Newsletter December 13, 2022
- Principal's Message
- School Captains
- Thank you
- Semester 2 Reports
- Festive Friday
- St Brigid’s Christmas Raffle
- Friday Assembly - TIME CHANGE
- School fees for 2023
- Important Dates - Term 4 & Term 1, 2023
- Medical Health Plans - 2023 Update
- Big Childcare
- Birthdays
- Gordon & Bungaree Parish News
- Change of Details
Dear Members of our St Brigid’s Community,
Dear Parents and Families,
The season of Advent continues through the four Sundays of Advent and ends at Christmas Eve. The first week of Advent focused on the return of the Lord and the following weeks focus more specifically on the anticipation of the birth of Jesus. Rather than simply commemorating an historical event, Advent is a time of preparing our hearts to ‘receive’ Jesus into the world each year. Advent is traditionally marked by the colour of violet – the same colour as used in Lent. In recent years, some parishes have moved to a more blue/mauve colour for Advent to try to distinguish it from the season of Lent.
The word advent comes from the Latin term adventus meaning "arrival" or "coming," particularly the coming of something having great importance. Advent season, then, is both a time of joy-filled, anticipatory celebration of the arrival of Jesus Christ and a preparatory period of repentance, meditation, and penance.
During each Sunday of the Advent season, we focus on one of the four virtues Jesus brings us: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.
Tomorrow, we look forward to acknowledging and celebrating our wonderful Year 6 children. From Foundation students in 2016 to graduates in 2022, we can’t quite believe how quickly their primary school years have passed. We are very proud of our Year 6 cohort; we thank them for their contributions to St Brigid’s School and wish them all the very best as they transition to secondary school. To our departing families - we thank you for your time and contributions to our school and wish you every success for the future.
Best wishes to the following Year 6 children:
Charlie Black, Madison Buttigieg, Joel Card, Lucas Cardona, Nate Closter, Ava Conroy, Kyriae Fidler, Henry Freemantle, Eamon Grigg, Isaac Healey, Mate Marinovic, Ailah McFall, Byrson McMillan, Tahni Muscat, Zach Ozimek, Jake Plageman, Stallen Porter, Jaimi Ried, Kristian Seketa, Ruby Sims, Angus Tranter, Foster Trinder and April Yearwood.
Best wishes also to the following Year 6 departing families:
Black family, Card family, Cardona family, Conroy family, Fidler family, Freemantle family, Healey family, Marinovic family, McFall family, McMillan family, Muscat family, Porter family and Reid family.
We are very much looking forward to celebrating our upcoming Year 6 Graduation. Graduation will take place tomorrow Wednesday 14th December and will consist of a whole school end of Year Mass at 1:30pm at St Brigid's church (all welcome) followed by a dinner at Donegan’s Farm, arriving at 5:45pm and commencing at 6:00pm sharp.
We look forward to a wonderful week ahead.
Take care and God bless,
Jayne Bosworth
Principal
'Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.' Excerpt from St Brigid's Prayer
Congratulations to our Year 5 students who undertook their leadership speeches last week. Each child did a fabulous job and it was so impressive to see each student speak in such a passionate way about their desire to be a school captain. Furthermore, although not everyone can become a school captain each child demonstrated they were worthy of the role. Congratulations to Angus Eskdale, Aoife Lakey and Clara Monterosso who will be presented their school captain badges at the School mass 1.30pm tomorrow.
Sarah Foyster will finish at St Brigid’s at the end of this year. Sarah and her family are heading to Darwin for the 2023 year. Sarah has had a fabulous year at St Brigid's and has been an absolute asset to our school. Sarah's care for our children, staff and our school community in general is so very appreciated. Her enthusiasm, positivity and presence will be greatly missed by all.
A big thank you to Julie Molloy who will finish in her role as Intervention Teacher in the 3/4 classroom at the end of this year. Julie has worked with the children in Year 3/4 providing small group, targeted teaching and intervention with many pleasing results to celebrate!
Thank you also to Tracy Pengelly who has worked in the intervention/enhancement tutoring role this year with a focus on Mathematics. Tracy has spent time with students building mindset, confidence and skills in Mathematics. The Tutor Learn Program will continue in 2023.
Our school Pastoral Care Worker, Rheannon will be finishing at St Brigid’s at the end of this year. Rheannon started with us at the beginning of Term 4, and has been an absolute asset to our school. Her positive outlook, friendly approach and care for all is so appreciated and we wish her the very best for her future endeavours.
Teachers have been working hard on Semester 2 reports. I commend our teachers for the energy, thoroughness, sincerity, and professionalism that they bring to their report writing processes.
