Term 1, Week 10 – 31st March 2015 Dear Parents and Carers

God has this deep, deep solidarity with us. God became a human being, a baby.

God was hungry. God was tired. God is there with us. Desmond Tutu

Each year as Holy Week arrives I cannot help but feel overwhelmed by the beautiful gift that God has given us, Jesus. That Jesus would give his life for all people is beyond comprehension! As you reflect on Holy Week, is there something that you can choose to do or say that might be a gesture of the overwhelming love that you feel in response to Jesus’ great sacrifice for you? One suggestion is to come along to the 8am Easter Sunday Mass here at St Brendan’s which will be followed by morning tea. You and your family will spend time with some of the parishioners who support the students’ of our school through programs like LAP, knitting circle, Mini Vinnies etc. On Monday 13 April and Tuesday 14 April from 8-11am, Matthew from Cowan and Lewis will be at the school for uniform fittings and sales. Please refer to the detailed correspondence sent home on Monday. Thank you to those gathering and those providing responses regarding the suggested amendments to the sports uniform. I have already asked Matthew to provide a sample in a grey closer to our current colour; he is working on it! I extend a very warm welcome to our ANZAC Centenary memorial service which will be officially opened at 12noon on Monday 20 April. I also remind you that Mrs Neems will be leading the children in the ANZAC day march, leaving from Doyalson RSL. A note was sent home last week, if you haven’t received this please contact the office for a copy. From Tuesday 21 April until Tuesday 5 May I will be taking a short period of long service leave. In my absence, Mr Craig McNee will be Acting Principal and Mr Kell York will be Assistant Principal/REC. There will be no disruption to classes as Mr Greg Banks will teach 6 Red on any additional occasions that Mr York may be out of the classroom. The enrolment period for Kindergarten 2016 is officially open during the month of May; if you know of anyone interested in attending St Brendan’s please share this information with them. Tracie Richards from Catholic Care is again facilitating the Circle of Security program in Term 2. This program received fabulous reviews from all who participated last year so, if you haven’t already, make an effort to join in. Any queries can be directed to Tracie or Jo Spek. I remind you that 11 May is a Staff Development Day (Pupil free). On this day, all staff will attend professional learning on “7 Steps to Successful Writing”. Improved writing outcomes is our Teaching and Learning School Improvement Goal (SIP) for 2015. I acknowledge the great achievements of many of our students’ out of school sports and activities. I have heard of great successes in surf lifesaving, karate, sailing, football and dancing to name a few. Please feel free to send in a sentence or two, or have your child write about their experience, and encourage them to share at assembly or in the newsletter. The community loves to hear the great success stories of our children! Finally, have an amazing Easter and a joyful break Luanna

MESSAGE FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

This seems to be a familiar topic that I write about at the end of each Term; that being how successful the students were again!!!! Happy faces, enthusiastic workers – a pleasure to be here. This is what some of our children had to say: “I was successful at completing my work and I’ve got lots of friends now.” Joseph “At the parent teacher interview my teacher said that I might go into the Maths Olympiad!” Finn “I got through all my Maths Tests.” Sarah “I have got better at spelling this Term.” Rachel We have been fortunate to obtain some funding for a garden. We aim to produce a Native edible plant area and vegetable patch that our students can work in and learn about. Students will harvest plants our Indigenous ancestors lived on for 40 000 years! Over this Easter take the time to enjoy your family. Spend some time with your children at the Easter services – I think sometimes in the hectic life we lead, we sometimes don’t get the time we need to just ‘be’ with our children and family; going to Mass with our children has a powerful effect on them, far greater than we can imagine. Wishing everybody a Happy & Holy Easter and a successful Term Two!

Religious Education News DATES TO REMEMBER:

Thursday 2 April – Holy Thursday

Friday 3 April – Good Friday – Stations of the Cross at 10:00am

Sunday 5 April – Easter Sunday

RECONCILIATION PROGRAM:

CONGRATULATIONS!! To all those children who made their first Reconciliation last week.

May it be the first of many! CLUSTER MASS:

On Thursday, our Year 6 students had the privilege of celebrating Mass with all the other Year 6 students

on the Coast. The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Peter and he was joined by the Parish priests. Needless

to say, our children were beautifully behaved and participated with reverence and enthusiasm.

Congratulations to all of them for the magnificent way in which they represented our whole school

community – again.

A special mention goes to Charlotte B who presented a fantastic speech on the role of our Mini Vinnie’s.

Many people commented on her wonderful presentation.

POPE FRANCIS:

As we approach Easter Sunday, when we celebrate The Resurrection of Jesus, Pope Francis urges us all

to be positive and to be joyful in the knowledge given to us through this ultimate sacrifice. Too often we

focus on the difficult things in our lives and in our faith, but he encourages us to be joyful in the

knowledge that God loves each and every one of us – unconditionally.

“There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter. I realise of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a

flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.” (Pope Francis. Joy of the Gospel #6)

PARISH EASTER CELEBRATIONS: We warmly invite and encourage you attend the Parish Easter Celebrations over the weekend. Stations of

the Cross will be held at 10am on Friday morning and the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion at 3pm. On

Easter Saturday the Easter Vigil Mass will be celebrated at 5pm. Easter Sunday Mass time is at 8am. This

Mass will also be the last Mass Father Peter will be saying at St Brendan’s. After this Mass, our Year 6

students will be hosting a morning tea as a farewell gesture. We would love to see as many families as

possible at this Mass.

Wishing all our families a happy, holy and JOYFUL Easter

Kell York - Religious Education Coordinator.

CANBERRA TRIP Our Year 6 students enjoyed a wonderful, educational trip to Canberra last week. We visited a number of exciting venues including Parliament House, The Australian War Memorial and Old Parliament House to name just a few. The students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy. The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the National capital as a part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion, the Australian Government is contributing funding of $20 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate Program towards those costs. This rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion. We would like to acknowledge and thank the Federal Government for this assistance for families. As always, the behaviour of the students was exemplary and we even received some positive comments from members of the public regarding the behaviour and manners of the children. Well done to all Year 6 for the manner in which they represented our school. Mr Lobb and Mr York MINNI VINNIES A big thank you goes to all of our wonderful Mini Vinnie’s members and their families for their generous contributions to our mini fete fundraiser. Thank you also to all of the children who came in and bought some of the wonderful goodies that were for sale. All money raised goes to Caritas Australia to support those less fortunate than ourselves. Thank you also to our Year 6 Mini Vinnie’s members who went into classrooms last Friday to teach a lesson about how Caritas Australia supports families both here and overseas. Their enthusiasm and dedication is a

credit to them. - Joanne Moore -Mini Vinnie’s Coordinator FROM THE LIBRARY

Book Club Orders -All children should have received their Book Club orders by now. Unfortunately a couple

of items were out of stock but will be delivered as soon as possible. Thank you for supporting Book club. Not

only are you able to purchase well-priced books for your children but our school also receives bonus points

which enables us to purchase books for our library.

Overdue Books

Overdue notices were sent to the classes last week and we are very happy to report that the children are

doing an amazing job returning their books. We even have one class with NO overdue books. Congratulations

2 Blue!!

Book Covering (aka Show Bags)

You may have been lucky enough to take home a bag of books to cover after Assembly a couple of weeks ago.

We are happy to announce that the deal is back on and you too can take home a “Show Bag”. Please come and

see us in the library and we will give you a small bag of books. All plastic, contact and tape will be supplied.

Borrowing - There will be no borrowing for the Infants classes this week. Primary students may borrow a

novel for holiday reading.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter and a great break. Happy reading! From The Library Team

Hyperlink: http://www.brokenbayparentcouncil.com/parent-newsletter.html

Our ANZAC Centenery will take place on

Monday April the 20th at 12pm This will be the official launch day of our Centenery ANZAC celebration at St Brendan’s. Starting with a Liturgy at our ANZAC space at 12 pm followed by a blessing and viewing of the display in the hall. Thank you to all the parents, teachers and community members who helped and supported this school initiative.

Class Parents Thank you to the Wonderful Class Parent Volunteers who have volunteered to support aour teachers and students as well as welcome new families, helping to build a strong St Brendan’s Community. A letter of introduction will be coming home soon. Kidsmatter – http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/search?keyword=positiveschoolcommunity

Playful Parenting Thank you to those who were able to make this informative session last Thursday. At St Brendan’s we try to offer a range of times during the day and evening to enable parents to attend information sessions. Below is a website Sally Harrison recommended to help with common childhood issues. http://raisingchildren.net.au/

LAP will be starting again next term, Lap is a mentoring program where a caring adult volunteer

spends one hour per week with a nominated child who would benefit from one on one time to help build confidence and self esteem. There will be a training session next term. If you would like to read more go to www.lap.org.au Or contact Jo Spek for more information on 43581501

Have a wonderful Holiday with family and friends Jo Spek Family Liaison Officer