Maree's Message

Week 5, Term 3

Prayer

Loving Father,

Bless St Brigid’s Community.

Nurture our students, 

guiding them to grow

as faith filled learners and leaders.

Strengthen our parents,

may they find joy in their roles

and peace in their hearts.

Bless our staff,

nurture their spirits

and help them to feel encouraged 

as they lead the learning.

And may we know,

that you, Lord, are made visible 

through our words and actions. Amen.

First Eucharist ceremonies will take place from this weekend, August 27th, 2022. Please keep our Middle students in your prayers as they celebrate this important milestone in their faith journey. Thank you to Fr Vin, parents and staff who have supported them in their Sacramental preparation.

As previously advised MACS has allocated an additional student free day for schools to use this term for staff professional development. September 2nd will be our student free day, with staff focusing on Mathematics and Well-being.

As part of our annual requirements and my handover preparations, I have been working with our business manager, Michelle Schooling, to organise 2023 school budgets and staffing. MACS requires these to be submitted by end term 3, 2022.

From next term Mel Daly will be Acting Principal and Petrina O’Grady will be Acting Deputy.

Joe Scerri from MACS has begun the 2023 Principal Appointment process.

I thank you all for the support and positive messages I have received as I complete my Principalship at St Brigid’s. I thank Fr Vin, the St Brigid’s staff, students and families, St Brigid’s Advisory Council and St Brigid’s PFA  for their ongoing support and positivity. I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers and ask you to do likewise.

To support our whole school project, we will be running a movie session on Thursday, September 1st - see inside for details.

What a wonderful book week celebration! Thank you to everyone for coming dressed up and to the staff for their enthusiasm in promoting the wonderful world of reading.

Congratulations to all Dads, Grandfathers, Special people in the lives of our children - as you prepare to celebrate Father’s Day September 4th . Thank you to our staff team for organising the Father’s Day Breakfast to take place on Thursday, September 1st from 8am.

Thank you to our PFA for all their hard work in organising and running this stall. September 1st. $5 gifts.

On Friday, September 9th we will be holding a Celebration of Learning, with displays and presentations throughout the school. This day is an extension of our previous ‘Art Show’ and will include a wide variety of our students' learning and passions. Thank you to Aimee Timpson for her beautiful artwork (currently in our school foyer) which will be raffled on this day. See inside for details of the day.

Due to budget implications, we have prioritised the new General Learning Areas for initial building works.

This project is being partially funded by the Victorian State Government.

Thank you to all who came and helped celebrate Fr Gerry’s Ordination. It was a wonderful mass and Fr Gerry deeply appreciated the efforts of all involved.

Congratulations to Lucas, Rado, Lachie and Alexia who represented St Brigid’s at the Sacred Heart Junior Master Chef. Great job.

The Middle School are heading off to Camp in Kyneton on Monday, September 5th. Thank you to all staff members involved in organising and supervising this terrific experience. This camp has been funded through our obtaining a grant.

September 15th, 2022. More details to follow. 

If you have not organised regular payment of school fees with our admin team, please note that all fees are now due. Please arrange payment with our admin team. Please do not hesitate to come and speak with us if you are experiencing hardship, unable to meet the payments or would like to discuss your account with us.

Tome will be involved in supporting the students with their learning, in their learning areas and on the playground and he will also be working small groups of students, generally around social skill development. If he is meeting individual students on an ongoing basis, parents will be contacted beforehand to obtain parental permission and to discuss relevant foci. If you wish to discuss this further please contact Maree.

At St Brigid’s we pride ourselves on our strong learning foci. If you have any concerns at all regarding your child and their learning please do not hesitate to speak with your child’s homeroom teacher, Adam Bremner (Maths), Keena Lane-Kerton (Literacy) or Petrina O’Grady (Learning and Teaching Leader) or with Mel Daly or myself.

We do not encourage the use of SMART Watches at school and take no responsibility for them in regard to loss or damage. 

If parents choose to send a SMART Watch with their child the SMART Watch must be switched to flight mode on entering school grounds and stay on flight mode while being worn on school premises or whilst involved in school events.

During these wet months please send in a change of socks / tracksuit pants with your child. They can be left in your child’s bag in case a change is necessary.

We try to get outdoors as often as possible as we know this helps our learning. 

Please be mindful of school hours 8:50 am to 3:20 pm. I understand that early pickups are often unavoidable due to specialist appointments. However, many parents are collecting their child early for convenience only. Early pickups have a huge impact on the child’s learning and are a disruption to our administration staff and to the general class learning. Please endeavor to refrain from these early pickups.

The enrolment process is now well underway. Letters of offer have been sent. Limited places for 2023 available - please contact Maree.

Please note relevant updated information:

It is currently recommended that RATs are used by students and staff when symptomatic. 

RATs are also required to be used for five days if a student or staff member is a close contact of a confirmed case and they are attending or working at a school.

Students and staff must continue to notify the Department of Health and their school if they return a positive RAT result.

Masks are recommended.

Household contacts attending school who are over 8 years of age are required to wear face masks indoors unless they have a valid exemption.