Week 2, Term 1 2024

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

We’ve certainly had a wonderful start to the new school year and really enjoyed catching up with you all after the Christmas break.  Seeing the children being genuinely excited about the return to school has been a delight.

Three new curriculum ESOs have joined us this term.  We welcome Victoria Katsaneris, Charlotte (Charlie) Thomas and Kate Daly who will support teachers in the classrooms.  Thirty-five new students and their families also joined our community this year.  We trust that their time at St Bernadette’s will be successful and rewarding.  Special welcome to:

Thank you for booking into the Parent Connection Meetings with teachers this week and next.  Other than families overseas, almost every family has booked a meeting with their child’s teacher but if you haven’t, call the office and we will arrange.

Our Welcome Night is on Thursday February 22^nd, from 5:45. We’d love to see every family there where we can welcome those new to the community, share a meal, catch up with friends and hear about our plans for 2024.  More information will come next week.

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent.  Lent is an important season in the Church calendar leading into Easter.  The day prior is Shrove Tuesday, sometimes called ‘Pancake Tuesday'.  Information about these events was sent on Schoolstream last week.

Harmony Day is also an important date on our School Calendar and at this stage we have locked in Friday March 22^nd to celebrate the wonderful diversity that is embraced here at St Bernadette’s. 

We would like to remind you of 2 things:

1. UNIFORM

It’s been great to see the vast majority of students wearing the correct uniform.  A reminder, though about the shoes and socks.  As stated in our Uniform Policy:

Sports shoes: of good quality and predominantly of one colour: WHITE, BLACK, NAVY or GREY.  No other colours or fluorescent shades are acceptable.

White socks:  ONLY quarter crew (above ankle style) with no visible branding

A link with the full policy is available here.

2. PICK UP and DROP OFF

1. Under no circumstances, and for obvious child safety reasons, should any students be left at the gate prior to 8:30 in the mornings.  OSHC is available from 7:00am and must be used if necessary.

2. All students must be collected from school by 3:20pm.  It is not the responsibility of office staff to supervise children and it is unjust when other parents are paying OSHC fees.  Families for whom this is a regular occurrence will be asked to enrol their children into OSHC.  Children not collected by 3:20 will be taken to OSHC and families will be billed the casual fee.

Matthew Min is on Long Service Leave this week and next.  He was lucky enough to get some tickets to the Superbowl in the USA, so we look forward to hearing all about this experience when he returns from the beginning of Week 4.  We set him a challenge to get a selfie with Taylor Swift and we wouldn’t be at all surprised if he does it! 

Regards and blessings,
Michelle and Ray

Our RA Class and R/1M Class have made an excellent start to 2024. All students have settled into the routine and have enjoyed making news friends.

We have participated in many engaging activities to get to know each other and to learn about our school. Some highlights have been:

• A Rainbow Fish School Hunt
• Playing with the Bond Blocks
• Learning our Dominican Blessing
• Reading the book Wombat Stew and making a stew using materials from nature
• Draw pictures of our families and creating portraits of ourselves
• ​Exploring our new play areas in the classroom.

We look forward to a fantastic year of learning and growing at St Bernadette’s.