PRINCIPAL - PAULA MACKENZIE

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

It is hard to believe that the first half of the school year is nearly over. It only seems like yesterday that the first day of school was here and everyone was in new classrooms and making new friends. Six months later it is time to look back and see the progress that has happened, as well as looking forward to setting new goals for the second half of the year.

On Tuesday 2^nd July your child’s report will go live on SEQTA. This written report provides an opportunity to read about your child’s progress and the steps he or she has taken over the year so far. Class teachers have written comments on Religion, English, Mathematics and General which outline the skills that students have demonstrated and tasks completed. Students have been involved in topics appropriate to their year level and have been involved in research and the presentation of information that supports the development of new understandings. Where appropriate, teachers will include suggestions for helping your child in areas where they need extra support to achieve their best. Teachers will also make comments on your child’s social development. This aspect of the report will enable you to gain an understanding of how your child relates to others at school and some of the social skills and work habits they are demonstrating.

This is a great time to sit with your child over the holidays and discuss their report with them and give them praise for their achievements and help them to set goals for next semester.

Cross Country Carnival

What a wonderful day we had on Wednesday when we ran the Cross Country Carnival. Mr Harris informed me that the weather would hold for the carnival as he had checked out the weather patterns and satellite imaging. And true to his word it did hold until the last part of the Year Six Boys race the very last event of the day. Our students never cease to amaze me with the way they participate in events. There was laughter and joy as they raced around the track. There was encouragement from all students for those who found it hard going.  Our Year Six leaders were amazing on the day helping out along the course and helping our younger students. Mr Harris as always was just sensational in planning the day and training our students. He is a super star that lights the way for our carnivals. Mr Sibbald as our announcer and photographer was terrific as always keeping the morning alive and informed and catching those special moments of the day.

Our P & F Mums were just sensational as they once again provided a sumptuous array of food to keep our wonderful parents satisfied. There was such an awesome variety of food and drink and I know our parent body enjoyed what was on offer.

Thank you to all our great parents who braved the weather and came and cheered our students along. I know our students love to see their parents at these events cheering them on.

End of Term Mass

Today we were blessed to have a wonderful end of term Mass that was prepared by Miss Taddei and Mrs McDonnell and led by our amazing Year Three Students. It is a wonderful way to finish off the term and our prayer is that we may all remain safe over the holidays until we return to school once more. The Parish made us so welcome and it was a beautiful celebration.

Uniform Check

The end of a term is a great chance to check on school uniforms, I have noticed that some of the girl’s skirts are very short at this time and it would be a wonderful opportunity to take down the hems over the holiday breaks. When the skirts are very short it makes it difficult for them to play in the school yard. This year we have revised the Parent handbook and presently it is up on the website. You may like to take the opportunity over the school holidays to check uniform requirements.

Hair Styles

Once again I ask parents to check the hair styles of our boys over the holidays. Again I am seeing a number of boys choosing to wear long fringes. I ask that boys have short back and side haircuts for our school. Long fringes are not to be worn and I ask if your son’s hair is long please have it cut during the holidays ready for another busy term.

Jean Ellison Centre

On Monday 1^st July we will be holding a small ceremony for the blessing of our Special Education Centre. It will begin at 9.30am all parents are welcome to attend.

 Encourage kids to be Problem Solvers   by Michael Grose

When parents solve all children’s problems we not only increase their dependency on adults but we teach kids to be afraid of making mistakes and to blame themselves for not being good enough. That’s fertile ground for anxiety and depressive illness.

So, how can we raise kids to be courageous problem-solvers rather than self-critical scaredy cats? Here are six practical ideas to get you started.

1. Turn requests into problems for kids to solve

Kids get used to bringing their problems to parents to solve. If you keeping solving them, they’ll keep bringing them. ‘Mum, my sister is annoying me!’ ‘Dad, can you ask my teacher to pick me for the team?’ ‘Hey, I can’t find my socks!’ It’s tempting if you are in a time-poor family to simply jump in and help kids out. Alternatively, you can take a problem-solving approach, cuing them to resolve their own problems and take responsibility for their concerns. ‘What can you do to make her stop annoying you?’ ‘What’s the best approach to take with your teacher?’ ‘Socks, smocks! Where might they be?’

2. Ask good questions to prompt problem-solving.

A problem-solving approach relies on asking good questions, which can be challenging if you are used to solving your child’s problems. The first question when a child brings you a problem should be: ‘Can you handle this on your own?’ Next should be, ‘What do you want me to do to help you solve the problem?’ These questions are not meant to deter children from coming to you; rather, to encourage and teach them to start working through their own concerns themselves.

