St Brigid’s College Horsham | News 19 Term 3

NEWSLETTERSt Brigid’s College Horsham | 97 Robinson Street, Horsham VIC 3400(03) 5382 3545 | www.stbc.vic.edu.au 28th Aug 2020

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FROM THE PRINCIPALDear Parents/Guardians,

With September just a week away, we await the arrival of Spring, the season of new beginnings. The symbolism of spring is one most people can appreciate. In cultural traditions, the world over, it is a time of rebirth when our emotions are lifted by the extra light and warmer temperatures. After this most recent period of locking in to

protect our community, the very thought of Spring hopefully brings some optimism and hope.

I wish to acknowledge the continued excellent work of our community of students, parents and staff as we navigate the experience of Remote Learning 2.0. Whilst we would all prefer to be learning onsite, we are also very aware of the importance of keeping our community safe. Thank you for your dedication, partnership and support. We know it is “a marathon not a sprint” and St Brigid’s is once again, proving to be a well-prepared community with the endurance to not only survive the distance but also learn new skills, stay connected and thrive along the journey.

This term involves planning for the following school year with our incoming students and their families being welcomed into our community, students choosing personal learning pathways and subjects and staff collaborating to create new and meaningful learning courses that promise to engage and motivate our students. This jigsaw puzzle of sorts is clearly dependent on the accuracy of our student enrolments. It is around this time that parents may be exploring options way from our College. Should this be the case then the Front Office has exit forms for students not returning in 2021. These forms need to be completed, signed and returned to allow us to offer places to other students, finalise our classes for next year and complete transfers to other schools.

FACE-TO-FACE TEACHINGCurrent advice from the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria states that we will remain in remote learning for the remainder of Term 3. The Education Minister, Mr Merlino, has stated that he expects schools will resume face-to-face teaching in Term 4, with the easing of current restrictions introduced to control the spread of COVID-19. The format and timing of this potential reopening of face-to-face teaching have yet to be finalised and will depend on the advice of Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton. Mr Merlino also stated a decision on a resumption of school-based classes would be made before the start of school holidays on September 19th. I will certainly advise all within our community as soon as this advice is made known.

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ESSENTIAL ASSESSMENTS FOR VCE AND VCALInformation received from the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) has highlighted advice received from the VCAA regarding students undertaking Unit 3&4 and VCAL and the permission granted for these students to attend onsite for essential assessments which include all School-based Assessments (School-assessed Coursework and School-assessed Tasks) for all studies and VCAL strands. This permission will certainly alleviate, to a degree, the anxiety of students undertaking studies which include essential practical components of their studies.

There are a number of COVID-19 related Health directions and CECV guidelines which must be strictly adhered to in relation to students entering the school for these essential assessments. Whilst most of these directions relate to the actual classroom setting, there are some that are to be adhered to before entering the classroom.

Any VCE or VCAL student attending St Brigid’s for their essential assessments and their teacher must report to the Front Office in the first instance. At the Front Office all students and their teacher must sign in, be temperature tested and then move directly to the nominated classroom for the essential assessment. This means that entry for these students and their teacher must be through the front entrance to St Brigid’s. A mask must be worn at all times unless special direction has been given by the VCAA. No one can simply move directly to the classroom. At the conclusion of the assessment students and teacher must move directly back to the Front Office and sign out. A thorough clean of the classroom and any equipment used will then take place.

STUDENT LEADERS 2021The process of appointing our Student Leaders for 2021 has just commenced with our current Year 11 cohort. Information has been sent to all Year 11 students from John Lowes, Student Wellbeing Team member. We look forward to our Year 11 students accepting the challenges of student leadership within our College and regular updates will be placed in future newsletters.

SCHOLARSHIPSSt Brigid’s College regards life as learning. A St Brigid’s College education is about life and everything we do is an opportunity to learn. We are very clear about what drives our decisions around teaching and learning; it is about the fun of challenge, the exhilaration of change. It is also about engagement and capacity to change; about passion and clarity; about a chance to bring something extra to the ordinary.

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DR DELANY AWARDS YEAR 11 & 12 Ben Severin Awarded for his commitment to English and Further Maths.

YEAR 9 & 10 Aaron Reynolds

Awarded for his commitment to Food Studies in particular completing the Great Ocean

Road Dairy Competition.

YEAR 7 & 8 Charlie Kuhn Awarded for her great work ethic and results in Maths.

Yours in the community of St Brigid’s College,

Peter GutteridgePrincipal

We believe that, in cooperation with the learner, inspiring and exceptional teaching produces extraordinary achievement for every student. Our school’s commitment to achieving outstanding results means that, from Year 7 through to Year 12, we work to create an explicit culture of awareness about everything that our students do in their school lives. Firstly, they are ‘fired up’ to learn and then prepared to participate fully in the process that will ensure individual success.We help students set clear goals, establish standards and closely monitor their progress.

We work on the formula that:passionate belief + inspiring with exceptional teaching and learning = extraordinary results.

Applications are now open to apply for our 2021 scholarships. For full details and application forms please click the link to go to our website: click here

PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWSMany thanks to our staff, parents and students who attended our virtual Parent/Teacher interviews last week. It appears that the interviews were informative and beneficial despite being delivered by zoom technology. Many thanks to Bettina Bird, our Leader of Teaching and Learning for her organisation of this delivery of interviews. If, however, a parental concerns remain unresolved following these interviews, I ask parents to contact me via email at pgutteridge@stbc.vic.edu.au with an outline of the concern and why the concern remains unresolved.

