Newsletter 24th August 2022

In the spirit of Reconciliation, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land in which we sit, the Wadawurrung people, who have cared for this country for thousands of years.  We would like to pay our respects to the Aboriginal Elders past, present and future for they hold the traditions, memories and wisdom of Mother Earth on which we place our feet upon today.

Upcoming Dates

26th August:   Book themed Costume Day for book week 

26th August, 2nd September, 9th September:  Combined schools day St Brendan's 

30th August 6.00 - 8.00 pm:   Art Show 

1st September 9:00am-1:30pm:  SEED Day for Year 5 students to Loreto College & St Patrick's College

2nd September 7.45 am:  Fathers Day breakfast @ St Brendan's with St Mary's families

13th September 6.30 pm: Community Meeting with Tony Dalton @ St Brendan's 

13th September:                    Year 3 - 6 Sports day St Michael's Daylesford  

16th September:                   Last day of term 3

                                                      12.30 pm Assembly

Principal's News

This period of calmness and consistency is very refreshing. It has provided for some great learning and teaching time across both schools.

Over the past week, both schools have had a Parents and Friends meeting with many parents attending. It is so good to see the enthusiasm and passion that families are reigniting to raise funds and promote our schools. People are thinking of ideas. ‘outside the box’ and also having a real focus on building our community spirit and level of community engagement at St. Mary’s and St. Brendan’s. So many families are willing to help out in a variety of ways whether it be helping distributing flyers, doing gardening, coming to meetings, helping out with transport and so on. With COVID seemingly having less impact on our daily lives, there comes a sense that we are slowly moving on to some normality.

School Review

Last Wednesday the teachers met with Jo – Anne Bond to plan the process of our school review which will take place next year. School review is held every 5 years and it is a time to celebrate our achievements, reflect, evaluate and plan a way forward for the next 5 years. We are starting the process this year with the bulk of the work being done earlier next year. It is a worthwhile process, however does involve a fair amount of work collating everything. There will be opportunities for students and families to have input also.

Insight SRC surveys

An important part of the school review is gathering data as it provides evidence of what we have achieved and where we need to focus in the future. One set of data that is vital and, in my view, provides the most valuable information is the Insight SRC survey which parents, staff and students all do. These surveys will be open to do next week and I urge you to do them as it provides valuable feedback about the school, particularly in the past 2 years. I will send out the link later this week and send out a number of reminders so that we can get as many families as possible to complete it and give us the best data to plan for the future.

Take care and go gently.

Inez

Community meeting 13th September

The response to our last community meeting with Tony Dalton was heart-warming, supportive and showed how much our schools mean to our families and communities. I have heard many different conversations over the past few weeks and we are now ready to look at the possibilities for our schools moving forward. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday the 13^th of September at 6.30pm. This meeting will be held at St. Brendan’s and while children can come if you need to bring them, it is not necessary for this particular conversation.

Tony will be presenting the data gathered from our last meeting and we will move onto exploring the possibilities for our schools as we move forward to 2023 and beyond. Please come along. A light supper will be provided.

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to Aiden who was 7 last Friday 19th August 

Art Shows

One of the upcoming events that will involve all of our children, families and wider community is our Art Shows.’ St. Brendan’s will have their Art Show next Tuesday from 6 – 8pm and St. Mary’s will follow on Thursday the 8^th of September also from 6 -8pm. The invitation is for all families, extended family members and the wider community to come and spend some time appreciating the amazing art work and enormous effort that has gone into producing such an event. The children and staff have been working all term to produce a number of Art pieces and they want to share their work with others.

There will be wine and cheese for the adults on the night and you can come any time between 6 – 8pm.

We realise that not everyone will be able to join us on the night due to other commitments, so both schools will leave the displayed art up for an extra day or so.

Book Week Celebrations

This Friday we are celebrating book week by dressing up, either as a favourite book character or in line with the 2022 theme- 'Dreaming with eyes wide open.'  The day will begin with a parade at 9am and families are welcome to join us at St. Brendan’s as it is our regular Friday combined schools day.

Father’s Day Breakfast

In between the 2 art shows, we are inviting all of our Dad’s and special men in our lives to join us for breakfast at St. Brendan’s on Friday the 2^nd of September from 7.45 – 8.45. We will be catering for both the children and adults, so please make sure that we have your numbers in by Monday the 29^th of August. You can contact either school to let us know who will be coming.

Book Club

Book Club brochures went home today.  Orders are due back by Friday 2nd September.  Please drop your order into the office or you can order online via the loop order function.

Thanks Anita 

School Fees 2023

Woollen school jumpers

St James Sebastopol are discontinuing their woollen school jumpers.  Their jumpers are the same as ours and they are selling them at cost price.  If anyone is interested in purchasing a jumper the prices are below.  The jumpers would be delivered to the school and you can pick them up and pay for them via the office.

Sizes 4,6 & 8  $50

Sizes 10,12,15 &16  $55

Damascus information evenings for 2024 commencement

Loreto Open Day

Brown Hill Cricket Club