Newsletter December 17th 2019
Dear Parents and families,
As Christmas draws closer we keep in mind those in our community who will find this season challenging. Our school community supports others at this time of year through a number of initiatives. In the school office at the moment is the Giving Tree and the mounting pile of gifts is testament to the kindness and generosity of you all. An initiative such as this is particularly important in the life of a Catholic school. Our commitment to social justice issues is one of the touchstones of our Catholic identity and how we make our faith real, alive and meaningful. If you have not yet made a donation to the giving tree there is still time to do so.
Yesterday at our Advent liturgy we lit the third candle of our advent wreath which symbolises joy and is called the 'Shepherd’s Candle'. To the shepherd’s great joy, the angels announced that Jesus came for humble, unimportant people like them, too. In liturgy, the color rose signifies joy.
The final curtain will come down on the school year at 3.00pm on Wednesday. We will conclude our time together with our last school Assembly at 2.30pm in the church.
As we all prepare to head our separate ways for a few weeks, can I take this opportunity to thank everyone for their active and committed involvement by all - students, parents, families and staff - to the life of our school. I wish each of you a truly blessed and peaceful Christmas. Stay safe and we will see you in the new year.
“May you be blessed with …. The spirit of the season, which is Peace, The gladness of the season, which is Hope, The gift of the season, which is Joy And the heart of the season, which is Love.”
Last Thursday evening our year six students, their families and the staff gathered at the Wallace Hotel to share in a meal together to acknowledge and celebrate the final days of primary school for the students. Each of the students then did an incredibly brave and impressive thing - they each presented a speech to those gathered. Each child spoke with confidence and assurance about their learning and experiences during their time at St. Brigid’s. They each deserve to be immensely proud of themselves - it is no mean feat to speak in front of so many adults and your peers.
Our Year 6 students have been a great group within the school and have been recognised by both the children and the staff as being responsible and positive people to be with. I commend them to you for who they have been to our school community and on your behalf, as they head off to a range of secondary schools, I wish them a future filled with happiness, success and most of all, strong, supportive family and friends.
Congratulations and farewell to:
Aiden McDougall, Albie Eskdale, Bradley Rapa, Conor Durante, Eva Parente, Georgia Primerano, Haileigh Buttigieg, James Mullane, Jett Craggill, Johl Porter, Jordan Evans, Katie Gorman, Lonnie Forde, Presley Duncan and Rick Jerman.
Congratulations to the following award recipients for 2019:
Lioness Award:
Prep - Eddie Tranter
Year 1 - Flynn Closter
Year 2 - Tahni Muscat
Year 3 - Jake Plageman
Year 4 - Kristiana Ozimek
Year 5 - Abi Mulgrew
Year 6 - Presley Duncan
Rotary Award: Georgia Primerano
CWA Award: Jami Reid and Clover McIlwaine
As the year finishes, we have two staff members leaving us - Shannon Macklin and Tom Collins.
Tom joined the staff of St Brigid’s three years ago, from a school in Bendigo. During that time Tom has worked within our junior school. Tom takes a positive and optimistic approach to life in general and certainly to his role as a teacher. Tom always made sure he took the opportunity to connect with parents each day after school, a quality and habit that is to be truly admired and means he has really got to know many families very well. Tom’s love of all things sports - particularly football and his beloved Bombers - have really helped him to build relationships with students with similar interests. On behalf of all in our community we thank you for your contribution to our school. Tom has successfully gained a teaching position at Flemington Primary School, teaching a Year 5 and 6 class in 2020.
Shannon came to St. Brigid’s as a beginning teacher, yet her willingness to learn, take advice and be challenged has seen her very quickly develop into a valued teacher and staff member. I think there are some students who if given their wish would enrol at St. Francis Xavier so that they could be in her class once again! Shannon has made great connections and relationships with all within our school community and her contributions to everything St. Brigid’s has been truly valued. Shannon's outgoing demeanor and smiling face will be missed by us all.
