Principal's Report 

~ Positive Education for Life ~

Every Child Known, Encouraged, Challenged and Supported

Dear Parents and Friends of St Brendan’s,

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Last Friday, we were privileged to witness the truly beautiful and heart warming spirit of our school community in action. Led by the initiative of Molly Trotter, Matthew Corbridge and Mia Taranto, with the support of many staff, we dressed in blue and white to support Simon, Donna and Matthew on MND Day. The children were so excited to announce the grand total of money raised on this day. The amount was $2,110! Thank you to the St Brendan’s community - YOU ARE TRULY AWESOME!

End of Year Mass

It was wonderful to join with Father Michael and a representative group of students and teachers for our end of year Mass last Tuesday. The remainder of the children had the Mass live streamed to their classrooms. It felt so special to join in prayer with members of our school community in the church that has stood empty for so much of this year.

At this Mass, we farewelled Father Michael who will retire from his active ministry in January. We have been privileged in the Parish of Westernport and at St Brendan’s school to have such a spirit filled, gentle and supportive leader. On behalf of the school community, I wish Father Michael the very best in his retirement. We want him to know that he will be most welcome to visit St Brendan’s any time he wishes.

Year Six Graduation

This Thursday, our beautiful Year 6 class of 2020 will graduate from primary school. This is an exciting day for these students and for the teachers who have taught them over seven years of primary school. For parents, I believe it is something else; a mixture of emotions: love, pride, achievement and memories. 

I feel a deep connection with this group of students as they were the first Preps I enrolled as Principal of St Brendan’s. We have journeyed and grown together. They have been a resilient and enthusiastic group who have contributed a great deal to their school community.

Due to Co-Vid 19, they have missed out on many of the opportunities that they expected to have this year. They have shown us resilience and optimism. I along with all staff from St Brendan’s wish them courage, optimism and the best of luck as they embark on the next exciting step of their education at secondary school. Year 6, you will be missed!

New Leadership Team at St Brendan’s

I am very excited to announce our new Leadership Team members for 2021 - 2023. These people who support me in the leadership, decision making and running of our wonderful school.

Deputy Principal and Mathematics Leader - Mrs Bernie Turner

Religious Education Leader - Ms Emma Chapple

Learning and Teaching Leader - Mr Justin Barry

Literacy Leader - Mrs Sue Slavin

Learning Diversity Leader - Mrs Daniela Ruberto

Wellbeing Leader - Miss Tess Haddock

Positions of Responsibility

I am delighted to announce that we have created two special positions of responsibility for 2021 - 2023.

Sustainability - Mrs Belinda Coggin

Indigenous Culture - Mrs Jenny Riddell

Sincere Thanks

My sincere thanks go to Julie Thomas who has done a great deal of work in the area of sustainability at St Brendan’s, and to Julie Kloppenborg who has cared for the wellbeing of students and staff in our school over many years. Thank you both for your valuable contributions and hard work.

Classes For 2021 Announced 

On Monday this week, all St Brendan’s students spent an hour in their new class groupings with their new teacher/s for 2021. Thank you to all families for respecting my request that you leave the placement of students to the teachers who teach them every day.

The classes for 2021 are as follows:

Foundation B  - Miss Nicole Bibby

Foundation H - Ms Erica Hudson

Year 1/2 H - Ms Catherine Hare

Year 1/2MK - Mrs Julie Kloppenborg and Mrs Kim McKeown

Year 1/2R - Miss Nicola Ristrom

Year 3/4 C - Mrs Camille Rossouw 

Year 3/4 K - Mrs Kim Ryan

Year 3/4 T - Miss Julie Thomas

Year 5/6B - Mr Justin Barry

Year 5/6C - Mrs Belinda Coggin 

Year 5/6 H - Miss Tess Haddock

Year 5/6V - Mrs Margaret Van Der Peet

We are really excited to welcome Ms Erica Hudson who will teach one of our Prep classes next year. Erica is an experienced teacher who comes to us from St John Vianney’s in Mulgrave. We also welcome Mrs Kim Ryan who will join our Year 3/4  team. Kim is also an experienced teacher who currently teaches at St Macartan's in Mornington. Also joining the Year 3/4 team is Mrs Camille Rossouw who currently teaches Japanese and Aboriginal studies at St Brendan’s. We are delighted to welcome Camille to a classroom teaching role. Ms Lauren Koziol will return from maternity leave to resume teaching Japanese language - we look forward to welcoming Lauren back to St Brendan’s.

Please watch out for our final newsletter next week.

Have a great week.

Sue Carr

School Fees 2021

Well done!

This year our staff has generosity donated money that they would have spent on a K.K. gift for a colleague. The decision was made to support the wonderful Isabella and Marcus Foundation. We have raised in excess of $600.00.