St Brigid's Primary School Newsletter - T4W7

Our Front Page Year 5

In term 4, students in Year 5 have been working on creating narrative stories that are exciting. 

We try to do this by developing interesting storylines and showing rather than telling how events affect our characters. We know that well described protagonist  and antagonist characters are important in story writing.

We have been working as a class to plan, draft, edit and recraft a story called Rise of the Turkey Man. When writing this story we made much use of the past research we have done on the history of Kyogle. We thought about local land features that we all know. We thought about a setting that we would have a connection with.The story is based around an antagonist character called the Turkey Man. We thought he was a cool character to work with. We turned the original story into a play that we performed at our showcase assembly. 

Please enjoy reading an extract from our story ‘Rise of The Turkeys’.

Gospel Reflection

Understanding this Sunday's feast of Christ the King may be particularly challenging. While most of us do not have direct experience with kings or royalty, we have a sense of who they are. We know that royalty have sovereignty over their kingdoms. We know that those who are subjects to royalty offer them allegiance and honour. To understand how Christ is our king, we extend and magnify what we know to be true of the best of human royalty. Christ’s kingship extends to all places, all people, and all times. Christ manifests his kingship through his death on the cross in which he offered salvation to everyone. Those who can see with eyes of faith recognise Jesus to be our heavenly king.

As you gather as a family, recall that this Sunday is the last Sunday in the Church year and on this Sunday we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. Talk together about what it means to be a king or queen. How do those who are subjects behave toward royalty? Invite children to role-play what one does in the presence of royalty. As we listen to Sunday’s Gospel, John 18:33b-37, it is important to talk about how your family shows honor and obedience to Christ our King. Pray together the Lord’s Prayer and ask God to help your family act in ways that show you recognise and honour Christ as King.

From our School Principal

Dear Families of St Brigid's Primary School,

Welcome to our new newsletter format. We hope this works well for you and provides the important information in a more user friendly format, especially for all those families who rely on receiving our newsletter through your device. We ask for your patience as we navigate and work our way through this new format. Like all change, it takes time to climatise as we are so used to what we usually receive. As noted you will receive the usual link from the Skoolbag App but will be so much easier to access and read, no matter which device you use. For those receiving a paper copy of the newsletter, this will look a little "clunky" as the preferred presentation is digital.

We will be updating our school website in the next few weeks as well. Further information and links will be supplied as we get closer to launching this important platform of communication for our school families and those families looking to enrol at St Brigid's Primary School here in Kyogle.

Take care and have a wonderful week,

Tony Hunter
Principal

Staffing Announcements

At the end of this year, St Brigid's will be saying farewell to 2 of its longest serving staff members. Mrs Di Welsh and Mrs Jean Newton have indicated that they wish to take some long service leave at the commencement of next year before retiring.

Mrs Newton's association with St Brigid's commenced as a parent with the enrolment of her eldest son, Todd, in 1983. Then followed Angela, Joe, Claire and finally Emily, finishing Year 6 in 2006. In 1996 Jean commenced her time as a paid staff member when she was appointed by Anicet Lakomy and was given 6 hours a week to run the school library. Prior to Mrs Newton's appointment the library was run on a voluntary basis. In her time here at St Brigid's, Jean certainly has ensured that our library is a wonderful learning environment for the students of our school. Jean has also been a very much respected Teacher Assistant, running the Quicksmart Maths Program for 8 years. 

Mrs Welsh commenced working at St Brigid's in a paid capacity in 1987 when she was asked by the principal of the time, Mr. Don Farrell to be the school secretary looking after the finance, answering the phone, correspondence in and out and publishing the first school newsletter in 1988 with not a single computer in sight. The office at the time was where the current Year 1 room is closest to Groom Street. Di's association with St Brigid's commenced as a parent when her eldest son Troy started school in 1976 - Troy is now 51. Kelly commenced in 1979 and then Julie commenced in 1984 and finished Year 6 in 1990. 

As a school community we will certainly ensure that we give these two staff members of our school the fitting farewell that they both truly deserve. In the meantime, I know that all will join together in thanking Mrs Welsh and Mrs Newton for the countless numbers of hours that they have dedicated to the hundreds of families and thousands of students who have passed through the school whilst Mrs Newton and Mrs Welsh were integral members of our school community.

Advertising has commenced to fill these positions and when we work through the process we will o announce replacements when these decisions are made..   

Sacrament of Reconciliation

This Thursday, the 18th of November, a number of our Year 3 students will be celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the very first time. We pray for and wish Parker Kennedy, Jessica Rogan, Noah Schneider and Hannah Kennelly all the very best as they experience the unconditional love of our  God. All of our school community are kindly invited to join with the children and their families at Our Lady of Sorrows Church commencing at 6pm. Thanks so much to Mrs Jansen and Miss Macdonald who have combined to ensure that the children have a memorable experience as they continue to grow on their Sacramental journey.  

Forgiving Father,
We ask you to be with these children as they begin their journey to know and
understand your forgiveness.
Open their ears, minds, and hearts to the teaching of your Son.
Fill them with the Spirit of love, peace, joy, and kindness.
Be with their parents and those who are leading their learning and bringing them closer to
you.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

St Brigid's Parent Forum Meeting - 24th November

The next meeting of the St Brigid's Parent Forum will be on Wednesday 24th November to be held on the front deck area of our school at 5:30pm. After such a mixed up and crazy year it would be wonderful to see as many Parent Forum members there as possible.

Maths Assessment and Best Start Interviews 2022

Next week we will advertise a code to book in for your child’s Maths Assessment Interview (Years 1 to 6) and Best Start (Kindergarten) for 2022. MAI’s will take place on Tuesday 1st, Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd February. This pertains to ALL students in Years 1-6, 2021.

The Kindergarten Best Start Interviews will be held on Tuesday 1st, Wednesday 2nd, Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th February. After booking, you will receive an email with confirmation of your booking as a reminder.

Years 1-6 return to school on Friday 4th February and Kindergarten begin on Monday 7th February.

Seasonal Activities for Families

Parent Assembly is offering activity packs for families for the summer season and the Season of Advent. Please read the flyer in
this newsletter to allow you the opportunity to register to receive these activity packs.

Intensive Swimming

The Intensive Swimming Program for the students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 concludes this week. The students have been under the experienced tuition of Mrs Jansen, Mrs Amanda Brown, Mrs Emma Rixon, Miss Kayla Robertson and Mrs Kylie Myers. Thanks so much to all families for having their children prepared for swimming as we all know how important and essential it is for our students to have             confidence when around water.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Hampers Collection

Every year as a school community we like to support the Kyogle St Vincent De Paul Society with items for their Christmas hampers. These hampers go to people in the local area who are experiencing hardships during the Christmas period.

Thanks so much to all families who have donated in our first week when we were collecting tins. This week we are collecting bottles as outlined below.

Our Mini Vinnies team will be presenting our donations to the Kyogle St. Vincent De Paul workers on Tuesday 14th December at our end of year thanksgiving liturgy.

Community News

Local swimming identity, Mrs Elva Jones, would like to bring to the attention of all of our school community that Kyogle Council is making changes at the Swimming Pool that will see the construction of a new Sports Hall, a 25 metre heated pool and a hydro therapy pool. Unfortunately this will see the demise of the learn to swim pool, with it not planned to be replaced. If you would like to see the retention of the Learn to Swim Pool then please sign the petition that is circulating around town or go to the Kyogle Friendly Town and Villages website to make a comment and leave your name. 

Family Connect in Schools

During these challenging times, it's good to know that our school's Family Connect worker, Mrs Wendy Jansen is still available to help all our families with a wide range of issues including NDIS, parenting challenges, mental health and wellbeing, housing and domestic violence support. However, Wendy will not be available for meetings at school, but can be contacted by phone 0437 179 916 or email wendy.jansen@socialfutures.org.au to help our families get the right support they need. Please be aware that Wendy will be available to support families throughout the upcoming Christmas holiday period.

Upcoming Dates

NOVEMBER

Thursday 18th - Sacrament of Reconciliation 6pm

Friday 19th - Kindergarten Showcase

Monday 22nd - Canteen volunteers M Edwards & K Booth

Wednesday 24th - Parish School Forum meeting on the school's front deck 5.30pm

Monday 29th - Canteen Volunteers M Edwards & K Heywood

DECEMBER

Tuesday 7th - Christmas Pageant 6pm

Tuesday 14th - End  of Year Liturgy

Wednesday 15th - Last day of Term 4 for students

Thursday 16th - Staff Professional Day

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