From the Principal

Nau mai, haere mai, mihi mai. Greetings to every one.

Kite ingoa o te Atua, te Tamaiti, te Wairua Tapu. Amene.

TAKING SMALL STEPS TO SUCCEED

With the first progress report off the press and the first parent-teacher interviews, it is a good time to think about taking the small steps towards success. Success comes in small steps – and so does failure. Failure is not just so many 3s in the progress report. Our boys do not fail overnight or with a single report. For most of them, failure is nothing more than a few errors in judgement, a few poor choices, repeated every day.

Now why would anyone be so foolish as to repeat a poor choice every day? The answer is because they do not think it matters. On their own, their daily acts do not seem very important. One more TV programme to watch, an extra hour or two on the computer, sleeping in for another hour, skimping on HW – these do not result in an instant and measurable impact. More often than not, several boys escape from any immediate consequence of their deeds, which they think can be erased by helping stacking chairs after assembly or picking up rubbish or doing a DT. Since nothing drastic happens to them, those who fail repeat their poor choices day after day, week after week, month after month and, before they know it, they are sitting an assessment or at the end of the year facing an examination, regretting the wasted time and year behind them.

The great news is that the formula for success is easy to follow. It is a few simple disciplines practised every day, starting with love of work. Try these. Turn off the TV or the mp3 player and remove the earphones. Read over your day’s school work. Stop playing games and use the computer to write your assignment. Get up an hour early, use the time to study and revise and get to school on time.

Take just a few minutes every day to check on your goals so that you can look further down the road. Consider the future effect of your present choices. Then make new choices for success. By looking at the goal we want to achieve, we can change our thinking, improve our choices, develop new habits and have a plan all written out how to get there.

Success breeds success and, once our young men taste the pleasures of succeeding and the rewards that come with it, it becomes too difficult for them to slip back into their old habits of failure. If the boys start today to make a conscious choice and consistent effort to change their choices, to take the small steps they are already on the road to success.

Let us realise that: the privilege to work is a gift, the power to work is a blessing, the love of work is success!

When we let God work through us, we help Him to do the same for others. We can show His love for others in how we treat them and in how we pray for them.

Peter Fava

Achieve @ St Bernard’s

March 2012

This year we have accepted an offer from Canterbury University to offer our accelerant students the opportunity to gain 15 Credits at level 9. Damon Hutley has been enrolled in Econ 199 where he will study extramurally using videos and resources provided by the University. The course is also linked to Scholarship Economics. We wish Damon well in this pioneering venture.

Congratulations must also be offered to Cameron Adams who gained an excellence endorsement in NCEA Level 2 Economics; the only student in the school to gain an excellence endorsement in an individual subject at this level.

At Year 10, of the 48 students who sat the external Social Studies NCEA Achievement Standard, 36 gained achieved or better.

Finally at Year 11, 90% of students who sat Economics Achievement Standard 1.1 and 1.3 gained achieved or better.

Congratulations to all these students who did so well in the externals.

28 March Year 9 will be going to Waiwhetu Marae in the afternoon, as part of their Culture and Heritage Unit: Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Parental support with supervision would be appreciated.

Year 9 should be busy with their projects on the school culture and we look forward to original and imaginative presentations. The Year 10s are working on their newspaper headlines on Parihaka.

The New Zealand Business Challenge will again take place in term 3 for Year 10 Economics students. Its continued success depends largely on the parental support in the supervision of the small groups.. There will also be a financial literacy day on 4 September for Year 10s.

Promoting Excellence in Social Sciences

Open Day

Saturday 19 May 2012 10.00am until 2.00pm

2013 Enrolment Packs will be available.

St Bernard's College Parent Portal

The Parent Portal provides you with online access to information about your child in real time. You can view, for example, your child's attendance, latest assessment results (including NCEA data), his timetable, his school reports. Additional information will be added to the portal over time. We hope that this will keep parents better informed about the academic activities of your child, and thus be able to be more involved as a result.

To use your login go to http://parent.sbc.school.nz/ and use the username and password emailed out recently.

If you did not receive this email please contact the main office or email office@sbc.school.nz

Further information about the Parent Portal can be found on our main College website under the SBC Net section

Year 9 A huge thanks to Pak’n’Save Lower Hutt for sponsoring the weekly rewards for Year 9 top

students this term. Please support our sponsors!

Year 10 Please note that the Dean of Year 10 (Mrs Langford) has now changed her extension

number. The new number is Extension 939.

Retreats Science Apology to Ethan McAuliffe

Ethan gained two excellence grades in his level 1 NCEA chemistry and physics papers. A great achievement which put Ethan in the top 8% of candidates nation wide.

A very big thank you

It was great to have so many parents give up their time to supervise the Year 7 and 8 science classes at the recent Science roadshow. Your support and encouragement was greatly appreciated.

Science Roadshow

This was a great experience for the Year 7 and 8’s because it gave them exposure to exhibits that they could manipulate and witness the results. The 40 exhibits were very relevant to the work we will this year and in future years.

