Newsletter
St Brigid's Primary School
PRAYER
Term Four Week Six - Nov. 17th 2022
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honour depend on God;
He is my mighty rock,
my refuge.
Psalm 62
TERM DATES FOR 2022
IMPORTANT DATES:
Friday 18 Nov - Grandparents Liturgy and Merit Certificate Assembly
Monday 28 Nov - La Salle Transition Day (Year 6)
Tuesday 29 Nov - Thanksgiving Mass (9.00am, Mackillop Hall)
Friday 2 Dec - End of Year Concert (6.00pm)
Monday 5 Dec - Year 6 Excursion
Wednesday 7 Dec - Year 6 Liturgy & Graduation
Friday 9 Dec - PP Nativity Assembly (9.15am)
Friday 9 Dec - End Term 4
Please note:
Dates are subject to change, please also refer to the Term Planner on our Website.
Principal - Paula MacKenzie
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
On Tuesday 1st of November our school celebrated our Feast Day in great style. It was a wonderful celebration, and the children truly enjoyed the day. Thank you to our generous parents who helped supply the goodies that allowed our students to participate fully in the day. We began the day by celebrating Mass as a community a big thank you to Father Rodrigo for leading us in our Mass. Then the children had the opportunity to purchase goodies from the many different stalls. Thank you to our amazing parents for helping to serve on the Trash and treasure stall, the children loved all the different items that were on sale. Finally, the children enjoyed a range of things to do in the afternoon. It was an amazing day, and it gave our school the chance to stop and thank our founders and the charisms that have made our school what it is today. We raised $3,000 on the day which will be given to a handful of chosen charities.
CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS SPORTING ATHLETICS DAY
When our amazing students attended the CPSSA day they represented our school so well. It was amazing to see the encouragement that was given to each child and how they supported each other on the day. Our new tents from the P & F looked sensational and really let everyone know we were there. A big thank you to Mr Sam Harris for organising the interschool carnival. This is a huge event with over ten schools and as always Mr Harris ensured it was an amazing day for all school. Thank you to our teachers and volunteers on the day, outstanding work by all.
TRANSITION DAY
We are looking forward to our transition day on Wednesday 30th November. On this day all children will have the opportunity to visit their classrooms for 2023, they will meet their classmates, teaches, teacher assistants and new students. They will venture to their new room for 2023 and spend time with their class. We begin the day at 9.00am directly after the roll is called. The children will stay with their teacher and friends until recess at this time they will go back out to play and return to their normal classes for 2022. We do this so that children are aware of classmates and teaching staff. We want 2023 to be a seamless year for our students, transition day helps them to be relaxed and look forward to the following year. The dinner table is a great opportunity to discuss next year and all they learnt about during the transition time.
End of Year Concert
Our dedicated staff and students are busily preparing for the end of year concerts. The concert is a special event where our students can showcase their talents. I have been listening to the children as they begin to find the Christmas joy and I know they are eager to perform in front of their parents. The concert evening will take place on Friday 2nd of December. We will begin the evening by 6.00pm, each class will perform a song and dance in year groups. More information will come out sooner to the event, please make sure this date is saved on your calendar.AGM
On Wednesday 23 November we will be holding our Annual Community Meeting. All parents are invited to attend this very important meeting. It is a wonderful time to reflect on the year and see what has been achieved. Also, we will have the opportunity to see the future direction of our school. It is a time to thank many of our parents for their efforts throughout the year. The meeting will begin at 4.00pm in the MacKillop Hall and we hope you will come and support the school and find out the plans for the future and thank our wonderful parents who have served our school well.
If you are attending the meeting and need care for your children, they will be able to watch a movie in the library with some of our staff. It is a fantastic opportunity to see how our school works and we encourage all parents and caregivers to attend.
GOOD COMMUNICATION
Of all the living species on our planet, humans are the luckiest; we have a spoken and written language which allows us to share our thoughts and feelings with each other and record them for others to read in the future. Sometimes saying what we really mean isn’t easy and can be made even harder when others just don’t seem to understand what we are trying to say. We all need a little help communicating at different times in our lives! Talk to your children about these ideas:
If you are the speaker, try to remember:
- use eye contact as much as possible,
- choose your words carefully if you are upset or angry,
- ask the listener if they understand what you are saying,
- give the listener time to respond; don’t dominate the conversation,
- speak with respect; treat others in the way you wish to be treated,
- try not to ‘waffle’ on; be specific and get to the point,
- use an appropriate tone and volume for the situation,
- your body is speaking at the same time as your voice!
