Now in my fifth year as Principal, I continue to be heartened by the community here at St Bernard’s. Our school student body continues to grow in numbers, this year rising to 13 classes, with a strong community reputation for guiding students to be the best that they can be.
Our strength lies with a dedicated teaching staff who strive to bring out the best in every child.
I am constantly inspired by our teachers and the concern they have for those in their care and the dedication to the profession they exhibit each day. Teaching remains a vocation to us here which is evident in the way we approach our work.
We believe in providing our teachers with not only the resources to do their jobs well but also targeted professional learning. We continue with our collaborative coaching model – freeing teachers for additional learning with a dedicated teacher coach in literacy and more specifically written language. We are seeing true progress in our learners and will continue to build on that success.
This report aims to explain and contextualise events this year and outline the future we envisage for our school.
This year also saw a significant investment in the establishment of our SPARK program (Supporting Potential Among Remarkable Kids). This program is coordinated by five North Shore schools who come together twice a term to support students showing potential in various areas from maths & science to music and drama. St Bernard’s was proud to support students from these schools in Science and written language this year and we are planning similar projects in 2025.