Dear Parents and friends,

Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of Mary’s assumption into heaven, body and soul. This solemnity is commemorated around the world on this day in prayerful recognition of the role that Mary, the mother of Jesus, played in his great mission on Earth. 

Pope Pius XII, who decreed the dogma of the Holy Day of the Assumption in 1950, declared that Mary was such an intricate part of the birth and lifetime mission of Jesus that she would be united with him again in the next life. Pope Pius, and the Church since, was prepared to declare that the goodness, devotion and selfless love that she demonstrated throughout her life, as well as her role as mother of Jesus,  must surely place Mary securely beside her son in the next life. 

We are reminded on this day to look to Mary as a model for our own lives. Her willingness to follow the instincts of her faith-filled heart sets her apart for us as someone who faced the joys, responsibilities and difficulties of life with God’s will as her guide. Upon reflection, it is a positive aspect of our Church that a woman, so predominant in the life of Jesus, has been granted such a high level of recognition and respect!

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women,

And blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Yours in Faith, Justice and Learning

STAFFING ANNOUNCEMENT

On Wednesday 14 August 2019, Nichole Harris, Sharon Henry from the Catholic Education Office, and I interviewed the shortlisted applicants for our permanent Senior School Support Officer position.

I am pleased to announce that Mrs Nicole Regan was the successful applicant and has accepted the permanent fulltime position of SSSO at St Brigid’s Gwynneville.

Nicole has a Diploma of Teaching from the Australian Catholic University and has engaged in significant professional learning opportunities throughout her career in Catholic Education. She has worked in the Wollongong Diocese for twenty-eight years and is an active member of the Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Kiama. 

Following nineteen years of teaching, Nicole has been working in various roles in the Catholic Education Office, including Professional Officer; Executive Assistant to the Head of School Improvement Services; and Administration Officer: Curriculum and Pedagogy, to name a few.

Nicole comes to us with many skills and lots of experience. Her referees spoke of her dedication and commitment to Catholic Education.

With the support of the Catholic Education Office, Nicole will start her new appointment on Monday 26 August 2019.

We congratulate Nicole on this significant appointment and warmly welcome her into our St Brigid’s Catholic community.

P AND F PYJAMA DAY

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

This morning we were notified by NESA that Harper D, in Year 6, has won a bronze award in the 2019 NSW WriteOn competition. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my congratulations to Harper for this outstanding achievement. The names of the gold, silver and bronze award winners will be published on the WriteOn website towards the end of August. Harper will also have her work published in The best of WriteOn 2019 Anthology, which will be available early next year from the NESA online shop. Thank you to Mr Boss who worked with a number of students to prepare their entries. Well done one and all!

 

BOOK WEEK CELEBRATIONS

Each year across Australia, the Children's Book Council of Australia brings children and books together celebrating CBCA Book Week. During this time schools, libraries, booksellers, authors, illustrators and children celebrate Australian children's literature. This year's theme is 'Reading is My Secret Power'. Please see the flyer below which outlines our school events for next Wednesday 21 August 2019. We hope you can join us. 

YEAR 6 GATHERING MASS WITH THE BISHOP

This is what Harper and Celeste from Year 6 had to say about their experience:

On Monday of Week 3, Year 6 took the Shuttle Bus to Good Samaritan School at Fairy Meadow to participate in the Year 6 Gathering Mass with the Bishop. After we arrived, we enjoyed morning tea together with some of the Good Samaritan students. 

Students from all over the Diocese filled the church with prayer and song as we lead the Mass with different roles. Celeste read the Introduction and welcomed everyone to the Mass. Henry represented us as he carried the school candle up the aisle and Harper and Jahzara represented St Brigid’s as part of the combined choir along with Mrs Arthur-Worsop. The rest of Year 6 sat with Ms Uroda and Ms Sparks to participate in the Mass.

The main celebrant of the Mass was Bishop Brian. He was joined by Fr Victor, Fr Duane and Fr Mark. It was a great experience to be able to sit alongside other Year 6 students from around the Diocese as leaders of our schools. 

Afterwards, we gathered as a class and ate lunch together before going to watch the live concert in the playground performed by the Wollongong Catholic Youth Ministry. The band was great to listen to and we sang along with the songs. Our class were right up the front so we were very close to the action! 

As the day came to a close, we said our goodbyes to friends from other schools and caught the Wollongong shuttle bus back to school. 

It was a memorable day and a fun experience for our last year of Primary School.

