St Bernadette's Primary School

NEWSLETTER | TERM 4 | WEEK 3 I 25 October 2024

Very limited spaces available for Kindergarten 2026. Please ensure your enrolment is in!

Good afternoon, everyone.

I hope your week has been a good one and that life is treating you kindly.

Taking care of your physical and mental health

With just six weeks until the end of the school year for students and families, I know that ticking off ‘to do’ lists while juggling the many demands of family life can be really challenging at this time of year.

From one parent to another, I would encourage you to be as mindful as you can of looking after yourselves amidst the busy weeks ahead. Calm, healthy, positive, relaxed and responsible parents = calm, healthy, positive, relaxed, responsible kids.

As the quote (left) reminds us, ‘staying calm’, doesn’t mean that we are not still dealing with all the noise, demands, worries, hard work and stresses and strains of family and work life – it means that we accept that these things are a part of our daily reality, however we choose to consciously manage our emotions and our choices, amidst them.

Stress can be hard to manage at times but trying to be mindful and proactive about how we deal with stress can really help when it comes to being the healthiest version of ourselves, and the best partner, parent and friend we can be.

Below are a couple of easy read articles with some practical, commonsense advice in regard to managing stress in our daily lives:

https://raisingchildren.net.au/grown-ups/looking-after-yourself/anger-anxiety-stress/stress-grown-ups

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/parenting-and-stress

National Grandparents Day

National Grandparents Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of October in Australia, Sunday 31st of October this year.

This day celebrates the special role grandparents and older people play in our lives and in society.

Here at St Bernadette’s, we highly value the time, care, wisdom and generosity of our grandparents and we thank them for supporting us to shape their grandchildren into responsible, kind, caring, loving and respectful people with a positive attitude to life.

We pray that they will continue to be blessed with every good gift!

Being fair, reasonable and community minded – it really matters!

While I would definitely prefer to be writing about the many wonderful things going on both in and out of the classroom this week, I need to highlight an important issue in regard to the supervision of children after school, as some parents are allowing their children access to play areas without adequate supervision.

While the procedure and expectation has been consistently advertised and communicated over a long period of time, I will briefly restate the high expectation we have of all those who are using any play areas after school.

1. Between 3.00pm and 3.20pm, parents are to collect their children either from the classroom door or at drive through. After school, staff are not on duty and return to classrooms to plan and prepare for the next day.

2. Once a child has been collected by the parent, the parent is responsible for exercising vigilance and care while supervising their child on our school site. The parent is expected to exercise discernment, to provide clear instructions about the use of facilities, to be physically close to their child at all times and to be a good role model, to other children and to other parents.

As you know, we support families catching up for a quick chat with other parents and children using the play areas after school, however, the proviso is that every child MUST be accompanied and WELL supervised by a parent. Parents are responsible for ensuring the safety of the child and for caring for and respecting our school facilities and property.

By 3.30pm, the invitation to remain on school grounds ends, and no child or parent should be on the play areas at all. While I often make a joke or have to give a reminder, I would be really appreciative if I did not have to add this to my list of jobs and parents respected the rules in place.

Please note that this is not a new rule. It has been both the expectation and a clearly communicated rule for a number of years now.

Last week a basketball ring was bent and broken, due to a group of boys hanging off the ring. Parents were present at the time, however, failed to correct their children’s behaviour. There have also been other instances of careless and/or inappropriate behaviour over time, and the solution calls for shared cooperation, and shared responsibility.

Teaching our children about respect for people and property is an important life skill that we take very seriously, and both families and schools play a big role in teaching kids about respect for property.

In 2021, the school, with help from the P&F, spent $70,000 refurbishing the courts and upgrading the backboard rings, which were $700 each. One of these now needs to be replaced, because it was not being used appropriately after school.

Staff, families and I value the 'community feel' of having children enjoy a quick play with friends, and parents having an opportunity to catch up with other parents after school. At present, however, we are being let down by some parent’s lack of attention, care and vigilance.

We certainly don’t want to have to remove access to the playground after school completely, however, if we cannot rely on consistently good parent supervision after school, the unfortunate consequence will be that we may not be able to allow children or parents access to these areas after school in the future.

Each and every parent is therefore asked to re-commit to supervising children after school with much greater vigilance in the future. This is a community issue and one that we all need to work cooperatively to solve.

Thanks again to all those parents who DO supervise their children well after school, and who are teaching their kids about how to treat others, facilities and equipment in a respectful and responsible way. Your example and care is what we are all about here at St Bernadette’s.

I hope you enjoy this amazing weather on the weekend everyone. A perfect opportunity for some family fun at the beach, by the river or in the back yard!

