Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you have had an enjoyable week. Next week we wish many of our Years 2-6 students good luck on Wednesday competing at the Southern Region Athletics Carnival in Bega. A special thank you to Mrs Brady and Mrs Nussdorfer who have been preparing the students for this event. We look forward to hearing about your experience next week.

We have welcomed a new family to St Bernard’s this week. Shaylann G is in 5M. A warm welcome to her mum Kylie. We know you will both be very happy as you settle into our beautiful school.

Classroom Learning Time

At St Bernard’s we always strive to focus directly on creating a high performing culture, enabling the students in our care to reach their academic potential. Last week I read the latest edition of the Catholic Schools Parents Association newsletter. It talks about the importance of Parent Engagement. 

The newsletter highlighted some excellent resources for parents and educators regarding parent engagement developed by the Catholic School Parents Association. These resources are available on the Parent Engagement Toolkit website. 

The partnership between school and home can make a difference in your child’s education. There are many ways parents can foster a love of school. "These include having conversations about all manner of things that are of interest either to you or your child. Conversation leads to the development of an extensive vocabulary which is vitally important when your child commences formal learning in all areas, including literacy and numeracy. The positive outcomes that are realised from reading every day cannot be emphasised enough. Reading together not only enhances your relationship with your child, and therefore contributes positively to their wellbeing, it also demonstrates the importance you place on learning.

Parent expectations and the importance parents place on education has a significant impact on learning throughout all years of schooling. The foundations set in primary school are vital to the high school years. It is also important that as parents we make sure that our children get plenty of sleep, exercise and healthy food. Once our children commence their formal educational journey, it is important that they come to school ready for the day ahead. It makes a big difference in the classroom when children arrive at school prepared and well rested” https://www.parentengagementcspa.edu.au/developing-positive-relationships-with-teachers-primary-parents .

As a staff we have professional conversations focused on teaching and learning, including classroom management and student wellbeing. As a school we are committed to identifying student needs and guiding students to reach their full potential. As part of this focus, we have developed a number of guidelines to ensure that interruptions are kept to a minimum, to allow the students to focus on their learning and teachers to focus on the students. The morning block is prime time learning for students in Literacy and Numeracy. When the school bell rings at 8.40, students are making their way to their first lesson of the day, Spelling. It is crucial that students arrive at school on time to ensure that they do not miss any element of their first lesson of the day.

Jeans for Genes Day

This year our SRC are supporting Jeans for Genes Day to help raise awareness of the many families who are faced with incurable diseases. Did you know that 1 in 20 kids faces a birth defect or genetic disease, like cancer, cystic fibrosis, and life-threatening metabolic disorders. Next Friday 5 August we are asking the students to come dressed in denim and bring in a gold coin donation to support the foundation to help find treatments and cures. There will also be cupcakes for sale at recess. Thank you for supporting this important cause.

COVID-19 update

The students and staff have had a very settled start to the term. We will continue to follow COVID Safe Practices and guidelines provided by Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn. Our focus is on fostering a safe and supportive learning and teaching environment for our school community. Students and staff are required to follow NSW Health directions when they are deemed a household close contact and must notify the school to advise they are a household contact. It is strongly recommended that a household contact works or studies from home where it is practical to do so. A household contact must wear a face mask in any indoor setting that is not their own home, if they are aged 12 years and over. Only students in Years 7 to 12 will be required to wear a mask when attending school. Mask wearing for students in primary schools is at the discretion of the student and their families, and is not recommended for children in Kindergarten to Year 2. Where a student attends school they must undertake a COVID test prior to returning to school and then each day for 5 days and may only attend a school if they have no symptoms.

If you choose to keep your child/ren at home, they can access some tasks from https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/learning-from-home/learning-at-home/2022-digital-learning-packs/primary

Volunteering

Parents are more than welcome to volunteer at St Bernard’s. Our Canteen will resume in the coming weeks and we would love your help! Parents and Carers wishing to volunteer are required to have a volunteer WWCC and provide a copy to the Front Office. 

School Uniform

I have been speaking with Years 3-6 students about uniform expectations. We are currently in full winter uniform and this applies all term. I ask for your support in ensuring our high standards of presentation are maintained at all times.

P&F Meeting

Our next P&F Meeting is Monday 1 August at 5.30pm. We will meet face-to-face at school in the iCentre, where we can socially distance. Please email through any further agenda items. Our main focus will be on planning our Duck Fundraiser in Term 4. All parents and friends are very welcome!

Blessings to you and your family. 

Kind regards

Johanna Wain
Principal

First Holy Communion Enrolment 2022

There will be a Registration/ Enrolment night for all parents

who wish their child in Year 4 to receive the Sacrament of Holy

Communion. 

Date:  Wednesday 3rd August, 2022

5.00pm - 6.00pm

Dear Parents and Carers,

In May 2015 Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si' was published. It focused on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship between God, humans, and the Earth.

An encyclical is a public letter from the Pope developing Catholic teaching on a topic often considering current events. Laudato Si’ was addressed to “every living person on this planet” (LS 3). Hence, it was offered as part of an ongoing dialogue within the Catholic Church and between Catholics and the wider world.

In Religious Education our students are introduced to the concept of the gift of God’s creation from K -6. I have included a small snapshot of the Brisbane Curriculum for Kindergarten for your information.

