News

Each year, the Holy Father asks for our prayers for a specific intention each month. You are invited to answer the Holy Father’s request and to join with many people worldwide in praying for February’s intention, which is for the terminally ill.

“We pray that those with a terminal illness, and their families, receive the necessary physical and spiritual care and accompaniment.”

It has become the norm in many schools that meaningful learning tasks become few and far between in the last couple of weeks of the year.  I appreciate that the learning tasks might change and there might be some variation to the normal routine but the quality of the teaching should never be compromised even as we draw near to our summer holidays.

There is always an unspoken tension between the perception that nothing of importance is happening in class and a significant spike in student absenteeism at this time of year.  At St Brigid’s students already finish a week before their counterparts in DoE schools, it is imperative that our kids attend right through to the end.

This is a good example where staff, students and parents need to work together.  Many parents will be faced with countless reasons as to why their son or daughter should pull up stumps a little bit early in 2023.  Your job is to stand your ground and guide them to make the right decision.  Staff have traditionally been faced with small student numbers in the last week and a stigma that real lessons have been abandoned for the year.  It’s our job to provide high quality, meaningful learning right through to the end.

The kids will rise to the bar we set for them.  Let’s ensure we have high expectations for attendance at any time and that absolutely includes the next seven school days.  Learning manifests itself in so many ways, the discipline of attending school when it might be the last thing they want to do, will serve them well into the future.  It won’t be the last time they are faced with doing something they’d prefer not to.

Will they cop out and take the easy option or do what’s right and persevere.

On Wednesday night we held our CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts) Showcase.

The evening was a chance for our Stage 4 and 5 students to present some of the creative projects they’ve worked on throughout the year.

Artwork displayed on the evening demonstrated some of the outstanding work students have completed in the units ‘Gothic Gargoyles’, ‘Momento Mori’, and ‘Elements of Ceramics’.

The Stage 5 Drama class performed a number of hilarious items including the short plays ‘Mt Kilimanjaro’ and ‘After Dinner’. These Drama students were also recognised for their 1st place award in the Religious Creative Arts Prize run by Catholic Schools Broken Bay. Their play ‘Compassion and Forgiveness’ was a thought-provoking work on the theme of compassion.

A number of Stage 4, 5 and 6 music students performed songs by Billie Eilish, the Foo Fighters, Silk Sonic and Stephen Sanchez. These performances demonstrated some of the hard work these music students have put into their respective instruments throughout the year.

As part of the evening, we had a presentation of our ‘Videos for Change’.  All entries were thoughtful and critical commentaries on various societal issues.  The winners were Olivia Castelli and Zara Hepplewhite for their video ‘Stronger Together’.  Runners up were Emily Cronan and Lachlan Brain for their video ‘Mental Health’ and Ruby Peters and Chelsea Shoesmith won the People’s Choice award for their video ‘Broken Bloodline (Home)’.

On the whole, the evening was highly engaging and showcased some of the incredible talent that we have at the College.

Year 8 have recently been studying the concept of refugees in both English and Religious Education.  As part of this study, students were given the opportunity to listen to the life experiences of an Afghan refugee, Masi Mobin who has now settled in Australia.

Masi, as a child, was forced to leave his home in Afghanistan with the arrival of the Taliban.  Since that time, his story has taken many tragic turns, through being separated from his family, being smuggled between countries by boat and spending large amounts of time in detention due to his refugee status.

Masi spoke to Year 8 about his positive view on life and how he has been able to build a life for himself in Australia through educating himself, to the point of now running his own business, and immersing himself into Australian culture, where he taught himself to swim, and then to surf, just by watching those around him.

Year 8 students sat in silence and awe as they listened to Masi’s story and gained a deeper insight into how larger world issues impact the lives of the individuals involved.

On Thursday of Week 6, the Captains and Vice Captains of St Brigid’s joined the other school captains in the diocese to learn about leadership and discuss their roles as leaders within their schools.

They attended Mass together and then were given the opportunity to speak with Bishop Anthony and Danny Casey, to learn about what it takes to be a leader at the diocesan level.  All students returned to school with a deeper understanding of their own leadership style and a vigor to implement new learnings into their role.