Good afternoon everyone.

Many thanks to all those dads who were able to join us last week for our Father’s Day breakfast – it really is a special date on our school calendar and another great shared experience for you and your kids. On behalf of all the staff, we hope you also enjoyed your Sunday and managed a sleep in!

Congratulations to all those students who competed in yesterday’s Interschool Cross Country event. Despite the patchy rain, the St Bernadette’s team got out there and did us all proud! All our students did their best, however, I would like to give a special shout out to Penelope T in Year 5, who showed our St Bernie’s Spirit by sacrificing her own race to help a friend in need. This sort of kindness and maturity demonstrated real sportsmanship and did not go unnoticed in our community!

All families are warmly invited to our whole school Open Night next Thursday the 12th September from 4.30pm – 6.30pm. This is a really great opportunity for your children to take you into their classroom to proudly show off some of their hard work. It is also a time for parents to affirm and congratulate their children on all their efforts and to encourage them to keep on doing their very best. Our teachers and education assistants are working hard to make the experience a positive and interesting one for all families. It will be important that mums and dads keep their children with them at all times and that younger siblings are well supervised, thank you.

A reminder that learning takes time and children’s progress is developmental and incremental. Encouragement, with some challenge and support, goes a long way. Comparing siblings or comparing your child’s work with that of other class members, is really unhelpful to your child’s wellbeing and motivation, so please come ready to find the positives!

More info will go out separately early next week.

Our amazing P&F team are generously organising a Sausage Sizzle for the night. You are encouraged to support their efforts by putting your name down on the roster to help out on the night. Email pnf.sbcps@gmail.com

Session times are as below:

3 - 4pm (set up & start cooking)

4 - 5pm

5 - 6pm

6 - 6.30pm (clean up & pack up)

Please also complete the Sausage Sizzle form below, for catering purposes.

We are all looking forward to the School Athletics Carnival next Friday the 13th September.

As always, we are crossing our fingers for good weather.

Sport Carnivals are an opportunity:

- To build school spirit.

- For children to support each other.

- To showcase a diverse range of skills and talents.

- To inject a sense of fun and camaraderie

- To provide a purpose for practicing important physical skills.

- To teach important resiliency skills around winning and losing.

Students are well supported leading up to and on the day of the carnival with a strong focus on participation, teamwork, celebrating effort and the success of others, and maintaining a great attitude – win or lose! We look forward to seeing you there!

The inappropriate use of social media is of particular concern to all parents and schools, and much discussion has been had over the years about potential harm inappropriate use can do, and how we can best teach and protect our kids from online bullying.

Here at school, we spend much time and care teaching children about respectful relationships – what they look and sound like and why they are important – both face to face and online. It is important that parents do the same at home, so that children are able to navigate their way safely online at home and school. After a recent online situation, I would like to take this opportunity of also reinforcing the very high expectation we have of parent use of social media as it relates to our school.

Firstly, Class Facebook groups have a specific purpose in our school i.e. they are primarily a way for parents of a certain class to share reminders about upcoming school events, and to canvas support and volunteers for various P&F initiatives. They also serve as a way to welcome new parents and to promote a positive school spirit.

Any online forums that involve our school, are not to be used as a vehicle for gossip, or for venting one’s personal grievances about any decision made, about a particular situation, or the actions of a particular child, group of children, parent, or staff member. Please note that to do so, is a clear breach of our School Code of Conduct.

In addition, just as we teach students, it is important for parents to be reminded that no FB page, or online chat forum is ‘private,’ and once comments are made, they cannot be erased – they become part of a person’s digital footprint forever. Ideally our digital footprint is one that we can be proud of.

Careless, negative, divisive or derogatory comments are not in the best interests of children, parents, staff or our school community and, once posted publicly, have the potential of doing much harm – to the individuals concerned, and to our school as a whole.

While we accept that not every parent will agree with some decisions made, and that from time to time, conflict situations happen between students, which can be upsetting for the families involved, venting on social media does more harm than good.

When participating in online conversations, St Bernadette’s families are expected to consistently focus on modelling the school values of Kindness, Honesty and Respect; use online forums responsibly and for what they were designed for and not mention any child, staff member or parent by name or situation in posts, unless in a positive way - affirming, encouraging or congratulating someone.

If you wish to discuss a particular situation or make a complaint, you are expected to organise a mutually agreeable appointment time with a staff member in advance and we will listen, and try to work through the problem with you in a calm and respectful manner. Thank you again to the majority of parents who always communicate respectfully, who are prepared to listen to the facts, and who are able to have difficult conversations with staff and leadership, without getting personal, without jumping to conclusions, or being rude.