Prayer of Stewardship

God of all creation,

At the beginning of time

You placed a single mandate on mankind-

To be stewards of creation

To replenish and nurture through all generations

What you have made.

We kneel today amid that same creation –

A World that is, in many ways is more splendid than ever

But, in too many ways scarred beyond recognition.

Turn us from our unmindfulness.

Help our touch be light.

Help us to renew the world that supports us

So that we may once more know creation

As it was in the beginning.

Amen

(Catholic Relief Services)

Blessings on your weekend

Sharon Beashel

REC

Dear Parents and Carers

It is great to be back in the school and seeing students highly engaged in their learning for Term 3. Storyline units have begun, which provide a focus for learning in both history and geography. Teachers design the 'storyline' of learning to engage students and to bring learning to life. I know that you will hear about this as the term unfolds.

Spelling Mastery

Students in Years 1-6 have recommenced the Spelling Mastery program. This highly effective, evidenced-based program provides the students with a structured and focused start to the day's learning Monday-Thursday. While many students remain with their class group, some students move to other classrooms within the school to work with a teacher at their level of spelling ability. The teaching of phonics, morphology and spelling rules is aligned with the explicit direct instruction that we deliver in other curriculum areas. We know that this program is having excellent outcomes for student learning.

NAIDOC Week

Next week we will celebrate a school NAIDOC Week and the theme Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! Trish will be teaching in classrooms, and students will explore the meaning of this theme. Individuals and class groups will have the opportunity to make a pledge for what they might do to help strengthen our community and to learn from one another. Trish has organised prizes for students for the work that they have done in her lessons last term and she will be presenting these to celebrate NAIDOC Week. On Friday, Year 1 will lead us in a NAIDOC assembly, highlights of which will be shared on Facebook.

Speeches

Students in Stage 2 and 3 will be presenting 2 and 3 minute speeches to their peers in class this term on a range of topics. They will then have the opportunity to represent our school in the Southern Region and Archdiocesan level of competition later in the year.

The Stage 2 competition will take place on Tuesday 6 September and Stage 3 on Wednesday 7 September, with the Archdiocesan competition held on Wednesday 26 October. Each school can nominate up to two Year 3 and two Year 4 students in Stage 2, and two Year 5 and two Year 6 students in Stage 3 to participate. The top two students from each year level from the Region will have the opportunity to participate in the Archdiocesan Public Speaking Finals. Both the Southern Region and Archdiocesan public speaking will take place virtually via Microsoft Teams. 

The speeches will be judged on delivery, suitability and audience interest, content and creativity, organisation and timing.

If you would like to know more about the public speaking competition, please contact me or alternatively, your child's class teacher.

ICAS Assessments

The ICAS Assessment schedule begins for students who have registered to take part on Tuesday 9 August in Week 4. This is a voluntary competition targeted for students in Years 2-6 wishing to extend themselves academically and to take up the personal challenge of competing in an international assessment.

Every student who enters receives a printed certificate and an online result report. Top performers in Australia will be eligible for medals and are invited to attend special award ceremonies to have their academic excellence publicly recognised.

The web link to register is:https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps

Our school’s unique access code is: JYE283

Closing date for entry and the online payment system is Monday 1 August, 2022

ICAS Assessments Sitting Date Schedule

Science Wednesday 24 August
English Tuesday 16 August
Digital Tech Tuesday 9 August
Mathematics Wednesday 31 August
Spelling Bee Thursday 25 August
Writing (Years 3-6) Wednesday 10 August

I hope that you have an enjoyable weekend.

Karen Hadley

A Glimpse of Year Three

Year Three have made a tremendous start to Term 3.  We would like to share a snapshot of what we have been up to.

During Literacy, students have started preparing 2-minute speeches.  We have viewed videos of past students presenting their speeches to get an idea of how speeches are presented to an audience. We are quite excited for the students to share their amazing presentations with us.  We are also looking at the structure of Information Reports to help us with our Storyline unit.

In Math this week, Year 3 have represented four-digit numbers using MAB blocks. Students also wrote their four-digit numbers in words and expanded notation. Students thoroughly enjoyed playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - What’s the Weight? In the end we had several millionaires! Go Year 3.

During History and ICT Year 3 are exploring the History of Batemans Bay for our Storyline Unit. This unit was introduced by looking at the change and continuity that has occurred in the town of Port Fairy. This week students have started researching a local town during Inquiry time and will share their factual knowledge through Information Reports in the coming weeks. 

Year 3 created a masterpiece of their favourite beach, in and around Batemans Bay during Visual Arts. Students drew images using pencil, of objects they see at their favourite beach. Students then used contrasting colours in their choice of oil pastels to colour their objects. They used edicol dye to create the background which included yellow, green and blue to represent the sand, ocean and sky. 

Year 3 have been viewing and communicating personal reactions to various images used to portray God in some Old Testament texts. All the inspired writers of the Old Testament wrote about the same God, but not all of them had the same images of God in their minds when they were writing. This has led to great discussions about how different authors and illustrators can create different images, yet still be the same topic.

During our Sport session last week, we were looking at the technique required when making an effective chest pass. We also focused on pivoting with one foot remaining grounded and then making a chest pass to a teammate. Students demonstrated great application when developing their skills. This culminated with a game of Captain Ball. All teams were striving to do their best and help their team.