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Congratulations to the eleven students who complete their time with us at St Bernadette’s on the 18th of December. We are very proud of their achievements and we wish them all the very best as they prepare for the next stage of their education at Kavanagh College. Thank you for the contribution you have all made to St Bernadette’s School.
Mission Accomplished Congratulations to everyone involved in making Wednesday night’s production such a success. The children worked incredibly hard and it was evident on the night that they thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Thank you to all the staff, the teachers, teacher aides, Karen in the ‘ticket office’, for their work in making sure that Mission Possible was such a memorable and worthwhile adventure. We are so lucky to have a school environment where children of all ages can get up on the stage in front of 400 people and enjoy themselves and take such a great pride in their achievement and their ability. Thank you to parents and families for supporting the children. These kind of occasions are rare and will be remembered for a long time. Thank you all for being part of the ‘Mission Possible’ team Potato Day at St Bernadette’s
The St Bernadette’s Home and School Association prepared a nutritious meal for every child in the school today. The committee have been Variety Club – Bike for Kids The Variety Clubs Charity is an organisation which helps New Zealand children to reach their full potential. A special part of Variety’s work is Bikes for Kids where schools around New Zealand are invited to nominate five deserving children between the ages of 7 and 9 to receive new bikes. This year St Bernadette’s was invited to participate. This was the 20th year that the organisation has been giving bikes to New Zealand children and we were thrilled to be one of the 200 schools chosen for 2009.
These photos show a small selection of the amazing national costumes on display at the international dress up day at St Bernadette’s. Larger photos of these ten children can be viewed in the Recent Photos link on the right of this post. Thank you very much to all families for taking the time and trouble to ensure that the children had a wonderful day. The film of all the children will be part of the school production. Mission Possible will be held at the Kings and Queens Performing Arts Auditorium next Wednesday the 25th of November. Congratulations to the St Bernadette’s Activ8 Challenge team who won the Adventure Challenge section of the competition. Have a look at the photos in this week’s newsletter. The South Zone Athletics sports were held on Wednesday and more than twenty schools from the southern half of the Dunedin and Mosgiel area gathered at the Caledonian Ground for the annual event. St Bernadette’s sent a team of twenty two competitors. Throughout the day Miss Fitzgerald kept the rest of the school informed through text messages as to how the children were going. Every so often a loud cheer would come from the classes as we were informed that a school mate had gained a place or made a semi final. The whole team did extremely well. Special credit to Tame Govaerts who won the final of the under 11 boys sprint, Matile Ioane was second in the final of the under 10 girls sprint. The 800m event was won by Ben O’Farrell with Finn O’Brien coming second. Tim O’Farrell also made the finals. No fewer than three relay teams made their respective finals. We are very proud of the entire team for the way they represented St Bernadette’s.
We have a very busy few weeks coming up as we prepare for our school production, ‘Mission Possible’. Download the last Friday newsletter found in the ‘Newsletter’ tab above. There are two documents to view, November 6th 2009 Pages 1+4 and November 6th 2009 Pages 2+3. Enjoy. We hope that you read the proposed school statements in the last post (Oct 24th) and made comment if you wished. Over the past two years school New Zealand schools have been preparing for the implementation of the new curriculum which comes into effect at the commencement of 2010. Part of that development is the preparation of personal statements for each school. The new curriculum document gives guidance and suggestions for schools to identify their own mission statement, vision, values and principles. Mission Statement: This a personalised statement, sentence, or motto that sums up the purpose of the school. Vision: What we want for our young people? What is this school trying achieve? What is the school community hoping for its young people to become? Values: To be encouraged, modelled, and explored. Values are deeply held beliefs about what is important or desirable. They are expressed through the ways in which people think and act. Principles: Foundations of curriculum decision making.The principles embody what is important and desirable in the school curriculum – nationally and locally. They should underpin all school decision making. The principles relate to how curriculum is formalised in a school; they are particularly relevant to the processes of planning, prioritising, and review. The values are part of the everyday curriculum – encouraged, modelled, and explored. Our recent Teacher Only Day was an opportunity for staff to consolidate these statements which have been developed over the last 12 months We would like to share the statements with the St Bernadette’s community. We invite you to consider the Mission Statement, and our statements on our Vision, our Values and our Principles. We also invite you to comment through the web site. Just click on the red ‘comments’ at the end of this article (Curriculum Statements) and give us some feedback on your views of our St Bernadette’s statements published below.
Our Mission Statement We Believe. We Care. We Learn Our vision for students at St Bernadette’s School Confident Learners Positive in their own identity, motivated and reliable, resourceful, resilient and optimistic Connected Learners Able to relate well to the local and global community and the environment Actively Involved Learners Participating and contributing to the well being of our school, community and country Lifelong Learners Literate, numerate, critical and reflective, well informed and resourceful Principles The eight principles put students at the centre of teaching and learning at St Bernadette’s School
The curriculum supports and empowers all students to learn and achieve personal excellence.
