Dear Parents and Carers,

I recently spent time with fellow Principals and personnel from Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn in Bowral, which was a time for learning, reflection and prayer.  The Archbishop, Christopher Prowse and Vicar General, Fr Richard Thompson offered Mass, providing input into the significance of Lent as a time to examine our own lives and to consider how we can come together with a sense of hope in what can be achieved in collaboration with others. A significant component of the spiritual learning was the idea of Charisms, which is the term used to describe a gift that each person has been given by the Holy Spirit to use to help others. Only when the Charism is used intentionally for the benefit of others does the gift become extraordinary and have the potential to enrich our lives and those of the people around us. We each had the opportunity to identify the Charisms that we had been given as a gift and were encouraged to develop our self-awareness ‘listening with the ear of our heart’ to really notice how we can reach our potential for happiness in community with others.

The acting Executive Director for Catholic Education, Mrs Pam Betts provided excellent insights and encouragement, inspiring many with her words of wisdom on the future of Catholic Education. In addition, the newly appointed Executive Director, Mr David de Carvalho, was also introduced. He showed a high level of interest in each person he met and communicated his eagerness to visit each school community as soon as possible. He takes on this role at the end of July this year. The Archbishop's announcement of the appointment of the new Executive Director can be found below.

By now, you should have received a copy of the St Bernard’s Yearbook, capturing the highlights and memories of 2024. Creating the Yearbook is a significant undertaking, and we extend our thanks to Mrs Theresa Hopman for her dedication and effort in producing it to such a high standard. I hope you enjoy reading it and find it to be a special keepsake of the past year.

Annual Improvement Plan

Each year, we reflect on areas for growth and set goals based on data and feedback to enhance teaching and learning across our school. This year, three key areas for improvement have been identified:

Goal 1 To improve student achievement in reading.

• Implementation of phonemic awareness program
• Explicit teaching of phonics in Kindergarten to Year 2.
• Explicit teaching of vocabulary and background knowledge
• quality literature read in classrooms
• regular reading practice both at home and school

Goal 2: To improve student achievement in Mathematics.

• Implement a Daily Review of previously taught content to support student recall
• Sequence and model concepts in small steps
• Provide worked examples
• Use concrete materials where appropriate
• Develop mathematical fluency through consistent practice of basic facts

Goal 3: Improve student achievement through the implementation of a new Scope and Sequence for Religious Education

• Deliver Religious Education lessons to explicitly teach concepts including Scripture
• To provide opportunities for social justice action linked to units of work.

Attendance at school
I would like to thank all parents and carers for making student attendance at school in 2025 your priority. Ensuring your child attends school every day is a legal responsibility for all parents and carers.

The school day starts at 8:40am and arriving at or before this time is essential to ensure your child starts every day to maximise their learning time. If your child is late by even as little as 5 minutes a day, this time accumulates over the course of the term to days and weeks of missed learning. Each morning, Years 1-6 start the day with a Spelling lesson. If your child is late, they are missing key instruction time. We understand that on rare occasions you might be late to school. If this is the case, please sign in using the Compass kiosk at the front office before sending your child to class. 

Car parking at Morning Drop off

It has come to my attention that parents are driving into the Grantham Road unit complex carpark adjacent to our school when dropping children to school in the morning. This is private property and we have been informed that this is not permitted. There are concerns for the safety of residents who live in this unit complex with cars driving into this area and people parking their cars. We ask that you instead park on the curb on Peter Cresent or beyond the bus zone on David Avenue.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Combined School’s Mass

On Tuesday 1 April our three Catholic Schools, will join together at Carroll College, Broulee for the annual Combined School’s Mass. This year the Mass will have as it’s theme Pilgrims of Hope, which is the theme set by Pope Francis for this Jubilee year. In addition, it will be an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the 30^th Year of Carroll College being established at Broulee. The Mass is always a very special occasion for our K-12 Pathway schools. Students from each of the schools take on various roles within the Mass and the wonderful Carroll College musicians provide the music. Our students will be transported by bus to Carroll College and will gather afterwards for recess. There is an option for students to pre-purchase an Easter treat pack through QkR!. More information about this will be communicated through Compass today.

School Photos

The School Photographer company will be here on Friday 4 April to take school photos. Students will be taking home an order form today with an envelope and information on how to place an online order for individual and class photographs. Sibling photographs are also an option. There are a variety of payment options including online. Students will need to return the photo envelope on the day of photos.

Easter Story Re-enactment

Please save the date for the Easter story re-enactment which will take place on the student’s last day of school this term, Thursday 10 April in the hall. (Please note that Friday 11 April is a pupil free day). The re-enactment of Jesus’ last days, leading to the resurrection, will be presented by each grade, involving a short dramatic portrayal with narration and a song sung for each station of the cross. Students are asked to wear biblical clothing for this day. We hope that you can join us.

Cross Country tomorrow

The cross country carnival is on tomorrow, starting on the bottom oval with welcome and prayer at 9.10am. We hope that you can join us.

Kind regards,

Karen Hadley

Principal