College News

Dear Families, Students, Staff and Friends of St Brigid’s College,   Final Week  Next week, we enter our final week of the Semester.  It has been a wonderful term with the students at St Brigid’s College engaged in learning across all subject areas.  I applaud our students and encourage them to review their progress and set new goals for Term 3.  Next week, on Thursday, 29th June, we have our parent / teacher / student meetings. The final day of Semester One is Wednesday, 28th June.   Year 12 Retreat  Our Year 12 cohort have just spent three days, Wednesday to Friday, on Retreat at the Serpentine Baptist Camp.  We look forward to seeing them back on Monday.  Next term they will commence their final term of compulsory education.   Sacramental Programme  Last weekend some of our Year 6 students received the Sacrament of Confirmation at our closest parish, Our Lady of Lourdes, Lesmurdie.  Congratulations to all our students and I ask that you keep these students in your prayers. The College supports all students who are preparing for the sacraments of Penance (First Confession), First Holy Communion and Confirmation.  The Archdiocese encourages all students to receive the sacrament, in the parish Churches in which they worship with their families.  If you would like further details, do not hesitate to contact our Head of Faith and Mission, Mr Adrian Martino at martino.adrian@stbrigids.wa.edu.au The Archdiocese of Perth Sacramental policy can be accessed at: https://www.cewa.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Sacramental-Policy-for-School-Aged-Children.pdf   School Photos Update  Please be advised that the following dates have been provided by our school photographer, Photo Hendriks.  Our previous photo day was cancelled. Kindy to Year 3 and Year 6:        Monday, 26th June Year 4 and 5:                                   Wednesday, 19th July Secondary Catch-Up Photographs:                                 Monday, 26th June, we will have catch-up portraits for our Secondary students who were absent on our previous photo day.    Semester One Reports and Parent / Student / Teacher Meetings    Your child’s Term One Report will be uploaded to SEQTA Engage this afternoon.  The Semester One Report provides a snapshot of a student’s academic progress and application across this first term.  Please contact our Helpdesk for assistance at helpdesk@stbrigids.wa.edu.au to receive the link to access your student’s report via SEQTA Engage, should this, or login instructions, have been misplaced. On Thursday, 29th June (9.00a.m. to 5.45p.m.), meetings will be held for Kindergarten to Year 12 families in the College Library. Students in Year 3 to Year 12 are encouraged to join their parents at this meeting.  The portal for interviews is currently open. Booking a Meeting   SEQTA Engage allows parents to book their interview and is available under the “Interviews” tab. Instructions on how to access this portal are on the College Website at the following location: https://sbcl.wa.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Logging-into-SBC-Seqta-Engage.pdf Once appointments are made, they can be viewed via the “Interviews” tab on SEQTA Engage, or a confirmation of appointments can be printed.  The portal will be closed for further bookings at 9.00a.m. on Tuesday, 27th June.  Appointments cannot be made beyond this date and your understanding in this matter is appreciated.  Our teaching staff require time to prepare for the interviews. Each interview will be 10 minutes in duration.  Should a longer time be required, please arrange to speak with the relevant teacher/s in Term 3 by contacting them as follows: (surname.firstname@stbrigids.wa.edu.au) Interviews will occur between 9.00a.m. and 5.45p.m. It is important that booking times are adhered to so that interviews for other parents are not impacted. Should a staff member be absent, you will be contacted via email from the College.   Why send your daughter to an all-girls secondary school?  The  Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation that works to build better policies for better lives.  Attached is an interesting article sharing some recent research from the OECD which highlights the benefits of all girls’ schools in Australia. Girls’ school classrooms less disruptive – research https://www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/girls-school-classrooms-less-disruptive–research/282420   Let’s Celebrate our Children This week, the following primary students received Merit Awards and, as a community, we congratulate them for their efforts:   PP Gold Alice Robinson PP Gold Arya Vuletich     1 Gold Clodagh Eaton Nina Klaric 1 Green Jack Sanderson       2 Gold Wynter Miller Arlo Smith 2 Green Phoebe Kampen Tahlia O’Meagher Erin Smith     3 Gold Oscar Fitzgerald Madelyn Wheatley 3 Green Maddison Bongiovanni Piper Don     4 Gold Sophia Hookway-van Straalen 4 Green Indiana Hall Elsie Haselden     5 Gold Jessica Edwards 5 Green Cinyee Aird Daniel Logan     6 Gold Kyle Hales Allegra Vetta 6 Green Emmanuel Parlapiano Alina Stokic     PE Isla Emmott Ella O’Shaughnessy PE Stella O’Shea Matthew Purvis     Celebrating our Alumni  Elise Jarman (Class of 1941)  With the current success of the Matilda’s in soccer, Local Studies has chosen to take a look back at Women in Sport. This week we focus on Elise Jarman and her long contribution to local tennis. Boarding school was the first time I played tennis. Herbert A. Edwards was our teacher and in class we used to do all the motions of tennis. They even made it part of the entertainment at the school concert at the end of the year, the Tennis Tableau. We all got up there in our tennis dresses, with our rackets and we’d do the serve and the forehand and the backhand to music. It was a scream really. I don’t know what the parents must have thought. When I was a teenager, everybody was keen to have a game of tennis, but I never got around to joining a club in those days. Every now and then I’d organise a four for tennis and we would go and hire a court and play tennis. City Beach didn’t really have a Tennis Club until about the mid-1950s. I suppose we had lived there for about 10 years by then. There was a group of people who lived at the southern end of the district, and they played tennis on a private court there. The interest among that group had attracted a few more people and they realised they couldn’t keep using this court, so they approached the Council to set aside some land and build a clubhouse.   