Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to all our students and families! It was lovely to see everyone return to school last Tuesday, especially for me having been away for so long. The children were most interested in where I went and what I during my leave and I look forward to sharing my trip with them throughout the term. A very big thank you to Mark Chifley who acted as Principal in my absence. Mark did an amazing job as Principal ably assisted by Louise Grant. We are extremely grateful to Louise for coming to St Bede’s. Louise spoke very highly of St Bede’s staff, students, parent and Braidwood community.

It is wonderful to see the building work progressing so rapidly. The brickwork on the new classrooms has been completed and the new front office area now has a roof. We thank you all for your patience with this work and look forward to moving into the new spaces later in term 3.

Our rule focus for the past fortnight has been respect. Teachers have discussed with the students what respect looks like, sounds like and feels like when we are at school during work and play. It would be wonderful if parents could discuss this further with your children to assist with their understandings of how this is enacted in everyday relationships and behaviour.

A very special congratulations to Paige Gallagher in Year 2. The Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council held a Minecraft competition to celebrate world environment day on Monday 5 June. The competition was open to any primary-school aged children across the QPRC Local Government Area, with the children being asked to explore the world of plastic pollution and recycling. The entrants were tasked with building a Minecraft world that explores solutions to our plastic pollution problem and recording a 2–3-minute video showcasing their design and explaining how it fits the theme.An awards night was held on Friday the 23rd of June at the Bicentennial Hall in Queanbeyan with primary students from across Queanbeyan, Bungendore, and Braidwood in attendance. Awards were given across four major categories with Paige Gallagher (Year 2) announced as the overall winner! What an outstanding effort for a Year 2 student to compete against students from Kinder to Year 6 and to win the competition. Well done Paige on such a huge achievement! We can’t wait to hear more about your innovative ideas in the future!

This week all students from Years 3 to 6 commenced Spelling Mastery. Spelling Mastery is a program which approaches spelling through strategies, patterns and rules, combining phonemic, morphemic, and whole-word instruction to make spelling easier to learn, leading the way to more effective writing. Through explicit instruction, careful selection of spelling words, and repeated and cumulative practice students are assisted to master each concept and reinforce and retain key information. The lessons occur each morning from 9:oo am to 9:25am. We have several students who are arriving late each day.

NAPLAN results will be sent home to Year 3 and 5 parents today. Parents, please take the time to discuss the results with your child and remember this is a snapshot of their learning. This test was administered in early in term 1 and students have made considerable academic gains since then.

Finally, a reminder to all students that hats are to be worn again from August 1 and next Friday August 4 is Grandparents day. We look forward to seeing our grandparents and special friends at St Bede’s. Further information is included in this newsletter and on FaceBook.

Have a great week!
God bless

Marylou 

Principal, St Bede's School

Our School Counsellor, Mari, will be visiting St Bede's on Fridays for the rest of this year. If you think your child would benefit from seeing a counsellor please complete the online referral form at https://catholiccare.force.com/housing/s/school-referral-form.

Parents please note that St Bede's is a Nut Free school and as such the sharing of any food, lollies or confectionery is not encouraged, as we have several students that have severe reactions. Therefore Nutella, Peanut Butter and any other nut butters are strongly discouraged.

The Father's day Stall will be held on Thursday 31^st August at 2 pm. Kristi is looking for 2-3 volunteers to help her on the day, if you are available to help please call Kristi on 0410 902965. More information on purchasing from the stall will be provided closer to the day.

Please note that we have updated the canteen menu.

For canteen to run at St Bede's we need at least two parent helpers for each week on the roster. If we do not have two volunteers then we are unable to have canteen and it will be cancelled for that week. Please refer to the below roster.

If canteen is cancelled then your child will need to bring their own lunch, as per a non canteen day. Please note that if canteen is cancelled and your child has an order, parents/carers will be contacted to provide lunch.

Any parents that are interested in helping in canteen and have a couple of hours available on a Monday morning (Please see the roster for coming dates) please email the office.

If you have any questions about what is required to help on canteen please contact Brenda on 0438 275 032 or Trish on 0412 889507 or 02 48422027.

Please note that any parents volunteering for canteen must have a current Working With Children Check (WWCC). WWCC can be applied for through Service NSW (link) applying for a WWCC. Once you have received the clearance please send a copy of the email + your date of birth to the office as the clearances are checked.

Term 3 Canteen