39-49 McLaren Road,NERANG,QLD,4211,Australia Phone: 07 5596 4188

Website: http://www.sb.qld.edu.au Fax:

Email: pnerang@bne.catholic.edu.au

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Term 2 Week 9

This Sunday is the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. The readings this week focus on God’s mercy and God’s capacity to forgive.

The first reading from the second book of Samuel recounts the sordid affair involving King David, Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. The reading reveals the prophet Nathan as the one who uncovers the affair and accuses David of very serious sins. In the end David repents and God’s infinite mercy is shown when David’s horrible behaviour is forgiven. In the Gospel from Luke we have the story of the woman of ill-repute showering Jesus with customary welcoming gestures as he arrives at the house of Simon, the Pharisee. As could be expected this show of affection causes some disturbance of the social niceties of the time. Jesus argues that her great display of affection is a result of her receiving great forgiveness in her life, much like that experienced by David in the first reading. This story too highlights that those who experience a genuine turnaround in their life and let go of their former ways are able to express the relief of forgiveness by, in turn, loving and helping others. Jesus reprimands Simon with the words ‘It is the man who is forgiven little who shows little love’. Ouch I bet that hurt.

The readings this week offer great insight into the emancipating power of mercy. Not only is it relief for the one receiving mercy but life-giving to the one extending mercy. This week why not try letting go of something that is stopping you from loving others and extend mercy to someone who needs it?

Gossip (Please read below in conjunction with above)

Unfortunately I regularly deal with parents who are alarmed about ‘information’ passed on to them by other parents about alleged incidents at school. Unfortunately the information is often, incorrect, exaggerated or sometimes just malicious gossip. If you are concerned about an incident please contact the appropriate teacher for information. If you are still not satisfied please feel free to contact

one of our school leadership team. In this era of prolific social networking, where communication is instantaneous and omnipresent, unfortunately there is no guarantee of the accuracy of the information contained in the communication nor the clarification of the intentions of the source. In these situations I am reminded of the words of a wise prep teacher who reassures parents with the comforting words ‘I won’t believe everything I hear about home if you don’t believe everything you hear about school’.

What is on over the following week

The team conducting the five yearly External School Review at St Brigid’s will be onsite on Wednesday June 8. Year Five Fire Brigade visit will take place on Thursday June 9. The next round of AST rewards will be distributed on this Thursday.

We are starting to get excited about the St Brigid’s Under 8's day celebrations on this Friday June 10.

Friday Sport will continue this Friday for Years 5 and 6 – weather and grounds permitting. The monthly School Board Meeting will commence on Wednesday June 15 from 6pm. Assembly prayer this week was led by 1A whilst 1B will lead next week’s.

Car Park and Zebra Crossing

Each year I feel compelled to write and ask for users of the car park to practise and model patience, tolerance, good manners and safe behaviours. Our car park is a busy place for a short period of time every school day. It should not be a surprise to arrive at school between 2:45 and 3:15 each day to find the car park choked with vehicles. In the interests of making the best of the situation please follow these basic rules and suggestions to ensure the safety and enjoyment of all. • Use the pedestrian crossing when crossing from the school side to the car park. Please do not allow nor encourage children to weave through queued vehicles. • Do not leave your vehicle when parked in the drive-through zones • If possible delay your arrival until after 3:15 • Do not queue in two lanes in McLaren Road • If you are unable to practise patience and tolerance then please make other arrangements for collecting your child/children.

PB4L Focus

This week we will be expanding on Rule #1: Respect for self and others by revising expected behaviour when gathered in the MPA. This is a significant challenge for some children as they use the MPA for playing and learning as well as praying and listening. Each activity has different

behavioural expectations so one of the challenges of learning ‘how to do school’ is learning which behaviours go with which activity in the MPA.

Federal Election

The National Catholic Education Commission has produced some information for parents regarding funding for Catholic schools leading up the Federal election. These information fact sheets will be included in the newsletter. The second one can be accessed by clicking on the link below.

