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The fourth term has been filled with events. The list is extensive… In-term swimming took place and students marched towards the pool for their lessons on a daily basis. Kindergarten marked 100 days of kindergarten. [easy-image-collage id=20049] Pre-primary had their nativity assembly, and it was immensely enjoyable with so many upbeat tunes dotted throughout the assembly item. Years 1 and 2 combined forces and assembled for their liturgy centred on Jesse’s tree. [easy-image-collage id=20069] We had our beautiful grandparents visiting their grandchildren on Grandparent’s Day. [easy-image-collage id=20056] Students in Year 5 bravely gave speeches for leadership positions. Those presentations were well done. The students voted for the leaders of the ministry, sustainability, sports and culture as well as the House leaders. [easy-image-collage id=20060]   The students showcased the Christmas production “Lights, Camel, Action”. It was a cheerful way to tell the greatest story on earth: the Birth of Our Lord Jesus. [easy-image-collage id=20065] Finally, we congratulated our Year 6  students on completing primary school, and we wish them well as they move on to high school.   Christmas is rapidly approaching. As we prepare for Jesus’ arrival, let us pray and remember the less fortunate brothers and sisters. From our St Brigid’s College team, we wish you a blessed Christmas and a wonderful new year filled with love.   “Glory to God in the Highest! May the blessings of God’s special gifts be yours this Christmas and in the New Year.”   Warmest Regards Anne Tan Head of Primary

The third term is winding down. The school held their inter-house track and field carnival. As usual, house colours and smiles were displayed. There were opportunities for students to take part in activities ranging from Leader Ball to tug-a-war. This term also overflowed with creativity as many students took part in the Catholic Performing Arts Festival.  The College had the opportunity to participate in different sections such as the sacred chorale, choir, dance and also choral speaking. Individual students participated in the various instrumental sections of the festival. The College achieved the shields for the Sacred Chorale and Year 5s Choral Speaking. It was a delight to have the Year 5s performing their choral speaking piece at the finale of the festival. The theme for this year’s Book Week was ‘Dreaming with Your Eyes Open’.  The Book Week Parade was a blast. Year 2 began with their book Innovation “If I was the President”, and teachers, staff and students came dressed up inspired by characters in books. We had witches, the hungry caterpillar, three blind mice, Harry Porters and the list continued. We had a special breakfast in celebration of Father’s Day. The fathers arrived early to enjoy the aromatic crispy bacons, eggs, sautéed hash browns and fluffy rolls. We also had the amazing EduDance showcase where students showed the different repertoire of dances from Pre-primary emulating the Penguins to Year 6s hip hopping to the song ‘Jump’.  Kindergarten students had their special timeslot for their parents to see their dance too.  Students of all ages naturally moved to the beat and delightfully danced to catchy music. The pre-kindergarten was fortunate to have visitors from our community, such as doctors, nurses and even firefighters. Students learned about the significant roles these special visitors play in the community. The college uses Talk for Writing in the context of their teaching of writing. It was evident in the Year 1 Gold’s assembly, as they told the story of “Little Red Riding Hood”. It was also fantastic to witness Year 3s researching, reading and doing an explanation text on how bees make honey, how lightning and thunder are formed and the eruption of the volcanoes. Whilst we worked hard, we played hard. On the playground, we often see students using their creativity, such as dance and cheerleading choreography, or having a conversation with their friends. Students often mentioned how much they love coming to school and enjoy the college’s intimate community spirit. Mercy Day is a significant day for us to revisit our Mercy Values. Students were acknowledged for displaying the values through special Mercy Awards. Christ is always centred in our everyday life and we celebrated the day with a Mass on the last Wednesday of the term.  Primary school students sang the entrance hymn enthusiastically “Welcome to God’s House” with actions and dance. The colour run is a wonderful way to end the celebration and the term. Students enjoyed running through the green foliage of the college ground and receiving a burst of colours on them. Many were drenched in various colours and returned home seeping with joy and satisfaction. It is great to have students who look smart in their uniforms and taking pride in wearing them. As we are proud to wear the uniform of St Brigid’s College, we also proudly show our values of mercy. Students are reminded on an ongoing basis that one of their values is RESPECT. Respect is a value in the way we treat each other and the consideration of common properties. Just as we go into the houses of others, we respect their ownership and belonging. Therefore, we expect the same respect when students enter the college grounds by cooperating and working together to make sure the grounds are clean and tidy. We faced a few vandalism and graffiti throughout the primary campus, especially in the toilets. With the support of parents, we are educating students to understand that vandalism and graffiti are anti-social behaviours. It is a piece of legislation that is not taken lightly by authorities. In July this year, Pope Francis in his message about social media and its toxicity behind it “the use of digital media, especially social media, has raised a number of serious ethical issues that call for wise and discerning judgment on the part of communicators and all those concerned with the authenticity and quality of human relationships”. Once again, we urge parents to continue to monitor your child in their use of social media, and to ensure they are safe, and using kind and respectful language when they engage with their friends. With respect to social media, parents were often advised at our events to refrain from taking photos or videos of students.  The purpose of this call is that we have students who have not given permission to the college to publish their photos or videos.  We respect these requests as they have been made due to varied personal reasons. We often ask parents to be considerate and not to upload photos or videos to a social platform, where private information becomes public. Hopefully during these spring holidays, your children will enjoy a time that allow them to run freely and enjoy nature. We look forward to next term where we will have our in-term swimming from the 14 of November to 25 November and the Christmas production entitled “Lights, Camel and Action”, and many exciting events to come. Have a safe and blessed Holiday   Anne Tan Head of Primary Dear Lord, Thank you for this holiday— an extra chance for fun and play. There’s so much I can learn and do even if I’m not in school.   All the beauty and gifts abound. The world you created is all around. Today’s a chance to go explore, try new things, and discover more.   I’ll miss my teacher and my friends just as happens on weekends. But I know that for today, I’m thankful for this holiday.

