Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have had an enjoyable week. It’s been wonderful to welcome back our Kindergarten and Year One students this week. They have settled in extremely well to school, eager to learn and they have loved reconnecting with their friends. On Monday I look forward to welcoming back our Years 2-6 students. We are so excited to have the school back for face-to-face learning. I take this opportunity to thank our highly committed St Bernard’s staff who go well and beyond their duties each day. World Teachers’ Day will be celebrated in NSW on Friday, 29 October 2021. This provides us with an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the incredible contributions our teachers make to our children's lives each day. Our teachers have shown great resilience and commitment as they have overcome the challenges of bushfires and a pandemic. They have adapted their teaching and learning to support their students and our school community. I am sure you will join with me in thanking each of our teachers for everything they do. As the parents said in their video over the holidays “They are simply the best”!  

I can appreciate that this is a very difficult time for families. Catholic Education will again support families who have been financially impacted as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The position of Catholic Education is that no child will be denied a Catholic education because of financial circumstances. To apply for fee relief, please contact either myself or Heidi Miners. The form was emailed out to all families this week.   

STEAM at St Bernard’s

At St Bernard’s Mrs Holmes has been instrumental in supporting our students to engage in a variety of high quality technology during remote learning. Students are working on Canva, iMovies, converting and editing pdf's in Kami, flipgrids, slideshows and sharing documents with their teachers. Our students are consistently engaging with, and creating, high quality tasks that go well beyond the outcomes for their age and stage. Students have been actively engaging in multiple video meetings across the week. They are confident and enthusiastic in their use of a huge array of technology. We are consistently analysing our data and collaborating with secondary school staff who comment on how advanced our students are in their knowledge and skills across all areas of STEAM. We are in the process of purchasing additional resources to continue to provide an excellent STEAM program. A special thank you to Mrs Holmes for her support and leadership in STEAM.

Term 1 2022 School Dates are as follows:

Term 1 Teachers commence: 28 January 2022

Years 1-6 Students commence 1 February 2022

Kindergarten Assessment Days 1 February – 3 February 2022

Kindergarten students commence 4 February 2022

Kindergarten Rest Day 9 February

Term 1 ends 8 April 2022

I hope you enjoy a lovely weekend.