Nau mai, haere mai, mihi mai.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

We frequently experience changes in life, whether it is a new college, new teachers, new subjects, etc. Often we worry whether our son, our students will settle in, get on with new people, do well academically, what the teachers will be like. Starting a new school year is on one hand exciting, while on the other daunting. The same applies to everyone. Teachers return full of enthusiasm and prepared, loving their work, rearing to meet their first class. It is what they want. It was what they are trained to do. To me, returning to St Bernard’s is like coming to the "promised land," where there is so much opportunity, so much still to be done as the work is never finished. Very energising. Yet, I tremble in anticipation of it.

At these times, when the land seems challenging and we are called to give of our best, we can remember that God is with us. Each day we face new challenges: assessments, sport fixtures, colleagues and parents. Be not afraid. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you" (Joshua 1:5).

I admit that there is much happening around us in employment, relationships, homes that cause us anxiety. It is not at all like 20 years, 30 years, or 40 years ago. Yet, God is the same. The promise is the same. And with Him, we can succeed in whatever comes our way in 2012.

To the parents, today you may be standing on the hillside overlooking the "promised land," wondering if it is safe for your son. Changing schools, moving up into the next year, learning a new subject, or having to face NCEA exams for the very first time can sometimes make our boys feel ill-equipped, insignificant, and even unable. The truth is they are prepared; they are the reason for St Bernard’s, and they will be able. With God they are all that and more. We will focus on loving our work, witnessed in teaching and learning and follow God's command: “Be not afraid, nor dismayed!” Therefore, I encourage you this year to remember before anything else that God is with us! In loving our work, let us be open to these affirmations:

1. I am proud to be a teacher, student, or parent.

2. Teaching and parenting are two of the most honourable and noble of all professions.

3. I love what I do and know that my enthusiasm is contagious.

4. I bring knowledge, dedication, understanding and love to my classroom and home.

5. I make a positive difference in my students' and my son’s life.

6. My son and students will be better people because of me, and I will be a better person

because of them.

7. I know what I give my son and students will come back to me in many wonderful and

unexpected ways. Peter Fava

Achieve @ St Bernard’s

February 2012

Headboy Tupou Sanerivi, and Deputies HB Jordan Lamond and Anthony Lim have already been called upon to represent the College before they have been officially installed in their positions.

Their Excellencies, the Governor-General of New Zealand, Lt Gen Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae and Lady Janine Mateparae invited Tupou, Jordan and Anthony to a garden reception to commemorate the 172nd Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi at Government House in Wellington on Waitangi Day. Student leaders from all the Wellington region were invited to this commemoration and the three young men had an opportunity to mix and mingle amongst other students, dignitaries, members of the diplomatic corps and local politicians. This was a very special occasion and our 3 leaders found the experience awesome, something to remember for a very long time.

First official engagement

Deans, Form Teachers and Subject Teacher Contact

Your son’s Form Teacher and subject teachers can be contacted by ℡ 560-9250. To speak to your son’s dean (the person responsible for your son’s welfare) you can either email the Dean or ring the school office and the extension below. All deans have answer phones for messages and will contact you as soon as they are able. Please leave a message.

Term 1 Progress Reports

We will be giving out the progress reports at the parent interviews. Parents who attend the interviews can collect their sons’ report from the table at the bottom floor entrance. If you are not able to attend the interviews you need to contact your son’s dean so the report can be passed to you.

Dean Y7/8 Ms Kathy Taylor ext 848 ktaylor@sbc.school.nz Dean Y9 Mr Nick Wilson ext 862 nwilson@sbc.school.nz Dean Y10 Mrs Anna Langford ext 871 alangford@sbc.school.nz Dean Y11 Mrs Clare Shill ext 883 cshill@sbc.school.nz Dean Y12 Mr Chris Hart ext 864 chart@sbc.school.nz Dean Y13 Miss Manu Corcoran ext 876 mcorcoran@sbc.school.nz

Parent Interviews Our first set of interviews for 2012 are to be

held between 3pm to 8pm on

Tuesday 20 and

Thursday 22 March

Students will be issued with parent interview information on Monday 5 March. If your son does not bring home his interview appointment sheet, there are copies available from the school office and on our website.

We would like all parents to attend the interviews. It is a good opportunity to see how your son is coping early in the year and to help him sort out or seek help if he is struggling.

New staff

appointments

Congratulations to Daniel Campbell

Year 13 Retreats

Science Congratulations to all the students who were successful in last year NCEA

examination.

