St Brigid's College Horsham

Dear families,

Please remember in your prayers Keely and Archie Elliott and their family as their Grandmother, Noreen O'Connor passed away this week and Troy Brand and his family over the loss of their Grandfather, Alan Taylor.  

In this Sunday’s Gospel, if we were allowed to attend Mass, we would have heard of Jesus feeding the 5000. Some scholars say the miracle here is that so many people with so few resources were prepared to share their food with the gathered crowds. By drawing on the community’s resources, Jesus provided sustenance to all. There are parallels to the current situation we find ourselves in: we are required to sustain one another and share our skills and talents.

Lord Jesus:

I give you my hands to do your work

I give you my feet to go your way

I give you my eyes to see as you do

I give you my tongue to speak your words

I give you my mind that you may think in me

I give you my spirit that you may pray in me

Above all:

I give you my heart that you may love in me,

your Father and all mankind.

I give you my whole self that you may grow in me,

So that it is you, Lord Jesus, who live and work and pray in me.

Once again our resilience and agility have been called upon to navigate our way through uncertain and changing times. And once again, I take immense pride in the way the St Brigid’s community has responded. I would like to thank the teachers and support staff for pivoting so quickly to ensure that our learning program continues, and I thank the students and their families for adapting to the demands of Remote Learning and taking responsibility for their learning. Hopefully, we will all be back together onsite next week, and I will keep you updated via email.

At this stage, the General Achievement Test (GAT) has been re-scheduled for Thursday, 12th August for all students undertaking a VCE Unit 3 / 4 subject. We will provide specific advice to our senior students next week.

Currently, Interschool Sport has been postponed for the remainder of Term 3 and again we will keep you updated with changes.

Once our students are back at school we will aim to get back into a routine to provide them with certainty. I have included in today's newsletter resources detailing options for Wellbeing Support for Secondary Students as well as highlighting this webpage which offers strategies to assist with COVID Fatigue and Youth Mental Health https://schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-covid-fatigue-youth-mental-health?id=broadcast .

Next week we will be mailing an online School Improvement Survey from Insight SRC to a random selection of families. This is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of parents' perceptions of their children's experience of school. The results will benefit everyone within the school by providing valuable information about the ways in which the school can use staff, student and parent input to plan programs and activities to improve your child's experience at school. If you do receive an invitation to participate in this survey we ask that you take part as the success of this important project is dependent on staff, student and parent involvement. 

New Parish – You may have heard by now that the four former local parishes of Horsham, Hopetoun, Nhill and Warracknabeal have been dissolved with the establishment of one big new one – the Saint Paul VI Parish. Saint Paul VI was the first Pope to visit Australia (1970) and oversaw the modernisation of the Mass after Vatican II. Monsignor Glynn Murphy will be the Parish Priest with Father Jim Mackay as assistant. The St Brigid’s community congratulate and welcome all members of the new Parish.

Reminder:  EFTPOS at Canteen is available if students bring their Debit Cards – no access by phone.

Kind regards,

Gerard Raven

Principal

BRIGHT SPARKS | Applications are now open for our Term 3 intake of our incredible Bright Sparks Program! The Bright Sparks program is open to all Wimmera students in Grade 4, 5 and 6 and is a series of fun and free workshops aimed at extending and challenging gifted, talented and highly interested students in different areas such as cooking, sport, robotics, science, reading, woodwork, creativity and more! The program will run each Wednesday afternoon (3.45pm-5.00pm) for four weeks, beginning 18th August through to 8th September. Students are provided with drinks and a fruit snack prior to each workshop. Our program also allows students to familiarise themselves in a secondary school setting and foster friendships with students from other schools across the Wimmera. How to apply: Click on the link and complete the Google Form below. It’s that easy! https://forms.gle/156XRnogu71sd7D48

St Brigid's College students Mikayla Sotiriadis (Year 10) and Grady McCourt (Year 8) tested their geographical skills and knowledge against students from all around Australia in the 2021 Australian Geography Competition.

The Teaching and Learning Team had recently received the results and were pleased with how the two students had performed. 

Grady McCourt performed to a very high level in the Competition this year, achieving a High Distinction. This meant he was in the top 10.65% who achieved this score or higher. 

Mikayla Sotiriadis achieved a Credit for her efforts and was acknowledged as being in the top 33.62% to achieve this score or higher. 

Over 73,000 students from 727 schools across Australia entered the Australian Geography Competition so the results give us an external benchmark as to how our students are going in certain aspects of geography.

Rachel Honey, the Competition’s national coordinator, said “The Competition aims to encourage student interest in geography and to reward student excellence.”

“Geography is such an important subject because it develops in students a holistic understanding of the world around them, and their place in it,” said Ms Honey.

The Competition is a joint initiative of the Australian Geography Teachers’ Association and the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland. 

Both students will be awarded their certificates later in the year at our St Brigid's College Achievement Assembly. We commend them for the efforts and wonderful achievement. 

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 3 can be found below.

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