Newsletter 10th August 2022

Upcoming Dates

29th July & 5th August:        Combined Schools Day @ St Mary's 

12th & 15th August:       School closure for "circuit breaker weekend"

 16th August 6.45 pm:    SAC meeting @ school

16th August 7.00 pm:    P & F meeting @ school

24th August:    LBLF day @ St Michaels Daylesford for Year 6 students 

26th August:   Book themed Costume Day for book week 

30th August 6.00 - 8.00 pm:   Art Show 

1st September 9:00am-1:30pm:  SEED Day for Year 5 students to Loreto College & St Patrick's College

2nd September 7.45 am:  Fathers Day breakfast @ St Brendan's with St Mary's families

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.

Principal's News

It is wonderful to be experiencing a period in our schools that is reasonably settled with most staff and children being well and attending each day. The ‘vibe’ at both St. Mary’s and St. Brendan’s is one of positivity and an enjoyment of being at school while settling into a reasonably regular routine of learning, teaching and being with friends. I continually feel blessed each day that we are able to manage these ever changing and sometimes challenging times in our schools in a calm way so that there is as little disruption as possible.

Having said all of that, it is still very timely that we have our ‘circuit breaker’ 4 day break this weekend. I am grateful that it is happening and that staff and families can take some time to reenergise and prepare for the last half of Term 3 which will be busy. We know that we are not through the flu and COVID peak yet and taking this Friday and Monday may help everyone who is tired or unwell to rest, relax and recover from any aliments or COVID hangovers that they may be experiencing.

Principal Gathering in Horsham

Last Thursday and Friday I gathered in Horsham with other Principals from the Ballarat Diocese. These days are always informative, supportive and a time to work with others that are experiencing the various highs and sometimes lows that come with being a leader in schools in these times. As well as looking at budgets, employment awards, the shortage of teachers and what is happening in each Dioceses, we heard from Aimee Maxwell, Zenith Psychology who spoke about ‘Leading in times of Crisis’ and the importance of looking after ourselves and each other. She provided us with many practical things we can do, one of which is to stop at least 3 times a day to take a few deep breaths and think about something we are grateful for. This is such an important practise for all, as we so often focus on the negatives in our day, even if it was one or two things that were hard amid the many things that were great and went well. It is something staff do frequently with our children and helps build a positive culture in our schools where mistakes and challenging times are something we can learn from, accept as part of life and then bounce back from.

Upcoming Dates

There are a number of very important events coming up that our school communities are welcome to be part of.

All of the upcoming dates are in our calendar on the schools’ websites or the School Zine app.

Circuit Breaker Weekend

This upcoming weekend is an extra-long weekend with pupil free days on the Friday and Monday.

Combined Schools Days

We have had 4 very successful CSDs at St. Mary’s this term and will now move to St. Brendan’s on Friday the 19^th of August for the following 4 Fridays. We will not have a CSD on the last day of term.

A very special thank you to staff and parents for making these happen. The feedback about these days is very positive, especially from the children. They enjoy having different opportunities such as Art, having more children to play and learn with and seeing different teachers. For this reason, we will continue them next term in the same format. Trish will also continue on in her role on the Fridays until the end of the year. Please let me know if you have any concerns about this. As always, we are happy to help out with transport at any time. Just let me know how we can help.

School Fees

School fee statements were emailed out today.  Just a reminder regarding school fees.  As per our School Fees Policy all school fees must be finalised by the 30th November of the current school year.  If you are experiencing difficulty in managing your school fees please make an appointment to discuss with Inez. 

Father’s Day

We discussed Father’s Day with the children and what could happen as it is a scheduled Combined Schools Day. The suggestion from the students was that we do it together. After the staff also thought about it, we decided this could work.  It would give the Dad’s in our schools an opportunity to come together with the children and perhaps even meet some new faces. As our CSD is at St. Brendan’s on the 2nd September, this is where we would hold the day. We invite all Dad’s and Grandfather’s to join us at 7.45 for breakfast at St. Brendan’s on Friday the 2^nd of September. Invitations will go home soon and we will be asking for numbers for catering purposes.

