Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you enjoyed some relaxation over the long weekend. At Mass last Sunday, Fr Tom spoke about the mystery of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is about God’s presence and love for us. Traditionally we say the sign of the cross at the beginning and end each time we pray. “The Feast of the Trinity says that our world is not God’s colony under colonial management but is God’s home. It is about the intimacy of God’s presence to us in our world and in the Church through Jesus” (https://www.australiancatholics.com.au/article). The Holy Trinity can never fully be understood, and it's not meant to be. It's about our faith in God. This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi (Body and Blood of Christ). The Eucharist is the most precious gift and Jesus totally gives himself to us through the Eucharist. 

Tomorrow we will be celebrating our first whole school mass for the year. All families and friends are welcome to join us at 9.30am at St Bernard’s Church. Our Mini Vinnies team will be leading the mass with Mrs Beashel. Our focus is on helping those in need. A true example of God’s love and presence in us. Thank you to our families for their many generous donations. They are most appreciated and will assist those less fortunate in our community. 

We continue to keep our Year 6 students in our prayers who are preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.  

Winter Uniform
The days and the mornings are now getting colder as we move into the Winter months. Just a reminder that all students should now be wearing full winter uniform. Boys are to wear grey pants/grey shorts and girls have the choice between navy pants or a tunic. Students must wear their navy woollen jumper with their full school uniform, not the hooded sports jumper. Winter uniform is to be worn until the October long weekend.

Thank you to our families who support our school by ensuring students are in full school uniform. Black leather school shoes are to be worn with the winter uniform  and runners are only to be worn with the sports uniform. If your child is not wearing the correct uniform, please advise your child’s teacher. We have many second-hand items in our clothing pool. We encourage the children to take pride in their school uniform as it represents our school.

Pastoral Care and Behaviour Management
The staff at St Bernard’s Primary School agree that Pastoral Care and Welfare seeks to protect personal and school community safety, heal destructive behaviours, restore relationships, encourage reconciliation, enhance wellbeing, foster responsibility, enable personal growth, and promote the common good. The staff employ the philosophy of Restorative Practices to promote resilience. Restorative measures help students learn from their mistakes, grow in self-discipline, take responsibility for their actions, recognise the impact of their actions on others, and reconcile and resolve conflict with others.

Please be assured that all incidents that occur in the school are followed up with a teacher. If an incident occurs at school involving your child, a phone call home will be made by the teacher who was on duty or was working through the situation. This may not necessarily be your child’s classroom teacher. Most breaches of school rules will be dealt with by the class teacher. If a serious breach of school rules occurs such as dangerous behaviour or continued breaches of class rules, it will be referred to members of the Executive Team. The parents of the children will be informed and the Executive Team will decide upon any consequence. Wherever possible, the consequence of inappropriate behaviour should be related to the behaviour and aimed at resolving the situation.

Parents are not always aware of the outcome/consequences. This is not normally discussed with parents due to privacy. I encourage parents to please contact their child’s teacher if they are concerned about an incident. We encourage communication between home and school. We are here to support your child and all of our decisions are centred on the students. If you have any questions, I encourage you to contact me.

Staffing Update
We welcome back Ms Jessica Guthrie next term from maternity leave. Ms Guthrie will be teaching Performing Arts for the remainder of the year. We thank Ms Nussdorfer for her support and dedication to the role for Term One and Two. Ms Nussdorfer will continue in a casual position at St Bernard’s.

Mrs Angela Holmes is taking long service leave for the first two and a half weeks of Term 3. Mrs Nussdorfer will be teaching PE and Digital Technology in her absence. We wish Mrs Holmes an enjoyable break with her family.

Blessings on the week ahead.

Kind regards
Johanna Wain

Principal

Celebrating Christ’s Gift of the Eucharist - Corpus Christi

The Feast of Corpus Christi is a celebration of the hospitality of Jesus. It is a feast  that encourages us to pray, to wonder at Christ’s continuing gift to us through his presence and his continuing activity in the world through our commitment to ‘become what we receive’ (St Augustine).

This feast is at the heart of why we gather as a community of believers and as we proclaim the Mystery of Faith we say, ‘When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord, until you come again’. We not only remember, but we  celebrate and experience God’s love as a community of faith, hope and love.

At the Second Vatican Council, the Church has emphasised more strongly the presence of Christ within the community, which St Paul called the Body of Christ. In this vision all Catholics are active as well as receptive in the celebration of the Eucharist. Christ is present not simply in the consecrated bread and wine, but as the one who forgives, speaks, feeds, gathers together and makes present his offering on the Cross…Christ is present in the bread and wine because he is active in the Church. In the Eucharist, he  calls us to prayer and reverence. He also calls us to follow his way in feeding the poor and giving spirit to the excluded and in taking up our own cross. (Andrew Hamilton SJ June 2022)

Pope Francis reflected on the gift of the sacrament of the Eucharist and he stated ‘with great simplicity Jesus gives us the greatest sacrament in a humble gesture of giving and sharing’. Pope Francis goes on to remind us that ‘Jesus does not distribute an abundance of bread to feed the crowds, but he breaks himself at the Passover supper with the disciples and Jesu shows us that the aim of life lies in self-giving, that the greatest thing is to serve.’ He reminds us that the Eucharist is not a reward of saints but that it is bread for sinners – each time we receive the Bread of Life, the Lord comes to give new meaning to our fragilities. (Pope Francis Angelus Address Feast of Corpus Christi 2021)

Dear Parents and Carers, 

It was a flurry of excitement today as our Mini Vinnie’s team unpacked and categorised your generous donations for their Second-hand stalls this week. Members will hold two stalls selling selected items suitable for infant and primary aged students. All money raised from their stalls will go towards buying blankets for those in need. Items range between 50c and $2.00. 

Winter Appeal Mass

You are invited to our Winter Appeal Mass tomorrow, Friday 17 June at 9.30am. Children are encouraged to wear their PJ’s and beanie to school for the day. All gold coin donations will go towards our blanket appeal. Blankets will be presented to Mr Gary Norris from St. Vincent de Paul during Mass.

Confirmation Retreat

Year 6 had a wonderful day last Friday at our K-12 Pathway Confirmation Retreat. Mrs Barling, Mrs Lyttle and her Year 10 Religious Education class put in an amazing amount of preparation and effort into the day. Our students enjoyed ice-breaker games, rotation activities and prayer opportunities. Break times also gave the students opportunities to meet new friends, catch up with siblings, get to know the school environment and enjoy free time. Thank you too to Father Tom, Deacon Eden and Mrs Wain who also called in during the day. The lunch provided by hospitality was very much appreciated.

Reconciliation before Confirmation

Parents are encouraged to present their children for Reconciliation on Saturday 18 June from 9.30am. Reconciliation will take approximately 10-15 minutes for each candidate. A support script will be sent home for your child to use on the day. I will also run through the script with the children on Friday at school.

Begin With the Heart Awards

Congratulations to the following students who have received BWTH certificates this fortnight. We applaud your demonstration of our schools’ core values of: Honesty, Empathy, Appreciation, Respect, Kindness, and Tolerance. 

Caprii R - Kindness and Respect, Chase W - Kindness and Respect, Bella D - Kindness and Respect, Kobe B, Derick B, Elsie W x2, Jonah T, Dusty F, Lachlan J, Hendrix C, Alexis D, Beatrix F, Lucy B, Whilloe H, Imogen R, Stella F, Brooklen S, Elijah McG, Abel M, Indianna L, Levi C, Makenzie W - Responsibility, Paige L - Responsibility, Bobby M – Honesty, Imogen T – Creativity, Indie M – Kindness, Mace McA – Kindness, Tahiti H – Resilience, Arlo W – Determination, Hudson E – Kindness, Harlo W – Respect, Storm R, Jayden B, Mia S, Sebastian L and Joshua M, Jack C for Kindness, Mace McA for Kindness, Bronte K for Kindness, Lily S, Kiera O'S, Chloe T, Sophie B, Holly L, Charlotte F, Jace T.

Our continued prayers for all those in our community who are struggling. We pray that our community support will lessen their load at this time. Together we are stronger. 

Blessings on your weekend. 

Sharon Beashel REC

Dear Parents and Carers

Years 4-6 Overnight Excursions

Families are reminded that excursions are a compulsory component of the curriculum at St Bernard’s. The opportunity to go away with peers and experience learning opportunities outside the classroom provides many valuable insights for the students to grow and mature. Please note the Year 4 and Year 5 excursions are coming up in Term 3. If you would like to start making payments, please contact the Office. Excursion dates are as follows:

Year 5 Excursion to Birrigai: 27-29 July
Year 4 Excursion to Canberra: 8-9 September
Year 6 Excursion to Jindabyne: 25-28 October

Maths Information

On Tuesday evening we held the second parent information session on the topic of Mathematics teaching and learning at St Bernard's. Part of the presentation was on the Maths Pathway program used in Years 5 and 6. Jeni McCarthy explained the program and the idea of growth mindset and mastery learning, which are key ideas behind the program. The links below are to two short TED talks on these topics, which you might like to view at your leisure in order to understand more about the current teaching of Mathematics.

https://youtu.be/3icoSeGqQtY

https://www.ted.com/talks/sal_khan_let_s_teach_for_mastery_not_test_scores

Student Reports

Next Friday, student reports will be made available to you through Compass. The semester reports will provide a grade for learning in each Key Curriculum Area and  Engagement with Learning, indication of Further School Involvement and a General Comment. 

If you require support to access the Compass Portal in order to access your child's report next Friday, please contact the office.

Bay Pavillions Aquatic Centre are registered providers for the NSW Government First Lap Voucher Program for children between the ages of 3 -6 years and not enrolled at school or in Kindergarten this year. You may be eligible for a $100 voucher towards the cost of swimming lessons for your child. In order to apply visit the link below.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Karen Hadley

Confirmation Retreat Day at Carroll College 

Last Friday the 10th of June Year 6 students from St Bernard’s and St Mary’s, joined together to participate in a Confirmation Formation Day.

Year 10 students from Carroll College facilitated this day, along with teachers from the 3 schools. Father Tom and Deacon Eden attended the Formation Day with us. Deacon Eden spent time talking through a reflection with the students. The students enjoyed the variety of activities and the opportunity to build networks with their St Mary’s peers. 

Feedback from the students was:

How would you sum up the day in one word - joyful; 

What was the best part of the day - working with the Year 10 leaders; 

What was most beneficial - learnt more about the school and felt more comfortable going to Carroll College.

Term 2  

Week 7 Class Awards

Presented : Friday 10 June 2022.

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!