Making the World a better place

When do you think the world is going to be a better place? Could we end hunger, achieve gender equality, halt climate change, all in the next 15 years? The good news is that, according to the governments of the world, yes we can. The leaders of the world, meeting at the United Nations in New York, have agreed on a new set of Global Goals for the development of the world to 2030. That's the plan, but can we get there? Can this vision for a better world really be achieved? The answer is that maybe we actually can. But we all have to play our part. And your contribution is going to be very important indeed because you are the new generation of leaders. What if every country in the world chose to put human well-being first, using its wealth for the well-being of its citizens? Getting to the Global Goals will only happen if we do things differently, if our leaders do things differently, and for that to happen, that needs us to demand it. Let's decide what we want so that in 2030 we are all living in a better world. Acknowledgement: Michael Green, creator of the Social Progress Index.

Parish News

Celebration of Fatima Day on Monday 13th of June 2016 at Marian Valley. For bookings please call Viviane on 0755 359623. Participating in the Mass. If anyone would like to participate in the Mass by presenting the gifts or helping to take up the collections please make yourself known to the coordinator of the Mass when you

arrive. This would be a great help to the coordinator when trying to get people to do the various duties required.

The Parents and Friends Federation is the state wide parent organisation officially recognised by the Catholic Church and Catholic Education authorities for the 298 Catholic schools in Queensland. It represents the parents and carers of over 147,000 children in parish, diocesan and religious institute schools in the state. The latest newsletter from the Federation can be accessed by following the link below. I commend it to you. http://pandf.schoolzineplus.com/newsletter/13421

Kevin Bianchi

Principal

APA NEWS

UNSW Testing

This week we have five students from Year 3 to Year 6 undertaking the UNSW International Science Competition. Best wishes to each of these students as they take on this opportunity in the area of Science. Later in the year we are also offering the opportunity for students to do the UNSW Mathematics and English Competitions. If you are still interested in this opportunity for your child, and missed the notifications earlier this year in our newsletter, I would like to extend the offer for you to have your child take part. The entry fee for each test is $9 and this needs to be paid to Reception when you enter your child. Please drop in to the office before Friday 10 June and fill out a form if you would like to enter your child in this additional opportunity. Given cut-off dates for entry, no entries can be accepted after this date.

Semester 1 Reporting

It has almost come to the middle of the school year and, at the end of this term, you will receive a report for your child. What will I see on my child’s report? The report gives a summary of the achievement and progress that your child has made from the start of the year until now. In line with Australian Government legislative requirements you will see information presented in a 5 point scale. At St Brigid’s our scale uses the following terms:

Well Above Above Expected Below Well Below

The Achievement Standard is an end of year measure from the Australian Curriculum that guides learning and teaching in each subject area (for more information on the Australian Curriculum and Achievement Standards you can visit www.australiancurriculum.edu.au).

Each of these refer to how your child’s current achievement relates to their progress towards the Achievement Standard for each subject. Using a variety of evidence collected over the year so far, teachers make a judgement at this point-in-time about how your child’s achievement relates to their progress toward the standard i.e. a child receiving “Expected” is on track to meet the end of year standard, a child receiving “Below” has yet to show expected progress towards the end of year standard, a child receiving “Above” is currently showing evidence of a quality that would exceed the end of year Achievement Standard. As teachers we know that all children progress at different rates. The results your child receives this semester are not a reflection of where they could be at the end of the year, only a snap shot in time based on the evidence that teachers have collected. Your child’s report will also have three more detailed comment sections: English, Mathematics and a General Comment. In these comments you will see more detail about how your child is achieving, feedback about the quality of their achievement and some direction about where to next in their learning journey.

Please remember that you are always welcome to discuss your child’s growth and progress with the classroom teacher.

Julie Rey

APA

APRE NEWS

Prayer on Assembly

We thank Mrs Franks and her class 1A for their thoughtful prayers on assembly this week.

Next week's prayer will be led by 1B. Parents are always welcome to attend our assemblies which begin at 2.30 pm.

Vinnies Winter Food and Clothing Appeal

Please donate anynon-perishable food items, blankets and warm clothesvia your child’s classroom.

Thanks to everyone who has donated items so far. Keep them coming!

Under 8\'s Day: Friday June 10

Under 8's Day is this Friday! We are very excited and counting down the days! “Early Learning, Everyone Benefits”

Come and have some fun with your children! Siblings most welcome! See the flyer below. We look forward to having you join us!

