Dear Parents and Carers

It has been great to welcome back the students for Term 3 this week. Students are already very engaged in their learning with opportunities to participate in a range of educational experiences.

Welcome to new families

It has been lovely to welcome new students to our school this week. 

• Alana M in Kinder; Ariyah M in Year 2 and Layla T in Year 5
• Chelsea G in Year 2 and Beau G in Year 3
• Divitha in Year 4

We hope you are settling in well and already feeling part of our school family!

Staffing Update

This term we welcome Mrs Kate Bellette back from maternity leave. Kate will be teaching two days a week.

Ms Sara McCluskey has taken leave this term to travel overseas and Kate and Ms Naomi Beatty will teach in 2BM on Thursday and Friday in her role.

First Eucharist

This term, our Year 4 students will receive the Sacrament of Eucharist. Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare for this significant step in their Sacramental journey. The Sacrament will be celebrated on Sunday 14 September at 9:00am. All families are invited to join us at this special celebration. The Enrolment Evening for parents will take place next week on Thursday 31 July.

NAIDOC and YUIN BUNAAN

In our final week of last term, our school NAIDOC Week celebrations were launched with Aboriginal Education Worker, Mr Riley Nolan teaching each grade a dance and playing the yidaki in the hall. Our celebrations of NAIDOC Week continued this week with two significant events, the Yuin Bunaan Cultural Day for our three Catholic Pathway Schools at Captain Oldrey Park in Broulee held yesterday, and the Southern Region NAIDOC Mass, taking place today at St Patrick’s Church, Bega. 

The Yuin Bunaan is held biennially and is a celebration of the incredible culture of our First Nations people. This years NAIDOC Week theme, "The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy," celebrates not only the achievements of the past but the bright future ahead, empowered by the strength of our young leaders, the vision of our communities, and the legacy of our ancestors. 

This theme is certainly evident in our community, on Walbunja and Brinja Yuin land where the vision, passion and cultural knowledge of Elders and emerging leaders such as Riley Nolan, Samantha Ellis and Robert Slockee, of Carroll College is inspiring and empowering so many of the students in our schools.

The Southern Region NAIDOC Mass is being attended by Catholic Schools in our region today, with our Year 4-6 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and the Student Representative Council travelling with students from St Mary's, Moruya.

We would like to congratulate Riley Nolan, Scarlett Chapman and Christopher Hebditch for receiveing the following awards.

Riley Nolan - Leadership Award

Scarlett C - Leadership Award

Christopher H - Culture and Identity Award 

I would like to share the following prayer that was part of the opening of the Yuin Bunaan yesterday, shared by Mrs Libby Goodsell, Aboriginal Education Officer at Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn.

We gather in prayer this morning with gratitude and joy in our hearts for this opportunity to connect with each other.

We pray for our First Nations children; that they are able to learn culture from Elders, and grow to be strong leaders in their communities.

We pray that they may always find their faith and hope in the future,

We pray that our students grow to feel empowered.

We pray they grow to know their voice counts.

We pray they always encounter our Holy Creator’s grace.

May we all remember to always see the land as a gift for which we are truly thankful, and undertake the privileged duty of respecting and looking after it as First Nations peoples have done for thousands of years.

We thank God, Great Creator Spirit, for all Country provides:

May we always feel our oneness with the spirit of this land and with each other,

Help silence our spirits and minds from the busyness of life,

And Be still.

May we Listen to the breath of the Spirit which has blown through this land for ages past, Today, and always;

From the mountains and the rivers to the sea, what always was will always be.

Amen

NAPLAN Results

This week, families will have received their child’s NAPLAN results in a sealed envelope.

NAPLAN provides a snapshot of student achievement at a particular point in time. The Individual Student Report outlines your child’s performance in:

• Writing
• Reading
• Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar, and punctuation)
• Numeracy

You’ll also see how your child’s results compare to the school average for each area.

An Additional Student Report (ASR) is also included. This offers further detail, such as:

• Descriptions of the skills assessed
• How your child responded to each item
• The relative difficulty of each question

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your child’s results, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

CLASSROOM LEARNING TIME
At St Bernard’s we always strive to focus on creating a high performing culture, enabling the students in our care to reach their academic potential. As a staff we have professional conversations focused on teaching and learning, classroom management, student wellbeing and timetabling. Educational research has confirmed that it is the teacher who has the greatest influence on improving student learning outcomes. The morning block is prime time learning for students.

Parents can assist in this matter too. Students need to arrive at school by the morning bell at 8:40am to ensure that they do not miss any element of their first lesson of the day.

Birrigai- Year 5 Camp

Next week, our Year 5 students will head off on a two-night excursion to Birrigai in Tharwa, ACT. While the main focus of the camp is exploring the Gold Rush period in Australian history, it’s also a wonderful opportunity for students to enjoy the experience of an overnight camp, strengthen friendships, and build independence. The camp will be supported by Mr Jackson Keen, Mr Brendan Maynard, Mrs Sophie Kenny, Mrs Laura Tyler, and Ms Jeni McCarthy.

We wish them all a fantastic time and look forward to hearing their stories when they return!

Blessings to you and your family over the next fortnight.

Warm regards

Karen

Karen Hadley

Principal