3. Coach them through problems and concerns.

So, your child feels she was unfairly left out of a school sports team by a teacher and asks you get involved. The easiest solution may be to meet with the teacher and find out what’s going on. You may or not resolve the problem but in doing so you are teaching a child to become dependent on you. Alternatively, you could coach your child to speak to the teacher herself and find out why she was left out. Obviously, there are times when children need their parents to be advocates for them such as when they are being bullied, but we need to make the most of the opportunities for children to speak for themselves. Better to help your child find the right words to use and discuss the best way to approach another person when they have problems. These are great skills to take into adulthood.

4. Prepare kids for problems and contingencies

You may coach your child to be independent – walk to school, spend some time alone at home (when old enough), catch a train with friends – but does he know what to do in an emergency? What happens if he comes home after school and the house is locked? Who should he go to? Discuss different scenarios with children whenever they enter new or potentially risky situations so that they won’t fall apart when things don’t go their way. Remember the Boy Scouts motto – be prepared!

5. Show a little faith sometimes you’ve got to show faith in children.

We can easily trip them up with our negative expectations, such as by saying ‘Don’t spill it!’ to a child who is carrying a glass filled with water. Of course, your child doesn’t want to spill it but you’ve just conveyed your expectations with that statement. We need to be careful that we don’t sabotage children’s efforts to be independent problem-solvers with comments such as, ‘Now don’t stuff it up!’ ‘You’ll be okay … won’t you?’ ‘You’re not very good at looking after yourself!’

6. Applaud mistakes and stuff-ups.

Would a child who accidentally breaks a plate in your family while emptying the dishwasher be met with a ‘That’s really annoying, you can be clumsy sometimes’ response or an ‘It doesn’t matter, thanks for your help’ type of response? Hopefully it won’t be the first response, because nothing shuts a child’s natural tendencies to extend themselves down quicker than an adult who can’t abide mistakes. If you have a low-risk-taking, perfectionist, consider throwing a little party rather than making a fuss when they make errors so they can learn that mistakes don’t reflect on them personally, and that the sun will still shine even if they break a plate, tell a joke that falls flat or don’t get a perfect examination score.

May God bless you

                                               

Paula MacKenzie
PRINCIPAL

 

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL - MIKE SIBBALD                               

 PRAYER OF THE WEEK

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, filled with Infinite Love;

Broken by our ingratitude and pierced by our sins Yet loving us still.

Accept the consecration we make to Thee of all we are and all we have.

Take every faculty of our souls and bodies day by day draw us nearer and nearer to Thy Sacred Heart

and there we shall hear the lesson.

Teach us Thy Holy Way

Amen.

 

First Eucharist

Congratulations to all the children who made their First Holy Communion last weekend. You were a credit to yourselves and those who helped you prepare. A special thank you to Miss Mitchell and Miss Shepherd for your instruction and guidance, and to Mrs Yeo, and the children who sang in the choir. Thank you to all staff members who contributed in any way to make this a beautiful occasion for our Communicants. Our sincere appreciation to Fr Benny and Deacon Liam, for your spiritual guidance and leadership. 

 

Whole School Mass:

Today, we celebrated the Special Feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was very meaningful liturgy led by Fr Benny and Deacon Liam. The School Choir sang beautifully, led by Mrs Yeo. A special thank you to Year Three Classes for hosting this important Eucharistic Celebration.

                                                                                                                                                                             

SACRAMENTAL DATES 2019

Year 6 CONFIRMATION – Sunday 8 September 2019 (11.00am)

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL - LUKE SHAW

 REPORTING (YEARS 1-6)

Students from Years One to Six will be designated a letter from A – E to indicate their progress. It is important to remember that the grade will reflect the level of achievement that is expected for that year level for that point in time. The A – E grade scale summarises the standard of achievement associated with each learning area. The table below provides an explanation of the achievement descriptor for each letter grade.

Letter Grade	Achievement Descriptor
A Excellent	The student demonstrates excellent achievement of what is expected for this year level.
B High	The student demonstrates high achievement of what is expected for this year level.
C Satisfactory	The student demonstrates satisfactory achievement of what is expected for this year level
D Limited	The student demonstrates limited achievement of what is expected for this year level.
E Very Low	The student demonstrates very low achievement of what is expected for this year level.

It is important to note that the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) reporting policy indicates that the allocation of a grade for an individual student should describe the level of achievement that is expected for their year level at that point in time. Students do not need to be working ‘above their year level’ to achieve an ‘A’ grade. All schools in WA are bound by this SCSA policy.

