News

I would like to extend congratulations to all students for such a successful end to the 2021 Academic year. I would like to congratulate our Kindergarten students on completing their first year at St Brigid’s. How lucky are we to have such enthusiastic and kind hearted students beginning their schooling with us. I know I have enjoyed chatting with them each Friday when they come into the Library, each proudly sharing their weekly borrowings with me; they know they have been my favourite class! Our Year 9 students completed their first set of exams this past week, as part of transitioning into the more senior years and to have an opportunity to show themselves how much they have learnt this past year. They are to be commended on their approach to their studies. Our Certificate III Education Support students have been busy completing their work placements at a variety of early childhood centres and the feedback has been outstanding regarding their contributions, skill set and approach to the placement. We are very proud. We also were excited to welcome our new students (and boarding families) to the College at the Orientation Day, we are very much looking forward to all of these students next year! Finally we are proud to announce our first Flexitrack High cohort in 2022, who have all been successful in gaining a position in Murdoch’s University preparation course, which will be delivered at St Brigid’s plus these students will also complete various courses at school with the goal of entering Murdoch University in the course of their choosing the following year. We are very much looking forward to watching their progress. Our teaching staff have been equally busy in preparing the final Academic Reports for the year, which compliments progress which has been shared throughout the year via SEQTA and assessment pieces sent home. Reports are intended to be released to parents of Pre-primary to Year 10 students on the 9th December. Year 11 Reports should have already been accessed by students and their families on the 2nd December. A reminder that Booklists are available to be accessed on the College webpage. Thank you to all families for your incredible support over the course of the year and we look forward to doing it all again in the new year. God bless and have a safe and Holy Christmas Janine Walsh Deputy Principal

WOW! Where has this year gone? We started 2021 a week later due to COVID, but thankfully, we managed to complete the year successfully. Parents, you should be very proud of your daughter/s for all they have achieved in 2021. Yes, there were a couple of rough patches for some of the girls, but being brave young women, they came through it all developing some new coping skills that will assist them in the future. The Year 9s had their lawn bowls social last week, and according to one student, it was fun, especially when they played against the teachers and won. They liked that it was quite a relaxing atmosphere and that it was something different that they wouldn’t normally do – some liked the fact that there were no boys there! From all accounts, it was an enjoyable and relaxing evening, even if it was a little cold. Thank you to Mazenod for hosting the Year 7 Hawaiian dance social. The evening was very “tropical” with Hawaiian shirts worn by the students. The girls enjoyed the opportunity to either dance by themselves or with a partner. Another great evening had by all, including the staff who danced the night away as well. The Year 8s invited parents to come and see some fantastic Science experiments based on material they had learnt throughout 2021. The young ladies had come up with a range of experiments, from making ice cream and setting it without a freezer to elephant toothpaste, the best bath bombs and rainbow fire. The Year 7s invited their parents to come and see what inventions they had created to help sustain the environment. These ranged from upcycling clothes into dog toys to cleaning the ocean and an app that tells you what foods have palm oil in them. Activities Day gave all the Years 7 – 9 girls the opportunity to celebrate their year of learning and attend activities at different venues. The Year 7s went to Latitude, the Year 8s went ice-skating, and the Year 9s had a wet obstacle course set up on the Senior Oval. We finished the year off with our final assembly where the College Assistant Leaders for 2022 were announced. Charli Vinci – Ministry, Missy Armstrong – Cultural, Rose Considine – Sports and Nichola Powell – Sustainability. These young ladies will be working alongside the SRC Leaders throughout 2022 to form the Student Voice. SPECIAL REPORT: Having the Alcohol Discussion SchoolTv With the impending festive season and end of school celebrations, some teenagers may be feeling ready to party, wanting to put the disruptions, frustrations and disappointments of this past year behind them. To ensure our young people stay safe during this time, parents and carers are encouraged to have the alcohol discussion – no matter how difficult or overwhelming it may be. It is important to outline the rules and boundaries around age-appropriate alcohol consumption and its legal implications. Young people are at greater risk of alcohol-related harm than adults because their brains continue to develop until their mid-twenties. The safest level of alcohol consumption for teenagers is no alcohol at all, but this may be difficult to enforce and may not prevent them from experimenting. However, parents and carers can influence sensible drinking habits and help minimise the risks. In this Special Report, a series of discussion points are offered to help make the conversation about alcohol consumption a little easier. We hope you take time to reflect on the information provided in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback. This SchoolTv information can be found by clicking here. If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the school for further information or seek medical or professional help. I would like to take this time to thank you for your ongoing support, as I have always said, it is a partnership between parents and the school when it comes to the education of young minds. To the families who are leaving the College at the end of the year, we wish you all of the best and remember you will always be part of the SBC community. Wishing you all a safe Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you and your daughters in 2022 where new things will happen. Fiona Hepi Head of Secondary

