Newsletter No. 10 | Term 2 Week 7 | Friday 6th June 2025

Prayer

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

Today we celebrated St. Brendan's Feast Day. It was lovely to celebrate our liturgy in the Thomas Carr Chapel, a place once used by the Good Samaritan and Mercy Sisters for prayer and Mass. The Benedictine tradition of the Good Samaritan Sisters, who are central to the history of St. Brendan's school and parish, emphasises compassion and service to those in need. This tradition inspired part of our school vision: we are a community based on love and hospitality and is something we strive to live out  on a daily basis.

We had a great time celebrating our Feast Day. We celebrated the liturgy and I have to say the children read absolutely beautifully! The children were then divided into multi-age groups and played outdoor games, read about St. Brendan’s life, made origami boats and topped off the celebrations with a hot dog lunch. As always on this day, we had lots of fun and were once again reminded of how lucky we are to belong to such a great school community.

Leanne Eastman

Papal Award for a Former St. Brendan's Student

On our special Feast Day, on behalf of the St. Brendan’s community, I would like to acknowledge and congratulate former St. Brendan’s student, Sr. Mary O’Shannassy, who was recently awarded the highest Papal honour, the Papal Cross, for her long-standing service as a prison chaplain in Victoria.

Sr Mary’s receipt of this honour is a testament to her decades of service to those who are often marginalised and overlooked. It affirms the sacredness of her mission and the lives she has touched across Victoria’s prison system. 

Sr. Mary's compassion and dedication to serving some of the most vulnerable people in our society is an incredible example for our students. At St. Brendan’s we emphasise the importance of doing good for others, it is really special to have one of our former students recognised for living out these words. 

You can read more about Sr Mary’s award and life’s work on the link below. 

https://www.catholiccarevic.org.au/resources/sr-mary-oshannassys-remarkable-ministry-recognised/

Catholic Education Week Mass

Last week, we joined St. Mary's, Sacred Heart and Trinity College to celebrate Mass for Catholic Education Week.  It was a beautiful celebration. Thank you to Fr Andrew for saying such a lovely Mass for us.

We greatly value our strong connection to our neighbouring Catholic schools in Colac.

River Detectives

On Tuesday the Grade 3/4 students visited Cressy and surrounds. They enjoyed viewing the murals painted by Tim Bowtell on the water tower and the bowls club wall. A fantastic platform to share what’s historically significant to the Cressy community. Afterwards, they became scientists and tested the water quality and completed a habitat survey of the Woady Yaloak river. The children were very interested to discover salinity and pollution levels.  Data is recorded and upladed to the CCMA website.

-Alice Armistead

Trinity School Band

It was great to welcome the Trinity College School Band to St. Brendan's last week. We were very impressed by their talents! It was extra special to see some of our former students in the band. Thanks to Kelly and the band for inspiring our students and showing them what is possible for them in the future.

School Uniform

It was exciting to have our first glimpse of the new uniform. Jack looked pretty dashing in his new school vest.

New uniforms are available to buy from Borne Apparel now, but please be reassured that you don’t need to rush out and buy anything, there is a two year transition period.

A Message for Our Farmers

The Year Five/ Six girls did a terrific job of working on the sign for our farmers. It was special to witness the concern they had for people doing it tough on the land. Thanks girls!

Public Holiday - King's Birthday 

Just a reminder that Monday 9th of June is the King's Birthday Public Holiday, we will see you all on Tuesday 10th June. Have a safe and happy long weekend!

Teamwork at Recess

I walked outside at Recess to see some of the boys working together in the sandpit to build a military base with a dam in it. It was great to see their excellent teamwork and their enthusiastic engagement in the task. They are a very resourceful bunch!

Trivia Night - Save the Date!

Some of the parents have been planning a Trivia Night for Term 3 which should be lots of fun - the last Trivia Night was a huge success!

The prime objective is for it to be a fun social night but we will also take the opportunity to do some fundraising. 

It will be held on Friday 25th July - the first week back after the school holidays. Save the date!

We will be collecting donations for prizes so if you have anything to donate, or know some businesses that might like to help us out, feel free to start asking around and sending them into school. Thank you!

TRIVIA QUESTION: How many years has Mandy been teaching at St. Brendan’s?

Radio Awareness for Kids

On Friday, our Year 3-6 students took part in a Radio Awareness incursion. The students worked in teams to produce their own radio segments. They did a fabulous job. We may have some radio stars in the making! 

Toasties

A big thank you to Jayne Robb for offering to help out with the Toasties this Term. As such we will start the toasties next Friday the 13th June. Please ensure the sandwiches are wrapped in baking paper with your childs name written on it.  

Wellbeing

Thank you... School Wide Positive Behaviour Survey
Sincere thanks to everyone who took time to respond to our survey. Your 10 nominated words were added to the responses from the students and teachers. We will be using this information to update our Behaviour Matrix.

Behaviour Blitz
Each fortnight, as a school, we are focusing on a positive behaviour that we encourage at St Brendan's. Our current focus is listening. Check out the clip when it comes to our Facebook page, where some students are singing their Listening Song to remind us what good listening looks like.

Mindfulness
Teachers and students have been practicing some new mindfulness exercises. It would be great if you could ask your child/children if they could teach you - they are very short and very good for us all.

Benefit of Hook-ups
They help to bring energy toward our core to calm both the body and brain. In Hook-ups, we link up the two sides of the body while gently pressing the tongue onto the roof of the mouth. This simultaneously stimulates the limbic system (our emotional brain). Meltdowns in children become become less frequent and we feel calmer as stress, anxiety and sensory overload are reduced. Can be done standing, sitting, or lying down.

J.A.M - Just a Minute
Why use j-a-m? - It has been estimated that we each create over 50,000 thoughts every day... That's busy!
Who, when and where? - The beauty of just-a-minute is that anyne can do it, anywhere!
How? - Making a just-a-minute work - every day!
Ther is an inspirational video of a small group doing their first J.A.M coming to the facebook page.

Grounding - Take your shoes and socks off and walk on the grass, the dirt, rub your feet in some sand (can be done with your hands as well!)

Don't forget to use this amazing free resource - School TV!

Seen - The Film
St Brendan's could host a screening of the Film - Seen. It is a film that is highly recommended for parents and children of all ages. Links to the trailer of the movie and review are below or just google - Seen the Film. We could run it as a fundraiser for the school but would be conscious of keeping the ticket cost affordable. We hope you would invite other parents and carers to attend and it would be advertised in the wider community. If you could email me - Liz at lmcguane@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au if you would be interested in attending a screening of this film or tick the box on the whiteboard in the bus shelter, this will help us decide if we go ahead.

Reporting - Changes to the Reporting of Numeracy

This year we are reporting on the new Numeracy Curriculum. The staff have been teaching to this in 2025 and will be reporting on this too. One of the changes to our reporting is that instead of reporting to several strands - Number and Algebra, Measurement, Space etc - we will now report to 'Mathematics' which will include all of the strands. Look out for this when our new look reports come home later in the term.

Bike Wheels Wanted

In our ‘Bike Wheel Drive’ we have currently collected one bike wheel - thanks to Pat O’Shea! We need at least 20, so if you have any spare bike wheels it would be appreciated. A variety of sizes would be great!

As mentioned in the previous Newsletter we will be using them for an Art project. The painted bike wheels will be used to decorate the front of the sports shed. 

Please note: We do not need the whole bike, just the wheels.

However, if you happen to have any bikes in good working order, we are always looking for bikes for the children to ride.

School Uniforms

School uniforms are now available for purchase. The online platform is up and running so if you wish to place an order scan the QR code below or get onto the Borne Apparel website and search for ur school.

Please Note: The last order preview did not have the school beanie on it. They are adding it to the online platform. It may take four weeks to come in so if you would like to order one for Winter it might be a good idea to do it soon.

There will also be the option of a school dress (the same as what we have) and optional navy pants (dressier than a tracksuit).

A reminder that you are under no obligation to buy anything at this stage. The transition period is two years.

School Photos 

Annual school photos were held yesterday and what beautiful smiles all the students have!
Unique image codes will be issued to all students today so families can register online to view images when they become available in the webshop. Please ensure to regisiter even if you have registered in the past. You will receive an email and SMS once the pictures are avaliable on the webshop. If you lose your code, please contact Grace.

Social Media

A reminder that you can follow us on the following social media platforms to stay up to date with all of the happenings in our vibrant school community.

School Attendance and Absentee Notification

Please ensure you are logging onto PAM, calling or emailing the school to advise if your child will be away or late to school prior to 9:30am each morning. This is a very important matter and we wish to ensure each child arrives to school safe.
Please remember students are not permitted to leave school unless permission has been granted. In these circumstances, the student needs to be signed out in the register at the Office. Thank you for your support in all these school matters.

Prep/1 Classroom

Welcome to Week 7!

We have been very busy in the Prep/1 room the past couple of weeks. We’ve been learning new sounds in Phonics, writing stories, doing some great maths and continuing to nurture our mustard seeds and cherry tomatoes as they grow!

Literacy: In Phonics Prep students have been learning the sounds d, e, f and v and are working on sounding out and blending words. Year 1 students have just begun learning all of the spellings for the sound /e/. We have also been studying the book Giraffes Can’t Dance and students created their own versions of the story by changing the main character, setting and skill.

Numeracy: In Numeracy Prep students have been working on counting to and representing numbers up to 20, doubling numbers up to 5 and learning the days of the week. Year 1 students have been working on skip counting by 10’s and 5’s and have been exploring length, capacity and mass through measuring using informal units.