Field trips

Year 12 Biology were out twice to Battle Hill conservation park in Pauatahanui to initially look at the stream and its inhabitants and plan a suitable investigation. A week later they then revisited to complete their investigation and to see what may be causing the distribution of insect nymphs in the stream. Thanks to Mr Andic for arranging this.

Year 12 Science visited Carter Observatory to have an astronomer discuss the formation of stars, our solar system and our moon. It was great to get first hand information on how the earth came to be where we are in the solar system. Did you know that our moon was once a small planet that decided to join with us but the resultant collision resulted in material from both objects being thrown out into space and after a while the particles joined together to make our moon.

GNS visit

Five students were given the opportunity to visit GNS (Geo nuclear science) in Gracefield. The boys listened to brief presentations by scientists in their field of vulcanology, Antarctic research, earthquakes etc. They also had hands on activities which involved looking at Antarctic ice cores in storage rooms at minus 35 degrees, what liquid nitrogen can do and much more. Thanks to Mrs Pawson, our science technician, who accompanied them.

Astronomy club

The St Bernard’s Astronomy club is again in operation. We will be meeting once a month on a Thursday from 7.00pm to around 9.00pm. Everyone is welcome; students and family. Mr Anthony Gomez of the Phoenix Astronomical Society is our presenter. Please see Mr Higson for further information.

Ecology Club

We have now started up a club that looks at our environment both locally and nationally. We have a group of six students who will coordinate activities within the school. They will coordinate our Earth hour and earth day activities. They will also be our college representatives on environmental matters and forums. We meet every Friday lunchtime in C6. If you are interested please see Mr Higson.

Year 12 Retreat is on 23 March

Our theme Ascent looks at targeting what we want to achieve for the remainder of our time at St Bernard’s. This retreat leads on to the final retreat in Year 13 –The Summit. Please pray for good weather and a life changing experience!

Year 7/8 Retreat This was held on the 9 March at the Silverstream Retreat Centre.

Our theme was ‘Our Relationship with Jesus’. To have a relationship with Jesus, we need to be familiar with Jesus’ life, the things he said and to spend time in prayer. So we explored Jesus through drama, examining our own life journey, meditation, Taize prayer, prayer labyrinths and how we hope our life as a Bernard’s Man will continue to develop with Jesus at the centre. A huge thanks to all the staff who contributed to making this retreat a success!

Sports News

Debating 2012 Football Season starting The college sports teams which involves those players in the 15th grade or older will commence in the 2nd week of term 2.

Our 13/14th grade teams will start their season earlier.

Football committee: We have a group of parents who coordinate football in the college. We need to have more parents to help in this very important task. If you would like to help out we would greatly appreciate your input and assistance. We meet about once a month during the season for about an hour from 5.15pm. If you are interested please contact Mr Higson on 5772417

Coaches Needed This season we have again increased our numbers which has meant that we are critically short of coaches and managers. If you would like to be more involved with your sons’ and other players footballing career then the best place to start is as a coach. If you have thought about this but feel you need more skills then worry no longer. The football committee will assist you all along the way. PLEASE CONSIDER IT BECAUSE WE MUST HAVE COACHES IN FRONT OF EACH TEAM.

Team composition There will be team lists up in the corridor on the football notice board in the science corridor.

1st XI are hard in training for their fixture against Newland’s College. This will be for the vacant position in the Premier Youth grade.

Junior premier team. This year we hope to have another team in this grade and they are in training with Mr Gibbons and Mr Higgins.

FUNDRAISING: If you know of any fundraiser that our teams could be involved with please contact Mr Higson. Each year we have a 3 day Lower North Island tour which does require financial help.

This year we have entered five teams in the inter-school competition. Their first round begins next week and all teams are working hard, preparing for them.

My thanks go to Mike Fowler for managing the Prem A team and a number of senior debaters who are coaching junior teams. They are Ethan McAuliffe, Josh and Matt Logan, Arama Pou, Liam McAuliffe, Joe Schuchmann and Ben Van Woerkom. They have made a big commitment of time and energy to help these junior debaters. Thank you, boys.

Sue McNab,Debating Convenor

and 8 science classes at the recent Science roadshow. Your support and

This was a great experience for the Year 7 and 8’s because it gave them

Short Exchanges from India and Japan

St Bernard’s College is looking to host a group of up to 25 students from India at the beginning of Term 2 this year for around 12 days. Although the specific timeframe and dates will be confirmed very shortly, in anticipation of the visit, we are looking for urgent expressions of interest from parents who may wish to act as Indian host families on behalf of the college. Our preference is to hear from St Bernard’s College families in the first instance, and then we will cast the net wider if needed. Our hope is to build a database of pre-vetted host families who would be ‘on-call’ and willing to host either Indian or Japanese exchange students as required. Of course, there is a fee paid for your services, and a standard vetting procedure and home-visit is expected. Furthermore, if you have hosted a Japanese student in the past, then you are already on our list! If you are interested in the India hosting opportunity in particular, or if you know families from outside of the SBC community who you can vouch for who may be interested, please contact us at office@sbc.school.nz or phone the Director of International Students on 560 9250 x872. Many thanks!