If you are the listener, try to remember:
- not to interrupt,
- don’t pretend to understand; ask for clarification,
- look at the speaker,
- not to give advice unless it is requested,
- to focus on the content as well as their feelings,
- give the speaker your full attention; keep your mind on the conversation,
- your body is listening at the same time as your ears!
Good communication results from saying what you mean and meaning what you say. It is also about being a good listener.
God Bless and happy listening
Paula MacKenzie
Principal
Assistant Principal - Alan Morrison
2023 – St Brigid’s
If your child/ren will not be returning to St Brigid’s in 2023, can you please email the school as soon as possible. This will help us to plan for the future as we have a number of students on waiting lists waiting to join.
SEESAW
As you are aware the school uses an app called Seesaw to allow teachers to communicate general notices and update you on work your child has been completing in class. In the past some parents have used a feature to allow you to directly message teachers. After a review of the system and to conform to CEWA policies, the school has turned off the direct messaging for all families as a method of communication. If you need to directly message a teacher, you can do this via email using the teacher’s CEWA email address.
SCHOOL UNIFORMS
Please ensure your child is wearing the correct school uniform. We still have a number of students wear the incorrect uniform or parts of the incorrect uniform.
- Black running (sports) shoes are NOT part of the formal school uniform. Students are to wear black leather shoes (as per Uniform Policy) unless a medical exemption has been provided.
- Sports shoes are NOT allowed to be worn with the formal school uniform.
- Nail polish is NOT allowed at any time.
BOOK LIST 2023
As per previous messages St Brigid’s will purchasing all the class stationary items (only) on the booklist as a school bulk order through Campion. The cost of the bulk order for the stationary items and subscriptions (online subscriptions) will be added to the school fees for 2023. Parents are still required to supply the ‘Parents to Supply’ items.
SEQTA
End of semester reports will be sent out during Week 9 of Term 4. These reports will be accessible through the Parent Engage App of SEQTA. Please make sure that you can log on and access this. If you require assistance, please contact steve.duncan@cewa.edu.au
GRAVEL CARPARK
Over the past few days, we have received numerous concerns from parents about cars and students who use the gravel carpark in the mornings and afternoons. Please be aware that the gravel carpark belongs to St Brigid’s Parish, it does not belong to the school, and they allow us to use it to deal with the overflow of cars in the mornings and afternoons.
Some areas of concern that have been raised:
- Parents not exiting their vehicle and allowing their child to walk to the school gate by themselves through the carpark.
- Students walking through the carpark unsupervised to their vehicle in the afternoon.
- Parents speeding through carpark.
- When moving not watching out for parents/students walking through carpark.
- Parents not parking in an orderly manner.
- Not supervising own children in the carpark – allowing children to run around cars while talking with other parents in the afternoon.
Please note, if you park in the gravel carpark, you MUST walk your child to the front gate of the school in the mornings and then collect them from the front gate of the school in the afternoons. There is a kiss and drop lane that is available in the gravel carpark available for use in the mornings and afternoons.
NO student will be allowed to walk unsupervised (by a parent/caregiver) to or from their vehicle in the morning or afternoon through this carpark. There have been a couple of close calls with students running or not been seen while walking through this carpark.
For the health, safety and wellbeing of ‘all’ our students, the above concerns need to be addressed immediately, or as a last resort we will be forced to close the gravel carpark.
Assistant Principal - Tony Corbett
The Tradition of Advent
Advent is the period of four Sundays and weeks before Christmas (or sometimes from the 1st December to Christmas Day!). Advent means 'Coming' in Latin. This is the coming of Jesus into the world. Christians use the four Sundays and weeks of Advent to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas.
There are three meanings of 'coming' that Christians describe in Advent. The first, and most thought of, happened about 2000 years ago when Jesus came into the world as a baby to live as a man and die for us. The second can happen now as Jesus wants to come into our lives now. And the third will happen in the future when Jesus comes back to the world as King and Judge, not a baby.
Humility, kindness lead to strength
‘Loneliness is an extreme outcome of lockdowns/COVID and a grave problem,’ Mackay notes, ‘but some people have also spoken of the benefits of forced relaxation and re-acquiring concerns for others. It is a silver lining of lockdowns and isolation.’
As to his theme of kindness, I ask, what is its opposite? Active malice?
‘I don’t think it is active malice; that is an extreme opposite of kindness,’ he responds thoughtfully. ‘It is indifference, yes; indifference to our common humanity. But perhaps the real opposite of kindness is self-absorption. If we lose sight of other people’s needs and allow ourselves to be totally absorbed by our own concerns and ambitions, then we have lost our way to kindness.’
