News

Welcome to Term three, and I would like to take this time to welcome all the new families that have become part of the St Brigid’s Community this term. Term Three started with the SRC assembly where the College Leaders spoke to the students about mental health and how the Leaders will be putting information around the College regarding support and services for Mental Health. Mental health refers to an individual’s emotional, psychological and social well-being. It can impact a child’s ability to function in daily life, affecting how they think, feel and act. As you can see, Mental Health is a big concern for our students, and the students are the reason the College is subscribing to SchoolTV. St Brigid’s intends to assist parents in building young men and women who are confident, resilient, and willing to be positive contributors to their communities. One way is to help parents be informed with clear, fact-based information on the many challenges faced by today’s youth. Topics such as youth anxiety, depression, self-harm, drug and alcohol use, cyber-bullying, and many others need clear explanation and guidance. To that end, SchoolTV is an ongoing resource that is now available to our parents. SchoolTV provides a single stream of independent factual information organised by topic, saving parents time and confusion of searching online across multiple sites for information. Under each major topic, parents will find expert interviews, fact sheets, parent quizzes, recommended apps, books and much more. SchoolTV aggregates information from many great resources such as BeyondBlue and ReachOut, amongst others. Parents can access SchoolTV via the College Website or https://sbcl.wa.schooltv.me. SchoolTV has put out the following link to assist parents with their parenting styles. I have to mention that any information you provide to SchoolTV does not come back to the College. https://sbcl.wa.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-parenting-styles I am sure that some of you have heard on the news about young people vaping. If a student at the College is caught vaping, we follow the College’s Drug policy procedures and assist these young people with the support they may require. Below are links to the dangers of vaping and some key points for discussions at home: https://sbcl.wa.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-vaping-au https://sbcl.wa.schooltv.me/sites/default/files/STV_Vaping_KeyPoints.pdf?stv_source=link The College celebrated NAIDOC week with an opening ceremony where the students received a Welcome to Country from Elder Margaret Combing and an inspiring talk from Ms Liza McGuire, director of Red Spear and Indigenous Business. There were activities, Roo Stew with Damper for the students throughout the week which concluded with some of the Aboriginal Girls dancing on the Sand Mural. The Year Ten Food Technology students, thanks to their teachers Mrs Greyling and Mrs Thomas, had the opportunity to taste and see how bush foods can be used in everyday cooking, from Lemon Myrtle Tea to Wattleseed & Bush Mint Ice Cream to a nut spread. I have to say it tasted nicer than Nutella. The Year Elevens had a movie night with Mazenod where they watched (most of them watched while others chattered) Black Widow. The evening was well-planned, thanks to the young gentlemen for hosting the event with Popcorn and treats for sale. The young ladies came wearing warm clothing, including the very fashionable Oodies. This term, the Year Eleven students are nominating themselves for a College Leadership position for 2022. This process involves the young ladies filling in the forms and having a parent sign the nomination form. The current College Leaders will be running seminars for the students who have nominated for leadership positions. The Year Sevens are, at the moment, voting for the Semester Two Reps. Thank you to the Semester One Reps who assisted the House Coordinators at events. We wish all of the young ladies who have nominated themselves all the best. A friendly reminder that all students need to come to school wearing their winter uniform unless they have training before school. Students are given time in their lessons to change into and out of their sports uniform. The young ladies know that if for some reason they have to wear their sports uniform a note needs to be written in your daughter’s organiser and shown to her Year Team Leader. If a student comes to school wearing her sports uniform without a note, a detention will be issued. Students are saying that they are cold. We recommend that they wear layers underneath their blouse and as you are aware, they can wear either tights or socks. As we have school photos in week 5, all the students will need to wear their tights on these days. If you have forgotten your login details for SEQTA, I encourage you to email Kathryn White at white.kathryn@stbrigids.wa.edu.au, and she will assist you with the login details. SEQTA shows when your daughter has assessments as well as her marks and copies of her reports. I encourage you to download the SEQTA Engage app, and you will receive notifications when results and assessments are uploaded onto SEQTA. If you have any academic concerns regarding your daughter please contact her relevant teachers. If it is a pastoral concern please contact her Year Team Leader so they can assist. The more we know the easier it is to assist your child. Ms Fiona Hepi Head of Secondary

