News

Dear Parents, Staff, Friends and Students of St Brigid’s College, The commencement of the school year is always very busy, and my thanks is extended to all families for ensuring that students were prepared for the term with their books, equipment and correct uniforms. I particularly welcome the 183 students who are new to our community. We are blessed to have you. We invite you to keep up to date with College news and announcements by reading the weekly newsletter. For the full newsletter, please click here  Veronica Parker Principal St Brigid’s College  

This morning St Brigid’s College was one of multiple Catholic schools across WA who attended the Archbishop’s 2023 LifeLink Day – Forum for Secondary Schools. The LifeLink Day Forum is an opportunity for students attending Catholic schools within the Archdiocese of Perth to join together to learn about how the Church’s social service agencies reach out to provide practical care and direct assistance to thousands of people in need each year. This year LifeLink Day 2023 will be launched on Wednesday 7 June 2023. LifeLink Day provides a wonderful opportunity for students attending Catholic schools within the Archdiocese of Perth to join together to show their support for the Church’s social service agencies – agencies which on behalf of us all, reach out to provide practical care and direct assistance to thousands of people in need each year. A key takeaway from the day was in the words of the Archbishop that at the heart LifLink is an appeal to all to support those in need and it is us living our Christian faith as we listen to the needs and do our part. “I hear but I forget, but when I see I remember, and when I do I understand.” Our Head of Faith and Mission, Mr Adrian Martino, recently sent out communication to our school community on our Term 2 LifeLink Day activities: Each year in Term 2, our fundraising efforts assist LifeLink Catholic Caring Agencies within the Archdiocese of Perth. This year we are holding two concurrent events: Winter Appeal — Weeks 3 – 5. Each family is asked to bring to school, non- perishable cans, goods and donations (see attached list of suggested items) that will assist ‘The Shopfront’, a LifeLink Agency supporting needy families in the Archdiocese of Perth. St Pat’s Community Support Centre, who we have supported with donations in the past, have also requested support from us as they are experiencing even greater need than usual for this time of year. Each House will create a ‘hamper stack’ in Student Reception with their donated goods. House points to be awarded according to the amount donated by each House. Donated goods will then be sent to The Shopfront & St Pat’s Community Support Centre. Gold Coin Challenge — later this term the Young Mercies for Vinnies group will organise an event requiring a gold coin donation from each student (details to follow). House points to be awarded for the most coins collected. Your generosity in supporting these two events will ensure that the wonderful work carried out by LifeLink Agencies and St Pat’s continues in our local community. More information regarding LifeLink Agencies can be found at: https://lifelink.com.au/ and St Pat’s Community Support Centre https://stpats.com.au/  

SBC Dance Intensive 2023  On the 28th of April 2023, St Brigid’s College welcomed dance industry professionals to the dance studio to inspire our up and coming dancers from our College dance course from Years, 9 to 12. Our students were given the opportunity to work with some of Australia’s leading dance professionals. The instructors included Kenisha Yam , Floeur Alder and physios from Perth Dance Physios. Kenisha is a Perth based performer, who has achieved an Advanced Diploma of Performing Arts from Village Nation. Her choreography is much sought after across Australia and is considered a rising talent in the industry. The other dance talent on the day, Floeur, is an internationally renowned performer whose credits include a Bachelor of Performing Arts from WAAPA and she is also a Churchill Fellow. Floeur has studied with some of the leading dance companies in Europe including Rambert Dance Company and has worked with some of the leading Australian choreographers such as Leigh Warren and Dancers, Tasdance (working with over 20 choreographers), Strut dance, Ochre Contemporary Dance Company – inclusive of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous dancers and NT Dance Company and Chrissie Parrott. She is currently an independent artist creating dance work for festivals and performances across Australia. Also imparting their knowledge to our students on the day were, Perth Dance Physio is an elite dance physio based in Perth. They are the supporting health team of the WA Ballet and work with physios including the Australian Ballet Health Team. Their focus of the day was on strength, alignment and flexibility. It was a privilege to have these professionals on our campus for the day. Our students not only learned invaluable information about their own dance journey but skills in choreography, anatomy and health care for dancers. We look forward to providing more of these unique opportunities for our dance course students in the future.  

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

This week, most of our Year 12s approach the end of their WACE exams whilst the Year 11s undertake theirs or complete hours for their Education Certificate. The Year 10s are also busy revising for their exam period which commences next week whilst the girls in Year 7 – 9 are all completing assessments. Amidst this busy time, we have had the Year 8 quiz night social with Mazenod run by the Year 8 Student Representatives. It was a great noisy night with some fantastic prizes thanks to Ms Bianchini. The Year 9s will be participating in a Lawn Bowls evening on Monday 22 November against some staff teams. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top – according to the green’s manager, students usually win. Watch this space when the results are published. The Year 7s have their second social with Mazenod on Tuesday 23rd November. The theme is Hawaiian shirts. Hopefully the evening will be warm to give the Hawaiian them even more credibility. Photos and a report about the evening will be in the next Enews edition. It was fantastic seeing the many grandparents attended the Grandparents Day last week. The girls certainly enjoyed showing them around the College and sharing Mass and morning tea with them. This week’s Enews SchoolTv article is all about resilience. Resilience is key to addressing mental health issues. We need to allow our kids to experience adversity. There is a tendency to shield our kids because parents have become a bit over-protective.” Dr Michael Carr-Gregg. The link will lead you to the SchoolTv information about Resilience Resilience is important for a child’s mental health. It is their ability to bounce back from failure, challenges, adversity and stress. It’s not something that kids have or don’t have but a skill that kids develop over time as they grow. Building resilience not only helps a child deal with current difficulties, but it also helps develop a resilient mindset that will help them deal with challenges later in life. All children are capable of working through challenges and coping with stress, but they require guidance and support from a charismatic adult role model. https://sbcl.wa.schooltv.me/newsletter/resilience Fiona Hepi Head of Secondary

Term 4 started off with the Year 12s sitting their Mock WACE Exams and then attending seminars relevant to their WACE subjects. We then started the final countdown preparing for the girls last few days with events including a shared morning tea for all the staff prepared by the girls, the traditional Boater throwing routine, House Breakfast, little Miss awards with a twist this year and ending it all with their Graduation ceremony. It was truly a wonderful way to farewell the class of 2021. While the focus was on the Year 12s the rest of the young ladies all settled back into school routines. Which as you are fully aware, is not easy for teenagers who love their sleep-ins. It was great seeing them all wearing their full summer uniform and I have to say; the majority of the girls are now remembering to remove their excess jewellery before coming to school. A huge thank you to you as parents, for reminding them about the college uniform rules. Since Term 4 is only 8 weeks, I guarantee you that all the girls will all have some sort of homework to do every night. Be it set homework, finishing off work that they did not complete in the classroom, revision for in-class tests, assessments and definitely exam revision for the Year 9-11 girls. If you have found that your daughter is struggling with her homework, then please contact her teacher straight away so they can assist. As you are aware, we do offer free tutoring for the students in Maths, English, Science, your daughter just needs to attend the lunchtime or afterschool clubs for these areas. If you are not sure what days and times the clubs are running, the information can be found below: October is mental Health month and SchoolTv has published their Happy and Gratitude documents here. SchoolTv have said that happiness is defined as the balance of positive and negative emotions, combined with overall life satisfaction. Researchers have found that gratitude is always strongly associated with greater happiness. However, negative emotions are still important. They have a lot to teach us and alert us when things need to change. Practising gratitude helps people feel more of the positive emotions, enables us to relish good experiences, improve our overall health, deal with adversity and build strong relationship. Fiona Hepi Head of Secondary School