Term three began with many exciting events. The first week, we celebrated NAIDOC week together with our secondary peers.  The following week, we had Edu-Dance taking place from kindergarten to year 6. This was an excellent avenue for students to learn rhythm, movement, listening to instruction and also dancing is a way to provide a healthy body and mind for students. Our year 1s and 2s started their additional hip-hop dance lessons. According to the report, I heard they were just unbelievable. Creativity in abundance that year 6 learned to make quirky birds from various materials. Inter-school Cross Country In the athletic arena, our amazing boys and girls represented St Brigid’s College in the interschool cross-country. The students trained in the morning as early as 7:00 a.m. These students demonstrated devotion and perseverance in improving their skills. On their return from the competition, we were greeted by students with a complete exhibit of their ribbons and medals. The athletes were excited to recollect what was described as a memorable day.   Pre-Kindy and Pre-Primary Learning and more learning in the primary area.  Pre-kindy students loved playing doctors and nurses at the hospital. The preprimary had a hairdressing salon for those who wanted to get their hair done.  There were lots of collaboration and conversation amongst the little cherubs and with the teachers moderating and mediating to further scaffold their learning. It was marvellous to look at our primary students’ mathematical thinking as they work on the concrete representation to pictorial and then abstract representation in mathematics. Students created a number line in the classroom. This allowed them to understand the sequence of numbers and also used them as a basis to further understand addition and subtraction, and then to measurements. Some dingoes, koalas and snakes visited kindy and pre-primary. The little leagues took the time to discover these unique Australian creatures. It was lovely to watch pre-kindy write their names. They displayed fine motor ability and skillfully formed the letters of their names. Besides all these learning and fun activities, some of our students have been working hard preparing for the Catholic Performing Arts Festival and the DaVinci Decathlon competition. St Brigid’s College is always buzzing with activities and at the same time prayers and being Christ-centred is part of our daily practice.  The Year 3s had their reconciliation reflection day as they prepare for their first Sacrament.  This Sacrament allows Jesus to show His love for His children.   A Prayer for our Reconciliation Candidates: Loving God help us to teach our children that you love us totally and unconditionally. Help us to encourage our children to grow in love and to learn how to say sorry, knowing that you always forgive. Give us the courage to pray with our children and to share our faith with them as we journey together. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen It has been a wonderful and significant start to the term, and I am excited about the forthcoming events that will be taking place. God Bless Anne Tan Head of Primary      

The first week we returned after our break, we had the swimming carnival. The timing was perfect with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, which brought us together at the pool to cheer on our friends and our Houses. We also had the Mass for the year 3 in the church. It was amazing to watch the students sing and attend Mass with the parish community of Lesmurdie. Year 2 had their liturgy in the Wandju room. Mrs Cox, our Principal conducted the homily and vividly explained the meaning of Confirmation and the Holy Spirit.  Parents and pupils stood in awe of the liturgy.  We received a lot of compliments and positive praises that it was touching and beautiful. We also commemorated Mother’s Day.  Year 5 Green took the stage and honoured the mothers in their assembly.  The students made us laugh and cry, speaking explicitly of their love and appreciation for their mothers who love them so much.  After the gathering, we offered the parents delicious boxes of sweets.  The beautiful boxes had been carefully and thoughtfully designed by our marvellous Community Relations and administration staff. Students in Year 3 and Year 5 had their NAPLAN.  There was no nervousness because students had the ability and knowledge to address the challenges they faced. In the last newsletter, I talked a little about the importance of cybersecurity. This term, we had a guest speaker, Paul Litherland who gave a good message about caution around the use of various social platforms. As usual, lots of learning is taking place on the primary campus.  Grade 5 students are working on their robotics, and kindergartens are involved in their learning using play exploration. Year two used nature as a creative inspiration for their Mother’s Day cards.  Grade 6 pupils are busy working with Mrs Openshaw in the garden, growing potatoes. We were confronted with graffiti problems in the newly furnished boys’ toilets.  Students were guided to be proud of their school and the importance of keeping an eye on our environment.  We also highlighted positive behaviours and congratulated the students when they displayed them.    We saw students working to make sure that the school looked clean.  They were magnificent demonstrations of pride and love for the college.  It also coincided with Pope Francis’ Laudato Si. “… We are called to be instruments of God our Father so that our planet might be what he desired when he created it and correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and fullness.” LaudatoSi’ n.53   Prayer God of creation, The earth is full of your goodness and beauty. Help us to hear the cry of the earth, so that we can fully understand how our decisions impact the environment. May we work to look after your incredible gift of creation. We make this prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen.   Term 2 is very exciting as we engage in more activities and look forward to welcoming them enthusiastically.   God Bless Anne Tan Head of Primary

