Dear Parents and Carers

I hope that everyone has had a great couple of weeks. I have observed that the students have settled very well into the routine of school. It has been excellent to see the students engaged in their learning in the classroom and participating in the swimming carnival and other sporting events that have taken place. 

Kindergarten have impressed us with the way they have settled in and have already learnt so much about life at big school. They certainly earnt their second rest day yesterday!  This Tuesday was a highlight for both Kindergarten and the very enthusiastic Year 5 students, who were so excited to meet their Kinder buddy and spend time when them in their classroom. Their leadership skills shone with this opportunity.

Year 6 Leaders

Last Wednesday, our Year 6 students were officially presented with their leadership badge for 2025. It was a very special assembly attended by many parents and family members. School Captains Rohan L and Georgina W addressed the school and all of Year 6 recited their committment to leadership this year. They are certainly an exceptional group of students who have already demonstrated their enthusiasm, care and sense of responsibility in the school. Yesterday they travelled to Canberra for an excursion to the Museum of Australian Democracy and Parliament House and received many compliments on their outstanding behaviour.

Congratulations to the following students who have been elected to the 2025 Student Representative Council (SRC), Ava G, Reeve T, Lilly G, Benjamin T, Charlotte F, Holly B and School Captains Rohan L and Georgina W.

House Captains:

Lourdes: Evie P and Taj Powell                            

MacKillop: Indiana Allen and Harper B                              

Tenison: Levi Torkington and Ethan S                     

Clairvaux: Ollie L and Evie P                              

Also congratulations to Liam C, Eva H and Nate K who were chosen as Digital Leaders in our school. We thank them for the leadership they are already exhibiting, sharing their talents in the area of digital technologies with other members of our school.

Faith in Learning- Staff Commissioning

Our school, like all others in our System, is committed to offering a Catholic education that nurtures each student's God-given potential through teaching and service. Over the past two weekends, staff from our K-12 Catholic Pathway schools attended Mass where we were commissioned in our roles for the 2025 school year. We thank parish priests, Fr Rex Curry and Fr George for their support and encouragement as we undertake this important work in our communities.

Catalyst Coaching Visit

Last week, we were fortunate to have Dean Katsiris from COG learning in our school to provide coaching, feedback and demonstration lessons for teachers. Professional learning of this nature has occurred at our school for a number of years now and has been an excellent way to improve teaching and learning. St Bernard's teachers have often been recognised for their very effective implementation of High Impact Teaching Practices aligned to evidenced-based research on how children learn best. The visit from Dean was affirming while also providing teachers with goals for moving forward. Dean will work with our staff again later in the year. 

Parent Teacher Introductory Meetings

Parent Teacher Introductory Meetings will be held over two days, on Monday 3 March and Wednesday 5 March in Week 5. The meetings are an opportunity to meet your child/children's class teacher and share information that will be important to assist your child's learning for the year ahead. Bookings for the 10 minute meetings will be accessed through the Compass portal, which will be live this afternoon from 3pm.

Save the Date: Welcome BBQ and Disco

On Thursday 13 March, we invite all St Bernard's families to a Welcome BBQ and Disco in the Lean to from 5.00pm-6.30pm. More information about this event will be communicated in the coming weeks. We hope to see you there.

Nut free school

There are a number of students in our school who have a severe allergy to nuts. We are a nut free school and ask you to please refrain from giving your child food that contains nut products.

NSW PSSA Girls Primary Cricket Championships

This week Georgina W travelled to the Central Coast to play in the NSW PSSA Girls Primary Cricket Championships, representing Mackillop. Games were played on turf wickets and full length pitches. Georgina top scored for Mackillop against a North Sydney invitational side, with 47 runs out of her team's total of 95. Mackillop have won 4 out of their 5 games and Georgina is their leading scorer! We congratulate Georgina for this wonderful achievement.

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend.

Warm regards

Karen