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Dear Parents and Friends,
I hope you have had an enjoyable week. It’s great to be back at school. I have enjoyed catching up with the students and hearing all about their recent break and the new learning they have started this term.
As Mrs Hadley mentioned last week, we are celebrating NAIDOC Week next week. Our NAIDOC celebrations began last Friday morning with a regional NAIDOC Mass for Catholic schools and parents in the Southern Region. Pictured to the left is Samuel S receiving a recognition award from our Performance and Improvement Leader, Mr Tim Smith along with Fr George, Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Moruya. Samuel’s award was presented in recognition of the kindness and respect he continues to show, always reaching out to others. In addition, Samuel was recognised for his high level of engagement in learning Dhurga and his leadership in offering an Acknowledgement to Country. Samuel is an exemplary role model at St Bernard’s.
Congratulations Samuel!
Mayor’s Writing Competition
This year our Years 2-6 students are eagerly writing to enter the Mayor’s Writing Competition.
Held for the past 14 years, the competition has celebrated and encouraged the literary talents of our local community's young people aged between 5 and 18. The categories are Kindergarten, Years 1-2, Years 3-4, Years 5-6, Years 7-8, Years 9-10, and Years 11-12.
The theme for 2023, as selected by Mayor, Mathew Hatcher, is “CHANGE”. All written submissions must incorporate the theme ‘change’. The competition is open to children and youth who live or go to school in the Eurobodalla. Entries can be any style of creative writing. Finalists will be chosen by an expert panel of judges. Entries close at 5pm on Friday 25 August. For more information, or to enter, visit the Mayor's Writing Competition webpage or call in to one of the Shire’s libraries.
We look forward to sending in our school entries! This is certainly giving our students a strong purpose for writing!
Absentee Notes
Just a reminder that when your child misses a day of school, you MUST complete an absence note in Compass Portal. From the Compass Portal home screen on the left-hand side in the student profile Parents can select…. + Add Attendance Note (Approved Absence/Late)
Parents then select a reason from the drop-down option list, write in supporting comments and select the date the student will be absent (either current or future). Parents will be notified on the right-hand side of their Compass portal through My News for any outstanding unexplained absences/late. To explain an absence or late for your child, the parent must click the check box to the left side of the absence they wish to explain and then the Explain with Attendance Note button.
This is a government requirement. If you have any questions or have difficulty accessing Compass, please don’t hesitate to come and see us at the Front Office.
Goodluck…
Next week we wish many of our Years 2-6 students, good luck competing at the Southern Region Athletics Carnival in Bega. A special thank you to Mrs Brady and Mrs Holmes who have been preparing the students for this event. We look forward to hearing about your experience next week.
Welcome…
We have welcomed 4 new families to St Bernard’s last week. Welcome to Ben T (4C), Claire E (4K), Alfred and Angelo M (1C) and Sai G (2B). We know you will be very happy as you settle into our beautiful school.
Brain Breaks
Most students require a brain break throughout the day. This can be a whole class or individual break. Brain breaks should be around 1-3 minutes long and can be either passive or involve movement. Some options that are used for brain breaks by our teaching and support staff include taking a message to a teacher/office, getting a drink, heavy lifting etc, meditation, movement activity.
The new jackets have arrived and they are a hit with the students! They certainly
look very smart and have provided students with an extra layer of warmth. All jackets can be purchased through the Front Office or Compass.
Our Year 5 students are enjoying a wonderful time at Birrigai. Although the weather is cold, this hasn’t stopped the fun or high level of engagement in the different activities. I am sure they can’t wait to share their experiences with the school next week.
Blessings to you and your family on the week ahead.
Kind regards
Johanna Wain
Principal
Finding a Treasure
Can you remember as a child searching for ‘treasure’ in the Christmas pudding or reading about pirates in search of treasure? To find a treasure either by a stroke of luck or after a persistent search is really good fortune. What wouldn’t one do to find a Treasure Island or simply win Powerball?
