Dear Parents and Friends,

This weekend we will celebrate Pentecost. Pentecost always occurs 50 days after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and ten days after his ascension into heaven.

In the Christian tradition, Pentecost is the celebration of the person of the Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles, Mary, and the first followers of Jesus, who were gathered together in the Upper Room.

A "strong, driving" wind filled the room where they were gathered, and tongues of fire came to rest on their heads, allowing them to speak in different languages so that they could understand each other. It was such a strange phenomenon that some people thought the Christians were just drunk - but Peter pointed out that it was only the morning, and said the phenomenon was caused by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit also gave the apostles the other gifts and fruits necessary to fulfill the great commission - to go out and preach the Gospel to all nations. It fulfills the New Testament promise from Christ (Luke 24:46-49) that the Apostles would be "clothed with power" before they would be sent out to spread the Gospel”. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/36152/everything-you-need-to-know-about-pentecost

Some of our Year 6 students made their commitment to receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation last week and some will be present at mass this weekend. All families are very welcome to join the St Bernard’s community at Mass. We keep our Confirmation candidates in our prayers. 

National Sorry Day 2023

Tomorrow is National Sorry Day, when Australian people remember, acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were part of the Stolen Generation. “It took several Australian government administrations coming and going before an apology was officially offered to the Indigenous Australians, but it finally was made official, and actions are still being undertaken to this day to repair the damage caused by tearing native families apart”( https://nationaltoday.com/national-sorry-day/ ). Year 6 will be leading our Assembly with a focus on National Sorry Day. The Assembly will begin at 8.45am. All families are welcome.

Tomorrow our Years 2-6 Aboriginal students and Year 6 students will be participating in the Batemans Bay Bridge Walk to represent our school community. We keep our Indigenous students and their families in mind at this time as we celebrate a shared history and encourage positive and respectful relationships.

Enrichment

This year we are providing an opportunity for some of our Years 4 and 5 students to begin to prepare for The da Vinci Decathlon. This is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students. It was created for our highly able and gifted students across different disciplines to use their skills with others and present their new ideas – all within time constraints.

Students compete in teams of eight across 10 disciplines: engineering, mathematics and chess, code breaking, art and poetry, science, English, ideation, creative producers, cartography and legacy.

Unlike an Olympic decathlon, this is very much a team challenge and not an individual pursuit.  Our school’s aim will be to select students who are able to complement each other in the various disciplines. We will be inviting students from Years 4 and Year 5 to try out as representatives in the 2024 school team. More information will follow from Mrs Keough who will be leading the project with the support of Mrs Tyler.

Pastoral Care

Our pastoral care policy at St Bernard’s highlights behaviour expectations and is centred around a positive approach to Pastoral Care and Behaviour. Currently we have been reaffirming our school rules with the students, highlighting the way we must treat each other. Our school rules state:

• Treat each other with respect
• Help each other learn
• Keep ourselves and others safe
• Wear our correct uniform properly
• Care for our school environment

The Pastoral Care and Behaviour Policy is an expression of the aims of the school community for the development of positive and productive relationships among members of the community. Communication is paramount to the successful partnership between parents and the school in a student’s education and wellbeing. At St Bernard’s we aim to provide a safe and supportive learning environment. Our policy can be found on the school website.

Positive behaviour is celebrated and recognised at St Bernard’s through feedback by staff, emails to parents and assemblies. We are currently updating our policy and are working on introducing an individual reward system that will operate through Compass. Our focus will be on rewarding students for consistently doing the right thing through an individual point system. Our focus will be on the following:

1. I take pride in my school uniform
2. I do my best in my learning
3. I use kind words and kind hands
4. I take care of our school environment
5. I respect our school rules

These statements align with our school values and rules. I will communicate more information once we have the new system in place. Any feedback from parents would be welcomed.

Archdiocesan Cross Country

Congratulations to our students who competed at the Archdiocesan Cross Country event in Stromlo last Friday. Congratulations to Keira A and Beatrix F who are Archdiocesan Champions and to Ruby B, Raph C, Annie F and Brooklen S who have now made it on to the next level in Sydney. What a wonderful achievement!

Absences 

A reminder that if your child/ren are away, please ensure that you lodge an attendance note through our Compass Portal and inform your child’s teacher. If you are having difficulty adding an attendance note, please contact the office and we are very happy to assist. It’s important that all absences are followed up. If your child is late to school, please ask them to come through the Front Office to ensure they are signed in for the day. We appreciate your support with these processes.  

Blessings to you and your family.

Kind regards

Johanna Wain
Principal 

Dear Parents and Carers,

The Religion Curriculum K-12 involves four strands: Sacred Texts, Beliefs, Church, and Christian Life. These strands are interrelated and are taught in an integrated way, and in ways that are appropriate to specific local contexts.

This term in Year 5, students will begin to appreciate the significance of community for sharing and strengthening the faith of believers, past and present, including the Church in the Australian colonies (c.1850 CE - c.1900 CE). They will develop their understanding of Christian charity and informed moral choice by learning more about the experiences of individuals and communities, past and present.