Special congratulations to:

Students from 10JE and 10HY who achieved great results. 76% of students passed the external examination on electricity and magnetism.

Last Year 11 did well. Special congratulations to David Smith who gained 3 excellence grades from his 3 papers and Liam McAuliffe who passed with 2 excellences and a merit… also 15 students gained a merit grade.

At Year 12 congratulations to Yuxuan Zhou picked up 3 excellences in his

science papers and Junaid Ahmed picked up 2 excellences.

2012 workbooks. All the senior classes will need to purchase a workbook. This is compulsory purchase because it can be used as a homework book, in-class revision book as well as giving advice on the subject curriculum. Students must bring a receipt to the subject teacher to get the workbook.

Field trips - there are a number of these happening this term:

• All Year7/8 are going to the science and technology road show on either March 5 or 7. Any parental help on these days would be appreciated. Contact Mr Higson.

• Y13 biology will go to Paraparaumu beach on an ecological study on 16 February.

• Y12 biology will go to Battle Hill on 9 and 15 March • Y12 Science will visit the Carter Observatory in early March to investigate the

nature of stars. Requests— if you have any clean 2L ice cream containers, yoghurt containers

(small and large) and the old film canisters, that you no longer require, then we

would be pleased to have them.

Year 13 retreat 2012 was held at the Silverstream Retreat Centre on the 9 and 10 February.

We had a huge array of challenges, learning

and reflections from praying together, visioning for what we hope for the year 13

cohort and physical challenge that involved teamwork and perseverance.

We learned about win negotiating and legacy! This was a great time and the

result of this retreat will be reflected in how these boys serve the school as

leaders in the image of the greatest servant leader, Jesus.

Mrs Jo Jensen has taken up the position of science

and chemistry teacher left vacant by Ms Too who is

on a year’s study leave. Jo taught last year at

Paraparaumu College. She has a young family and

plays the piano for relaxation.

Mr Perry Nicol joins us as a teacher of junior

studies and mathematics. He has been teaching for

the last 4 years at Naenae Intermediate and before

that was at Upper Hutt Primary. Perry has a close

association with the college with his two sons

having attended St Bernard’s in the recent past.

At the end of last year Daniel gained the highest achievement accolade at the College as the Dux. It is with great pride that St Bernard’s College now rejoices in Daniel’s academic success as the winner of the Outstanding Scholar Award gained at the NZQA Scholarship examinations (English, Science, Economics, Maths with Statistics and Physics) making him one of 51 such students across all of New Zealand. Outstanding scholars each receive $5000 per year for up to three years to further their tertiary study. Our gratitude goes to Daniel for his commitment to study, his parents for choosing to educate Daniel at St Bernard’s and to the staff who helped Daniel on his way.

Sports News

Music Welcome to sport for 2012

As you read this, summer sport will be well under way with 6 touch teams, 5 tennis teams, 3 bowls teams, 2 volleyball teams, 3 cricket teams, 1 water polo team and 1 softball team all in action.

We will also have held our athletics sports (results will be in the next newsletter) and our top athletes will be competing in both secondary and intermediate interschool athletics championships.

As always we require lots of parent support to assist our sports teams, this includes coaching, managing and providing transport. If you can assist please contact the sports office or email sport@sbc.school.nz

Winter sport is also gearing up for a busy season with both rugby and football already in pre season training.

HIGH HONOURS

Congratulations to Mataio Pou who has been selected in the NZ U15 Water Polo squad. This is a fabulous achievement and means that we now have two NZ representatives from water polo with Jerome McGuinness in the silver squad for U17.

FOOTBALL

���� Our 1st XI will be in a playoff with Newland’s college for a place in the Premier Youth grade. ���� Trails for the junior teams and the senior teams will be held at the end of February and early March. Players need to get their fitness levels up before the season starts. ���� Nike Cup. This is a national under 15 football tournament. Congratulations to Petone Football club for winning the Central NI competition. They now travel down to Christchurch for a one off fixture, with the winner off to Australia. There are 5 St Bernard’s boys in this team. ���� Coaches. With the growth of football comes the need for coaches. We are urgently in need of coaches for junior teams. If you would like to take up this very important role please ring Mr Higson. If you are interested but are not confident please do not let this deter you. We will give you help and advice from our very experienced current coaching staff of parents. � If your son wishes to play for St Bernard’s he is very welcome. We have teams in the Hutt Valley league as well in the junior and senior division of College sport. We had 6 teams last year and it could be more this season.

