Newsletter November 25th, 2024

God of hope, who brought love into this world,

be the love that dwells between us.

God of hope, who brought peace into this world,

be the peace that dwells between us.

God of hope, who brought joy into this world,

be the joy that dwells between us.

God of hope, the rock we stand upon,

be the centre, the focus of our lives

always, and particularly this Advent time.

Amen

St Brigid's Primary School Ballan wishes to acknowledge respectfully the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, work, learn, play and gather. We pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.

Dear Parents and Families,

The season of Advent begins this week and continues through the four Sundays of Advent and ends at Christmas Eve. The first week of Advent focuses on the return of the Lord and the following weeks focus more specifically on the anticipation of the birth of Jesus. Rather than simply commemorating an historical event, Advent is a time of preparing our hearts to ‘receive’ Jesus into the world each year. Advent is traditionally marked by the colour of violet – the same colour as used in Lent. In recent years, some parishes have moved to a more blue/mauve colour for Advent to try to distinguish it from the season of Lent. 

The word advent comes from the Latin term adventus meaning "arrival" or "coming," particularly the coming of something having great importance. Advent season, then, is both a time of joy-filled, anticipatory celebration of the arrival of Jesus Christ and a preparatory period of repentance, meditation, and penance.

During each Sunday of the Advent season, we focus on one of the four virtues Jesus brings us: Hope, Peace, Joy & Love. 

Year 1/2S will facilitate our first Advent Liturgy this Friday 29th November at 9:00am at St Brigid’s Church - all welcome.

We look forward to a wonderful week ahead.

Take care and God bless,

Jayne Bosworth

Principal

'Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.' Excerpt from St Brigid's Prayer

Last week, we received the very sad news of the passing of Pete Mullane’s mother - Margaret Mullane. We extend our deepest sympathy to Pete and his extended family - many of whom share strong connections with St Brigid's School and Church.

As a St Brigid's community, we offer our love, support and strength to the Mullane family during this difficult time as they remain in our thoughts and prayers.

A big thank you to our wonderful parents who volunteered their time and energy to organise and facilitate our Bunnings BBQ yesterday. Thanks to their amazing efforts, over $3000 was raised, which will directly benefit our school. Events like these remind us of community spirit and support that makes our school such a wonderful place.

Last week, we were delighted to hear the wonderful news of the arrival of Henry James, Therese and Mick’s beautiful grandson. Congratulations to Kate, Jay, big sister Amelia, Therese, Mick and family – we are overjoyed for you all!

As previously communicated, next Tuesday 3rd December is Step up Day, where all children will spend the morning with their 2025 classes. On this day, we welcome our Foundation 2025 children and new families to St Brigid’s.

Class groupings have now been finalised and no further changes will be made. I am very pleased to share with you our class structure for 2025:                               

• Foundation - Rebecca Conroy / Andrea Byvoet (1 day)
• Foundation - Ruby Anderson
• Year 1         - Rachel Simmons
• Year 2/3     - Therese Winter / Andrea Byvoet
• Year 2/3     - Jasmine McIlvena
• Year 4/5     - Callum Stevens / Emma Anticaglia
• Year 5/6     - Chelsea Brennan

All children are expected to be at school ready to begin by 8:55am. Arriving on time for school is important for a number of reasons.  The first 10 minutes of school is a vital time of the day when the day's routine and structure is established.  It is a time for ‘tuning in’ and focusing on the learning intentions for the day.

If your child is unwell or absent, you are required to notify the school as soon as possible on the day of absence, via a phone call through to the office or through our school Parent Access Module (PAM). If there has been no contact from the family in the morning of the absence, a sms from the office regarding your child’s absence from school will be sent. Upon receiving a sms, families are expected to phone through to the office to inform the school of their child’s absence.

Students who arrive late or leave early are expected to be signed in/out at the office by a responsible adult. 

Secondhand Uniform Items - seeking donations

The senior students are holding a Pop-Up Secondhand Uniform Shop on Tuesday 10th December and we are looking for donations of any St Brigid's uniform, particularly smaller sizes for our new Foundation children commencing school. Each item of clothing will be sold for a gold coin donation.

Please make sure the items are in excellent condition and washed prior to donating. 

We are very grateful for the support received each year.  Thank you for your assistance with this.

We have many items of clothing in lost property. If your child is missing any uniform items, drink bottles, plastic containers, can you please collect asap.

Any items left in lost property will be donated to the Op Shop at the end of term. Thank you!

We are pleased to announce that our 2025 Student Free Days are as follows:

Our P&F are in the process of creating a St Brigid's School Cookbook. Please click on the following link to submit your recipe or collect a hard copy from the office: 

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

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.

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.