Art Shows

The Art Shows are fast approaching and the children and teachers are getting very busy preparing a visual extravaganza for you all to enjoy. The teachers have made up posters to promote the night at each school. If anyone can help out by displaying a poster in a proponent place, please let the school k now and we can supply you with some posters.

The St. Brendan’s Art Show is Tuesday the 30^th of August from 6 – 8pm and the St. Mary’s night is Thursday the 8^th of September from6 – 8pm.

Please spread the word – all are welcome

Assemblies

There is an assembly at 2.45 at St. Mary’s this Thursday and on the final Friday of the term for St. Brendan’s at 12.30pm. These are always well attended and a time for children to share their learning with others.

Grandparent day

Although this event is in Term 4, we thought that is worth giving the heads up well in advance as we know some Grandparents may by travelling to attend this special day.

St. Mary’s date is Monday October the 17^th and St. Brendan’s will be Monday October the 24^th. The grandparents will be invited to join us in the mornings with definite times to be decided upon.

Work with Tony Dalton

I am continuing our work with Tony Dalton on promoting our schools and looking forward. He has collated all of the data from our last community meeting and I am meeting with him on Thursday afternoon. If anyone would like to be part of that meeting, we are gathering at St. Mary’s at 1.15 pm for an hour. We will plan a way forward following the meeting.

Thanks to our families that are so supportive and passionate about our schools. Your attendance at the community meeting was amazing!

As well as working with Tony, we are continually exploring ways to promote our schools. Hopefully you will see new signage around the communities in the next few months. I am always ready to hear new ideas, so contact me if you have anything in mind.

Enjoy the extra long weekend!!

Go gently,  look after yourself and each other,

Inez

Milk Bottle Lids and Plastic Lids

A huge thank you to everyone who has sent in lids for us to use for our art projects.  A special thanks to Inglenook Dairy who have provided us with many of the ones they can no longer use. We now have enough to work with and I can't wait to see what the students turn them into!

Thanks again,

Clare 

Junior News

BASKETBALL CLINIC AT THE MINERDOME

Last Monday we were very fortunate to participate in a clinic at the Minerdome with 2 players, Zac and Ethan.  A huge thank you to Kellie Leonard for organising this for us. Kellie has been trying to make this happen for the past 2 years and we greatly appreciate the effort Kellie went to.  We joined in lots of different warm-up activities and practiced dribbling with both our right and left hands.  We played a game where we had to try and hit other people’s basketballs away while we still dribbled our own basketball.  It was very hard but a lot of fun.  We finished off with a game of DANGER and we have enjoyed playing it back at school too.  We were all super excited to be given our very own basketball to take home too. Who knows, maybe we have a future Miners player amongst us!

WRITING 

This term the Juniors are working on writing Information Reports. We know that an Information Report is written to inform us about something and it contains facts, it is not a made up story or opinions.  Here are some examples of what we have written about Wombats.

Sophie

WHERE THEY LIVE

Wombats live in burrows up to 30 metres long.  The burrows are made from fallen trees and soil, leaves and rocks.

Preston

Wombats have a hairy nose. 

Wombats eat grass and roots.

Adele

FUN FACT 

Did you know that wombats poo is cube shaped?

Billy

WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE

They have a hairy nose and some have bare noses.  Wombats have short legs and sharp claws.  They can weigh 25kg and grow to 1 metre.  Wombats can be grey, black or brown.  They have a pouch upside down.

Lucy

WHERE THEY LIVE

They live in holes called burrows. They are up to 30 metres long. 

Aiden

WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE

The wombats have sandy coloured to a black.  They have bare noses and some have hairy noses.  Wombats grow to 1 metre long.  They have small legs. 

ART - TIE DYING

As mentioned in a Seesaw Post, we will be attempting some tie dying to display at the art show. Could you please send into school something white for your child to dye. For example, it could be a t-shirt, socks or a pillow case. It would be great if we could have these after this long weekend. 

Thanks, Clare 

Damascus information evenings for 2024 commencement

Gardening and Tidying Roster 2022