Itinerant lessons

Music lessons have begun! Drums, guitar, piano and vocals are full, however there are spaces for Bass guitar and Saxophone.

All students enrolled in Year 10 – 13 music

classes, must be taking itinerant lessons. If you have not returned your form with the $60, you must do this immediately.

If you are taking lessons, you must practise. We suggest beginners practise 10 to 15 minutes a day (or as many days as possible in a week) and NCEA music students should practice at least 30 minutes a day.

Students who demonstrate a lack of practice will be removed from the itinerant program.

Attendance Lessons occur weekly and students are expected to attend every lesson. Students are given a ‘lesson pass’ which they show to their classroom teacher and they can keep track of weekly lesson times via this pass and the timetable in the music suite corridor. If students are unable to attend their lesson, they must inform Ms Flood or their instrument tutor as soon as possible. If you miss three lessons without informing us, you will be removed from the itinerant program.

Co-curricular Activities St Bernard’s College Choir – Friday Lunchtimes All ages welcome. Come along for a bit of fun!

Barbershop – Tuesday Lunchtimes Like to sing in harmony? Then barbershop is for you.

Bands – See Ms Flood if you would like to be in a band. Being in a band is social, fun and rewarding.

If you have any queries regarding such issues as payment, instrument hire or joining a group, please do not hesitate to

Coming Up

26 Feb Softball: National qualifying tournament 28 Feb AWD Athletics 29 Feb Athletics: Hutt Zone Championships 8 March CSW Triathlon 12 March CSW Bowls Championships 13 March Y7/8 Interschool Athletics 16/17 March CSW Senior Volleyball Championships 22 March CSW Golf Championships 2 2/25 March NISS Water Polo Championships 26 March Swimming Championships

• When: Wednesday at 3:15-4:30

• Where: Room M4

• Milo will be available

• BYO snacks

• Internet access to get those assignments

researched

• Computers available to publish any written work

• All welcome

• Free of charge but a smile would go a

long way

More Year 1

3

Retre

at p

hotos

2012 Term Dates Term 1 31 January to 5 April Term 2 23 April to 29 June Term 3 16 July to 28 September Term 4 15 October to 7 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

March 1 Marist Leaders Forum 2 Marist Leaders Forum 5 8CL & 8UI Science Roadshow 7 8KT, 8SU, 8I Science Roadshow Y9 Marae trip pm TBC 9 12 Bio trip P5/6 9 Y7/8 Retreat 16 Y7/8 Days Bay Picnic Y7/8

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.

23 Newsletter Coaches Evening 27 Class Photos 28 Marist Quad Wellington 30 Y12 Retreat Y11 PE Camp

April 2 Y7-10 Badge Ceremony TBC Y7/8 Swim Champs

PFS News

We are a group of enthusiastic parents who meet on the first Thursday of each month to discuss ways in which we can help provide extras round the school to benefit your son’s education. We have donated money towards the purchase of overhead projectors, library books, gym changing room renovations and water fountains to name a few. The Principal and Staff Rep from the BOT attend our meetings so it is an ideal opportunity for you to find out first-hand what is happening around the school. Our first meeting for the year is on Thursday 1 March @ 7.30pm in the school staffroom. We would love to have you join us. Enclosed with this newsletter is a helper’s registration form. Please return to the school office. If you would like to find out more information please ph Elizabeth on 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.

Do you have teenagers in your life? Here are two events from Parents Inc. that will inspire and equip you …….

Connected Road Show | Wed 29 Feb, 7:30pm-9pm | Scots College, Wellington Parenting in cyberspace – helping kids thrive and stay safe in our fantastic connected world. This presentation will help you understand your kids, show you how to use technology positively and some tips on how to be vigilant about the hazards. ‘Connected’ helps parents launch confident kids into the future, equipped not just with the gadgets but with great software in their heads. Presented by John Cowan (Senior Presenter at Parents Inc.) and Dave Atkinson (Senior Attitude Presenter). This event is free for parents, as it is fully sponsored by Vodafone. Tweens & Teens Toolbox - How to stay onside (and slightly ahead!) of your teenager. We will show you that although these years can be challenging, they can actually be some of the best years of your life - and theirs! Next Tween & Teen Toolbox in the Hutt Valley runs for 6 consecutive Sunday evenings from 26 Feb, 7:15pm to 9:15pm. For more details visit www.TheParentingPlace.com or contact Natalie P:934 8483 E: hutttbx@theparentingplace.com