

Friday 17th March - 9.00am Year 3 and 5 Numeracy

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK

ST PATRICK'S MASS

As part of Catholic Education Week, Mrs Marziano and Deb will be taking our Liturgy and Community Leaders on Friday into St Patrick’s Cathedral to celebrate St Patrick’s Day Mass with other Catholic Schools across the Diocese. They will celebrate the Mass and then have a lunch and concert in the park. It is great to have these activities back now that COVID is not impacting us with restrictions.

HARMONY WEEK - WEAR A SPLASH OF ORANGE ON FRIDAY 24 MARCH

Next week is Harmony Week. Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds.

It is about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. During Harmony Week students and staff will be participating in activities and next Friday 24th March, we can wear a splash of orange to show our support. It would be great to see all students and staff with a splash of orange to show everyone that we are inclusive and celebrate our differences.

NO ASSEMBLY FRIDAY

Due to our Year 6 Liturgy and Community leaders heading off to St Patrick's Cathedral for Mass on Friday there will be no Assembly this week. Assembly will occur next week instead. At next week's assembly we will announce our second Aussie of the Month!

CROSS COUNTRY

Our House Cross Country is occurring on Monday. We are looking forward to our children enjoying the day and running to get points for their house colours. Remember this event is about everyone trying their best no matter what their finishing position is. They are all winners as everyone earns house points.

All children are to wear their school sport uniform with their new sports tops.

EASTER ACTIVITIES

We have a lot of activities leading up to the Easter school holidays.

Easter Bonnet Parade

Get your thinking bonnets on! We would like you all to create an Easter bonnet to wear on Holy Thursday (6th April). We will have an Easter Bonnet parade at 9am so the bonnets do not get damaged. We will have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize for the best decorated bonnet.

Easter Egg Raffle

Our Easter Egg Raffle tickets went home this week. And the foyer is starting to fill up with delicious Easter goodies. Please remember to have your Easter donation into the foyer as soon as possible. We will be wrapping the baskets on Tuesday 4th of April.

Hot cross buns

Get your Hot Cross Bun order in. The orders close on Friday 24th March.

A big thank you to you all for the wonderful contributions and the willingness to participate in our fundraising activities.

WHAT ARE WE FUNDRAISING FOR???

We would love to raise money for a new playground. School playgrounds are very expensive, as you can imagine due to OH&S and compliance around heights etc for children. We could be looking at a price range anywhere from $50,000 - $200,000.

Please see below for a couple of examples.

CURRENT FAMILIES - ENROLMENTS FOR 2024

We have had a great response to our school tours over the last few weeks. Enrolments for Foundation 2024 are now open and we encourage all families to submit their applications as soon as possible. Our families are our greatest advocates, so please keep spreading the word about our wonderful school to your friends and family. This is the time where we showcase to the community the great work we all do to make our school the best it is.

We also ask our existing families with siblings coming to St Brigid’s in 2024 to come and see us and we will give you an enrolment pack. We are encouraging you to get your applications in early.

With thanks

Wendy Sullivan

Principal

St Brigid's News and Events

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB

ST MARY OF THE CROSS

St Mary of the Cross Parish News