Dear Parents and Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day and enjoyed the time with your mum and your children.

It was such a beautiful day weather wise - just what our mums deserved!

The Royal Children’s Hospital spoke on the news last week about the spike in children's flu and RSV. If your child is unwell, we do ask that you keep them at home, to give them the opportunity to recover and to reduce the spread of infection here at school.

NATIONAL WALK SAFELY TO SCHOOL DAY

Primary school children right across Australia will take part in the National Walk Safely to School Day tomorrow. We will meet at the Ben Kavanagh Park at 8am and make our way together to school.

Did you know that until the age of 10 children must hold an adult’s hand when crossing the road?

This year National Walk Safely to School has teamed up with Road Safety Week and to show our support, please wear a yellow ribbon in your hair or around your wrist.

We are looking forward to seeing as many of our F-4 students, mums, dads and siblings on the day to walk with us.

CYBERSAFETY TALK FROM MOORABBIN POLICE FOR OUR YEAR 5/6 STUDENTS

On Monday we had Leading Senior Constable Runnalls from the Cybersafety Proactive Policing Unit come and talk to our Year 5/6 students about cybersafety. I thought it was a good idea to include in the newsletter the recommendations she suggested.

The recommendations were:

Make sure your settings are private or friends only.
Delete people you have accepted as friends if you do not know them or have never met them - they are not your friends.
Parents should know their children’s usernames and passwords for all online accounts
Fake accounts - lots of children create fake accounts so parents do not know what they are doing online.
All online activities should be done in full view of parents.
Know who to report unsafe behaviour too and how to block people.
When talking to friends online, do it via Facetime.

If anything occurs online please report to the:

eSafety Commissioner and/or Kids Helpline

Information some of our Year 5/6 students took away from the presentation:

Jack (Yr5) - Not everyone is who you think they are - if you do not know them do not add them as a friend when playing online games

Havana (Yr5) - The average age of people who play games online is 34!

Aisling (Yr6) - There was a law made called Brodie’s Law after a child who was bullied online

Hunter (Yr 6) - It is really important to keep your accounts set to private or friends only.

I hope this might help to start a conversation with your children about being safe online. The online world can be difficult to navigate safely, changes occur often making it difficult to keep up to date!

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING

Our School Advisory Council Meeting for Term 2 is on Tuesday 23rd May (next week). All parents are welcome to attend.

If you would like to attend can you email me at wsullivan@sbmord.catholic.edu.au to ensure we have an adequate number of agendas and reports available.

ASSEMBLY - FRIDAY 26TH MAY - CHANGE OF TIME

Due to our F-4 Disco being held on Friday 26th May, we will move the assembly to 11.30am (5/6 interschool sport is on in the morning). This assembly will be a liturgy for National Sorry Day.

LIFE ED

The Life Ed Team have come back to visit us after the educator fell ill. Our F - Year 4 students have all participated in Life Ed this week and our Year 5/6 will have their turn on Monday 29th of May.

What did you learn in the Life Ed Van?

Grace 1/2 - I learnt how to show kindness.

Ben 1/2 - You should say kind words the most.

Eloide 3/4 - You should be nice to people and show them respect.

Blake 3/4 - I learnt how to be a better friend and not to be rude to them.

YEAR 5/6 WARATAH BAY CAMP

Well, our 5/6 students are into their second day of camp - they are having a wonderful time.

They have been surfing, swinging on the giant swing, playing beach volleyball as well as other activities that involve cooperation and communicating with each other.

FAMILY WEEK

This week we celebrate Family Week. It is a perfect time to come together to celebrate the power of love and family relationships in all their diversities, and the importance they play in our lives and community. See our brainstorm on what family means to our children.

REPORT WRITING & FORTNIGHTLY COMMUNICATION

As our teachers are busy writing reports over the next two weeks our Fortnightly communication with families won't take place. Please rest assured our teachers will reach out to you, if required. Our fortnightly communication will commence again from Monday 5th of June.

AUSSIE OF THE MONTH

Congratulations to Jessica L (3/4D) who is our April Aussie of the Month. Jessica was nominated because she always takes the initiative to help others, not just in her class but in different classes, which is witnessed by all teachers. She has a positive attitude and always comes to class with a big smile!

JUNIOR MAYOR

We would like to wish Tabitha, Camilla, Zara and Ruby all the best when representing St Brigid’s at the Junior Mayor presentation next Thursday. All Year 6 students in groups of 4 created a presentation, presented to the class and Year 6 teachers and then one group was elected to represent us at the ceremony.

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK

We speak often about the good name we have in the community and in the last two weeks this has been very evident. I spoke at assembly how the swimming teachers said how exceptionally well behaved our children were during their swimming lessons and how much they supported each other. On Tuesday we received a phone call from Ryan who runs Bakers Delight in Mordialloc just to let us know how wonderful, kind and thoughtful our parents are. Ryan has given all our families 1 loaf of free bread a day (if you followed the instructions on the letter given out early in May) and he said how grateful all our parents were and how lovely they were to his staff. We also had feedback from PSW - our new uniform suppliers. All of the staff have commented on how lovely the St Brigid's families have been who have visited their store.

MACS DIGITAL AMBITION PLAN FORUM FOR PARENTS

MACS are inviting families to contribute to thier Digital Ambition Plan. If you are interested in participating in the Digital Ambition Plan please click here for the Parent Information flyer.

Below is the letter I received from MACS

If you are a parent of children in a Catholic primary or secondary school in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, you are invited to share your voice to contribute to the Digital Ambition Plan for Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS). Your views are critical to ensure that technology reflects the needs of students and school communities into the future.

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and the plan needs to reflect the changes as well as stay true to the direction of Catholic education.

Please download the flyer invitation to have your say either via a survey or to attend our online forum on Monday 22nd May at 7PM, delivered by staff and in partnership with Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools.

Click here to download the Primary Parent invitation

Regards,

Rachel Saliba

Executive Officer - Catholic School Parents VictoriaPO Box 3, East Melbourne Victoria 8002

Mob: 0419 371 876

I also wanted to take this opportunity to let families know that I unfortunately have to have some surgery on my shoulder. I will be away from shool from Wednesday 31st of May to Friday 9th of June. My aim is to then split my time between working from home and coming into school (depending on my drivers) until the end of Term. Have a lovely weekend.

With thanks

Wendy Sullivan

Social and Fundraising Team