Newsletter No. 6 | Term 2 Week 1 | Thursday 18th April 2024

Prayer

An Easter Prayer for Hope

Risen Presence, stir hope in us when we waver in our belief about the goodness of humanity.  Turn our face toward the sunrise of each morning. Assure us that every day brings light after night’s heavy darkness. Let it remind us that a fresh beginning continually awaits us.

Open our eyes to recognize signs of your endless love. Draw us close on our own Emmaus roads. When our hearts are disconsolate, surprise us with your peace-filled presence. Rekindle our love.

Clear our mind of the tendency to close off the possibility of a world warm with the glow of human kindness. Veer us away from negativity. Help us delete our thoughts of inner strife and the apprehension of doomsday prophecies.

Bring us into a remembrance of your empty tomb when we want to give up on humanity’s care for one another. Restore our recognition of your presence abiding in each and every human being. Let us look deeply, beyond despicable behaviour and brutality, and find the pure essence of your love abiding there.

Risen Lord, breathe hope in us. Help us keep it alive by how we think, feel, and live everyday.

Amen.

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

Welcome to Term Two. I hope you all had a chance to catch your breath over the holidays. It was a very busy Term 1!

As you are aware, Gracesyn will be taking up a new career opportunity in the agricultural industry. As I said in the email earlier this week, Gracesyn leaves big shoes to fill. If you know of anybody who you think may be interested and suitable for the position please send them in our direction.

We extend our heartfelt sympathy to Paul, Tracey, Joe and Grace on the passing of Tracey's mother. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Leanne Eastman
leastman@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

The Wizard of Oz

We have had some wonderful feedback from our Wizard of Oz production, I think we will be dining out on this experience for quite a while! The film is currently being edited and will be saved to USBs for families to purchase. We will let you know as soon as it is ready to go.

Easter Raffle Fundraiser

The Easter raffle raised a whopping $960! This will go towards our $6000 fundraising target. Thanks to everyone who donated easter eggs and/or purchased raffle tickets.

SRC STUDENTS

Congratulations to the following students who have been elected as SRC representatives this Term:

P/1: Esther & Lewie

2/3/4: Issy & Sophie

4/5/6: Aden & Grace

Principal for the Day

Our Principal for the day winner from Term 1 was Teddy Phillips. Due to it being a very busy end to the Term we postponed the day until this Friday. 

Teddy has requested that students can come in casual clothes or dress ups if they would like! I wonder what else he has planned??

Enrolments

Over the next few weeks schools will be advertising for new enrolments. Evidence shows that the best way to advertise a school is by word of mouth, so feel free to spread the word and send families our way so that we can give them a personal tour. 

It is always good to be prepared, so perhaps have a think about what you would tell people about our school. What do you love about our school? How are we different from other schools? Why do you choose to send your children here? 

As the Information Night did not go ahead, I will share some of what we were going to talk about on the night. This may also help if someone asks you about our school. Feel free to speak from your heart and share your personal experiences, share the video on the facebook page and send them to us for more information.

Catholic Culture

A major point of difference is that being a Catholic school, the Gospel values of love, patience, kindness, acceptance and compassion are at the heart of all we do. This is seen on a daily basis through interactions with students, staff and parents and the wider community,  and creates a warm, nurturing environment for our students.

Learning and Teaching

We ensure that the teaching of the core areas of English and Maths are given a high priority. Our teaching methods and programs are grounded in evidence-based research to ensure that we are giving our students the best opportunities for academic success.

Other curriculum areas such as our integrated curriculum units, encourage our students to develop skills relevant and necessary to learning in the 21st Century. We teach students to be curious and to have skills such as critical and creative thinking, collaboration, communication, teamwork and personal and social skills.

Specialist Subjects of Art, Music/Drama, Sport, Outdoor Learning, Auslan and STEM ensure that our students are engaged in a comprehensive, well-rounded curriculum.

Learning through play is also an important aspect of our learning and teaching.

Wellbeing 

Our Staff have been working on developing our Wellbeing Strategic Plan which will be launched to the community in a few weeks. Having a strategic approach to how we enhance wellbeing at our school is important to ensuring that we cover all bases and provide a holistic education where we cater for the physical, social and emotional, spiritual and mental wellbeing of all of our students. 