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCILAt our School Advisory Council meeting last week, one of our members, Emelia Sudholz tendered her resignation from the SAC and the SEAC sub-committee. We sincerely thank Emelia for her commitment, enthusiasm, leadership and support of St Brigid’s. With Emelia’s resignation a vacancy has been created for a parent who would like to contribute to St Brigid’s in this critical area of administration. A nomination form has been included with this newsletter. If you would like to nominate, please complete and submit the application in a sealed envelope marked “CONFIDENTIAL - COLLEGE ADVISORY COUNCIL NOMINATION”.

YEAR 10 RETREATDue to the continued uncertainty regarding camps, retreats and excursions to Melbourne, the decision has been made to cancel the Year 10 Retreat to Melbourne for this year.

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY KWONG LEE DOW YOUNG SCHOLARS PROGRAMFor any students currently enrolled in Year 10 and interested in attending Melbourne University in the future, the Kwong Lee Dow Scholarship will be open for applications from Monday, 17th August and close on Monday, 18th September. The scholarship provides winning students with access to VCE seminars at Melbourne University, membership of the Melbourne University Library and access to the student portal. KLD Young Scholars are also eligible to receive a Melbourne Global Scholars Award up to the value of $2500 to undertake an approved overseas study program at one of over 200 partner institutions across 45 countries throughout the world.

Young Scholars living in the state’s rural and border regions who move to Melbourne to study at the University after competing Year 12, may receive up to $2500 to help with the cost of relocating. Selection is based on academic performance, leadership potential, community involvement and school nomination. For full details, eligibility and application information, visit: unimelb.edu.au/kld

DEEPEST SYMPATHYWe offer our prayerful support to the following families: the Macchia family on the recent death of Maria Macchia, Nonna of Sam (Yr 12) and Nicolas (Yr 10) and to the Ough family on the recent death of Joan Mahney, Grandmother of Rachelle (Yr 12). Our prayers and thoughts are with you all at this time.

ST BRIGID’S COLLEGE

Nomination of Parent Representative to the St Brigid’s College Advisory Council

I, ………………………………………………………., nominate …………………………………………. to the position of

Parent Representative on the St Brigid’s College Advisory Council.

Signed: ……………………………………… I accept the nomination to the position of Parent Representative on the St Brigid’s College Advisory Council. Name: …………………………………. Signed: ………………………………… Please return completed nomination forms to the Front Office by Friday, 18th of September, 2020.

Dear Students, Parents/Guardians,As part of our commitment to providing students with the opportunity to improve learning outcomes at the Senior Level, St Brigid’s College have booked Pre-Exam Workshops delivered by Connect Education. Connect Education has been operating since 2011 and is now run through Elevate Education.

Why we have chosen to use Connect:

1. Pre-Exam Workshops: Help to maximise student preparation and confidence. The 3-hour workshops will walk students through: a. All the must know content to ensure the students don’t have any gaps in their knowledge or notes. b. Typical exam questions including what examiners are looking for. c. Common mistakes and how to put together an answer that will ensure students stand out.

2. Bespoke Content for our school: Subject teachers will determine the content, skills and difficulty of the sessions so each workshop is completely tailored to the strengths, weaknesses and needs of our students.3. Engaging Presenters: Each workshop is facilitated by a presenter who has previously excelled in the subject themselves. The high-achieving presenters not only ‘walk the walk’ having achieved top study scores, they have been picked for their ability to relate and to engage an audience. 4. Extensive Notes and Preparation Materials: Each workshop comes complete with a student handout that each student works through during the session and a comprehensive study guide that: a. Summarises all course content. b. Provides guidance on how to answer exam questions on each topic area c. Contains exam preparation tips specific for each subject.

What are we aiming for?• Increased student confidence• Increased student performance • Understanding of best practice for exam preparation and study skills - supported by the Elevate Education sessions delivered at the start of the year.

THE WORKSHOPS

St Brigid’s College have been able to book several 3-hour workshops for the Year 12 VCE students who are undertaking exams this year and the Year 11 students who are completing a Unit 3&4 subject.

They will be virtual workshops that will run during the September School Holidays. Students will be able to join the workshops from home. They will need a device and internet access.

Students are expected to actively attend the workshops booked. Their attendance and the costs involved is being covered by the school.

The reasoning behind scheduling these workshops during the school holidays was twofold; these were the times that were readily available and holding them during the school holidays would minimise the disruption to valuable class time.

Connect Education workshops are not available for every VCE subject. However, we are pleased to announce that there are 13 subjects that we will be running exam revision workshops for. Some of the workshops will be run in partnership with Nhill College.

Below are the subjects, date and times of the confirmed workshops.

CAREERS NEWS

Topics this week include:

• Hotel management courses• Students applying for nursing / midwifery

courses (Yr 12)• Australian Defence Force Academy – open

day• Careers in psychology• View the new La Trobe University Sports

Stadium• Apprenticeships – Electrical Instrumentation

Fitter, Heavy Diesel• Early admission programs closing soon for

La Trobe University, Swinburne University and Charles Sturt University

• Virtual open days• Upcoming virtual career events

FOOD TECHNOLOGY | Our Year 10 Food Technology students have been busy baking the much anticipated zebra cakes at home with Ms Clarke, via Zoom.... and the result looks both beautiful and delicious! Thanks to the staff who help

put these handy at-home recipes packs together.

VIRTUAL TRACK & FIELD | This week get involved in the virtual track and field competition! Go to this website: https://www.ssv.vic.edu.au/Pages/SSVVirtualTrackandField.aspx to compete in events such as 60m, 80m, 100m, 200m, 400m, standing long jump, standing triple jump, tennis ball shoot put. Compete in as many events as you like! Submit your result and earn points for your House!

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THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

St Brigid’s College Horsham | 97 Robinson Street, Horsham VIC 3400(03) 5382 3545 | www.stbc.vic.edu.au

34 Darlot Street, Horsham 3400Phone 5382 6006

Open 7 days

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