To Shannon and Tom, hopefully you will look back on your time within the St. Brigid’s community with fondness, and we wish you both every success and happiness as you to move to different chapters in your lives.
We must also say farewell to a number of families who will be leaving our school in a few days. Each has been a part of the life of our school community for a range of years and each has bought their own gifts and contributions to our school.
We farewell and thank the following families:
McDougall, Rapa, Durante, Parente, Mullane, Craggill, Porter, Gorman, Forde, Jerman and Weston.
Last Thursday we hosted our thank you Afternoon Tea for all who had contributed to the community spirit and life of our school. At this gathering we acknowledged Gyorgyi Gorman for her incredible commitment to our ‘hot lunches’. It is really difficult to count the hours Gyorgyi has devoted to this role. She is here at school every Thursday and Friday morning making sure all is in readiness for hot lunch Friday. I think over her time she has saved many families from the late week scramble to ensure all children have lunches. I thank Hayley Plageman and Mickal Trinder for being prepared to take over from Gyorgyi. I keep saying that Gyorgyi has done such a fabulous job in this role that it takes two people to replace her! Thank you so much Gyorgyi - you are a true gem! Thank you to Mickal and Hayley for being prepared to step in and continue such a valuable service to all families.
Congratulations to our new school leaders who were announced at our end of school liturgy last week. Can I also thank our outgoing school leaders: Albie Eskdale, Johl Porter, James Mullane, Presley Duncan and Katie Gorman who have each contributed significantly to the life of our school. Each has bought their own particular gifts, skills and talents to their role and also been keen to led and participate in many activies and events during the year. Congratulations and thank you.
Our school leaders for 2020 are:
Abigail Mulgrew, Joseph Seketa, Leo Card and Niamh Mauriks
Over the last few weeks we have been reminding everyone about finalising their school fees for 2019. We do need to acknowledge and express gratitude to those families who have heeded our request to finalise their payments for 2019, as do those who take their fee payment very seriously each year and ensure that they are fully paid up in a timely manner. A reminder to those who still have outstanding fees that we are more than ready to discuss you situation in a private and confidential manner.
There will be some changes to our school fees in 2020. Firstly we will no longer be issuing book boxes at the commencement of the 2020 school year. While this project has been somewhat successful, many classrooms are finding that all children’s resources are not returned to the school for use throughout the year, so further resources are required to be purchased.
Additionally, with some incredible work by both Emma B and the teachers, we will be including all costs in our school fees right from the commencement of the school year - this will include camps, an excursion levy and a gardening levy. A letter providing great details of exactly what the fees will be for the total year has been sent home and posted on PAM last week, the benefit of such a decision means that you will have a very clear indication of the cost you will responsible for before you decide on the manner in which they will be paid - be that in one payment or weekly, fortnightly or per term. This we hope will be particularly helpful for those who use direct debit.
Saturday 21st December | Dunnstown | 6:30pm |
Sunday 22nd December | Gordon | 8:45am |
Sunday 22nd December | Ballan | 10:30am |
Christmas Mass Times | ||
Christmas Eve: | Clarkes Hill | 6:00pm |
Gordon | 6:00pm | |
Springbank | 6:30pm | |
Ballan | 8:00pm | |
Bungaree | 8:00pm | |
Christmas Day: | Dunnstown | 9.30am |
Families rostered on for the current periods are:
Mon Nov 11th - Sun Nov 24th | Plageman/Mulgrew/Hodge |
Mon Nov 25th - Sun Dec 8th | Eskdale/Meehan/Card |
Mon Dec 9th - Sun Dec 22nd | Jeandet/Moshoudis/Nuner |
December 20 - Ava Conroy
December 22 - Kyriae Fidler
December 28 - Kristiana Ozimek
January 1 - Abigal Mulgrew
January 2 - Dakota Mulgrew
January 3 - Ariana Jeandet
January 6 - Alexis Ozimek
January 11 - Chelsea Winter
January 16 - Logan Monterosso
January 19 - Samara Ozimek
January 23 - Lucas Cardona
January 23 - Eamon Grigg