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Dear Parents and Carers
We are certainly preparing for significant events each week now as our school year is quickly drawing to a close. I trust you’re also starting to think of Christmas plans and coordinating your calendar for the many festive celebrations that are upon us. It is truly an exciting time of year.
Congratulations
A special congratulations to Mrs Rebecca Brady and Mrs Jennifer Smith on receiving an award titled “The Rotary Pride in Workmanship Award”. Their award was for leading and developing teaching strategies to improve student learning in Literacy using Explicit Instruction. Jenny and Rebecca have frequently opened their classrooms and presented their learning to staff and visitors, supporting colleagues to understand and implement Explicit Instruction into their daily practice. Rebecca and Jenny have been instrumental in creating a positive change and I am sure you would agree with me in saying that they are student focused and passionate about teaching and learning. As a result of the change in pedagogy, we have seen an improvement in outcomes which have been reflected in school assessment data and NAPLAN.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all staff for their commitment to teaching and learning. The staff are dedicated to ensuring that high impact teaching practices are evident in classrooms, planning explicit lessons that improve student outcomes. The teachers spend many additional hours preparing lessons and resources and they do an amazing job.
Staffing
Staffing for 2023 is almost finalised. I am confident I will be able to announce details later next week. We have been allocated 15 classes overall and it is the task of the Executive to best plan for the 2023 school year within these parameters. The configuration of classes next year is as follows:
- 3 x classes of Kindergarten
- 2 x classes of Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6
We always aim to keep our K-2 classes as small as possible because as you well know, the children aren’t as independent. Once the children begin in the Primary, they are gaining more confidence and capacity. In considering our enrolment patterns for next year, we don’t have the need to ’stage’ a class as we have done over the past couple of years. This is not to say that this will not happen again into the future but for 2023, we have 15 regularly formed classes. Please don’t be at all concerned about classes for next year. Class sizes have little to no effect on student achievement and engagement. It’s all about the quality of the teacher.
P&F Dinner
Our P&F members will celebrate together this evening at our annual Christmas Party. We are having dinner at the Catalina Golf Club from 5.30pm. I look forward to thanking our P&F members for their work this year in supporting the school. We have made many improvements to St Bernard’s. I am most grateful of their support.
Kindergarten Orientation
Tomorrow we welcome our 2023 Kindergarten children to school for the morning for their second orientation session. Parents are invited to drop their child to their Kinder teacher at 9.00am, and return at 11.00am for collection. The details are as follows:
When: Friday 18 November 2022
Time: 9.00am – 11.00am
Where: Kindergarten classrooms
What to wear: Casual play clothes
What to bring: Hat, piece of fruit, morning tea
We look forward to celebrating this special milestone with our newest St Bernard’s students.
Carroll College Year 7 Orientation
A reminder to families that our Year 6 students moving onto the College next year have their Orientation day next Friday 25 November. A letter from the College outlining specific information regarding the day will be emailed to families. This is an exciting time for our Year 6 students as they transition through to secondary education. I’m sure they will enjoy their experience next week.
Blessings to you and your family on the week ahead.
Warm regards
Johanna Wain
Principal
Early next year Australia and indeed the world, will witness the crowning of King Charles the Third amid much pomp, pageantry and celebration. He will be the latest King in many centuries of Monarchs through the world where the position is now more ceremonial, more a figurehead, a sign of national unity and a reminder of history.
On this Sunday, we celebrate the role in our lives of another King! This King is Jesus!
What do we know, call to mind or reflect on His Reign or His expectations of His people? How does His reign affect us or should affect us? How is His reign relevant to our lives?
Unlike Kings throughout time, Jesus, our King, was not born into power, wealth or of a particular class. He was born in a stable and into a Kingdom totally at odds with any display of power or majesty that the word King may conjure up in our mind.
On this Feast day we are reminded of the sovereignty of Jesus in our life. It frees us from the worldly notion that we are answerable only to ourselves for our actions, thoughts and values. His Kingdom is at odds with the power and glory we associate with the Kingdoms of past history. Jesus confronts us with the knowledge of temptations of worldly ideals and he calls us to abandon them and calls on us to use our power to build up a more just society.
In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus talking with the thief who asks Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom” .Jesus’ positive acceptance and response is an example to us.
This day reminds us that Jesus, by His sacrificial death, has made us heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven. To inherit the Kingdom of God we are not called on to fight battles but to embrace our brothers and sisters. The Kingdom of God is within us both personally and collectively. We can declare our loyalty to the King by the quality of our Christian commitment.
How then, can we as members of St Bernard’s Parish embrace the call of the King to help those nominated by Him, the hungry,homeless,sad, needy /poor marginalised?