The curriculum acknowledges the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the bicultural foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand. All students have the opportunity to acquire knowledge of te reo Māori me ōna tikanga.
The curriculum reflects New Zealand’s cultural diversity and values the histories and traditions of all its people.
The curriculum is non-sexist, non-racist, and non-discriminatory; it ensures that students’ identities, languages, abilities, and talents are recognised and affirmed and that their learning needs are addressed.
The curriculum encourages all students to reflect on their own learning processes and to learn how to learn.
The curriculum has meaning for students, connects with their wider lives, and engages the support of their families, whānau, and communities.
The curriculum offers all students a broad education that makes links within and across learning areas, provides for coherent transitions, and opens up pathways to further learning.
The curriculum encourages students to look to the future by exploring significant future-focused issues. The values encouraged and modeled at St Bernadette’s School are based on the values of Jesus Christ and affirmed by the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Your comments on the above Mission Statement, Vision, Principles and Values are very welcome.
This week work has begun on preparing for our school production 2009. Date: Wednesday November 25th. Venue: United Nations General Assembly Hall, (aka King’s and Queen’s Performing Arts Centre). Good morning Jim, planet earth has serious problems that need to be addressed immediately. People know the issues, but the countries of the world are not doing enough to solve the problems. We are not taking enough care of our environment. We are not trying hard enough to manage and share the world’s resources. There are many animals in danger of extinction. On the 25th of November there is a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Your mission Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to attend that meeting with your team and convince the 192 member nations that the time to act is now. You have an unlimited budget and you may gather a team of up to 135 people to present your case to the General Assembly. This tape will self destruct in 5 seconds. Good luck Jim.
“Now that’s what I call a mission! Where am I going to find 135 talented, amazing and creative people to take this case to the United Nations? Of course, there’s only one place to find that kind of talent, St Bernadette’s School!” Our school production is on the theme of taking care of our planet. Classes are investigating topics such as conservation, ecology and endangered animals as well as focusing on the performing arts. The children have looked at a video of a 13 year old Canadian girl who spoke to the United Nations ten years ago about this very topic. Her powerful address can be viewed on this YouTube link. Her name is Severn Suzuki and today, ten years later, she is at the forefront of the ecology movement. Last Sunday was a wonderful day which saw 44 of our school and parish children make their First Holy Communion. The sun was shining and the church was filled to capacity as the children received the Eucharist for the first time. After the Mass the children were joined by their families and friends in the school hall to enjoy a traditional morning tea complete with a beautiful cake to mark the occasion. The children are to be congratulated on the way in which they prepared for the sacrament and conducted themselves on the day. Special thanks is extended to the families for the support they gave the children both during the service and in their preparation for the big event. Thanks also to Father Damian and all the school staff for their work in making sure that this was a day to remember.
This photo shows the children gathered in the sunshine by the grotto outside the church. Photos of the reception in the hall can be seen in the latest photos archive. Download the lastest 4 page Friday Newsletter in the Newsletter bar at the top of this page to see photos and information of all that is happening at St Bernadette’s. Last Friday’s event was a wonderful occasion. Every child in the school took part in our item and we were proud of every single one of them. The school performance began with a Samoan hymn called Ulufale. This was followed by two Maori waiata, Haere Mai and Toma Mai. Tomo Mai has special significance to our school because it was composed by the father of our own Whaea Jenny McDonald. The St Bernadette’s item concluded with a haka performed by the boys. This photo (along with 2 others in our photo archive) was taken at Wednesday’s dress rehearsal in the school hall.
Congratulations to all 44 children from the parish who received the Sacrament of Confirmation at a Mass of celebration on the 13th of August at St Partick’s Basilica. Bishop Colin concelebrated the service with Father Damian and Father Niusila. We can be very proud of our children for the way they prepared for the big day and conducted themselves at the Mass. Thank you to all families, school friends, teachers and parishioners for their support. It’s great to get feed back from people who have visited our site over the last two weeks since it has been up and running. It is especially pleasing to note that the newsletters are being read by families in other parts of New Zealand and around the world.
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communication with Anne-Maree Fox from Public Health South who has been working with local food suppliers to help promote healthy, cheap meals for families. Ann-Maree attended a recent meeting of the Home and School and explained the background and purpose of the venture. Today was potato day at St Bernadette’s. The children learned more about the humble potatoes, and the committee worked hard to prepare 140 baked potatoes with all the trimmings. We are very grateful to Public Health South for this initiative. We particularly would like to thank the Turners and Growers Association and also Pypers Produce, Invercargill for their support in this venture.
The five lucky St Bernadette’s children were Arie Bloemsaat, Callum Walker, Sofiana Elisara, Levi Rogers and Michael Cortdz.
Last Friday one of our Rippa Rugby teams was invited to participate in the Otago Finals for Rippa Rugby. There is an article about the tournament in Friday’s Newsletter, August 14th. If you would like to view some photos of the action there are 14 photos in a document stored in our Newsletter Folder. Click on the Newsletter tag at the top of this page and open the RippaFinals document.
