Dear Parents and Carers,

Yesterday we had our Parent Teacher check-in meetings with our parents and carers. Thank you to all our parents for taking this opportunity to check in, introduce yourself to your child’s teacher and obtain an understanding of how your child is progressing academically and socially, and their attitudes and goals for learning. If you were unable to make a time this week, can you please email your child's teacher and arrange a time, as soon as possible. Next Friday, Interim Reports will be sent home with each student. This will provide you with an overview of their work habits for this term. Should you have any concerns for any of your children or require a longer interview, please do not hesitate to contact the teacher and arrange a time either before or after school.

This term all CE schools are focusing on Behaviour Mastery. Behaviour Mastery cultivates a greater acceptance, understanding, and compassion towards the children in our care and aims to foster respectful and supportive relationships both inside and outside of class – between students, teachers and parents. Our focus for behaviour management is to ‘Live, Love, Learn’ and PBL (Positive Behaviours for Learning) which is supported in addition with our house points system. The students have been concentrating on moving around the school silently in lines and entering the classroom calmly.

Next Wednesday, February 28, Shaun and Campbell from the CE Compass team will be conducting a Compass workshop after school for all parents from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. If you are attending, please contact the front office to confirm your attendance by 3:30pm Monday, February 26. We are fortunate that we have the experts at St Bede’s to assist but we need to ensure we have sufficient participants to make their trip worthwhile. We are aware that some parents are having issues accessing Compass and this is a wonderful opportunity to develop your knowledge. Please bring a device or your mobile.

The children from Kinder to Year 6 have been busy preparing their writing and artwork for the Braidwood Show on Saturday March 2. We thank Ms Krys Wise our Librarian who has been busy putting the display together. We hope you can all come along and see their magnificent work.

Next Thursday, Students from Kinder and Year 6 will be attending the launch of the Braidwood Writers Festival at Ryrie Park at 11am. The students have commenced drafting their stories for the Writers Festival and are looking forward to sharing their finished work with everyone. The Writers Festival will be held next term.

This week we welcomed Mr Bob Fletcher to St Bede’s. Bob is teaching PE to all students K-6. The students from K-2 have two PE sessions per week and the students from Years 3 to 6 receive a double session of PE on either Tuesday or Wednesday, which combines their PE allocation into one session. During the PE lessons the students are taught skills and games and are preparing for the Cross Country later this term. The K-2 students are focusing on a gross motor skills program to assist with balance and coordination, strength, awareness, and movement. Bob is an experienced educator and has a passion for teaching and sport.

During term four, St Bede’s will be having a concert which all students from Kinder to Year 6 will participate in. We have an expert team in the performing Arts who will be at St Bede’s for a week auditioning and practising for two performances, a matinee and an evening. More information is to be provided closer to the event.

Supervision for all students commences at 8:30am each morning. Students should not be arriving at school beforehand as there is no supervision. We have had children regularly dropped off from 8am which is concerning as there may not be any staff in attendance. Parents, we would appreciate your assistance with this for safety and duty of care.

Last night our Community Council conducted their first meeting for the year. A big focus for the meeting was fundraising. We have a few initiatives planned for this term. Parents we need your help with the kiosk for the Show on Saturday, March 2 and the Camp Draft on Saturday March 9. If you can assist, please contact Kristi Morrison on 0410902965 or a member of the Community Council. Our Community Council members are Richard Bunn-Chair, Kate Ellis -  Secretary, Katie Lyons-Treasurer, Sarah Paciorek-Parish Representative, and Sarah Hickey, Clare Young and Emily Krout-Ryan parent representatives. Many hands make light work!

God Bless