Dear Parents and Carers

It’s hard to believe that we are now approaching the end of Week 7 and we are in the first month of Spring. Hopefully the weather will now start to warm up. I know many of our students are participating in sporting finals as their seasons come to an end. I wish our students all the best in their various competitions and look forward to hearing about their results at school.

Last Friday we enjoyed an exciting morning, with a variety of costumes and colours displayed throughout the school. The book parade was great fun and the students and teachers all enjoyed parading their costumes and dancing along to the music. A special thank you to Mrs McRae, Mrs Holmes and Mrs Hopman for all the work they put in to organising the morning.

Staff Professional Learning
Next school holidays, Mrs Davis, Mr Ward, Mrs Armstrong, Mrs Keough and Ms Campbell will be heading to Canberra for three days to be part of the High Impact Teaching Practice Primary Intensive Program facilitated by Catholic Education. This Professional Learning will provide our teachers with further learning in HITP, time to work closely with some of our HITP Coaches and the opportunity to practice with students from St Thomas the Apostle Kambah who will be attending for some of the day.

On Friday 14 October, Mrs Armstrong, Ms Beatty, Mrs Nussdorfer and Miss McRae will go to Canberra to participate in Let’s Decode Training. “Let’s Decode is an approach to teaching phonological awareness and systematic decoding instruction. The program is designed for all students in the first four years of school and takes approximately 15-20 minutes per day to implement. The most important component of the program is teacher knowledge and understanding of how to teach each of the formats according to a mastery learning approach” https://letsdecode.wordpress.com/lets-decode-programme/. Let’s Decode is implemented across Kindergarten to Year 2 at St Bernard’s.

From Sunday 4 September to Wednesday 7 September I will be attending The National Catholic Education Conference in Melbourne. The aim of the NCEC 2022 Conference is to bring together school and system leaders, educators, clergy and religious, students, educational professionals, researchers, families, and other groups interested in Catholic education to promote examples of best practice and plan future directions to continue the flourishing of vibrant and authentically Catholic learning communities across Australia. There are a number of principals and CE system leaders attending the conference. I look forward to sharing some key learnings with the community on my return. I will be away from Thursday 1 September to Friday 9 September. I have taken some leave to see my family in Melbourne. Karen Hadley will be Acting Principal in my absence.

We warmly welcomed Hayley P (5D) and Kye P (4C) to St Bernard’s last week and this week we welcome Jay J to Year 2T. We look forward to getting to know you and your families.

We look forward to welcoming the many fathers and father figures of our students
tomorrow for our Father’s Day Celebrations. The BBQ breakfast will begin at 7.15am. In order to assist with the safety of all students at the Father’s Day Breakfast please ensure your child stays within the Lean-To and the playground immediately adjacent to the Lean-To. The best place to park to minimise congestion and provide a safe environment is the church car park. In the event of rain the venue for the BBQ will still be the Lean-To.

Our Father’s Day Stall will be in the Hall on Friday. Thank you to the P & F members who will be assisting in organising the gifts. The students will be able to purchase gifts throughout the day.

Prayer for all Fathers…

God our father, we give you thanks and praise for fathers young and old.
We pray for young fathers, newly embracing their vocation; may they find courage and perseverance to balance work, family and faith in joy and sacrifice.
We pray for our own fathers around the world whose children are lost or suffering; may they know that the god of compassion walks with them in their sorrow.
We pray for men who are not fathers but still mentor and guide us with fatherly love and advice.
We remember fathers, grandfather, and great grandfathers who are no longer with us but who live forever in our memory and nourish us with their love. Amen
https://www.thecatholictelegraph.com/a-fathers-day-prayer-2/67183 

Wishing all fathers and father figures a Happy Father’s Day.

Warm regards

Johanna Wain
Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

Today is Care for Creation Day of Prayer. It is a time for us to reflect on the words of Pope Francis in his papal encyclical letter called " Laudato Si" ("Praised Be"). Pope Francis declared that the science of climate change is clear and that the Catholic Church views climate change as a moral issue that must be addressed to protect the Earth and everyone on it.

The most important concepts in Laudato Si are that:

• People and planet are part of one family where the Earth is our common home
• People are invited to protect God's creation for future generations, to embrace a lifestyle change for their own good
• People are invited to take care of people who are poor and more vulnerable
  

  Mini Vinnies

  During their Thursday meeting last week, Mini Vinnies used a Visual Thinking Strategy called a PMI as a way of documenting their thoughts and practice around the Feast of St Bernard.

  We are pleased to welcome new Mini Vinnies members: Hayley P, Chase W, Alice McD, Amanda N and Jonah T. It is such a great honour for me to work with our students who are passionate about helping the community and wanting to make a change in the world. During our next meeting, our discussion will be around the care of our school environment.

