Newsletter October 6th, 2020

Reflection:

Patience is an important survival tool to have under our belt these days when we are doing our best to be safe and to protect others in our family and community.

‘Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.

 We should like to skip the intermediate stages. 

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. 

And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability— and that it may take a very long time.’

(Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J.)

Dear Parents and Friends,

Come Thursday I hope and in fact we are very confident that we are going to see so many happy, smiling and optimistic faces come through the gate at St. Brigid’s. We also believe there will be just as many relieved and pleased faces staying on the other side of the fences. The staff are so looking forward to welcoming back all of our students. We are so appreciative and thankful of your patience to enable the opportunity for each teacher to make a personal connection with each child in their class and to get a clear sense of where your child is at in terms of their learning.  

Can I also say that we at St Brigid’s are so in awe of the perseverance, resilience and preparedness of all within our community to engage so fully with the remote learning experience. It was challenging for everyone - students, parents and carers, and teachers alike, but each person has been able to engage in what has been a history making time and embrace all the changes and challenges that came everyone’s way. Thank you all so much.

I also have to say we have been blessed to be living in regional Victoria during our recent term break and hopefully many families had the opportunity to venture further than Ballan to experience a different environment and another view of our world. Having said that, how unbelievable was the weather during the holidays.  Serious snow one week, followed by near perfect beach and outdoor weather the next. Would you live anyway else but Victoria!

We are also very aware that for many of you the different restrictions between Melbourne and ourselves has meant that you have not been able to have physical contact with close members of your family. We all hope and pray that we can maintain the positive path we are on in regard to new cases of Covid and move very soon to a place where regular contact with all of our family members is once again a common place thing.

Take care, Gabe.

We are presently undertaking considerable discernment and decision making regarding a range of activities that have been on our calendar for Term 4. For many of these activities the decision is not actually ours to make, or the directions being given are quite confusing and unclear. For all events and gatherings we will need to operate within the confines of the directive of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, the Department of Health and the Catholic Education Office, Ballarat. 

Activities and events we are presently working on include: 

Book Week was moved from Term 3 to Week 3 of this term, that is the week commencing Monday 19th October. The theme this year is: Curious Creatures, Wild Minds. Although we will not be able to conduct a formal parade during this week, we would still love our students to dress up and engage in some fun activities around book week. Our Dress Up day will be Thursday 22nd October.  So put your thinking caps on and see if you can once can come up with some clever and creative costumes for this day.

Last term due to an unfortunate accident, the father of Tiffany Cooke (mum to Scarlett, Leah, Shakkia and Alannah) has lost absolutely everything as the result of a house fire.  If any family has any furniture or household items that they may be able to donate to assist the family get back on their feet it would be so grateful.  You can ring the School Office and we will put you in touch with Tiffany.  Please DO NOT deliver any goods to school without speaking to someone in the office first.  Thanks in anticipation.

Friday 23rd October - Grand Final Holiday

Tuesday 3rd November - Melbourne Cup Day

Bookclub Issue 7 is available for online LOOP orders.  If you are interested in ordering online, please do so by Friday 30th October via scholastic.com.au/LOOP or download the scholastic app. The catalogue can be viewed in the link below.

When orders arrive at school you will be notified by SMS to collect books from the administration foyer.

2021 Prep Enrolments have been extended!

Please feel free to share this flyer. Enrolment forms for siblings of currently enrolled children are available from the office.

Mass Celebrations 

We hope you are all keeping safe, well, warm and connected to our parish. There has been some easing of the Victorian Government’s COVID-19 restrictions in regional Victoria, which is fantastic news. Unfortunately as far as masses go, we are still unable to celebrate mass and church gatherings indoor. This means our churches are closed with no masses until further notice from the Victorian Government. All going well, we will be able to meet for masses very soon. We will be informed at a later by the Victorian Government when these changes will take place. There are exceptions for funerals and weddings. The Parish Leadership Team are still meeting via zoom every fortnight. We’re not making any major decisions, just ensuring that the Parish is running smoothly, dealing with the Gordon Parish finances and addressing pastoral needs within our parish community. Hopefully we can gather together as one community soon.

Ballan Kindergarten

Ballan Cricket Club - Season 2020/21

Ballan Cricket Club is preparing hopefully for a return to cricket sometime next month.

Any boys or girls who are interested in playing cricket this season please let the club know.

They have Under 11's (play Saturday morning), Under 13's (play Friday night), Under 15's (play Saturday morning) & Under 17's (play Saturday morning).

Please contact Peter McGregor on 0419 597 810 or email petermcgregor2@bigpond.com for further information.