From the Principal

Please note that weekly Parish mass times will now be located each week on our School Hours / Timetable page in our newsletter. 

Prayer 

Last week we prayed this prayer over our grandparents and special friends. Let us take the opportunity when we can to do this again.

Loving God, 

Bless all grandparents and special people in the lives of our children.  

Those gathered with us here today, those who cannot be with us and those who have gone to be with you. 

May they heed your call to share their wisdom and faith with us. 

May they have courage and confidence to hand on your gifts of experience and knowledge, of stories, songs and memories. 

May they continue to learn and grow with us day by day. 

Bless them with the length of days and joy. 

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Grandparents & Special Friends Day

Last Friday was a wonderful celebration of our much loved Grandparents and Special Friends. With the sun shining, taking the chill off the afternoon, we welcomed over 200 people to the hub for tea, coffee and light refreshments. After viewing the self portraits the children drew during the week, we were treated to the Preps' sweet and gentle voices, singing Thank You (Tribute to Grandparents) by Michael Land.  We just had to request an encore after their first rendition as it was simply delightful. 

In the afternoon we met with our family groups in the classrooms where stories were shared, Memory Boxes were made and games were played. We finished the afternoon with a special prayer in the church with Deacon Malcolm sharing his experiences of being a grandfather and what a treasured role it is. The prayer finished with the children saying a blessing over their grandparents and special friends. 

A special thank you for the St Michael's Choir for their debut. It was simply beautiful to hear their voices ringing through the church. Thank you also to the PFA, particularly Monica Von Porta, Liz Fida and Jo Slykerman for assisting with food, set up and serving tea, coffee and refreshments.

Year One/TwoG Assembly time change

Year One/Two G assembly has been scheduled for Friday 23 August. This is also the day for our Book Week Parade. Please note, the class will still hold their assembly on this day, however it will be held at 9am and they will introduce us to the parade. 

See you tomorrow night at the School Disco

We are all looking forward to the St Michael's Disco tomorrow night!!  Please see our PFA page here for details. 

We are looking forward to welcoming the children at our much anticipated St.Michael’s school disco tomorrow, Friday the 2nd of August. 

Just a reminder that the

Prep to Grade 2 session will commence at 5:30pm and end at 6:30pm. 

Followed by the Grade 3-6 session, starting at 7 pm and finishing at 8:30pm. 

Please note that a parent will be required to be present at all times with their child through out the night.

A juice box and a snack pack of chips will be provided per child. A token can be collected at the entrance when signing in.

We still need a few volunteers to help with packing away chairs and tables from around 8.15pm to 8.45pm. 

Please email Jasmine at jasmine.perera@icloud.com or Chaintanya at Chaitanyalrao@gmail.com if you could kindly spare some time for packing up at the end of the evening. This will involve tasks such as putting away chairs and tables etc.

Bring along a plate of something to share for either the Children or the Adults snacks table. 

We look forward to the most anticipated school event for the kids in our school community, as voted by the school parents poll!

Put on your dancing shoes and get ready to boogie it up to a couple of songs with your children. 

Feast of Mary MacKillop

Next Thursday, 8th August, we celebrate our special Australian Saint, Mary MacKillop. We acknowledge her will and determination to fight for children's education and her amazing courage to fight for what is right. On Thursday next week, each class will hold a class prayer in their classroom at 3.15pm and families are invited to be present for this if you are available.

"Find happiness in making others happy"

M.Mackillop

Holiday Program with TheirCare 

Are you interested in booking your child in for care over school holidays onsite??

TheirCare and St Michael's Primary School are conducting a survey to understand the demand for a Holiday Program to be run each school holidays.  This will be run onsite with an average out of pocket cost of $16.00 once CCS rebates have been applied. Breakfast and afternoon tea will be provided, with families asked to pack a lunchbox as they would for a standard school day.

