Back Row: Jeremiah, Lyric, Ted, Henry, Alaiyah
Middle Row: Iva, Eva, Noah T, Keeva, Utalia
Front Row: Meeval, Leo, Sawyer, Chloe, Ivar

Back Row: Tova, Kobey, Hudson, Arpith
Front Row: Anja, Esther E, Phoenix, Kairo

Recently we welcomed Amiyah and Normanii to Room 8, and our St Bernadette's whānau. Amiyah is the sister of Roman (Room 4), and Normanii's cousins used to be students at our school. We wish them both many happy schooldays, filled with learning and fun!

Today we had our second whole school welcome for our new pupils and their whānau. It was lovely to have parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins and classmates supporting these little learners as they start their schooling journey at St Bernadette's. They were all very excited to get their St Bernie's bag of treats from the senior pupils. The singing from our senior tamariki was certainly very heartfelt and moving!

So far this term we have 77% of tamariki (government target is 80%) with a 90% attendance rate. You can see your child's attendance for the term on the HERO app. 

Children who attend school every day are more likely to have friends, to achieve success, to develop good social behaviours and learning skills, and to be ready for secondary school.

Trinity College hosts a Year 5/6 class from each of the schools in the Kāhui Ako, on Tuesdays in Term's 1 and 2. St Bernadette’s Room 1 was the first class to experience this in 2025. The children visited Trinity College and spent three hours enjoying a range of activities in three different areas of the curriculum: Food and Hygiene, Science, and Drama.
Drama was first on the list and we worked with Miss Ward. Our task was to prepare a television advertisement using an everyday object that does amazing things. Senior drama students from the college worked with us in preparing the advertisements and performing them on stage!  
The next experience took place in the science lab. Mrs Cooney explained that our lesson was about chemical and physical reactions. We did experiments to show how we can change the state of some matter from solid, to liquid, to gas. 
It was great to spend morning playtime in the school playground and catch up with lots of friends and whānau from Trinity College.  
Before lunch time we went to the kitchen and prepared our own food for lunch. We learned about the food, as well as how to prepare it. We also learned about the importance of hygiene. Mrs Hughes allowed us to prepare our own pizza, and choose from a range of yummy toppings like pineapple, salami, ham, tomato paste and of course, cheese. They were delicious!

The Year 1-3 tamariki have had a great three days swimming at Carisbrook School this week. Many have gone from tentatively getting in the water, to smiling broadly as their confidence increases. Thank you to the adults who have assisted with walking to the pool and dressing. Don't forget there are another two sessions on Monday and Tuesday next week!

Thankfully we got a beautiful day for our Athletics Sports last week. It was a day filled with sprints, relays, long distance and so much more! The tamariki had an awesome time helping and cheering each other on, and making sure everyone was included and having a good time.  Thanks to all our whānau who came along to support us. The focus was on working together to achieve and everyone was a winner on the day BUT.......

......the grand winners of the trophy (after a long seven year hiatus) were the SHARKS!!
Grandpa (Mr Shaw), Grandma (Mrs Waldron), Mummy (Ms Fitz) and the Baby Sharks were very happy!

Today was our last day of miniball coaching with Will. It has been lots of fun and we really liked:

Thank you very much Will, we all wish you could keep coming. Fridays won't be the same without you!

We were lucky to get a visit from Scout, the Move it March Mascot, and her helper this week. They were very impressed with how we have been staying active in March, including walking to and from swimming. We shared some safety tips for walking and wheeling with them. After we finished talking they got us to line up on the basketball court and play a game of 'stop/go'.

Congratulations to all the tamariki who won 'Move it March' prizes this week. Keep up the great walking and wheeling!

Thank you to whānau for bringing your tamariki to Mass on the 16th of March at St Patrick's Basilica. We got lots of comments from parishioners about well they did, especially with their singing.

Jeremiah has just started altar serving in the last few weeks and Mrs Whitty says he is doing an excellent job. Jeremiah certainly looks very proud of himself in this picture and we are all proud of him too.

If your child is interested in being an altar server and they have made their first holy communion they could talk to their teacher and we will put you in touch with Mrs Whitty.