In those days, they dropped a note into every house in the area, to let us know anything that was going to happen. Anyhow, I went along to a meeting of The City Beach Progress Association, held at the old tea rooms down at the south end of the beach. I am just wondering how I got there, because I didn’t drive at that time. I must have gone with somebody else, I suppose, unless Harry dropped me down or something. But we had little kids, and we couldn’t leave them, so one of us had to stay home and it was I who went to the meeting. Anyhow, it was decided that they would approach the Council, which all happened and eventually we got our tennis club going.  Harry and I were inaugural members for that. Then, not awfully long after, they got a bowling club going. The Progress Association was always looking for something going on.    We built a little building, which just had two tiny rooms and a toilet at either end, which became public toilets, but we could lock up the two little rooms. One was kind of a storeroom, that was about the size of the rooms, and the other one was a tiny little kitchenette with an urn in it. They opened the courts before they had the building finished and we were able to play. We would go down on a Saturday afternoon, and we would have a thermos of tea and a beach umbrella. They felled a big tree, so there was a big log and we used to sit on the log, with our cup of tea, under the beach umbrella. Harry and I both served on the committee at the Tennis Club, but Harry became President and served for over 20 years as President. About 18 months before Harry died, somebody suggested to the committee that the present pavilion, which was built in 1975, during the time Harry was President, be called the “Harry Jarman Pavilion”. During that time, we instituted a trophy for the annual trophy presentations for “Best Club Member”. The stipulation was that this trophy was for people who were not on the committee. They did not have specific jobs to do, but they were just people who were always there, always doing things, but were sort of quite outside any of the things that the committee handled.  It was called the “Jarman Trophy”. At first it used to be a tray or something like that, with engraving on it and so on, but these days, I give money or a gift voucher or something like that. That has been going for quite a number of years. So, I’ve played tennis since I was at St Brigid’s in Lesmurdie, where I learned to play tennis. I am 96 years old now, so one could say I’ve played tennis for at least 80 years, but almost 70 years at City Beach.   2022 College Yearbook We are pleased to announce that the 2022 College Yearbooks have arrived and will be distributed to students over the coming week.  Please look out for your copy soon!   Kind regards, Veronica Parker Principal  

Dear Families, Students, Staff and Friends of St Brigid’s College, Today we commenced the Boarder’s Long Weekend.  All students at St Brigid’s College benefit from this extra day, with the staff utilizing Friday as a professional learning day.   These days are critical for building the capacity of our teaching team.  A teacher has a big impact on a student’s learning, so it is important that staff have this additional time to work together in teams to learn from each other and grow professionally.  Today our staff have been investigating varied topics from the benefit of using artificial intelligence language responses, for example ChatGPT; using technology for deeper learning; and interpreting student data to inform and improve on our teaching practice.  Staff have also utilised this time to gather in teaching teams to review student progress and learning programmes. I wish all families a wonderful weekend. I know that many of our local sporting clubs have a bye this weekend, so for our many parents who coach, umpire or support, enjoy the sleep in.   Radio 6076  Yesterday our Rielly House Leader launched Radio 6076.  Jase Goodall welcomed primary students to school and played a few tunes to get the day started.  Radio 6076 will be a feature of our Fridays at St Brigid’s.  Next week we will welcome our Docherty House Leaders from Year Six. SchoolTV  When I was at school, it felt like an excursion when you visited the TV Room.  SchoolTV is nothing like that and thankfully we have Smart TVs in all classrooms, so the students don’t need to leave their desks. SchoolTV is actually an online resource accessible via our College website. The subscription to this resource provides us with a range of resources from leading Youth wellbeing experts and researchers from around the world, is paid for by our Parent Forum.  It is a tremendous resource for parents, and I encourage you to familiarise yourself with it. I draw your attention to an article, on mobile phone separation anxiety, via the SchoolTV link. At St Brigid’s College we have a Mobile Phone Policy whereby all students need to place their phones into their locker at the commencement of the day and then access them thereafter at the final siren.  