March

8 Harmony Night

15 Pie Drive orders and monies due

20 Zone Swimming Carnival 22 Yr 5/6 Sacrament of Penance

with Fr Dan 28 Pick Up Pie Orders at

Tuckshop (2.00-3.00pm)

April 5 Last day of Term 1; Whole

school Mass (9.00am) 23 First Day of Term 2

17 Hawtree Street, Moorooka

Phone: 3275 2081 Fax: 3216 7873

pmoorooka@bne.catholic.edu.au

www.stbrendansmoorooka.qld.edu.au

PRINCIPAL

Nicole Cole

PARISH PRIEST

Fr Dan Redhead

6 March 2019

6

Dear Parents/Carers This morning we all attended the Ash Wednesday mass in our church. We were thrilled and privileged to be able to welcome St Pius X School students and staff to celebrate this special day with us. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of a very important season in the church’s liturgical calendar. Lent is a time when we all take the time to reflect and renew our commitment to God and a time for spiritual renewal in the lead up to Easter. Thank you to Mrs Quincey and Mr Gerrard (APRE – St Pius X, Salisbury) for preparing this special liturgy and ensuring the St Pius students came to us easily and safely. Thank you also to Mrs Helen Boevink (Principal – St Pius X, Salisbury) for working with us to make this special occasion happen. We were also thrilled that all of the children and staff could join us for a play and some lunch. A very special gift for all of our students and staff to experience. My heart was filled with pride last Sunday afternoon as Mrs Quincey and I attended the inaugural Youth Mass at St Pius X Church – Salisbury. It was a lovely celebration of the Eucharist and it was so pleasing to see so many young people and their families filling the church. Congratulations to Victoria Coad (Year 6) who played the piano during Communion. She did a wonderful job playing in front of so many people. Victoria was the only St Brendan’s representative to participate in the liturgy. Thank you Victoria – you were amazing! Congratulations also goes to Mrs Ibbott’s husband Dan who had a dream of introducing a Youth Mass into the Moorooka/Salisbury Parish. I am sure that he was filled with pride at the incredible success of this inaugural youth celebration. It is hoped that the Youth Mass will become a permanent feature of school Parish celebrations – I strongly encourage all of our families to attend this special celebration and provide our children with this uplifting and faith-filled experience. I will confirm the date of the next youth mass in future newsletters. As mentioned in last week’s newsletter this week is Well-Being Week. This will occur in Week 6 of each term – it is a time where we all ‘take a breath’, rest, rejuvenate and recover from the busyness of life. Well-Being Week at St Brendan’s will give us the time and opportunity to take care of each other and ourselves. There will be no formal homework (only reading, spelling and number facts to practice), no staff meeting and time to prioritise spending quality time with family. I hope that you enjoy this ‘down’ time and this extra time with each other.

It is hard to believe that it is that time of the year but this Friday evening we gather again for our wonderful Harmony Night celebrations. This is a long standing tradition at St Brendan’s and there have been some hard working volunteers organizing things behind the scenes. It was fabulous to see the orange decorations appear on our school fencing last week.

This special evening of celebrations begins at 6.00pm.

Please see the flyer attached to today’s newsletter for further details of what is planned for Harmony Night – I can’t wait to taste the yummy food that so many of our diverse families bring along to share with the whole community – looking forward to seeing as many of our families attending as possible.

Thank you to the many families who have been quick to meet their immediate financial obligation to the school through the payment of Term 1 school fees. Please contact Gayle Nicholson or myself in the office for a confidential discussion, if this Term 1 payment will be difficult for you.

Parent/Carer/Teacher Interviews will occur from Monday March 25. This year we will use an online booking system for these interviews. Parent Teacher Online will be the system that we use and all families will be able to access this through our St Brendan’s BCE Connect App.

We are in the final stages of set up and next week will outline clearly what is required and how all families will book an interview time. Look out for the PTO symbol.

Don’t forget: Each family is expected to be represented during the interview process. Thank you for your support of this very important process.

During the Leadership Forum last Monday, Brisbane Catholic Education launched the Engage Strategy. A major focus area across our system of schools this year is the Attendance Initiative.

Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) system data shows that 1 in 5 Primary students and 1 in 3 Secondary students do not attend school regularly. The impact on learning outcomes and student wellbeing is significant. The attendance goal for every BCE school is 90% or more of students attending 90% or more of the time.

Key measures of success for the Attendance Initiative include:

improved student attendance levels for each school

reduction in absences, especially unexplained

staff and family awareness, understanding and implementation of the school’s attendance procedures.

Please find included with this Newsletter some interesting information and statistics about the importance of regular attendance.

As we journey through Lent let us keep Christ at the heart of all our words and actions.

Let us focus our lives more clearly on walking the way of Christ and living the Christian way of life.

This blessing prayer is prayed over those who are preparing for baptism at Easter.

Through these blessings we remember them today. We will mark one another with a small cross as a reminder

that, through baptism, we belong to Christ.

I pray that you all have a terrific week. May God’s blessings be with you and your families today and always!

Take care and God bless always In Faith and Love Nicole Cole Principal

Religious Education

On Monday the students from Grade Three shared their learning in Religion by reminding us that Jesus teaches us to make good and moral choices, through the Beatitudes. Our school is a beautiful welcoming place for our students that is a daily example of the Beatitudes. Students opening doors for teachers and parents, comforting one another in times of pain and acting as peacemakers to resolve their conflicts. As we begin the Church season of Lent, a 40 day period in preparation for Easter, we are challenged to be the ‘best version’ of ourselves.

Shrove Tuesday

Pancakes were enjoyed yesterday to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Traditionally pancakes were made and eaten as a way to use up all of the sugars and fats in the cupboard before the fasting began.

Ash Wednesday

Thank you to all of the students and families that attended Ash Wednesday Mass today. We were blessed to also be joined by the St Pius X teachers, families and students from Years 3-6, who stayed for lunch and a play afterwards. A special thank you to Father Dan for leading our mass and for explaining the significance of Ash Wednesday to our younger members of our community.

Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion theme this year is ‘Give Lent 100%’. Each week a story is shared on how donations make a real difference for the communities receiving support. They are not only empowered to undertake community changing projects but filled with hope for a brighter future. Each of the classes have donation boxes on their prayer spaces. If you are able, please give generously to this cause.

“I loved the music and singing” Grace—Year 2

“Fr Dan put ashes on our foreheads to remind us of Jesus” Monyon—Year 2

International Women’s Day

This Friday is International Women’s Day, celebrating the contribution of women to our society. It is empowering to know that women and men have an equally strong presence in many domains and that there has been much progress with the diminishing of stereotypes. This Friday Rose Williams (our Primary Learning Leader) will attend a luncheon honouring all women and their place within our world.

Harmony Night

On Friday night I am excited to be joining our St Brendan’s families at our Harmony Night celebration. This is my first Harmony Night event and given the many stories from the children and staff I am sure it will be a memorable occasion.

Mel Quincey (APRE)

March 6 Ethan Praveen 11 Ruby Burnham

11 Shreesha Shrestha

PIE DRIVE

Orders and money to be back at the

Office by 15th March.

Pie Pick up date is 28th March at the

Tuckshop 2.00-3.00pm.

PREP: STAR STUDENT - Nina Fraser In Prep we have been working on sharing our likes and dislikes about a

picture book. In Religion, we have been learning about how we can talk to

God and the Golden Rule – treating others how we want to be treated.

In Maths, we have been naming and sequencing numbers to 10.

YEAR 1: STAR STUDENT - Cerrin Ranger In Religion, Year 1 has read the book God’s Dream and have discussed what they can do to live their

lives the way God wants them to. In English, Year 1 has continued to focus on making connections

with characters and events in stories. The latest text they have been working with is ‘Alexander and

the Terrible, Horrible, no Good, Very Bad Day’. Year 1 thought about things that made them not have

very good days. In Maths, Year 1 is learning to count to and from 100. They used lots of different

materials to make tens. They were then able to count to 100 in tens. They have also been learning

about how to construct and read graphs. In Science, Year 1 has done some fun experiments about

liquids, solids and gases. They made jelly and saw how liquids can become solid. They then melted

chocolate and saw how solids can become liquids. They then put the liquid chocolate in the

freezer. What do you think will happen to the liquid chocolate?

YEAR 2: STAR STUDENT - Ethan Praveen Year 2 have focused on developing their understanding of number patterns when using numbers

that make 10. We have also be focusing number before and after when using a hundreds grid. We

explored he characteristics of different characters in fairy tales. The texts we have focused on so far

are, Rumpelstiltskin and Hansel and Gretel. These stories are fairy tales because they are fiction,

have magical creatures, set in castle and forests and have an underlying battle between good and

evil. In Science, we investigated the water cycle and why water is such a special resource to our

planet. We conducted an experiment using shaving foam and dye to see how precipitation works.

YEAR 3: STAR STUDENT - Brendan Nurzynski The Rockstars are looking forward to Harmony Night on Friday. We hope to see you all there. Thanks

to Mrs Cole for us having our own laptop. We can work as a Team to share, develop and publish

work. In Maths, we are working on place value and ordering numbers. In Science, we are editing our

final copy of our information report on living and non living things. You will soon see our work on the

staircase to our class. The Decalogue and Beatitudes were 2 ways God gave us rules to help us live a

good moral life. We use these to help us at St Brendan’s.

YEAR 4: STAR STUDENT - Merhawi Kidanemaryam Warkaneh The Year 4 students have been working on reading and writing 5 digit numbers. They have

written a personal recount and are working together to edit their writing. In Science, Year 4

have investigated the properties of cotton and polyester. They are using maps to find out

about the physical features of Australia, Africa and South America.

YEAR 5/6: STAR STUDENT - Victoria Coad This week our Senior students have been studying squared and triangular numbers in Mathematics.

They have been gardening with a special visitor, working on enhancing their narratives by editing

them, adding similes, metaphors and onomatopoeia. In Religion, they have been analysing decisions

made both communally and personally and what guidance influences these decisions. Also, they’ve

reviewed what federation means in HaSS and discussed reasons ‘for’ and ‘against’ the federation of a

nation. In Science, they made yummy bread and learnt about the importance of micro-organisms in

our world.

For Your Information:

St Thomas More College – Cnr Troughton Road & Turton Street Sunnybank.

Visitors’ Day 12 March Session 1 – 9:15am and Session 2 – 4:15pm

St Thomas More College is hosting a visitors’ day on Tuesday 12 March where families are invited to attend the 9:15 or 4:15 session. Visitors’ days provide families with the opportunity to meet our Principal, Mr Les Conroy, staff and students, as well as tour College facilities.

We are accepting enrolment applications for students currently in Years 5 & 4.

To register please contact the College Administration Office: 3323 4600 or email enrolments@stmc.qld.edu.au

March 2019

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

31

1

NO

SWIMMING

2

3

4

5

PE

SHROVE

TUESDAY

6

ART ASH

WEDNESDAY

Sacrament of Penance lesson

3.30pm at St Pius X Church Salisbury

7

MUSIC/DRAMA

8

HARMONY

NIGHT

9

10 11

12

PE

13

ART

Sacrament of Penance lesson

3.30pm at St Pius X Church Salisbury

14

MUSIC/DRAMA

15

Fr Dan visiting

Yr 1 9.45am

PIE DRIVE

ORDERS DUE

16

17

18

19

PE

20

ART

Zone Swimming Carnival

21

MUSIC/DRAMA

22

NO

SWIMMING

Yr 5/6 Sacrament of

Penance with Fr Dan 9.45am

23

24

25

26

PE

27

ART

28

MUSIC/DRAMA

2.00-3.00pm

COLLECT PIE

DRIVE ORDERS

@ Tuckshop

29

30

April 2019

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3

ART

4

MUSIC/DRAMA

5

Last Day of

Term 1

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14 15

16

17

18

Holy Thursday

19

Good Friday

20

21

Easter Sunday

22

23

PE

First Day for

Term 2

24

ART

25

MUSIC/DRAMA

26

27

28

29

30

PE