We wish to advise that Mrs Gaelle Tregoning will be reducing her teaching load but will continue in her specialist roles as our French and Library teacher. We warmly welcome Mrs Jacinta Palmer to St Bede’s, who will join the Year 5 team for the remainder of 2025.

We also thank Miss Brianna Gray, who finishes at St Bede's today as she transitions to a classroom teaching role. We are grateful for her support and wish her all the very best in this next chapter.

Miss Jess Mead will access 12 months leave from the end of Term 2 to teach in the UK. We are currently finalising recruitment matters and hope to make an announcement next week.

Celebrating Our Patron Saint: St Bede the Venerable

On Tuesday, we celebrated the Feast of St Bede the Venerable, our school’s patron saint. We had so much fun learning about who Bede was, his life as a Monk and his good works in helping others to know and learn about God.

Thank you to Year 5 and Kindergarten for leading our beautiful Feast Day Mass, and thank you to our parents and friends who joined us in our special celebration.

St Vinnies Winter Appeal

As the weather gets colder, many families in our community are doing it tough. This term, we’re supporting the St Vinnies Winter Appeal with the theme “Give Warmth This Winter.”

We’re inviting all students and families to help by donating warm sleeping essentials, pantry essentials and hygiene essentials. Here is the breakdown of grades and donations -

• K, 1, 2: Rough Sleeping Essentials: jackets, jumpers, gloves, sleeping bags, warm socks, scarves, blankets, sleeping mats (all donations MUST be new items)
• Year 3 and 4: Pantry Essentials: long life milks, cereals, rolled and quick oats, spread, tinned foods, jar foods, baking goods, dry pet foods, muesli bars, crackers, popcorn, biscuits, tea and coffee, juice, rice, pasta, non-perishable soups (just a few ideas!)
• Year 5 and 6: hygiene essentials: toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, moisturiser, hairbrush, face washers, toiletries bag, body wash, shaving foam, shampoo & conditioner, sanitary products.

Donations will be collected during Weeks 5 - 9 and will be collected in each classroom’s basket. Our Year 6 Wellbeing Leaders will monitor donations, and help to create awareness of why our support of the Vinnies WInter Appeal is so important to those in need in our community. 

Every little bit helps bring comfort and hope to someone facing a difficult winter. Let’s show our school’s spirit of love and peace by giving from the heart. Together, we can make a big difference!

Sacrament of Confirmation

Today is the big day! Please keep our Year 5 and 6 Candidates and their families in your prayers as they receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this evening.

I would like to thank the families and friends of our candidates for their love, support, and faith-filled guidance during this sacramental journey.

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

— St. Catherine of Siena

Teachers are now preparing for student semester reporting through COMPASS, combined with Parent/Teacher interviews.  Please refer to a letter sent via Compass on 29 May with updates on the reporting schedule for 2025.

• Student Semester One Reports will be available in COMPASS on Thursday 3 July (last day of Term 2).
• The Compass portal will open for parent bookings on Tuesday 10 June. Parent/Teacher Interviews will be held from Monday 23 June – Friday 27 June (Week 9). 
• Personalised Plan meetings are being conducted over Weeks 5, 6 and 7. If you are attending one of these meetings, you are not required to have a follow up Parent/Teacher Interview.

If you have any questions, please contact your child's teacher.

St Bede's have been invited to host a conference on Wednesday 11 June.  Presenters from Steplab will conduct professional development for teachers from multiple schools for the whole day in our school hall.  With over 50 participants expected, we need to make some temporary arrangements on the day to assist our guests:

• The hall will be closed to parents and students between 9am-4pm.
• Camp Australia will relocate before and after-school care to the library for this day.

Parking arrangements: 

1. Staff parking will be relocated to the Nuyts Street/Top carpark for this day.
2. The front row of the Nuyts Street/Top carpark will be left vacant to provide a DROP-OFF lane, supervised by staff, where parents can conduct a quick drop off via a drive through.
3. Parents and visitors will have access to the main and overflow dirt carparks off Hicks Street.
4. Our 5-minute carpark spots will remain vacant for access during the day if you are collecting students for appointments, arriving late or leaving early.

We acknowledge that there will be congestion on the day and you may be limited to street parking for this one-off event as you arrive for drop off and pick up.  Visitors will be parked all day between 8:30am-4:30pm. We thank you for your patience and assistance to welcome and support our visitors on this day.  

Breen Fox 

Assistant Principal

We congratulate and welcome Kelly O'Hara as the new Secretary of the P&F Working Group.  Kelly is mum to Kathryn in Year 6 and Alasdair in Year 2.  Kelly will join the group for the next meeting in Term 3, Tuesday 29 July at 7pm.  We thank Kelly for volunteering for the role.

Now that we are well and truly into colder weather, this is a reminder that we are now in full winter uniform.  Teachers have flagged that students are still wearing a mixed ensemble and then trying to negotiate items of summer uniform.  The expectation is that all students are in full uniform, not just some items.  Our winter garments are displayed on our school website under Current Parents/Uniform Shop: https://stbedes.act.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/St-Bedes-Primary-School-Uniform.pdf

To clarify some misconceptions:

• Girls wearing the winter tunic may wear either navy tights or navy socks.
• Boys/Girls wear full navy pants, not shorts.
• Students may wear sports shorts/skorts on sports days, due to the nature of the activities during sports lessons - tracksuit pants are preferred and recommended.
• Students who choose to wear the long sleeve collared shirt must also wear a tie.
• Students may wear the blue long sleeve polo or skivvy as an alternative to the long sleeve collared shirt/blouse (without a tie).
• The long sleeve polo is not to be worn under the winter tunic - collared peter pan blouse or skivvy only.
• Sports jumpers (royal blue) are not to be worn with the school uniform.

As a SunSmart School, we are 'Hats Off' in June and July.  Whilst the sun is at its safest, students are encouraged to absorb some natural Vitamin D.  Students may also wear St Bede's or navy beanies from Tuesday 3 June.  

Thank you for your support in maintaining our uniform expectations.  

Congratulations to George and Albert Sara on their Baptism last weekend. Welcome to the Catholic Church Family! What a special and most joyous occasion as a family.

Are your wondering about the Sacrament of Baptism for you or your family? If so, please reach out to me at school and I can help support the next steps with our parish. At St Bedes, we always walk in love and peace with you and your family no matter where you are on your faith journey, or want to begin your faith journey with the Catholic Church.

Haley Stonham

Religious Education Coordinator

haley.stonham@cg.catholic.edu.au

The following students received an award in Week 5:

WALK IN LOVE AND PEACE AWARDS

Mass Times

St Christopher’s Cathedral

Saturday - 9am. 12:15pm, 5pm Saturday Vigil

Sunday - 8am, 11am, 5pm

St Peter Chanel’s Church

Sunday - 9:30am

Parish email address: https://saintchristopher.org.au/