St Brendan's Primary School Dunnstown eNewsletter

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

16th October - LFBF for the Year 6’s from 9 – 3pm

26^th October - Year 2 Sleepover and Junior Stay back on .

30^th October - 9.30 – 11.30Grandparents’ day.

6th & 7th November - Pupil free days

Principal's News

Newsletter Term 4 Week 2, 2023

Welcome everyone to Term 4. Week 1 began very calmly and smoothly. It is difficult to believe that we are already at this point. My feeling is that it is going to get busy as the weeks tick by, with one school preparing to celebrate the end of an era and closing, and the other looking ahead and planning for 2024.

The staff have planned ahead and all of the important dates that we can foresee are now public in the calendar. It will be very important that you refer to this often so that you can stay informed and know what is happening each week. The dates will also be on the newsletter each fortnight.

Take time

As the busyness of day to day live starts revving up, I wanted to share something I read last week that I know I will be referring to often in the upcoming weeks

Go gently and calmly

Inez

Uniforms and hats

This week all children will need to transition to their summer uniform by Friday.

Hats are to be worn when children are playing outside during recess and lunch, and on excursions. Please ensure that hats are in good condition – not faded or fraying. Some hats that I have seen this week do need replacing. They can be purchased from Beleza and are not a costly item to buy. Our rule is. – if a child does not have a hat, they will need to stay on the deck out of the sun. There is sunscreen at each school that children can use however, if parents prefer they use their own, please pop it into their schoolbag so that they can apply it when necessary.

Staffing for 2024

With St. Brendan’s closing next year, the majority of the staff will be taking some time initially to assess what they will do in 2024. A positive has been that sometimes opportunities arise that allow us to do something different or unexpected.

At St. Mary’s, Jess and Lyndal are moving on. Jess has been our Italian teacher at each school for 4 years and also done some additional teaching through the Tutor program. In 2024, Jess is going to St. Pat’s in Gordon to teach for 3 days a week.

Lyndal is also moving on to have some time with family before making any permanent plans for now. Lyndal has been employed across both schools as a teacher and LSO for the past 9 years. She has offered to cover Kelly when she takes some leave early in 2024 so you will still see her around. Both of these ladies will be missed at St. Mary’s next year as they have contributed so much in so many ways over the years.

The new Principal at St. Mary’s should be announced in a couple of weeks as the process is well under way.

To all of our staff moving on to whatever they are doing, I wish them every happiness as their journey changes direction and new adventures await. To those staying at St. Mary’s, you have an exciting year ahead and together you will be able to support each other and the new Principal.

All of our staff are a valued part of a close-knit team that spans both schools. While change can be difficult and we will miss each other, the friendships will remain for many years to come.

Playgroup at St. Mary’s

Melinda Prendergast is starting a playgroup at St. Mary’s this term. It is for pre school aged children and their parents or carers. It will take place in the library on Tuesday’s from 9.30 – 11. All are welcome! Please spread the news.

Golf

Eight of our Senior students from both schools will form 2 teams to complete in the Xavier Primary Schools Golf Tournament on Wednesday. Good luck to Jack, Lucy, Ahlia, Oscar, Jai, Maeve, Pat and Sull. A huge thank you to Jordan Dash and Molly Toose that have offered to take and supervise the teams for the day. It is really appreciated and the event couldn’t take place without your support.

Dates

As mentioned there is a lot going on this term. The main dates for the weeks ahead are -

LFBF for the Year 6’s from 9 – 3pm next Monday the 16th of October
Year 2 Sleepover and Junior Stay back on Thursday the 26^th of October. Information about this has been sent out. Please note that for this week, we have swapped our CSDs over . Wednesday will be at SM and Friday at SB. I will send a text ourt each of these mornings to remind everyone of the change
Grandparents’ day. On Monday the 30^th of October from 9.30 – 11.30
Pupil free days on Monday the 6th of November and Tuesday the 7^th, providing families with a 4 day weekend.

AGMs

The Annual General meetings for both schools are coming up in the next few weeks. These are open to all parents and we would love to see as many people as possible attend. We will start at 7 and be finished by 8.15. It is a wonderful time to reflect on the year and celebrate the many things we have achieved. Please come and join us!

The meeting will be at SM on Tuesday the 17^th of October and SB on Tuesday the 24^th of October. Wine and cheese will be provided, so an even better reason to come along.

St Brendan's Celebration 25th November

Junior Room

INQUIRY

We have been very busy working on our Dairy Australia unit, Farm to Plate. Painting our designs onto Moojella the cow was certainly the highlight of this unit.

MATHS

In Maths we have been looking at money. We are learning how to count an amount of money. We played a game called Race to $10 which was a lot of fun. Lucy won twice, Aiden won once and Clare didn’t win a game!

LITERACY

We have been reading the book Royal Trouble and looking at how to use quotation marks correctly in our writing. In the book, the Prince wasn’t invited to the ball and he was very angry. We wondered why he didn’t get invited to the ball. We wrote the next part of the story and included quotation marks. Iit went like this….

“Remember what happened last time,” said the Princess. “You ruined Mum and Dad’s new clothes.”

“But it was an accident,” said the Prince.

“O.K.” said the Queen. “But please don’t spill the drinks.”

RELIGION

We have started a new unit of work around the concept “Joy.” What does joy mean to you?

Joy is

a feeling of great happiness
a sense of well-being
gladness

We discussed what makes us happy and made a poster. We also talked about why it makes us so happy.

Lucy loves to play netball. Netball makes Lucy so happy because it’s fun.

Aiden loves to ride his motorbike. Riding his motorbike makes Aiden so happy because it is fun.

Lucy loves to cook. Cooking makes Lucy so happy because it’s delicious and she shares it with her friends.

Aiden loves to play with his friends. Playing with his friends make Aiden so happy because he gets to see Billy and Johnny.

My New Gallery

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.