Regards

Geordie

Staff Appreciation Day

A massive thank you to our lovely P&F who spoilt all of us with a delicious spread for recess and lunch! The staff room was decorated beautifully and we all thoroughly enjoyed the treat! Thank you!

Congratulations to our Interschool Numero teams who competed at Star of The Sea on Wednesday.

Abby S, Amelie N, Amelia D & Dylan Y, otherwise known as the "Brainy Bunch Team" came third in their competition! Everyone did an amazing job in representing Bernie's - well done!

On Wednesday we all travelled by bus to Star of the Sea to compete in the Numero Interschool Tournament. When we arrived we were assigned our tables and met the adjudicators. The year 6 "Brainy Bunch" came third and "Operation Olympians" just missed out being in the top 7. The day was fun and nerve wracking, especially the individuals. We tried our best and hopefully made our school community proud.

Kaylee O

Year 5B

Heidi - It was soooo fun. I loved everything about it. I loved how we learnt about nature and I can't wait do go again.

Eden - it was amazing. I loved playing in the water and doing the orienteering.

Arlo - I loved finding all the checkpoints when we did orienteering. I ran around and found so many with my group.

Hunter - My team marched and played games between each marker in the orienteering

Bailey and Callie - we loved playing in the creek. The water was so nice and we found really cool rocks and played in the water.

Finley and Damian - we don't want to go home!

P&F Positions 2025

We have 2 vacant P&F Executive Positions for 2025. These positions are President (Chair) and Secretary. If you would like to nominate, please complete the form and return to the Admin office before Monday 25 November 2024.

If you would like any information on these positions, please email us and pnf.sbcps@gmail.com.

President (Chair)

The President is empowered to regulate the proceedings and procedure including, with the consent of the meeting, adjournment of business.

In the absence of the President at a general / special / committee meeting, the Vice President shall have the power to conduct and chair meetings of the membership and in the absence of the Vice-President, the members present and entitled to vote shall have the power to select one of their members as Chair.

Secretary

The Secretary is required to:

- take minutes of meetings;

- prepare and distribute the meeting papers and agenda;

- keep records of the P&F, including vacancies, reports, minutes, and correspondence; and

- provide a list of the P&F Committee members and contact details to the principal following the Annual Community Meeting.

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P&F Nomination Form 2025.pdf

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P&F Christmas Raffle

We are holding our annual P&F Xmas Raffle. Tickets will be available on Spriggy next week. Each student will receive one free entry but if you would like more tickets, they are : $2.00 each

Or 3 for $5.00

Calling All Defence Families

As we prepare for our upcoming Remembrance Day service on Monday 11th November, we would love to involve members of our Defence families who would like to play a small part in this important occasion. If you are interested, please get in touch with Mrs Cosgrove via email as soon as possible. Since the service is student-led, coordinating multiple volunteers can be difficult if left to the weeks leading up to the day, so early communication is greatly appreciated. Your involvement would be a meaningful contribution to our school’s tribute to those who have served.

Thank you for your support!

This term, our school will be supporting St Vincent de Paul in their Christmas Appeal. Students will be learning about the St Vincent de Paul charity, and the needs of families in Perth, especially at Christmas time. The 2024 focus on the Vinnies Christmas Appeal is on the continuing impacts of the cost of living crisis in Australia, and the impact this has on individuals and families. This Christmas, more families are experiencing poverty and are on the brink of homelessness. As the crisis deepens, so does their desperation. Your urgent help can provide relief.

We are asking each student to bring in at least one non-perishable food item or Christmas item which will be placed in classroom hampers. The hampers will be presented at our end of year mass on Wednesday 4th December, alongside our parish hamper donations, where an SVP representative will visit to come and collect the hampers and begin to pack for distribution. Please have your donations in by the end of November.

For those that would like to order books through our Scholastic Bookclub initiative.

A reminder that we unfortunately don't take cash anymore.

Congratulations to Ruby R in 5R and Julie T in 3R who competed in the School Sports WA Cross Country today. They were both incredible and represented St Bernie’s beautifully, cheering each other on.

There were over 200 athletes in each of their races! Well done girls, we are super proud of you!

Madeleine King - Christmas Drawing Competition

I'm running my Christmas drawing competition for young artists in Brand - with prizes up for grabs!

I would love to see drawings from students of their favourite Christmas scenes, Australian Christmas, Christmas around the world or whatever it is about Christmas that they love.
The competition is open to local primary school children in the electorate of Brand from years 1 to 5. This competition closes 5pm, Friday 1st November.

Prizes: 1st place will win a $100 gift voucher. 2nd place to win a $75 voucher. 3rd place to win a $50 voucher. Overall winner will have their drawing printed on my annual Christmas card.
All drawings received will go on display on my office windows.
Drawings can be submitted by: