From the Principal

Nau mai, haere mai, mihi mai. Greetings to everyone. Talofa lava, Malo ele lei, Ni sa bula, Kia orana, Namaste, Konnichiwa, Assalam alikom, Merhba, Kumusta.

This year has flown by at tremendous speed and given the shortness of term 4 (not that we did not know about it) there are several people who are running ragged and stressed. Others are more serene knowing that they have done the hard yards. This short story offers a different perspective to the perceptions we conjure about what happens to us or around us.

Once upon a time, there was a farmer in China. He didn’t have a lot of money and instead of a tractor he used an old horse to plough his field. One afternoon the horse dropped dead. Everyone in the village said, “oh, what a horrible thing to happen”. The farmer said simply, “we’ll see!” He was so at peace and so calm that everyone in the village got together and, admiring his attitude, gave him a new horse as a gift.

Everyone’s reaction now was, “what a lucky man”. And the farmer said, “we’ll see.” A couple days later, the new horse jumped the fence and ran away. Everyone shook their heads and said, “what a poor fellow.” The farmer smiled and sighed “we’ll see.” Eventually, the horse found its way home and everyone again said, “what a fortunate man.” The farmer said, “we’ll see.”

Later in the year, the farmer’s son went out riding on the horse and fell and broke his leg. Everyone in the village said, “what a shame for the poor boy.” The farmer said, ‘we’ll see”. Two days later, the army came into the village to enlist new recruits. When they saw that the farmer’s son had a broken leg, they did not recruit him. Everyone said, “what a fortunate young man.” The farmer smiled again and said, ‘we’ll see!”.

Moral of the story: There is no use in over-reacting to the events and circumstances of our everyday lives. Often what looks like a setback, may actually be a gift in disguise. And when our hearts are in the right place, all events and circumstances are gifts that we can learn valuable lessons from. Usually that right place is close to God, Creator of heaven and earth, in whom we trust.

It is useless to cry over spilt milk. Perhaps, the best thing to do then is to mop it up and get on with it.

Peter Fava

Achieve @ St Bernard’s

November 2011

Academic Awards Ceremony

Thursday 1 December

7pm Lower Hutt Town Hall

• Compulsory for all students

• Full school uniform required

Dramatic Debut at SBC The boys of St Bernard’s College courageously attacked and held

Chunuk Bair last Thursday night in this year’s drama production of

Maurice Shadbolt’s play, Once on Chunuk Bair, about the New

Zealand forces in Gallipoli during WWI.

The cast of Vini Fa’atui, David Filipo, Simon Garlick, Kenneth

Grech-Zammit, Jayden Hamilton, Ashton McGuiness, Ryan Perez,

Francis Vaaua, Kyle Viagedor and Daeshan Wichman together with

Raymond Horua on lighting, Nathan Russell on sound, Andy Su and

Ben Van Woerkom as stage assistants and Terrill Anthony on

design together staged an exciting and entertaining production which

held the audience captive. Through six months of rehearsals, the

actors in particular honed their skills to bring their characters to life on

the stage in a touching portrayal of faith, courage and heroism.

Congratulations to all these boys on the success of this production.

You may be familiar with the North & South magazine. The November edition has an Education special issue article that comments on WHY FAITH SCHOOLS ARE HOT (and parents will do almost anything to get their kids enrolled)”. The article comments on discipline, values and academic re-sults. It is most humbling to read on page 47 that St Bernard’s College is one of the schools identified as a strong performer within our decile,

both for academic achievement and pastoral care. Spread the good news.

The hard work of everyone, “students, staff and parents” pays off. Thank you.

End of Term Mass Wednesday 7 December

The end of term mass will be held at SBC at 10.45am on Wednesday 7 December. Families are invited to attend. All students will be released for the year at noon from school.

Congratulations Brenten Higson Brenten recently attended the College Sport Wellington—Sportsman of the Year Awards. He received the “Distinguished Contribution to College Sport Football” in special recognition for his efforts. Well done Brenten and thank you for the endless hours you spend training and encouraging our boys with their football!

