Newsletter February 19th, 2025

On Sunday 16th March, the Ballan Autumn Festival will take place!

As a school, we are very excited to again be a part of this wonderful community event. We would love for families and staff members to join us for the parade. Rather than have a specific theme for the 2025 Festival, our focus is on celebrating ‘who we are’ as a community: the people, places, culture and history, environment, and our autumn colours. Our goals are to add more meaning, context, and diversity to the presentation of the Parade.

Further information regarding St Brigid’s Parade theme will be circulated in next weeks newsletter.

On Wednesday 19th March, St Brigid’s students will be participating in the annual inter-school sports competition at Mason’s Lane in Bacchus Marsh. The children need to be at the venue by 8:45am for a 9:00am start and the day is usually finished by about 2:30pm once presentations have been made.

Although our sports day doesn't take place at school, it is considered an essential learning day where we would request that all children attend. The students compete against other children of similar ages from other schools and this is a great way for us all to practice the skills of responsibility, resilience and being a good sport.

You are all invited to cheer on your children and their classmates as they compete in the events. It is usually a lovely day for a picnic lunch and the children really do appreciate their family members being there. We would appreciate that all students attending the sports day with their family stay after all the events have been run so that they can participate in the awards presentations.

We are providing transportation by bus to Mason's Lane departing from school and returning to school by 3pm. This is for ESSENTIAL TRAVEL ONLY, if both parents or guardians are unable to attend and or drop and collect their child/ren. An activity permission form will be sent via PAM.

Please find below information in relation to the $400 School Saving Bonus.

The $400 is only available to be applied to school activities.  It cannot be paid out in cash.

Please click on the link below should you require any additional information.

https://www.vic.gov.au/receiving-school-saving-bonus

This year, the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) will take place in March from Wednesday 12th March - Monday 24th March for students in Years 3 and 5.

This year, students will complete NAPLAN online. NAPLAN online brings many new opportunities for students and teachers that are limited or not possible with paper-based tests. The year three Writing test is the only test that will continue as a pen and paper assessment this year. It is through the Online National Assessment Platform that we will administer the tests. Children will complete the tests via a secure locked down browser on a suitable device.

In week 5, our Year 3 & 5 students will participate in a NAPLAN practice test and although the results of the practice tests will not be distributed, it is a great opportunity for the children to have a go prior to NAPLAN.

Please click on the link below for further information regarding NAPLAN:

https://www.nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/naplan-information-brochure-for-parents-and-carers.pdf

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/

Our first Parents and Friends meeting for 2025 will take place on Monday 3rd March 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.

Whole School Prayer/ Assembly will commence in Week 4 and 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.

This term we will have three assemblies:

• Monday 3rd March, 2025 @ 2:30pm - Year 5/6B facilitating
• Monday 17th March, 2025 @ 2:30pm - Year 1S facilitating

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 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.

All children are expected to be at school ready to begin by 8:55am. Arriving on time for school is important. 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. It is very difficult for children arriving late to ‘catch up on this missed information. Parents are expected to phone through to the office the child’s absence on the day, 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 confirming the child’s absence from school will be sent.

Outstanding School Fees for 2024 statements have been emailed and 2025 School Fee information.

Payment options are via direct debit, EFTPOS at the school office, cash, cheque, credit card or internet banking. An early payment discount of $200 is offered where the family fee account is paid in full by 28th February.

Direct debits are available fortnightly, monthly, or termly payments. 

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.