Yesterday we marked R U OK? Day at St Brigid's by wearing yellow, enjoying a tasty lunch and participating in drumming classes. 

The day is a reminder that every day is a day to empower people to start a meaningful conversation, shine a light on mental health and wellbeing, and to lend support. Share this year's message, ‘no qualifications needed’ to remind people they already have what it takes to support their family, friends, and colleagues.

R U OK? contributes to suicide prevention efforts by encouraging  people to invest more time in their  personal relationships and building the capacity of informal support networks – friends, family and colleagues - to be alert to those around them, have a conversation if they identify signs of distress or difficulty and connect someone to appropriate support, long before they're in crisis.

In support of this year’s R U OK? Day, you may like to access the podcasts below.

Episode 31: 'Eric Cruz - RUOK Day Ambassador'

R U OK Day Ambassador, Eric Cruz generously shares his personal story and speaks about the power of checking in on friends and family. Eric’s passion for mental health awareness stems from his own lived experience with anxiety and depression as well as the effects that it has had on those close to him.

Eric shares some of the barriers in speaking about mental health issues and the power of asking a friend or family member R U OK? Eric endeavours to assist in driving societal change in removing the stigma attached to men’s mental health.

Episode 32: 'Dr Kathy O’Grady - Medical Educator with Black Dog Institute'

Dr Kathy O’Grady is a GP who has been working in the Newcastle area for over 30 years. She has a special interest in mental health. Kathy has been working as a Medical Educator with Black Dog Institute for the last 8 years, delivering a range of workshops dealing with depression, anxiety, perinatal mental health, suicide prevention, youth mental health, PTSD, bipolar disorder, eMental health, and professional wellbeing and burnout.

Kathy speaks about the work of the Black Dog Institute and about some of the ways we can enter into a conversation with adults who may be struggling. She shares some of the more concerning signs as well as some ways in which we can respond. This response may include providing personal support or exploring some professional avenues. Kathy speaks about the value of empathy and of creating a space where people can share their distress without judgement. And it’s from this place that we can best offer support.

Black Dog Institute is celebrating 20 years of impact in mental health research and is the only Medical Research Institute (MRI) in Australia to investigate mental health across the lifespan.

Let us pray.....

Compassionate God, we pray for vulnerable people all over this world, people without hope who experience  terror, violence, fear and oppression.

Help us to discern needs and work to fulfil them. Strengthen and unify our St Brigid’s community and show us how we can be the disciples you envision us to be.  Relieve the suffering of those who have lost loved ones, are unable to find meaningful employment and fear the challenges of old age. 

Guide us, into your paths of right relationships.  In Jesus’ name we pray; Amen.

REMOTE LEARNING WEEK 10 - WHAT TO EXPECT

As you are aware the UCI Bike Race is happening during Week 10 and as such our school will be moving to Remote Learning from Monday 19 September - Thursday 22 September inclusive. Friday is a Pupil Free Day as staff will be engaging in online professional development. Here's what to expect for the 4 days of Remote Learning:

• Students in Kindergarten - Year 2 will be using Seesaw to access their learning
• Students in Years 3-6 will be using Google Classroom to access their learning
• Learning will begin at 9:00am and conclude at 3:00pm
• Feedback and contact with teachers online will cease at 3:30pm. We encourage all students to put devices down from 3:00pm onwards to have a break from screen time
• Teachers will share a Google Daily Attendance Form on Seesaw and Google Classroom - it is compulsory that all students complete this daily by 11:00am so this can be entered intp COMPASS
• Teachers will provide a Daily Outline of activities
• Teachers will provide English, Mathematics and Religion lessons and will provide feedback to students on activities they have highlighted
• Teachers will send out the daily outline at 6:00pm the night before so that parents can see the learning for the next day
• From 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm teachers will be offline for their lunch (half hour) and planning time (half hour)
• There will be non-digital tasks set for students to complete from 1:30 - 3:00pm. These tasks will be related to the UCI bike race, creative arts, sciences and personal development and physical education. Students are to take a photo of ONE task and send it to their teacher by 2:00pm for feedback.

During Week 9, teachers will ensure the students are set up with their Seesaw Home Learning codes (K-2) and their Remote Learning Google Classroom. They will be reminded of any usernames or passwords required for various learning sites.

If your family is intending on going on a holiday during this week and not engaging in remote learning, then please inform the school office as soon as possible as this affects the attendance code in compass.

If you have any issues with the learning platform or content during remote learning, please call the following mobile number: 0426 616 500.

Thank you for your support.