Belinda Kingston

APRE

PASTORAL CARE

DATE CLAIMERS

Date Event Thursday 9 June 2016 Yr 5 Fire Brigade Visit Friday 10 June 2016 Under 8's Day Wednesday 22 June 2016 Prep - Yr 2 Athletics Carnival Thursday 23 June 2016 Sacramental Program Meeting 1 Friday 24 June 2016 Last Day of Term 2

Sacramental Program Meeting 2

Tuesday 19 July 2016 Senior Athletics Carnival Friday 29 July 2016 School Disco Tuesday 2 August 2016 UNSW English Comp Wednesday 10 August 2016 NAIDOC Day at St Brigid's Friday 12 August 2016 Archbishop's Visit to St Brigid's Tuesday 16 August 2016 UNSW Mathematics Test Thursday 25 August 2016 Father's Day Stall Friday 26 August 2016 Gold Coast Show Holiday

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to those in the St Brigid's community who celebrate their birthday this week:

Layla M, Tayla R, Hayden B, Eva H, Harrison W, Jada D, Uha R, Cooper W, Blake H, Eiley P, Abbie W,

Mrs Coman, Mrs Pledge

PB4L

Robo's Rule of the Week

Respect for self and others by revising expected behaviour when gathered in the MPA.

Robo Awards

Ariya 4C, Eden 4A, Chelsea 4C, Elle K 4C, Grace J 4C, Andre 0B, Jessica 3B, Duke 0C, Torrie 2A,

Maddison 0B. SPORTS REPORT - MR GUDGEON

Catholic Schools\' Cross Country Carnival

Last week saw St Brigid's oval packed with cars, competitors, and supporters for the annual Catholic Schools' Cross Country Carnival. This year's weather was fantastic with mild conditions and a dry track that was perfect for long distance running. St Brigid's Students competed with great pride and a number of students were rewarded for their efforts with podium finishes. Matthew L finished 1st in the 10 years boys division with an outstanding run that saw him lead the race and extend that lead to a huge distance by the finish line. Taj S was another standout that put in a gutsy performance on his home track to take 1st place in the 11 years boys division. Two fantastic role models for our younger competitors. Congratulations to all our runners for their awesome effort and sportsmanship on the day and we can now look forward to the upcoming athletics carnival. Congratulations to Marymount who were the overall winners on the day.

Junior Athletics Carnival (Prep- Yr 2)

It’s that time of year for our children to have some fun with their annual Junior Athletics Carnival. The children have enjoyed their weekly physical activity lessons leading up to their special day. All students have learnt many skills that they are looking forward to displaying in the days activities. The Junior Athletics Carnival will be held at St Brigid’s on Wednesday 22nd June The day will begin at 8:55am following morning roll at student classrooms. Activities that children will be participating in include; sprints, long jump, high jump, relays, and ball games. Medallions for male and female sprinting grade champions will be given out following the carnival.

Approximate Sprinting times are as follows. 9:30am – Preps 10:35am - Year 2 11:40am – Year 1 Students are required to bring recess and lunch on the day as well as enough water to keep them hydrated. In the case of wet weather the carnival will be rescheduled for next term.

Children will be required to bring with them: Water School Uniform with house coloured t-shirt School hat Food for break times A call for ‘Parent helpers’ will be announced on the morning of the carnival for those who would like to help out with any events. We are looking forward to a great day and invite all parents to join us in the fun.

Upcoming Sporting Events

Wednesday 22 June - Prep to year 2 Athletics Carnival

Tuesday 19 July - Senior Athletics Carnival

Interschool Sport

Please see the following draws for Interschool Sport. Please ensure that students have the correct safety equipment for participation. Rugby League - mouth guard Soccer - shin pads Netball - cut/taped fingernails and remove/tape earring's

Simon Gudgeon

PE Teacher and Sport Coordinator

LIBRARY NEWS

St Brigid\'s Reader\'s Cup Team

On Tuesday 7th June our St Brigid’s Year 6 Reader's Cup Team competed in the Gold Coast Reader's Regional Cup. Results to follow soon! Just a few more snapshots below from the 2016 St Brigid’s Annual Character Parade that was held in Week 7.