BUILDING RESILIENCE AND WELLBEING OF YOUNG PEOPLE

I commend to all parents a FREE evening expo being hosted by Edmund Rice College. There is a line up of some fine guest speakers who have expertise in the area of supporting parents in building resilience and wellbeing for Young People who will present the evening. 

Below is a flyer with all the details you need to complete your registration for this free event. 

Thank you to the teachers and parents who worked together to enable our students to participate in this most popular Gala Day. From all reports the students had a fabulous day and enjoyed the friendship and opportunity of playing with boys and girls from other Catholic Schools. Check out the video action from our junior girl's team and see a more detailed report in the Sport section of the Brigid Bulletin. 

LEARNING LOGS

This Friday 16 August 2019 the students will be bringing home their work books to share their last four weeks of learning. Please take the time to view your child’s work books and spend some time reflecting on their learning goals and achievements. Students will then complete their online reflection with you. 

The students are asked to answer the following questions as part of their reflection:

• My work habits rating this term is….. (1 lowest - 10 highest). I chose this rating because……?
• What was one plan you used to help in your learning? How did it help you?
• My learning goal for this term is…….

Reflections are to be posted on SeeSaw (Kindergarten and Year 1) or Google Classroom (Year 2 - 6).

All student work books MUST be returned to school on Monday 19 August 2019.

DIOCESAN ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

Congratulations to all the students who represented St Brigid’s at the South Coast Athletics Carnival on Tuesday 13h August 2019. The students were wonderful representatives of St Brigid’s and achieved wonderful results on the day.

 A big thank you to Ms Young for supporting the team on the day and the parents who volunteered as parent officials for St Brigid’s on the day. Your help was greatly appreciated.

 Congratulations to the following students who were selected to progress to complete at the Selection Trials next Tuesday for achieving the following results at the South Coast Carnival:

• Celeste C- Senior 1500m and 800m
• Jordyn D - Shot Put

Please send all representative singlets back to school in a ziplock bag with the students name written on the bag. Well done boys and girls!

St Brigid’s have launched a school based Facebook page that will regularly post announcements about school events, share good news stories and promote upcoming events. The page can be accessed using the following link: 

It is important that all parents are familiar with the Diocesan Social Media Policy and comment and contribute as per the guidelines.

OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH ST VINCENT DE PAUL 

Last Friday, Peter Cooney, from the Gwynneville Conference of St Vincent de Paul, attended our school assembly, to be presented with a cheque for $1749.55. Peter said that “for a small school, you make a big effort”.  He explained that the money goes a long way to assist the most needy of our community. 

We were thrilled to hear the report from our Hand Me Ups fundraiser. The results were not perfect, with some donations having to be put in the bin, however, with all the donations collected in the Blue Bin, we assisted in generating $939.00 for Vinnies. 

Well done St Brigid’s!

FUNDRAISING FOR VINNIES -  OUR WEEK 7 DRIVE

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM

During August our Parish-based preparation for the Sacrament of the Eucharist commences. The four sessions at St Brigid’s will be held each Wednesday afternoon for one hour from 3.30pm - 4.30pm on:

Wednesday 21 August 2019

Wednesday 28 August 2019

Wednesday 4 September 2019

Wednesday 11 September 2019

Please note that a parent must attend each session with their child.

SAVE THE DATE

Congratulations to the following students on receiving their awards during the last fortnight.

Week 2 - Term 3

Week 3 - Term 3

CLASS	LEARNING AWARD	LEADER OF THE WEEK
Kindergarten	Ella D	Ned L
Year 1	Theo D	Daniel M
Year 2	Lachlan E	Philippa
Year 3	Andy P	Tully D
Year 4	Edwina J	Evie H
Year 5G	Arabella I	Kip P
Year 5W	Ava S	Ryder J
Year 6	Ruby J	Celeste

Week 4 - Term 3

CLASS	STEWARDSHIP AWARD	LEADER OF THE WEEK
Kindergarten	Christian J	Ruby G
Year 1	Enzo H	Zara H
Year 2	Bailey C	Hamilton Y
Year 3	Leila P	Noah S
Year 4	Lila J	Ben C
Year 5G	Keira B	Max D
Year 5W	Erin R	Leki D
Year 6	Ayesha M	Noelia S

Congratulations to the students who have received their Assistant Principal Award. Well done!

