Week 8, Term 2 2024

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Throughout the year, teachers have been busy assessing student learning and are currently writing semester one reports. Each of our classroom and specialist teachers spend considerable time compiling the grades that you see on their report and writing comments to ensure we capture your child's progress and achievements accurately. As always, we are deeply invested in your child and their growth as a learner, rather than just their academic grades. When you receive your child’s report in the last week of this term, we encourage you to look further than the grades, and to celebrate all the achievements your child has made, taking note, in particular, how they interact with others and demonstrate our Dominican values.

Last week our Term 3 Reception students began their transition visits. These visits are important for families, students and teachers to begin building strong relationships, whilst students also learn basic school routines and expectations. So far, the group is settling in beautifully and we look forward to welcoming them officially into the St Bernadette's community.

It has been a busy fortnight on the sporting front, with our school being involved in 2 inter-school sporting events in the past fortnight. Last Friday, 17 Year 5/6 students travelled to Wayville to take part in the Catholic Primary Schools Basketball Carnival. Both the girls team and the boys team competed hard all day, and they managed to finish off the carnival with wins in their final playoff matches.

On Monday this week, 24 Year 5/6 students participated in the SAPSASA Soccer Carnival at West Beach. Our boys team had a highly successful day, winning all of their matches apart from the final, which they lost in a penalty shootout! The girls team improved over the course of the day, nearly beating the eventual winner of the carnival in a close playoff match. They ended up finishing 3^rd in their pool. Well done to all of our Year 5/6 students who competed in these carnivals. They were fantastic ambassadors for St Bernadette’s and represent the school with pride.

At the School Board meeting this week, your representatives discussed ways in which we can engage you, the parents, carers and grandparents, more in school life.  To begin with, we are planning a ‘Coffee and Muffin’ morning early next term when we can welcome the families of new receptions and spend some time together. Please keep Friday morning August 2^nd free if you can…more details to come soon.

Regards and blessings,
Michelle, Matthew and Ray

In the year 1 class this term we have been exploring God’s Creation Story and the Laudato Si.
We all gave thanks for all of God’s Creations.

We learned about Pope Francis’s letter to us all called the Laudato Si. Pope Francis asked us to take care of God’s creations. Our students brainstormed ways they could look after our school environment and the wider environment around us.

As a class we had detailed discussions about what we can do in our classroom to help look after the environment.

Some routines that we have since implemented in our class, and which you could also implement at home include:

Taking our recycling out to the yellow council recycling bin every afternoon, so this paper can be made into great new things!

We make big balls of our left over alfoil – as we discovered balls of alfoil as big as your fist can go into the recycling bin!

We collect food scraps everyday and put them into the large green council bins to go and be used as compost in the future!

We water our plants and make sure all their needs are met as they help clean the air for us.

The students in Year 2M have been exploring Colour Theory this term. We have been experimenting with ways to use colours. Looking at which colours work together and how colours affect the way we feel. Mrs. Hinter has volunteered her time to join in with our fun, providing many creative experiences for us to share with our friends.

We have discovered that…

When the world is full of colour, our hearts are filled with joy.

Lynda Moser and…The Gang