Dear Parents/Carers,
Recently, our Year 6 students returned from an exciting and educational week in Canberra. Their time in the nation’s capital was full of fantastic learning experiences including visits, tours, and lessons at many historical, parliamentary, and nationally significant sites. The informal feedback from both students and staff has been overwhelmingly positive, and we plan to formally gather feedback on the trip in the coming weeks.
In the world of Music, we’ve recently celebrated the incredible talents of our student musicians with the Piano and Vocal Showcase, the Guitar and Drums Showcase, and the Ensembles Showcase. These have been well received by families and it has been great to see our students get an opportunity to demonstrate their skills with their chosen instrument. Thank you to Ali Turnbull for coordinating these evenings and to our talented musical tutors who have prepared and taught our students.
As we approach the end of the school year, teachers are busily preparing school reports. As always, a huge amount of work goes into this, as teachers reflect upon the growth and development of each student in their class. At such a busy time of year, we thank our teaching staff for the time and effort they put into each report, as the grades you see are made up of many different assessments across the semester. What has become apparent is the wonderful growth and achievement every student at St Bernadette's has made in 2024. Well done all!
The final weeks of the school year are filled with important and exciting events, including the Year 6 Graduation, Carols Night, Ray’s Farewell and End of Year Mass, Advent Liturgies, and more. We are eager to celebrate these occasions with the entire St. Bernadette’s community as we reflect on and celebrate another successful school year.
God bless,
Matt, Michelle and Ray
As we approach the liturgical season of Advent, the RA and R/1 M students have been learning about the significance of Advent symbols and their importance in the Catholic Church. Advent, begins four weeks before Christmas. It is a time for preparation and anticipation. The children have focused on the symbolism of the Advent wreath, particularly the five candles, and can now name each candle along with its associated colour.
Through creative activities, the students made their own Advent wreaths and wrote Advent promises, reflecting on ways they can show God’s love to others.
To further deepen their understanding of this sacred season, the students will participate in a weekly Advent liturgy.
Here are some of the Advent promises made by our students:
- Gurpraise: “I will share my toys with my friends.”
- Shiviya: “I will take care of the animals.”
- Aarvi: “I will include people in my games.”
- Yayin: “I will listen to God.”
We are excited to see how the children continue to live out their promises during this meaningful time of year.
During Week 4, we held two exciting events on Wednesday and Thursday.
On 6/11 (Wednesday), Ms. Noriko Tadano, a talented Tsugaru Jamisen performer, visited our school to showcase her beautiful and energetic Shamisen repertoire. In addition to her performance, she taught us the traditional dance known as So-ran bushi, which originates from Hokkaido, in northern Japan. It was amazing to witness the energy you all brought to the dance. It was also delightful to hear everyone shouting “dokkoisho dokkoisho” and “so-ran so-ran” while dancing. One of our lucky Year 6 students, Rahao, had the opportunity to play a shamisen alongside Ms. Tadano. He played shamisen very well. He was extremely careful with a bachi pick so that he didn’t break the skin of dou, the body, of Shamisen. Well done to you, Rahao!
On 7/11, Thursday, Year 4 and Year 3 students had an online communication with Iwatokita Elementary School students from Japan. Iwatokita Elementary School is located in Fukuoka Prefecture, on the island of Kyushu, southern part of Japan.
We played a group guessing game on animals in Japanese. Students prepared a flashcard on animal body parts and described them. Then Japanese students had to guess what animal the group was talking about.
Our creative students drew and made the hints harder to guess. Japanese students were astonished as they heard the correct answers.
Well done to Year 4 and Year 3 students!!
Social