Newsletter No. 27 | Term 4 Week 11 | Wednesday 13th December 2023

Prayer

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

Thank you to everyone for your support throughout 2023. It has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to spend another year with the children, parents and extended community of St. Brendan’s School.

To the Yr 6 students and the families who will not be returning in 2023, we say thank you again for all that you have done in your time at St. Brendan's. We wish you all the best and hope that we will still see you around the place from time to time.

On behalf of the staff I would like to wish you all a joyful Christmas and a wonderful year ahead.

Leanne Eastman
leastman@sbcoragulac.catholic.edu.au

Year Six Performance Tomorrow - ALL WELCOME

This term Year Six students have been working with Liz McGuane on an end of year performance and they are excited to be finally presenting this to the school tomorrow, Thursday 14th December.

Families, friends and the wider school community are all welcome to come and watch, the performance will be taking place at 2.30pm in the Hall.

Gifts from the Executive Director

The Executive Director of Catholic Education Ballarat, Tom Sexton, recently visited our school and was impressed with the sustainable projects that the children were involved in. He ordered, and gifted his staff, with 5 calico aprons decorated by students and five wooden chopping boards, sanded and oiled by the students. Tom sent a photo through last night and said his staff were very happy with their gifts. 

We are extremely lucky to be so well supported by Catholic Education Ballarat.

There are just a couple of things before I sign off for the year:

Class Structures 2024

The class structures and teachers for 2024 are listed below:

Please note: Due to balancing the class sizes, the Year Four students will be split into two groups. There will still be many opportunities for them to come together, including on Wednesdays when it will revert back to the Prep/1; 2/3/4; 5/6 class combinations. 

The Year 4 students seem really excited about a change to the usual structure in the year ahead.

Other Staffing

We are pleased to welcome two new staff members to our school in 2024. Kynan Parker will be joining us as a Learning Support Officer. Kynan has just completed Year 12 at Trinity and is well known for his involvement with basketball in the Colac area. Kynan has coached rep teams and local junior basketball teams and really enjoys working with children.

We also welcome Andre Delorenzo who will be teaching Sport for the first half of the year. Kynan is a former teacher at St. Mary’s and now runs his own fitness business, One Movement. Andre is also a former student at St. Brendan’s so it is great to be able to welcome him back to his old stomping ground!

Transition Day

On Tuesday we held our Transition Day. The children were very excited to go up a grade and they really enjoyed spending time with both new and old classmates.

We were really pleased to welcome our new Foundation students:

Annabelle Balcombe, Evie Carlon, Jack Finlay, Annie Lamb, Everlyn McGuane, Java Quinane, and Greta Rock.

In 2024, we will also welcome two new families with children across other year levels:

• Jackson Ellen Yr 1, Declan Ellen Yr 3 and Zane Ellen Yr 5.
• Lucas Lindsay Yr 2, Madison Lindsay Yr 4

If you see new faces around the place please be sure to introduce yourself and welcome them to our school.

School Advisory Council

Last night the School Advisory Council held the Annual General Meeting at the Ti Tree Hotel. We farewelled the following people who have completed their allocated years of service. We say a BIG thank you to:

Hayley Beardsley, Kara Carlon, Mark Robb and Jared Wolter.  We thank them all for their input and support over the last three years, and give an extra special thanks to Mark Robb for taking on the Chairperson role this year. Mark was a huge support to me and was always willing to help out wherever he could. Thank you Mark!

We are overwhelmed with the wonderful support we have had with filling the vacant positions on the Council. Thank you to the following people who have offered to support the school by taking up positions on the School Advisory Council for 2024:

Tracey Bayne, Ken Coates, Ben Phillips and Lauren Mitchell (sharing one position), Kristy Robb and  Vanessa Tait.

The support has been phenomenal. Thank you to all who have put their hands up to fill the vacant positions.

End of Year Excursion

A reminder that our end of year surfing excursion to Lorne is taking place on Friday. The children are all really excited. The surfing excursion is always a big hit!

Please make sure that your child has plenty of water, a snack, fruit and lunch. Children can work up a hunger when surfing, so please make sure they have enough to eat. 

Families are welcome to join us on the day. You will need to provide your own transport though, as the bus will be full. 

We hope to see you there!

Wizard of Oz Cast

It was very exciting today when Georgie announced the casting for our 2024 production of The Wizard of Oz. Congratulations to all students who received major parts and well done to all children for your enthusiastic participation in the workshop. A reminder that all children will be part of the ensemble. 