Part of the document states: 

A major point of difference for our school is that we are a small school. We believe that this has a positive impact on the wellbeing of our students. The size of our school allows us to have more freedom and flexibility with how we teach and operate. It is important to us that we do not operate in the same way that bigger schools do, but rather take advantage of the increased options for freedom, exploration and personal development. In today’s world where so many children are crammed into big schools with many rules and regulations, our students have the opportunity to develop initiative, trust and an adventurous attitude to life. Students are encouraged to test their limits, engage in ‘managed-risk’ activities, take on responsibilities, develop positive relationships across a range of age levels, and experience the joy of being outdoors, connecting to nature.

Community Engagement

The following extract is taken from the Wellbeing Strategic Plan:

Central to the wellbeing of students at St. Brendan’s is our strong sense of community. We truly have a ‘village’ where parents, carers, staff, parishioners, former students and families, and the local community, all play a role in looking out for our students and supporting them in their educational journey. People often remark on the wonderful community at St. Brendan’s and we take immense pride in being such a positive aspect of our school. 

Sustainability Club

On Tuesday at lunchtime we planted strawberries. We planted them in the vege garden and gave them a good water. They should be ready in late Spring or Summer. We enjoyed planting them and we can’t wait for them to be ready!

By Harriet.

School Advisory Council

The next meeting for the School Advisory Council will be on Wednesday 24th April at 7pm in the Staffroom. 

We hope to see you there.

Upcoming Dates

Monday 29th April: Year 6 students Leadership Conference

Thursday 25th April: ANZAC Holiday

Friday 7th June: Bush Excursion

Lunch Orders

Lunch Orders are available every Wednesday from the Cororooke General Store. Parents and families can visit or call the Cororooke General store on a Tuesday and place an order for the following day, or alternitively a standing order can be arranged to happen every week. A list of options are prices is avaiulable at the shop.

The school collects the lunch orders on Wednesday and distributes them to students at lunch time. If you have any quesions please contact the school office or the Cororooke General Store.

Newsletter

Good communication between home and school is extremely important to us. If you have any feedback on our processes please feel free to let us know.  

Please note the summary of school/family communications at our school:

Newsletter: Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7 & 9

Parent Facebook page: quick reminders, messages which may require a quick response, sharing photos of school events etc. If you are not on the Parent Facebook page and would like to be added, please see Leanne

Email: To notify parents of school issues that require more than a quick reminder. This is also a means of communication where we receive feedback from parents.

Community Facebook page: To share events and happenings with the wider community in order to promote our school and enhance community connections

SeeSaw: To enhance family/school partnerships in student learning, by sharing student work and classroom happenings. Parents are invited to view their children’s work and give feedback. 

Phone calls: To communicate with individual families. We are only a phone call away. Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any concerns or have something that you would like to share.

Catholic Culture

St Brendan's Coragulac & St Joseph's Pirron Yallock Mass Times

St Brendan’s Coragulac: 9.30am Sunday Lay-led  /   Mass 5pm 4th Sunday of each month
St Joseph’s Pirron Yallock: 10:30am Sunday Lay-led   /   Mass 1st Sunday of each month

Our Diocesan Community Magazine

Please find below the link for the March 2024 edition of “Our Diocesan Community”. The aim of the magazine is to share the good news stories of our schools, parishes and agencies across the diocese.

If you have a good news story to share with others in the diocese, ODC welcome articles and photos for publication in the magazine and the diocesan e-News.  Please forward to odc@ballarat.catholic.org.au

Prep/1 Classroom News

Welcome to Term 2! It's great to be back. I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the students and hearing their exciting holiday news. Looking forward to a great Term.

Literacy: We’ve jumped straight into our word work again this term. The Prep’s are consolidating the letters b, c, g and h before moving onto d, e, v and f. They have been practising reading and writing three-letter words containing these letters. The Grade 1’s are reviewing the sound /oa/ like in boat before moving onto /ir/ like in bird. I’ve also signed all students up to “Decodable Readers Australia” so you can access some digital readers from home. Follow the instructions I’ve sent home to login! There’s so many great books on this site.

Maths: This Term, we are learning about addition and subtraction. This week, we have started by telling addition stories and writing matching addition sentences. The students were very quick to pick up the concepts and are already using the correct mathematical symbols (+ and =) in their maths work! Go team! Over the next few weeks, we will tackle some more complex strategies for solving addition problems eg. counting on, using doubles facts, using number bonds to ten and bridging to the nearest ten. 

Religion: Our concept for RE is ‘Respond.” To begin our unit, we have been learning about what the word ‘respond’ means. We have read some stories and identified times in the story that a character has responded to an event.

