Afternoon everyone,

It is hard to believe that we are now at the end of Week 9! We have had another great week here at St Bernadette’s and I have really been loving getting into our classes. I spent some time in our 3YO program last Friday morning and had a ball building towers, reading stories and cooking with some of our students. Learning through play is an essential ingredient to our Early Years Classrooms and this, along with developing a consistent early literacy strategy and phonics program, will be the focus of our professional development.

These initiatives have also been well supported by our P&F who voted to contribute significant funds towards reading books and play-based education resources at their meeting on Wednesday night. We are VERY lucky to have a large group of dedicated and passionate P&F parents who contribute in many ways and I would like to thank Jodie, Elsa, Carole, Deb and all the parents who volunteer their time for our students! This is only a small part of what the P&F are supporting this year so look out in the coming month as we begin a number of projects around the school.

On that note, I am happy, excited, and relieved to announce that we have received the paperwork from our Member for Warnbro, Mr Paul Papalia (what a legend!) for a contribution of $50,000 to resurface our 3 basketball courts. We have now booked the work to be completed in the October holidays and look forward to celebrating with an opening in Term 4. Perhaps Mr Papalia will even agree to play me in a game of 1 on 1 to mark the occasion?

Our teachers are now in the process of finalising their reports for Semester 1. Our aim is that these reports are not a surprise to parents and that the communication between home and school is open and ongoing. Our teachers have been working really hard to assess, grade and moderate student achievement in all learning areas. Our students will also receive a General Comment and one in RE. Mel, Lisa and I have been helping in this process and after reading these comments, it is obvious that our staff have built excellent relationships with their students and know them well. These will go out electronically on Thursday the 1st July. If you haven't logged on to SEQTA yet and require updated details, please contact the office.

Before I go, can I just give a gentle reminder to parents that we ask all emails to be sent through to admin@stbernadettes.wa.edu.au and not directly to teachers. This helps me to understand what is going on in our school and also allows us to minimise the emails going to staff after hours. When our teachers get to school, we want them to be fresh, happy and ready to go. Our students will all benefit from this.

I hope you all have a great weekend and I look forward to our last few weeks of Term 2!

Geordie Thuijs

Principal

The following students will be receiving their awards, parents are welcome to attend.

Congratulations Eden!

Mrs Marley Thompson for 'her beautiful smile and gentle nature. She is a breath of fresh air in our busy day!'.

Matilda G in PPB - 'she is the most encouraging girl you will ever see!'.

May H in 6R - 'the first thing I see when I walk into school is May with a big bright smile'.

Mrs Janice Cairns - 'Welcoming Star of the Sea to our school, refereeing our soccer match and having the most fun on the oval while doing it. Thankyou ref!'

On Monday for Performing Arts classes of Years 3, 5 and 6 spent time with Emele Ugavule.- Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts Drama Lecturer, Multi-disclipinary Storyteller and Creative Director.

Emele used the medium of story telling to engage the students in drama activities and enacting the story, Sulwe (a children's fiction picture book) by actress Lupita Nyong'o.

We encourage all students to dress in their team colours/free dress for a gold coin donation. All money raised will go to Craitas.

Our lovely P&F ladies are providing a free bag of popcorn on the day too!

Please contact the office or Mrs Cairns if you are able to assist.

Healthy Eating policy

A week or so ago, we sent out our new Healthy Eating Policy and I just wanted to say a few brief words around birthday treats at school. Obviously, lollies and cakes come under the ‘red’ category and as such, we try to minimise these at school, keeping them for special occasions. I do not want to be the ‘Fun Police’, however, I also want to make sure that parents have a say in what their children eat. When these treats come to school, we will be celebrating the occasion in class at the end of the day and sending them home with our students, letting parents decide when or if their child should eat it.

Homework Update

Our Homework Team have also been looking at the parent data and have begun creating a Homework Procedure for St Bernie’s. Some really interesting feedback was received; however overwhelmingly, it was clear that parents are looking for a consistent approach that is easy to follow and developmentally appropriate for their age-group. Common sense and consistency will be our focus.

Mary worked at St Bernadettes for 14 years and she fundraises for Epilepsy WA. A cause very close to her heart as her 34 year old son, Stephen, passed away from epilepsy 6 years ago.

Our stall is held every second Friday outside the library so please pop in next Friday, 25th June. We have beautiful fresh produce and other yummy goodies to sell.

• Year 1 Mass - 9.00 - 10.00am Wednesday 23/6/21
• Dance Troupe - 3 - 4.30pm - Wednesday 23/6/21
  
• Kindy Healthy Eating Farmers Breakfast 9.00 - 10.30am Thursday 24/6/21
• Lightning Carnival - Thursday 24/6/21
• Cross Country Training 3 - 3.40pm - Thursday 24/6/21
• Assembly - Performance by 4 Red - Friday 25/6/2021

Welcome to the school P&F where everyone is welcome to join.

If you would like to find out what is happening at our school, please join our P&F Facebook page:

(https://www.facebook.com/groups/stberniespandf).

Term 2 Monday 19/04/2021 - Friday 02/07/2021

Term 3 Tuesday 20/07/2021 - Thursday 23/9/2021

Term 4 Monday 11/10/2021 - Friday 10/12/2021

Monday 19/07/2021

Monday 16/08/2021

Monday 24/09/2021