Newsletter Term 1 Week 2 (Wednesday 8th February 2023)

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The first day of Kindergarten finally arrived.

A big welcome to all of our new students and their families who are starting their school journey this year in Kindergarten.

They were so excited to see Ms Esselmont and classmates and very quickly settled in as they enjoyed a variety of activities for their first day

They received both a very warm welcome from our school community and from the weather!!

Kindergarten 2023

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Our Gospel Reflection

This Sunday we celebrate the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time and our Gospel Reading comes from Matthew. Matthew continues the Sermon on the Mount with a three part instruction by Jesus on the Way of Life in the kingdom of heaven. Today’s reading is part one and deals with the Law.

Families have rules. Without rules, family life would be chaos. As a family, brainstorm a list of rules that you are all called to follow in your home in order for you all to get along together. Think about rules for play time, rules for eating, rules for how to speak to one another, rules for going out with friends, and so on. Emphasise that families follow rules as a way of showing love and respect for one another. Explain that in this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus talks about following the Law. Say: God’s Law of love can be thought of as rules that we are to follow in order to show our love and respect for one another. Read aloud this Sunday’s Gospel, Matthew 5:17–37. Talk specifically with one another about how anger is to be dealt with in your family. Conclude by praying for the grace to overcome anger and to show respect for one another as a family by following God’s Law of love.

From Our Principal

Dear Families of St Brigid's,

Welcome to our second newsletter for 2023 where everyone has now commenced for the year. It was wonderful to welcome our new Kindergarten students last Friday and although it was extremely hot it did not wipe the smiles off their face. Though the heat had something to do with the way in which they went home on Friday……exhausted!!!

The start of school can be really exciting for some children, but also a time of anxiety and worry for others. No matter the case, it is important for families to set themselves up for a successful year.

Wake up your child at a regular early time: They get used to a routine of getting up and being ready to go to school. This will greatly assist the momentum of developing effective routines in the mornings and ensure that they are at school punctually and ready to start the school day.

Reading time: Encourage your child to read every evening before going to sleep. Reading material may include something of interest to them such as a book, comics, magazines or newspapers. I encourage families with children in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 to get into a routine where you are reading to your child(ren) on a regular basis. Surround them in quality literature and texts and model what good reading sounds like.

Set goals for 2023: Children setting goals for the school year is a good thing. It can provide reflection and focus for the academic year ahead. It is recommended that families discuss possible goals and strategies with children before they are finalised. A good tip is for the goals to be visually present wherever the student undertakes their study like a study desk or on the fridge so that they are visible every day.

Talk to your child: Communication with your child is paramount during this time. It may be beneficial for families to find an opportunity to discuss the back-to-school phenomenon and seek to understand how their child is feeling. It is a good idea to be positive and to elicit from the child aspects of school they are looking forward to and possible concerns they may be experiencing.

In our Catholic school context, it is also worthwhile for families to discuss with their child that there will be a myriad of opportunities for them to practise and live their faith. This may include Masses, reflection days, retreats, service learning and religious education classes.

Every child is unique and special. As an African proverb highlights – ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. Parents and carers know their children best. Teachers are wonderful at building relationships with their students and nurturing them to flourish. Collaborating together – home and school – our children are well placed to have a happy, joyful and smooth commencement to 2023.

May 2023 be a year of fulfilment and joy for our community as we walk with our God. Be secure in the belief that we will continue to keep God’s kingdom alive here at St. Brigid’s.

Take care,

Tony Hunter

Assistant Principal News - Learning

We are really excited at St. Brigid’s to welcome a new NSW K-2 syllabus for the learning of English and Mathematics this year. A syllabus is an outline of the requirements for teaching and learning in various subjects for particular stages of students' learning. Syllabuses outline curriculum content in relation to the knowledge, skills, understanding, values and attitudes students are expected to learn within a given stage of learning. We have four stages of learning at primary school, Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten), Stage 1 (Year 1 & 2), Stage 2 (Year 3 & 4) and Stage 3 (Year 5 & 6).

NESA has developed these two new syllabus for K-2 Mathematics and English as part of a major curriculum reform K-12. The final documents have been released to all schools in NSW. The Years 3-6 Mathematics and English syllabus reform process began in 2022 with full implementation of these new syllabus by 2024.

During the parent information session on Thursday, you will hear of some of these curriculum changes but please ask questions if you’d like any further details. The link below also offers families some valuable information and resources about our new curriculum. 

Resources for Families

Vanessa Walters                                                                                                                                                                            Assistant Principal - Learning and Teaching

Assistant Principal News - Mission

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Stage Two students will be preparing to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation this term. All students will participate in a Reconciliation retreat at school on March, 7th with the Sacrament taking place for students involved  at 6pm in the Church. 

Sacramental Program Timeline

St Brigid’s Mini Vinnies 2023 

It is wonderful to see 58 students from years 2-6 volunteering to be a part of Mini Vinnies this year. We are looking forward to undertaking acts of Mercy in our school and wider community. The focus of Mini Vinnies this year is how we can Make a Difference (M.A.D) through small acts of kindness and service.

Kelli-Ann Bugden,
Assistant Principal, Mission 

Meet n Greet Evening

We look forward to having all of our families join us for our Meet n Greet Parent Information Night on Thursday, 9th February. This is a great opportunity to have these again onsite, rather than via Zoom as in the previous few years. All families in attendance have the opportunity of going into the draw to win $100 off their 2023 School Fee Account!!
A short overview of the evening:
6pm - Parents and carers gather in Stage 3 Rooms and children can go to the playground. There will be nibbles and refreshments for the adults and the children will have a sausage sizzle and ice block.
6:30pm - Presentation of staff and sharing our school goals for 2023
6:50pm— feel free to meet your child's teachers to have a chat and ask questions.

We hope you can join our community for this great first event of the year and we look forward to meeting you, especially all of our new families.

School Community Forum (Parent Forum)

Last year our Parent Forum unanimously voted to take on the new Diocesan initiative of revamping our Parent Forum. From this year, our major parent body will be referred to as our School Community Forum.

One of the biggest changes will be that each meeting is open to all members of our community, not just Team Leaders as has been the case since 2001. Therefore all members of our school community are invited to our very first SCF Meeting to be held on Tuesday 21^st February in our School Library. Our meeting will commence at 3:30pm. Our Forum Executive of Gemma Habchi (Chairperson), Ali Goldthorpe (Secretary), Hayley Kennedy and Ashling Aherne (Joint Treasurers) would love to see as many as possible who can come along. Supervision will be in place to look after the little ones.

Please come along and discover how this restructuring is going to benefit all families in our school.

The following meeting in March will be our AGM and that will take place on Monday 14^th March at 6pm in our School Library.

Safe On Social Parent Presentation

With the ever increasing exposure to Social Media, this is a presentation that no parent or carer can afford to miss. We are delighted to have Madeleine West of Safe on Social come to our school on Monday 27^th February to deliver a presentation that will be engaging, entertaining and quite confronting. Madeleine will deliver information that primary school parents need to know about - YouTube, Instagram, Musical.ly, Snapchat, Roblox, Minecraft, Clash of Clans / Clash Royale, Online Gaming, Fortnite and other games and apps your children may be using now or in the future. Other areas that Madeleine will cover are:-

Using social media with awareness             Keeping personal information private
Online grooming                                                Posting and sharing photos
What is a digital footprint                              Cyber-bullying, harassment and how to report it
Strategies to build resilience                         Online gaming safety

Madeleine will be presenting to the students in Years 3 to 6 during school time and then will give her presentation to parents in the Stage 3 Rooms commencing with dinner from 6pm and the presentation to commence at 6:30pm. There will be child minding available to allow all parents to attend.

Don’t let someone tell you how good this evening was, witness it for yourself!!

Family Connect Services

A Message from Nikki Devine our Family Connect Worker

As your school’s Family Connect worker, I am here to support families to access the services they might need to help their family thrive. I can assist families in a wide range of areas including NDIS, housing, counselling, parenting programs, supporting parents of children with anxiety through mental health struggles, family violence, addiction services and many other services that families may need from time to time.

I have a background in social work and youth work and have worked extensively in community projects. I am a qualified practitioner in many programs including Mental health first aid, Bringing up great kids and Tuning into Teens.

I care deeply about promoting family wellbeing and can help families access a wide range of support services. I welcome any of our parents/carers to make contact with me if they would like more information about the help and support I can provide.

Nikki 0429 216 841 or Nicole.devine@socialfutures.org.au

From the Wellbeing Team

What are your strengths?

There is a lot wrong with other people, isn’t there? Come to think of it, most of us are prone to thinking there’s a lot wrong with ourselves too. Human beings are wired to think like this. In the days when sabre-toothed tigers were on the prowl, it helped us keep ourselves and our families safe.

But these days, our tendency to focus on the negative does less to protect us and more to leave us feeling depressed and dissatisfied. The exciting news is that by consciously switching our focus to the positive, we hold the key to living happier, more satisfying and more rewarding lives. And our children do too. Australian positive psychology expert Dr Lea Waters, author of The Strength Switch (Penguin, 2017) says that by being aware of and acknowledging their children’s strengths, parents can help kids reach their full potential, improve their wellbeing, and improve the parent-child connection. “Form the habit of swapping the question, ‘What needs to be fixed?’ with ‘What strengths are needed to handle this situation?’,” Dr Waters says.

