Harmony Day 2019 - Everyone Belongs

Each year, on March 21, the world celebrates Harmony Day. Yesterday, at St Brigid’s, we joined that commemoration with a family breakfast followed by a liturgy.

In light of recent and ongoing events in our, at times, troubled world, it has been timely to stop, this week, and remind ourselves of the importance of demonstrating inclusiveness and respect towards those of differing culture and language. So many have come to join our Australian nation in the hope of sharing all that we have but also of offering their many gifts to those already living in this blessed land. The website www.harmony.gov.au is worth consulting for some amazing statistics about Australia’s diversity.

The nature of our country’s diversity and multiculturalism is recognised as one of the most successful in the world. This week we have celebrated that fact and the need for all Australians to continue to strive for peace and harmony, united by a clearly expressed set of core values.

Pope Francis, when addressing the issues of racism and prejudice recently, said, “Christians have a moral responsibility to witness to the love of Christ, and to our common origin in the Creator which makes us all members of the same human family.”

Harmony (def.) -

The way in which the parts of something are combined to result in lack of conflict, and to bring a pleasant and orderly whole.

congruence, balance, consistency, correspondence

STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

This term the staff have been involved in professional learning that will build their capacity in delivering the new NESA Science syllabus to the students and integrating STEM technologies across KLA's. To support the implementation of STEM into classroom lessons we will be purchasing a variety of plugged and unplugged resources such as robots, coding activities, construction materials. We thank Mr Ben Woods from the Catholic Education Office who has been facilitating this learning with our staff.

STUDENT WORKBOOKS

Next Friday 29 March 2019 the students will be bringing home their work books to share their current learning. Please take the time to view your child’s learning and spend some time reflecting on their learning goals and achievements. Students will then complete their online reflection with you.

All student work books MUST be returned to school on the following Monday.

MOBILE PHONES/WATCHES

If students need to bring a mobile phone to school for after school procedures it must be handed into the office when they arrive at school. It will be kept in the office throughout the day and can be collected at the end of the school day.

Watches that allow students access to communicate with family and friends during school hours are not permitted at school. Students wearing Fitbits and similar watches are required to turn off all notification capabilities to ensure they are not disturbing other students and the teachers as they work.

CROSS COUNTRY CARNIVAL

Unfortunately our Cross Country carnival was POSTPONED due to the wet weather conditions.

The carnival will now be held on Wednesday 3rd April 2019 and a backup of Wednesday 10th April 2019.

All details will remain the same for the carnival.We looking forward to a sunny day on Wednesday 3rd April. If there are any parents who are able to help as track officials please leave your name at the Office.

SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS

Congratulations to thee following students on the recent sporting achievements:

• Cameron B who will be travelling to Homebush for the MacKillop swimming trials next Wednesday 27 March 2019
• Edwina and Henry J who have been selected to attend the MacKillop trials in Canberra on Friday 10 May 2019

Harmony Week - 20th Anniversary

It was with great sadness that we heard about the events that took place in New Zealand, last week.  Our hearts are heavy, as the city of Christchurch and the country of New Zealand come to terms with the devastating actions of a few.  

The continuing message of Harmony Week is 'Everyone Belongs'. It is about community participation, inclusiveness, celebrating diversity, respect and belonging.

Our Harmony Week Prayer allowed us to do what we, as a catholic community, do best in the face of fear, hurt and anguish; we pray.  

Lighting the candles to represent the lives lost, showed the students that the victims are remembered and that their families and friends are held in our hearts, thoughts and prayers.

And so we pray …

That we may love and accept everyone.

Help us to have open hearts and open minds so that we may rejoice in the gifts of all, celebrating a diverse and warm community where all feel valued.  

Help us to be people of compassion and justice who willingly and lovingly reach out to others.

We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Fundraising - Vinnies Van

On Thursday, Amanda was able to collect the ‘goodies’ donated by our school community and she was very appreciative of our efforts.

 

Our fundraising efforts for week 1 and 2 of Lent:

Switch off at 8:30 pm

TOGETHER, LET'S CONNECT TO EARTH

We love this planet and everything that lives upon it. Join us and, together, let’s spark never-before-had conversations on nature and the unique diversity of life we share our home with!

What better way to celebrate than with the electrifying energy of Earth Hour as it sweeps across the planet? Remember to switch off in solidarity with global efforts to secure nature and our home: 30 March 2019, 8:30 pm your time. It’s time to #Connect2Earth.

https://www.earthhour.org/celebrate-the-hour

Save the Date

Thursday 28 March 2019	Parish Mass	Yr 1 attending
Thursday 4 April 2019	Parish Mass	Kinder attending
Thursday 11 April 2019	Lenten Liturgy led by Yr 5W and Guided Learning Walks 2pm	Whole School
Palm Sunday - 14/4/19 Holy Thursday - 18/4/19 Good Friday - 19/4/19 Easter Sunday - 21/4/19

Sacrament of Penance - Reconciliation  2019

Workshop 4 (Parent  and child) - 26/3/19 (Tuesday)

Retreat Day/Reception of Sacrament - 23/3/19 (Friday)

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 http://www.lumenchristi.org

A reminder that applications are now being accepted for Kindergarten, 2020.  The enrolment forms are available from the school office, from the school website or by clicking on the link below.