Term 3, we are at the halfway mark for the school year! A school is a place where the child flourishes in many ways, so it is with much delight that we watch our youngest children celebrate their 50 days in Kindergarten. The students decorated their T-shirts just for this day. Parents shared their children’s milestones with us. Our parents have written so many positive notes, such as our 4 and 5 year-olds learning to sound out letters, count forward and backwards to 30 and recognise shapes. We also looked at the whole child and are delighted to know that our kindergarteners have also developed social skills and further built their confidence. The well-known billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson are not the only privileged people who have travelled to space. Our kindergarten students are travelling to space too. On their journey to outer space, they will learn about the different planets. Every Tuesday, when the home bell goes, a group of students head to the Robotics Room to prepare for the Robocup competition. Robocup allows students to grasp a better understanding in the area of robotic and artificial intelligence. With all that hard work, the team was ready for the competition and last Friday they headed to Curtin University for Robocup. The Robotic Room had an air of excitement in the morning as the students gathered to depart. They wore their specially designed uniform by Mr Hill, with their ‘coding’ names printed at the back. At the competition, it was an opportunity for the students to absorb and learn new things. Next year, they will return to the competition with bigger and better ideas. Perth has experienced the wettest July in 26 years. The rain will allow a boost in our crop production and fill our dams. However, on the flip side, the abundance of rain resulted in the field being saturated with rainwater. Therefore, we had to postpone the Inter-House Sports Carnival from the originally planned day, to Monday. For many days, we sat on the edge of our seats, praying that the weather would be kind to us just for this Monday, and thankfully the rain clouds slowly cleared for us. As usual, students and leaders beautifully decorated the tents with their house colours for the inter-house carnival. The kinship amongst St Brigid’s community was incredible. What was pleasing was how students supported one another to help finish a race. Many students ran alongside a worn-out race participant and cheered them on to complete the race. This act of kindness strongly reflects on the mercy values of “hospitality” and “compassion”. I constantly reiterate, it is not about the race or how well you do, it is the humanity and kindness that we display to others that will have a more substantial impact than the many ribbons or medals we show. Well done to Mrs Openshaw and the Sports Department, House Coordinators, Teachers, Parent Volunteers, the grounds people and many others, who have made this event run so smoothly. I would like to gently remind parents to park their vehicles in the appropriate parking areas and not in the yellow marking in front of the gates. The reason being the entrance areas are for students to enter and exit the school grounds safely. We look forward to more exciting activities and upcoming events, such as Catholic Performing Arts and Book Week. “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ Numbers 6:24-26 Have a great term ahead. God Bless Anne Tan Head of Primary

Welcome to Term 3. We have six new boarders joining us this term and so far, it’s been great to see them settle so well. A big thank you to our girls who have taken the new arrivals under their wing! We also welcome ISG as our new boarding caterers. The girls are enjoying having lots more choice for lunch and morning tea – in fact, many are saying there’s too much choice and its not easy to decide what to have. As many of you are aware Mrs Yvonne Hasson retired last term and is currently visiting her son in QLD. Ms Catherine O’Grady has joined the staff and we are delighted to have her with us. Ms Grady has been a Housemother at both MLC and Penrhos before joining our SBC boarding community. Our Year 11’s have been invited to apply for Boarding leadership positions for next year and I’ve been very pleased with their proactive response. They are a wonderful group of young women who will undoubtedly work hard to represent the interest of the boarders in 2022. NAIDOC Week was celebrated throughout the college last week and I was absolutely delighted and proud of our girl’s commitment to a range of activities including some amazing dancing at the closing ceremony. I’d like to remind parents again about the process for booking medical or ancillary health appointments for their daughters. It is essential that all appointments are booked by the College Nurse, so that we can organise the logistics of transporting the girls. Your help with this is much appreciated. We do understand that at times surgeries make appointments and notify parents and ask that we are forwarded appointment times well ahead of the date so we can organise ourselves accordingly. Thank you as always for your continued support Annamaria Cream Head of Boarding

Praise & Worship Celebration On Thursday, 22 July, Our College Ministry Leaders, Cristal (Year 9 ) and Leane (Year 6), attended the opening celebration for the Catholic Performing Arts Festival. The celebration, held at St Mary’s Cathedral, was led by the Very Rev Father Vincent Glynn – Episcopal Vicar for Education and Faith Formation. We prayed for all our students involved in the Catholic Performing Arts Festival this term – may they enjoy sharing their God given gifts and talents with each other. Sacrament of Reconciliation Our Year 3 students are currently preparing to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time during this term. Parents and students have had the opportunity to attend workshops run by 24/7 Youth Ministry. World Day Against Trafficking in Persons Friday, July 30th is the international World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. See website for further information: https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-human-trafficking-day Did you know? • In 2018 about 50,000 human trafficking victims were detected and reported by 148 countries. • 50 per cent of detected victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation, 38 per cent were exploited for forced labour. • Female victims continue to be the primary targets. Women make up 46% and girls 19% of all victims of trafficking. • Globally, one in every three victims detected is a child. • The share of children among detected trafficking victims has tripled, while the share of boys has increased five times over the past 15 years. Source: UNODC Human Trafficking FAQs Focus for Fundraising – Term 3 Our fundraising for Term 3 will support the work of Mercy Works. Mercy Works is the development arm of the Australian and Papua New Guinean Sisters of Mercy. Their mission is inspired by Catherine McAuley’s vision of change for the poor and disadvantaged. Mercy Works are financed by donations from the four Australian congregations of the Sisters of Mercy, charitable trusts & foundations, various organisations & groups and individuals.   Adrian Martino Head of Faith and Mission