REPORTING (PRE-PRIMARY)

Students in Pre-Primary receive a description of their achievement. The table below provides an explanation of the achievement descriptions.

Pre-Primary Achievement Descriptors

The student demonstrates exceptional achievement given the expectations for this year level.

The student has exceeded the achievement expected for this year level.

The student demonstrates the expected achievement for this year level.

The student is working towards the achievement expected for this year level.

The student has not yet demonstrated the expected achievement for this year level.

Maintaining a level in a learning area from one semester to the next is an indication of positive achievement and expected development.

If your child receives an “expected”, they are achieving at the required level for their year. The descriptors summarise the standard of achievement in each of the reported learning areas. The scale describes the depth of knowledge, understandings and skills that children working at that standard typically show.

Semester One reports will be accessible online on Tuesday 2 July. Parents are encouraged to read the article Reading your child’s report, which is included in this newsletter below.

 

SCHOOL NEWS

Faction Cross Country Carnival 2019

On Wednesday, our students braved some cooler weather and the potential of heavy rain, to compete in our annual Faction Cross Country Carnival. The weather ended up being extremely kind to us, with rain ceasing around 5 minutes before the Kindy Girls kicked off our program for the day. We were then fortunate enough to avoid the rain, right up until the last lap of the Year 6 Boys race at the conclusion of the carnival. The weather forced the program to move along at a rapid pace, however, ended up being a blessing in disguise, with a more carnival like atmosphere and high attendance numbers by friends and family, becoming a highlight for our students.

I must first of all thank and congratulate our magnificent students, who have trained their hearts out and applied themselves during Physical Education lessons and at Running Club to ensure that they felt confident to run their very best on the carnival day. A special congratulations to Mercy Blue, who were successful at finishing 1^st overall for the event. Well done to all our students, your teachers and I are proud of all of you!

A big thank you to the staff for organising students, reassuring them before and after their races and for helping out with different roles throughout the day. Your support is essential to the running of all carnivals and I am very grateful for that support. A special thank you to Mrs Wayne who tallied all of the results and worked tirelessly all morning to ensure the carnival was scored correctly.

I must also thank our Year 6 Sports Council and Student Leadership Team. All of these students performed their duties to the best of their ability and were a key reason as to why the carnival came to be memorable for all involved.

Thank you to all of the parents and family members who attended (particularly our hard working P&F, who do a great job at every carnival). Your support is very much appreciated and I hope that your children enjoyed the overall carnival experience.

Finally, thank you to Mrs Mackenzie, Mr Sibbald and Mr Shaw for supporting myself throughout the lead up to today as well as throughout the carnival (especially with our decision to go ahead when the weather was looking uncertain). I am grateful for your support and appreciate your assistance in preparation for all of our carnivals.

I look forward to seeing all members of our school community throughout the remainder of the term, and wish everyone a safe and enjoyable school holidays.

Mr Samuel Harris

Physical Education Specialist

 

 

2019 Cross Country Top 3 - Medals
1st  Mercy Blue - 2369 2nd Mackillop Red - 2068 3rd Joseph Gold - 2025 4th  Francis Green - 2068
YEAR 1 PLACINGS	GIRLS	BOYS
1ST	Estelle Schneider	Johnoel Palliyan
2ND	Ashley Trlin	Alex Vimal
3RD	Ava Aslett	Justin Sobhy
YEAR 2 PLACINGS	GIRLS	BOYS
1ST	Ana-May Selak	Troy Brockman
2ND	Ella Bartholomeusz	Zaine Rossi
3RD	Sarah Niani	Dwight Anderson
YEAR 3 PLACINGS	GIRLS	BOYS
1ST	Mia Edwards	Jeril Austin-Jeeso
2ND	Siona Laiju	Rishi Devadiga
3RD	Shivani Arul	Nathan Vu
YEAR 4 PLACINGS	GIRLS	BOYS
1ST	Mia Bartholomeusz	Tai Matthews
2ND	Mikayla Mawdsley	Curtis Sucur
3RD	Charlee Selak	Samuel Kuol

 

YEAR 5 PLACINGS	GIRLS	BOYS
1ST	Erin Caldwell	Luke Vranjes
2ND	Hannah Caldwell	Zac Melrose
3RD	Grace Xu	Ryan Regi
YEAR 6 PLACINGS	GIRLS	BOYS
1ST	Kasey Touchell	Hamish McLennan
2ND	Jorja Langshaw	Rhys Coomber-Pill
3RD	Sasha Lia	Levi Felder

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A Message From The Uniform Shop........

If you have any Communion Dresses/Suits that you no longer need please consider donating them to the School Uniform Shop. 