  

    

NUDE FOOD SUCCESS - WEEK 8 UPDATE. GET ON BOARD TO REDUCE SINGLE USE PACKAGING

We had Magic Round in Week 6 and Archie in Kindergarten won the Nude Food lunchbox. Next Magic Round is in Week 9. There have also been additional tally days during week 6 and 8 it's important to bring nude food everyday so you can be counted for your class. Let's tackle waste together!

NUDE FOOD RESULTS 

Our SRC Chairperson, Cameron along with the Semester 2 SRC reprsentatives have been tallying the Nude Food data each week. Here are the results:

WEEK 6

• K - 78%
  
• 1 - 52%
• 2 - 61%
• 3 - 70%
• 4 - 52%
• 5 - 71%
• 6 - 25%

WEEK 7

• K - 84%
• 1 - 61%
• 2 - 52%
• 3 - 79%
• 4 - 65%
• 5 - 78%
• 6 - 42%

CONGRATULATIONS Kindergarten! I hope you enjoy looking after the St Brigid's Peace Lily. This week we have a special incentive for the class that has the highest number of students bringing in Nude Food, they will receive 20 minutes extra play time!

Please talk to your child/children about what nude food is and ask them to help prepare a nude food lunch-box. Some ideas are in the handout below. We thank you kindly for your support as we work together to care for our common home ... this beautiful planet.

  

   

         

RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS - STUDENT ADVISORY GROUP

I am super proud to acknowledge the hard work of the students in the Respectful Relationships Student Advisory Group: Sophie -Chairperson and Mason (Yr 6), Philippa (Yr 5), Simon (Yr 4), Ella (Yr 3) and Sparsha (Yr 2). This group of enthusastic and proactive students have met three times this term to analyse data about safe and respectful intercations and have developed Weekly RESPECT Focuses for the whole school to learn and focus on. Each week, a new respect focus will be announced at the assembly and then this will be taught in classrooms everyday. Students learn what the respect focus is and is not and use scripts and role play to help them understand.The student advisory group still have 1-2 more meetings in Term 4 to finalise the RESPECT focuses. I thank the students for leading this very important initiative and having a confident voice to speak up for respectful relationships.

Weekly Respect Focus - Term 3

• Week 7 - Calling Out Disrepsectful Behaviour
• Week 8 - It's NOT a Joke!

Weekly Respect Focus - Term 4

• Week 1 - Consent
• Week 2 - Respect at the Toilets
• Week 3 - Keep your hands, feet and objects to yourself
• Week 4 - Healthy Relationships
• Week 5 - Disagreeing Respectfully
• Week 6 - Saying Sorry

Listen to the Voice of Creation

In 2015 Pope Francis established 1st September as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of

Creation, encouraging the Catholic community around the world to pray for our common home. The day is inspired by Pope Francis' landmark encyclical Laudato Si’, which calls on "every person living on this planet" to care for our shared Earth.

The Season of Creation begins on September 1st and the theme and invitation of this year’s season is Listen to the Voice of Creation. In his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2022, Pope Francis calls us to use the season to "cultivate our ecological conversion” and to pray together in “the great cathedral of Creation”. He warns that we are reaching “a breaking point" and must act decisively so that "we and future generations can continue to rejoice in creation’s sweet song of life and hope."

We raise to God our thanks for the marvellous works that have been entrusted to our care,

and we ask for God’s help as we take action to protect our planet and all of its creatures.

Key Points of the Pope’s Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

A time to cultivate our ecological conversion

• The Season of Creation is “an opportunity to cultivate our ‘ecological conversion’ and during this time we are invited to “pray once more in the great cathedral of creation, and revel in the “grandiose cosmic choir” made up of countless creatures, all singing the praises of God”.
• The Pope calls us to feel “even more responsible for acting each day in accordance with the summons to conversion, not simply individual but “the ecological conversion needed to bring about lasting change is also a community conversion”.

Sweet song and bitter cry

• Listening to creation, Pope Francis mentions that there is a “kind of dissonance”: “On the one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of our beloved Creator; on the other, an anguished plea, lamenting our mistreatment of this our common home”. We are encouraged to stop consumerism, change lifestyles and harmful systems. “We are reaching ‘a breaking point” and we must act now. “The crisis is no longer a hypothesis of a distant future but a tangible reality that is costing human lives”.

