Dear Parent and Carers

Year 6 are currently at Cooba in Berridale for their three day camp. They are having a wonderful time. Thank you to staff Suzie McRae, Liz Coggan, Brendan Maynard, Kristy Freeman and Sharon Beashel for everything they have done to ensure this was a great experience.

Official Opening and Blessing

On Monday we held the Official Opening and Blessing of the refurbished amenities and canteen facilities that were completed at the end of Term 3 last year. It was a special occasion, with representatives from government, Catholic Education, St Bernard's parent and parish community, as well as people who designed and constructed the building making up the official party. The students of Kindergarten along with Mrs Brady offered Acknowledgement of Country in Dhurga. Fr Loi led us in a Blessing Liturgy and spoke to the students about how fortunate they are to have such a beautiful school. State Member for Bega, Dr Michael Holland spoke fondly of our school and his involvement as a parent when his own children attended. Mr Tim Smith, Performance and Improvement Leader at Catholic Education, representing the Director of Catholic Education, introduced and thanked everyone involved with the project and taught the children how to do a special clap to show their appreciation. Many people remarked on how beautifully behaved the students were during the blessing and official opening. We were certainly very proud of them. Thank you to the parents and family members who were able to be there.

Staffing Update

I would like to let you know that Mrs Dianne Metcalf has made the decision to retire at the end of this year. Di has taught at St Bernard's for many years. We thank Mrs Metcalf for the time and dedication she has given to our school and to the many students that she has taught. We wish her an enjoyable retirement.

The following teachers were appointed to continue in 2024: Mrs Ann-Maree Nussdorfer, Mrs Elizabeth Coggan and Ms Alyssa McRae. 

New staff who have been appointed to teach in 2024 are Ms Sara McCluskey, Ms Kate Manwaring and Mr Joshua Whiteford. We welcome them to our staff.

We will communicate final teaching appointments and classes for 2024 in the coming weeks. Our careful planning and consideration is to ensure that teachers are suitably placed on grade levels to achieve the best outcomes for students. Staff strengths and areas of expertise are considered each year and we will continue to do this in a thorough way.

Parent Expo and Kindergarten Orientation

Next Thursday 9 November we are holding an Expo for the parents of Kindergarten students in 2024 from 6pm-7.30pm in the Hall. Many of our teachers will be there to provide information about our school and various curriculum areas at exhibition style stalls. There will also be members of our parent community to share information about being involved at our school as well as stalls with information about bus transport and purchasing school uniforms. We thank the students from the school choir and the Year 5 students who have already indicated that they will be there to support this event. The following day we will hold the first of two orientation mornings for the new Kindergarten students. At these orientations the children will meet their teacher for next year and the members of their class. There is much to look forward to!

School Community Council 

You may recall that a review of School Boards, Community Councils and P&Fs across the Archdiocese has been undertaken over the past 18 months. The review has now concluded and in line with the recommendations made, our School Board and P&F will be transitioning to a new School Community Council over the next few months. Our Board and Executive members of the P&F are working with the Catholic Education Office on aspects of the change, meeting this evening at 5.30pm for the to learn more and plan for this transition with the input of Sarah Meier at Catholic Education. We will provide you with more information in the weeks ahead.

New students

This term we have welcomed four new students to our school, Charlene M in Year 2 and Chelsea M in Year 4, as well as Elvanna C and John D in Year 5. We hope that Elvanna and John and their families feel welcome and very happy as members of our school community.

Last Thursday I travelled to Melbourne for the day along with Jacqui Heffernan, Principal of Carroll College to attend the funeral of Jo's father Vin Taylor. We were very fortunate to be able to attend the funeral, leaving the Principal's System Day in Canberra to represent our school community and Principals in the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese. 

Jo will return to school next week. We continue to pray for her and her family during this time. 

I hope that you have a restful and enjoyable weekend.

Warm regards

Karen

PAUL IS AN EXEMPLARY LEADER

We in Australia are familiar with the Tall Poppy Syndrome. In fact we have a reputation for being knockers  of successful or prominent people. Some social scientists put it down to an ingrained national fear and/or suspicion of successful people. Others, more generously, attribute it to the experiences of the ANZACs in WW1. Although excellent infantrymen they were not so keen on the British officers who tried to impose such strict military discipline that the Diggers sought to cut them down to size. The incompetence of the military High Command and the  poppies covering the corpses in Flanders Fields gave a bitter edge to the criticism by the other ranks of their “betters”.

Malachi, speaking on behalf of the Lord, denounces the Jewish priests for betraying the Covenant as it applied to priests. “You are vile and contemptible in the eyes of the whole people.” (Malachi 2:9) In another verse he uses more degrading language. “I will punish your children and rub your faces in the dung of the animals you sacrifice.” (Malachi 2:3) The Diggers would have cheered Malachi on.

Jesus is equally as scathing when he exposes the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees. In their interpretation of the Law he said “They tie up heavy burdens on men’s shoulders but will they lift a finger to help? No, not they. Everything they do is for show.”

The Diggers would have called them “One Trick Ponies” and Fake as well.