Is selflessness, then, in short supply in Canberra?
‘Kindness is not part of the ethos of our federal government, or the modus operandi of our prime minister. Our national parliament is based on winners and losers. Kindness is also a problem for many people in institutional religions, which get caught up in dogma, doctrine and creeds.
‘In the case of Christian denominations,’ he adds, ‘they can easily lose sight of the essential teachings of Jesus, of kindness and compassion for others, as spelled out in the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. The good life is not just about which dogmatic boxes to tick — it is about inclusion and empathy and kindness, not who’s in and who’s out.’
To that end, Mackay contends, we can ‘have a contest of ideas and policies without becoming gladiators. We can disagree with each other, but we can do it kindly, not as an ego contest. Compassionate engagement with other people’s views is quite consistent with robust differences of opinion.’
Pandemic responses from state governments have seen homeless people placed into safe emergency accommodation in hotel rooms, and government kitchen staff have cooked millions of meals for impoverished people and those made newly redundant by COVID-19; these kinds of acts can either be seen as acts of kindness or rational, sensible acts taken to prevent higher infection rates, and civil unrest. How does kindness translate into or contribute to self-interest?
‘While the motive is probably mixed,’ Mackay concedes, ‘it is wonderful that homeless people were and are being housed, so that they can address the problems that led them to be in that situation. So even though the motivations may have been to address and limit infection rates, or avoid civic disturbances, or lower the crime rate, the effect is still good. If the motive were pure that would be a bonus. But good work is still good work…
‘As with so many things in a pandemic — this may be naïve of me — I truly hope we learn from this.’
Mackay believes Australians are seeing a re-birth of community, something that ‘usually happens in crises, such as wars, natural disasters and economic depressions’. However, Mackay doubts if ‘the disruptive impact has been great enough to be a circuit breaker — that may sound strange to some of you in Melbourne’ after innumerable months spent in lockdown.
‘Humility is the handmaiden to kindness. We practise both humility and kindness by responding to the needs we see around us, and valuing the dignity of those around us — especially of those who are in pain.’
‘In our streets, in our communities, we know we need to exercise compassion and to care for each other. No-one is going to get out of this by themselves. We have been tested, we have had a taste of social isolation and, as a result, perhaps we have rediscovered the power of community.’
One of the book’s delights is Mackay’s stressing of the importance of humility; an old-fashioned and rarely sighted virtue these days. He sees it as the key to greatness, and a force that can drive out the arrogance that can lead to poor policy and the perpetuating of bigotry and harm; but does he see it demonstrated in any of our leaders in Australia, or any world leaders?
‘Humility is in pretty short supply,’ he says with masterful understatement. ‘Perhaps we glimpse it in New Zealand in Jacinta Ardern, who does demonstrate humility and kindness. We see flashes of it nationally and internationally when a leader apologises or shows remorse for some error of judgement or other misbehaviour.
‘But so many leaders are driven by ego and ruthless ambition; they are reluctant to acknowledge their frailty and our shared frailty,’ he adds. ‘Some people who have climbed the greasy pole have been driven by a desire to compensate for their personal failings or deficits — it’s like a denial of their inner frailty.
‘We have had infrequent individuals such as Nelson Mandela, or Jimmy Carter, who have demonstrated great humility and self-knowledge. Yet, in too many cases, leadership is assumed to be about power rather than service, and power is antithetical to humility.
‘Humility is the handmaiden to kindness. We practise both humility and kindness by responding to the needs we see around us, and valuing the dignity of those around us — especially of those who are in pain.’
‘Kindness is, once again, the key,’ Mackay says. ‘To be brave enough, selfless enough, to connect and engage and respond with other people, we need to be prepared to see the world as they see it; to entertain their ideas. After all, we’re not qualified to disagree with someone until we’re sure we know what their position is.
‘That’s why it takes courage to listen: attentive and empathic listening means we are running the risk of being changed by what we hear. Most of us don’t want to go through the pain of having to change our mind. But let’s remember our folklore has always taught us that we grow through pain, through dealing with challenges, disappointments, loss and hardship.’
Noting that ‘no one chooses to be in pain and discomfort’, Mackay asserts that ‘we learn nothing about ourselves through comfort and self-indulgence. Adversity is where we grow.’
Cometh the adversity, cometh faith to foster mental and spiritual health. Mackay writes eloquently of ‘faith in something greater than ourselves; hope for a better future; kindness towards others’. Mid-pandemic, he believes we are embracing these qualities.