It is going to be such an exciting time in Term 1 as we prepare for the final production on Wednesday 27th March.

St Brendan’s Musical Theatre Program 2024: The Wizard of Oz Cast Announcement

Dorothy - Kaitlyn Bourk

Wicked Witch of the West - Brianna D'Altera

Glinda the Good Witch - Nellie Armistead

Scarecrow - Brennan Robb

Tin Man - Archie Robb

Lion - Charlie Ferrari

The Wizard of Oz ( ensemble: farmer/ozian ) - Caleb Price

Miss Gulch ( ensemble: jitterbug/winkie guard/ozian ) - Grace Bayne

Aunty Em ( ensemble: jitterbug/winkie guard/ozian ) - Harriet Rock

Uncle Henry ( ensemble: farmer/ozian ) - Jordon Price

Hickory ( ensemble: jitterbug/winkie guard/ozian ) - Eden Robb

Hunk (ensemble: jitterbug/winkie guard/ozian ) - Claire Beardsley

Zeke ( ensemble: jitterbug/winkie guard/ozian ) - Matilda Carlon

Professor Marvel ( ensemble: farmer/ozian ) - Jackson Scott

Guard ( ensemble: munchkin/monkey ) - Ivy Robb

Apple Tree 1 ( ensemble: farmer/ozian  ) - Samiyah McLeod

Apple Tree 2 ( ensemble: farmer/ozian ) - Melody Baker

Apple Tree 3 ( ensemble: farmer/ozian ) - Ava D'Altera

Ensemble

Munchkins/Monkeys

Jessica Beardsley                Java Quinane

Esther Lethbridge               Jaxson Ellen

James Bourk                      Annabel Balcombe

Charli Lettieri                     Evelyn Carlon

Lewie Panther                    Lexie D'Altera

Teddy Phillips                     Jack Finlay

Kyle Wright                       Annie Lamb

Joey Lamb                        Everlyn McGuane

Luca Lettieri                      Greta Rock

Ruby Wilson                      Millicent Carlon                   Cuba Quinane

Farmers/Ozians

Liam Wilson

Pearl Armistead

Sophie Carlon

Isabella Coates

Declan Ellen

Aden Coates

Jerry Robb

Zayne Ellen

Vinnies Donation

Thank you to everyone who donated to our Vinnie’s basket. Our Social Justice group; Brennan, Lexie and Melody came into Colac with our Principal of the Day, Ruby, to drop it off on Monday morning. The people at Vinnie’s were very appreciative of our contributions.

School Closure Days 2024

DOBCEL Student free guidelines and procedures

Student free days are days where students do not attend school within the gazetted attendance period, but are designated for staff professional development, school professional development  activities, planning and/or report-writing. Each year the first day of term one and the last day of term four, will be a student-free day in all schools.

A request will be made to the Governing Authority (DOBCEL or RI / MPJP), regarding the scheduling of up to six student-free days each year to meet local school needs, based on the school’s annual School Improvement Plan, which must include a day with a Religious Education or Catholic Identity theme.

The school closure days for St. Brendan’s School in 2024 area as follows: 

Term 1

Monday 30th January: School Closure Day:   Staff Planning and First Aid Day

Thursday 7th March: School ClosureDay: :  Religious Education

Friday 8th March: School Closure Day:   Staff Curriculum Day

Term 2

One School Closure Day: Date to be confirmed        

Term 3

One School Closure Day: Date to be confirmed       

Term 4

Monday 4th November: School Closure (Curriculum Day)

Term dates 2024:

Swimming

Our Swimming program consists of five swimming lessons (one per week)early in Term 1 and five swimming lessons (one per week) in Term 4. 

The same structure will be followed in 2024. We are waiting to hear the final dates but it is likely to begin on the Friday of Week 2 or 3.  

For new families, this means that we will bus the children into Blue Water, Colac for their lesson. More details will be provided in the first week of school.

Catholic Culture

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

St Brendan’s Coragulac: 9.30am Sunday   /   5pm 4th Sunday of each month
St Joseph’s Pirron Yallock: 10:30am Lay-led   /   Mass 1st Sunday of each month

Public Notices

SALVATION ARMY - CHRISTMAS CHEER 2023

If you are experiencing financial hardship the Colac Salvation Army is offering toys for children aged under 13 years and also hampers this Christmas. You can attend the Salvation Army to register on the days listed below.