  Eucharist Retreat

  Next Thursday 8 September, Year 4 will be attending a retreat day in St Bernard’s Parish Church. Father Eden will join us for the day, supporting us in our planned activities. The students will spend time exploring:

  • Scripture through Lectio Divina
  • Themselves and their personal gifts (presents)
  • Eucharistic Life
  • The Mass

  Information for the day can be found on Compass. Students are asked to come to school as they normally do, and will be back within the school in time for the buses. There is no cost for the day.

  

  Dress: Suitable Mufti             

  Lunch: Sausage Sizzle, drink, and ice block

  First Eucharist

  We have twelve students preparing to make their First Eucharist at Mass on the weekend of the 17 and 18 September. Please remember the following students and their families in your prayers:

  Mia A, Isla B, Maddison B, Brennan C, Jayden E, Annie F, Ava G-N, Lucy J-P, Storm R, Arthur S-D, Matthew S and Annabelle W. 

  Fathers’ Day

  My thoughts are extended to Fathers and those who love like Fathers this Sunday. I hope you have a lovely day doing something you love.

  Many Blessings

  Sharon Beashel REC

PAUL PLEADS FOR ONESIMUS 

“This young man has made some poor choices since leaving the Holy Family Orphanage. He is truly sorry for the pain he has caused the plaintiff. May I suggest, with all due respect, my Lord, that a custodial sentence would not improve his chances of reform but rather undermine his commitment to turning his life around.” 

How often have we read about this sort of plea when a barrister asks in court for some leniency in the sentencing of a youthful client? 

A similar situation is at the heart of the letter by St Paul to Philemon, a leader in the Christian community at Colossae (180 kms east of the port city of Ephesus, where Paul was in prison). In it Paul explains to Philemon that he is returning to him a runaway slave, Onesimus, who Paul has converted to Christianity. The lad had been a great help to Paul in spreading the Good News, while Paul was confined by his prison chains 

We don’t know what type of slave Onesimus was. Nor do we know why he ran away. Running away  under Roman law, was an offence punishable by imprisonment, scourging & even execution, depending on whether or not it was accompanied by theft, or damage to property and/or persons. 

Paul asserts in verses 8 & 9 that “although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.” By way of a pun (in Greek anyway) Paul says, Onesimus (The name can mean helpful) by running away became useless (a-chreston) to Philemon but now by having become a Christian he can now be useful (eu-chreston) to both Paul and Philemon. You can hear the similarity in sound between ‘chrest’ and ‘Christ’. 

Let’s be clear. Paul is intervening in the master-slave relationship; a relationship fully entrenched in the culture of the day. Philemon would be within his rights to prosecute Onesimus. Onesimus would need courage to trust that Philemon will accept Paul’s argument that the three of them are brothers in Christ. We learn from Colossians 4.9 that Onesimus when returning to Colossae was accompanied by Tychicus, a faithful deacon to Paul, primarily to carry an open letter from Paul to the Colossian community but also the personal letter to Philemon re-Onesimus. Besides being a reliable courier for Paul Tychicus would also be moral support for the young deserter, who couldn’t be sure what sort of reception he’d get when he fronted Philemon, the master he had deserted. 

We for our part don’t know the result of the re-union. However there is a tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church that a Bishop Onesimus of Ephesus was martyred in Rome c95 AD under the Emperor Domitian (Reigned 81-96 AD). It is possible that Onesimus followed in the footsteps of his spiritual father, Paul, who twenty eight years earlier was executed in Rome c67 AD under the Emperor Nero. 

May Paul’s words challenge and inspire us to make peace with any sister or brother in our community who may have wronged us. Love & forgiveness go beyond the letter of the Law. 

                                                                                                Joe Quigley

Father’s Day is a time to remember all that fathers do. Things like cutting the grass, providing a home, education, motivation and encouragement and much more.  It is a day for daughters and sons to recognise and celebrate this one special day of the year. 

How wonderful is it to have the honour of being a father and watching your children grown into adults and parents themselves! 

God knew what he was doing when he allowed men to become fathers. Perhaps he was giving us a glimpse of his own glory. 

To all dads, grandads, foster dads and father figures,

We wish you a very Happy Father’s Day today and for the rest of the year.

Dear Parents and Carers

Rehearsals for our school musical production of 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' have increased for our main cast, with extra practices taking place during lunch times and some full day rehearsals. The musical will be presented over two evenings in Week 2 of Term 4, on Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 October. Students of all classes have been learning their dance and song routines with Ms Guthrie in Performing Arts lessons and are really getting a sense of their performance as they take the stage in their weekly lessons. We anticipate that both shows will be sell outs!

