Dear Parents and Caregivers,

 It is hard to believe it is the end of another term. So many wonderful events have taken place this year. On Wednesday we saw our school open for Learning Journey’s I would like to thank our fantastic staff for opening their rooms and ensuring there was lots to see. Your children have been working so well throughout the term and it is sensational to watch them proudly take their parents to their rooms of learning and share their experiences with you. I was delighted with the number of parents who made the time to come and support their children on the night. If you were not able to visit the school on Wednesday night it is not too late to visit this week and view your child’s work.

 We are blessed to have such wonderful staff who help your children create their master pieces. The constantly scaffold their work and ensure they comprehend their tasks. Just a reminder that school begins on Monday 14^th October as we have used all of our Pupil Free Days for the year.

Our junior classes are now finished their swimming classes and I appreciate that they are becoming very tired as they come to the end of the term. Their behaviour has been wonderful and we are very proud of them all.

When children return to school please ensure that they are in their summer uniforms.

AGM – Annual General Meeting

We will be holding our AGM on Wednesday 20^th November at 7.00pm in MacKillop Hall. All parents and caregivers are encouraged to come to the AGM and learn about what is happening in our school community. You will learn about the programs that are run in the school such as our early intervention programs Mac Lit and Mini Lit as well as IT program for the next three years. You will hear about our NAPLAN results and our master plans for the schools. You will also discover our plans for the future and you will be introduced to our Strategic plan for the next three years. You will hear from our Board Chair as well as our President of the P & F. Learn about the wonderful things that are happening in our school and the plans for 2020.

AGM nominations

Next year we have our beloved treasurer Mr Steve Carter stepping down from the Board. It has been wonderful having Steve help us with our finances during the last two years. As his children have now moved onto to La Salle College we are now inviting someone who has a background in finance to consider applying for the Board to help us in this very important role. We are in the process of moving from cash to accrual therefore knowledge in this area would be helpful. We will also have another member stepping down so nomination forms will be in the front office for those who would like to nominate. In 2021 we are hoping to move forward with a new build therefore if someone in our community had a background in building it may be useful. Everyone is welcome to apply we look forward to hearing from you.

Reading at Home

Reading is an important skill which is developed through experiences with a wide variety of texts. This includes reading books and magazines, posters and charts, pamphlets and packets, letters and postcards. It also includes viewing multimedia texts such as movies and documentaries.

Children make progress at their own pace; some pick up new skills quickly and some need more time for learning and practising the new skill. All children need to be ready to learn and to have the best conditions for learning new skills. At school, teachers create safe, happy and stimulating environments where children are encouraged and praised for ‘having a go’.

You can create a similar learning environment at home with the following ideas:

• Make a regular time to read together and don’t stop reading to your child when they can read themselves; they love listening to a competent reader.
• When you introduce a new book to your child, discuss what it could be about, talk about the pictures or text and then read it to each other. With older children you can encourage them to make predictions and pause occasionally to confirm or reject their original thoughts.
• Read and follow directions together such as when making a recipe or instructions for playing a game or assembling a new piece of furniture or toy.
• Read magazines and newspapers together and talk about the pictures as well as the text.
• Listen to audio books or story tapes and watch movies together. Once you’ve seen the movie, discuss it and then read the original book together.

Most importantly…..make sure your children see you enjoying reading, the holidays is a wonderful time to stop and read together.

May God bless you all and may you all have a wonderful restful holiday. We will look forward to seeing you return next term ready for another fun term.

Paula Mackenzie

Principal

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL - LUKE SHAW 

You are invited to participate in a survey about our school’s climate. Similar surveys will be administered to staff and students to enable us to capture a community snapshot.   All responses are confidential and will be used for school improvement purposes.  Completion of the survey is on a voluntary basis. The survey is open until 23 October 2019.

Your confidentiality

To protect your confidentiality all surveys are anonymous. All answers go directly to the National School Improvement Partnerships, where the results are analysed for your school. Answers from individual surveys will NOT be reported back to the school. Staff of the National School Improvement Partnerships staff are bound by a Code of Ethics and follow strict professional conduct.

Use of the data

National School Improvement Partnerships will report the results to the school in an aggregated format so that individuals cannot be identified. To enable drill-down reporting, the information provided to the school will contain data based on background information.

How to complete the survey

You will be asked whether you are completing the survey for an individual child or as a family. If the experiences of your children are similar, then responding once will suffice. If, however, your children are experiencing very different learning environments then you might want to answer separately for each child.

The survey contains statements about practices which could take place in this school.  For each statement, you are asked to indicate how often the statement takes place. There are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers. Your opinion is what is wanted.

Please be sure to answer all questions. Some statements in may be fairly similar to other statements. Don't worry about this. Simply give your opinion about all statements. Please go to www.NSIPartnerships.com.au and enter the access code SBPS19P.  If you require more information or have any questions, please contact the NSI Team. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Your time and consideration are much appreciated

FOOTSTEPS DANCING LESSONS

Our Footsteps Dancing lessons will take place on Thursdays next term for students in Kindy – Year Six. These lessons will be the class sport program for next term so students will need to wear their sport uniform (blue shirt) on the following dates next term: Thursday 17/10, Tuesday 22/10, Thursday 31/10, Thursday 07/11, Thursday 14/11, Thursday 21/11, Tuesday 26/11, Thursday 28/11, and Thursday 05/11.

SMOKE FREE SCHOOLS

Catholic schools in Western Australia are smoke-free environments due the acknowledged health hazards of exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) and to comply with legislative environments.

Schools shall maintain a total smoke free environment at all times. This includes but is not limited to:

• any Catholic school building;
• enclosed public areas;
• grounds (including the land up to the boundaries on which buildings are located);
• playgrounds;
• in vehicles on a school site; and
• in vehicles transporting students, either during or outside school hours.

 Thank you for your continued support of this CEWA policy within our school environment.

 CODE OF CONDUCT

 This week our focus is on ‘Conduct Statement Four’. You conduct yourself in accordance with laws, agreements, policies and standards relevant to your relationship with the school community.  

This Conduct Statement means that your relationship with other members of the school community is defined by whatever written or verbal agreement has given rise to that relationship, as a parent or acting in a parental capacity, it is the student’s enrolment agreement.

The following examples are some of the ways parents can adhere to Conduct Statement Four:  

• You notify the school principal if you witness the unlawful or unsafe conduct of any other member of the school community, or breaches of policy or this Code.  
• You treat members of the school community with fairness and justice.  
• You respect both the people and the property of the St Brigid’s community.  
• You use school property and resources responsibly.   

TERM DATES

Term Three concludes on Friday 27 September for students and staff.
Term Four resumes on Monday 14 October for students and staff.
Term Four concludes on Friday 13 December for students and Friday 20 December for staff.
(The last five days for staff are utilised for professional development, handover and finalising school priorities for the following year.)

SCHOOL NEWS

Congratulations to Gian Malabanan 

Congratulations to Gian Malabanan for becoming a member of the Cathedral Choir. 
During Sunday’s mass at the Cathedral Gian became an offical member of the choir which comes with a lot of responsibilities and commitment. Well done, Gian!

Mrs Alison Yeo

Music Specialist

WHAT IS BLUE NAIL POLISH DAY?

Parents/Guardians

I would like bring to your attention the following;
What began as a meeting between a man and a little girl has turned into an awareness campaign that involves one nail, blue polish and a whole lot of men. The movement is called Polished Man and it encourages men to paint one of their fingernails for a week in October to represent the 1 in 5 children who will be victims of violence. 
Women are, of course welcome to join in, but as 96% of this violence is perpetrated by men, the initiative is calling on them to be the voice of change. I am a supporter of the cause. You will see some staff with a blue fingernail at school for week one next term.
At school this is an adults event. For more information, please see me or look up Polished Men.
Happy and safe holidays to all!

Regards, Robin Dalziell.

TERM 4 UNIFORM REMINDER

With term 3 coming to an end we would like to take this opportunity to remind parents and guardians of the uniform season change. If you need to purchase uniforms but are unable to visit the uniform shop during opening hours the Uniform Shop Order Form can be completed and handed into the office and the uniforms will be delivered to the student’s class. 

FEMALE STUDENTS

As part of our uniform code it is expected that the length of the uniform worn by our female students is to be knee length. We ask that parents/carers look closely at the length of the uniforms and if they find them to be above the knee, that they are altered or replaced as soon as possible. Most of the dresses and skirts have large hems to allow for growth and can be altered as growth occurs.

Summer:         (Term 1 & 4)          
- Blue dress with school logo.
- Blue school jumper with school logo.
- White ankle socks with yellow & blue stripes.
- Black lace-up shoes not black joggers or Brown buckled sandals (with no socks).

MALE STUDENTS 

The formal uniform for boys i.e. pale blue shirt, is to be worn tucked-in to both shorts in summer and trousers in winter. Please check that your child’s shirt has adequate length to be tucked in.

Summer:   (Term 1 & 4)
- Grey school shorts or pants
- Blue school blue buttoned shirt with logo.
- Grey ankle socks with royal blue stripe.
- Black lace-up shoes not black joggers or Brown buckled sandals (with no socks).
- Blue school jumper with school logo

 Please note: The Uniform Shop will be closed during the school holidays and will be back open Monday morning 14th October. 

Monday 14 Oct      HELP

Tuesday 15 Oct        H.VRANJES     

Wednesday 16 Oct   S.SOEMYA  

Thursday 17 Oct       S.WILLIAMS

Friday 18 Oct            C.KIRBY