Dear Parents and Carers 

Welcome to Term 4! I hope you have enjoyed a lovely break with your family. The students have settled in so well into Term 4. Today we welcomed Brooke Wardana to St Bernard's. She focused on working with staff on delivering best pedagogy in teaching an explicit lesson. For the past three years we have been delievering high impact teaching strategies to improve student outcomes. Our teachers and classroom support team are implementing best practice based on the Science of Reading and Learning. 

This term we welcome five new families to St Bernard's. Piper B (2T), Aurelia S (2T), Korban S (4K), Angus D (5M) and Alex M (6C). We look forward to you being a part of our St Bernard’s community.

We have an exciting term ahead with our musical showcasing next week. The students have been busy practising for our Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Production. All students will be involved in this musical. Each year group will be performing a different song. All costumes need to be brought to school in a bag labelled with your child’s name by Monday 17 October. If parents are working on the evening of the performances and have difficulty bringing their child/ren back to school, we will put a movie on at school and the students will be supervised. Children are asked to bring their afternoon tea. Family tickets of 4 and single tickets for the musical can be purchased by contacting the front office. There is limited seating at each evening performance, so get in quick. Thursday’s evening’s tickets are nearly sold out.

NCEC Conference 
As you are aware, last term I attended the NCEC Conference. Our first guest speakers were Madeline Forde and Fr Anthony Gitting. Madeline is currently studying a Master of Social Work while working with Australian Catholic University on Dharug Country (Blacktown) and as a support worker to people with disabilities. We heard from an array of guest speakers.

Madeline, a young girl and advocate for people with disabilities, spoke from the heart and I was moved by her presentation. Part of Madeline’s work is supporting a man with Down syndrome. One part that has stuck with me was when she mentioned that she visits this person and they venture out to the shops. They wait together at a busy intersection for the lights to turn green until they can cross. Madeline found herself walking ahead, too fast for her companion. Cars were beeping and waiting impatiently as the man she was with was walking at his own pace. Madeline stopped and realised that it was time to listen to what he needed and slow down, walking in synodality. Madeline went on to say how important it is to listen, encourage and believe in those we are supporting in our everyday roles.

I went on to reflect on my role as a Catholic Leader. This statement has stayed with me “If we as a Catholic school community invest in our young people what a wonderful future we are creating. And if we broaden this statement to our whole school communities inclusive of parents, then imagine the traction we could create in achieving holistic education for our children that values people and what we all bring to the table”.

The theme of the conference was “The future is listening”. As we move into our final term for 2022, please know that my door is always open and that the staff and I are here to ensure that every student is heard, seen and understood.

Sisters of St Joseph Celebration
This year we are celebrating 85 years of the Sisters of St Joseph being part of St Bernard’s (formerly St Joseph’s). The celebrations will begin tomorrow, Friday 14 October at St Bernard’s. Former Director of Catholic Education, Geoff Joy, and 8 nuns will be joining us for lunch that day followed by a liturgy and school tour with our SRC. The liturgy will take place tomorrow in the Hall at 1.30pm. Part of the liturgy and assembly will be the unveiling of a timeline we have created to remember the significant contribution the Sisters of St Joseph have made at St Bernard’s. Parents are welcome to be part of the celebration. Our Year 3 students will begin the assembly by leading us in the School Song, Year 2 students will be performing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and our Mini Vinnies Team will conclude the assembly with a blessing.

Following assembly, our special guests will be invited on a tour of the school by our Year 6 Leaders. 

On Sunday 16 October we will be celebrating with a mass for the Sisters of St Joseph and presenting them with a book on the history of their involvement with the school and the Church. Mass will be at 10.00am in the St Bernard's Church followed by brunch. All families are invited. 

COVID Update
All Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn Schools will return to normal activities, subject to any adjustments that may be required to be made from time to time due to staffing shortages or any COVID requirements that are implemented.

Key points to note:

• There is no longer a requirement to wear masks in the ACT and NSW on public transport and school buses.
• Positive COVID case requirements continue for students and staff until midnight 13 October 2022.
• From 14 October 2022, there will no longer be any requirement to quarantine where a person tests positive to COVID-19.  It is requested that persons who are COVID positive do not attend school when they are unwell as they would if they had flu like symptoms.

Please know my door is always open. We are looking forward to supporting the students in the term ahead. 

Warm regards

Johanna Wain
Principal 

We Recall 85 Years of Generous Service with Gratitude

‘Remember we are but travellers here’ (Mary MacKillop 1867)

These words of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop are so relevant as we gather to celebrate and give thanks for 85 years of the Sisters of St Joseph in our School and Parish. Whilst the Sisters were ‘but travellers here’ many hearts, souls and lives have been transformed by their loving presence and service.