CLASS	STUDENT
Year 1	Isabella S
Year 1	Daniel M
Year 1	Tayla R
Year 3	Matthieu C

SOCCER GALA DAY

Due to the popularity of the game of soccer, the Soccer Gala Day had to be split over two venues on the one day to accommodate the large number of interested children from around the diocese. The junior girls and boys played at Ocean Park, Woonona and the senior girls and boys day was held at Unanderra Park, Unanderra.

A beautiful sunny day greeted us on Friday 2 August 2019 and students enjoyed the many games that were played over the course of the day. St Brigid’s had 70 students represented at these two venues on Friday 2 August 2019 – a great effort from a small school. It was wonderful not only to watch the children demonstrate their soccer skills, but it was also great to see such admirable sportsmanship and fair play from our students. Each player was supportive of their teammates and was sure to acknowledge great efforts from each other, their opposition and the referees. It was fantastic to see that the children were able to play in the true spirit of the day where participation and fun were the focus. Well done everyone!

I would like to acknowledge our parents who volunteered their time to assist our teams on the day. We very much appreciate your support. Thank you to Mrs Shrimpton, Mr Chenery, Mr Ferri, Mr Gross, Mr Zanella, Mrs Robinson, Mr Drew, Mr Delovski, and Mr & Mrs Tarhan for organising our teams on the day. Thanks to the parents and grandparents who came to watch and give positive encouragement from the sidelines. Thank you also to Mrs Tarlinton, Ms Young and Mrs Arthur-Worsop who were there to assist our students.

 Ms Sparks

Happy Birthday to the following students.

We hope you have a great birthday!

FATHER'S DAY BREAKFAST VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

FETE NEWS

Thank you for all the wonderful donations we received last Friday. We are also looking for donations for prizes for the chocolate wheel, so if you can assist with donating any prizes please drop the donated prizes into the school office. 

SECOND HAND BOOKS FOR THE FETE

If you have any second hand books that you would like to dontate to the Fete Book Stall please contact Elizabeth Jones via email eclingan@hotmail.com

WANT TO BECOME MORE INVOLVED IN THE LIFE OF THE SCHOOL?

Are you interested in volunteering for P&F events? Would you like to help out the wonderful St. Brigid’s community but don’t know where to start? We’d love to have you on board.

Drop the P&F a line and we’d be very happy to get you involved in events or as a coordinator. We can also team you up with an existing volunteer to help share the work and learn the ropes. Email us at pandf@sbgdow.catholic.edu.au
 

CAN YOU VOLUNTEER AN HOUR OR TWO?

If you can volunteer for an hour or two for any upcoming events, please add your name to our google doc

The production of the Yearbook is currently under way. One main aspect of the Yearbook is the Yearbook Cover Competition. We hold this competition each year to allow the students to design their own Yearbook cover. There are prizes to be won: Front Cover Winner and Back Cover winner. We encourage all students (primary and infants) to enter.

Criteria:

• Portrait A4 size
• The title 'St Brigid's Yearbook 2019'
• NAME and CLASS to written on the BACK of the entry Bright bold colours.

This is a great School Holiday activity. All entries are to be handed in to the school office FRIDAY NEXT WEEK. Enter as many times as you like. Be as creative as you like. As it is to be printed bright bold colours are encouraged. Every entry will be printed in the yearbook!

Have a safe and wonderful holiday,

Yearbook Committee

St Brigid’s Gwynneville

Saturday	5.30pm Vigil
Sunday	9.00am
Thursday	9.30am

For the most current Mass times and Parish information, please visit the Parish website

PARISH WEBSITE https://www.lumenchristi.org.au/

CORRIMAL SWIMMING CLUB

PORT KEMBLA YOUTH PROJECT

Port Kembla Youth Project (PKYP) is a NFP organisation that was established in 1981 to address health and social needs of its local young people. Today, we provide information and support to disadvantaged Youth, aged 12-24, from Port Kembla and surrounding suburbs (Kemblawarra, Primbee, Warrawong and Windang). Port Kembla is historically a culturally diverse area that features in SEIFA NSW’s top 10 most disadvantaged suburbs. PKYP focuses on building positive futures by engaging Youth in programs that provide constructive empowerment through skills development, engagement, mentorship and resilience building. In addition, PKYP fosters cultural harmony through awareness, appreciation, pride and respect. for more information contact Katherine West (Youth Development Worker) on 42761 229 or pkyp@bigpond.net.au

CORRIMAL SURF LIFE SAVING - WANT TO BECOME A NIPPER?