Newsletter August 12th, 2019
Dear Parents,
How good does our new look newsletter look - thanks to Emma for leading the way with this new approach, which not only looks fabulous but has some great new features making our newsletters much more interactive, easier to read and mobile friendly.
The weather has certainly tested all of us this past week or so, but it was lovely to see snow falling in Ballarat on Sunday morning - even if it really didn’t settle on the ground, it made the cold weather somewhat worthwhile!
Our grateful thanks to all families who negotiated their way through our two school closure days recently, which enabled all of our staff to attend the Ballarat Catholic Schools Zone conference - Fullness of life for all. Not only were there many workshops on offer including ‘Images of God’, Mindfulness, Growth Mindset and an opportunity to hear from a range of people who are committed to pursuing fullness of life for all. The keynote speaker Fr Richard Leonard was able to bring contemporary thinking and challenges to all present. There has been much conversation and discussion from the staff since the conference and they loved the opportunity to connect and engage with their counterparts from across the Ballarat Zone. We thank you all for allowing us opportunities such as these to continue to build our learning and capacity to provide an environment that reaches out and engages all to be the best they can be.
As an aside, there were also some pretty impressive dance moves on display at the Conference dinner on Thursday night!!
Prayer for the Feast of the Assumption
Empowering God, Inspire us by the example of Mary’s openness to your Love. May we live in this attitude and bring to birth a new world! We make our prayer through Jesus Christ in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This Thursday August 15th, our catholic faith celebrates the Feast of the Assumption which dates back to earliest Christian times.
The feast day of this holy and momentous event stems from the middle of the 5th Century when the Commemoration of the Mother of God was celebrated each year on 15 August in a shrine located near Jerusalem. More than 100 years later, the feast also commemorated the end of Mary’s time on earth and was known as the “Dormition of Our Lady.”
What is the feast of the Assumption really all about? It is about Mary – and perhaps many other women – who, with a little prayer, a lot of generosity and truly genuine human goodness – make the Presence of God truly present in this world. Mary was an ordinary simple young woman who did the most extraordinary thing and the most everyday thing of making Jesus real in the world. I think any of us could light a candle to that.
Welcome to the following children who have commenced in our Year 1 and 2 classroom this week:
Shakia Degrundy, Leah and Allanah Hems-Wren.
We know that you will all make the girls and their family feel very welcome.
In recent weeks, our School Advisory Council, along with a number of parents with a strong interest, experience and expertise in this area met with David Hay - Landscape Architect and Ashley Wiseman from the Catholic Education Office Ballarat, to continue to work on and refine the plans for upgrading our outdoor area. It is intended that the work to be undertaken will commence early in 2020, subject to requirements of outside bodies are met. This will be a major upgrade of a number of areas in the school playground and will need to be funded largely through the school budget. The plans are available for viewing in this newsletter, or in the school office.
Gorgyi Gorman continues to do an awesome job every week overseeing the hot lunches our children enjoy. She spends considerable time on both Thursday and Fridays, ordering and organising all of the requirements for the lunches on Friday. She has a small band of helpers to assist her in her task. However, we will not have Gorgyi’s expertise and experience for much longer. Katie, her daughter finishes at St Brigid’s at the end of this year, so we have to make plans for this inevitability. If we want Hot Lunches to continue each Friday, we are going to need at least one person to step in and take over this role. If you might be interested in assisting in any way, please take to Gabe, Emma or Jodie in the office. If there is no one interested in taking over this position, there will be no hot lunches available in 2020.
Confirm email for PAM
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Saturday 17th August | Dunnstown | 6:30pm |
Sunday 18th August | Gordon | 8:45am |
Sunday 18th August | Ballan | 10:30am |
Saturday 24th August | Clarke's Hill | 6:30pm |
Sunday 25th August | Gordon | 8:45am |
Sunday 25th August | Ballan | 10:30am |
Friday 16th August | Caz Craggill & Gyorgi Gorman |
Friday 23rd August | Hayley Plageman & Bridget Sims |
Friday 30th August | Mickal Trinder & Rebecca Houston-Farley |
Families rostered on for the current periods are:
Monday 19th August-Sunday 1st September | McIlwaine/Brooke Leonard/Sims |
Monday 2nd September-Sunday 15th September | Heafield/Joshua Mullane/Closter |