Dear Parents,

We are looking forward to 2020 being a year of growth and development, new initiatives and continuing to be faithful to our vision. At our beginning of year staff meeting we reflected on the ordinary moments in 2019 and highlighted the extraordinary moments within them. In our profession, we are blessed to so often see extraordinary things happen for our students in their learning and development. We tuned in to think about  how we can continue to turn ordinary moments into extraordinary moments in 2020, striving to give that little bit extra.

2020 Annual Action Plan:  When we considered what our direction is this year in our Annual Action Plan , stemming from our 4 year School Improvement Plan, we really considered what is it we are wishing to improve or get better at.

Our first area of priority is that every student is engaged, challenged and connected. Some actions are to make greater connections in our Learning and Teaching with faith and life,  continue with the Berry Street Professional Learning, develop whole school positive behaviours for learning and create more outdoor learning opportunities.

Our second priority is that every teacher provides high quality learning and teaching and leadership for school improvement. Some actions include Mathematics having a particular focus with the engagement of Peter Sullivan, development of a data plan, shadowing, mentoring and coaching across the school.

Click below to view our 2020 Annual Action Plan

Building Works: 

Good news to share. An update we received today is that our Building and planning Permit Applications have been approved  by the City of Greater Geelong for the building of general purpose learning areas, learning hub and a multi-purpose centre. We will  continue meeting and working on our schematic design and keep you informed of any updates.

Student Leadership: 

The leadership program offered to the students at Our Lady Star of the Sea, particularly to our Year Six Students, focuses on students learning to be respectful and responsible leaders.

We congratulate the students who have willingly taken on responsibilities and wish them success in their roles, developing their vision and goals, and organising and leading others by using their character strengths and given and learnt skills and capabilities.

School Leaders

BUSHFIRE RESPONSE

As you will be aware from our first newsletter, we made contact with Catholic primary schools in Gippsland’s fire affected areas, to see if our students could offer support to their students, at what would be a very emotional and distressing time for young children. Thankyou to Ms Marianne for proactively making contact and reaching out to this community. 

Our reply from St Brendan’s PS in Lakes Entrance, is below. 

Hi Marianne,

Thank you for your email, it was lovely to hear from you.

Sorry for my late reply. Basically, I needed to let a few things settle here and talk to staff about how you could help.

One of the ways your community could help would be to provide vouchers for our students to visit the local mini golf or movie theatre in Lakes Entrance.

Talking to the students, very few have had a holiday because we were being evacuated or having to stay indoors to avoid the smoke. Even today there is no outside play which is getting frustrating.

Also, our local businesses are hurting. There has been a huge loss of income as tourists were evacuated on Dec 29.

Providing vouchers to these facilities would provide entertainment for the kids while putting back into the local economy.

Really, anything you do would be appreciated. We just value that you are thinking of us.

I look forward to speaking with you.

Regards,

Matt 

Matthew Hamer

Principal

St Brendan's Catholic Primary School

We think that providing vouchers to students  is a wonderful way in which we can support the Lakes Entrance community. On Friday 21st February, we will be having a dress up day where students are invited to come dressed as “Someone Who Cares for Others.”  This could be a firefighter, nurse, lifeguard, parent, grandparent, vet, friend etc….or even themselves. We ask that children use their own money to provide a gold coin donation on the day. We will also leave a donation box in the office for anyone who wishes to contribute further. At  the request of Alice in Year 6, whose grandfather lost his home in Mallacoota , a portion of this money will also go to a wildlife organisation.

Shrove Tuesday: Please note, we will not be asking for a gold coin donation for Shrove Tuesday pancakes this year in light of the Bushfire cause. The school will be providing ingredients for the pancakes. The money raised from our Easter Egg raffle which will be advertised in early March, will see Caritas receive 50% of the proceeds.

Commissioning and Welcome Parish Mass, Working Bee and Welcome Barbecue Sunday 23 February: This year, on Sunday 23 February,  we have decided to tie a few events into the one day. At 9 am Mass, we will welcome our new Preps and families, commission school staff, PFA and School Education Board members for 2020. We will then hold our Term 1 Working Bee with a particular focus on welcoming the Preps and new families. This is a great opportunity to  meet others and build relationships and we invite all families from across the school.Following the Working Bee, from 12 noon we will have our Welcome Picnic. Some sausages will be cooked for the working Bee helpers and if you would like to bring a picnic lunch. It would be great to see as many families attend on this day.

Before and After School Care Kelly Club: Listening to feedback from some  families in regards to the lack of before and after school care in the area we have engaged in further discussions with Kelly Club. At this stage we have signed an engagement letter for Kelly Club to apply to run a before and after school care service here. Due to the timeline this will not be able to begin until some stage in Term 2. We will keep you updated as to the process for moving forward in registering your child(ren) and Kelly Club will provide more details as time goes on.

Meet and Greets: 

This week sees our Meet and Greets happening.  This is a great opportunity to begin to build relationships and for you to meet your child’s teacher face to face, sharing what you would like the teacher to know about your child. If you haven't already please make a time to meet with your child’s teacher. 

Best wishes for the fortnight ahead

Kerryn