Newsletter April 26th, 2022

Prayer for ANZAC DAY

Gracious and loving God, the cross of Christ is the sign of
your desire for justice and peace for all.
Open our minds to your vision as we remember all who
suffered through Australia and New Zealand’s involvement in
wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
Grant all servicepersons who sacrificed health and life for the
good of all, the gift of your deep peace.
May we who inherit the freedom for which they fought
become instruments of your peace in our homes,
workplaces and world.
We ask this prayer through
Christ our Lord, Amen.

Dear Members of our St Brigid’s Community,

Welcome back to Term 2!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter break with your loved ones.

We are very excited to be welcoming all children back to school today as we commence Term 2!

Yesterday was ANZAC Day - one of Australia’s most important national occasions.

It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. A big thank you to our School Captains and families who attended the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at McLean reserve in Ballan yesterday. April, Tahni, Angus and Jake presented a meaningful speech at the service about Victoria Cross recipient Stanley Robert McDougall, (23 July 1889 – 7 July 1968).

This term, we welcome Anthony Clifford to St Brigid’s. Anthony will be covering Performing Arts classes in Pete Mullane’s absence. At this stage, we are unsure as to a timeframe. I am pleased to report that Pete is recuperating at home and adhering to medical advice. We look forward to welcoming Anthony back to St Brigid's and we also look forward to seeing Pete back on deck when he is feeling better!

Throughout the holidays, works around our school continued including painting, gardening and general maintenance. A massive thank you to Premier Fencing who have installed new fencing around our school along Stead Street and Simpson Street – it looks fantastic!

This term, with the changes to restrictions, we are able to re-commence school events in a Covid safe manner. We are so excited to welcome mothers, grandmothers and special women in our lives to our Mother’s Day Liturgy on Wednesday 4^th May at 2:00pm. Weather permitting, we are also planning on hosting our previously postponed Welcome Picnic at St Brigid’s on Tuesday 3rd May (see below for further details).

I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Take care and God Bless,

Jayne Bosworth

'Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.'

Excerpt from St Brigid's Prayer

Thank you for your understanding with the postponement of our Welcome BBQ last term. We are pleased to inform you that weather permitting, we will now be hosting our Welcome picnic at St Brigid’s on Tuesday 3rd May, 2022 from 4:00pm – 5:30pm. Hotdogs and drinks will be available. The Welcome picnic flyer was sent home with children today, please return slip indicating your attendance for catering purposes. We can’t wait to see you!

We are so excited to celebrate our special Mother's Day Liturgy with our mothers, grandmothers and special women in our lives. Details below - save the date!

Cross Country will take place on Friday 6^th May at Bostock reservoir. Good luck to Ned Conroy, Anni Clarke, Felix Trinder, Ashton McFall, Eddie Tranter, Grace Monterosso, Mate Marinovic, Charlie Black, Foster Trinder and Joel Card who will be representing St Brigid's on this day!

Hot lunches will be returning next week (Friday 6th May) and will be available each Friday. We thank Mickal Trinder and Hayley Plageman for volunteering their time to do this for the children who are very excited!

We are currently looking for a new bakery supplier as Stewart's Bakery is re-building after fire damage to their premises. An updated menu detailing options and pricing will be sent home later this week. A copy will also be made available on PAM.

Lunch orders are due in by no later than Wednesday afternoon and are to be placed in the blue lunch tin in the main school foyer.

Please write your child’s name, class and lunch items on a brown paper bag, and enclose money. Any change will be taped to the paper bags. Please remember, two bags are required if having a dessert item as well.

This term we make the transition from summer to winter uniform and as the weather is quite unpredictable, either summer or winter uniform will be acceptable for the first two weeks. Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct summer or winter uniform. Children are able to wear sports uniform each Wednesday and on classroom nominated sports day as directed by your child’s classroom teacher. 

A supply of the new woollen/cotton blend St Brigid's school jumpers have finally arrived at Beleza Uniform shop.

Moving forward, Beleza Uniform Shop in Doveton Street Ballarat will be our main supplier of the St Brigid's school uniform. We have a small supply of winter uniform which can be purchased from the school office, however we will not be re-stocking any uniform.  

Spanning across the six weeks of Lent each year, Project Compassion brings thousands of Australian schools, parishes and supporters together to raise funds for people living in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world. On the last day of Term 1, our Year 5 and 6 children collected the Project Compassion boxes around our school, counted the money and reported that we raised a total of $74.45. Well done!

In May every year, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 take part in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). NAPLAN was first introduced in 2008 and has become a routine part of the school calendar in Australia.

NAPLAN, which is a part of the National Assessment Program (NAP), is how governments, education authorities and schools can determine whether young Australians are reaching important educational goals. States and territories determine when their schools commence NAPLAN Online.

This year our school will commence the transition from a paper based to online assessment-NAPLAN Online. Moving to 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.

Some of the main benefits of students taking part in NAPLAN Online include:

• Better assessment – and more precise results. NAPLAN Online uses a tailored test or adaptive design, where the test automatically adapts to individual student performance and asks questions that match the student achievement level, allowing the student to demonstrate their knowledge. This provides teachers and schools with more targeted and detailed information on students’ performance on the tests. Tailored testing also provides an opportunity to broaden the scope of the assessments.
• Faster turnaround of results. Delivery of assessments online significantly reduces the time it takes to provide feedback to schools, students and parents, so teachers can respond more quickly to learning needs.

As technology develops, ACARA aims to further refine the delivery of the tests to best use the available technology to provide increasingly sophisticated assessments and valuable feedback to teachers, parents and education authorities.

A reminder that Monday 16^th May is a Student Free Day. On this day, staff will engage in Professional Learning with a focus on developing a performance and development culture as outlined in our schools Annual Action Plan. On this day, Big Childcare are planning on facilitating a day of fun filled activities at St Brigid's! Please call 0434176872 or email stbrigids@bigchildcare.com if you are interested in registering your child.

Term Two – Key Dates

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.

Term 2:

Congratulations to the following St Brigid's students who have recently participated in various competitions and events throughout the community;

Angus Tranter and Lucas Cardona played in U14 boys Ballan Brumbies basketball premiership.

Ruby Sims played in U14 girls Ballan Brumbies premiership.

Eamon Grigg and Angus Tranter played in U13’s Ballan cricket club premiership win against Creswick. 

Anni Clarke competed in U9s Stawell Gift in the 100m, 400m and 800m. 

Mass Times:

Korobeit Sat 6.30pm ~ Creswick 8.45am ~ Daylesford 10.30am

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