Integrated Curriculum: Our theme for IC is ‘change.’ This is an exciting topic which will cover history, geography and social sciences. Our class storyboard is back! We arrived this week to find that our storyboard is taking us back in time - to long, long, long ago! Our storyboard shows what Coragulac might have looked like in times gone by. Throughout the Term, we will consider how Coragulac has changed over time and what differences we see in the landscape compared to today. To give you a sneaky hint - it might involve megafauna, volcanoes, Aboriginal land management, the arrival of settlers and the building of cities, schools and houses… just to name a few.

Allira Kluver
akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Welcome back as we begin our journey into Term 2!

Our school production of The Wizard of Oz was a phenomenal success. We are so super proud of all our students for the dedication, love and effort they put into producing such a fabulous performance. I cannot wait to see the video and see how amazing it was again!

Religious Education: Our concept this term is ‘Identity’. The class listened to the story ‘Be Who You Are’ by Todd Parr and reflected on what the author was trying to tell us. He spoke about ‘speak your language’ ‘learn in your own way’, ‘be proud of where you’ve come from’ and ‘just be who you are’.

Literacy: Our phonics focus this week is ‘oy/oi’ for Year 2’s and more spellings of the /or/ sound as in bored, board, taught, thought, and four for the Year 3 and 4’s. We are building the words identifying the sounds represented in each of the words.

In writing, we are creating recounts about our experiences with The Wizard of Oz.

Numeracy:  We have been revising addition strategies this week. The Year 2’s are revisiting Friends of Ten, doubles to 20 and counting on. The Year 3’s are revising the Jump Strategy

Eg. (54+34= (50+30) + (4+3) = 80 +7 = 87, and the Year 4’s are reviewing number lines and adding 2 digit numbers to 3 digit numbers.

Homework: This week for homework I ask that the children get back into the habit of reading nightly.  It might just be a page or two, but it is important to create and maintain regular routines which will assist with fluency, comprehension and hopefully, enjoyment of texts.

Just 10 minutes a day achieves the following!

The Star of the Week award goes to Luca Lettieri. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

Kind Regards,

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

4/5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 1 of Term 2! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter break and enjoyed spending time with family and friends. I would like to congratulate all students for participating in the Wizard of Oz at the end of last term. The performance was phenomenal and definitely one to remember!

Homework: Spelling and maths homework was sent home at the start of this week. This is due back to school on Friday 26th April. A reminder that students are expected to be reading for 20 minutes each night and filling this in their dairy. All students were sent home with books to read today.

Phonics: In Phonics we’ve been focusing on the sound /or/ and exploring the different spellings of this sound. Year 4 students have been working on words such as; taught, thought and bored, and Year 5/6 students have been working on words such as; distraught, foreshore and sought.

Maths: In Maths we have been working on Addition. Students have been practising adding two numbers with carrying. Year 4 students have been working on 3-digit numbers, Year 5 students have been working on 4-digit numbers and Year 6 students have been working on 5-digit numbers and beyond.

Religion: In Religion this week we have begun our unit on Gratitude. To begin our unit we have been looking at what it means to display gratitude and created a Gratitude jar as a means of daily reflection.

Tahlia Whytcross
twhytcross@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

School Photo Day

School Photos 2024 – St Brendan's Catholic Primary School

Annual school photos have been taken by Arthur Reed Photos.

To view the images of your child and order photos, you will need to first register online.

1. Go to https://order.arphotos.com.au and enter the 2024 image code for your child (from their personalized flyer)
2. Tap on ‘Add another child’ to enter the image codes of any siblings
3. Fill in your email and mobile details and then review all details before confirming your registration

That’s it! When 2024 photos are ready, you will be notified by email and SMS.

Even if you registered last year, it’s important that you do it again each year using your child’s new image code to link their photos for the current year with your contact details.

To ensure you are ordering school photos for the current year, please wait for notifications that 2024 images are online before placing orders.

In the webshop you can view photos and customize your photo package; Choose ANY layout, ANY image and purchase multiple digital image downloads.

All photo orders will be sent directly to the address you provide when ordering.

REGISTER ONLINE NOW to be notified when 2024 school photos can be viewed and ordered.

Birthday Corner

Wishing a very big Happy Birthday to everyone who has celebrated their special day recently! Especially...

5th April   -   Joseph Lamb (8)

22nd April   -   Jordon Price (10)

Important Dates

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