With the ongoing support and hard work of staff, and with the care and cooperation of families, we will continue to respond as pastorally and as professionally as we can, to the ongoing needs of all children here at St Bernadette’s.

Please be advised that I will be away in Week 10 attending an Educational Conference in New Zealand. This is a special opportunity for myself and other school leaders to have time out of the busy work environment to focus on new ideas and initiatives in education. Mrs Cosgrove, assisted by Caitlin Laity and all our amazing staff, will assume responsibility for St Bernadette’s in my absence.

Have a really great weekend everyone.

Geordie

This week we have had three students start with us.

Oliver G in 3 Year Old KG, Iliana G in PPR and Ruby S

in KGR. Welcome to Bernie's!

Bernie's came home with so many wins at the Interschool Cross Country this week!

Julia T - Year 3 Champion Girl

Leo R - Year 4 Champion Boy

Charlotte R - Year 4 Girls Runner Up

Ruby R - Year 5 Champion Girl

Congratulations to all our runners who, despite the terrible weather participated with big smiles, and represented our school so well!

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.

BOTH of our enrichment teams are through to the State Finals of the Creative Edge Problem Solving Competition on Saturday 14th September at Curtin University!

Just getting through to the state finals is a HUGE achievement as our teams competed against 12 other high performing schools in their chosen category. In the past two years we have had our year 6 team get through, but this year we have both Year 5 and 6! Thank you so much to Mrs Murphy for all her guidance and time in leading this program. Woohoo, go Bernies!

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.

Years PP – 6 Sprints, 200m, Tabloids and Relays

3YO’s will run a 30m race followed by a Happy Feet Incursion in class.

Our carnivals are always so much fun at Bernie’s and we are so glad that you can be apart of our athletics day today. This year the overall carnival begins with an exciting welcome at 8:45am in the undercover area. Parents are welcome to grab a coffee from the coffee van or purchase refreshments from the canteen and cheer from the southern side of our oval. Please refrain from entering the track or the finish line zone. All children must remain in their faction bays while the races are on at all times. Parents may only sign students out after the final presentations (for yrs 3-6) at the end of the day.

The junior carnival begins at 8:45am also, for years PP-1, with sprints followed by fun team games up until recess. All parents are encouraged to spectate, cheer and stay to have recess with their children 😊

Please see the schedule below:

Congratulations to Jayden C in 3B and

Kingston T in 1B for winning this week's

Nude Food Award. Thank you for not using

single use plastics!

The students are encouraged to wear a splash of yellow (yellow accessories- socks/head band, ribbon, bracelet etc) on this day. We will practice the steps of asking R U OK to our friends and where to get help at school.

Please visit https://www.ruok.org.au/ for any support to follow up at home or with a friend, colleague or your family. When it comes to asking your children if they are okay, here are some general starting points:

• Making sure your child knows they have your full attention.
• Stopping all other activities so you are fully present and not distracted.
• Reflecting on what your child is saying and taking the time to process it.
• Repeating back what your child is saying, to make sure you have heard and understood.
• If your child is not okay, it can be overwhelming so, keep your emotions in check.
• Encourage some positive action. Do something together, that they enjoy.
• Help them identify who their friends are and re-enforce their sense of belonging through family, school, and the community.
• If you need extra support be willing to contact a professional.

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

Thank you to parents who supported our Book Fair, we were able to purchase $1100 worth of books for the library and sold a total of $3084 worth of books in 4 days!!

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:

Lola W and Luna V in PPR who came 1st in the mini cheerleading

division of the WA State Championships over the weekend.

Well done girls!

HOW YOU CAN HELP - PAPER BAGS. Every week, The Crew need over 150 paper bags for their food hampers. If you have any extras lying around, they'd love to have them.

You can drop off donations directly to The Crew on Thursdays and Fridays until 1pm or drop them into the collection bin outside Year 2R.

Runners Club - Monday 9 September - 3:10 - 4:00pm

RU OK day - Thursday 12 September
Open Night - Thursday 12 September 4:30 - 6:30pm

Athletics Carnival - Friday 13 September

School Canteen: Kingston's Kitchen

Our school canteen is only open on Mondays,

Wednesdays and Fridays.

Orders can be placed online via the Spriggy App.

before 9.00am or in person at the canteen.

Term 3: Tuesday 16 July - Friday 20 September 2024

Term 4: Tuesday 8 October - Friday 6 December 2024

Please note that as this is a live calendar, dates and times may change occasionally.

Email: admin@stbernadettes.wa.edu.au
Website: https://stbernadettes.wa.edu.au
Location: 252 Grand Ocean Boulevard, Port Kennedy WA, Australia
Phone: (08) 9593 4066
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stbernadettescps/