St Brigid's College Horsham

Weekly eNewsletter

Newsletter No. 14 | 28th May 2021

Principal's Report

Dear families,

As we enter the 7 day lockdown, it is timely to recall what we have learnt over the last 12 months. What has impressed me the most about the St Brigid’s community is the positive relationships that exist and the resilience shown by students and staff. In these times of Remote Learning, we have accepted challenges and have discovered that we can be agile learners – anywhere and anytime learners. These attributes will hold us in good stead as we move into an unknown future. We look forward to seeing our students in the flesh on Friday 4 June.

This week we celebrated 200 Years of Catholic Education in Australia and we became part of the Diocesan celebration in Ballarat at St Patrick’s Cathedral. Then on Wednesday we shared a Mass and celebration with the Catholic Primary schools in the Parish, culminating in a sausage sizzle and a tour of our impressive STEAM building – there were many awestruck kids eager to join St Brigid’s in the years to come.

As a community we celebrate both the new connections we make and, sadly, the lives of those we have lost. I am sure I speak for all in our community as we pass on our condolences to Greta Arnel ( Yr8 ) who lost her Grandfather, John, in recent weeks. I am sure there are many memories for Greta and her family to cherish. I also ask that members of the community keep us informed of the important moments that occur, both joyful and sad, by contacting the school office.

I would also like to wish Mr Nathan Metcalf, our IT Network Administrator, the best of luck as he leaves his role here at St Brigid’s for an exciting opportunity in the international field. He will be missed as his dedication and knowledge is greatly valued. We will be advertising for his replacement this week.


Keep safe,

Gerard Raven

Catholic Education Week Mass

On Wednesday our students and staff attended a combined Catholic Education Week Mass with SMJ Horsham, Our Lady Help of Christians Murtoa and St Patrick's Nhill at Ss Michael & John's Catholic Church, led by Monsignor Glynn. This year marks the 200 year anniversary for Catholic Education in Australia, with this year's theme celebrating 'Faith in the Future'. We continue to respond to our mission of meeting the educational and spiritual needs of young people and our communities. After the mass, all the primary students enjoyed a BBQ lunch prepared by St Brigid's senior students at Coughlin Park Community Centre.


NCCD Information for Parents, Carers and Guardians

Food Technology

Yr 7 Foods

YEAR 7 | Who doesn’t like ice-cream . . . . even on a cold day?!  To finish off their Mixtures Unit, Year 7’s made their own mixture . . . Ice-cream! Here is the recipe:

1. In a small snap lock bag, add 1/4 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of cream, 3/4 Tbsp sugar (can add less), 1/4 tsp vanilla. 2. In a large snap lock bag, add 4 cups of ice and 1/2 cup of salt. 3. Place the small snap lock bag into the large snap lock bag and shake gently for approximately 5 minutes.  (We placed two small bags into one large as we were working in pairs) 4. Enjoy! We learnt that salt lowers the melting point of ice, making it colder than ice on its own, helping our mixture to form into ice-cream. The students all agreed that they liked this type of mixture!

Year 9 Career Education Program

YEAR 9 CAREER EDUCATION PROGRAM| Last week we had an amazing Career Education Day with local business people stepping in to offer their experience and expertise across the many facets of careers and pathways on offer. The purpose of our day was to improve the students understanding of the pathway options that will support the upcoming subject selection process. Our Year 9 students soaked up a lot of valuable information! A big thank you to Mrs Lesley Lannen and the team at Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN for organising all the fantastic workshops ranging from Agriculture, Health, Construction and Engineering; to Employer Expectations, Aprenticeships & SBAT, Resumes and the importance of young people entering the workforce. Thank you also to all our special guest speakers! Our Year 9 parents/guardians were invited to a Career Conversations Information Session to provide information and tools to support their children with their future pathways. Thank you Vanessa and Tim from Wimmera & Southern Mallee LLEN for their time.

Product Design and Technology

Our students studying Product Design & Technology learned first-hand about the production processes in industry through their excursion to Oscar Furniture.  Students then used the information and knowledge gained from this visit to complete their assessment task on Product Development in Industry. A special thanks to Matthew and Daniel Op de Coul for generously taking us through their business!

Japanese Studies

Last Monday was a busy day at St Brigid’s, with many of our Year 9 and Year 10 students out at a Halogen Student Leadership conference.

However, just enough remained at school to be able to participate in a demonstration of some of the learning done by students of Japanese at this level. Five students, Japanese assistant teacher Yoko Cross, and senior teacher Jeni Allen set up a demonstration table to show off our knowledge of Japanese shuji writing. We offered to write the names of interested passers-by in celebratory red strips of paper edged with gold glitter, and making and giving away origami cranes.

Despite the relatively slow pace of Monday shopping at the Plaza, the interest and appreciation of passers-by was encouraging.  We were lucky to attract the attention of two families, with children, who had come especially to see us in action. Maybe, in a year or so, we will see those children at St Brigid’s learning, themselves, the arts of shuji and origami ....

Halogen Leadership Conference

Year 10 Work Experience

Student News

Last week, at SMJ Horsham's weekly assembly, Mrs Cox thanked our four Year 10 students who have completed their Work Experience at the primary school. Mrs Cox noted that Brodie, Larissa, Claire and Ryan were all in the student intake when she began at Ss Michael's so it was wonderful to see them return again with an interest in primary teaching.Thank you SMJ for hosting our students!

200 YEARS OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION | On Monday, Mr Raven, Mr Butler and a small group of our senior leadership students (Megan, Liam, Toby and Grace) travelled with our local principals and school student leaders to Ballarat for the special Catholic Education Week Diocesan Mass. The Mass brought together students, staff, parents and the wider community to the Ballarat Cathedral to pray in thanksgiving for 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia.

Yr 11 Retreat

Last week our Year 10 Foundation Maths class ran a Bake Sale for staff offering a delicious array of sweet and savoury goodies to purchase.The Bake Sale was a wonderful opportunity for the students to count money and calculate profits.Well done on a great job!

Calendar of Events

SMJ Experience Days - Wed 9th June and Thursday 10th June

YEAR 9 ECO RETREAT - Wednesday 9th June - Friday 11th June

PUBLIC HOLIDAY - Monday 14th June

Wimmera Careers Expo - Tuesday 22nd June 

Last day of term - Friday 25th June 








Teacher Advisor Schedule

All our students are assigned to a vertical homeroom consisting of students from Years 7 – 12.  Home room groups stay together for their entire school life at St Brigid’s, encouraging leadership, community and familiarity and giving students a real opportunity to know each other and their advisor.  Lifelong friendships are formed where there may not otherwise be the opportunity.

The Teacher Advisor (TA) program is part of the daily life of students. Homerooms meet for 10 minutes each morning, and approximately every six weeks each student meets individually with their Teacher Advisor to discuss and monitor their academic and pastoral progress. A report over viewing the student’s academic achievement and future goals for improvement is formulated from this interview and made available to parents via our online Parent Access Module (PAM).  This regular contact builds trust and strong relationships between students, teachers and families.   It ensures that families and teachers know each student’s strengths and needs and that secure relationships are formed that guide the students along their learning journey.

Our TA Schedule for Term 2 can be found below.

Careers News

Please click on the link to view the Weekly Careers News: https://www.facebook.com/St-Brigids-College-Careers-Pathways-101468101529474

Wonder Recycling

The Wonder Recycling Rewards is a fun and easy program we’ve joined to collect and recycle plastic bread bags and bread tags at school. Once collected, Wonder is going to turn the plastic into wonderful things like school play equipment! As a registered school, our recycling efforts will earn us rewards points to redeem new sports equipment from RHSports. Please note that plastic bread bags or wraps packs not limited to the Wonder brand. Bread bags should be free from crumbs to ensure no contamination during the recycling process but they do not need to be washed.We have a designated recycling box at the front office if you wish to send your bread bags in to school. Thanks for your support!

Thanks to our Sponsors

St Brigid's College Horsham

Succeeding Together: Respecting, Inspiring, Valuing and Empowering