LIBRARY DAYS MONDAY YEARS 5 & 6 TUESDAY 5B BORROWING WEDNESDAY YEARS 1 & 2 THURSDAY YEARS 4 FRIDAY YEARS PREP & 3 Please ensure your child brings a clean library bag (preferably with a clean supermarket bag inside it) to school on their library day this week. The supermarket bags protect library books from being damaged by leaking drink bottles & wet swimming towels & bathers. If you have a collection of supermarket bags you do not need, please send them along to the library. Jan Knowles Teacher Librarian

THE ARTS

Singing Club

Singing Club is on each Thursday at 8am in the Music Room.

Maryann Sandstrom Arts Teacher

ACTIVE SCHOOL TRAVEL

Welcome to Week 9. It was great to see so many children collect their prizes for travelling actively to school. Well done to all those children and families, who have been able to travel actively to and from school. Don’t forget prizes will be awarded for the next two Thursdays in the Year 6 rooms. Don’t forget to bring your passport to school each Thursday. There are plenty of awesome prizes!

We congratulate 6A on winning the Green Boot Award for a high percentage of children walking. Well done 6A!

Keep up the active travel!

Don’t forget coffee van every Walking and Wheeling Wednesday. Enjoy!!

Year 6A Green Boot Champions

WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY NEWS

Be Sun Safe

Visitor's Register

The Visitor's Register is located at Reception and all parents and visitors are required to sign in and out. This is an essential document that keeps the school informed of all visitors and contractors who may be on site at any particular point in time. be SAFE be WELL

UNIFORM SHOP

Opening hours - Tuesday and Friday 8:30am - 9:30am

Help needed! If you have a spare hour on a Tuesday or Friday morning from 8.30 - 9.30am, your help serving would be greatly appreciated. If available to help out, please give me a call or drop in to the Uniform Shop.

Second Hand Uniforms

St Brigid’s Uniform Shop has undertaken a review of all second hand uniform items held on consignment and following that review we have implemented a new policy for families wishing to leave their second hand items on consignment. Families will be required to complete a SECOND HAND UNIFORM CONSIGNMENT AGREEMENT which is located on the Parent Portal under School Shops or from the School Office. This new policy will take effect immediately.

Deborah Laurie Uniform Shop Convenor

P & F COMMITTEE

The next P & F meeting is to be held on Tuesday 21st June at 7pm in the staff room. Community members are invited to attend. If you wish to have a matter raised at the next meeting please fill out and return via the instructions on the document. Many thanks. Helene Fahey President St Brigid's P & F Committee

TUCKSHOP

It was a busy week in tuckshop last week as St Brigid's hosted the Catholic Schools' Cross Country Carnival. Our tuckshop was responsible for catering to staff from other schools. A big thank you to the following ladies; Tracy Pautschnig, Milissa Layton, Judi Barker and Tina Barrett who helped with the making of morning tea and lunches for all the staff. Tuckshoporders must be in by 9am over the counter and by 9.15am using Flexischools. Please note that there is a fee of 10c per bag when ordering lunches over the counter. Sushi is only available on Fridays. Your order must be in by 9am on the Thursday prior to ensure we receive our orders for Friday. Ordering Sushi on Friday will not be available due to having the sushi freshly made and delivered that morning. I would like to thank the following St Brigid’s Community members, Tracy Pautschnig and Julie Wicks for helping in tuckshop over the past weeks. If you would like to come and volunteer in tuckshop please see the acting tuckshopconvenor Julie, she is happy to talk to you. Children get a big thrill seeing their family working in tuckshop. Julie Rollison Acting TuckshopConvenor

OSHC

OSHC Disco

Thank you to everyone who braved the elements to support the OSHC disco last Friday. We managed to raise $745.00 which will certainly go a long way for resources for the School ECO garden.

Margot Lowrie Coordinator St Brigid'sOSHC

June/July School Holiday Vacation Care

CLASS NEWS

Prep News

This week the children will be revising the letter and sounds they have learnt throughout the year. Congratulations to all the Prep children who won a prize for the book character parade. Thank you to all who came along and supported the children. It was good to see everyone involved.

We are continuing GuidedReading in our classrooms. The children are working in small groups and we are focusing on the Concepts of Print, and we are also practicing various Reading Strategies, to help the children to become more successful readers.