Through many eras of life since 1937 the Josephites have tended to many and varied needs from the material to the spiritual. They have been advocates for the voiceless both within the community and within the Church. In the words of today’s Gospel, over the years the Sisters have been like the widow who ‘kept pestering for just rights’ for all those families they served. In the words of Mary MacKillop the Sisters ‘have found happiness in making others happy.’ We are the grateful recipients.

...‘Gratitude is the memory of the heart’…

Mary reminded the Sisters and indeed each of us of Gratitude.         

             Inspired by Frances Maguire rsj (2013) we give thanks for the

v Memories of many blessings over 85 years

v Memories of individual Sisters who enabled us by believing in us and loving us

v Memories being a community with and for the Sisters who gifted us and blessed us with love and life

v Memories of ‘who our teachers were’ (Paul to Timothy)

 v Memories of the souls of all the faithful departed Sisters

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you enjoyed the holiday break. I was blessed to be able to visit the Northern Territory. It gave me the opportunity to retrace the steps of my maternal family who were based in Darwin just after the war. While there, I visited St. Mary’s Cathedral which is steeped in the history of the city.

Staff began the term with a Spiritual Day on Monday. Luke Maher from Catholic Education led a beautiful day of reflection on the theme of Faith. We were challenged to consider what this call means for us working in Catholic Education and how that call can be nurtured.

During the day staff used scripture and Visio Divina for personal reflection and group discussion.

Staff Twilight RE

On Tuesday staff gathered to work on our Religious Education Scope and Sequence. There was discussion around the importance of using Core and Complementary Scripture as a key focus of RE units of learning. The power of using the Three Worlds of the Text in preparing and using scripture with our students was also revisited. High Impact Teaching Strategies like Daily Review that are being embedded in Literacy and Numeracy are also encouraged in RE. Teachers will have the opportunity to access more learning about this during Webinar week.

Sisters of St Joseph – Assembly

This is a very special weekend for our school and parish as we celebrate 85 years of the Sisters of St Joseph in our community. The sisters and visitors who are visiting for the weekend will join staff for lunch on Friday followed by a special assembly at 1.15pm. If you are free, it would be wonderful if you could join us.

 

First Eucharist

On Saturday evening at 5.00pm three of our Year 4 students will receive First Eucharist. Please remember Mia A, Ava G-N and Annabelle W in your prayers at this special time. 

Blessings on your weekend

Sharon Beashel REC

Dear Parents and Carers

We have certainly started the term running in Week One, with preparations for special events like the school muscial and liturgy for the Sister's of St Joseph underway. The students have taken this in their stride and seem very happy and positive to be back at school. Classroom learning is of course the focus and students have commenced learning in a range of content areas. Year 5 are excitedly launching into learning about Antarctica in Geography, Year 4 are learning about sustainability and the Australian environment and Year 6 have commenced their learning in Religious Education on people who work for charities in our community.

Catalyst Learning

Last week in the holidays, five of our teachers accepted an invitation to take part in an intensive professional learning program over three days in Canberra. Tony Ward, Claire Campbell, Sarah Davis, Therese Armstrong and Rebecca Keough are pictured here with Associate Professor Lorraine Hammond, who has worked with us for the past three years to transform the way to teach. Lorraine and her team from Western Australia delivered content on the Science of Reading and Learning, providing instructional coaching to 65 teachers from our Archdiocese and 25 teachers from interstate. The learning continues in our school today, with Brooke Wardana providing coaching and doing demonstration lessons. Teachers at St Bernard's are highly motivated to continue to develop their teaching of high impact strategies for the benefit of all students.

Safer Online Gaming

Many children enjoy playing online games and there can be some benefits including developing hand-eye co-ordination, problem solving and multi-tasking skills. There are risks though and it is important to be aware of what action you can take to keep your child safe. The eSafety Commissioner website provides information for parents about managing some of the risks when children play online. Ideas include activating parental controls, staying involved, protecting your child's privacy by reminding them about the risk of using their own names and details.

If you would like to read more this issue, which can be challenging for us as parents, I encourage you to use the following link:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/gaming

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend. Many of us will be celebrating the 85 year Jubilee for the Sister's of St Joseph this weekend with dinner on Saturday and Mass on Sunday. Hopefully you might be able to join us at one of these occasions, or at the school assembly tomorrow at 1.30pm.

Warm regards

Karen

Mrs Laura Tyler

NSWCPS Athletics  

Congratulations to Beatrix F, Charlie M, Chase W, Keira A, Molly W, and Elyssa W who represented St Bernard’s at the Combined Primary School Athletics Championships in Sydney last term. We are extremely proud of them for qualifying for such a high level of competition. 

Ang Holmes

Term 3

Week 10 Class Awards

Presented : Wednesday 21 September 2022.

Congratulations to the following children who received class award this week. It is great to see so many children working hard and receiving acknowledgment for their efforts. Well done to all!