Handbook

At St Bernadette’s Dundas Valley, we come together as a learning community to nurture each person in a respectful atmosphere centred on the love of Christ.

Dear Parents,

Whether you are joining our school for the first time or are enrolling another child, we would like to welcome you to our school community.

Central to our mission as a Catholic school is the provision of a dynamic faith education program centred on the diocesan program, ‘Sharing Our Story’.

Our school continues to be very much a part of the parish with the constant support of our Parish Priest Fr Christopher Sharah, Fr Ruben and Fr Benedict in the life of the school, and the school’s continued involvement in parish based sacramental programs and Sunday liturgy.

We recognise that as parents you are the first and foremost educators of your children in faith and in life. As a school we support and respond to your aspirations and welcome your involvement in many aspects of the school. We invite you to participate in parent evenings, as a parent helper for reading, sport or infants activities and in the work of the P&F. We welcome constant contact with your child’s class teacher through parent/teacher interviews, class visits and school events.

As we move forward, we are mindful of the need to cater for children within our care to the level that resources enable us to do so. To this end we are committed to the provision of quality education in all areas of curriculum. We provide quality programs for children with special learning needs. We have highly focussed literacy and numeracy programs as we endeavour to cater for the diverse learning needs and styles of all children. We continue to strive towards excellence.

Your child is so very special. Let us work in a mutually supportive partnership so that all can “Come to learn, live and love” .

Mary Ann Gatt-Petrini
Principal

On behalf of the Staff of St Bernadette’s Primary School

Arrival

• Supervision of children on the playground begins at 8:30am.
• Parents are able to drop their children off in Cox Crescent at the front of the school. If this procedure is chosen, then parents must drop their child off at the school and continue on driving around the crescent.
• It is imperative for the safety of the children that parents do not make a u-turn in front of the school.
• Children are to move directly onto the school grounds and sit in the Undercroft area until the teacher on duty arrives.
• Children crossing Evans Road are to use the crossing, with the Crossing Supervisor.
• In the interest and safety of the children, any children arriving before 8:30am should use the Catholic Out of School Hours Care (COSHC). A fee will apply.

Dismissal

At 3:05pm all children will go to their designated areas:

• Bus line - These children will be accompanied by a teacher to the bus stop.
  
  
• Walkers - These children leave school grounds through the front gate and walk directly home.
  
  
• Cox Crescent Drive Through line – Parents choosing the Cox Crescent Drive Through will drive to the end school driveway section of the crescent with their family name displayed on the dashboard of the car. (This sign will be supplied to all parents.) The sign must not be put on the dashboard until outside the school area. A member of staff will call the particular child and direct the child to their family car. If a child is not ‘ready’ the parent will be asked to continue around the crescent and ‘try again’! Drivers are reminded not to obstruct any of our neighbours driveways.
  
  
• Pick Up line – Parents choosing to park their cars, will do so in the Church car park or other legal parking areas. In the interest of safety, when parking in the Church Car park, please make sure that you reverse into the space. Parents can then walk to the assembled children at the designated area to collect their child / children. Once children have been dismissed from class and see their parents, they may leave the premises. No child is to walk to their family car alone.
  
  
• After School Care / COSHC –These children go directly to the COSHC Room.
  
  
• Children not collected by 3:30pm should use the COSHC. A fee will apply.
  
  
• If your child is being collected by someone other than a parent, please let your child’s teacher know in writing. Emergencies do occur but it is helpful if you ring the school office if an unexpected change in arrangements is necessary (9871 5173).
  
  
• For the safety of others, a high standard of conduct is encouraged and expected when students are waiting for their parents or bus to arrive.

Application for free Bus travel

To be eligible for a School Opal card, students need to be NSW residents and may need to live a minimum distance away from their school:

• Years K-2 (Infants) there’s no minimum distance.
• Years 3-6 (Primary) 1.6km straight line distance ro 2.3km walking or further.

Applications

Most students or parents won’t need to apply for the School Opal card. The School Opal card will be sent to a student’s school automatically at the beginning of the new school year.

However, a new application is required if:

• The student is just starting school or has not had a pass for travel before.
• The student is progressing from Year 2 to 3, or Year 6 to 7.
• The student is changing schools, including going between primary and secondary school.
• The student’s personal details have changed.

Applications must be made by a parent for children aged 15 and under..

How to apply

• Complete the application at transportnsw.info/school-students.
• Print, sign and submit the form to the school for endorsement.
• The school will then forward the application for processing.
• The Transport for NSW sends the School Opal card to the home address given in the application.

A brief whole school assembly is held on Monday morning at 8:55am. This assembly is led by school leaders and consists of Acknowledgement of Country, prayer, notices of upcoming events and the singing of our National Anthem.

School assemblies are held throughout the year. When scheduled, these assemblies are usually held on a Friday at 2:30pm in the School Hall. Please check Term Calendar, Website, Skoolbag App and Newsletter for further details. All parents are welcome.

Students are required to attend school all day of every day that school is open. Regular attendance at school is essential for progress. Please send your child on time each day.

Where illness or another reason prevents a child’s attendance at school, parents are required to inform teachers in writing with the date of and the reason for the absence. To explain an absence parents and carers are to send a note, Skoolbag App, fax or email to the school. This needs to be explained promptly within 7 days.

Leave

Parents taking their children out of school for leave of more than 10 days during a school term e.g. a holiday, elite sporting event, work in the entertainment industry; need to complete an Application for Extended Leave. These can be obtained from the school office/website and must be completed prior to the leave being taken.

Taking Your Child From School

If you need to collect your child from school early, a parent/guardian must sign out the child at the school office before any child can leave the school premises. The school will not allow the child to leave the school without this process being completed. Any child arriving late to school must also be signed in by the parent/guardian at the school office. To protect our valuable learning time, we ask parents to ensure that your child is punctual to school as children arriving late can cause a disruption to the whole class.

Before and after school care is available on site. Catholic Out of School Hours Care (COSHC) is available to students of St Bernadette’s. This service, while on site, is managed separately to the school. It is registered for Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate to assist families with fee reduction. Contact details are 0419 115 221.

Year 6 students are buddied with Kindergarten children to give them support and a familiar face, particularly in their early days of ‘big school’. These classes often meet together and share fun activities. It is an opportunity for children to socialise with other children. It is also an opportunity for children to develop leadership skills by caring for and nurturing their younger friends.

The school canteen is open for special occasions throughout each term. These canteen days are organised by the P&F Association.

Volunteers to help with the preparation of and serving on these days, are always required for this service to operate. Students are not permitted inside the canteen during its operation.

It is a legal requirement that parent volunteers need to obtain a working with children clearance number. Parents are required to complete the online child protection module for volunteers. The link to the module is: http://childprotection.parra.catholic.edu.au/volunteers. Only parents who have completed this module, will be able to assist at school, e.g. excursions, fundraising events, sport etc. When completed, the school automatically receives confirmation verifying that this has been completed.

School gates are locked shortly after the morning bell and re-opened before the final bell.

All adult visitors to the school are required to enter the premises via the front office where they will sign in and be provided with a visitor’s sticker. While on school grounds this sticker must be worn. Visitors then need to sign out when leaving.

These steps are in place to protect your child’s safety.

All notes and money returned to the school are collected at the beginning of each day, placed in a class office bag and sent to the office before 9:30am. The office bag is then returned to the classroom at 2:40pm with any notes or messages to go home to parents. It would be appreciated if parents contact the office prior to 2:40pm with messages for children, especially if there is a change of details for travelling home from school.

If your child is required to bring money to school, a note will be sent home stating the reason and the amount required. Please assist by putting the money in a sealed envelope with your child’s name, class and purpose of payment written on it. This should be given by your child to his/her teacher in the morning. It would assist the school if each family member could have his/her own envelope.

At St Bernadette’s we believe that effective communication between home and school is essential. The following communications are offered by the school:

• Term Calendar of School Events
• School Website
• Fortnightly Newsletter- available on the website
• Skoolbag App
• Notes- also available on the website
• Grade Curriculum Overviews for each term
• Parent Information Night
• Parent / Teacher Interviews- mid year
• P & F meetings
• Mid Year and End of Year Reports*

If you have any concerns about your child, an appointment should be made with your child's teacher either by phoning the school office or with their child’s teacher, at a mutually convenient time. Discussions with the class teacher can only be held outside teaching hours as teachers are legally bound to supervise their class and cannot leave the children unattended. Parents are very welcome to discuss any issues with the class teacher first. If necessary, parents are welcome to make appointments with the Coordinator, Assistant Principal or Principal.

Addressing Complaints

Complaints or grievances pertaining to classroom issues or that relate to other children are to be dealt with by school personnel.

It is not appropriate for parents to approach other parents or their children with the intention of resolving issues.

The recommended procedure to be followed by parents is:

1. The first point of contact is the child’s class teacher.
2. If you are not satisfied, you are encouraged to make an appointment with the Co-ordinator, REC, Assistant Principal or Principal to discuss the issue further.
3. If the matter is not resolved by the school leadership team, you can contact the Catholic Education Office.

Parents are reminded that there are two sides to every story and whilst it is important to listen to your children, it is also important not to draw conclusions or make accusations until all the facts are known.

Complaints assessed as relevant to a particular school or CEO procedures will be handled in accordance with the relevant procedures, for example student management procedures, child protection procedures. Complaints that do not relate to a particular school or CEO procedures will be addressed as follows:

• The complaint is recorded
• Clarification of what resolution is sought
• Person/s against whom the complaint has been made, advised of the concern and provided with the opportunity to respond
• Relevant information obtained from witness
• Matter resolved.

Appeal

A person who is not satisfied that the matter has been resolved appropriately may choose to appeal to the Principal of the school if the Principal has not been involved in investigating or examining the complaint, or is not the person named as the source of the grievance.

Alternatively, an appeal may be made by contacting the Education Office. For the Catholic Education Office matters, an appeal may be made to the Director of the relevant department. In the final instance, an appeal may be made to the Executive Director of Schools.

The learning program for students is divided into eight subjects or Key Learning Areas (KLA’s). These include:

The school would appreciate you sending a certified copy of a Court Order, if you have sole custody of your child/children. If you delegate a friend or relative (unknown to us) to take the child/children from school for you, a note from you advising us of this required.

See Student Wellbeing.

St Bernadette’s Primary School collects and holds information about your family which is vital to us in educating your children. The school has a Standard Collection Notice which outlines the terms and conditions of collecting information from parents. It is important that you read the following information which explains your rights with regards to Privacy Legislation.

Parents are asked to notify the school immediately with change of details (new address and telephone number). These details are very important should we need to contact you in an emergency.

If intending to change schools at any time, please inform the Principal as soon as possible.

Standard Collection Notice (Available at: http://www.parra.catholic.edu.au/policy-central

1. CEDP (through our schools, Catholic Early Learning Centres (CELCs), Catholic Out of School Hours Care services (COSHCs) and offices) collects personal information, including sensitive information about students in our schools, children in our care (together ‘Students’) and their parent/s, carer/s or guardian/s (‘Parents’) before and during the course of a Student’s enrolment. The primary purpose of collecting this information is to enable us to provide schooling and care for our Students.
   
   
2. Some of the information we collect is to satisfy our legal obligations, particularly to enable our schools, COSHC, CELC and offices to discharge their duty of care.
   
   
3. Certain laws governing or relating to the operation of schools and child care require that certain information is collected and disclosed. These include the Education Act and Public Health and Child Protection laws.
   
   
4. Health information about Students is sensitive information under the Privacy Act. We may request medical reports about Students from time to time. If we do not obtain the information we may not be able to enrol or continue the enrolment of the Student.
   
   
5. We may from time to time disclose personal information (including sensitive information) to others for administrative, care and educational purposes. This includes to other schools, government departments, government agencies, statutory boards, the CEO, the Catholic Education Commission, your local diocese and the parish. We may also disclose your personal information (including sensitive information) to government authorities such as the NSW Board of Studies, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), medical practitioners and people providing services to us, including specialist visiting teachers, sports coaches, volunteers and counsellors.
   
   
6. In addition to the agencies and purposes cited at 5 above, personal information relating to Students and Parents may also be made available, in accordance with Australian Government requirements, to ACARA for the purpose of publishing certain school information relating to the circumstances of Parents and Students on the MySchool website. The information published on the MySchool website is aggregated information and will not identify the Parent or Student.
   
   
7. Personal information collected from Students is regularly disclosed to their Parents. On occasions, information such as academic and sporting achievements, student activities and other news is published in School newsletters, our magazines, posters and websites.
   
   
8. Occasionally photographs or videos are taken of individual students and groups of students and these may be published. If you do not wish, or do not wish for your child, to be photographed, videoed or recorded under any circumstances, or to have your/their photographs, videos or sound recording published, please make sure you advise the principal, care centre director or our privacy officer. Contact details for our privacy officer are included at the end of this notice.
   
   
9. Our Privacy Statement sets out how you may access and seek correction of your personal information and how parents may access and seek correction of personal information collected about their child. However, there will be occasions when access is denied. Such occasions would include where access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others, where access may result in a breach of our schools’, CELCs’, COSHCs’ or offices’ duty of care to the student, or where students have provided information in confidence.
   
   
10. Our Privacy Statement also sets out how you may complain about a breach of privacy and how we will deal with such a complaint. Our Privacy Statement is available in Policy Central at http://www.parra.catholic.edu.au/privacy
    
    
11. As you may know, we may from time to time engage in fundraising activities. Information received from you may be used to make an appeal to you. It may also be disclosed to organisations that assist in our fundraising activities solely for that purpose. We will not disclose your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes without your consent.
    
    
12. We may include your contact details in a class list and our schools, COSHCs, CELCs and office directories.
    
    
13. If you provide us with the personal information of others, such as doctors’ or emergency contacts, we encourage you to inform them that you are disclosing that information to us and why, that they can access that information if they wish and that we do not usually disclose the information to third parties.
    
    
14. We may use service providers who provide certain services to us and our staff and students, including data storage and contemporary online teaching tools. We may provide your personal information to service providers in connection with the provision of these services. Service providers may store, or process, data outside Australia, including in the United States, Singapore, Ireland and possibly other countries. We endeavour to find where these providers store their data and update this collection notice as such information becomes available to us. In addition, our email service provider may store and process emails in the United States or in any other country utilised by Google.
    
    
15. You may obtain further information from the following

• For our schools: the school principal
• For our CELCs: the CELC director
• For our COSHCs: the COSHC supervisor
• For our offices:
  Privacy Officer
  Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta
  Locked Bag 4 North Parramatta NSW 1750
  T: 9840 5600

Excursions and incursions are a valuable tool in enhancing the teaching and learning program. Thereby all children are expected to participate in excursions. When an excursion is organised, parents will be notified of the nature and purpose of the excursion and be required to sign a permission note for their child to participate.

Rather than collect excursion money throughout the year, the school charges an Excursion Fee, which is calculated on the cost of the excursions and visiting speakers your child will be attending. This will be approximately $165 per child. The Year 5 and Year 6 Canberra excursion is charged separately and billed through school fees nearer to the excursion date. This excursion occurs every second year.

Excursions are seen as a privilege not a right. The Principal has the discretion to withdraw this privilege dependent upon a student’s behaviour prior to the excursion.

Accidents
Staff will attend to minor injuries at school. In the case of an accident parents will be notified. In serious cases, if parents or the nominated contact person cannot be contacted, appropriate action will be taken. It is important to keep school records up to date so that parents can be contacted at all times. Please complete a 'Change of Information' form if your home, work or emergency contact numbers or addresses change.

Asthma
Children need to be able to administer their own medication. It is important that they carry their medication at all times.

Anaphylaxis
In case of severe allergic reaction to nuts, parents of children at St Bernadette’s Primary School are encouraged not to include nut related products in their children’s lunches. Please note that special proformas are available from the office for children with serious medical conditions which all staff would need to be made aware of, for example: epilepsy, major allergies, diabetes, etc.

Sickness at school
If a child is sick at school:

• Parents will be contacted - if they cannot be contacted
• The nominated emergency contact person will be contacted - if they cannot be contacted
• The school will act in the best interest of the child.

In the best instance, children who are ill should be kept at home.

Infectious Diseases
The school needs to be notified of any incidence of the following infectious diseases. In some instances a medical certificate is required on return to school. The following is issued as a guide and medical advice should always be sought from appropriate health personnel.

www.health.nsw.gov.au

Homework will be given to children on a regular basis.

At St Bernadette’s we believe that homework:

• should consolidate what children have learned at school or challenge them to investigate further.
• should allow for the fact that children learn and work at different rates and have different needs.
• needs to be relevant.
• helps develop self-discipline and fosters long term habits of learning and time management.
• should be followed with praise for effort and support where needed.
• never be a source of tension or conflict.
• is enhanced if there is regular communication between, students, parents and teachers. 

At various times throughout their schooling, students may experience difficulty in learning. They may experience social and emotional difficulties or they may have a physical condition which impacts on their ability to learn.

The Learning Support Team provides support to these students in a variety of ways. Some of their work includes assisting students in the classroom, working with teachers to develop appropriate learning tasks, assisting parents to access support from appropriate outside agencies and arranging assessments through the Catholic Education Office and other agencies.

The Learning Support Team includes a Special Education Teacher, Literacy/ESL Teacher, Numeracy Support Teacher and Teacher Assistants, and they work in consultation with the Principal, Assistant Principal, School Counsellor and class teachers.

Children are exposed to good literature. Children have the opportunity to borrow library books once a week from the school library. Children are required to have a library bag to protect the books that have been borrowed. Lost or damaged books will need to be replaced.

All school clothing should be labelled. Parents are at liberty to check the Lost Property basket located in the undercroft area for any lost items.

Parent involvement in various activities at school is vital in building community and a strong home-school partnership at St Bernadette’s Primary School.

At St Bernadette’s parents can take an active part in the school by becoming involved in the:

• Class as a helper by hearing children read, helping at carnivals, excursions…
• Canteen by making morning teas and lunches and serving at the counter
• Graduation Committee by helping organise the Year 6 Graduation Dinner Dance
• Fundraising Committees which conduct social and money-raising functions to supply the school with resources eg Disco, Mother’s Day & Father’s Day Stalls…
• Parents & Friends Association by being a class representative bringing any ideas or concerns forward to the Committee
• Life of the school by attending liturgies, assemblies and special events

As a Catholic school, the teaching of our faith is paramount. Religious Education lessons are scheduled daily. Prayer is also an important aspect of our Catholic faith. Besides praying in the class room, we pray together as a school at the start of each day and at midday when we pray ‘The Angelus’. Children regularly attend and participate in liturgies, to which parents are always welcome. Masses are organised throughout the year, please check the Term Calendar and School Newsletters for details.

The Parish Priest, principal, staff and parents work together to develop the faith community of St Bernadette’s. The Franciscan Friars offer children opportunities to be Altar Servers. The Parish Sacramental Coordinator works with the school to prepare children in Years 2, 3 and 6 receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation respectively.

To demonstrate our Catholic faith, the school is involved in a number of Social Justice opportunities throughout the year e.g. Manning Foundation, Caritas, Project Compassion…

Parking

In order to ensure the safety of all members of our school community, we would ask that everyone observe the following procedures, expectations and in some cases laws. Your cooperation in explaining these procedures to all relatives and carers who may collect your children from time to time would be appreciated.

Please show consideration for others and share in the responsibility of keeping our children safe. It is not an easy task to dismiss over 200 children in such a short time so the cooperation of everyone is needed.

• Please DO NOT leave children unattended in the Church car park. As there can be a number of pedestrians, please remember to reverse into the car spaces.
• Please DO NOT drop children off in ‘No Stopping’ zones near the crossing area. Please use the ‘Drive Through’ area in Cox Cresent if you wish to drop off or pick up your children without getting out of your vehicle.
• Please DO NOT park across the parish driveway or those of our other neighbours.
• Please DO NOT try to turn around in Cox Cresent. It is a very narrow street and several near misses have occurred.
• Police regularly monitor the situation, particularly at dismissal time.

The Commonwealth Bank provides the facility for school banking at the school each week. The school receives a small commission for each account. These funds are used to fund any necessary resources.

Ensuring a quality Catholic education is affordable and accessible for children

There are three levels of annual fees, billed in instalments during Terms 1, 2 and 3:

• Annual Diocesan Tuition Fees set by the Catholic Education Office
• Diocesan Building Levy set by the Catholic Education Office
• School-based fees.

Discounts on Fees

Catholic schools in the Diocese of Parramatta are committed to providing an affordable quality Catholic education for families. We understand the financial demands placed on families and seek to keep the fees as low as possible. No child who meets the enrolment criteria will be refused enrolment or disadvantaged because of a families financial circumstances.

There are very significant discounts for the second (25% reduction) and third (50% reduction) children enrolled from the one family. There are no fees for the fourth and subsequent children.

Fees Schedule

For a full overview of the fees payable at St Bernadette's Dundas please see the 'School Fees' page of our website under the 'Enrol Now' section.

The wearing of full, correct school uniform is compulsory and all items of clothing must be clearly marked with the child’s name.

To demonstrate school pride uniforms should be kept neat and tidy:

• shirts tucked in and buttoned
• ties correctly worn
• shoelaces tied and shoes polished
• for safety reasons only plain stud / sleeper earrings may be worn to school
• hair of collar length and longer, should be tied back with maroon/blue ribbon, scrunchie or headband
• haircuts should not be extremes of fashion
• sport shoes are to be worn only on sport days, with black shoes to be worn on all other days
• children may only wear school tracksuit pants on sports day
• school hats offer some protection from the sun, all children must wear a school hat when outside. Children without hats will have to play in the shade in Terms 1 and 4.

It is suggested that:

• summer uniforms be worn in the first and fourth terms
• winter uniforms in the second and third terms.

Paint shirt
To protect children’s uniforms from paint splashes and mishaps during art and craft activities, children are asked to have at school an old long sleeved shirt or t-shirt to wear over uniforms.

Wet weather gear
Wet weather gear such as lightweight raincoats and hats- with names on them, are necessary during inclement weather. These should be kept in your child’s school bag. Purchase of uniforms School bags, excursion and library bags are available from the school office.

Purchasing Uniforms
All uniforms are available at Lowes, Carlingford Court and the School Uniform Shop has some pre-loved uniforms available for sale.

The gazetted school vacations for 2017 are as follows:

School Houses

All students are allocated to one of the School houses:

• Bernadette - Blue
• MacKillop - Gold
• Francis - Green
• Clare - Red

Participation

All children take part in a weekly sport and games session. There are also annual carnivals held for swimming, cross country and athletics.

Primary children have the opportunity to represent St Bernadette’s in the following sports: soccer, netball, athletics, cross country and swimming.

St Bernadette’s House Champion Trophy

Throughout the year children have the opportunity to earn points for their house. The house which accumulates the most points over the year will earn the right to be the holders of the perpetual trophy. Points can be earned through sporting, social and academic achievement. Some ways of earning points are:

• Placing in events at Athletics and Swimming Carnivals
• Principal Awards
• ICAS Competitions
• St Bernadette and St Francis Awards.

The school is permitted to hold staff professional development days throughout the year. These days are 'Pupil Free'.

At times throughout the year, teachers may be released to attend professional development sessions to continue to upskill themselves and thereby benefitting the children at St Bernadette’s Primary School. Each teacher is entitled to release from face to face teaching each week.

The Student Representative Council (SRC) was established at St Bernadette’s School to provide an avenue for the student body to be an integral part of the school decision-making process as well as to make the school a better place to come to learn, live and love.

Through the SRC all children have the opportunity to communicate their concerns, suggestions and ideas for improving our school. The SRC provides leadership opportunities for its members, enabling them to develop and model responsibility, honesty, reliability and a commitment to ensuring St Bernadette’s School is a happy and safe place. Members of the SRC are elected by the students and staff.

The SRC meet with the Assistant Principal to discuss suggestions made by children K-6 and to create action plans that address these issues or concerns. Other areas are discussed which affect the smooth operations of the school. Being a member of the S.R.C. carries many responsibilities, the greatest one being a positive role model to the other students.

The principles on which we base our Behaviour Management practices at St Bernadette’s School demonstrate procedural fairness. We believe that procedural fairness is a basic right of all children when dealing with school authorities. We apply the ‘hearing rule’ and the ‘right to an unbiased decision.’

Each child has the right to know the nature of an allegation made against them and any information which will be taken into account in considering the matter. The child should know the process by which the matter will be considered and have the right to respond to the allegation. The child should always know how to seek a review of the decision made in response to the allegation. At no time is corporal punishment administered or accepted.

At St Bernadette’s School, members of the staff make every effort to demonstrate an absence of bias in their decision-making. They believe that children have a right to an unbiased decision and the right to impartiality in an investigation.

Procedural fairness at St Bernadette’s School includes making available to students and parents (or caregivers) policies and procedures under which disciplinary action is taken. It also includes providing details of an allegation relating to a specific matter or incident. This will usually involve providing an outline of the allegations made in witness statements. We, at St Bernadette’s School, believe that it is preferable for different people to carry out the investigation and decision-making in the school but we acknowledge that this might not always be possible. Whoever carries out these roles at St Bernadette’s School undertakes to do so in a reasonable and objective manner. We strive for justice to be done and seen to be done.

At St Bernadette’s School, the principles of procedural fairness underpin:

• The procedures for management of behaviour
  • In the classroom
  • On the playground
• The management of bullying in the school and the support we give to the person(s) hurt.
• The approach to exclusion and suspension of children should we ever have to manage such situation. In these cases, we would involve the Catholic Education Office and follow the guidelines for such serious situations found in the Diocesan Policy.

It is upon these basic principles of procedural fairness that the following procedures have been developed for the management of behaviour

• in the classroom and
• on the playground.

Rationale

At St Bernadette’s Primary we have consultative approach to formulating this set of Agreed practice around student management. These procedures align with the Student Wellbeing and Child Protection Policies.

Aims

• To give uniformity to student management
• To give students skills / values to interact within the school environment
• To ensure all children understand why, where and when behaviour is acceptable/ unacceptable
• To ensure respect between ALL staff and children
• To work towards inclusive practices in regard to all aspects of school life by:
  Staff in-servicing focusing on responsibility for student learning / behaviour and self-evaluation.

Implementation

We devised a set of guidelines around our three school rules:

• I am respectful
• I am safe
• I am a learner.

In the Classroom:

At St Bernadette’s we:

• Take turns to speak
• Acknowledge each others successes
• Give the teacher our undivided attention when explicitly asked
• Acknowledge positive behaviour
• Move quickly and quietly during lesson transitions
• Put our hands up to speak
• Stay in our seat when asked
• Stay on task
• Speak respectfully to each other
• Work together cooperatively
• Keep our hands to ourselves
• Have respect for our classroom/ learning environment
• Do our best work at all times.

On the Playground:

At St Bernadette’s we:

• Take turns
• Speak respectfully to each other
• Play together cooperatively
• Keep our hands to ourselves
• Play by the rules of the games
• Are inclusive
• Do our best to resolve our problems fairly.

To support these traits we will:

• Ensure that all matters with behaviour are followed up in a timely manner with students
• Have a clear set of classroom guidelines that align with the agreed practice and behaviour flowcharts
• Follow the Flowcharts devised to ensure consistency of practice.

When a student does not follow the school rules the following procedures will be followed:

In the Classroom:

1. A verbal warning is delivered to the student
2. A formal warning is given (in line with predetermined classroom practice)
3. If a third warning is issued an in class a 5-minute time out is given
4. Should the student continue to interrupt the learning then time out with the Stage co-ordinator is given.
   The co-ordinator will keep notes on this child’s time out in a Google doc
5. If this student continues to, or repeatedly disrupt learning then time out in the Office is given. During this time a behaviour sheet is completed during a reflective discussion. Three (3) of these forms will result in a phone call to parents and a behaviour note being sent home.

On the Playground

1. A verbal warning is delivered to the student
2. A formal warning is given and a 5-minute time out with the playground teacher is given
3. If this student continues to, or repeatedly disrupt playtime then time out in the Office is given. During this time a behaviour sheet is completed during a reflective discussion. Three (3) of these forms will result in a phone call to parents and a behaviour note being sent home.

The only time where time out with the AP is an immediate consequence is where the student or other students are not safe. In this situation the student or other students are removed from the classroom / playground immediately.

Suspension:

If incidents of further negative behaviour continue, then serious thought must be given to both an internal suspension or external suspension of 1 to 3 days. It is understood that parents would be fully informed at all times before such serious consequences are decided upon.

A teacher may use reasonable restraint to protect a child in a situation which is perceived to be harmful or threatening to the safety of the child and / or other children / staff members.

