Newsletter Term 4, 2023. Week 10

Principal's Update

Dear Parents and Carers, 

During this season of Advent, we are patiently awaiting the birth of Jesus among other things including spending time with family and friends, having time to unwind, less routines and more flexibility after a busy year. 

No matter what you are patiently waiting for, on behalf of the SBLM staff, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a lovely safe New Year. 

Thank you for your support in my first year back at St Brendan’s.  I have received many lovely notes, emails and cards showing your appreciation for change, for excellent staff and supportive environments resulting in pleasing growth in children’s learning. 

As always, I will be offering a parent forum early in 2024 – 14th February at 8.30am.  At the forum I will be able to review our 2023 goals from this year’s forum, speak about our school improvement plan for 2024 and give you the opportunity to bring forward suggestions to improve student outcomes. 

In Week 8’s newsletter I outlined the staffing for 2024.  I would like to welcome two new learning support teachers to our SBLM staffing family.  Welcome to Mrs Allyse Cresta and Mrs Courtenay Harrison.  Both Mrs Cresta and Mrs Harrison are highly skilled professionals with a passion for learner diversity.  As parents, you will receive notification of who will be supporting your children in 2024 along with their classroom teacher. 

In 2024 we are continuing our initalit phonemic awareness initiative and Minilit intervention groups.  We will also be timetabling groups for higher ability groupings. 

We are subscribing to online decodable readers so all children have access to decodables at home.  This will be through Decodable Readers Australia.  Our subscription for 12 months will commence when your children return to school in 2024.  We have purchased many resources for our classroom learners, therefore we ask you access the online decodables when you have access to them in 2024.  More information will be sent home early next year. 

We also will be having a focus on Multiplication facts, therefore if you would like your children to practise their multiplication times tables during the holidays that would give your children a head start! 

Our afternoon dismissal has been tweaked yet again to allow for more efficient supervision by the classroom teacher.  Children will be supervised from their classroom to the silver seats, sitting on their class seats (same as the morning assembly).  The teacher on the microphone, after the prayer, will announce each group i.e. “walkers”, “kiss and drop” “bikes and scooter” “parent pick up” and “buses”.  When announced the children leave the classroom teacher’s supervision to join their afternoon dismissal line.  If you are collecting your children from school before this happens, that’s fine, but we just need to be sure all children who leave our gates are supervised.  

I would like to wish our families all the best who have children in Year 6, and no younger siblings, who will be leaving our St Brendan’s community and know you are always welcome to return and say “Hi”.  Thank you for your contributions over the last 7 years or less to our SBLM community.  Very much appreciated. 

6 Blue

The Attard family  
The Lowe family  
The Cullen family  
The Armstrong family  
The Sandstrom family  
The Chandler family  
The Bird family  
The Fitzgerald family  
The Adams family  
The Tuka family  
The Zajac family  
The Young family   
The Lee family   

The Harrison family 

6 Green

The Beardsleyfamily  
The Culgan family  
The Filipo family  
The Foulkes family  
The McLear family  
The Melia family  
The Milford family  
The O’Malvney family  
The Pay family  
The Sammons family  
The Smith family of Fletcher  
The Smith family of Eden  

The Weiszbach family 

The Zalewski family   

6 Red

The Stark family  
The Martin family  
The Obajdin  family  
The Seymour family  
The Muras family  
The Davey family  
The Schuster family  
The Hind  family  
The Larkin family  
The Bateson-Torpsy family  
The Tschanter  family  
The Walters family   
The Shaw   family   

Thank you to our parent helpers who came early to our Christmas Carols to help decorate.  I am sure you will agree, the stage and surrounds looked amazing.  The children’s performances at the Christmas Carols was awesome and very much enjoyed by all.  Did you hang around for the teacher finale???  The whole evening was a great way to add some Christmas cheer into our daily lives.  Thank you everyone for coming and being involved. 

Our Year 6 farewell mass was a lovely celebration of their Catholic school journey at St Brendan’s.  Well done boys and girls for your participation during this special time.  

Year 6 had their farewell dinner and awards at The Doylo this year!  A huge thank you to all our parents who decorated, made this amazing cake (delicious too) plus cup cakes!  Our boys and girls are extremely lucky to have such great support.  There were speeches, photo stories, awards, presentations, cake cutting, photo booth and a disco at the end of the evening.  We wish you all the very best to our Year 6 students who are leaving our SBLM community to continue their schooling at high school.  