Whilst there is an incredible number of hours providing impressive and high quality service by many volunteers in the Parish, there is always room for more volunteers to take up the call remembering “ the harvest is large but the labourers are few.” Like the thief on the cross beside Jesus, we, one day will be with Him in His Kingdom.
Ken Evenden
Dear Parents and Carers
Personal Learning Pathway Meetings
Over three days in the coming two weeks we will be holding Personal Learning Pathway meetings for Aboriginal students and their families. These meetings are a recommendation for all Aboriginal students. An important focus of the meetings is to review the student's cultural goals and to ensure that each child's interests and aspirations are considered. We look forward to meeting with students and their parents in the coming days to plan goals for 2023 and to celebrate success.
The Girl Campaign
On Tuesday the girls in Years 3-5 took part in The Girl Campaign program focusing on positive self esteem, friendship and social media awareness. Kimberli Eke of Moruya is the founder of The Girl Campaign. She strives to ensure that the girls who take part in the program learn content to empower themselves and to be confident and happy in their own skin. We thank Kimberli for working with our students and look forward to her next visit. If you would like to hear more about The Girl Campaign you might like to hear from Kimberli using the following link: https://youtu.be/GuIwn8VKrr8
Peter Pan the Musical
Yesterday students in Years 3-6 travelled to St Mary's Moruya to watch their production of Peter Pan the Musical. Congratulations to the main cast, all students and teachers involved. It was a fantastic show, enjoyed by everyone.
Next year, at the end of semester 1, Carroll College will perform the musical 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and I am sure that some of our current Year 6 students may choose to audition to be part of this, along with their St Mary's peers. It will be wonderful to see all of the students come together to showcase their musical and dramatic talents.
Red Nose Day
Tomorrow the SRC along with Brooklen of Year 2, request that all children come to school dressed in red mufti clothing for a gold coin donation to support the Red Nose fundraising efforts of Shanon Small and her MussellRowers surf boat crew. If you would like your child to purchase a red nose or pen, the cost is $3.00 with all proceeds going to Red Nose Australia.
Mission Day
Next Thursday is Mission Day, when students can again wear mufti clothing. Following Mass at 9.00am which all parents are invited to attend, a disco will be held in the hall and students will have the opportunity to purchase a special lunch of pizza which can be ordered through QKR. Details are in the Compass Newsfeed and included in a flier in this newsletter. We are raising money for a church in Ethopia who are working to address malnutrition and access to education there.
Enjoy your weekend
Karen
A Wonderful Waddling Time!
Last Friday our 2023 Kindergarten students had their first Orientation Day. This gave our Year 5 students and their Kindergarten Buddies a wonderful opportunity to spend their morning learning time together.
After the start to the day the children from Year 5 and their Kindergarten Buddies met in the School Hall for their very special time together. The theme for the day was Penguins.
The session started with watching an episode of Pingu, which they really enjoyed.
Then it was time for a movement break and the children joined in the GoNoodle dance - ‘Have you ever seen a Penguin….,’ this was so much fun!
The next part of the Session was a Literacy Daily Review based around the word ‘Waddle’ and included handwriting, spelling, comparing different ways animals move, and writing sentences using the word waddle. There was a lot of laughing, giggling and joy throughout this time together!
After this, the children listened to a story called ‘Flipper and Finnegan' by Sophie Cunnigham with illustrations by Anil Tortop. The book is based on a true story about penguins who are cared for after an oil spill and how people from all over knitted little jumpers to save the penguins.
When the story finished the children learnt to do some finger knitting and made a small scarf to go around an origami penguin that they also learnt to make.
There was time for one final dance before the morning session finished and Year 5 students and their Buddies headed out for Recess.
They can hardly wait to meet up for another Big Buddy Time tomorrow morning!
Todd Woodbridge Cup
On Monday Seth L, Campbell R, Annie F, Georgina W, Arthur SD, Ollie L, Indiana A and Mia A played in the State Final of the Todd Woodbridge Cup at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Complex. We are so proud of them! They played all day competing in sets of Doubles and Mixed Doubles against the best schools from NSW, eventually losing to Eleebana Public School who then went on to be runners up in the final. Congratulations and thank you to the parents and carers of students who travelled with them and supported them.
Canberra Goulburn Sporting Honour Roll
Congratulations to Lachie B and Beatrix F who have been announced as members of the CECG Sporting Honour Roll for 2022. They were chosen for their representation at an elite level this year. Lachie played golf in the NSWPSSA State Golf Tournament and Beatrix represented MacKillop at the NSW Cross Country. Their names will be added to the CECG Sport Website in the next few weeks.
Have a wonderful week. Mrs Holmes
Ang Holmes
