Senior Room Update

The seniors have been working on measurement this term. Learning how to calculate the area and perimeter of various shapes. They are currently working on a big project that will be revealed at the end of the term but as a practice they were tasked with designing a backyard. They had to include a certain number of features and supply the landscapes with all the necessary requirements. Here are some of the final designs. 

News from the Junior Room

INQUIRY

This week we finally started to put some colour on our cow.  Each student did a design for the cow and then voted on the one they would like to see done.  Ahlia and Oscar’s were the most popular with a touch of design from Adele and Felicity too.  Lucy and Aiden have enjoyed colouring in the splotches with a black sharpie so far.

MATHS

In maths we have been looking at 3 dimensional shapes and their properties.  We made 3D shapes from spaghetti (raw pasta) and marshmallows. It was lots of fun!

Aiden: Did you know that a cube has 12 edges, 8 vertices and 6 faces.  A dice is shaped like a cube.

Lucy:  Did you know a sphere has 0 edges, 0 vertices and 0 faces.  Asoccer ball is shaped like a sphere.

LITERACY

Lucy and Aiden both loved celebrating Book Week last week.  Each day in class they listened to one of the shortlisted books and completed activities to go with each book.

Aiden’s favourite book was ‘Where the Lyrebird Lives’ written by Vikki Conley and illustrated by Max Hamilton.

Lucy’s favourite book was ‘My Strange Shrinking Parents’ by Zeno Sworder.

LUCY’S WEEKEND

On the weekend I helped Mum paint the fence and the gate.  It was messy.  Jim got it in his hair.  The colour was a grey colour.  We had to wear gloves.  It was fun.  I was the only kid to paint the fence because I didn’t get a turn when the other kids got a turn.   

COLOUR POEMS

After reading the book Frank’s Red Hat and discussing the 5 senses, the students wrote a poem about a colour.  Majella and Clare think Lucy and Aiden have done an amazing job with their writing! 

Damascus College - Open Sessions

ATTENTION GRADE 5 2023 STUDENTS AND FAMILIES
If you are interested in learning more about Damascus College and have a child in Grade 5, then don’t miss the opportunity to attend the upcoming Open Night and Open Morning events at Damascus College.

Open Night – 3 sessions
Tuesday, 17 October, 4.30pm, 5.30pm, 6.30pm

The Open Night is a great way for prospective parents, guardians and students to learn more about Damascus College. Families with children of all ages are welcome to attend.

Attendees will participate in an information session and guided campus tour, where students and staff will be situated around campus with displays and demonstrations showcasing Damascus facilities and offerings.

Open Morning
Thursday, 5 & 19 October, 9am – 10.30am

Open Morning provides an opportunity for prospective families to take a guided tour of the College led by current students and is an opportunity to experience Damascus during school hours. Open Mornings commence at 9am and conclude at 10.30am.

REGISTER YOUR ATTENDANCE BY USING THE LINK BELOW: 

School Holiday Program - Cricket

Renegades School Holiday Programs are back again this September! As we move into the season, this is a chance for girls and boys to get their cricket fix early, starting this holiday period.  

MELBOURNE RENEGADES SCHOOL HOLIDAY CAMPS - AGES 7-10

Where:   St Patrick's College - Ballarat

When:    Thursday, 21^st September 2023

Time:     9.00am - 3.00pm

Register for Ballarat now!

Designed for Junior Graders, aged 7-10 years old, this one-day camp will feature fun, fully supervised cricket activities, games, giveaways and more!  Places are strictly limited at each camp. Please note that we do not operate waiting lists for these events - it is first in, best dressed until the camp is sold out!

For other locations throughout Victoria: https://www.melbournerenegades.com.au/holidayprograms

Participants will need to bring their own food & drinks to the camp. Note that no nut products are permitted to be brought to the camp. There will be a fully supervised lunch break on the day.

***Parents/guardians do not have to stay for the entire day. Any Renegades player appearances are subject to availability***

Dean Kite Festival

Principal's News

Bush Dance

Tonight we will be having our Bush Dance and we strongly encourage everyone to come along. Extended families are also welcome to attend. This is always a fabulous community event and will be one of the last main times we come together as one. I understand life is busy, however, I ask that you prioritise this for a few hours. We will begin at 6pm and go through to 8pm with supper included. Please bring a plate to share.

