St Bernadette's Primary School Dundas Valley

Newsletter 2020 Term 4 Week 2

FROM THE PRINCIPAL...

Dear families of St Bernadette's,

Welcome to our first newsletter for Term 4. This year feels like it's moved at warp speed! All of a sudden people are mentioning Christmas……… 

In a year of perpetual change this term will see some adjustments from last year. Year 6 will still have a Graduation Mass but it will not be a whole school Mass as in previous years. (More information regarding this will be sent once details have been confirmed) 

In the coming weeks we will begin the process of selecting our SRC members for 2021. During this time we will invite our Years 4 & 5 students to nominate for these positions. The children will prepare a speech which is delivered to our Year 4, 5 & 6 students who will vote. The outcome will be published in the week 6 newsletter.

Stay well and take care,

Love & Light

Lisa Gerrard

(on behalf of the St Bernadette’s staff & students)

 Attendance Rate:  85.1%  - To unpack this a little more, this means that 85.1% of our students have an attendance rate of 90% -100%. 

From the Assistant Principal...

The Joy of Reading

This week has been all about reading at St Bernadette’s Dundas Valley!

We have seen many children, and even some parents, enjoy our Book Fair. The Book Fair is a wonderful opportunity for students to have a real voice and choice in what they read and for their parents to understand what excites their children about reading. There was a huge array of reading options presented and lots of other gadgets, such as spy kits, rubiks cubes, sewing kits and even ooshies to get kids reading different types of texts.  A big thank you to Miss Simone and Mrs Sidoti for their assistance in organising the Book Fair and helping get the books out to the children. 

Our teachers have also been diving deeply into reading this week by working with one of our CEDP Teacher Educators, Lise Sercombe, who has been working with us on Shared and Guided Reading texts in different Stages. Our focus has been on choosing challenging texts for each Stage and thinking about the Skill, Will and Thrill of engaging texts for our classrooms. There are so many amazing books that are launched every year and we were looking for new texts to match the changing inquiry focus of our key learning areas. 

The importance of reading cannot be underestimated. Children who are read to early in their lives have a larger vocabulary than children who have not been read to and children who continue to read at home daily have better vocabulary, imagination and writing skills than those who don’t. Finding something that your children want to read is half the battle and it is great that we can offer a Book Fair so children can have many options to get them reading every day. 

Mrs Willard 

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION...

True Perspectives - Sunday 25 Oct 2020

REFLECTION by Fr Michael Tate

Did you notice that Our Lord does not command us to love ‘God’? No, we are to love ‘the Lord your God’, the One who rescued the Jewish people from slavery. The resurrection of Jesus Christ reveals the Lord God as the liberator from the apparent final dominance of death. Loving such a liberator is the natural response. So, ‘Love the Lord your God’.

Then Our Lord does not command us to love our neighbour! Rather, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ But who is ‘yourself’? In the wonderful story-telling of Genesis, we are told that Adam, an earthen statue, had Divine Breath breathed into the nostrils, creating him as a human being. We earthlings are conceived with the Divine Breath at the core of our being.  

The challenge for you and for me is to see ‘yourself’ in that way, and thereafter every human being whose lives we can affect: the neighbour. And in today’s global world, the neighbour can be a person in a society geographically or culturally distant.

We could pause for a moment to see the true dimensions of God, self and the other, to more easily fulfil the dual command.

Stage 3

Stage 3 students are learning to appreciate that hope and joy are essential for human flourishing. They are identifying people in our community who we can bring hope and joy to.

After learning about Sophie Joy Martin Delezio, the students co-constructed this Reverse Poem. Reverse Poems should be read from first line to last line, and then in reverse, to show two completely different perspectives.

Please enjoy the Reverse Poems created by the students.

Sophie Joy Martin Delezio

I am a broken person

And I refuse to believe that

I am a strong, independent woman

I realise this might be a shock but

There is joy in life

Is a lie

My life has no value

In 30 years, I will tell my children that

I have my priorities straight because

Scars

Are more important than

Smiles

I tell you this

Once upon a time

Life was perfect

But this will not be true in my era

There is no hope for survival

Experts tell me

I’ll never walk again

I do not conclude that

I will make the world a better place by being in it

There is pain everyday

No longer can it be said that

I am full of hope and joy

It will be evident that

The life support should have been turned off

It is foolish to presume that

I flourish

Women's Suffrage - By Zoey L

I am a prisoner - By Orlando F

Racisim - By Patrick H

Poverty - By Rebecca K

Disabilities - By Olivia N

Orphan - By Brandon N

Mission Day

Loose Change Challenge

During the Extraordinary Mission Month of October all students at St Bernadette’s are learning about our Baptismal call to live and share in the mission of Jesus. They are exploring the concept of loving service and being encouraged to consider practical ways in which they can proclaim the Good News based on the example of Jesus.

We continue to reach out to St Francis Xavier Catholic School, an Indigenous Catholic community school in Daly River, Northern Territory, to whom we give the gift of water.

