St Bernadette's Primary School Dundas Valley

This week, our year 3 and 5 students completed the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests. These tests are a point-in-time assessment that allows parents to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. The results of these tests are used by our classroom teachers to see where further instruction would be beneficial and where our students are excelling. 

In the past few years, we have moved to online testing. NAPLAN Online is a tailored test that adapts to student responses, providing better assessment and more precise results.  We are very lucky that we have access to enough devices for all students to access the online tests easily and have spare devices in case of any technical issues. 

At St Bernadette's, we do not 'teach to the test'. We want to gain an accurate picture of where our students are at a particular point in time. We also don't want to place undue pressure or stress on our students. We want our students to know they are more than the results of these tests. We focus on developing a well-rounded child who understands their worth is more than academic results. Their schooling at St Bernadette's is built around quality teaching which effectively covers the whole curriculum and ensures they are well prepared for not only the NAPLAN tests but all areas of their development. 

I would like to congratulate our year 3 and 5 students on the way they have approached the tests and their attitude of doing their personal best. 

Mrs Willard
Assistant Principal

The Stage 1 Learning Cycle in Religious Education for this term is ‘What is Sacred Scripture?’

In learning that Sacred Scripture can be a way of life that nourishes and inspires our words and actions, the Year 1 students have illustrated a Sacred story that they know.

Miss Steph and her environmental crusaders are at it again and this time they will be ‘killing two birds with one stone’!

As we all know, plastic going to landfill isn’t such a good thing. It can take up to 500 years for some plastics to actually decompose. Unfortunately, one such item that often ends up in landfill is the good old bread tag.

Here’s the thing though! We have found an Australian charity that works with a local recycler in South Australia to turn your old bread tags into wheelchairs! What a brilliant idea! Now we can save the environment and help those in need at the same time! Please click on the following link to find out more about what these amazing people are doing. https://ozbreadtagsforwheelchairs.org.au/our-story  

Long story short, please start collecting your bread tags from loaves of bread and other bakery items. Bring them to school and drop them in the bread tag bin which is located in the breezeway near the office.

Thanks for your support!

On Tuesday morning our school was lucky enough to have two police officers visit us and speak to our children. 

The infants' children learnt all about stranger danger and their safety networks. The policeman used a great analogy describing how younger penguins stay in large groups and are looked after by the older penguins, just like our children when they are out and about in the community.

The primary children learnt all about cyber safety. This was fantastic as it reinforced what many children already know, however, sometimes forget, when they are online.

We thank both these officers for their time and effort.

After-School Routine

Following some adjustments to our after school dismissal procedures, we have noticed that some of the children are unsure of where they are to wait in the afternoon. Here are the three options and terms we use for each of the pick-up points:

• Back Gate:  Here, the children are escorted to the back gate by the teacher on duty,  to parents who are parked in the parish car park.

• Pick Up:  Here, the children wait in front of the canteen. This is where parents who have parked and come into the school grounds will pick up their children. Once again, they will wait with the teacher on duty.

• Drive Through: Here, the children will meet in the hall with the supervising teacher. Their names will then be called by the teacher on the street as their car approaches. 

Please make sure that your child is clear on where you are to meet them to reduce the anxiety and confusion.

Of course COSHC children will be picked up by the after-school staff from the pick-up area.

Parish House Driveway

Please remember NOT to queue across the Parish House’s driveway before or after school as it makes it impossible for them to enter or exit. They are often called out into the community for various reasons and may be needed quickly. Thanks to those who already make the effort not to block their one and only exit point. 

Assemblies

Assemblies will continue to be held at 2:30 pm under the COLA each fortnight from Friday, 28 May unless advised otherwise.

School Uniform

By now, all students are expected to be dressed in full winter uniform, including ties for boys and tab ties for girls.  When boys are wearing long-sleeve shirts they are expected to have them tucked in at all times.  We ask that parents help us with this by having a quick check of uniforms before students leave home. We have noticed that the younger students don’t know how to tuck their shirts in so it’s greatly appreciated if parents could help out with this. 

We have almost concluded the enrolment process for 2022. Many families have submitted completed enrolment forms, had their interview and are in the process of securing a place in Kindy. If it is your intention to enrol your child for 2022 please fill in the necessary paperwork as there are limited spaces available.

We understand at times it is difficult for families to know when your child needs to stay home when they complain of feeling unwell. We ask that if your child displays any symptoms such as coughing, sore throat, sneezing, runny nose etc that they are kept home. To return to school they will require a clearance certificate from the doctor or a negative covid test. We thank you in advanced for your cooperation.

Our school calendar has now been synced to the SkoolBag App. You are able to access the school calendar for important term dates and add these to the calendar in your phone.

How to do this:

- Select 'events' icon on the bottom of the home page. This will then bring up the calendar and the current month will be displayed.

- Under the chosen day you will see all of the events we have scheduled for that day. 

- To add these events to your calendar select 'notices' and 'add to calendar'.  You can choose to add all the important dates to your calendar that are relevant to you.

The calendar is also visible on our school website.