As in Semester One, we will continue to use (PAM) Parent Access Module for delivering school reports. This online system provides parent’s access to a range of information specific to your child including mid and end of year reports.
Our end of year reports will be available on PAM from 4pm Wednesday 14th December, 2022.
Semester Two 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 (Number & Algebra, Measurement & Geometry, Statistics & Probability)
- Technologies
- Humanities
- Capabilities (Ethical, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking and Intercultural)
- 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 in Auslan
- Comment for Physical Education, Visual Arts and Performing Arts
On Friday 2nd December, the P&F hosted a very successful Festive Friday celebration at the Commercial Hotel. The weather was certainly kind to us all as we spent the evening outside, listening to music and chatting away! It was wonderful to connect with members of our school community! A big thank you to all who were able to attend Festive Friday!
Congratulations to all our raffle winners!
Thank you to the following businesses/families who have donated items for our raffle:
- Crossroads Trading
- Scruffies Dog Grooming
- The Skin Inn
- Ballan Local Butcher
- ASC Cleaning
- McFall Real Estate
- UFS in Ballan
- Jubeco Designs
- The Tin Plate
- Great Western Hotel
- Hank and Heidi’s
Our final assembly for this year will be facilitated by our Year 2 class and will take place this Friday, 16th December at 2:15pm at St Brigid’s Church.
2023 School fee information will be sent home to each family in your child's bag and via email this week. Please take note of the important dates contained in these documents and should you have any questions don't hesitate to contact the office by phone on 5368 1015 or email at administration@sbballan.catholic.edu.au.
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 4:
|
Week |
Date |
Event |
|
11 |
Wednesday 14th December, 2022 |
End of Year Graduation Mass - |
|
11 |
Friday 16th December, 2022 |
Hot Dog Lunch for all students - No hot lunches |
|
11 |
Friday 16th December, 2022 |
Last day of school for students - 3pm Finish |
Key dates 2023
Term 1…
|
Friday 27th January, 2023 |
First day for Staff |
|
Monday 30th January, 2023 |
Professional Learning Day for Staff – Pupil Free Day |
|
Tuesday 31st January, 2023 |
First day for ALL students from Foundation – Year 6 |
|
Friday 10th March, 2023 |
Professional Learning Day for Staff – Pupil Free Day |
|
Monday 13th March, 2023 |
Labour Day Public Holiday |
|
Friday 31st March, 2023 |
Moorabool Sports Day |
|
Tuesday 28th March, 2023 |
School Photo Day |
|
Thursday 6th April, 2023 |
Last Day of Term 1 – 2:20pm Finish |
Please note - Foundation students will not attend school on Wednesdays until Wed 16th March
Term 2…
|
Monday 24th April, 2023 |
Professional Learning Day for Staff – Pupil Free Day |
|
Tuesday 25th April, 2023 |
ANZAC Day Public Holiday |
|
Wednesday 26th April, 2023 |
Term 2 commences for all students |
|
Friday 2nd June, 2023 |
Professional Learning Day for Staff – Pupil Free Day |
|
Monday 12th June, 2023 |
Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday |
|
Friday 23rd June, 2023 |
Last Day of Term 2 – 2:20pm Finish |
Term 3…
|
Monday 10th July, 2023 |
Professional Learning Day for Staff – Visible Learning |
|
Tuesday 11th July, 2023 |
Term 3 commences for all students |
|
Friday 15th September, 2023 |
Last Day of Term 3 – 2:20pm Finish |
Term 4…
|
Monday 2nd October, 2023 |
Term 4 commences for all students |
|
Monday 6th November, 2023 |
Professional Learning Day for Staff – Pupil Free Day |
|
Tuesday 7th November, 2023 |
Melbourne Cup Day Public Holiday |
|
Tuesday 19th December, 2023 |
Last Day of Term 4 for students – 3.00pm Finish |
Mass Times:
| 1st Sunday | 2nd Sunday | 3rd Sunday | 4th Sunday | 5th Sunday | |
| Saturday 6.30pm | Dunnstown | Springbank | Dunnstown | Clarkes Hill | Springbank |
| Sunday 8.45am | Gordon | Bungaree | Gordon | Gordon | Bungaree |
| Sunday 10.30am | Ballan | Ballan | Ballan | Ballan | Ballan |
Korobeit Sat 6.30pm ~ Creswick 8.45am ~ Daylesford 10.30am
RCIA for Children: We are inviting expressions of interest from parents who seek baptism for their children who are 7 years and older who have not yet been baptised. Expression of Interest Forms have been placed in the churches or ring the Parish Office on 0492903409.
SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2023 PARISH OF GORDON: Please see attached flyer for more information.