Newsletter No. 8 | Term 2 Week 5 | Friday 17th May 2024

Prayer

Principal's Message

Dear Parents/Carers

I hope all the Mums out there had a beautiful Mother’s Day and enjoyed waking up to the gifts your children had made. Thanks to the teachers for organising the gifts and cards, ensuring that all of you felt spoiled and loved on the day.

It was wonderful to see such a wonderful turnout for our Mother’s Day lunch. Thank you to everyone who was able to come along and thank you for bringing a plate. The food was delicious! The children really love the Mother’s Day celebration and as always, there was certainly a lot of love in the room.

Have a wonderful weekend!

FR MICHAEL 50 YEARS MILESTONE

Next Wednesday, our whole school will be joining the Catholic schools in Colac to attend Mass celebrating Fr. Michael on reaching the milestone of 50 years in the priesthood. What an achievement!

In the seven years that I have known Fr. Michael, I have continually seen how he lives his vocation through the care, compassion and numerous good deeds that he does for those in need. We are truly blessed to have Father Michael as part of our school community. His dedication to being actively involved and present within our community is sincerely valued and deeply appreciated by all.

Congratulations Fr. Michael. Thank you for all that you do and all that you are.

You can read more about Fr. Michael in today's Colac Herald.

Leanne Eastman
leastman@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK MASS

Last Wednesday the whole school joined Sacred Heart, St. Mary’s and the leaders of Trinity College for Mass at St. Mary’s Church in Colac. It was wonderful to all come together to celebrate Catholic Education in the Colac / Coragulac areas. 

We are proud that our schools provide excellent educational experiences for our students, equipping them with the skills, tools and hope to cope with whatever life brings and lead a fulfilling life.

At the end of the Mass, Fr. Michael brought Trinity leaders to the altar, along with Prep students from each of the Primary Schools. It was a lovely moment as he talked about how the Trinity students had started out as Preps and were now so grown up and ready to take on the world. It was a strong and poignant visual representation of the beginning and end of a child’s educational journey.

CONGRATULATIONS TO NELLIE

Congratulations to Nellie Armistead who has made it throught to the Greater Western Cross Country event which will be held on Friday 27th May. Nellie ran the 3 kms extremely well, placing third in her race.

Congratulations to the following students who also participated Colac Regional Cross Country, we are pround of you all: Claire Beardsley, Matilda Carlon, Zayne Ellen, Samiyah McLeod, Caleb Price and Jackson Scott.

WELCOME TO GRACE MONACO

On Monday Grace Monaco will commence her role of Administration Officer of our school. Grace is really excited to start and meet you all.

Grace will be working on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. It will take a bit of  time for Grace to become familiar with all of the workings of the school and I know you will all be patient and understanding of this.

We look forward to Grace joining us and becoming part of our very special St. Brendan’s community.

PARENT SURVEY

Thanks to everyone who has completed the survey. It is really important to us that we receive your feedback. St. Brendan’s school is not my school, it is our school and all thoughts and opinions are valued. The link to the survey has been sent to everyone, you should find it in your emails. Thank you!

SUSTAINABILITY GROUP FUN

This week the sustainability group did some sewing! They have noticed that we have used alot of disposable cloths for first aid and other needs, and felt that it would be a good idea to create their own cloths that could be washed and re-used. It was amazing to see children in there from Prep to Year 5, busily cutting and sewing and finally producing some fabulous cloths! Great job everyone! Thanks to Teddy's Mum Lauren for coming in to help with the sewing.

BACK SQUARE PROJECT

The back square is starting to take shape! We would like to say a BIG thank you to Justin McGuane for coming in on the weekend to move the piles of soil to help create garden beds around the logs. Much appreciated Justin!

RED ROCK EXCURSION

Prep/1 Excursion to Red Rock

The Prep/1 students have been learning about the history of Coragulac and how the region has changed over time, including that Red Rock was once an active volcano!

To complement our learning, they visited Red Rock to experience the volcanic landscape first hand. It was great to be able to travel there in our own school bus! The students explored the lookout, identified features in the surrounding environment and then went on a walk down to the playground. Along the way, they discovered and read several hidden facts.

After a well deserved snack and play at the playground, they spent time looking at a topographic map of Red Rock and completing a sensory analysis. By all reports, it was a really fun day!

Catholic Culture

Mass with the Bishop

Bishop Bird will be saying Mass at St. Brendan’s on Sunday 26th May@10:30.

Lunch to follow at the Hall. Please bring a plate to share.

ALL WELCOME

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 Mass 1st Sunday of each month

Our Diocesan Community Magazine

Prep/1 Classroom News

Week 5

We have had a wonderful couple of weeks in Prep/1. Our excursion to Red Rock was a big hit! The students enjoyed exploring the lookout at Red Rock and observing the incredible landscape. It was a great opportunity to do some hands-on learning and relate the curriculum to real life.

Literacy: In writing, we have been learning about the four different types of sentences. Students have practised writing statements, questions, exclamations and commands. They now know how to punctuate each of these types of sentences and how to use them in the correct context. Mel and I have also been very impressed with all students’ handwriting!

Word work: Preps are working on the letters k, l, r and u. They have been reading and writing words such as kid, log, red and cup. It’s really exciting to observe their growing automaticity (the ability to instantly recognise a word) as well as confidence when it comes to reading.

The Grade 1’s are working on the sound /ea/ like in head. There are three spellings: <ea> like in bread, <ai> like in said and <e> like in spent. 

Maths: In Maths, we have been learning about subtraction. After modeling some take-away situations using blocks, counters and other manipulatives, students have learnt how to write matching number sentences using the take away sign (-). Some other strategies we have been exploring are: counting back from the larger number and finding the difference.

Religion: For RE, we are beginning to look at the story, “The Potter and the Clay.” In order to fully understand the Bible story, we have been learning what a potter is. It has been very exciting to watch some videos about potters and their work. Over the next few weeks, we will learn more about the meaning behind this story.

Allira Kluver

akluver@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 5!

What a day Friday was! Mother’s Day speeches are always a tear jerker, and our send off to Gracesyn was lovely and full of emotion. Gracesyn absolutely loved the book collated for her and the video was just gorgeous. We wish her all the very best in her new role andthank her for the outstanding service given to our school and community.

Religious Education: This week we have been investigating Mary and her importance to the
Church. We are looking at the Scripture from John ‘The Foot of the Cross’ and the Hail Mary prayer.

Literacy: Our phonics focus this week is ‘o’ for Year 2’s (wash,blonde) and the ‘k’ sound as in
scarves, bucket, kindness, soccer, and stomach for the Year 3 and 4’s. We are building the
words and identifying the sounds represented in each of the words.
In writing, we are still focusing on sentence expansion. The children take a simple sentence
such as ‘The table broke’ and add the components of where, when and why to create more
complex sentences. For example, ‘At midnight in the kitchen, the new timber table broke
because the roof caved in during the storm.

Numeracy: Our unit on subtraction is finishing this week. We are focusing on Multiplication
and Division for the next few weeks. The students are completing pre-tests for both
concepts.

Homework: This week for homework, an activity related to our current concept subtraction
has been sent home to complete. Nightly reading is part of the homework expectation for
each year level. Just a page or two is sufficient but any extra is a bonus.

Integrated Curriculum: This week we are investigating the journey St. Brendan made.
We are building our Story board around his adventures. I am always impressed
with the creativity our class displays!

The Star of the Week award goes to Liam Wilson. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

Kind regards,
Mandy

Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

4/5/6 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 5! Wow this term really is flying by!

Homework: Spelling and Maths homework was sent home at the start of this week. This is due back to school on Friday 24th May. A reminder that students are also expected to be reading daily and filling this into their diary.

Phonics: In Phonics we’ve been focusing on the sound /k/ and exploring the different spellings of this sound. Year 4 students have been working on words such as; soccer, headache and bakery, and Year 5/6 students have been working on words such as; commitment, character and accountant.

Handwriting: In handwriting we have been working on speed loops, focusing on the letters ‘l’ and ‘h’.

Maths: In Maths we have been working on Place Value. Year 4 students have been working on locating and plotting numbers on number lines. Whereas, Year 5 & 6 students have been working with decimal numbers.

Religion: In Religion we have been learning about The Beatitudes. Students have been learning about these teachings that Jesus gave his followers and have been unpacking how we can apply these teachings to our everyday lives.

Integrated Curriculum: In Integrated Curriculum we have been working in groups researching different events that shaped Australia. Our topics are: the First Fleet, the Gold Rush, Port Arthur Settlement, the Stolen Generations and the Freedom Riders. After students have researched their topic they’re going to be creating dioramas based on their event and presenting this to the class.

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...

7th May   -   Esther Lethbridge (7)

7th May   -   Java Quinane (6)

11th May  -   Jaxon Ellen (7)

11th May  -   Ruby Wilson (8)

Important Dates

Local News & Events