If a suspension is necessary, the Principal is required to notify the Parish Priest and the Director of Performance from the Catholic Education Office.

In line with procedures outlined by DET (6.1.5) and as implemented by the Catholic Education Commission school Principals must suspend immediately and consistently any student who:

• Is physically violent (resulting in pain or injury to others)
• Is in possession of a firearm, prohibited weapon or knife
• Uses or is in possession of a suspected illegal substance or supplies a restricted substance.

At all times St Bernadette’s respects the dignity of each child. We strive to meet the needs of the individual child in a pastoral, Christian environment.

Anti-Bullying Policy

Rationale
St Bernadette’s, Dundas does not tolerate bullying in any form. All members of the school community are committed to ensuring that a safe and caring environment is evident at all times. The St Bernadette’s community supports the premise that self worth and self esteem flourish where the group feels secure.

Aims

• To provide a safe and pleasant environment for all who attend the school
• To provide empathy and strategies for children who encounter any form of bullying
• To provide strategies for children who display bullying tactics in their day to day dealings with other children
• To provide parents with advice if bullying occurs.

Implementation

• Provide parents and staff with an understanding of what constitutes bullying
• Inform and educate parents on the strategies they can adopt in day to day parenting
• Inform children as to what constitutes unacceptable behaviour through class, stage and whole school meetings
• Explain the policy of bullying prevention to children and the parent body
• Utilise the Student Reflection Form when bullying occurs.

To use technology at St Bernadette’s, all students must obtain parental permission.

An Acceptable Use Policy (parent permission), is given to parents as part of the child's enrolment. The Acceptable Use Policy will remain active while the child is at St Bernadette’s or until it needs to be updated.

Student Learning

St Bernadette’s integrates Information and Technology Skills across Key Learning Areas. All children from Kindergarten to Year 6 experience a wide range of technological skills which are refined and developed as they progress through each class.

At St Bernadette’s iPads and laptops – PC’s, Mac Books, iPads or Chromebooks are used. Teachers integrate the use of technology in the learning. This use of technology not only supports various curriculum units, but also develops information skills and digital literacies.

Primary Students have access to Google Apps for Education that allows students to create and collaborate online using a range of tools in a shared learning environment.... a classroom in the cloud. Students are issued with a username/password combination sufficiently secure to avoid unauthorised access, and which identifies that user and that user only. All online access is controlled by firewalls, filters and internet protection managed by the Catholic Education Office Diocese of Parramatta.

Expectations

Students are responsible for appropriate behaviour on the school’s computer network just as they are in a classroom or on a school playground (Student Well Being Policy). General school rules for behaviour and communications apply. The user is responsible for his / her actions in accessing and utilising the school’s technology. The students are advised never to access, keep, or send anything that they would not want their parents or teachers to view.

Any student, who chooses to violate any of the Acceptable User Policy, will have Internet/computer privileges withdrawn for a period of time as determined by the class teacher in consultation with a member of the Leadership Team. Parents will be notified of the consequence of any breach. At St Bernadette’s it is important that students, teachers and parents work together to make sure that the technology is used as an appropriate and powerful learning tool.

Our logo with the Franciscan Tau Cross, places Christ at the centre of all that we do here at St Bernadette’s Primary school. The water represents St Bernadette, our patron saint, who centred her life on Christ with a deep faith and simplicity as well as great trust in Christ’s help, at her most difficult times. The blue and gold represent Our Lady who appeared to St Bernadette and invited her to ‘come to the water’ and pray for sinners. Blue is also the colour of our founding sisters, the Good Samaritan Sisters who have prayer at the centre of their ministry and who worked tirelessly under great difficulty in the early years to help make St Bernadette’s Primary the great school it is today.

Deep in the valley
Is a school in a garden
Planted long ago with loving hands.

Where we all grow together
And learn from each other
To live in harmony
With all our friends.

At the Church in the garden
We come to the water
As one we give our
Praise and thanks to God.

Chorus
We come to learn, live and love
As one family in Christ
And take the Good News
Out into the world.

Like Saints Bernadette and Francis
We come to the water
As one we give our
Praise and thanks to God

Chorus
We come to learn, live and love
As one family in Christ
And take the Good News
Out into the world