Newsletter June 25th, 2025

Dear Parents, Carers and Families,

This Thursday, we will gather to celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and as such we are reminded of the deep love and compassion that Jesus has for each of us. This special day invites us to reflect on the boundless love of Christ – a love that is selfless, giving and centred on caring for others, especially those in need.

In the spirit of this love, as a school community we will support those who may be doing it tough by collecting non-perishable food items for St Vincent de Paul. This simple act of giving is a powerful way for our children to live out the message of the Sacred Heart – to see the face of Jesus in others and to respond with kindness and generosity. Together, we can make a meaningful difference and bring hope and comfort to those who need it most.

Let us continue to nurture hearts that are open, generous and full of love – just like the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Stay warm, and thank you for your continued support.

Jayne Bosworth

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

Excerpt from St Brigid's Prayer

Following discussions at recent P&F meetings, we are excited to move forward with the redevelopment of our school oval, made possible through the generous funds raised by our wonderful school community facilitated by our P&F committee - both past and present.

While the oval redevelopment will be an ongoing project over time (potentially over several years), we’re excited to be moving forward with the first major step - the installation of a full-sized cricket pitch during the July holidays!

The oval redevelopment is now our school’s major fundraising focus. This is truly wonderful news for our school and is sure to bring great joy and excitement to our students.

Our end of semester reports will be available on PAM from 4pm Thursday 3rd July, 2025.

Semester One Formal Reports will include:

• Work Habits Table
• Level of attainment in the form of a dot on a continuum for the learning areas explicitly taught in Semester Two and in accordance with the Victorian Curriculum Achievement Standards:
  • Religious Education
  • English (Reading & Viewing, Writing, Speaking & Listening)
  • Mathematics
  • Technologies
  • Humanities
  • Capabilities (Ethical, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking and Intercultural)
  • Physical Education
  • Visual Arts
• Comment to celebrate your child’s achievements, in relation to their Personal and Social development and learning in Mathematics and English
• Statement outlining what has been taught and learnt in Auslan
• Comment to identify your child’s next steps in learning to ensure future success and growth

This year, I have been working closely with architects Morton & Co to continue the development of a Masterplan for the future of our school. In March, we submitted an application to the Australian Government Capital Grants Program to support Stage 1A of this plan.

As previously shared, our school is currently experiencing a period of significant growth. Over the past three years, enrolments at St Brigid’s have increased from 94 students in 2023 to 136 students at the commencement of 2025 -  a 44.7% increase. This growth has created a need for additional resources and infrastructure to ensure we can continue to provide high-quality Catholic education for our students.

At present, all seven of our classroom spaces are in full use, with further enrolment growth expected in the coming years. To respond to this, the Masterplan has been developed in three key stages:

• Stage 1A: Construction of two new classrooms and an amenities block
• Stage 1B: Extension of the staff room and addition of a meeting room
• Stage 2: Creation of a Specialist Learning Area within the main building and an amenities block
• Stage 3: Development of a Multipurpose Hall
  
  

Our Capital Grants application specifically seeks funding for Stage 1A. I look forward to sharing further updates with you.

We are excited to be planning a fun and festive ‘Christmas in July’ event for our wonderful parent/carer community!

To help us choose the best date and get an idea of numbers, please take a minute to complete this short survey. Your feedback will help shape the event.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9XMJH8F

If your child does not want a hot dog or if there are any specific dietary requirements please advise via email: administration@sbballan.catholic.edu.au

Please send snacks or a sandwich to school if more lunch is needed in addition to the hot dog.

Thank you to our P&F for organising this.

We have a number of clothing items which were left at the school disco last Friday evening. If your child is missing dress-ups or hats can you please collect items from the school office asap.

To assist with preliminary stages of planning for 2026, a friendly reminder to current families to please submit enrolment forms for siblings entering Foundation in 2026 via the ‘enrol now’ tab on our website - https://www.sbballan.catholic.edu.au/

Whole School Prayer/ Assembly will continue to take place on a fortnightly basis at St Brigid’s Church on Monday afternoons from 2:30pm.

Term 3 dates:

Monday 11th August, 2025 @2:30pm - Year 5/6B facilitating

Monday 25th August, 2025 @2:30pm - Foundation A facilitating

Monday 8th September, 2025 @2:30pm - Year 2/3BW facilitating

Term 4 dates:

Monday 13th October, 2025 @2:30pm - Year 4/5S facilitating

Monday 27th October, 2025 @2:30pm - Foundation C facilitating

Monday 10th November, 2025@ 2:30pm - Year 2/3M facilitating

Monday 24th November, 2025 @ 2:30pm - Year 1S facilitating

Our next P&F meeting will take place on Monday 4th August 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.

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.

Due to the wet and muddy conditions at present, you may choose to pack a change of clothes. The oval will be out of bounds when required.  

Hot lunches will take place each Friday via the online ordering system - Spriggy Schools on SZapp.

Volunteers

We have re-introduce a roster looking for volunteers to help prepare and serve lunches on each Friday. Ideally 2 helpers are required.

If you are available to help out on a Friday between 11.30am-1.00pm please contact the school office with your dates (valid Working with Children Check is required).

The children really enjoy hot lunches and this can only happen with the help of volunteers!

Term 2 Roster:

Please find below an updated menu.

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, text notifications 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.