In Maths, the numbers beyond 10 are being investigated, with the focus being on the number 14. The children will show different ways to represent these numbers. We continue to find the 2D shapes and 3D objects in our environment and discuss how they differ. We are all looking forward to June 10 for our Under 8’s Day. Many thanks to all those who have offered to help on this special day. We still need helpers on the day to take groups of children to the different activities.

As the middle of the year is approaching, we remind you that the Prep children need to practise their sight words regularly. It is important, as we would like to make sure all Prep children have as many opportunities as possible, to be independent readers upon entering Grade One. As St Brigid’s School is a visible learning school, we are encouraging the children to focus on the following key questions, to help them to become responsible and independent learners. • What are you learning? • How are you going? • How do you know? • How can you improve? • Where do you go for help?

Year 1 News

We are looking forward to Under Eight’s Day this Friday. We hope many parents and other family members come along. As we begin the countdown to the end of term, we are in the process of the last of the assessment and some reflection on the highlights of the term. We have had a great time with our author studies and our Fairy Tales. We are enjoying lots of discussion about writing our own narratives. In Maths, we remind all parents the importance of how children need to go through stages in their development of acquisition of number concepts. It is not enough to get an answer right when doing operations. The students need to truly understand what they are doing. Many of the students still need concrete materials to manipulate when doing addition or subtraction. It is vital to let them go through this stage. The other important step is for operations to be related to real life problem solving situations. It’s amazing how quickly they get to know money sums if they have to work out prices of what they can buy at the tuckshop. Our family reading helpers are doing an amazing job. It is always a joy to see a child’s face light up as they enjoy reading their own story. Don’t forget the power of reading to your child each day as well.

Year 2 News

Year Two have almost completed their science unit of "How Living Things Change and Grow". The children have taken home their sunflower seedlings to plant in the garden or in a pot so that they can continue to observe the life cycle of a sunflower. We encourage them to take a photo of their sunflower once it blooms and bring the photo in to share with the class. The students are looking forward to Under Eight's Day this Friday 10th June. They are very excited about all of the activities that are on offer on the day. Please return your Under Eight's Day note if you haven't done so already as this helps with the catering and organisation of the day. Please continue to talk to your child about their learning goals. Ask them how they can enhance their learning and what they need to do to improve and do their best.

Year 2C Study Ladder certificate holders - Well Done!

Year 3 News

Year 3 are looking at the expressionist artist James Rizzi and are trying copy his style and images as we strive to extend our artistic skills. Our goal in Year 3 is to expand our knowledge and to apply new techniques to our Visual Arts program. We are combining our Visual Arts program as we change the face of our building and sky line for Surfers Paradise, with the HaSS (Humanities and Social Science) curriculum. During Term 2 part of our HaSS program has a focus on history, as we consider a ‘Now and Then’ look at the Gold Coast. As part of this and Reconciliation Week we reflect on how the same area has changed over the years from the days of our indigenous people and their stewardship of the land, until present day.

As part of the subject ‘Design and Digital Technology’, the children will google photos of the Gold Coast, both past and present to compare natural and man made features in the local area. The children will be reviewing and comparing places on the Gold Coast, as they formulate ideas on why these places may change or stay the same. The children make connections during this unit as they hypothesise reasons why we have virtually no photos in the 1800’s, so few photos in the early 1900’s, some in the mid-1900’s and an increasing amounts of photos up until today. These connections allow us the opportunity to see how the impact of technology such as cameras, mobile phones and use of the internet has improved and has become part of our daily lives.

Year 5 News

Congratulations to all Year 5 students who participated in the Reader's Cup competition this week and in particular those teams who made in to the final round next week. This Thursday we are expecting a visit from the Fire Brigade, we are looking forward to learning more about the prevention and management of bush fires. This visit will provide information for the students to help them with their assessment on natural disasters.

Year 5 participating in Reader's Cup

Year 6 News

It has been a busy week for our Year 6 leaders with many ‘steppingup’ to take on extra responsibilities. The Winter Appeal group this week went to visit classrooms to talk about the plight of the homeless in our community and how we can help by donating winter items. Collection day is every Thursday and we are collecting an ever-growing pile of goodies. Read the article written by this week’s group for more information. The Catholic Schools' Cross Country Carnival was held on Wednesday and, as well as the students who proudly represented our school in the run, we had several students who assisted with duties such as delivering lunches to the teachers from the various schools. It was wonderful to see all of our students cheer on, not only St Brigid’s runners but those of all the schools. This was a great display of sportsmanship.