Sue McPherson in her book ‘Grace beside me’ speaks of a time of stumbling around and searching for ‘inner peace’ – a more lasting treasure. Following a very trying time where an incident had left her angry, her Nan and Pop take her to the bush to sort through her feelings. It is spending time in nature, sitting and reflecting, she comes to realise she needs to somehow ‘let go’ of her anger. It is in the bush she experiences over time a deep pure calm overtaking her. She states ‘I know I am going to be okay.’ Later on talking to her Nan about this ‘new treasure of calm’ she felt, she asks “ I was wondering though ... what do we call it? That wave of calm what is it? ‘She’s called Grace – you just sat in the presence of Grace.’ ‘Grace beside me’ I whispered as I wiped away a tear. ‘Grace beside you always.’ Pop says nodding. [Pgs 199-200, 2012]
A treasure is not something we can earn but something we find as Fuzzy did in the bush. We can spend a lot of our lives wishing and hoping that some treasure will come our way. We can forget that we already possess a wonderful treasure in our loved ones and in the gift of life itself.
The Kingdom of God is our Treasure to find!
In today’s Gospel Mathew 13:44-52 Jesus speaks again in Parables about the Kingdom of God. He speaks about a person finding a treasure buried in a field, upon realising the great worth of the treasure he sells all to buy the field. This is what happens when we discover the treasure of the Kingdom of God. In the Gospel there is interplay of searching, finding, celebrating, and selling all to possess something of great value. The discoveries of treasure and pearl disrupt normal daily life and priorities – they require risk and sacrifice and can shape life in a different way. Pope Francis says, ‘those who find it have no doubts, they sense that this is what they have been seeking and waiting for; and this is what fulfils their most authentic aspiration ...’
When we have this personal and loving encounter with the person of Jesus, we are so captivated and attracted by Jesus that we are willing to sell everything, to safe guard our relationship with him. [God’s Word Daily reflection 2020] As Christians, while Jesus is the treasure we are seeking, we find this can easily get clouded by events in our own life – worries, anxieties, insecurities and hardships. We need to perhaps ‘go bush’ like Fuzzy and ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of finding Jesus, so that we too may experience ‘our most authentic aspirations’ being fulfilled.
Marie Weatherall

Dear Parents and Carers,
On Sunday we will celebrate the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The theme of the scripture readings (parables) from Matthew are focused on the treasure of faith.
Jesus continues to teach about the Kingdom of God. He gives three examples of the Reign of God: a man finds a buried treasure, and he sells all he has to buy the field; a merchant finds a fine pearl, and he sells all he owns to buy it; and the Kingdom of God is like the many things that get caught in a fisherman’s net – the rejects are thrown away, and only the good catch is saved.
The first two parables teach that the Kingdom is so valuable that we ought to be willing to give up everything for it. We may not have to sell everything we have but we may have to change our way of doing things.
The third parable has the same message as last week’s Gospel reading. We learn that the just and the unjust must exist together in this world. Just like the weeds and the wheat, everything caught in the net is not valuable. When judgement day comes, the net will pick up all kinds of fish, the good and the bad. Only the just are kept as the catch of the day.
(Lisa-Marie Calderone Stewart)
Family Enrolment Evening for the sacrament of First Eucharist
Thank you to those families who have confirmed their attendance at the Family Enrolment Evening on Wednesday 9 August in St Bernard’s church. The meeting will begin at 5.00pm and conclude by 6.00pm.
Mini Vinnies Maranatha Visit
Members of our Mini Vinnies team will be visiting Maranatha retirement village on Thursday 10 August at 10.00am. The students will be reading picture books to the residents during their morning tea. We will spend time during Week 3 practising reading our chosen texts. Thank you to Mrs Smith who will be supervising the students during the visit.
Our school community will be celebrating St. Bernard’s Day on Friday 18 August. Events for the day include:
9.15am - Whole School Mass St Bernard’s Church.
10.30am - Special French morning tea with croissants/chocolate cookies and chocolate milk.
11.15 - 11.50am - Infants Disco school hall.
11.50 - 12.35pm - Primary Disco school hall.
1.30 – 2.15pm - Clubs.
