Newsletter March 25th, 2025

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation this afternoon. Many thanks to Therese Winter, Fr Justin Driscoll, the sacramental team and families for their organisation and preparation.

Every blessing to:

Noah Cassar, Alice Fodor, Maeve Lakey &  Ruby Tatchell

Easter is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than with delicious hot cross buns? This year we are facilitating a Hot Cross Bun Drive.

Enjoy fresh, tasty buns while helping our school. Simply place your order and return your form by this Friday, March 28th, at 10:00am. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to accept orders after this time, so don’t miss out!

Please find the order form below. Hard copies of order forms will be sent home today.

As per the email sent on 17th March, please find attached School Photo order forms. 

What an incredible display of teamwork, determination and school spirit we witnessed at our Moorabool Sports event last week.  From the first to the final event, our students showcased outstanding effort, supporting one another and striving for excellence.

It was truly inspiring to see students working together and cheering on teammates. Congratulations to every participant—your enthusiasm and dedication made us all proud!

A special congratulations to our following Record Holders:

• Jonty Freeman (Foundation) - 60m
• Kai Robinson (Foundation) - Long Jump & Quoits
• Rosie Durham (Foundation) - Long Jump
• Ariyah Jreige (Year 1) - 100m
• Levi Doyle (Year 1) - 100m
• Amelia Duncan (Year 2) - 100m
• Brodie Jreige (Year 2) - 100m

 Congratulations also to the following ‘Champion’ award winners:

• Rosie Durham (Foundation)
• Kai Robinson (Foundation)
• Felicity Muldeary (Foundation)
• Maggie Wallace (Year 1)
• Levi Doyle (Year 1)
• Amelia Duncan (Year 2)
• Brodie Jreige (Year 2)
• Annalise Winfield (Year 4)
• Anaya Bamford (Year 5)
• Felix Trinder (Year 6)

We warmly invite all families to join us on Monday, 31st March, for a solemn and reflective journey through the Stations of the Cross presented by classes from Foundation - Year 6. This special event will take place at St Brigid’s Church at 9:30am and offers an opportunity for our school community to come together in prayer.

Following this, our classes will participate in a ‘long walk’ to support Caritas. As part of our commitment to social justice, children and staff will walk for 30 minutes in solidarity with those who travel long distances for basic needs such as water, food and education.

Children are encouraged to wear casual clothes and bring a gold coin donation, which will go directly to Caritas Australia to help those in need.

As in past years we will once again be conducting our Annual Easter Egg Raffle.

All families are asked to donate an Easter related item for our raffle. Raffle tickets for the Easter Raffle have been sent home. 

The raffles will be drawn on the last day of Term 1, Friday 4th April, 2025.

Again this year, students from Year 1-6 will be participating in the Inform & Empower Cyber Safety & Digital Wellbeing program. This means that our classes will be tuning in to live streamed incursions (with their teachers) every term that focus on healthy and safe digital habits. The incursion content is all written and delivered by qualified teachers who are endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner as a Trusted eSafety Provider.

These sessions aim to help children better navigate the online world and become more aware, clever, brave and kind. They will focus on topics including navigating unwanted contact, cyberbullying, help-seeking strategies, unsafe content, balancing screen time with "green time" and sharing personal information.

The following website will provide you with further information regarding Inform and Empower.

https://www.informandempower.com.au/

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.

Whole School Prayer/ Assembly will take place on a fortnightly basis at St Brigid’s Church. To ensure uninterrupted Literacy time and as specialist classes will take place each Friday, we will need to move assembly to Monday afternoons from 2:30pm.

Term 2 dates:

• Monday 28th April, 2025 @ 2:30pm 
• Monday 12th May, 2025 @ 2:30pm
• Monday 26th May, 2025 @ 2:30pm
• Monday 23rd June, 2025 @ 2:30pm

Hot lunches will recommence Friday 2nd May via the online ordering system - Spriggy Schools on SZapp.

Volunteers

We will 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!

An active P&F committee allows families the opportunity to play a valuable part in providing social and fundraising activities.  All funds raised contribute to resources and materials to support your children in their holistic development.

At our first meeting, we explored the possibility of assigning key roles within the SAC. We are now inviting expressions of interest for the following positions:

P&F Chair

• Facilitate P&F meetings.
• Collaborate and liaise with the Principal to plan and coordinate the school calendar of events.
• Organize and oversee volunteer involvement.

Administration

• Manage incoming and outgoing correspondence.
• Record and maintain minutes of meetings.

Treasurer

• Collaborate and liaise with St Brigid’s Finance Officer.
• Provide financial updates and reports to the P&F.

If you are interested in any of these roles, please fill out an expression of interest via the survey below. Your involvement is invaluable in supporting our school community!

Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FVPPNHF

P&F meetings will take place in our school Library from 3:15pm - 4:00pm on the following dates:

• Term 1:
  Monday 24th March, 2025
  
  
• Term 2:
  Monday 5th May, 2025
  Monday 2nd June, 2025
  
  
• Term 3:
  Monday 4th August, 2025
  Monday 1st September, 2025
  
  
• Term 4:
  Monday 20th October, 2025
  Monday 17th November, 2025

SZappp Mobile Application is a fantastic way for communicating and making information or resources available to our St Brigid's school community. 

Please follow the instructions in the below guide on how to install the SZappp and register an email account for communication.