Enrolment Information

Thank you for joining our Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) schools across the Illawarra, Macarthur, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands, and Catholic school communities across NSW, in celebrating Catholic Schools Week for 2019. It's been a wonderful week of open days, activities, masses, liturgies and other special events - including the Diocesan Education Mass, which was a significant highlight of CSW. Read more about the Mass and listen to Director of Schools, Peter Turner's speech here.

Catholic Schools Week has showcased some of the fantastic things happening in our schools every day, and has very much highlighted our local Catholic schools - including yours! - as vibrant places of learning, faith, hope and opportunity. Thank you for your involvement.

We'd like to share with you our small Catholic Schools Week video that has been promoted throughout last week. Can you spot the students from your school in this video?

Children in Years 3 and 5 will be sitting for the online NAPLAN Assessments from 14 May to 16 May 2019. To find out more information about NAPLAN please visit the website:

https://www.nap.edu.au/

This year all students K-6 will be given the opportunity to participate in the Premier’s Reading Challenge. The challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.

The challenge is now open and closes Friday 30 August 2019. Further information, including booklists, can be found at the following website.  

https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

Students should be able to log on using their details from last year (Username and Password). They need to click the ‘Logon’ button in the menu on the left hand side of the Premiers Reading Challenge website. If your child can not remember their log on details ask them to come and see me and I can reset their password.

All Kindergarten students will be issued with a Username and Password and will read the required number of books as a class so they can complete the Challenge.

Happy reading.

Mrs Richardson

QKR! The online ordering system for the school Canteen and P&F Events.

Don’t forget to download the Qkr! App onto your phone so you can order recess, lunch and special food day opportunities for your children online. The St Brigid's P & F Association also use the Qkr! App for their online ordering system for events. Click on the Qkr! logo to download from the app store.

Compass is coming to St Brigid's in Term 2. 

What is Compass?

Compass is a Student Information System that allows you as parents access to your child(ren)’s records.

The parent portal allows you as parents to:

• Monitor your child(ren)’s attendance, and enter explanations for late arrivals or absences
• Communicate with your child(ren)’s teachers and update your family details
• Download and view your child(ren)’s semester reports
• View ‘My News’- a news feed of school announcements, alerts and updates
• View your child(ren)’s timetable and the school calendar
• Book parent-teacher meetings
• Provide consent for events and excursions.

There is the option of logging onto the online portal or by downloading the app onto your phone. Compass will be our new communication tool and will eventually replace Skoolbag and any other online forms of communication.

In prepartion for the new system, you can click on either of the below links to either bookmark the online parent portal or download the Compass app. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LOGIN OR ACCESS ANYTHING ON THESE YET. Closer to the time we will issue parents with their unique login details.

WE WILL NOT BE GOING LIVE UNTIL TERM 2 AND EACH FAMILY WILL BE PROVIDED WITH THEIR LOGIN DETAILS PRIOR TO OUR LAUNCH DATE.

Click on the following link to access the St Brigid's Compass Portal Page and bookmark.

COMPASS PARENT PORTAL LINK

Click on the following app to access the app store to download the Compass app for your phone.

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

Week 7 - Term 1

CLASS	JUSTICE AWARD	STUDENT OF THE WEEK
Kindergarten	Leo	Charlie
Year 1	Emma	Nathaneal
Year 2	Rosie	Rafael
Year 3	Abby	Vincent
Year 4	Luca	Dara
Year 5G	Kip	Kyah
Year 5W	Ayla	Max
Year 6	Jordyn	Madi

Week 8 - Term 1

CLASS	LEARNING AWARD	STUDENT OF THE WEEK
Kindergarten	Lachlan	Tom
Year 1	Molly	Joshua
Year 2	Rio	Hamilton
Year 3	Alessia	Noah
Year 4	Matthieu	Ariel
Year 5G	Robbie	Keira
Year 5W	Luca	Ava
Year 6	Lucas	Annie

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

Week 7

CLASS	STUDENT
Year 4	Edwina

Happy Birthday to the following students.

We hope you had a great birthday!

School Banking is to be sent in to school each week for collection on THURSDAY. 

Thank you to Kerry Sweeney for volunteering to help with the School Banking process.

The Commonweatlh Bank will be joining us at our Assembly on Friday 29 March 2019 with the Dollarmite Character to answer any questions you may have about School Banking or you may wish to pick up an application form to start banking.

CANTEEN ROSTER FOR THE NEXT FORNIGHT