Dear Parents and Friends

Wow!! Can you believe we are in week 9 with only 11 days to go. We have a lot to do in these last days - Graduation, Year 1-6 transition, Foundation transition, Year 6 Big Day Out, End of Year Mass, End of Year Assembly and planning for 2021 just to name a few.

TRANSITIONS

We had our third transition session on Monday, again the children were very excited. Our final transition day where the students will meet their new teacher/s and classmates for 2021 will occur on Monday 14th December. I commend the staff who have and continue to put in a lot of work in forming these groups for 2021. Please remember that your child may not get everybody on their list but they will get at least one friend. Also a reminder that requests made by parents are considered and are part of the process for class formations There are many factors we have to take into consideration when placing students so please trust our judgements and respect our decisions in relation to class groupings. The classroom is a learning space and outside is where they can join with friends and enjoy social time together.

CONFIRMATION

With the COVID layer our 2020 Confirmation looked so different to previous years. We had two Confirmation Liturgies this week and I have to say, even though we could not have everyone at St Brigid’s Church it was such a beautiful and personal service. Many thanks to Fr Andrew for the way he personalised the service even though we were socially distanced. I want to thank Jodie Marziano (REL) for the preparation she has put into the Confirmation on very short notice. Our Year 6 students again reinforced to us what a wonderful group they are - their reverence and participation in the liturgy was absolutely wonderful and we are very proud of them.

Click here for link to 5/6CD & 5/6AH Confirmation Liturgy

Click here for link to 5/6BW & 5/6WR Confirmation Liturgy

BIKE RIDING AND WALKING TO SCHOOL

It is so lovely to see our students walking and riding to school. It is a great way to catch up with friends on the way to school and it builds up independence for our children. However, I have had some emails from parents and concerns from Denver, our school crossing supervisor in relation to road safety. We have had students while waiting for the gate to open performing ‘tricks’ on the gutters near the crossing. This is quite dangerous as we have a lot of traffic on both Chute and Barkley Streets and we do not want anyone to get hurt. Also, with our students who are walking, they are not crossing at the crossings. Some children are crossing at the intersection of Barkley and Chute Street, which again is quite dangerous due to the amount of traffic (and the speed some cars come through at). Can you please remind your children about road safety. Our teachers have spoken to the children today about road safety. Our school gates open at 8:30am so please time your rides so that you are not waiting too long.

ST VINCENT'S CHRISTMAS APPEAL - CASUAL CHRISTMAS DRESS UP DAY - THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER

Each year St Brigid's help our local chapter of St Vincent de Paul with their local food drive. This year supplies are again critically low as we move towards the Christmas period. We are asking all families to bring in a donation of groceries, toiletries or Christmas items. We would like all donations by Friday 11 December. Please check the 'use by' date on all items donated. We will be having a Christmas Dress Up Day next Thursday 10 December. If you bring along a donation you can come to school in Casual Dress with a touch of Christmas!

Some suggested donations are:

Prep - Toiletries - shampoo, toilet paper, toothpaste, tooth brushes, nappies, deodorant

Year 1/2 - breakfast items, cereal, jam, honey, coffee, tea, sugar

Year 3/4 - Rice, pasta, pasta sauce, noodles

Year 5/6 - Condiments & tinned goods - baked beans, tinned vegetables, sauce, soup

Or anything that you could use on a Christmas Table - Christmas pudding, mince pies, serviettes, bon bons.

MOBILE PHONES

Just a reminder that all mobile phones that are brought to school by our students are to be taken into the office as soon as the children come to school. Our school policy is that mobile phones must be placed in the office and collected at the end of the day.

VISITORS ON SITE

Further to my newsletter article regarding visitors on site, it refers to visitors who come onsite to support our children such as: speech therapists, psychologists and other allied Health Services. These visitors must sign in, wear face masks and socially distance.

STAFF CHANGES FOR 2021

This year we are saying goodbye to five staff members who are either retiring or have taken a position at another school.

Mrs Helen Meaden, who is retiring after 40 years in Catholic Education. Helen has done an amazing job over many years as our Literacy Support & Learning Enhancement teacher. Helen is looking forward to taking a well earned rest and spending more time with her beautiful grandchildren.

Mrs Marylene Douglas is taking on a leadership role at St Louis. She will be the Religious Education Leader and the Year 5/6 Lead Learner, so we will continue to see Marylene as we work closely with St Louis with our Sacraments. We thank Marylene for her 18 years of hard work and dedication to St Brigid’s, our students and their families. We wish her all the very best at St Louis.

Mrs Wendy Mertens is also going to St Louis as the Sustainable Leader, and will also have a role in setting up St Louis new Cafe garden. Sustainability is Wendy’s passion and this new position adds another layer to her love of sustainable practices. We look forward to visiting Wendy when we venture over to St Louis. We thank Wendy for her 18 years of dedication to not only our students and family but also her passion for sustainability. She has introduced many sustainable practices here at St Brigid’s and is responsbile for our two Sustainability stars.

Mrs Gabe Sheahan is also on the move. Gabe is taking up a Learning Diversity role at Star of the Sea in Brighton. Again, Gabe is following her passion of helping make sure we are inclusive to all students. We thank Gabe for her commitment and dedication to our students and the support she has given our parents and staff.

Lastly, Mrs Nicolene Cottrell, is leaving us to take on the position of Program Manager at Extend Before and After School Care. We thank Nicolene for the amazing work she has done with our students in number intervention and classroom support across all year levels. Nicolene is leaving tomorrow (Friday 4th).

We wish them all the very best and we will farewell them at our End of Year Assembly next week.

VIRTUAL ART SHOW

We are very excited about our Virtual Art show which will be sent to all families next week. I'm sure you will be so impressed by the incredible work of our students.

TUCKSHOP NEWS

As mentioned in last week's Bulletin Tania and Lina are hanging up their aprons after doing an amazing job over the last 5 years running the St Brigid's Tuckshop. We are now seeking expressions of interest from any other parents who may be interested in running the Tuckshop. Please contact me if you would like to discuss it further.

CATHOLIC EDUCATION CREATIVE ARTS EXHIBITION

We were very excited this morning to receive an email from the curators of the Creative Art Exhibition 2021 to inform us that all of our Art Works submitted for next year's exhibition have been accepted. Congratulations to Isla P (3/4FD), Joe B, Amelia R and Amelia W (5/6WR).

IN SYMPATHY

Our prayers are with the Noble Family this week on the sudden loss of Cathy's Dad, Blake (1/2CD) and Zak's (3/4FD) grandfather, Joe Burke.

Please know that we are all thinking your family during this very difficult time.

Have a great week everybody. Take care when Christmas shopping, be kind to yourselves as it is such a busy time of the year.

Yours in partnership

Wendy Sullivan

Principal

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