Southern Region Public Speaking

Next Tuesday and Wednesday, eight students will represent our school in the Southern Region Public Speaking finals. These students were selected by a panel of judges from our school staff, following their class public speaking event. The competition will be conducted via MS Teams as a live video stream. Fellow class members will be able to listen to the speeches from their classrooms, which is an added advantage of delivering the speeches in this way rather than travelling to a host school. We thank Lumen Christi school in Pambula who will be hosting the event.

We wish the Stage 2 and Stage 3 public speaking representatives the very best for next week who are pictured below.

Indiana A and Georgina W (Year 3), Annie F and Jayden B (Year 4), Isabella L and Isla B (Year 5), Samuel H and Erica S (Year 6)

National Child Protection Week

Next week is National Child Protection Week. Over the next couple of weeks, all children will participate in a Daniel Morcombe Foundation personal safety lesson in their class. The lesson encourages children to learn the correct names for their private and public body parts and how to set personal space boundaries. It is important to teach children the correct names of their body parts from a young age as they will become less vulnerable to being targetted and more likely to tell an adult if they have been harmed. 

As parents, we encourage you to talk to your child about their personal boundaries and teach them to tell a safety helper if someone tries to cross a boundary. We will be reminding children that they are the boss of their own body and that they can say ‘No!’ to anything that makes them feel uncomfortable. 

Other topics that will be covered are the difference between safe and unsafe secrets and safety networks and safety helpers. 

If you would like more information about the Protective Behaviours lesson, please go to the website link provided or alternatively, please don't hesitate to be in contact with me.

https://danielmorcombe.com.au/australias-biggest-child-safety-lesson-2/

We look forward to welcoming Dad's, Grandfathers, Uncles or special father figures to school tomorrow morning from 7.15am-8.30am for a bacon and egg roll in the Lean-to with the children. 

I hope that you enjoy the weekend.

Karen Hadley

BABY BELLETTE HAS ARRIVED

The Year 6 students are tickled pink to announce the exciting news about the safe arrival of Stella Jayne Bellette. We wish Kate, Anthony and Stella all the best and send them lots of love. We cannot wait to meet Stella and witness her being back in the classroom.

BOOK WEEK

Mrs Coggan and Mrs McRae were very impressed with the participation of the Year 6 students in Book Week dress up. Participation was 100%!

TENNIS

Over the past three weeks we have been participating in tennis coaching sessions with Rob Frawley. These have been a lot of fun! Thank you to Mrs Holmes for organising this activity - one of our favourite sporting activity. 

STORYLINE

Year 6 students have been busy creating their Storyline characters, based on the Immigration to Australia. We have established our country of origin, the era we are living and the reason for migrating and are in the throes of writing our first diary entry - leaving our homeland. The students have completed a portrait of their character and are creating a ‘memory’ blanket. Our novel Refugee is shaping their interpretation of the issues faced by someone who chooses to leave their country. 

SPEECHES

Congratulations to all of the students on their excellent speeches. It was an incredibly hard decision to select our final two speakers, to represent our school in the Southern Region Public Speaking competition, to be held on Wednesday 7th September. Erica S and Sam H were our two finalists. They will present their speeches virtually.

FATHERS’ DAY

We wish all Fathers and others a wonderful day on Sunday!

Todd Woodbridge Cup Tennis Competition

Congratulations to - 

Indiana A, Seth L, Georgina W, Ollie L, Mia A, Campbell R, Annie F, Arthur S-D,  

Mia B, Brennan C, Lilly G, Beau C, Evie Pow, Harper B, Storm R, Reeve T,

Dusti-Rae L, Alex H, Indi T, Taj B, Mia S, Lucas V-D, Evie Pan, Isaac R,  

Ava G, Noah B, Sophie B, Nate K, Lucy J-P, Logan P, Holly L, Rowan L,

Chelsea S, Finn H, Molly M, Ethan S, Makenzie W, Taj P, Sienna B, Jace T,

Isaac V, Flynn A, Ava J, Jayden B, Casey W, Charlotte F, Matthew S, Scarlett C,

Dante T, Jamian G, Christopher H, and Kingston A.                                

Who played in the Todd Woodbridge Cup Tennis Competition this week. They competed against students from across the Eurobodalla during very windy and tough conditions. We are so proud of the standard of tennis the students played and their amazing skill development over the term in our Sport lessons. 

One of our teams came fourth overall congratulations to Mia B, Brennan C, Lilly G, Beau C, Evie Pow, Harper B, Storm R and Reeve T. Another one of the teams won the event which is fantastic. Outstanding tennis. Indiana A, Seth L, Georgina W, Ollie L, Mia A, Campbell R, Annie F and Arthur S-D. These students now compete in Sydney at the State finals. More details to follow as soon as I receive them.

 Ang Holmes