Newsletter May 27th, 2025

Catholic Education Week is an annual opportunity for Catholic schools in the Diocese of Ballarat to celebrate their distinctive ethos and mission with their school and wider communities. In 2025, 52 primary schools and 11 secondary Colleges educate more than 18,500 students and employ over 2,500 teachers and staff across the diocese from Mildura in the north, Portland in the south, and west to Edenhope and Nhill.

The theme for Catholic Education Week 2025 is:

May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace.’ (Romans 15:13).

Yesterday, our Catholic Education Week celebrations commenced with families and friends visiting classrooms, followed by a special liturgy facilitated by our Year 2/3M superstars.

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) started as the Week of Prayer for Reconciliation in 1993 (the International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples) and was supported by Australia’s major faith communities. In 1996, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launched Australia’s first National Reconciliation Week. In 2001, Reconciliation Australia was established to continue to provide national leadership on reconciliation. In the same year, approximately 300,000 people walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of National Reconciliation Week-and subsequently across bridges in cities and towns-to show their support for reconciliation.

Today, National Reconciliation Week is celebrated in workplaces, schools and early learning services, community organisations and groups, and by individuals Australia-wide.

On Friday our year 4-6 classes will be attending the Wadawurrung Welcome To Country, Smoking Ceremony and Flag raising Ceremony at the Moorabool Shire Council Office commencing at 10:00am.

On Sunday 1st June at 10:30am, Noah Cassar, Alice Fodor, Maeve Lakey, Ruby Tatchell, Mia Primerano and fellow candidates will celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation at St Brigid's Church. We keep all children in our thoughts and prayers as they continue their sacramental journey.

Our school is currently part of an intensive and strategic change process, being led by the Flare Primary Literacy team at Catholic Education Ballarat and La Trobe University. This process will ensure that all our educators have the skills, knowledge and support they need to teach Literacy in a way that works for all children. This approach to the learning and teaching of reading and writing is called Structured Literacy. Structured Literacy is based on long-term international research into how the brain learns to read and write in the most efficient and effective way. 

We are seeking feedback from our school community as we explore the possibilities in relation to our St Brigid's School Uniform from 2026 and beyond. Your input is valuable in helping us make an informed and community-minded decision.

Please take a moment to complete the following brief survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MRVYLYS

To assist with preliminary stages of planning for 2026, a friendly reminder to current families to please submit enrolment forms for siblings entering Foundation in 2026 via the ‘enrol now’ tab on our website - https://www.sbballan.catholic.edu.au/

Hot lunches will take place each Friday via the online ordering system - Spriggy Schools on SZapp.

Volunteers

We have re-introduce a roster looking for volunteers to help prepare and serve lunches on each Friday. Ideally 2 helpers are required.

If you are available to help out on a Friday between 11.30am-1.00pm please contact the school office with your dates (valid Working with Children Check is required).

The children really enjoy hot lunches and this can only happen with the help of volunteers!

Term 2 Roster:

Please find below an updated menu.

Whole School Prayer/ Assembly will continue to take place on a fortnightly basis at St Brigid’s Church on Monday afternoons from 2:30pm.

Term 2 dates:

• Monday 23rd June, 2025 @ 2:30pm - Foundation A facilitating

Our next P&F meeting will take place on Monday 2nd June from 3.15pm - 4.00pm in our school Library. An active P&F committee allows families the opportunity to play a valuable part in providing social and fundraising activities.  Please attend this meeting if you are interested in joining our P&F committee. Any help would be greatly appreciated as all funds raised contribute to resources and materials to support your children in their holistic development.

Suzanne Beaver will again be at St Brigids every Tuesday this year. 

Suzanne is available for individual sessions with children. Common issues addressed are managing strong emotions, self esteem, friendship issues, anxiety, and family challenges such as illness, grief and separation.

Suzanne is also available for individual sessions with parents. Topics can include a range of parenting challenges, i.e. managing strong emotions, school reluctance, helping your child form strong friendships, and helping your child to navigate family separation.

Suzanne can also assist you in finding the right external support for your child and family.

This is a great service provided right here at school. Please don't hesitate to contact Suzanne with any concerns you might have. Contact Suzanne by phone on a Tuesday or by email any day sbeaver@sbballan.catholic.edu.au.

You can also access the service through the office or your classroom teacher.

All of the timetabled events (to date) for the school year can be found on our school calendar which can be accessed through PAM and via this newsletter.

Welcome to St Brigid's Primary School's Parent Access Module or PAM.

PAM is the home of your school related, student information and will be used for medical profiles, excursion/camp permissions, parent teacher interviews, absences, text notifications and daily messages.

Please follow the instructions below to set up your account.

Step 1:
You will need to set your own access password. To set your password click on the link below. This will take you to the PAM login page. Click on the 'Forgot Password?' link and follow the prompts.

PAM Login

Step 2:

Download the SIMON Everywhere app to access PAM on your preferred
device/s. Search 'SIMON everywhere' in the app store and download. Once
downloaded, click on the 3 lines in the top left corner, click on 'add school',
select 'St Brigid’s Primary School' then enter the login details that you set up
for PAM in Step 1.

Step 3:
Please complete the medical profile for each of your child/ren and upload any action plan if applicable. Please Note: It is the parents/guardians' responsibility to update their child/ren's profiles, to inform the school of any changes. This profile will be the main school medical reference for camps and excursions. 

If you are experiencing any difficulty with the setup process, please contact the office.