A warning message ahead of the COPs

• Ahead of COP 27 on climate (Egypt, November 2022) and COP 15 on biodiversity (Canada,
• December 2022) Pope Francis emphasises the importance of “promoting the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement”. He says, “Each passing moment is an opportunity for everyone, especially world leaders, to reverse the biodiversity and climate crises.
• To the community of Catholics, the Pope calls them to prayer: “In this Season of Creation, let us pray that COP27 and COP15 may unite the human family to decisively address the double crisis of climate and biodiversity reduction”.

Four key principles for biodiversity

Pope Francis uses his message to call on nations to halt the further collapse of the “web of life” – biodiversity – pointing to four principles:

1. Building a clear ethical basis for the transformation we need in order to save biodiversity;
2. Fight biodiversity loss, support its conservation and recovery, and meet people’s needs in a sustainable way;
3. Promote global solidarity, taking into account that biodiversity is a global common good that requires a shared commitment;
4. Put people in vulnerable situations at the centre, including those most affected by biodiversity loss, such as indigenous peoples, older people and youth.

And so we pray…

Creator of All,

From your communion of love, your Word went forth to create a symphony of life that sings your praise.

By your Holy Wisdom, you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of creatures who praise you in their being. You placed us into right relationships with each creature so that we could listen to their voices and learn how to safeguard the conditions for life.

But we turn in on ourselves and away from our co-creatures. We fail to listen to the cries of the poor and the needs of the most vulnerable. We close our ears to your creative, reconciling and sustaining Word that calls to us through the Scriptures.

In this Season of Creation, we pray that you call to us, as from the burning bush, with the sustaining fire of your Spirit.

Breathe upon us. Open our ears and move our hearts.

Fill us with the hope to quench the fires of injustice with the light of your healing love that sustains our common home.

In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Last weekend we celebrated the first weekend of the First Holy Communion Masses in our Lumen Christi Parish. 

We congratulate the twelve students who have now achieved another step in their initiation into the catholic church and received Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist. 

This weekend will see another seven students celebrate their First Holy Communion.

And so we pray…

Lord Jesus,

Bless the children coming forward to receive Holy Communion for the first time.

May this day be an initial step into a life-long love of the Eucharist.

Give them a hunger for this sacred food so that they turn to you for comfort, guidance and wisdom as they grow into full discipleship.

May their hands extended, in anticipation of your body and blood, inspire us to cherish this sacred Sacrament. Amen

PARISH MASS

An invitation is extended to parents, grandparents and carers to attend their child/children’s designated grade Parish Mass and then stay for a ‘cuppa and a chat’. 

We are hoping that this will assist you to become reacquainted with the Mass and our community. Please put the date/s in your diary!

REMOTE ONLINE LEARNING 

These are the links, usernames and passwords for the online resources that may be used in week 10 for learning in Religious Education.

Links to 

Know Worship Love  - https://app.kwl.com.au/

Google username and password

Understanding Faith - Website - http://primary.understandingfaith.edu.au/log-in 

Username: ceo.dow.5009

Password: 24bookSAVE

Term 3 - Week 6

Today, students from Kinder to Year 6 received the Strong Foundations award. This award recognises those students who co create a safe, supportive and friendly environment. They are active participants in their faith, learning and outreach 

YEAR BOOK COVER COMPETITION

The production of the Yearbook is 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 (Primary) and Back Cover (Infants) winner. We encourage all students to enter. (Note - Every entry will be printed in the internal cover also)

Criteria:

• Portrait A4 size
• The title 'St Brigid's Yearbook 2022'
• NAME and CLASS to be written on the BACK of the entry
• Bright bold vibrant colours.
• Make your entry eye catching.

This is a great after-school/weekend/holiday activity. All entries are to be handed to your child's classroom teacher by Friday 14th October 2022. Enter as many times as you like. Be as creative as you like. As it is to be printed, bright bold colours are encouraged.

We look forward to seeing some amazing artworks.

Staff will be judging all entries on Friday 14th October 2022.

Kind Regards,

Yearbook Team

      

  

VOLUNTEERING

We have a number of events coming up that require your help.  Please register using SignUp Zone. Thank you.

  

    

CANTEEN OPENING UPDATE and MENU

The canteen is hoping to open next Friday. Unfortunately we have had some delays that are out of our control. A notice will be sent out once Qkr! has been set up and to advise of cut off times.

Screen_Shot_2022_08_19_at_11.22.34_am.png

Screen_Shot_2022_08_19_at_11 _22 _34_am _png 131.59 KB

  

We are still in need of a Canteen Coordinator, please email  pandf@sbgdow.catholic.edu.au if you are interested.

  

      

UPCOMING LAWN MOWING 2022

STUDENT DISCO COMING IN TERM 4