This week, families in Years 5 and 6 began preparations for the Sacrament of Confirmation by attending the parent information session.  Confirmation is not just a rite of passage; it is an invitation to embrace the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts—wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord—equip our young people to live out their faith in a world that often challenges their values.

Sunday’s scripture "Love your enemies” Lk 6:27 calls us to demonstrate compassion and empathy. In the context of Confirmation, it's a profound reminder of the transformative power of love and forgiveness. By loving our enemies, we embody the wisdom and understanding, embodied by the Holy Spirit. We show fortitude in forgiving those who have wronged us, and we demonstrate the knowledge and piety that guide our actions towards others. 

As students prepare to make this sacred commitment, we are reminded that we are called to be peacemakers and messengers of God’s love. Let the gifts of the Holy Spirit shine brightly in your lives, guiding you in your journey of faith and service to others.  The challenge is great but so is the reward. 

Friendology

As part of St Bede’s focus on supporting students to flourish, we are focusing on the Friendology Curriculum through URSTRONG.  This program is assisting us to develop consistent messaging and strategies for students, from K-6.

URSTRONG’s whole-school friendship strategy has improved the social climate in schools around the world, connecting over a million kids, parents, and teachers with a common language of friendship and empowering your children with friendship skills.

You are invited to take advantage of a FREE Parent Membership to access hundreds of resources – including an 8 session video series. This will allow you to learn the same language and strategies being taught in the classroom. We hope that, as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion and kindness at home.

A great place to start is the 4 Friendship Facts:

Parent/Teacher Interviews & 3-Way Conferences

Bookings are now open for Parent/Teacher Interviews and 3 Way Conferences in Compass. Meetings will be available from Monday 3 March to Friday 7 March in Week 5.  
 

• Years 1 and 2 participate in Parent/Teacher Interviews and your child is not required to attend. 

• Years 3-6 conduct 3-Way Conferences where your child can be a part of the conversation around goal setting for the semester.  If you require a separate meeting, without your child, please let your child's teacher know.

• Parents of students on a Personalised Plan will have the opportunity to set Term 1 goals during these meetings and do not require a separate appointment.  

• Kinder teachers completed student testing and parent interviews this week so you are not required to schedule an appointment at this time. 

Follow the 'Conferences' tab in Compass to schedule a 15-minute appointment with your child/ren's teacher/s.  Please reach out if you are experiencing difficulty booking an appointment.  Bookings close on Sunday night at 12am. 

Lunch Orders

It has come to our attention that some procedures for the distribution of lunch orders and communication within the parent chat groups has created some confusion at school. 

As I am sure you can appreciate, ordering, preparing and distributing nearly 200 lunch orders is a big ask.  The amazing Tess Green and her merry band of helpers embrace the challenge every Friday and patiently accommodate last-minute orders, missed orders, missing lunches and even lunch eaten by the birds! 

Unbeknown to the school staff, parents are proactively trading student lunch orders through class Whatsapp chat groups, kindly sharing or gifting preordered lunch orders when their child is away.  Whilst this is very generous, it has caused quite a bit of confusion at the assembly line.  In order to streamline this process, we ask that all communication of changes goes through Jodie at the front office.  This process aims to avoid miscommunication when relief teachers are in the room, prevents overwhelming the canteen with a myriad of requests and ensures that your child receives lunch. 

Whilst Tess also generously caters lunch for late or non-orders, this too creates confusion and additional work in the canteen.  What seems like a simple request from one parent can actually present as 10 or more unplanned and unpaid orders, without the necessary supplies.  I ask that you please respect the Thursday 5pm deadline for orders to allow for purchasing and preparation time. 

Dogs on site

This is a reminder that dogs must not be brought onto school grounds, as per the Domestic Animals Act 2000, Section 42:

Dogs are prohibited from childcare centres, schools, pre-schools and beaches. They are prohibited from sportsgrounds when in formal use and high school/secondary college during school hours and sport. They are also prohibited from some reserves and within 10 metres of playgrounds and barbecues when in use.

As cute as our furry friends can be, we also have a number of students who are anxious about dogs.  There would certainly be dogs that would be anxious around 256 children!  Thank you for your understanding. 

Uniform Reminders

Now that the term is well under way, here are a few reminders about school uniform as there has been a bit of a slip in consistency in the past couple of weeks.  Note: we have school photos coming up on 12 & 13 March and students must be dressed in full school uniform.

• White socks – above the ankle, no logos, no patterns.
• Hair ties – neutral hair bands, blue/white/gold/maroon scrunchies or ribbons. Hair tied back.
• Navy or maroon jumpers with school uniform only.
• Blue jumpers or sports jackets with sports uniform only.
• Earrings – studs or sleepers only. No dangling or patterned earrings.
• Jewellery – crucifix chains only.
• No nail polish.
• Sneakers/runners with sports unform only. Black shoes with school uniform. 

Breen Fox

Acting Principal

What is Ash Wednesday?

We all know that Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. But what is Ash Wednesday all about? The Church has always used ashes as an outward sign of grief, humility, mourning, penance and morality. The Old Testament has many stories describing the use of ashes in these ways. Ashes began to be used in early Christianity for the preparation of baptism and confession. The use of ashes quickly began to be seen as a sign of penance, and particularly in preparation for Easter. Fast forward to 1091 - Pope Urban II, at the Synod of Benevento, recommended that the distribution of ashes on the Wednesday that begins Lent be instituted, becoming a Churchwide practice.

For us, the ashes are a visible sign of repentance and a symbol of our reconciliation with God.

Did you know? The palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday celebration are burned and used as the ashes for Ash Wednesday each year.

St Bede’s Ash Wednesday Liturgy

I would like to extend an invitation to everyone within our community to join us for our Ash Wednesday Liturgy next Wednesday 5 March. The Liturgy will begin at 9:15am in our school hall. Everyone is welcome to receive the ashes.

This Lent, our St Bede’s community is called to Unite Against Poverty through Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion. Each grade will be given a project compassion donation box that students and families can donate to throughout Lent. There will also be a bigger one on our prayer table near the front office.

Your generous support this Lenten Season will enable Caritas Australia to provide life-changing support to communities facing poverty, food insecurity, lack of education, and water shortages, while building resilience against future challenges. Together, through faith and action, we can bring hope and opportunity to those most in need.

Let us continue to walk in love and peace as pilgrims of hope.

Haley Stonham

Religious Education Coordinator

Whole School Reward and Tickets - How does this work?

Our weekly behaviour focus in the classroom and the playground become the focus for tickets being given out. These foci relate directly to student data and observations that teachers make during the term. Our focus is announced at Monday morning assembly and teachers unpack what this looks like in their classrooms. Students who are seen to be modelling these and showing respect, responsibility and resilience are given tickets to add to their class jar or at the front office.

The Year 6’s will collect tickets each Friday and make note of how we are going. They then show our progress on the thermometer that is displayed in the front foyer window. When we reach our goal - we get to celebrate!

And the amazing news is - the students at St Bede’s have achieved their first reward! We will be having a Mufti Day (uniform free day) next Friday 7 March! And if you want to - wear some purple for Lent!

Welcome to another exciting year of Sports at St Bede’s. 

We started the week with our fabulous Hockey Clinic run by Hockey ACT.  From all reports, the students had a great time and learnt not only hockey skills but some great team work skills.  Hockey ACT is holding its “Come and Try” days this weekend.

Northside (Lyneham) Sat 1^st March 9am-12pm

Southside (Greenway) Sun 2^nd March 9am-12pm

For more information please visit Hockey ACT website

Futsal Gala Day

Our Years 5/6 and Years ¾ Futsal Gala Day is fast approaching.  Final teams will be organised next week with entries closing on Friday 7^th March.  If you child is interested in attending, please ensure you have completed the Compass permission by the 7^th March. 

Swimming Carnival

Our swimming carnival will be held on Friday 28^th March (week 8) at Stromlo Leisure Centre.  Thank you for those who have nominated their children for events on the day and those who have volunteered to assist.  Final information and Compass permission will come out this week.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact either Elyse Charles or Toby McNaughton.

Sports Stars of the Week

Congratulations to both Robert (Year 6) and Ainsley (Year 4) who competed in their first official group start Mountain Biking event.  Both Robert and Ainsley did an amazing job placing 9^th and 7^th respectively.  Great work to you both.

Congratulations also to Georgia (Year 5) who competed in the ACT Athletics Championships on the weekend.  Georgia competed in the 800m, 400m, 200m and 100m races placing 1^st in all events.  Well done Georgia. 

Sports News Board

A sports news board has been created on the outside window of the Kinder Gold classroom.  All sports related news will be posted here with both school and community sports information available.

Yours in Sport

Elyse Charles and Toby McNaughton

Local Sporting Trial and Events

The following students received an award in Week 4:

WALK IN LOVE AND PEACE AWARDS

PRINCIPAL'S AWARD