Any student found to be in possession of their phone during school time will have it confiscated and have it returned at the end of the day. If their phone has been confiscated three times, it will be held at Student Reception until an adult can collect it. This expectation is in place to support our students and the short clip presented by Dr Michael Carr – Gregg explains this in further detail: https://sbcl.wa.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-mobile-phone-separation-anxiety There are some students within our community who are permitted to always carry their phone, and this is for medical reasons. Smart watches are welcome at the College, however the capacity to receive or make calls/text whilst at school should be disabled.  During exams, students are not permitted to have their phones or wear smart watches.   QuickCliQ orders at the Café now available  QuickCliQ is now available at the Cafe.  The great news is that by making use of this system, you can order school lunches online.  The system has also streamlined the payment process and students will be able to use their SmartRider to make payment when they order in person. You can register today via this QR code: If your child is making purchases at the Café with their SmartRider, all they need do is have the card registered with QuickCliQ and allocate funds to their card.   Footy Tipping Update  Congratulations to Craig Stein who is leading the College Footy tipping. Thanks to all within our community who are tipping.  Good luck for Round 12!   ACC Cross Country Results Mr Pietroniro informs us that yesterday, Thursday 1st June, our ACC Cross Country Squad ventured to Alderbury Reserve in Floreat to compete against 80 other associate ACC schools.  The St Brigid’s Team placed 9th overall in the Female Category with some outstanding results on the day.  Some of the day’s highlights include:   Year 7 – 346 competitors                                                     Kate Shepherd                                  18th               Alyssa Jordan                                   56th Maddison Hewlett-Banning             67th   Year 8 – 341 competitors Madison Mills                                   7th Blair Bell                                           20th Maia Goodall                                    21st Demi Bell                                          25th Amelia Markovic                              60th   Year 9 – 330 competitors   Charlie Osenton                               91st April Young                                     98th (April is a Year 8 student and competed in the Year 9 race)   Year 10 – 301 competitors   Evelyn Bacea-Anton                         8th Ruby Jefferson                                  13th Gemma Smith                                   80th   Open (Year 11 / 12) – 267 competitors Lucy Quartermaine                          13th (Lucy is a Year 8 student and competed in the Year 11 / 12 Open A tremendous effort Lucy) Remy Fernando                                81st Ella Evangelista-Comito                   91st (Ella is a Year 8 student and competed in the Year 11 / 12 Open. Well done, Ella)   Transperth Service Update The Transperth website https://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/Service-Updates/Bus-Updates/Bus-Update-Details/16117 advises that from Thursday, 1st until Friday, 30th June 2023, the following routes will be disrupted in order to facilitate road closures:   Routes 204, 205, 228, 229 and 279 and School Specials 733, 734 and 736 Routes 204 and 205 to Maddington Station Route 228 to Gosnells Station The following stops will not be in use: 19152 (Attfield Street after Burslem Drive, Maddington) 19153 (Attfield Street after Herbert Street, Maddington) 19154 (Attfield Street before Olga Road, Maddington). The nearest alternative stops will be: 19147 (Burslem Drive after Olga Road, Maddington) 22718 (Burslem Drive before Heron Place, Maddington).   Parent Forum – Call for Agenda Items and Advice of Meeting All parents and guardians are welcome and encouraged to attend the next Parent Forum Meeting, which is to be held on Wednesday, 7th June from 6.30p.m. to 8.00p.m. in the Community Room.   Should you be unable to attend in person, please advise and a TEAMs invitation will be emailed to you. Drinks will be offered from 6.00p.m. and members of the SBC Parent Forum Committee will be on hand to chat with parents and guardians before the meeting commences.   If you will not be attending and wish to send an apology, please contact the SBC Parent Forum Secretary via email: pf.secretary@stbrigids.wa.edu.au The SBC Parent Forum is committed to ensuring that all meetings finish on time. If you have any Agenda items, please email the SBC PF Secretary as above by 4.00p.m. on Monday, 5th June, so that the Agenda can be prepared and distributed prior to the meeting.  Thank You Mr Martino extends his thanks to all families who contributed to The Shopfront and the St Pat’s Community Support Centre by donating goods to support the work of these wonderful Catholic Agencies.  The generosity of our community is inspiring. Sincere Condolences  The College extends its sincerest condolences to Mrs Sharon Casey on the passing of her son Luke last week. The Mazenod College and St Brigid’s College communities will continue to offer their prayers and practical support to Sharon and her family at this sad time. In conclusion, I have attached a copy of our flyer, ‘This Week at the College’ that will provide you with an overview of events for the coming week.  I hope you enjoy these snippets.   Kind regards, Veronica Parker Principal