Advent has begun. Advent gets its name from adventus, the Latin word for “arrival”. The formal advent can be tracked to the 5th century, where in Northern Italy, the Christians would fast, pray and reflect on Christain Values. It’s the season of candlelight, reflection, and expectation. Most importantly, it is a chance to get ready for Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. At St Brigid’s College, we have prepared for the coming of Christ, firstly remembering the less fortunate by offering food hampers to St Vinnie’s. We were then fortunate to have the Pre-Primary re-enacting the nativity through the play entitled ‘the Bundle of Joy’, about a Grumble; the grumpy, grumbly donkey who travels with Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. We have a few budding actors in the cohort. The Kindergarten children displayed their musical talent with their final concert, and they sang and danced to various upbeat Christmas carols. They celebrated their final day in Kindergarten wearing a mortarboard. Before partaking in the festivities of singing the Christmas Carols, the Year 6s had a wild time at Outback Splash. There were water slides, mazes, koalas, kangaroos and many fun activities. Then along with boys and girls from Pre-Primary to Year 5, they brought the old Christmas favourites to life at the annual Carols On the Green. The focus was on the birth of our Saviour with the reenactment of the nativity scene. We also had swimming lessons throughout the last two weeks. Again, the students enjoyed the water and practised their swimming techniques. We ended the year with with our Thanksgiving Mass last Friday, followed by the Thanksgiving Assembly. This was a mixture of joy and sadness where we acknowledged Year 6s achievements at the College. As the school year comes to a close, I would like to acknowledge that each child has worked really hard throughout the term. We, as educators, are proud of all our children. We understand that every child is unique, and we celebrate their achievements. For example, there is an artist who may not thoroughly understand Maths. A potential entrepreneur that may not embrace History. A musician that does not care about Geography and an athlete who dislikes Science. They all have unique talents, abilities and skills, and we congratulate them for finishing a successful year. Have a safe holiday, Blessed and Holy Christmas and a New Year filled with love and peace. Please also note that families can prepare for the new school year as 2022 bookings for Your OSHC program are now open. Registration is free for families. Details can be found here: Parent Information Bookings Flyer God Bless Anne Tan Head of Primary

We have ended the year with our annual collection of food for the Vinnies Christmas Hampers. The local Lesmurdie and Kalamunda St Vincent de Paul Society conferences, deliver Christmas Hampers to families in need in the local community. This year St Brigid’s College combined with Mazenod College to collect and put together over 90 Christmas Hampers – a big thank you to our generous families who donated non-perishable food items. A number of students from St Brigid’s & Mazenod volunteered to sort the items and put together the boxes for delivery this week. Your donation brought a little joy to a family this Christmas – what a great gift! “Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.” G.K. Chesterton Christmas blessings and peace to all our families this Christmas! Adrian Martino Head of Faith & Mission

As I write to you, excitement is definitely in the air as our students and members of staff look forward to the end of a very busy Term 4. We have also just enjoyed our first taste of what the summer months have in store for us! I would like to start by thanking our staff and students for the marvellous day they prepared for our visiting grandparents last week. We believe that we may have had far more than the 650 guests we anticipated attend morning tea and the various activities we had planned, so in true Catholic fashion, we invoked the miracle of the loaves and fishes and ensured that no one was left without nourishment. Some may have missed a juice box, however! We love welcoming our families to the College, and our students love to have their families visit their classes. We thank you for spending the morning with us – it was such a joy to see the students interact with, and enjoy your company. Thank you to those who supported our Book Fair last week. I am told that we reached a new record in book sales with commissions from these sales, converted to Scholastic dollars, enabling us to purchase $3,000 worth of resources for our library. Thank you to Ms Walsh and Ms McKnight for their organisation of the Book Fair. I was privileged to attend the Year 11 Final Mass last week. Our Year 11s are now either sitting examinations, or completing workplace commitments for their certificated courses. We wish them all the best for the end of the year. With only three weeks to go until the end of Term 4, I would like to emphasise to all families the importance of continued, regular school attendance until Friday, 3rd December 2021. I ask that our students fully commit to their studies and to finalise any outstanding work they may have. Your support in this area is greatly appreciated. Staff have many activities organised to ensure completion of curriculum, as well as additional opportunities for our students. Activities include swimming lessons for our primary students, preparation for final assemblies and the Primary Concert; and an Innovator’s Expo for Year 7 students. For the first time this year, our Year 9 students will be sitting examinations. Please keep them in your prayers. This week we farewell Ms Erin Carr, our College Psychologist. We thank her for her years of service to the College and wish her many blessings in her new endeavours. Whilst we will be without a Psychologist for the last two weeks of school, plans have been made to ensure that counselling is available for the start of our new school year, 2022. Should you have concerns regarding your child in the remaining weeks of Term, kindly contact your child’s Head of School. Bask in, and enjoy the beautiful weather our good Lord has sent us. God Bless, Carmen Cox Principal

This past week the College Library hosted a very successful Bookfair, under the theme of “Reading Oasis’. There was definitely a buzz as students rushed to grab a bargain of the latest Scholastic products and many compiling lists for consideration by their Grandparents at the annual Grandparent Day. From novels, to picture books, to novelty packs of books and the ever popular stationary collection, there was something for everyone. It was equally great to see some of our Secondary students visiting the fair and is an area we would like to grow in 2022. Grandparent’s Day was a true celebration of community as students were able to tour their family through the building, playing a collection of ‘old fashioned games’, interviewing them about their life story, entering our newly assembled sensory room, taking time to go down the yellow brick road to read in our Oz inspired reading room. We are fortunate in the space we also hosted an interactive Science display and also a showcase of our robotics programme. We would like to thank our parent helper Sonya McGillivray for assisting us on the day. WACE exams have come to a close and we congratulate our girls on their efforts and we will now await their results. It has also been fantastic to receive ongoing notification of our students attaining their Certificate IVs, which have complimented their studies. Well done. Booklists have now been published for 2022 on the College website https://sbcl.wa.edu.au/enrol/essentials/booklists/ please refer to the site for all information regarding requirements. Where students will be studying differing courses (e.g. Mathematics and Science in Years 9 and 10) letters will be sent from teams advising of student allocation. There is a Parent Forum AGM on Wednesday 24th November 2021 at 6pm, for 2022 team. If there are any parents interested in joining our Parent Forum team, please feel free to contact our President Tracy Gall 0411042338 or Tracy.gall2@education.wa.edu.au for more information. Held in the Staffroom, doors will open at 6.00pm and the meeting starts at 6:30pm. Wishing our students well during these final weeks and we are looking forward to celebrating their achievements upon the completion of their reports at the end of the year. Janine Walsh Deputy Principal