As a faith community we welcome Advent as a time to reflect and prepare for Christmas in whatever form that takes in our lives. Be it a time for reflection on our life choices or the path that our journey has taken. It is a time to remember that we are not alone and that we are surrounded by people who are willing to be a part of our lives if we just let them.
As a school community we encourage the children and staff to take stock of how far they have come and to remember that without mistakes there is no learning.
As this is our last newsletter for 2019 I would like to take the time and reflect on an amazing year at St Bernadette’s. While we farewelled a number of key people who are sorely missed, we managed to gain some new staff members & students who feel like they have been here forever. To all of you who are leaving our community we send love and best wishes in your future and we thank you for the opportunity of being a part of your journey for however long we were blessed with your presence.
For all our families and friends we say a huge thank you for all that you have contributed to our school this year. We wish you a blessed Christmas and look forward to seeing in the new year.
Love & Light
Lisa Gerrard
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our Parents and the wider community for all of the support you have given to our school this year. Traditionally we have had a motivated P&F to drive fundraising and community events but clearly they cannot do this on their own.
So I thank all of you who have supported us financially, physically or both.
St Bernadette’s has always been a community who is driven by building relationships rather than financial gain. Moving into 2020 I feel confident that this will continue and that we can find a way to support and build positive relationships where all feel included and welcome.
John proclaimed that the reign of God was ‘at hand’ as he immersed and plunged followers into the waters of the Jordan River. (His nickname was John the Immerser, or ‘baptiser’ in the Greek.) He used flowing water to symbolise the washing away of the past for those who repented so that they could be totally focused on the ‘at hand’ person who would inaugurate God’s kingdom.
In this passage, John does not identify the ‘Someone’! But he realised that this ‘Someone’ would have divine power to affect the future by immersing, baptising, his followers with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
At this stage of Advent, we should be like John’s disciples, filled with a sense of anticipation, looking forward to the coming towards us (‘Advent’ in Latin) of the One who can flood our minds and bodies with the Holy Spirit and can immerse our hearts in Divine Fire.
We could pause for a moment to thank God that, even though we are unworthy to carry His sandals, there is One who is coming towards us wanting to transform us with Divine Power.
© Fr Michael Tate;
Thank you to all the wonderful St Bernadette’s Buskers, who shared their gifts and talents with us on Wednesday 27th November. We raised just over $500, which will go towards purchasing a bubbler for the community of St Francis Xavier School, Daly River, NT.
The St Francis award is awarded once a year at our St Francis mass to one child from each class. The qualities that St Francis showed are compassion, perseverance, commitment, humility and generosity of self. These children display many of the virtues and qualities of St. Francis.
We congratulate the following children upon receiving the St. Francis award for 2019.
Kindy - Vince A
Year 1 - Megan L
Year 2 - Stefan S and Natalie H
Year 3 - Renee T
Year 4 - Mary T
Year 5 – Lauren T
Year 6 - Aaliyah M
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6/12 - Christmas Picnic and Carols
10/12 - Reports to go home
11/12 - Swimming Carnival
13/12 - Whole School Graduation Mass - Year 6
13/12 - St Bernadette's Got Talent
16/12 - Year 6 Graduation Dinner at Dooleys
17/12 - Free Ice Cream Day
17/12 - Last day for students
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Recently many of our Year 4 & 5 children presented a speech in order to be considered as a Student Representative Council member for 2020. Following this their peers had the opportunity to have a say by voting for who they would like to represent them.
Congratulations to the following children, who will be inducted into the SRC at our first whole school mass in 2020:
Rick Atie
Eamon Bonora
Charles Cardwell
Chloe Dellas
Jessica Elias
Ella Gavet-Knox
Zoey Loo
Brandon Nakhoul
Eloise Sheridan
Lauren Tallaridi
Mary Taouk
Lenita Taylor-Soto
Thank you to all the students who participated and completed this year's reading challenge and thank you to all parents for supporting your children's literacy learning through this challenge.
The certificates for all participants will be distributed at the last school assembly on Monday 16 December at 2:15pm.
Congratulations to the following students who will receive the following certificates -
GOLD CERTIFICATE: Jacob L
PLATINUM CERTIFICATE: Kiara B, Takara C
PARTICIPATION CERTIFICATES:
Kinder - Ryan D, Mia L, Dimitrios M, Tahlia N, Aaron S
Year 1 - Shane F, Megan L, Caitlyn O
Year 2 - Natalie H, Eva L, Caleb L, Afreen M, Elena M, Christian P
Year 3 - Ian B, Renee T
Year 4 - Marie-Elise B, Emily B, Eamon B, Chloe D, Marcus K, Lucas N, Heidi S
Year 5 - Zoey L, Brandon N, Lauren T
Year 6 - Melanie M, Amelia N
Attendance Rate: 81.5% - To unpack this a little more, this means that 81.5% of our students have an attendance rate of 90% -100%.
The Semester Two student reports will go home to families next Tuesday afternoon. Should you wish to speak to your child’s teacher please contact the teacher for an appointment as trying to have these important conversations on the fly doesn’t usually satisfy.
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23/11 - Arabella K L
26/11 - Jeremy F
2/12 - Ryan M
4/12 - Heidi S
4/12 - Jayden L
7/12 - Olivia N
12/12 - Ian B
13/12 - Gianluca B
13/12 - Kaitlyn T
14/12 - Annabella A
17/12 - Natalie H
18/12 - Lydia G
29/12 - Richard Y
Well done to all the students who entered the Holiday Writing Competition.
Congratulations to Youssef, Samara, Eamon and Heidi who were the winners. Enjoy reading their wonderful texts celebrating the Feast of St Francis.
As you can see from these amazing photos a great day was had by all of our Infants students who attended our Fagan Park excursion. Thanks to all of the staff and parents who supported the students on the day.
On Wednesday, 4th December, two children from St Bernadette’s were honoured at the 2019 Primary Diocesan Sport Awards evening. They were among only 34 children in the entire diocese to receive this award for their outstanding achievements in sport throughout 2019.
Congratulations to Kiara B, who received an award for her success in football, playing in the NSWPSSA State Football Team in a national competition.
Congratulations to Heidi S, who received an award for her 8 medals, 4 of them gold, at the School Sport Australia National Swimming Championships.
Heidi was also the recipient of the Ann D Clark Memorial Award for Excellence in Sport! This is the highest honour bestowed on the night.
St Bernadette's Primary, Dundas Valley is a community focused, Catholic parish school catering for boys and girls from Kindergarten to Year 6. The school strives to build a Christ-centred community where faith is integrated with daily life. We provide learning and teaching experiences which enable the children to deepen their faith understandings, investigate, solve problems and explore their learning. We recognise the importance of creating a learning environment that provides opportunities to develop 21st century learning. Technology is integrated into the learning at St Bernadette’s in all Key Learning Areas.
Attendance Rate: 81.5%