Please help us by answering the questions in this quick survey which should only take you 30 seconds to complete.  The survey will close on Friday 9th August.  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/D339QQJ

TheirCare has employed a new full time coordinator who commenced in the service this week. Her name is Shoba and she has over 12 years experience working with children in education and care, with a young daughter herself. She formerly ran a family day care business for many years. She loves cooking, gardening and the outdoors. We have welcomed Shoba to St Michael's this week.

Parent Forum - School Refusal, School Can't & School Avoidance

This parent forum is being conducted online by the Victorian Parents Council. It will host a variety of professionals who will share information and strategies around school refusal, including 'school can't' and 'school avoidance'. These issues are increasing in schools across the nation and this forum aims to assist parents and educators in re-engaging students in education by exploring various alternatives.

Date: 6 August, 2024, 7-8.30pm, online. See below to register.

2024 School Fees and Levies

We wish to thank families who have recently paid their school fees and who continue their payment plans. If you are struggling to pay it off in large amounts, please remember we can make arrangements for you to pay in smaller instalments that can work for you. If you wish to arrange a payment plan, please contact Kathy Muhllechner in the school office or via email kathym@smashburton.catholic.edu.au

Term 3 Events - reminder

Over the next few weeks St Michael's will be engaging in a range of special events and celebrations. For many of these events we invite our children to dress up as part of the celebrations and to aid in their memory and understanding of the events. We understand that for some families this can be an added, anxiety-provoking experience, so we ask that you please keep things simple, no-fuss. Dress ups that are designed with what you have at home is all we ask as a way of your child participating. Please note the following on your calendar:

• Friday 2nd August - 100 Days of Prep Celebration - information about this will come home from classroom teachers.
• Wednesday 7th August - Olympics Cultural Colours Day - dress in colours representing your culture, country of birth, country of parents or grandparents birth.
• Wednesday 14th August - Bullying NO WAY, National Week of Action - Dress up as a Superhero - this can be as simple as a cape and / or a mask.
• Friday 23rd August - Book Week Dress Up Parade - This year's theme is Reading is Magicso anything relating to magic for this day is suitable. For ideas, google "book week 2024 dress up ideas" and remember, you can use things you already have at home to create a costume. Friday 23 August is also a Kinder Kids day - we invite any visitors to wear a "Magic" costume.

Helping to make school crossings safer for everyone. 

 Respect school crossing supervisors’ instructions.

 School Crossing Supervisors play a vitally important role in ensuring the safety of children and our wider community at our school crossings. They are carefully selected for these roles for their diligence toward safety and their passion for working with the community and with families.

• One blast of the supervisor’s whistle means stopping immediately.
• Two blasts of a whistle mean it is safe to cross.
• Students should not stand too close to the road while waiting to be instructed to cross by the supervisor.
• Students should keep together and walk quickly and directly to the opposite footpath.

Please note that school crossing supervisors do not have the authority to enforce parking restrictions. Their sole responsibility is assisting children to cross the road safely. 

Respect the road rules and parking signs

Illegal parking in a school zone is not only inconsiderate to other motorists, it threatens the safety of students. If our parking officers witness a motorist breaking any of the following traffic rules, they will issue them with a fine.

• Double-parking restricts the view of other drivers, obstructs traffic flow, and means children have to get out of the car onto the road. It also blocks the passage of any emergency vehicles that might need to pass.
• School crossings are there to ensure children cross the road safely. Parking within 20 metres before or 10 metres after a designated school crossing is illegal.
• The designated Kiss and Ride areas outside schools are No Parking, with a maximum two-minute standing time. This gives parents enough time to kiss and drop off/collect their kids before moving on to allow the next car to follow suit.
• School zone speed limits are clearly signposted and must be adhered to.

St Michael's Art Show

The Art Room has been a hive of busy artists over the past 2 terms and now the wait is finally over. I am thrilled to announce that Term 3 is here and that means the St Michael’s 2024 Art Show is nearly HERE!!!

Every student has worked extremely hard so far this year on preparing a variety of pieces for the Art Show. We can’t wait to share it all with you.

Each week we will be sharing with you one of the advertisements designed by some of our Year Five/Six students:

Annabelle S