Year 6 attended their Year 6 Beach Fun Day at Toowoon Bay last week.  It was a very hot day with lots of activities including volleyball, running with the tube to rescue each other, swimming out to the floating “pontoon” and many sand events. 

Congratulations to all of St Brendan’s End of Year Awards recipients.  I have included the names below.  Looking forward to another year of great learning, achievements and effort in 2024! 

I would also like to acknowledge and thank our current 2023 student leadership team: 

2024 dates: 

30 January, Tuesday – Staff only return 

31 January, Wednesday – Students Years 1-6 return for Term 1 

Kindergarten 2024 Best Start timetabled.  Kindergarten will engage in the Best Start Literacy and Numeracy Interviews on Wednesday, 31 January 2024 and Thursday, 1 February 2024.  These are one-to-one interviews between the kindergarten teacher and your child and take around 40 minutes.  Please book this session with your child’s teacher on Compass.  Students do not need to wear their school uniform on this day.  Parents are to wait on the seats provided outside the kindergarten classrooms.  

1 February, Thursday – Kindergarten Best start timetabled 

2 February, Friday – Kindergarten first day (amended times).  Kindergarten students will commence on flexible times. This will provide them with a gentle transition into full school days.  You can drop your child off at school directly to the classroom between 8:20 am and 8:45 am and collect them any time from 2:00 pm onwards.  This will be the case for Monday, 5 February 2024 and Tuesday, 6 February 2024.  & Year 2-6 Swimming carnival 

From Wednesday, 7 February 2024, Kindergarten students will commence at our normal times (8:20 am – 2:30 pm).  When they arrive at school, they can drop their bags at the classroom and then go straight to the hall.  In the hall, we will have gross motor activities and games for the children.  They will line up in the hall and will be escorted to the silver seats by a teacher upon the bell. 

13-25 March – Year 3&5 NAPLAN 

22-24 May – Year 6 Canberra Excursion (tbc) 

There also may be the following four pupil free days scheduled by Catholic Schools Broken Bay including (TBC), these days fall either at the end of beginning of the school term leading into the holiday period: 

• Tuesday, 2 April 
• Monday, 29 April 
• Friday, 5 July 
• Monday, 22 July 

St Brendan’s will also have two further pupil free days scheduled for staff professional learning.  These dates will be published as soon as we confirm them. 

Please check your Compass in the New Year for further dates including our Beginning School mass where our new school leadership team will receive their badges. 

Thank you to each and every family for your ongoing support in 2023, I look forward to working side by side in 2024 with you! 

Merry Christmas, have a safe and happy New Year and a relaxing holiday! 

God Bless  

Charlene Reid 

Principal 

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2024 Stationary Requirements

Religious Education

Christmas Eve Mass and Nativity

Join our school and parish community to celebrate Mass on Christmas Eve, Sunday 24^th December at 5pm at St Brendan’s Church. If your child/children would like to be involved in the Children’s Nativity please register your interest by scanning the QR code.  Or click here 

School Updates

School Newsletter Content (Principal to add to School newsletters)

Catholic Schools Broken Bay Parent Charter

Building positive relationships among all stakeholders in a child's education is the cornerstone of nurturing student learning and success. To formalise our commitment to effective communication and mutual respect, Catholic Schools Broken Bay (CSBB) has recently launched a Parent Charter, a copy of which is available on the CSSB website.

In support of this initiative, we kindly ask parents to be mindful of the following guidelines when communicating with staff at St Brendan’s Primary School:

• Stay Informed: Stay informed about your child's progress by attending parent-teacher conferences, reading newsletters, and checking COMPASS.
• Initiate Contact: Don't hesitate to reach out to the appropriate staff member if you have concerns or questions about your child's progress, behaviour, or any other aspect of their education. Initial communications should always be with the appropriate school personnel, e.g., the classroom teacher or Year Coordinator. If further support is required, please contact school leaders as per the issue resolution process (see here for further information).
• Be Respectful: Approach conversations with staff in a respectful and professional manner, as they are dedicated to helping your child succeed.
• Respect Response Time: Recognise that staff have multiple students and responsibilities. Allow them time to respond to your inquiries and respect their working hours. Staff will usually respond within 48 hours.

Effective communication between parents and school staff is the key to a successful educational journey for your child. When both parties approach interactions with respect, empathy, and a shared commitment to the child's well-being, positive outcomes are more likely to be achieved.