With thanks,

Mrs Jo-Anne Vellis

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 CANTEEN ROSTER

Monday 1st July          HELP PLEASE

Tuesday 2nd July          H VRANJES

Wednesday 3rd July    HELP PLEASE

Thursday 4th July       S WILLIAMS

Friday 5th July           K PURCHASE

 

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR CANTEEN MENU      

 

 PLEASE CONSIDER VOLUNTEERING IN THE CANTEEN AS A THANK YOU, LUNCH AND ENDLESS CUPS OF TEA/COFFEE ARE ON US........

 

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Reminder for Term 3 Week 6 
- Monday the 26th of August is a Catholic Day ( Students to stay home from school)
- Tuesday the 27th of August is a Professional Development Day ( Students to stay home from school)
- Wednesday 28th of August all Students required to attend school as normal.

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SEQTA ENGAGE FOR STUDENT REPORTS: PRE-PRIMARY TO YEAR 6

To access your child's report, you need to go to the following site: https://stbrigidsms.coneqt-p.cathednet.wa.edu.au and use your current username and password.

If you have remembered your username but have forgotten your password, please click on the ‘Forgot your Password?’ link and an immediate email will be sent to you. THIS EMAIL WILL EXPIRE WITHIN ONE HOUR, so please action this immediately. Please note that for security reasons, the school does not have access to parent passwords.

If you have any issues, please contact the school by sending an email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

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PLAYGROUP

Takes place every Friday 9am – 11:30am. Breakfast is offered in the morning. We are operating in the Early Childhood Room (next to Kindy). If you are a parent, grandparent, aunty or uncle of a child aged 0-4 yrs please come and join us.

Remember to bring a water bottle, a piece of fruit and a hat!

 

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ST BRIGID'S RUNNING CLUB

WHEN: EVERY TUESDAY 3.15PM - 3.45PM

WHERE: ST BRIGID'S PRIMARY SCHOOL

YEAR GROUPS: PRE - PRIMARY - YEAR 6  

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ST BRIGID'S SWIM SQUAD Come along and join the St Brigid's Swim Squad.  Training takes place every Thursday morning at Swan Active, Morrison Road, Midvale, commencing at 7am.  Entry is $3.30 (no spectator fee for parents).   Swim Squad is for students in Yrs 2 to Yr 6 whom are at swimming level 5 or above.  Students can then take advantage of Breakfast Club at school which commences at 8.15am in the MacKillop Hall.  If you have any queries, please contact Deanna (DJ) on 0419 943 901.  

 

P & F NEWS

St Brigid’s Parents and Friends Association

 The P&F are after some feedback about the recently run school disco. As this was the first time that the event was run we are after some ideas about what your liked and any ideas about how we can improve.  Simply click on the link to complete the online survey.  If your child went to the junior disco we ask you to complete the survey with them.  The upper disco, year 3 to 6, will be given an opportunity to fill out a survey during school.  Thanks for your help

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Iy-FxTM2KU-zhlHaU-NeI_xOSJjinSZCpAMJdDjy7khUOVMxMUVHTk4wUEZFN09JTVUwQTNGWUI4Sy4u

 

CROSS COUNTRY COFFEE AND CAKE STALL....

What started out as a bleak morning turned out to be a fantastic day. We would like to say a massive THANK YOU to all of the wonderful families for all the yummy donations of food and treats for our Coffee & Cake stall. Thank you also to everyone that came and supported the P&F by purchasing all that was on offer. We hope you all enjoyed the delicious food and coffee. 

A very big Thank You also to all the beautiful ladies that offered their time to help with setting up, sorting, serving and packing away. These events are not possible without all your ongoing dedication, support, time and energy. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Please see attached the recipe for the Pumpkin soup that was made for the Cross Country stall, and if you would like the recipe for the Pea & Ham soup, it can be found in our beautiful School Cookbook which you can purchase at anytime from the P&F.

Roasted pumpkin soup

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1.5kg butternut pumpkin, diced
• 20g butter
• 1 medium leek, trimmed, halved, washed, sliced
• 2 medium cream delight potatoes, peeled, chopped
• 1 litre Massel chicken style liquid stock
• 1 tablespoon pure cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg powder

Step 1

Preheat oven to 200°C /180°C fan-forced. Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper. Place pumpkin and garlic in a bowl. Add oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Arrange pumpkin mixture, in a single layer, on prepared tray. Bake for 40 minutes or until pumpkin is golden and tender.

Step 2

Squeeze garlic cloves from skin. Reserve. Discard skin. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leek. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until leek has softened. Add potato. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.