It is the end of term one, and we have managed to embrace the new normalcy for students from Years 3s to Year 6s wearing masks during instruction time in the classroom. The college is built upon being resilient, and our core activities and learning were never compromised.   The students soldiered on with Spelling Mastery, and we also followed the Talk for Writing pedagogy for our writing execution. Using oral language as the cornerstone, students learnt to recite a famous story. By doing so, they become fluent in retelling a story. This frees up their working memory to incorporate elements that help create a higher quality writing by working on many in-depth literacy tools to heighten their writing pieces using examples like similes, idioms and powerful adjectives. They then innovate from a familiar story platform, and from there, they independently write their version of the stories using the many writing tools taught. Surrounding the classrooms are washing lines of sample writing which they have brainstormed the ideas together. These become instruments to scaffold our emerging writers to the next stage of their development.    Talk for Writing inspired the Year 5 Green to re-enact the story of “Beowulf” for their virtual assembly. Students narrated the story with clear diction and expression. They also innovated the story by changing the characters and the settings in their Writing. The learning is continuous, and students enjoy every moment of their day in school. For example, year 6s are learning about percussion instruments in music. Pre-primary students are making crosses in preparation for Good Friday. Kindergartens are learning about letter sounds.   We had to delay a few events due to COVID and inject some play and fun into our term, and we had an hour of House events. Students were grouped according to their year level and participated in activities that required cooperation and collaboration and some activities that required strength and skills. However, the main thing was the students had so much fun and laughter.   The Mercy Values shone brightly on the primary campus. Some students initiated and volunteered to tidy up the school during Friday lunch as they walked around and picked up rubbish. They provided “service” and showed “respect” to the school property. Social media and chatrooms are often used to entertain and communicate in this current day and trend. However, it can be deemed unsafe for young children, putting themselves vulnerable to possible dangers because the person’s identity can easily be masked. I would encourage parents to be vigilant when their children use such communication modes and monitor the form of language they are exposed to. The lesser time they spent on devices would propel more extraordinary face to face relationships with family members. Pope Francis’s message for Lent stated, “One sign of such weakness is digital media, which impoverishes human relationships. Lent is an opportune time to cultivate healthy communication and face-to-face encounters”.   With the fear and anxiety over COVID, let us continue to practise kindness and love to our community by supporting and being patient with one another.   God of all life May your love and light shine in and through me today In a way that no mask can hide. May my eyes dance with the laughter and joy Replacing my hidden smile. May my actions of care and concern Speak louder than my muffled voice ever could. And may the generosity of my heart Radiate out through who I am And how I respond to the world around me So that others may not see my mask But your image shining out Moving in and through me today. Amen  (Br Michael Herry FMS_   God Bless, Anne Tan Head of Primary

Once again, a warm and sincere welcome to our new students and staff, and welcome back to the new school year! Excitement and enthusiasm are palpitating throughout the Primary campus as we engage in our learning. 2022 has not been a smooth year so far as we have encountered a few bumps with the COVID restrictions. Yet I once listen to an Honorary Professor who spoke about chaos in a home. She asked, “If you have 5 minutes, what would you do to your messy home if you knew someone was coming to visit you?” She immediately would sweep the front of her house and boil fresh water. We have to acknowledge that the unexpected, chaos, and inconsistencies are part and parcel of life. However, we can be the consistent ones who continue to welcome and show kindness to the world. In fact, they are very much the Mercy Values that we cherish. This gesture of kindness is a constant occurrence in our primary campus. We see students helping one another, whether it is Year 6s with their year 1s buddies or simply friends helping one another with their work. We are proud of the significant work that has begun with the students participating in various spelling programs. We are also excited as we started in our newly acquired Talk4Writing. The students have done fantastic storytelling and writing; such as the Year 2s narrated the ‘Little Red Riding Hood” story, the Year 3 and Year 4 about ‘The Creek’, and the Year 5 worked on the story entitled “Beowulf”. I highly recommend encouraging your child to retell the stories they have learnt in class! Over to Early Childhood, our pre-primary students learnt about condensation and made rain during a science lesson, and the Kindergarten was immersed in the fun with painting and playing. The Year 6 Gold provided us with our first virtual assembly experience broadcast via Microsoft Teams. Our primary campus is swirling so much fun and engagement. But, at the same time, we always put the child at the centre, encouraging them to build resilience and ensure their well-being is not compromised. We look forward to embracing this year with positivity, whatever challenges and sweet rewards it brings. [easy-image-collage id=17541] “If God sends you down a stony path, He will give you strong shoes.”   God Bless, Anne Tan Head of Primary