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Enrolments

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Enrolments at St Brigid’s have been steadily climbing to the point now where they are very strong.  There is fantastic interest from our local feeder schools as well as significant growth coming from the public system.

 

I probably spend more time than is healthy thinking about enrolments and how to grow them.  The reason being is that I know what healthy enrolment numbers can do for a school.  They lead to additional resources, increased teacher numbers, more subjects on offer, greater breadth to our co-curricular activities, increased security for staff, increased competition that drives higher standards, more opportunities for our students, etc, etc.

 

Having worked in a developing school before, I’m also acutely aware that booming enrolment numbers can be confronting for some members of our community who are concerned that the College could become so big that students get lost in the mix.  Whilst I understand those concerns, I can assure you that at St Brigid’s we will always work hard to ensure every child is known and their wellbeing remains at the front and centre of our mind.  The pastoral care at the College is an absolute strength of ours and must be maintained.

 

When I think about how schools grow, I’m conscious that enrolment numbers can be influenced by several factors.  There is leadership, the student experience, vision, school improvement, reputation, demographics, location, price, reputation, marketing, academic performance, wellbeing, catholicity, sporting opportunities, co-curricular activities, and the list goes on.

 

Clearly all of these factors can play their part in attracting more students to our College.  Having said that, there are two other factors that in my mind contribute most to a thriving and growing school.  They are parent satisfaction and the quality of our staff which are inextricably linked.

 

Word of mouth continues to be a major contributor to our growth.  Satisfied parents lead to strong retention, which leads to increased enrolments.  We are so grateful to have such a supportive group of parents in our community who value the College and the opportunities it provides your children.  By no means, are we a finished product, there is still lots of room for improvement, but I feel fortunate to be surrounded by a great parent body who are willing to genuinely engage with their child’s education and drive us to be the very best school we can be.

 

Secondly, our staff are clearly one of our finest advertisements.  I want to be clear that when I refer to staff I mean our entire staff (teachers, support staff, office staff, our general hand).  I have been fortunate to work with some outstanding people during my teaching career and this group is second to none.  They are invested in the profession, care deeply about your children, open to improvements, prepared to go the extra mile and are genuinely committed to this community.  I thank them sincerely for all that they do in helping to grow the College.

 

Growing schools experience growing pains.  We will be no different but trust in the fact that what ever challenges lie ahead, we are well equipped to deal with them and will always ensure that the students are at the centre of all decisions we make.

 

Paul Lynch

Assistant Principal

Combined Family Mass

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St Brigid’s joined with St Brendan’s for our first combined family Mass on Saturday, we were blessed with great weather for what was a fantastic community event. The afternoon started with a cricket match, Father Tomy had the best strike rate even losing one of the cricket balls over the buildings.

Mass included our talented musicians from St Brigid’s who learnt a number of new songs for the event. We would like to thank everyone who attended, those who helped organise and those who volunteered for jobs on the day.  We are looking forward to more community event opportunities in the next 2 terms.

Central Coast’s 2023 school leaders Article

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St Brigid’s Catholic College Year 12 leaders for 2023 including captains Ben McCulkin and Bridget McLear and vice captains Brooke Elwell and Cooper Sweeney.

Bridget McLear — Year 12 Captain

I am one of the two college captains here at St Brigid’s Catholic College Lake Munmorah, my role entails responsibilities such as being the voice for students, being a role model for my peers, leading school events and masses, and being an advocate for change while continuing to develop my leadership skills.

I decided to pursue the role of college captain as I have always aspired to be a voice for the youth and to be a role model for my peers as well as inspiring them to achieve their full potential. I value being the person that is chosen to represent the values of the college at events both internally and externally.

At school, my passions fall under Drama and Performing Arts. I’m currently studying Drama as a part of my HSC course as well as studying it outside of school, I also take part in a range of extra-curricular activities for performing arts within the school, and I participate and perform in a range of school productions as well as competing in competitions.