Step 3

Add stock and 2 cups cold water. Season with pepper. Cover. Bring to the boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 15 minutes or until potato is tender. Stir in roasted pumpkin and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or until heated through. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.

Step 4

Blend pumpkin mixture, in batches, until smooth.  Add curry powder, nutmeg and cumin powder. Return to pan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through. Ladle into serving bowls. Drizzle with cream and sprinkle with chives.

 

WOOLWORTHS EARN & LEARN.... 

WOW!! What an awesome effort from everyone over the last week!!! We did it!!! We reached our target goal of 20,000 stickers!!! But please - if you still have stickers floating around at home, in your car, or hiding in your bags - don't forget to bring them in. We have until next week to register all our stickers, and we would love to get more than our target amount.

Thanks to Jenny Martin who looked after and collected all the stickers from Centrepoint for us - (and no doubt had loads of fun sticking all the stickers onto the sheets). 

 

NETBALL COURT CLEAN UP.... 

In case you haven't been on the court lately.... there's been a bit of a sweep up in there. What a huge difference sweeping up all that sand has made. Mrs Jo Johnson - superstar!!!! Jo spent literally THE WHOLE DAY pounding the courts with Sammy the Sweeper to make the courts a bit safer and cleaner.  Thank you Jo for your amazing effort and energy. 

 

PONYTAILS AND FAIRYTALES...

A reminder that all orders for the beautiful school hair accessories is due in by the 3rd July. Order forms are available in the office should you need one. Orders will be distributed 1st week of term 3. Thank you for helping to support local businesses like Ponytails and Fairytales, and for supporting the P & F. 

 

Upcoming Events

P&F Meeting – 2^nd July 2019  - 9am, Board room in the office. Hope to see you there.

 
Other ways you can support our school 

Please remember that by using the following stores for your daily or weekly shopping – you are in turn helping to raise funds for our school – which in turn help benefit our awesome students.

Midland Supa IGA                            Athletes Foot – Midland Gate                            Gilberts Fresh

 

Thank you as always for your ongoing support of our P&F.

Karryn Purchase – 0409 293 198

Joanne Johnson – 0418 954 821

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

SCHOOL BANKING

HELPING HANDS

 BEFORE & AFTER SCHOOL CARE 

  

UNABLE TO MAKE IT IN TIME TO PICK UP YOUR CHILDREN? 

BOSS ASKED YOU TO STAY LATE OR COME IN EARLY? 

NEED TO HAVE SOME TIME FOR YOURSELF? 

Parents, we are here to support you and your children in before and after school hours! We offer a secure, safe and exciting environment for your children to thrive and be a part of a socialized group while you are busy. 

Please note an enrolment form and 1 days' notice is to be given to make your casual bookings for your children. 

We are here to help! Enrolment forms are available from the School Office.

Vacancies Available Now!

P: 0484302073

E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

COMMUNITY NEWS

ST VINCENT DE PAUL WINTER APPEAL

Over the coming weeks, we are asking the children to bring in non-perishable food items that can be donated to the St Vincent De Paul Winter Appeal.  Please place your donations into the baskets provided in the Front Office. Thank you for your support.

 

 

 

WOMEN PROMPTING CHANGE in the CHURCH - WEDNESDAY JUNE 26, 6-9pm
Catholic women are warmly invited to a free panel discussion with: Theologian Dr Margaret Scharf OP;
Anglican priest Rev Tess Milne; and Religious Studies scholar Scilla Stack discussing the role of women
in the Christian Church and their thoughts on the way forward, followed by an open discussion.
Date: Wednesday 26 June from 6.00 - 9pm. Light refreshments served from 6 - 6.30pm.
Venue: Gibney Hall, Trinity College, 2 Trinity Ave Perth (parking available, Red & Yellow CAT buses travel to Hale St).
RSVP by 23 June to Kerry ph 08 93975988 or SMS to 0400 886 835 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAM - RUNNING CLINIC

Learn running techniques for cross country, sprints & relays with coach from Let’s Run Perth.

Payment by bank transfer to Let’s Run Perth. Suitable for Year 3 to 6.

Woodlake Sports Ground, Ellenbrook

Corner of Bronzewing Ave & Tipuana Mews.

Mon, 8 July – Fri, 12 July 2019

9 – 10 am

Fee per child: $15/day

Book for 4 days, get the 5^th day FREE!

To register, click on the link below:

https://forms.gle/tHbTveEjzV81eKpr8

Or text “ELLENBROOK” to: 0402 784 225

For more info, contact: 0402 784 225 or

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsrunperth