Parents and Carers under the existing COVID rules if you need to enter the school for any reason please phone the office, 48422413 before entering the grounds.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Last Sunday several staff, parents and grandparents witnessed our Year 3 and 4 students make their First Communion. The children were extremely reverent and were well prepared by Brother Brian, Johanna Barling, Ged Galvin and Victoria Marsh. Thank you to Lisa Kaptein for her organisation of the Mass and assisting with the preparation and to Father Mick for the beautiful Mass. It was lovely to be able to have the mass at the church. A very special thank you to the many helpers who came last Saturday to the church to assist with cleaning: Haraldson family, North family, Paciorek family, Vardanega family, Lisa Kaptein and Helen Hart and to Trish Young for making and decorating the beautiful cake.

Plans are underway to finalise staffing for 2022, which will be announced soon. To assist with preparation for this day and end of year planning, if your child/children won’t be attending St Bede’s next year can you please notify the front office by Friday, December 10. On Friday, December 10 the new staff will be coming to St Bede’s so they can meet everyone and participate in a transition day, where they get to meet their new teacher and experience some time as a class with their teacher for next year. We look forward to welcoming our new staff to St Bede’s and they are looking forward to being part of the Braidwood community.

Congratulations to Frankie Doherty and Nelita Ridley, who last Friday, were awarded with scholarships to assist with their secondary education by the CWA. We are extremely grateful to the CWA for making this opportunity available for our local students. The girls both had to write letters to the CWA stating why they would be worthy recipients and what they would do with the money, if they were successful.

Congratulations to Rosalie Hazell who was a finalist in the Archdiocesan Public Speaking Compeition which was held via Teams today. Rosalie's topic was 'Being Young is Overrated'. Rosalie spoke extremely well but unfortuantely she came up against some very tough competition and was unsuccessful in gaining a place. Well done Rosalie on getting to this level!

Unfortunately, swimming lessons for all our children had to be cancelled due to lack of trained instructors available to take the children. We are hoping we will be able to have this in term 1 next year. The Year 6 students will be refunded. A big thank you to Katie Tooth for all her organisation.

Next Wednesday we have our final Community Council meeting for the year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our Community Council members who do an amazing job to support the school and to assist with decision making. Thank you to Amanda Vardanega (Chair), Anthony Haraldson (Secretary), Jayne Foster (Treasurer), Richard Bunn (Grounds Maintenance), Bec Thistleton, Marita Fuhrer (Parent Reps), Br Brian (Parish Rep) and Bridget Welfare (Staff rep). The time and commitment that you give to St Bede’s is very much appreciated.

Thank you so much to all our parents who have endeavoured to follow all the Level 3+ restrictions. Please ensure you contact the office if you need to come into the school, sign in at the front office and wear a mask.

Please keep our Braidwood community in your prayers and continue to be thankful for the small everyday blessings around us.

God Bless

Marylou Gorham

Principal