St Bernard's has made contact with a volunteer mentoring organisation called Professional Pathways. The group aims to link up Year 12 and Year 13 students interested in exploring options for study after high school with young professionals working in Law, Medicine, Accounting and Engineering. The young professionals will explain career options to students and offer advice about the future (all free of charge). If there are any students that would like to meet with one of the Professional Pathways mentors, for a one-off visit or to look at establishing regular contact, please contact Jeanne Lomax in her office or via email at jlomax@sbc.school.nz The school is looking to establish a more formal relationship in 2012. For more information, see http://www.professionalpathways.org.

Financial Scholarships

It is not too late for students who are leaving to apply for financial scholarships for 2012. If your son is leaving but still not sure what to, have you thought about a GAP year? A mission year? There are many different options available for our young people! See your son’s Dean or the Careers Advisor.

Congratulations

The science department gives it very best wishes to the senior students who will

be sitting the external examinations. Remember that you are able to come into

school at any time and seek help from any science teacher up to and including the

day of your examination. Hints to help you be successful are:

1. Read the questions carefully including any introductory material and

highlight key words.

2. If there are bullet points to a question make sure you answer each bullet

point in turn.

3. Answer all questions because each question is now worth marks even if

only partly answered.

The science department thank all the Year 13 for their contribution to the

college and especially to the science department. We wish you all the very best

and may all your aspirations be attained. Please “pop” in any time and let us

know how you are getting on.

We have had an email from, Mr Hayes in Bangladesh and he has asked to pass on his very best wishes to all the students sitting NCEA. He also said that he misses you all.

We wish the students of 10JA and 10HY who will be sitting an Electricity and magnetism external achievement standard all the very best. You have worked hard on this standard and you deserve to be successful.

Thank you to all the parents who sent in yogurt and ice cream containers over the year. They have been put to very good use. Please keep sending them in.

We wish all the senior students a very merry Christmas and

a successful New Year .

Brenten Higson

Science

Careers

New school trustee

The Board would like to congratulate and welcome Kyle Viagedor as the new Student Trustee to the College’s Board.

The Board also wishes to thank Raymond Horua for generously committing his time and energy to his fellow students and the College as the past Student Trustee. We wish Raymond every success for his future.

Patricia Pynenburg Board Secretary

Australian Schools English Exam Congratulations to Nathan Chan (Year 8), Aidan Watson (Year 8), Aaron Marshall (Year 9) and Daniel Campbell (Year 13) who were all awarded distinctions in this year’s Australia Schools’ English Competition.

Mail Out to Families

We will be mailing out to all families information packs for the new year. This will include information about course fees, uniform, stationery requirements, sports fees, opening times for uniform shop and starting times for the school year.

If you have recently changed address or phone number and have not advised us, please phone the College

This prayer, attributed to St Brendan, is one of profound trust in God. Brendan launches out into deep waters, in his fragile boat, leaving his homeland to journey to foreign lands. As we ponder this prayer, let us be mindful of all those Year 13’s who are ‘letting go’ of what is familiar at SBC, and moving into the unknown.

Beyond these shores Into the darkness Beyond these shores This boat may sail And if this is the way Then there will be A path across this sea. And if I sail beyond The farthest ocean or lose myself in the depths below Wherever I may go Your love surrounds me For You have been before Beyond these shores.

Good Luck to all the senior

students sitting external exams!

Remember, being on your

knees keeps you in good

standing with the Lord! Perhaps

a prayer before you start your

exam isn’t such a bad idea…

May the love of God, keep you and be with you as you move on to the next great adventure of your life. Go with God – and God is never far away, so you will always be close to us!

Mr Wilson

Final words from Mr Wilson , Year 13 Dean to the young men of Year 13…

A great big THANKS to Jayden Hamilton for organising this year’s Leavers Jacket! A lot of work and price chasing has resulted in a cool memento for our seniors to take away at the end of their time with us.

Sports News

Law, Medicine, Accounting and

So Close

What a thrilling end to the Rugby League season with both our Senior and Junior Teams making finals.

The Seniors narrowly lost out to Taita College by 2 points going down 22-20 in the Grand Final of the Stephen Kearney Cup. They successfully retained the Ross Whaanga Trophy and the Trax

Tavern Challenge Trophy (with a win over Wainuiomata). Coupled with this the team had an historic win over St Pat’s Silverstream and three players caught the eye of NRL clubs. A handful of players are off to play against the Warriors Development side for the Wellington Secondary Schools Team. The junior team took advantage of the top drills coached to them and fought their way to the final of the Orca's Cup going down to Hutt Valley High School. A special thanks goes to old boy Kam Kamuta who coached both teams alongside league stalwart and parent Pat Knox.

College Sport Wellington - Sportsman Of the Year Awards

The 2012 College Sport Wellington Sports Awards this year sees three St Bernard’s Sportsman in the finals. These are Brenten Higson (Volunteer of the Year), Raymond Lesoa (Rugby League/All Rounder) and Wei-Ming Lim (Badminton)

The awards ceremony washeld on Sunday 6 November at the Amora Hotel and we will wish all three finalists good luck.

Sport in 2012

A new registration process for all sport is being considered for 2012. The process being proposed is for each student to receive a registration form in the December mail out which is to be filled in and returned to the school office, along with the sports fee, by Thursday 2 February.

Boys will be asked to select, and pay for, the sports they wish to play for both sum-mer and winter codes at this time and that is the sport(s) they will play.

We will also invite parents/caregivers to indicate what assistance they can provide to a team eg. coach, manager, official, transport, sponsorship etc. Without coaches and managers some teams cannot be entered. No teams will be entered into com-petitions without the support and commitment from both students and parents. Genuine financial hardship cases need to approach the Principal in confidence.

Football

Futsal

The winners of the futsal competition were: Junior final Victory 7 won 7-1 against Team Wilson Team: John Graham, Jayden Grant, Ben Duthie-Jung, Nathan Dicken, Justin Wilson, Michael Brennan, Steven Clarke.

Senior final Team Nineb 4 beat Team Mike H. Plus 1 Team: Nineb Haddad, Norman Vasquez, Tim Graham, Ben Anderson, Anu Singe, Joshua Ebert, Thang Sing Pau, Yateshay Lal, Terrill Anthony and Tavonga Mahowa

Uniform Shop Hours We are taking appointments on the following November dates for fitting and selling uniform to students starting here in 2012.

Wednesday 9 Thursday 10 Monday 14

Wednesday 16 Thursday 17 Monday 21 Thursday 24 Monday 28

Wednesday 30 The shop will be open for 15 minute appointments only between 4.30pm and 7.45pm.

Payment methods are cash, cheque, eftpos, Visa and Mastercard. We prefer eftpos. Laybys are also welcome.

We recommend appointments to avoid the January rush.

Goods can be exchanged in January as long as they are in “brand new” condition (with all tags in tact).

To make an appointment please phone

560 9250 between 9am and 4pm weekdays.

Summer League

Under the coaching and management of parent and Junior team coach Mr Chris

Gibbons, our two summer league teams are showing great promise with very good

results. The fixtures are small sided games and are played at a very fast pace. This

is very good off season training for our teams that will be in the premier junior grade

next season.

Coming Up... 11/12 November Junior Volleyball Tournament 16 November Junior Touch Tournament 17 November Junior Bowls Tournament 24 November Junior Golf Tournament 28 November Quadrangular Athletics Meeting 10/11 December NZSS Athletics Championships

Japan Trip SUGOI! We had an excellent time on our trip to Japan. The first week of the trip we spent travelling around Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto and Himeji. We travelled by plane, train, boat, street car, cable car and walked…a lot! We saw 7 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and learned more about Japanese history and culture. In the second week we stayed with host families from Hatsushiba Hashimoto Senior and Junior High School. We attended classes, made new friends, tried Japanese martial arts, wore kimono, ate Japanese food, discovered vending machines every 100 meters and used lots of Japanese language. IThe students would like to thank the accompanying adults for their help before and during the trip and the students for giving new things a go – even when it was really different from how we do things in New Zealand. Special thanks must go to Mr Uesato and Mr Ueda and the amazing staff at our host school. They were absolutely brilliant and made us feel right at home.

