St Bernadette's Primary School

NEWSLETTER | TERM 3 | WEEK 7 I 30 August 2024

Good afternoon everyone!

Sitting here after another busy week, and with Father’s Day just around the corner, I am drawn to thinking about what being a dad really means to me.

Each year on Father’s Day, I cannot help but feel extremely grateful for the incredible gift my own two kids are to me. As some of you may know, our twins arrived prematurely at 27 weeks, which to say the least, was a huge shock, and set my wife and I on an incredibly stressful, challenging, emotional and exhausting rollercoaster journey for the first six months of their lives, hoping and praying that they would both be ok. Nine years on, I can honestly say that an experience like this one crystallised my perspective on parenthood and helped me to more fully appreciate the really important things in life.

Father’s Day makes me think about my kids, your kids, about the incredible job my wife and all mums do, and the relationship I have with my own dad and Grandfathers. My dad has been an incredibly steady, positive, caring and generous example throughout my life, and I can only strive to be more like him.

While we will all have different experiences of fatherhood, there is no doubt that our kids benefit from having a dad who is present, involved, and loving.

While I know it can be hard to do amidst busy lives, I really hope all of us, as dads, can find some time to reflect on how we are ‘turning up’ for our kids. There is no doubt that it isn’t about being the perfect dad or comparing ourselves to other dads. Contrastingly, I really believe it is more about being aware of the impact that our words, actions and choices can have – for better and unfortunately, sometimes for worse – and learning from mistakes, improving and growing as a person, day by day. Fatherhood is hard work, but such a privilege and together we have such an amazing opportunity to help our kids flourish in their lives.

Thank you!

To Claire, Katherine, Emma and all the PP parents who helped create this beautiful artwork of Fred for my family – THANKYOU!

While bringing this home to my two kids was hard and a few tears were shed, it also opened up a night of stories and laughter about a much-loved member of our family. I am constantly blown away by the kindness and generosity of our community and I feel really lucky to be a part of it!

Wishing you all a really great Sunday dads! A special ‘shout out’ to our FIFO and Navy dads and any dads who might be separated from their kids this Sunday, and to all our wives and mums, for overlooking our flaws and loving us anyway!

Finally, don’t forget to get those ‘dad jokes’ ready – I have included one to get you going, but all the classics are important to get Father’s Day off to a great start!

All the best,

Geordie

Assembly 6 September 2024

The following students will be receiving Merit Certificates at next Friday's assembly. Family and friends are welcome to attend.

Special Sports Assembly

In week 9, we will be holding a special Sports Assembly:

When: Thurs 12th Sept 2024

Time: 2:40pm

Where: Undercover

Who: PP – Yr 6

You are welcome to come along and celebrate the success of the students in years 3-6 who have participated in our jumps and throws events over the past few weeks. We would also love to acknowledge the winners of our faction flag competition and show off the new designs 😊 Looking forward to seeing you there.

Awesome Eco Warriors!

Our two Nude Food winners this week are Ryan G and Emilia A.

Well done to these students (and their families) for not

using single use plastic in their lunch boxes!

Basketball Program Years 2 - 6

We are so excited to have Ricky Grace Basketball back at Bernie's in Term 4! Classes will run on Wednesday mornings, 7.45 - 8.35am. This is a very popular program and spaces are limited. Please register your child as per below as soon as possible to secure a spot:

Interviews are IN PERSON and will be 10 minutes long, the teacher will begin to conclude the interview after 8 minutes.

For the smooth running of this event, it is important that we all keep to this schedule and end the appointment in a timely manner. If you think you will need more time, please discuss this with your teacher at the appointment.

To make the most of your appointments, parents may wish to consider the following questions:

1. What are your child's strengths?

2. Where would you like to see your child develop further this year?

3. What are your child's interests?

4. Is there anything in your child's life outside school that could be impacting on their educational development?

5. Is there anything in your child’s report you would like to talk about?

If you have any further enquiries or if you need to cancel at short notice, please contact the school office on 08-9593-4066

Please book your time on the link below, using the event code uvrkm

Bookings

Year 6 Graduation Polo's 2025

A quick reminder to please order your Year 6 Graduation Polo's. Additional order forms can be collected from the office and sizes are available to try on.

We will be holding a Sausage Sizzle and drinks for sale at Open Night on Thursday 12 September 2024 (4.30-6.30pm). We are looking for volunteers to help.

If you can volunteer some time it would be very much appreciated. Please email pnf.sbcps@gmail.com if you are able to help. The session times times are below.

3 - 4pm (set up & start cooking)
4 - 5pm
5 - 6pm
6 - 6.30pm (clean up & pack up)