 The stories of misbehaviour by the elites of Jewish society, in particular the priests, the scribes and the Pharisee in the centuries after the Jews return from exile in Babylon make for sad reading.  But let them not lead us into thinking we were never that bad. We are all sinners in our own way.

How I have resisted God’s grace only my conscience can tell but let me not be presumptive. Sometimes I need to hear the strong words of Malachi and Jesus in order to have a good hard look at my own moral shortcomings..

Paul when writing to the Thessalonians in Macedonia, about twenty years after the death of Jesus, describes himself as a missionary who cared for his recently converted Christians. What a contrast there is in the language Paul uses, in all humility, to describe his relationship with his Thessalonian converts.

“Like a mother  feeding and looking after her own children,  we felt so devoted and protective towards  you, and had come to love you so much that we were eager to hand over to you not only the Good News but our own lives as well.”

(Thessalonians  2:7)

Very few of us are called to be missionaries in the footsteps of Paul. However, in our daily lives, particularly in our families, where we are devoted and protective towards our own children, wouldn’t it be great if we were eager to hand over to them the Good News of Jesus Christ?

Not necessarily by teaching and instruction but by the power of  our example?

We wouldn’t want to be labelled hypocrites like the scribes and the Pharisees were by Jesus, would we?

    Joe Quigley

What’s been happening in Year 2 

ENGLISH 

Unit Overview 

This term students will explore a range of different texts about other cultures through the eyes of the character in the story. They will examine texts looking specifically at characters, cultural context and connected themes of traditions, celebrations, place and community. 

Over the last few weeks we have read books written by the Australian author Leigh Hobbs and explored some of his author devices and subject matter. We have enjoyed the humorous characters of Old Tom and Mr Chicken and the antics they get up to on their holidays and travels aboard.  

This term we will focus on writing imaginative and persuasive texts. We are currently developing our skills to use a story summary to write a simple narrative using a range of sentence types and expanding our sentences using adjectives and adverbs. Our narrative writing will be inspired by our texts about Mr Chicken by Leigh Hobbs.   

MATHEMATICS 

This term students have been continuing to build mastery and fluency with numeration skills. We have been busy reading, expanding and ordering numbers into the millions and adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers with regrouping. Reading and expressing quarter past and quarter to times in digital and analogue is a continued focus. In Week 2 we explored a fraction of ½, ¼  and ⅛ of a shape, including collections. We used paper folding to discover that eighths are very small units. We are now focusing carefully on working like a mathematician during our maths lessons so we can be precise with our working out.   

   

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The students in Year 2 have had an incredibly exciting start to Term 4. They actively engaged in Socktober, where they not only had a blast crafting their makeshift soccer balls but also delved into the significance of their participation in this meaningful event. They discovered the profound impact such events, like Socktober and Mission Week can have on less fortunate individuals, deepening their understanding of the world beyond their own experiences. 

In class, students have been focusing on Prayer and the transformative power it holds, both in the act of praying and actively listening. These lessons have sparked stimulating discussions among the students, allowing them to connect, on a deeper level with their peers. As a result, they have forged stronger bonds through these meaningful conversations, fostering a sense of unity and understanding within the classroom.

HSIE
Our students have been learning about why people visit different places and what factors affect their ability to do so. They compared how they travel to school with unique ways students from around the world go to school. Using maps, they marked places they've been to and discussed why they visited them. They found that factors like distance, money, and weather influence people's ability to travel.

Our young geographers will study how technology has changed the way we access places. We will watch videos about how air travel has evolved and discuss how technology impacts packing and language translation. We will discuss how people travel today and compare that to how their grandparents did, using tools like maps, graphs, and visual representations. Our Year 2 students have truly explored the world of accessing places with curiosity and enthusiasm.

HEALTH/DANCE

This term students are learning about water safety and how to recognise safe choices when they are near or around water. Through a variety of activities; students have been describing feelings, reactions and warning signs that can help them recognise safe or unsafe situations. Students have enjoyed designing ‘Water Safety’ posters, and have been eager to share their thoughts on ‘How can we keep ourselves safe in, on and around water?’ Students have also shown great excitement about the upcoming swimming program that will take place in Week 8 later this term.  

Students have embarked on an exciting dance journey in their lessons with Miss Tracey, where they’ve had the privilege of mastering three distinct dance styles. Throughout their time in the Hall, students have honed their skills in Jazz, Hip Hop, and the art of partner dancing. Miss Tracey’s expertise and guidance have made this dance experience not only educational but also incredibly enjoyable for all involved. 

VISUAL ARTS

Our Visual Arts this term will be integrated with our HSIE and English units Global and Cultural Connections. We will be exploring art from other cultures across the world. In Week 1 we read Old Tom's Holiday by Leigh Hobbs and watched how he used cartoon style drawings to add humour when creating his book characters. Following on from this we then attempted to draw Old Tom using black marker pens adding shading and texture to make the character of Old Tom pop off the page. Our art work is proudly on display in our class gallery. In Week 3 we read, Mr Chicken Goes to Paris and took the famous landmark of the Eiffel Tower, from the story and created a pointillism artwork inspired by the artist George Seurat, using small overlapping dots and acrylic paints. The results were MAGNIFIQUE !! 

Term 4

Week 3 Class Awards

Presented: Friday 27 October 2023.

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!