Many thanks to the following organisations who supported us in our fundraising efforts: New World Lower Hutt, Mitre 10 Mega Petone, the Sasakawa Fellowship Fund for Japanese Lan-guage Education

2011 Term Dates Term 4 25 October 7 December

2012 Term Dates Term 1 31 January 5 April Term 2 23 April 29 June Term 3 16 July 28 September Term 4 15 October 11 December

Important Dates

Contact Details

p 04 560 9250 f 04 560 9251 e office@sbc.school.nz w www.sbc.school.nz

Physical/Postal Address 183 Waterloo Road Lower Hutt 5010 New Zealand

November 10 NCEA and Y9/10 exams commence 16 Y7/8 Camp A 18 Y7/9 Orientation Day 21 Y7/8 Camp B 24 Teacher only day. School closed.

Sponsors of the St Bernard’s College Newsletter

Free Doctor’s consultation at St Bernard’s College

Plan to be as fit and healthy as you can be!!

Clinic Open Tuesday 8.30—11.30am Thursday 12—3pm.

Alex Ferrier-Kerr is our school health nurse. Dr Beena Hegde will be in attendance at the

Thursday Clinic

� 570-0883 or 560-9250 (College office)

Free Dental Treatment offered by

Graeme Yee Dental Care, 66 Bloomfield Terrace, Lower Hutt,

� 566-1119.

This free treatment is available to all secondary students until their 18th birthday. All new patients, students and parents are welcome. If you have any questions please feel free to call on the above number.

Uniform Shop Normal Opening Hours Monday 8:15 to 9:00am Thursday 12:30 to 1:30pm

Uniform on AP

Uniform purchases may be charged to your AP with the consent of the college on a case by case basis. Boys need to bring a signed note from parents. Please email accounts@sbc.school.nz or phone the accounts office ext 861

Second Hand Uniform

If your child is not returning to St Bernard’s next year and has a uniform in good condition that they no longer require, please consider donating it to the school or we can sell on your behalf less a commission. All sales from second hand school uniforms go to the library to purchase new books.

If you have items to donate or sell, please leave them at the school office or if you have any queries, please contact Tania on

587-0024.

December 7 Last day for Y7—Y10 students. Schools ends 12 noon

PFS News

Our Christmas raffle (grocery baskets) need to be filled so that we can draw

the winning tickets at Academic Awards Ceremony. Please send an item along

to school as soon as possible – Christmas themed or

otherwise. These can be given to your son’s form

teacher or dropped into the office.

The PFS committee are a keen group of parents who

meet once a month to discuss ways to fundraise for

those “extra items” to help your son’s education and

enjoyment of the school facilities. Peter Fava and the staff representative on

the BOT (currently Brenten Higson) also attend so we are able to gain an in-

sight into current and future happenings around the school. We would love to

involve more parents in our activities so please think about joining the com-

mittee in 2012 or being part of our helpers list. Ph: Elizabeth 971 4408.

Preferred method of payment school fees

The school prefers all school fees to be paid directly to our bank account. This is a safer means of payment that provides a reliable trail. Our bank account is ASB Queensgate 12-3142-0164653-00. Please include your son’s first name and surname, and your phone number in the reference fields. Receipts are issued for all payments and given to students in class. Thank you.

Public Health Alert — Measles

There have been over 240 cases of measles in Auckland since May this year, and we are starting to see cases in the greater Wellington region. To date there have been five confirmed cases in central Wellington. The only thing that can stop you or your child catching measles is getting immunised. The measles vaccination (MMR) is free from your healthcare provider. If you suspect you or your child is sick with measles phone your GP or Healthline on 0800 611 116.

Accounts are sent regularly to families for take-home materials and other services (e.g. trips) that are provided to our students. Payment for these is not voluntary. Thank you to all those parents who have kept up with these accounts, even when things at home are tough. Payment is most appreciated as it helps the college provide for your son. The best way to keep up with the costs is to set up a regular automatic payment at the start of the year which spreads the account over 40 weeks. This makes paying bills much easier. However, ignoring the bill does not make it go away and the bill keeps getting bigger. Parents are invited to discuss their accounts in confidence with the Principal so that a way forward is found. If you are facing genuine financial hardship please make an appointment through Mrs Gardiner, Ph 560 9250

Those outstanding fees