Good afternoon all,
I would like to start by congratulating our Pre-Primary Blue class for their terrific assembly item this morning - what a hoot! This was the first time we have been able to use our new Audio/Visual equipment and I hope you all agree it looks and sounds great! Huge thanks to the P&F for their help in supporting this project. In coming weeks, we hope to give the space a coat of paint and in the future, we will look at other ways to maximise the use of this space.
We wish our Confirmation Candidates all the very best as they prepare to make the Sacrament this weekend. Students have been well prepared by Mrs Francis and Mr Murtagh in class and recently participated in a reflective retreat day. They are excited and ready for this important step in their faith journey.
In sporting news, there will be a few changes to the athletics carnival this year which I think will make for a great day. The ultimate goal of this special day on the school calendar is to showcase effort and achievement, to encourage maximum participation, and to reinforce the value of good sportsmanship. Kristy Watson and Melanie Resuggan have been very hard at work preparing the students and organising the day and I sincerely thank them for all their hard work.
It has been a very busy start to the term behind the scenes here at St Bernie’s with preparations for next year, now well under way. With our AGM in Week 8 we are finalising our staffing, the budget for 2022 and working hard to finalise a new structure for our 1 to 1 program. Our Strategic Plan has now been reviewed with staff in its draft form and will be discussed and finalised at the Advisory Council meeting next week.
Our staff have begun the process of forming new class lists for 2022. Many hours of time and effort go into creating these and there are many factors that need to be considered, including:
- Gender
- Academic ability
- Student behaviour
- Individual learning needs/support
- Friendship groups (student nominations and teacher judgement)
- Student interests and talents
- Teacher and support staff strengths ?
Throughout the year, parents have typically had many discussions with their child’s teacher in regard to their child’s needs, and these will all be carefully considered when creating class lists. While we can never guarantee a parent’s request, rest assured that we take all discussions and reasonable requests into consideration.
In saying this, in terms of parents requesting specific teachers, unless there is an exceptional circumstance, we expect and trust that all our teachers (and staff) are highly professional, build positive relationships with students, are flexible and adaptable in their teaching and provide engaging learning experiences for the students in their classrooms.
Class lists will be finalised by Friday the 19th of November.
At the AGM on the 1st of December, we will farewell those staff who are leaving and welcome new staff to our school.
On Friday the 3rd of December, after the Year 6 Assembly, we will hold a transition morning for PP to Year 6 where students will find out their new class and teacher, and spend the day getting to know each other. Class lists will be posted to parents during the day via SeeSaw. Our best advice is for parents to model a really positive response – even if it isn’t the result, you may have been ideally hoping for. Explain to your child that you trust the school, and that you believe in your child’s ability to make good friends, to have fun and to work hard with whatever teacher or children they are given. This type of parent attitude helps to build resiliency and wellbeing in your children.
I hope you all get out and enjoy the weather over the weekend, it is looking very promising after the wet week we have had! For those who make their Confirmation on Saturday – I will look forward to seeing you there.
Geordie Thuijs
Principal