Children are asked to wear their red, white, and blue sports uniform on St. Bernard’s Day.
Orders will be available shortly by Qkr!
Blessing on your weekend
Sharon Beashel
Religious Education Coordinator
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 been busy reading and unpacking poetry from famous Australian poets, C.J Dennis and Banjo Patterson. Our Daily Reviews have focused on handwriting and how to correctly join letters together as well as spelling words using the ‘ought’ and ‘ai’ spelling rules.
In Math this term, students have solved three- and four-digit addition and subtraction problems. We have also used partitioning and a number line to demonstrate the jump strategy for mentally solving addition problems. In our Daily Reviews we have looked at place value, rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundred and thousand, plotting fractions on a number line and identified different angles, just to name a few things.





















During History, Year 3 have started exploring how communities have changed over time for our Storyline Unit. We introduced this unit by looking back at the history of the corner shop and how it has changed from 1850 to today. Students were amazed by how time consuming a visit to the corner shop was, as items were not prepackaged and needed to be measured, weighed and wrapped before leaving the shop.
We also went back in time to the 1950s and learnt about how challenging it was to run a household. There were no washing machines, televisions, dish washers and the fridge was a block of ice in a cupboard. Students were also amazed by the fact there weren’t any snacks in the pantry and dinner consisted of foods like tripe.
In Art, Year 3 used oil pastel with a focus on lines to create an echidna. Students used pencil to outline a rough shape of their echidna then worked from the background to the foreground to add layers to their artwork to give it a more textured appearance. They then used edicol dye to create the background, which highlighted their fantastic artwork.


















During our Sport session last week, students participated in a Netball Coaching Session with Kate Blackmore. Students learnt about the various positions and where they were on the court. The students did so well with learning their positions, they then went into games. Students are to be commended for their high level of engagement and enthusiasm when participating in the session. We were very impressed by the positive interactions between students displaying a great sense of fair play.
NSWPSSA Cross Country
Last Friday Beatrix F competed in the NSW Primary School Sports Association Cross Country. This event saw the best from Catholic, Independent and Public schools in NSW running some amazingly quick times. We are extremely proud of Beatrix for being selected to run at this event. She was only thirty two seconds behind the winner over 2km what an achievement. Congratulations!




Southern Region Athletics
Next Wedensday these students will represent St Bernard’s at the Southern Region Athletics Carnival in Bega. They have been eagerly training in their recess and lunch breaks and we hope they have a wonderful day.
Astrid B, Sietta G, Stella F, Kate W, Toby S, Beatrix F, Brooklen S, Charlie M, Aurelia S, Ruby H, Lucas V-D-S, Noah S, Xavier L, Lilly G, Georgina W, Storm R, Mia A, Dusti-Rae L, Tomas C, Harper B, Ollie L, Arthur S-D, Ethan S, Nate K, Jace T, Annie F, Teagan W, Sienna B, Matthew S, Tyler Mc, Brennan C, Didier D-C, Chase W, Korban S, Isaac V, Ruby B, Keira A, Hailey I, Isabella L, Annaleise G, Rogan H, Lawson M, Sebastian C, Kobi B, Connor K, Samuel S-D,
UCI BMX World Championships
Congratulations to Raph C who has been selected to represent Australia in the UCI BMX world championships which are being held in Glasgow Scotland and will span 11 days from 3-13 August. Raph and his family will leave for Glasgow next week and we wish them safe travels and an every success in racing.
Angela Holmes
Premier's Reading Challenge 2023
The NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge is on now!
All student’s from K-2 have been participating in the challenge during class time at St Bernard’s. Teachers read eligible books and entries will be completed by the school.
Students in Years 3-6 are encouraged to participate by recording the titles of books they have read this year. To complete the challenge student’s are simply required to read 20 books and enter these titles on-line before the closing date on 18 August 2023. Student log-in details remain the same each year (a copy of these is with Mrs Hopman in the iCentre).
For further details and booklists please visit: www.premiersreadingchallenge.nsw.edu.au