Ben McCulkin — Year 12 Captain

My position involves working with a team of amazing leaders who look after/organise fundraisers, organising college masses, looking after and hearing from the student representative captains (SRC), organising events for the college, voicing any concerns to improve for future developments of the college just to scratch the surface!

Since early on in my schooling, I had always liked the idea of taking up a leadership role and thought that it would be a good way to leave a legacy that will stay around after my time at the college is done.

I have a strong passion for connecting with other students and building a culture where they feel safe, and feel included. A goal is starting a group where young males can have a safe place where they can talk about their mental health, ask questions about growing up in todays day and age, learn about the dangers of the internet and just see where it goes from there!

Brooke Elwell — Year 12 vice-captain

My position within my school is vice-captain and it involves a range of responsibilities. I assist with helping teachers, pushing out initiatives within the school, organising and participating in masses, helping run school events, assisting in running meetings for younger school leaders as well as doing any other jobs that I am asked to help out with.

I decided to pursue this position because ever since being in Year 7 I would watch the older students be a part of the leadership group and help out the school, so I decided pretty early on that was something that I wanted to do to support and give back to the school. While starting the process of going for this position, I was initially worried about my ability to fit leadership in while being in my HSC but I knew that it was important to me to make time for leadership and give back to the school for what it has given me.

My main goal this year is to do the best that I can in my HSC while keeping my life balanced with school, leadership, work and home life. I also want to make sure that I leave the school knowing that I gave everything that I could to the leadership team and hope that as a leadership team, we will leave knowing that the leadership within the school is in a good place.

Cooper Sweeney — Year 12 vice-captain

My position consists in helping out the student body, being a voice for many students within the college and helping out wherever I can; this usually entails my experience in entertainment, where I help plan some of the logistics for our events, assemblies and masses over the school year.

Bridget touched on the election process, but over a day, we did leadership training with some of the senior leaders of our school, who provided insight into leadership; we made speeches, and the rest was history; we found out a couple of weeks later and was super happy with the results, and then we started off as a team

My skill set can be optimised as a leader. I’m well-driven and like helping other people. I think I can put forward our school values in a positive light to our school community and into our external communities.

I love music and entertainment; I aim to have a career in that industry by the end of the year. I also love all my subjects, so I’m hoping that I can do quite well in my HSC in October and then find my way after year 12

Raw Challenge Doyalson

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More Information

RAW CHALLENGE

• Elite Wave: 8:00am

• Adult Social Waves: every 15 minutes from: 8:05am to 10:45am (ages 10+)

 The 10:45am Adult wave is a shortened course (approx. 5km) – same obstacles with less running

• Youth Waves: 12:00pm, 12:15pm and 12:30pm (5-12 year olds)

There is NOTHING quite like the feeling of conquering Raw Challenge!

Whether it’s your first time or your tenth time, the 60+ obstacles will leave you with a lifetime of memories. Spread across 20 hectares, there’s mud pits, rope climbs, water slides and more!

If you like pushing your boundaries, if you love the feeling of conquering a challenge, if you just simply enjoy fun, then the October Raw Challenge is where you need to be.

Bring your friends, bring your family, and tackle the approx. 7km course… And it’s not over when you’re finished the course… have a quick shower and enjoy what else is on offer. There’s delicious food, refreshing beverages from Sydney Brewery and the latest tunes by DJ Magoo.

If you’ve got little ones in your family, round them up and conquer the 2.5km long Youth course together. Our young challengers will be jumping, climbing, balancing, and crawling their way through approx. 20 awesome obstacles! Youth course participants must be accompanied through the course with an adult supervisor who can supervise up to 4 youths. A supervising adult must also purchase a youth supervisor’s ticket.

*Children aged 10 and 11 can participate in adult races, depending on their ability and at the discretion of their parents. All 10 and 11 year olds that wish to participate in an adult wave must purchase an adult full price ticket.

With the most EPIC obstacle course in Australia, make sure you don’t miss Raw Challenge Doyalson on Saturday the 14th of October 2023!