We will be continuing to raise funds for the water bubbler we have gifted to the  St Francis Xavier community. On Thursday 29 October the students of St Bernadette’s are invited to bring in coins for a Loose Change Challenge. We will use the coins to create a huge water droplet on our playground. 

We thank you for your continued example of the love and compassion of Christ.

SCHOOL NEWS...

Important Dates for your diary

Term 4, 2020:

Loose Change Challenge: Thursday 29 October

Students Last day of Term: Tuesday 15 December 

Term 1, 2021

MAI Years 1 - 6: Wednesday 27th January 2021

MAI Kindy: Thursday 28 January 2021 and Friday 29 January 2021

Kindergarten First Day: Monday 1st February 2021


Gentle reminders

Sick notes: 

Please remember when your child is unwell that a note via skoolbag or an email to the school email account is necessary. If this is not done within 7 days then it will be marked as an unexplained absence. Too many of these become an attendance issue so please don’t allow this to happen. 

Gates remain locked:

For the rest of this term we will continue to run our before and after school entry and dismissal as it is currently being done. Please ensure that your child knows how they are to be picked up as being in the right place makes pick up and drive through run smoothly.

Book Fair

Thank you to all of those families who supported our book fair. The children explored many of the books available to them throughout the duration of the fair and it was great to see the excitement amongst the children. It was wonderful to see our students sharing the stories they love with their classmates and encouraging each other to think about purchasing and trying out different books . As always, the children loved the novelty items available and this was an opportunity for many students to use their mathematical thinking skills through considering how much money they had to spend and what they could buy. 

Zoom Assemblies

We will start our Zoom assemblies in Week 2. We will record the Zoom and upload the link to the students Google Classroom so parents can share in our school achievements. 

School Fees

Any family that may be leaving our School at the end of this year, we ask if you can please advise the office immediately. Please contact the office to request a Leaving form for your completion & return.

Thank you to all families who have settled or continued to contribute to their 2020 School Fees throughout this difficult year. If you are experiencing any difficulties with your payments, as always please feel free to contact our office for a confidential discussion. 

Annual Swimming Carnival - Cancelled

St Bernadette’s Annual Swimming Carnival is cancelled for 2020. This difficult decision has been made in light of current COVID restrictions for sporting events, which state that no parents would be allowed on site, change rooms should not be used and strict social distancing would have to be adhered to. These restrictions have made it logistically impossible for a carnival to take place. 

Details of the selection process for the 2021 Cumberland Zone Swimming Carnival will be released closer to the event.

Operation Art - Congratulations Jun L

Last term, Jun L in Year 3 entered a piece of artwork to Operation Art. He was successfully chosen to have his artwork displayed at the Operation Art Exhibition. If you would like to attend the exhibition please follow the link https://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/Whats-On/art-and-culture/operation-art for all of the details.

Congratulation again, Jun L! 

P&F Annual General Meeting

As we are now in Term 4, it's time for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to elect the P&F Committee for 2021.

The AGM will be held on Monday, 16th Nov 2020 at 6.30pm.

As you know, due to the current restrictions, the P&F meeting can only have a maximum of 25 attendees. This is according to the four square meter rule set out by the NSW Government. If you would like to attend the AGM, please express your interest via the online form on https://forms.gle/KbGA8VVfkJhvN1a18 

Thanks again for your support and understanding during this challenging time.

Please feel welcome to provide feedback and suggestions on pandf.dundasvalley@gmail.com

The nomination form will be distributed home to families shortly.

PBS4L

The PBS4L focus for the last fortnight has been we wear our uniform with pride. Our next fortnightly focus will be we take responsibility for our decisions and actions. At St Bernadette’s it is important for students to be aware that their choices and actions lead to consequences. Being a Bernie Bright Star means they are making choices that are positive for their learning and lead to positive consequences.

MackillopBernadetteClareFrancis
333110764


Happy Birthday

25/9 - Caitlyn O

25/9 - Monika F

26/9 - Patrick H 

28/9 - Ryan D 

28/9 - Jada N 

4/2 - Lenita T

4/2 - Kobi M 

5/10 - Ethan L

6/10 - Orlando C

7/10 - Louis B

8/10 - Johnluke A 

10/10 - Afreen M

10/10 - Amelia N 

11/10 - James B

12/10 - Jessica E 

12/10 - Rebecca K

19/10 - Mikella M

Principal's Morning Tea

Congratulations to our Term 3 Christian Service Award recipients. Principal's Morning Tea will be held tomorrow, Friday 23 October 2020 for these students. Well done to each and everyone of you. 

KindergartenYvette P & Taniil W
Year 1Gabriella F & Ryad B
Year 2 Jasmine I & Lachlan B
Year 3 Tyana N & Youssef E K H
Year 4 Gabriella V & Anthony D
Year 5 Marie-Elise B & Lucas N
Year 6 Olivia N & Orlando V

COMMUNITY NEWS...

Community Health Advice

St Bernadettes Primary School

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: 85.1%