At a skill level Year 5 students will explain how the wisdom of the saints, in particular the letters written by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, helps people past and present to understand about caring for the wellbeing of others and the faith of the community of believers.

Year 5 look forward to sharing their learning about St Mary of the Cross MacKillop with you at their assembly next week.

Confirmation

Thank you to the families who attended Commitment masses last weekend for the sacrament of Confirmation. It was lovely having you all in the church space. I know that the parishioners really enjoy praying for you and your children during their preparation time.

Confirmation Retreat Day

Year 6 will attend a Confirmation Retreat on Friday 9 June at Carroll College. Mrs Drewsen and Mrs Barling along with Year 10 CSYMA students will lead the day. Please refer to the note in Compass for more information. Sports uniform is to be worn to the retreat.

Mary MacKillop Prayer

God of the prophets you gifted Mary MacKillop with vision and courage. In her we see one who was not afraid to speak fearlessly your gospel of love. We pray for the sensitivity and imagination to read the signs of our times, and to articulate new possibilities for our own day. Like Mary, may we learn to confront all that is oppressive and unjust, and empower others towards true freedom and integrity.

Spirit of wisdom, be with us as we face new horizons. Amen

Blessings on your weekend

Sharon Beashel

Religious Education Coordinator

Dhurga and Culture Lessons

Each Wednesday and Thursday Trish Ellis works in our school to teach the local Aboriginal language, Dhurga. Students from Kindergarten to Year Two learn whole Dhurga words for greetings and animals and Years 3 to 6 begin to learn the alphabet and phonemes. Cultural knowledge is taught to all grade levels, integrated with other areas of the curriculum.

This term Trish is teaching Kindergarten, Year One and Year Two about the importance of respectful listening. The students practice to listen, following instructions to complete a task. The students are learning to take turns when talking, in preparation to participate in Yarning Circles. Yarning Circles involve respectful listening while sharing experiences with one another.

In addition, the students in Kindergarten, Year One and Two are learning the Dhurga word for various animals, leading to learning about the meaning of totems, raising an awareness and interest in family totems.

Students from Years 3 have a more specific focus on learning the Dhurga language using the Dhurga Dictionary and Learner's Grammar book, co-written by Trish and two of her family members. Learning to navigate the dictionary has been a challenging learning experience. The students have enjoyed challenging each other to find the word before one another and are rewarded with special prizes.

Year 4 are learning about Early Contacts and will be using Trish's cultural resources to learn about Aboriginal lifestyle and ways of survival, following on from last term's learning about the natural environment and traditional ways that Aboriginal people lived on the land. 

In Year 5 and 6 the students are choregraphing a play to retell the bible story of creation and relate this to Dreaming stories. Parts of the play will be translated from English to Dhurga, supported by Trish in weekly lessons. The students are working towards a performance for the school community in Term 4, where they will take on the roles of narrators, choregraphers, actors and prop makers.

Personal Learning Pathways

Personal Learning Pathway meetings are almost complete for all Aboriginal students from Years 1 to 6 in our school. The meetings have been a wonderful opportunity to connect with families and to discuss ways to work together to support excellent learning for all Aboriginal students at our school. Trish has helped to develop cultural learning goals for each student in the meetings, considering how each individual could be best supported, building their sense of identity and place.

Yuin Banaan Cultural Day

On Friday August 4 (Term 3, Week 3) we will be holding the Yuin Banaan Cultural Day for all Aboriginal students and their families from our K-12 Catholic Pathway Schools at Captain Oldrey Park, Broulee. 

Archdiocesan Cross Country

Congratulations to the students who competed at the Archdiocesan Cross Country in Canberra last Friday. The spirit and encouragement they gave each other was amazing. Congratulations to Keira A and Beatrix F who are Archdiocesan Champions! Ruby B and Raph C were second, Annie F third and Brooklen S fifth. All of our runners were fantastic and should be very proud of their efforts in a very quick field of competitors. These six students now progress to the Combined Primary Schools NSW Cross Country on 13 June in Sydney, where they will compete against the best athletes from across the state. We are very proud of you all. 

MacKillop Soccer Championships

On Friday Annie F will compete as part of the Canberra Goulburn Girls Football team at the MacKillop Championships in Goulburn. Congratulations Annie on being selected to compete. We hope you have a wonderful experience.

Wallabies Coaching

On Tuesday St Bernard’s was very excited to host the Gold Blooded Wallabies tour sponsored by RM Williams. The students were part of coaching sessions with Classic Wallabies Morgan Tirinui and Andrew Walker and coaches from Rugby Australia. We were also fortunate to have the William Webb Ellis trophy in the school, much to the delight of fans and Mrs Wain. The students were amazing and the coaches and players commented on how fantastic it was to have students so eager to listen and take part.

Angela Holmes

Sport Coordinator