Principal's Report 

~ Positive Education for Life ~

~ Every Person Known, Encouraged, Challenged ~

Dear Parents and Friends of St Brendan’s,

The Lenten Season

We entered the Season of Lent last Wednesday with a beautifully reflective liturgy prepared and presented by our Year 3/4  students and their teachers. Thank you to our students, teachers and family members who helped to make the ceremony truly memorable. We are called as Catholic Christians to experience a ‘change of heart’ during Lent. We are all called to:

Pray

Practise self denial

Practise Almsgiving or acts of charity

For the forty days from Ash Wednesday till Easter Sunday, we are all called to become more thoughtful, patient, generous and Christ-like people. This is what the children in our school are learning about and practising.

2021 Open Day Tours 

Our Open Days Tours for 2021 enrolments will be held on Wednesday 25th March and Tuesday 21st April. Tours start at 9.30am, 11.30am and 5.30pm. There is no need to book, please meet at the office 10 minutes before the commencement time of the tour.

Thank You

Thank you all so much for allowing your children to enter into the spirit of almsgiving and kindness by supporting our cancer fundraiser last Friday. It was so heartwarming to hear the children speak about why they had worn a certain colour, which cancer was represented by the colour, and who they knew who had suffered with cancer. 

The funds raised were being donated to ‘A Big Hug Box’ charity which began in Newcastle. This charity has supported a former member of the St Brendan’s community who is currently living with cancer. She contacted me to express her heartfelt thanks to the children, their families and the staff of St Brendan’s school. She said it was wonderful to still feel a connection with our beautiful school.

I would like to congratulate Ryda Z . for his initiative with this charity. I’d also like to thank other members of the SRC who helped Ryda collect the gold coin donations.  The final total will be announced in our next newsletter. 

A Short School Week

This week is a short one for students. For the first time, our Foundation students will attend school together as a group on Wednesday. All students will have Thursday, Friday and Monday off. This is due to the Staff Conference being held on Thursday and Friday and the Labour Day public holiday on Monday.

At the conference the staff will:

Review and fine tune our new Student Behaviour Policy

Learn about the practice and benefits of yoga, mindfulness and meditation training for children

Further develop a team culture that will best place us to support the learning needs of all students in our school

Changes to Parking Arrangements Along the School Fence Line on Austin Road

I have been informed by the Mornington Shire Council that works will commence this March to remove a dead tree and place timber bollards along our fence line so that people will no longer be able to park there. This is due to many complaints from neighbours on Austin Road. Please park inside the school grounds or on the street near the back entrance to the school. Thank you.

 All parents please note: The Junior Drop Off and Pick Up Area is a Kiss and Go Zone only. 

If  you need to get out of the car to assist your children, please park to make traffic flow easier. Thank-you.

Cultural Classrooms - Visitors from Far North Queensland

Yesterday the children and staff were privileged to welcome Roger De Vos from Culture Connect and Vince Harrigan, a aboriginal man from Normanby Station, a traditional owner of the Balnggarrawarra people in Far North Queensland.

All children attended an assembly and then our Year 3 - 6 students attended a workshop/question and answer session. For the children, it was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal History and Culture. Our new Indigeneous Leaders: Jack S, Rhiley M, Anni O’B and Amelia McN made our visitors extremely welcome as they led them on a tour of the school. Thank you to Mrs Jenny Riddell who so expertly coordinated and led the day.

Have a great week and a safe and wonderful long weekend.

Sue Carr

PRINCIPAL

Photos of Shrove Tuesday