Who doesn’t love a sausage sizzle?

Fortunately, shoppers at Bunnings Maribyrnong do!

St Brendan’s parent volunteers held a fundraising BBQ last Saturday in the Bunnings Marquee. Succulent sausages served with caramelized onion wrapped inside fresh Bakers Delight bread and finished off with drippings of sauce and mustard, feed the hungry masses… YUM! This was all washed down soft drink and water.

Many people called in, new and not so new friends, to quell their morning and afternoon hunger pangs in the knowledge they helped our school in the process.

A BIG thank you to Bunnings for their support, Coles and Bakers Delight for their very generous donations and, of course, our parent volunteers.

Our CHAMPION VOLUNTEERS: Angela & Mick; Christie; Daniela, Lynette & Tim; Pedro; Richard; Sylvia & Rod and Tom were outstanding throughout the day. Owing to their generosity and time, $2,297.75 was raised to support all of our students.

There is another planned for later in the year and we look forward to once again working together for the benefit of all our children.

On Tuesday 14th March Brainstorm Productions will be presenting their student wellbeing performance ‘Zanna & the Lost Code’ for Prep to Year 6. This live theatre experience inspires and empowers students to be respectful, responsible, assertive and resilient, both online and offline.

The storyline is:

When Zanna and Eddie arrive at coding camp, they embark on a magical journey into the Camp Captain's new online game for kids. Through a series of exciting challenges, Zanna and Eddie experience the power of empathy, respect, kindness and assertive communication. They discover that we all have the power to make the internet a safer and more positive place.

'Zanna & the Lost Code' is developed in collaboration with teachers and psychologists and aligned with key outcomes from the Australian and Victorian Curriculum. The show is designed to spark conversations about bullying, cyber safety and resilience amongst our students.

Brainstorm Productions is one of Australia’s most experienced and respected theatre in education companies, performing to over 260,000 students every year. They offer a range of programs to help schools nurture healthy and harmonious environments and are endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner as a Trusted eSafety Provider.

Learn more about Brainstorm Productions by visiting their website (brainstormproductions.edu.au), or following them on Instagram (@brainstormproductions_) or Facebook (@Brainstorm.Productions).

It has come to our attention that a great number of students in Year 4, 5 and 6 are using the app called Discord. This app has over 100 million users worldwide. After its creation, Discord became popular because it was a convenient way for gamers and streamers to convene, chat, and play together. Since then, Discord has become popular as a way for friends and family to come together and communicate easily.

Users must be at least 13 years old to use Discord, but the platform does not verify users' ages once the sign-up process is complete. Any student 12-years and under cannot use Discord under its user policies.

None of our students at St Brendan’s are over 13 years of age. Some of our students are in chat rooms with people they do not know. In recent years the Australian Federal Police have investigated cases where child abusers have been grooming children on this app. As the app is managed in the USA, the AFP do not have juristrication and are therefore unable to follow up on inappropriate behaviour.

It is extremely important that parents supervise what their children are using. Some primary aged students are exposed to graphic images and have been the subject of bullying on this app. Please talk to your child about this and other apps that are not designed for younger children. Have devices in a public space and limit the time your child spends on devices. No child should have devices in their bedroom, particularly after bedtime.

If you need further information, I recommend this website produced by the Australian Government.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/

Sincerely,

Steve Dalton

Student Wellbeing Leader

Bongiorno!

Peter, Sonya and myself continued our staff professional learning in TCL on Tuesday. We visited St Robert's School in Newtown, Geelong. The day included:

• observing TCL classes in action
• engaging in TCL workshop sessions
• collaborating in small group networking sessions.

We were joined by a number of schools from across Victoria some who were beginning their journey like us and others who had been learning Italian under this model for a number of years. The day was a very positive learning experience and we came away with many new, exciting strategies, games and songs etc to enhance our co-learning of Italian.

Please encourage your child/ren to share their learning and perhaps teach you a little Italian at home as well.

Arrivederci

Michelle

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO DATE!

On behalf of the local chapter of St Vincent de Paul, we are collecting non-perishable foods to distribute to the less fortunate persons in our area.

Non-perishable foods include;

• UHT Milk
• Tea & Coffee
• Pasta
• Pasta Sauce
• Rice
• Tinned Tuna/Salmon
• Tinned Baked Beans/Spaghetti.

Each of our classes will be collecting non-perishable foods to provide support the initiative. The donated foods will form a part of our weekly Prayer Assembly.

I may be contacted on principal@sbflemington.catholic.edu.au

Best wishes,

Peter