Week 8, Term 1 2024

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

In recent weeks, we have welcomed a number of new students and their families to our community. We trust their time at St Bernadette’s will be filled with excitement and learning, and that they will feel the same sense of belonging that we all cherish.  A warm welcome to Aarush and Aarohan in Year 3 and Riona in Reception.

As we near the end of the fifth week of Lent, our attention turns to Holy Week, commencing next week. This pivotal time in the Church calendar starts with Palm Sunday and culminates on Easter Sunday. Throughout this time, our students will explore the events leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, central to our Catholic faith. Our R/1M class did an amazing job in leading the whole school in our third Lenten Liturgy this week. Some of these students have only been at primary school for less than a term, however they spoke confidently on the microphone and presented confidently to their peers.  Well done to Mrs McCann and the entire early years teaching team, as it is clear that all of our newer students have had a wonderful start to school life.

In the coming weeks, we will be competing in the SAPSASA Athletics Carnival and the SACPSSA Swimming Carnival. We look forward to sharing these results in the next newsletter once the carnivals have been run. Good luck to all the students involved!

Anticipation has been building this week as we prepare for our Harmony Day celebrations on Friday.  The manner in which we acknowledge and embrace our diversity at St Bernadette’s has become a wonderful tradition and I’m sure you’ll love seeing your children perform and parade in their spectacular national dress again this year.

Regards and blessings,
Michelle, Matthew and Ray

What’s the Buzz?  in 4L
Year 4L have been “busy bees” doing the What’s the Buzz? program. The aim of this program is to build the social and emotional capacity of children. Small group lessons include ‘getting along’ and ‘positive problem solving’ skills. In each lesson, students discuss, role-play and share opinions about social and emotional problems. The small groups offer structure, warmth, explicit teaching, and opportunities to connect to other students. So far, we have learnt about:

• Meeting people and exiting
• Seeking attention
• Peer pressure: when to follow and when to go your own way
• Being friendly
• Competition: winning and losing with style

I learnt that if your team wins you can still be kind to others who are in the losing team and not brag. Rozen

I learnt that when someone is talking to you, you look at them and use positive words and body language. Aayam

I learnt that it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about having fun and working in a team. Shaurya

We learnt about greetings, how to listen and respond to people respectfully. Bianca

I learnt how to listen to others and take turns in our group. Sonakshi

We learnt about peer pressure and not following people i f they are making the wrong choice.Ishaan

I enjoyed playing Limbo with Mrs Hoare and my group. Lily

I really enjoy doing the role plays with my friends. Arnish

I enjoyed playing musical chairs, making up handshakes and learning about how to Be kind to everyone. Jaxon

Each Year the Adelaide Fringe holds a poster competition for creatives, illustrators and designers around Australia and across the globe to enter a poster that could become the emblematic image of the Adelaide Fringe. The Year 3 students have created their own poster that captures the spirit of Fringe and expresses what the Adelaide Fringe means to them.

In our commitment to improving staff and student wellbeing across the school, our staff recently began the journey of Visible Wellbeing training. The Visible Wellbeing approach aims to provide both students and staff with a psychological toolkit that allows them to lead flourishing lives where they are able to feel and function at their best.

This week, staff continued VWB training where we learnt about strengths. A strength is defined as a positive quality/talent that is energising, we choose to use and we perform well at. Strengths help us match ourselves and other people to our environments, and allows us to better meet challenges by utilising those qualities where we can be our best selves. Our staff will be working with students on identifying their own strengths and how they can best utilise them in the classroom. Strengths are a great tool to use in families and parenting also – Professor Waters’ book The Strength Switch is a wonderful place to start if you are wanting more information on how to use strength-based parenting in your homes!