Parent Info Night Highlights

by stbwebmaster | Sep 18, 2015 | News, School Newsletter

Last night St. Bernadette School held our annual combined Parent Information Night and Meet the Teacher Night.  This allowed parents to come together to gain information on the new school year from the principal, teachers, and the PEC.  It was wonderful to see so many families at the event, it was close to 100% participation.  Below are some highlights of the night:

Principal’s Message

Here are a few quotes from Mr. van der Pauw’s talk to the parents:

“I feel very blessed to be part of this community… I know we are making excellent strides to provide your child with an education that is among the best in the province… we are in the profession of creating saints, we want the best for every child that walks into our school, we welcome every child with loving arms and a caring heart, and we seek to provide an education that teaches critical thinking and encourages the development of mature moral values.  I came with the vision to build a culture of change, to establish high expectations in academics, and to foster meaningful and trustworthy relationships within our school community. There are several examples of the staff committing to this vision. We have a dedicated and experienced teaching staff. The teachers at St. Bernadette’s are fully committed to the whole child and are forever striving to achieve higher student achievement.”

PEC Messages

For formal communication with the PEC you can send email to ec.sbern@cisva.bc.ca or an envelope addressed to “P.E.C.” and left at school office

We have a series of new initiatives that we are starting or looking into for the new year

• Stingers Activity Club – 20+ students enrolled so far
• New Fundraising Initiatives – see below
• Increasing Enrolment – excellent enrolment in kindergarten and we are seeing an increase in some of the other grades as well.
• Pre-School Feasibility – this is a long term project that may or may not be feasible for the school.
• Preventative Maintenance – Although it is expense, it is not as expensive if we were to be reactive to the needs of the school (eg. replacing the furnaces, outside siding, repainting, new flooring, etc.)
• Security & Safety – looking into lighting and new gates/fencing

We are excited to hear that individuals and companies are inquiring about making donations to the school.  We want to thank the CWL for their generous donation of $2000.00.  This money will have immediate impact on the learning that takes place at St. Bernadette’s.  Every donation, no matter the size, improves the quality of education.  If you would like to make a donation please speak with Mr. van der Pauw (mvanderpauw@cisva.bc.ca).

We have a fundraising goal of $35,000.00 for this school year.

The following are major planned events:

• Fall Pub Night Social – October 17 – One20
• Purdy’s Chocolate Sale – November
• Lights of Hope – Ending December 10 (Christmas Concert)
• Raffle – Late December to February
• Walk-a-Thon – April 29
• Year End BBQ/Carnival – June 3

Other events:

• Clothing Drives – Various (First one: October 18-20)
• Movie / Family Nights – Various (First one October 2)
• Possible Gala Dinner in conjunction with Parish

If you can help with any of the major events, please contact Stephannie through the PEC email.

We changed the Parent Participation policy.  There will be one $500 cheque cashed at the end of the year if your hours are not completed.  Contact Ashley @  ashleyk.hartnett@gmail.com if you have questions.

School Reminders

Teachers have a new email address.  It is grade__@stbernadette.ca (in the blank insert your child’s grade.  For kindergarten it would be kindergarten@stbernadette.ca).

Please subscribe to our newsletter through our website.  We currently have 70+ people subscribe, but we want all parents (mom and dad, and grandparents if necessary) to receive our newsletters.

We are a nut aware school.  Nuts and foods that contain nuts are not permitted in the school.

We will be implementing the new curriculum for the 2016-2017 school year.  If you would like more information please go to https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/

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Those were the highlights of the presentation.  It is not a list of everything that was presented.  The school has two mandatory nights in the year – Parent Info Night and the AGM/Parent Support Meeting (PSM) Night.  Valuable and critical information is presented at these night.  Although we give an update, it does not include the discussions, all the details and questions that are apart of the evening.  Please mark your calendars and plan on attending our next mandator evening, AGM and PSM on Thursday January 21st @ 6:30pm.