To help you recognise strengths, each week in the newsletter we will name and define a different
strength, based on a list of 24 character strengths that everyone possesses to differing degrees,
according to the Values in Action Institute on Character (www.viacharacter.org/character-
strengths).

The first strength is:
1. CREATIVITY
The ability to be original, adaptive and show ingenuity. Is creativity a particular strength of yours or of someone in your family? How does creativity help you or your loved ones handle difficult situations?

BPay - Preferred Payment Option

Account Payments - For families wishing to make one off or regular payments to your Fee Account, our preferred payment option is BPAY. 

The school's BPAY Biller Code is:   395004

Individual reference numbers will appear on your statement, which is automatically emailed at the end of the month. 

Positive Behaviour 4 Learning (PB4L)

Welcome to all our families in 2023. PB4L is a whole school framework that helps us creatwe positive learning environments for all students at St Brigid's.

The PB4L framework is a research based and proactive school wide system that establishes clear behaviour expectations.

Our school wide expectations at St Brigid's are:

We are SAFE       We display EFFORT     We show RESPECT    We display SELF-RESPONSIBILITY

During the year ALL classes spend time teaching the school wide expectations.

Students who adhere to these expectations throughout each term are able to participate in our Term Rewards Day. These activitiies vary and the students have the opportunity of nominating and deciding upon which particuliar activity that they would like to take part in on Rewards Day.

Focus for Week 2:  We follow teacher instructions and expectations because we are happy chappies. 

Sushi Orders

Due to insufficient orders being received during Term 4, we will now only be providing sushi as a canteen alternative on the following dates this term:      Monday 13th March. (Changed from the 6th March).

Sports News

Summer Sports Trials

We would like to wish Noah Laarhoven all the best for this Friday 10th February as he takes part in the Polding Cricket trials held in Lismore. Best of luck Noah.

Winter Sports Trials

The Richmond Zone Winter Sports Trials will be held on Thursday 16th Feb. These are representative trials for netball, boys and girls football, rugby union, rugby league (11's and opens) and boys and girls hockey. Please complete the nomination form. It will be closed on Monday 13th Feb at 4:00pm and no late nominations will be accepted this year. 

Please use the following link for nominations https://forms.gle/PmCtRGW8riCbn6E3A

Zone Swimming Carnival Update

We have 24 students from Year 2 through to Year 6 representing our school at the Zone Swimming Carnival being held at the Alstonville Aquatic Centre next Monday 13th February. Miss McDonald and myself will be accompanying students on the day and we ask that all parents and students meet at the front of the pool grounds to mark the roll at 9am Sharp. Full sports uniform to be worn, including hat.

The order of the carnival is as follows:

Commencing: 9:20am (Managers’ Meetings/Warm ups)

Official Commencement: 9.45am 

Entry: Student Pool Entry is paid for. ($5.50 - Pool Staff to do head count on entry). Spectator entry is $5.50. Covid19 Restrictions to be followed. 1.5m social distancing, separate parent seating area.

Warm up/cool down pool only available to competitors before the event. Canteen available on the day

Last Friday we sent home a note regarding transportation for students to the carnival. This will be now private travel, families that were unable to transport their children to the event will be contacted privately in regards to whom their children will be travelling with. Those students travelling with Miss Macdonald will need to meet her at school at 7:50am.

This first attachment will be all the event numbers and events for the day that your children will be swimming in. The second attachment has a list of students with the races the children will compete in on the day.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call me on 0439726485.

Yours in sport,

Lee Love

Happy Birthday to You

Wishing the following children all the very best for their special day which they celebrated earlier this:      

11th February - Raph Hudson

12th February- Noah Laarhoven

Upcoming Dates

FEBRUARY

Thursday 9th - Family Meet n Greet 6pm in Stage 3 Rooms

Monday 13th - Zone Swimming @ Alstonville

Monday 20th - Wildfire 10:10 Experience

Tuesday 21st - School Community Forum 3:30pm in Library

Wednesday 22nd - Ash Wednesday Liturgy @ 12.20pm, Parish Hall. 

Friday 24th - Opening School Mass and Presentation of Badges

Sunday 26th - Parish Family Mass

MARCH

Monday 6th - Staff Development Day / Pupil Free Day

Tuesday 7th - Stage 2 Sacrament of Reconciliation 6pm

Monday 13th - Sushi Day

Tuesday 14th - School Community Forum AGM 6pm

Wednesday 15th to Friday 17th - NAPLAN Online for Years 3 and 5

Friday 17th - Year 1 Showcase