Athletic Sports

Competition, as usual, was fierce for the 2012 Athletics Championships held at the Hutt Rec. Pompallier pipped Ignatius by only 8 points to claim the House Cup and we were treated to some excellent competition. A staggering 9 records were broken on the day:, Taban Makoii – Senior 100m, 200m and 800m, Brandon Lynch – Senior 3000m and 1500m, Jacob Katoa - Intermediate Discus, Poata Tuisamoa – Youth 200m, Daniel Goldsworthy – Y7 800m and 1500m

The champions for 2012 are

Y7 Jordan Wainui-Teepa and Daniel Goldsworthy Y8 Noah Lindstrom, Logan Hoare and Sam Taylor Junior Jesse Gilbert Youth Nathan Dicken Intermediate Trei Mu Senior Brandon Lynch

A team of 50 was selected to compete at the Hutt Valley Colleges Meeting where many of our boys performed with excellence. Hutt Valley Champions for 2012 are:

Taban Makoii 100m, 200m and 800m Jacob Katoa Discus Ramon Tala Shot Put Brandyn Wilson Triple Jump Relay teams Junior and Senior

There were also several 2nd and 3rd placings which meant that a team of 17 headed off to the Wellington Regional Champs where our boys competed well against tough opposition with some pleasing results:

Brandon Lynch 2nd 3000m, 3rd 1500m Ramon Tala 2nd Shot Put Brett Manaia 3rd Shot Put

The Year 7 & 8 also held there interschool recently and again our boys performed well. Results will be in the next newsletter.

Winter Sport

By the time you read this we would have already had Football trials, rugby weigh-ins and at the very least held meetings for Hockey, Badminton, Basketball, Water Polo and Table Tennis.

As with all sport we need parent help to make it happen. We urgently need coaches, managers and officials in all the codes we offer. Please get in contact with the Sports Office if you can help in any way. Phone 560 9250 ext 881.

All sports fees are now overdue and the Board policy of “No pay, No play“ applies. If you are having difficulty with the payment of fees you need to contact the office as soon as possible.

Summer Codes

Many of our athletes have or are about to compete in: Triathlon Champs, Volleyball Regionals, Bowls Champs and Golf Champs. We will have the results of these in our next newsletter.

Water Polo

Our Senior Water Polo team are off to the NISS Premier Championships which is to be held in Auckland. The team hope to qualify for the NZSS Champs to be held in April. We wish them well.

Coming Up

22/25 March NISS Water Polo Championships 26 March Swimming Sports at Naenae Pool 28/31 March Marist Quadrangular Rugby, Wellington 2 April Y7/8 Interschool swimming 9 May SBC Cross Country Championships

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 23 Y12 Retreat 26 SBC Swimming Sports 27 Class Photos 28 Marist Quad Wellington 29 Music Acoustic Evening 30 Y11 PE Camp 31 NZISS Athletics

April 2 Y7/8 Swim Champs 4 Y7/8/9/10 Badge Ceremony P2 5 Last Day Term 1

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 Term II commences 8.40am 25 Anzac Day (No school) 27 Chanel Feast Day celebration May 2 Hato Paora Exchange TBC 4 O’Shea Shield competition Pompallier Feast Day celebration 9 SBC Cross Country 10 Newsletter 11 Workday 15 Francis Douglas Exchange Away 19 Open Day

PFS News

� We recently held our first meeting for the year and welcomed 2 new parents to the committee. Thank you to everyone that has offered their services to help us whenever we have any fundraising opportunities. If you would like to be added to our helpers list it is not too late to complete the form that was included in the last newsletter or else you can email Elizabeth at gjoseph@paradise.net.nz with your details. � Our main fundraiser - the annual GARAGE SALE has been set down for Saturday 3 November. We will be asking for donations towards our raffle baskets during term 3 but if you have any vouchers or non-perishable items that would make great raffle prizes please drop them into the school office at any time. � Early in term 2 will see the delivery of Entertainment Books. Year 7 and 8 students will be issued a book to take home to purchase or sell in the first week of Term II. Other families in the school may purchase a book from the school office. We will also be selling well stocked first aid kits for only $39 each. These make great gifts or would be ideal for keeping in the car or taking to sports games. They are packaged in a waterproof carry bag with plenty of space to add your own personal medications. A sample kit is available for viewing at the office

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.

School Holiday Programs

Wellington School of Cricket (WSC) is now accepting enrolments for the April holiday programme. While these programmes are based on cricket skills they are not limited to cricketers. They are run in a fun environment and have been very popular among school kids over the years. Visit our website (http://www.cricketwellington.co.nz/content/school-of-cricket/holiday-programmes.aspx) for more information.

Have you ever wondered how 3D movies or computer games are made? Learn the latest in 3D Animation and Games Design on a Bubble Dome School Holiday workshop these holidays! We run other exciting courses in Robotics, Science, Claymation, Wearable Arts and more! For students ages 6 to 16 years. Tel: 0800 438 282 Email: info@bubbledome.co.nz or Book Onlinewww.bubbledome.co.nz

It’s my turn to cook tonight! Bosch School Holiday cooking programme visit www.foodsavbykids.com

Computer Classes for further information call Ed Brown on 4992211 or www.grandtraining.co.nz