I encourage you to read the Parent Charter document carefully and welcome your feedback. We value your input and are committed to working together to ensure that our schools remain collaborative, safe, and supportive environments.

Awards

Community News

Vacation Care

The end of year school holidays are nearly upon us!

The December and January Vacation Care program at St Brendan’s is set to begin.   

CatholicCare’s Vacation Care service at our school offers a wide range of activities catering to children of differing ages and interests. We also head out and about on a range of fun local excursions each holiday period.

We provide a stimulating and enjoyable environment with activities to harness your child's interests and strengths while respecting their need for leisure.

See the latest program here www.catholiccaredbb.org.au/vacation-care. Get in quick, programs filling fast! We hope to see your children there!

The Smith Family Saver Plus Program

The Smith Family Saver Plus program supports eligible parents with $500 matched savings and free financial education. The matched funds can be used for education expenses including laptop, school uniforms and other education items.

Saver Plus is funded by the Department of Social Services and is the Australian longest financial education program for community, having more than 50,000 participants since 2003. RMIT University has conducted evaluation showing Saver Plus is effective to help people develop medium-long term saving habits.

Parents with children at school OR starting school next year would meet one of the program eligibility criteria. This would reduce pressure on parents as they learn the tools to sustain their finances and be better prepared for future school costs.

 More information can be found in the program flyer and the link -  https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/programs/financial/saver-plus

 Enquire now to see if you are eligible by using this link https://www.bsl.org.au/services/saving-and-managing-money/saver-plus/saver-plus-enquiry-form/

Music Bus Lessons at St Brendan's, Lake Munmorah

The Music Bus has opened its Term 1 enrolments and is inviting new students to apply.

Classes offered include: · Keyboard (Prep-y6) · Ukulele (Prep-y6) · Drums (y1-y6) · Guitar (Y2-y6) · Singing (Prep -y6.

Lessons are:  

• 30-minute duration - once per week
• Held in the hi-tech music classroom on wheels on site
• Cost $20 per week ($22 drums) payable by the term on commencement

If you wish to take part in Music Bus, please complete this expression of interest form.

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ee4627a5204c46158e1ab17e7c8069c6

Many thanks for your continued support.

Holiday Activities to keep the kids busy

The Northern Lakes Neighbourhood Centre is having a FREE Craft in the Park, at Chain Valley Bay, on Wednesday 17^th January 2024.

Our fabulous friends from Interrelate will be joining us with their rock painting.

Please see the flyer below for more information.

Outdoor Movie Night

Central Newcastle Rugby League Club invite you to a community event held at  St John Oval, Charlestown, on Saturday 9^th December.  See the flyer below for more information.

Did you Know….

Every Thursday is an opportunity to grab a bargain! You can pick up a bag of essential groceries for $10 and the option for bread, fruit & veg & frozen items for reduced sale as well!

Most of these items are either surplus or close to use by date, but if they don’t get eaten, they will be thrown in the garbage… what a waste!

The local locations are:

Food Bank: Colongra Bay Hall, Colongra Bay Road, Lake Munmorah: 10.00am until sold out

Wyee Community Hub: 20 Gorokan Road, Wyee (the road that goes under the railway line at Wyee train station)

10.00 am-1.00 pm; free BBQ lunch, bring your own bags, open-air markets with loads of discounted items for sale. The food hampers with Wyee Community Hub are ‘$10 for around 30-40kg of groceries, fruit & veg, bread, juice & (UHT) milk’ – items in the hamper are dependent upon stock available. When I visited the Wyee Community Hub, I got there at 12.00pm and for $10, I walked away with shopping bags of groceries & a bag of vegies (which included a whole pumpkin & head of cauliflower: pumpkin soup for dinner that night!).

Both locations accept cash only, so raid that money box, it will be worth it!

If you can’t make a Thursday, you can always try:

Toukley Neighbourhood Centre: 199 Main Road, Toukley

Tuesday, Thursday & Fridays from 9am-3pm and Saturdays 9.30am-1.00pm. Stretch your grocery budget further with cheap groceries.

If you know of a family member, school family or friend who would benefit from information or a helping hand, please leave a message for me at the school. I can provide you with local resources and services that may be of assistance. If I don’t know, I can’t help!!

Take Care… Nicole Anderson

Parent Engagement Coordinator (PEC)

Every Monday & alternate Tuesday’s

Compass Calendar