History

St Brendan’s Primary School opened in 1994 as the third school in the Westernport Parish, Hastings and moved to its present site at Somerville in 1995. The school’s main building consists of six learning areas along with a library, a canteen, internal student toilets and administration facilities.

The school is situated on a large block, comprised of both grassed and asphalt playing areas. These spaces provide for sports, such as soccer, football, cricket, t-ball and athletics, while the two multi-purpose courts allow for netball, basketball and volleyball.

In 2009, a second wing was built with funds through the Building the Education Revolution Stimulus Grant. It includes six learning areas, a Multi-Purpose Room, uniform shop, two storerooms, a Reading Recovery Office, disabled toilet and a Learning Centre. Until 2018, the Multi-Purpose Room was used on weekends for Parish Masses.

In 2013, the senior students designed a Prayer Garden that can be used for quiet contemplation, prayer and outdoor class liturgies. The Year Six students in 2015 managed a similar project where they designed a quiet play space for children who require a space for more passive types of play, this space enjoys a vertical garden filled with herbs and perennial flowers.

In recent years, the school has expanded its work in the area of sustainability and developed a large produce garden where all students engage in learning through hands on activity. The school is working towards becoming a five star sustainable school under the guidance of CERES.

In 2017, a large building project saw the establishment of a third wing that encompasses four learning areas and is used by our middle school. Portables are used to house the ARTS program, including Visual Art and Music.

The Discovery Learning Centre was developed in 2018, that includes a large library, STEM space and teacher resource room. After many years of including Italian as the LOTE language, St Brendan’s now promotes strong links with our Asian neighbours and offers Japanese as the LOTE language.

In 2018, St Brendan’s Church was completed. A large stone altar sourced from a local quarry stands proudly as the centerpiece for the sacred space. Stained glass windows tell the story of the area and were commissioned by a local artist. Parish Masses are held on a Saturday at 6:00pm.

St Brendan’s is a feeder school to Padua College which now has a junior campus located in Tyabb. Many transitional opportunities exist for students who wish to continue their Catholic education into their secondary years.