Our leaders have also continued to help with the Active School Travel distribution of prizes rewarded to those who have their passports signed. Our Canberra Information Night was well attended and we thank Pam from Educative Tours for speaking to us about many activities the students will experience on the trip. We will be sending a detailed itinerary home when all adjustments have been finalised. Finally, here are some belated photos of the Taiko drumming workshop that our wonderful Sensei organised for our students. Who knew that you could have such an awesome time with rubbish bins? They sounded pretty good too!

Year 6 Winter Appeal Article

OFFICE NEWS

Term 2 Fees

School fees for Term 2 2016 were due for payment 29 April 2016. Reminder letters have now been issued. Please pay all outstanding monies immediately.

There are a number of payment options available which include Direct Debit, Credit Card, BPAY, Eftpos, Cash (only with the correct amount as we do not carry any change), Cheque and Centrepay. Forms for Direct Debit, Credit Card and Centrepay are available on the Parent Portal and the School Office. Jo Duran Finance Officer

Parent Portal

Access to the Parent Portal is via the school website under the Community Access tab. This year parents will be able to set up Parent Portal access and also reset passwords themselves (use link below). Your username will be the email address that you provided to the school, ie. the address that your fee statement is sent to. Please contact the Office if you have any queries in relation to this. Users need to select the BCE blue box then 'Forgotten Password/First-Time Login' icon from the Login screen identified in the screen shot below:

Please be advised that when using the new reset function, you only have 15 minutes once receiving the new temporary password via email to use it and enter in a new password. If still having problems, we suggest trying the following: • Clear cache and cookies. • Close browser and reopen to login again. • Ensure the email address you are using to log in is the same address we have on our system. i.e. the address your fee statement is sent to.

Thanks for your patience with this.

Once you have accessed the Parent Portal, you may like to download our BCE Connect App from any App Store. You will need your log on details from the Portal to access the App. The App contains the same information as the Parent Portal but may be more accessible being on your mobile phone.

Lost Property

Lost property not claimed after a period of time will be given to charity or disposed of. Please remember to label all items and check if the hat/jumper your child has in their bag is their own. Sometimes, items belonging to other children are picked up from the playground and placed in their bags by mistake without the children checking first if it belongs to them. Student Absences

When leaving a message on the School Absences Line - please clearly state the following

• Student's name • Class • Reason for absence - VERY IMPORTANT

Please call the Absences Line prior to 9am on the day of the absence. Administration of Medication

Student Medication Request forms must be completed by a parent/caregiver and handed to the school office in order to authorise the administration of medication to a student. All Medication (including store bought creams etc) must be provided in original pharmacy labelled container before it can be administered at school. Please see below an extract from Brisbane Catholic Education’s Medication Policy: Medication to Students: Routine, Emergency and Over the Counter Medication, including paracetamol, shall be provided by the parents in the original container not past its expiry date. For any prescribed medication, the following information is to be provided on the pharmacy label: • name of the person authorised to take the medication • dosage • date and time to be taken, and • medical practitioner’s name.

Over-the-counter including complementary medications will not be supported by the school without advice from a medical practitioner. Please click on the link below to download and print a form. Have you changed your Contact Details?

As we may need to contact you urgently at any time due to your child being unwell or in the case of an accident, it is imperative that we have your current contact details. If you have moved house, changed your workplace, email address or phone number/s recently, please call into the office to complete a Change of Address/Contacts form. School Banking

St Brigid's School Banking day is Wednesday.

Please remember to complete all details on your deposit slip.

Cash deposits only please, the bank does not accept cheques to school banking accounts.

Prizes for Term 2 - Mudsplat Handball and Outback Pat Back Tag

Please note the Flying Snake Tail (from Term 1) is now out of stock.

COMMUNITY NEWS

Bus Travel Rebates

Advertise Your Business

Advertise your business on the Electronic School Newsletter with a link to your website. If you are interested please call AustNews on 07 3330 1606.