Newsletter 17th May 2023

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

17th May:                              Football Lightning premiership  

22ndMay:                              LFBF Year 6 students

25th May:                              Netball Lightning premiership  

26th May:                             Eureka Incursion for both schools at St Mary's 

5th June:                                SEED Day Year 5 students @ Loreto

8th June:                                School Photos - full winter uniform please

12th June:                               Kings birthday public holiday

21st June:                               Healthy Harold and Life education van @ St Brendan's     

23rd June:                               Last day term 2

Principal's News

Newsletter Term 2 Week 4, 2023

I hope that all the mothers in our school communities had a wonderful Mother’s Day. The amazing weather certainly helped make the day extra special.

Our reading at the Mother’s Day liturgies was from Corinthians and is a reminder of what love is-

In this reading, we hear what love is like.

Our mothers, grandmothers and aunties share this love with us each day without ever asking for anything in return.

We experience this gift of love through your kindness, support and most importantly your patience.

Mother’s Day Celebrations

On Monday we celebrated our Mother’s and special women in a liturgy and with a get together afterwards. We are truly blessed to have so many women come and be part of our celebrations at each school. The children also love having their loved ones with them at school. A huge thanks to the staff that helped prepare the Liturgy and make sure that all had a cuppa and something to eat afterwards.

Remember, always ask if you have a question and clarify any concerns you may have with your child’s teacher or con tact the school.

Take care,

Inez

Uniforms

Thank you to all of the families that have helped the children transition to their winter uniforms. This week ALL children should be wearing the correct winter uniform each day, this includes the sports uniform. If you have any concerns around this, please see me.

Lightning Premierships

Some of our Senior children are playing in a Football Lightning Premiership today at Marty Busch Reserve today and on Thursday the 25^th, the netball Lightning Premiership is being held at Selkirk stadium. We will be joining with Ballan and Gordon for both of these events.

Sports Day

Last Thursday we were part of the Wadawurrung sports day at Llanberris. The weather was kind to us and the children had a great day, with some even breaking records. It was wonderful to see everyone participating and giving it their all. Thanks to the staff, especially Callum that helped make the day run so smoothly and the parents that came and helped out and supported the children.

eSmart Week – Child Safety

Next week we will participate in activities around  National eSmart week. As part of our Child Safe policies and procedures, we provide education around keeping our children safe on line. The eSmart week  theme is – ‘Be your best self online.’

From the website-  This year’s event invites children and young people to explore what it means to be a positive digital citizen.

This week-long event is a celebration of all the incredible work that our eSmart schools and libraries across the country are doing to promote positive digital citizenship. This event provides a chance for teachers, library staff, parents, and students alike to develop new and important skills.

Some of the lessons will include the concepts of –

• What you can do and say to be positive online 
• How algorithms, echo chambers and customised messaging impact our view of the world 
• How to use technology purposefully  
• How to use your agency to influence change in the online environment  

If you would like some more information, please see your child’s teacher or go to the website –

Sacraments

A reminder to let myself or Louise know if you wish to have your child as part of the sacramental program this year, which will get under way in 3^rd term.

If your child is in year 2 or above, they can receive the sacrament of Reconciliation and if they are in Year 3 or above, the are eligible to receive both Eucharist and Confirmation which are done in one Mass. This means that some children may do all 3 sacraments this year as the program is now being offered every 2 years. As we begin to transition to the model of a Parish run program, Dianne Reynolds, a member of our Parish will be facilitating the program. She will be supported by Louise, the schools RE leader. Dianne will be contacting families that have expressed an interest in the next few weeks.

Welcome to Vanessa

On Tuesday, we welcomed Vanessa and her parents – Maree and Michael, to St. Mary’s. . Vanessa is in Year 3 and had her first full day on Tuesday. She has settled very well and had lots of help getting used to the daily routine from her class mates. Please introduce yourselves to Maree, Michael and Vanessa when you see them around.

We are excited to have them as part of our community and look forward to getting to know them over the next few weeks.

Playing on the Oval

As we begin to get into winter and the colder wet weather, many of our children love to play football. The children and teachers decided together that in order to play on the oval, the children will need to bring extra clothes and shoes to change into when playing footy so that they are not wet and dirty in class. This is at both schools. There will be days that it is just too wet to get on the oval and this is at the teachers’ discretion on any given day.

P and F event

The Parents and Friends from both schools have combined to organise a disco for the children at the Dean Hall on Friday the 2nd June. The invitations have gone out and the children are very excited.

As this is an out of school event and off site, so it will be parents responsibility to look after their own children on the night and all children must have a parent with them for the time they are attending the disco. This event is for families of St. Brendan’s and St Mary’s only. Thanks to all that have had a part in organising this event.

Life Ed Van

On Wednesday the Life Ed van will be at St. Brendan’s on our CSD. All children will have a chance to meet Harold and be part of a lesson. It is always engaging, informative and fun for the children to be part of.

If any parents would like to learn more, please register to be part of a webinar through the link below.

Lunch orders

Lunch orders will continue this term. Orders need to be in on Friday at St. Mary’s so that the children can enjoy them on Wednesday at St. Brendan’s. Please do not order lollies. If you require another list of what is available, please let us know and we can send one home with your child.

Junior Room

WRITING

MONDAY RECOUNTS

Lucy

On the weekend I played netball and we won! We played Clunes.  We had 11 and Clunes had 3 goals.  It was my first time that I won.  I was very happy.  I got a best on court award.  I got a finger bun and a bread roll voucher.

Aiden

On the weekend I went to Dunnstown to watch the footy. Under 15s we won by 114 points.  Then dad left and I played with Jai and we kicked the footy at half time.  

Last Monday, Aiden and Lucy interviewed Tiffany and Kylie to find out some information about when they were younger, their family and life as a mother.  They will be writing this information into an Information Report and look forward to sharing it with you when they have completed it. 

MUSIC CONCERT AT LORETO

Last week we were lucky enough to go along to Loreto College to listen to their band perform. The concert was designed to showcase Loreto’s concert band and introduce our students to the range of instruments that make up the sounds within the band. Before we went the students all had a guess of an instrument they thought they might see and hear and guess what???? We saw them all. Here were our guesses:

Kaeziah - saxophone

Clare - -drums

Pat - flute

Lucy - trumpet

Paige - violin

Quinn - triangle

Adelaide - piano

Aiden - guitar

Lyndal - clarinet.

MOTHERS DAY

It was lovely to celebrate Mother’s Day with so many mum’s, grandmothers, aunties and special friends on Monday.  Thank you all for coming along and I am sure you will agree, the students were amazing.  Thank you for sending the photos in, the song we listened to was “When God Made You My Mother” and I thought I’d share with you, the words from the chorus:

St Brendan's Feast Day - Thank you Leo

We celebrated the Feast of St Brendan on his Feast Day, May 16th.  We loved our baked potatoes for lunch.  A huge thank you to Leo Murphy who made a special effort to come to school on Tuesday morning and return Clare’s money that she had paid for the spuds on Monday evening.  What a lovely gesture to donate them to the school. We also had some fun games with our spuds and finished the day with an ice cream.  Happy Feast Day St Brendan!  

In these photos, Aiden and Lucy are giving their potatoes “Chippy the Chip” and “Elsa” a drink of water, 

Birthday

Happy birthday to Lucy D who turns 12 on the 21st May

SZapp Version 4.0.0

There is a new version of SZapp available for Android and IOS Devices. Please ensure that you have updated to this version to assure you receive communications from the school.

You will now need a code to login to the school app.  A communication was sent out last fortnight with the code.  If you did not recieve it please contact the office. 

If you are using an Android Device, you will need to uninstall the old app and install the new version.

IOS Devices (iPhones) will be able to update without requiring a re-install.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we are confident that the improvements in the new version will make it worth it.

An online guide on how to install and register/login to SZapp is available on the Schoolzine Website here:

Click here to view the Installation Instructions

If you experience any difficulties with completing this process, please reach out to Schoolzine using support@schoolzine.com. To assist with your query, they ask that you provide a description of the issue you are facing, the email address you are using when facing this issue and a screenshot of the issue.

Child Safe – all on website

As is stated on our Vision and Mission, our schools ‘…are committed to the safety, wellbeing and inclusion of all children and young people.’ Our procedures and policies are now in line with the 11 child safe standards and can be found on our schools’ websites under the tab – child safe.