Newsletters

Dear Parents,

This week, Year 1 to Year 6 have had their baseline tests, but it already feels like we are in the thick of the term, with the summer holiday's a distant memory. All the children and staff have settled into their new timetables and the school is running like a well-oiled machine.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to all the parents who were able to attend the Welcome Meetings this week! It was wonderful to see so many familiar and new faces, and we truly appreciate your support in building a strong partnership between us. 

The Welcome Meetings provided a great opportunity for parents to meet their children's teachers and learn more about our school vision, curriculum, and goals. It's fantastic to feel the buzz of excitement as we embark on this new academic year! 

We hope that the information shared during the meetings was helpful and insightful, and that it will enable you to actively participate in your child's educational journey. Remember, open and effective communication between parents and teachers is key to a child's success!

It was also lovely to welcome parents back into the school for liturgies and assemblies. It is wonderful to share these moments with you all.

Well Being

Ms Underwood is delighted to inform you that during this academic year the school will be working towards achieving the Wellbeing Award for Schools. This award is accredited by Optimus Education, in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau.  

The Wellbeing Award supports schools in creating a culture in which mental health can thrive. It helps them to show their commitment to promoting wellbeing as part of day-to-day school life and to develop a whole school strategy for improving the wellbeing of all pupils. We have appointed a ‘Change Team’ made up of staff across the whole school, who are passionate about wellbeing and mental health. We look forward to sharing more news about this exciting initiative in the near future.

Lower Trans U's Liturgy

On Wednesday Lower Transition U shared a beautiful liturgy with the school, based on the theme of peace. The children spoke loudly and clearly and made Ms Underwood very proud. The children reflected on the importance of peace in our own lives, as well as peace across the world. You may wish to use this prayer at home with your families.

God our Father,

Help us to live in peace with our neighbours.

Teach us to respect others.

Lead us and all your children to your peace.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son.

Amen.

Upper Trans Assembly

Upper Trans delivered the first Assembly of the year, where new staff, children and parents were welcomed into the St Bernard’s family! As we begin the new school year, currently in RE, Year 5 are reflecting on their unique God-given gifts and qualities.

We are excited to continue our journey as a ‘Thinking School’ and explore new learning tools in the classroom. With hard work and determination, we hope to achieve our goals and aspirations for the year ahead and wish everyone in the school community a happy and successful school year!

EYFS

Our Nursery children have been busy exploring the wonderful world of colours this week, through a variety of fun and engaging activities. They have been experimenting with paint, food colouring, shaving foam, and even science experiments. 
Through these activities, our children are developing important skills like hand-eye coordination and critical thinking. All this while having buckets of fun!

Early Years 2

This week EY2 have been learning all about 2D shapes. We have been busy counting the sides and vertices and discovering that although some shapes have some of the same properties they are different! We also went on a shape hunt around our school, recording our results on a tally chart.

Achievements

Arjan Sandhu (EY2) achieved a silver medal in the High Wycombe Judo Festival this weekend. He was the youngest competitor, competing against year 1 and 2 children.

Well done to Saisha (Yr 2) for passing her Piano Grade 1 Exam.

We are very proud of Darissa (Yr 3) this week, she received a certificate in Classical Indian Dance and also a certificate for her Prep Test in Piano.

Congratulations to Lara Daniels (Yr 4) for passing her Grade 1 singing exam.

Congratulations to Siddhartha (Yr3) for achieving his brown belt in Martial Arts.

Well done to Tulsi (Yr 6) for passing her Piano Grade 1 Exam. 

STEAM Club

This week the children in STEAM were challenged to make a marble run only using paper and tape. It had to start at one end of school and finish at the other. The children then had to blow a ball along the run using a straw. They had a lot of fun using their problem-solving skills to navigate around corners and collaborated together to achieve their objective. Mrs Gabb said "I was incredibly proud of the technical language being used and how all year groups worked so well together." 

Sports News 

U10's Hockey

On Friday, our U10 girls played their first Hockey match of the season against Gayhurst. The girls travelled to Gayhurst hoping for a good start to their season. 
St Bernard’s played well to begin with, against a strong Gayhurst side and survived early scares, until their resolute defending was broken by Gayhurst who led 1-0 after the first quarter.

St Bernard’s started the second quater slowly and let two quick fire goals in and were losing 3-0 at half-time. Even though St Bernard’s were losing at half-time, there were plenty of positives and the girls took that into the second half. 

St Bernard’s came back fighting and scored two amazing goals, one from Zayna and one from Jiya. St Bernard’s continued to push for the equalising goal, but this left them vulnerable defensively. Gayhurst took advantage of those vulnerabilities in the end and scored, winning the game comfortably 6-2. 

A very good performance from St Bernard’s especially in the middle part of the game to stage an exciting comeback. 

Well done to Dea who was voted MVP by the players, and to Zayna who was Miss Robinson and Mr Hawkes’ MVP!

U9's Rugby

This week our Under 9 Rugby teams welcomed St John’s Beaumont for the first rugby fixtures of the season. Despite narrowly losing both games, our teams produced wonderful open play overall, which resulted in some fantastic tries being scored. Our A’s went down 11-13. While our B team fell short 6-8.  Veeran, Younis, Shrey, Srihan, James, Pranav, Akaal, Josh and Srijik all crossed the line for tries for their respective teams. A special well done to both Veeran and Pranav for being nominated as the players of the matches in each of their games.  We wish our teams the best of luck as they now prepare for their next match against Long Close School in a couple of weeks’ time.

U9'S Hockey

On Tuesday, St Bernard’s U9 A and B teams went to Gayhurst to play a Hockey fixture. The A team played some outstanding Hockey, but ultimately came out the wrong end of a 5-1 score line, a result that flattered Gayhurst.

The St Bernard’s B team won their match convincingly 5-1, again showing some incredible Hockey! Well done to all girls, who for many, it was their first taste of a competitive match. They can’t wait for more!