‘Kindness is the purest form of love because it has nothing to do with our emotions or affections. It’s not transactional, either. When people reach out to care for those at risk of loneliness and social isolation, that is an act of kindness that has nothing whatever to do with self-interest, and it also has nothing to do with whether we like, or approve of, or agree with the political, religious or other beliefs of the person in need.
‘Since the pandemic arrived here in 2020, there have been thousands of stories of neighbours connecting and supporting each other; of people being ready with offers of assistance for friends and strangers alike; of people being prepared to make sacrifices for the common good. As a crisis usually does, the pandemic has brought out the best in most of us. if we’re prepared to learn the lessons it has taught us, that would be a cause for great optimism.
‘In fact, believe we can allow ourselves a brief moment of pride about the way we’ve responded to the demands of the pandemic on our way of life — especially in our local neighbourhoods and communities. We have not handled the vaccine rollout well at all, and quarantine has had its failures, but we can do this: we can reach out and help each other; we can acknowledge our interdependence; we can recognise that our common humanity is far more significant than our personal obsessions with identity and difference.’
As to whether the crisis can be transformed into a kindness revolution, Mackay puts that back in our court. ‘It’s up to us as individuals — household by household, street by street, community by community.
‘After all, revolutions never start at the top: this one will start with quiet moments of grace.’
Taken from www.eurekastreet.com.au
SCHOOL CANTEEN
QUICKCLIQ ORDERS
If you have placed an on line order through QuickCliq and your child is unwell or the canteen is closed, you MUST cancel your order before the cut off time of 9.00am by going on line and following these instructions:
Log into your QuickCliq account -> click Active/Cancel order -> Scroll to the right -> click Cancel against the order.
Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays are the busiest days for the canteen. If you can't help for the entire day, that's not a problem, we would be grateful if you could help between the hours of 11.15am to 12.30pm. As a "thank you" for your help, the canteen will provide you with lunch, a cold drink and bottomless cups of tea/coffee. Please call into the canteen and have a chat with Kylie (our canteen manager) to let her know when you are available.
UNIFORM SHOP
Uniform Shop Opening Hours
Monday 8.00am till 10.00am
Wednesday 1.30pm till 3.30pm
ONLINE UNIFORM ORDER FORM
If you need to place an order please click the below link, complete the form and either sent it to uniform@stbrigidsms.wa.edu.au or alternatively you can send the form in with your student to be handed into the office.
https://stbrigidsms.wa.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Uniform-Order-form-2022.pdf
It is compulsory for all students at St Brigid’s Primary School to wear the correct uniform at all times according to our uniform code. All students in Pre-Primary to Year Six are required to wear the school uniform as specified below. A note of explanation is required if the correct uniform is not being worn. All items of clothing are to be clearly marked with the student’s full name to ensure all property is returned to them if misplaced. We expect the support of parents/carers in ensuring that this uniform code is adhered to at all times and any queries or concerns are addressed promptly.
To avoid the end of school year rush we suggest you take this opportunity to visit the Uniform Shop during opening hours Monday 8:00am – 10:00am or Wednesday 1:30pm – 3:30pm. Alternatively you can submit a Uniform Order Form via the link Uniform Order Form and email it to uniform@stbrigidsms.wa.edu.au or alternatively can be handed in at the office.
Before & After School Care
Parents, we are here to support you and your children in before and after school hours! We offer a secure, safe and exciting environment for your children to thrive and be a part of a socialized group.
Please note an enrolment form and 1 days' notice is to be given to make your casual bookings for your children.
We are here to help! Enrolment forms are now online https://www.helpinghandsnetwork.com.au/register/#.
Vacancies Available Now!
COMMUNITY NEWS
WAAPA Summer School 2023
Join us at WAAPA in January 2023 for fun, new friends and lots of performing! This summer WAAPA is offering a range of performing arts courses as part of our school holiday program for secondary school students. Classes for young people from Year 7 to 12 in Acting, Dance, Screen performance, Jazz and Music Theatre means there is something for everyone with a passion for the arts. Our wonderful staff cater for all abilities and experience levels. For information about the many courses on offer please visit Summer School 2023 or contact Gabrielle Metcalf at explore.waapa@ecu.edu.au or 9370 6775.
St Brigid's Primary School
Service, Courage, Peace, Acceptance
Email: admin@stbrigidsms.wa.edu.au
Website: www.stbrigidsms.wa.edu.au/
Location: 20 Toodyay Road, Middle Swan WA, Australia
Phone: 92501592
Facebook: facebook.com/stbrigidsms
Twitter: @stbrigidsms