Father's Day

On Sunday we take the time to recognise all of the special men in our lives and show them how much we love and appreciate them.

This Friday we will join together at St. Mary’s to celebrate Father’s Day with a breakfast, Liturgy and task that all can be involved in. Breakfast will be ready at 7.45am and we should be finished by around 9am. All Dads, Grandfathers and special men or women are invited to come along.  Please ensure all numbers are in by 3.30pm today.

End of Year Dates

As we move to the latter weeks of Term 3 and approach Spring, I wanted to confirm some important dates for our school community so that you can plan ahead as needed.

For St. Mary’s, the final day for children is Friday, the 15^th of December and staff will finish on Monday, the 18^th of December.

At St. Brendan’s, children will finish school on Thursday, the 14^th of December and Friday will be a day for staff to pack up and clean up the school as much as possible.  Staff will also finish on the Monday.

Daylesford Sports Day – Additional Combined Schools' Day

On Tuesday, the 12^th of September, our Year 4–6 children will be going to Daylesford to join with the St. Michaels’ students to play a number of sports. In order to make it easier for transport and staffing, we will make this day a Combined Schools' Day, instead of Friday which is a pupil-free day. We would be at St. Mary’s so swapping Friday to the Tuesday of the same week.

Wednesday will remain the same with everyone at St. Brendan’s.

A permission note will go out today and be on PAM ready to be approved.

Please contact me if this is difficult to manage or if you require assistance with transport.  It is in the calendar and you will be sent a reminder the day before.

Assemblies and Footy Day

On Wednesday, the 13^th of September, there will be a combined assembly at 9am at St. Brendan’s. Please come and join us and remember to wear your footy colours on that day.

It is a different day and time than usual with the plan that maybe some parents that find it hard to attend the usual drop off time, may be able to attend.

Anita

Our thoughts are with Anita as she rests at home after surgery on her foot. Anita will be out of action for the rest of the term. Take care, Anita and keep that foot up!!

Thank you to Claire for getting the newsletter done and getting permission notes out.

Athletics for children going through to next level

Next Tuesday, 5th September, a number of our senior children from both schools will be participating in various sports at Llanberris. These children qualified to move onto this event at our sports day in April this year. Good luck to all of our participants. We are very proud of what you have already achieved and know that you will represent our schools well.

Parents will be responsible for getting the children to and from their events. Please contact me if you require some support with this.

Congratulations!

Last Sunday, Bishop Paul Bird celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation during Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat. 

Congratulations to Vanessa who was part of this special celebration.  Vanessa is pictured here with Bishop Paul and her sister, Hannah.

Safety on our roads

This is just a reminder that we all need to be extra careful on our country roads when dropping off and picking up our children.  It's important to remember that on Combined Schools' Days the traffic is doubled.

The roads around our schools are not in the best condition. They are narrow and have lots of pot holes due to the bad weather. Winter is especially a tricky time as roads are wet and slippery. Please take extra care and be mindful that school zone limits are in place around our schools. 

We want everyone to arrive at their destinations safely and we need to be mindful of each other as we travel to and from school. Our families' safety is very important to us.

Take care and stay safe,

Inez

Upcoming Dates

30th August:  Bush Dance at the Bungaree Community Centre, 6:00-8:00pm

1st September: Father's Day Breakfast and Liturgy, 7:45am at St Mary's; CSD at St Mary's

3rd September:  Father's Day

5th September:  Athletics Day for selected senior children at Llanberris Reserve

8th September:  CSD at St Mary's

12th September:  CSD at St Mary's; Years 4, 5 and 6 Sports Day with St. Michael’s at Daylesford

13th September:  Footy Day;  9:00am Combined Assembly - all welcome to attend

14th September:  Last Day of Term 3 for students

15th September:  Pupil-free day

2nd October:  1st Day of Term 4

In the spirit of Reconciliation, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land in which we sit, the Wadawurrung people, who have cared for this country for thousands of years.  We would like to pay our respects to the Aboriginal Elders past, present and future for they hold the traditions, memories and wisdom of Mother Earth on which we place our feet upon today.