I hope you have a lovely week,

Tahlia

Tahlia O'Keeffe
tokeeffe@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

2/3/4 Classroom News

Welcome to Week 7!

Today we celebrated our annual St.Brendan's Feast Day liturgy. This event is a wonderful opportunity for the children to reflect on their gifts and talents and share them with everyone in our school. It is always lovely to hear what the students want to do when they get older!
Our school photos were taken yesterday and we look forward to seeing the final results.

Literacy: Our phonics focus is the 'ae' sound for the Year 2's (aid, apron, bake, clay, eight, they, steak) and the 'or' sound as in snorkel, hawk, talking, always, Autumn, and dwarf for the Year 3's and 4's. 
We are currently revising narratives, writing our own, and with a small group. The children are enjoying collaborating with their peers and listening to what others come up with!
As a class we have been identifying proper nouns and our idiom this week is 'Beggars can't be choosers'.

Numeracy: In Maths, they Year 2's are investigating and creating fact families for specific numbers. They are applying their knowledge of addition facts to related subtraction facts. The Year 3's have been learning the jump stratergy and the split stratergy to assist them with adding 2 and 3 digit numbers. The Year 4's are learning about counting by fractions and identifying mixed fractions. They are also representing fractions on a number line.
We are continuing our focus on times tables with the Year 2's investigating the 2 times times tables, the Year 3's the 3 times tables and the Year 4's the 6 times tables.
Please feel free to practice these at home!

The Star of the Week award goes to James Bourk. Congratulations on your excellent effort!

Warm Wishes,
Mandy Sutherland
msutherland@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

5/6 Classroom News

It is hard to believe we are nearly through week 7 of Term 2.

Our 5/6 students have been mastering the art of time! We've been busily working on converting between 12-hour time and 24-hour time, which is a crucial skill for understanding timetables, schedules, and even international time zones. Students are becoming quite good at knowing when '16:30' means '4:30pm' and vice versa. Ask your child to tell you the 24-hour time for an event you have comng up!

In our Sounds Write phonics sessions, we've been putting the spotlight on the 'or' sound. Students have been exploring the different ways this sound can be spelled (e.g., 'or' as in fork, 'aw' as in saw, 'au' as in haul, 'al' as in talk, and 'ore' as in store). They're doing a brilliant job decoding and encoding words containing these tricky spellings, boosting their reading and writing accuracy.

We've been immersed in writing persuasive texts, learning how to craft strong arguments, use convincing evidence, and appeal to an audience's emotions. From arguing for outdoor games to convincing others about the best pet, students are developing their voices and learning to present their viewpoints effectively.

Have a wonderful week!

gdouglas@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

Birthday Corner

Wishing a very big Happy Birthday to everyone who is celebrating their special day! Especially:

4th June - Archie Robb (12)

4th June - Jerry Robb (12)

14th June -  Lexi D'Altera (9)

16th June - Declan Ellen (10)

Important Dates

Catholic Culture

St Brendan's Coragulac & St Joseph's Pirron Yallock Mass Times

Mass & Lay-Led Times.

1^st SUNDAY of Month             9.00am   Mass - St. Joseph’s, Pirron Yallock

                                                10.30am  Lay-Led - St. Brendan’s, Coragulac

2^nd & 3^rd SUNDAY of Month    9.30am    Lay-Led - St. Brendan’s, Coragulac

4^th & 5^th SUNDAY of Month     9.00am    Mass - St. Brendan’s, Coragulac

St Brendan's History

St Brendan's School has a proud history of providing a quality Catholic education to Coragulac and surrounding areas over many years. 

A brief history: 

The school was first established in 1899 and conducted by the Sisters of Mercy

In 1918 the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Order were asked to take over the Primary School from the Sisters of Mercy.  At the beginning of the 1919 school year the Good Samaritan Sisters began their association with the school.

The modern St Brendan's School was built in 1958 and was opened by Bishop O'Collins.  The Parish Priest at the time was Father J. Brophy. 

(More information can be found on the school website)

During my five years as principal, I have met many people who went to school here, who taught here, or who know someone who went to school here. Last year, I met a neighbour in our Caravan Park who told me that there is a plaque with his father’s name under the flagpole, Michael Finnigan. Sure enough there is. His father was the founder of the parents and friends and was instrumental in having the flagpole erected. His son (also Michael Finnigan) went to school here. He had some very interesting stories to tell. Let’s just say if he was around today, he might have made a few trips to the principal’s office! 

It is definitely a small world. Something that all of the past St. Brendan’s students I have met have in common, is that they all speak fondly of their time at St. Brendan’s. This has been without exception, many people have created some wonderful memories here. It is  a school that has a deep and lasting impact on its students, families and extended community. 

Community News & Events

Bluewater Sensory Quiet Time Pool Session
When: Every Saturday between 1-3pm
Please contact Bluewater Colac if you have any questions.