Dear Parents and Carers

On Tuesday night I was privileged to attend the Rotary Public Speaking Competition at Bungendore. Congratulations to all our speakers as they presented outstanding speeches up against a very strong field. We congratulate all of our competitors and our winners. Thank you to Mr Galvin for organising and our parents who drove the children and supported during the preparation and on the night and the Rotary Club at Bungendore for hosting the event.

This week is Catholic Schools Week across the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. Catholic Schools week commences the enrolment period for 2022, which continues throughout May. St Bede’s are now accepting online enrolments for 2022. St Bede’s will be conducting an Open Day tour on Thursday, May 27 from 9:30am to 10:30am. If you are wanting a tour of the school but this time does not suit, please contact the front office to organise a suitable time. A child must turn 5 years of age by 31 July of the year of enrolment.

We are extremely grateful to our parents who have volunteered to be class representatives. Kinder are having their first catch up on Wednesday 12th May straight after school at Ryrie Street Park. This is an opportunity for all Kinder parents to come along, bring the children, catch up and network. Thank you to all our wonderful parents who have volunteered to be class representatives. Just so you know the class representatives are:

Kinder: Kelly Watson
Year 1: Emily Krout-Ryan
Year 2: Asha Kidd
Year 3: Corinne Haraldson
Year 4: Vacancy (please email the office if you would like to offer)
Year 5: Beth Ross
Year 6: Michelle Ridley

Last Friday, St Bede’s hosted their very first Playgroup. It was a huge success with around 30 children and 26 parents turning up to join in the fun. This is a regular event each Friday at 9:30am. All children are welcome aged between 0 and 5 but they must be accompanied by an adult.

Parent Teacher Interviews are fast approaching. This year we will not be having 3 Way Conversations with the children present, as a 1:1 interview with parents, provides an opportunity to have robust conversations with each class teacher about your child/childrens progress and application to schoolwork. We encourage all our parents to make an appointment on the online Google form. (These notes will be going home tomorrow). Kindergarten will be conducting their interviews next week as Miss Welfare will be away during Week 5. Years 1 to 6 will be conducting their interviews during Week 5. Parents, please ensure you book a time to meet with your child's teacher.

We wish all our Year 3 and Year 5 students all the best as they undertake their NAPLAN tests next week, commencing on Tuesday. Parents please ensure your child arrives at school by 9am with a water bottle, a piece of fruit for fruit break and their usual snacks.

Next Friday is National Walk Safely to School Day. We encourage all our students, where possible to walk to school and of course commute safely. If you live in town and usually drive your child to school perhaps you could all walk as a family?

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. We love to honour Mother’s Day, as this is such a wonderful opportunity to say thank you to our beautiful mother’s and grandmother’s, who love us, care for us and do so much to support and help us every day. This morning St Bede’s staff hosted a very successful Mother’s Day breakfast. It was wonderful to see so many of our mum’s and grandma’s turn up for this event. This was followed by a beautiful Mother’s Day liturgy organised by Lisa Kaptein REC and Bridget Welfare.

Good luck to all our students participating in the Northern Regions Cross Country Carnival tomorrow. They will be accompanied by Mrs Katie Tooth and Mr Ged Galvin. Please rug up and bring something to sit on as it will be cold and wet underfoot!
We wish all our mother’s a very special day on Sunday. We are sure your children will spoil you and wait on you hand and foot all day!

God Bless

Marylou Gorham

A Prayer for Mothers

(and those that are like Mothers to us)

There are times when only a mother's love
Can understand our tears,
Can soothe our disappointments
And calm all of our fears.
There are times when only a mother's love
Can share the joy we feel
When something we've dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real.
There are times when only a mother's faith
Can help us on life's way
And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day.
For a mother's heart and a mother's faith
And a mother's steadfast love
Were fashioned by the angels
And sent from God above.

We have been notified of a case of Hand, Foot and Mouth in the school. As this is a highly contagious infection we are asking parents to be vigliant and see your doctor if your child has any symptons (blisters) - please see the link to the NSW Health for more information.

School Fees

Term 2 School Fees have been invoiced and sent home either via email or paper copy. For those receiving paper copies, if you would prefer to have your statements emailed, please notify the office of your prefered email address.

The term 2 fees are due for payment before Thursday 20 May 2021.

Any families experiencing difficulties paying their fees, please contact either Marylou or Lara.

Year 5 & 6 Camp fees

Year 5 and 6 parents will notice that they have been charged camp fees this term.

It is our intention to try and ease the financial burden on parents by spreading the payments out over 2 terms (Terms 2 & 3).

The amount that we are charging is similar to amount that parents were asked to pay for last camp in 2018.

While, these fees will go some way towards covering the great majority of the costs involved of attending camp for a week; the remainder of the required money will be raised through fundraising.

If any families may experience financial issues or require longer to pay these fees please contact the office on 48422413 or send an email to office.stbedesb@cg.catholic.edu.au

Any questions regarding camp should be directed to Ms Kaptein or Ms Ryan in the first instance.