ODC July edition

Time capsule

I have contacted Greg Lane the school principal at the time of the time capsule being placed into the ground near the flags poles.  He said that the capsule had been dug up at a later stage by another principal and unfortunately the moisture had damaged the items in the capsule. 

Thanks for the information supplied by past students regarding the capsule.

Anita 

Memories from 2011

Official Opening of New Classroom

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Damscus Enrolments

Little Feet Big Footprints

Last Thursday our Year 6 children participated in the second day of the Big Feet Little Footprints program with 4 other country Catholic schools. They all came together at St. Brigid’s, Ballan where they joined together for a Liturgy and then did a session with Fr. Justin on Catholic Social Teachings. There was also some time to play together and reconnect with old friends and make new ones. This program is an important part of how supporting our seniors as they transition to Secondary School.

Children receiving the Sacraments

Last Sunday Bishop Paul Bird celebrated Mass at St. Michael’s, Bungaree. There were 13 children form the Parish that received the sacraments of First Eucharist and Confirmation.  They included Billy, Jai, Adele, Sophie, Felicity and Jack from St. Brendan’s, and Evie and Kamden from St. Mary’s. It was a beautiful Mass with many family and Parish members part of the ceremony.

A very special thank you to Dianne Reynolds who ran the program this year, to the parents for being at the sessions and working with the children, and to the staff for supporting the children at school and at the Mass.

Upcoming events

We do have a number of important events coming up so please put them into your calendar.

The first is our annual Book Week dress up day next Wednesday at St.Brendan’s. Parents and siblings are invited to also dress up and join us from 9 – 9.30am as children take part in a parade, sharing what they have dress up as and the book their character is from.

The following Wednesday, the 30^th is our family Bush Dance at the Bungaree Community Centre. The Billy Tea Bush Band will teach the children some dances in the afternoon at school. We will then all gather from 6 – 8pm. All families and extended families are welcome. Please bring a plate of food as we will have a shared supper at 7.30pm.

That same week of Friday the children and their Dads, or special person in their lives are invited to join us at St. Mary’s for a Father’s Day breakfast. The invitations have gone home. Please contact the schools by Monday the 28^th with numbers, including adults and children, so that we can cater for everyone.

A reminder that the last day of term is a pupil free day as the staff will be doing a Professional Development Day on the Friday. We will be looking at the changes to the Victorian Curriculum F-10 Mathematics Version 2.0 as well as the assessments we currently do.

Professional Development is an important part of a teacher’s role. It is an investment in teachers' growth, improving skills and growing knowledge which directly benefits students' education. It enables teachers to keep up to date with the ever-changing educational landscape, ensuring they can provide the best possible learning experience for their students.

If you haven’t had the opportunity and wish to have your time, please contact your child’s teacher.

Birthdays

Aiden will be 8 on the 19th August 

In the spirit of Reconciliation, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land in which we sit, the Wadawurrung people, who have cared for this country for thousands of years.  We would like to pay our respects to the Aboriginal Elders past, present and future for they hold the traditions, memories and wisdom of Mother Earth on which we place our feet upon today.

Child Safe – all on website

As is stated on our Vision and Mission, our schools ‘…are committed to the safety, wellbeing and inclusion of all children and young people.’ Our procedures and policies are now in line with the 11 child safe standards and can be found on our schools’ websites under the tab – child safe.

Principal's News

There is not a lot to share this fortnight as things in both schools are moving along smoothly and calmly at this point.

We do have a number of families taking the chance and get away to find some sunshine and others that are unwell either for a day of a few days. Please remember to let the school know if your child is away. It is our policy that we contact parents if the school has not been notified by 9.30 and it can save our admin ladies time if they know why a child is away. It also saves you needing to explain what is going on if you are busy or at work.

The best way to contact the school is ring or leave a message on the mobile.

St. Marys.    Landline  -   53345280.               Mobile -  0491734779

St. Brendan’s   Landline -  53347604.            Mobile – 0490762877

Take care everyone. Go as gently as possible.

Inez