TOMORROW - Final day of term, 3.30pm finish; Hot Dog day; Footy Colours Day; Year One/Two assembly, 2.40pm

Monday 7 October - Term 4 commences, 9am

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

Prayer

For Flowers That Bloom

For flowers that bloom about our feet;

For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;

For song of bird, and hum of bee;

For all things fair we hear or see,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee!

For blue of stream and blue of sky;

For pleasant shade of branches high;

For fragrant air and cooling breeze;

For beauty of the blooming trees,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee!

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Welcome Father Darien Sticklen

We take this opportunity to welcome Fr Darien Sticklen to St Michael's Parish, commencing Monday 23rd September (next week!). We are so excited to welcome him into our community and we look forward to celebrating together on Wednesday 9th October, at our first school mass with Fr Darien, for the Feast of St Michael. This mass will be held at 10am on 9th October and families are welcome to join us for this.

Mrs Herbison absent 7-14 October

Just a reminder that I will be away in the first week of Term 4 on the Camino pilgrimage. Please see Eloise Ellis with any urgent matters or your child's classroom teacher in my absence. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you upon my return.

I am so sorry that I will be absent for our special celebration of Confirmation this year on Saturday 12th October. This is such a special day for our children and families and I always enjoy celebrating this together. I will certainly pray for our children while I am away.

Footy Colours Day

Just a reminder that children are allowed to wear the colours of their favourite sporting team (AFL or other sport) tomorrow at school as a way of celebrating the upcoming AFL Grand Final. Students may wear beanies, scarves, tops, jumpers of their team or the colours that represent their team if they wish.

School Uniform Shop with Second Hand Uniform Sale and Parents / Carers Coffee Catch-Up

On Friday 18th October, the School Uniform shop will be open from 8.30am - 9.30am.

There is also a large range of good quality second hand uniform items for sale during this time.

After your purchase/s you will receive a token for a Coffee on behalf of the uniform shop which you can enjoy with other parents and carers.

PFA Major Social Event

If you haven't yet booked tickets for our community's Wild, Wild West social night, then get on board and book them soon. See details in our St Michael's PFA News section. This event is being held early next term - Friday 18th October. See you there!

Swimming 6-15 November, Prep to Year Two

As has been advertised in the Term Dates for some time, our Year Prep, One and Two classes will be attending the Ashburton Pool and Recreation Centre for swimming lessons from 6th November to 15th November. We will be calling for parents to support us by walking us to and from the pool on each swimming day so please check your calendars and lock us in! Details about swimming times for each class and how you can be a parent helper will come out early next term.

St Michael's Art Show

What an magical event was St Michael's Art Show last week! We were blessed with a magic afternoon of sunshine and a light breeze and to watch the throng of visitors roll into the gates at 2.30pm was simply sensational! Thank you to Emily B and Oliver M, our Arts Leaders, for their opening presentation and special thank yous to Lucy Crowe and Skylar Sahely, former students who created videos about their arts journeys for our children to watch last week! Great to see how our former students are travelling in this area!

With the doors opening at 2.45pm, many parents, grandparents, family members and friends eagerly entered the hub to see the wonderful works created by the students over these past seven months. Through visual arts lessons as well as some classroom work, the students presented a variety of artworks, with a focus on colour, texture, two and three dimensions and personal flair, displaying their inspirations and creativity. It was exciting to watch the children eagerly escort their visitors to their art works and those of others that they appreciated. A huge thank you to our artistic director and art teacher, Jess Fary, for her incredible organisational skills and the long term planning that went into this event. Thank you also to the many parents who supported Jess last week to erect the displays and showcase the works. Thank you to the staff also for the time and energy that went into their classroom pieces and bringing the art show together with Jess.

Thank you Rodney and Christy Howells for leading the bbq for the event, with wonderful support from Luke Bird, Kris Lim, Lauren Prior and Mick Allsop. There were lots of happy and satisfied children and parents after a long day at work and school!!

AFL 9x9 Regionals

Congratulations to our two teams who entered the inaugural AFL 9x9 SSV Regionals on Monday this week! Both our girls' team and our boys' team worked extremely hard throughout the five games they played against eight other schools in our region, each team winning two out of the five games each. This was an incredible effort, given that some of the students had never actually played AFL before! Thank you to Dan Prior who supported the team with two training sessions and Jordan Lo Ricco who led a training session the week leading up to the event. Being the only Catholic School in our district to partake in the event, I am extremely proud of the children's efforts and bravery this week. Thank you also to Charlotte Jones and Chris Place for supporting the teams on the day. I look forward to being invited to play again next year! Go St Michael's!

Girls team members: Emma P, Annabelle S, Anna R, Roberta C, Taylor H, Madi M, Evie P, Bettina T & Clare W

Boys team members: James A, Alex B, Leo E, Brayden F, Jay F, Raff H, Dom J, Dom P, Will R, Massi T & Zach T.

Prep 2025 Transition Program

Our Prep 2025 Transition program commences on Wednesday 16th October, 9-10am, which is the second week into Term 4. Families have been emailed the details of this program and we look forward to seeing you for this first session early in Term 4.

Term 4 - hats

A reminder to all our families to please search the house for school hats in readiness for Term 4. We ask that children please be wearing hats from the first day of term please, as we have already noticed some warmer days with high UV readings over these past few weeks.

Planning for 2025

As we are now commencing the planning of class structures for 2025, we ask that you please email Annie Herbison if your child will not be returning to St Michael's School next year. It is vital that we have this information as soon as possible, as from the commencement of term 4, a great deal of organisation and planning is involved in setting up the following year's classes, staffing, budgets etc. Thank you

Instrumental Lessons

Would your child like to learn violin next term? See the St Michael's School hours and Timetables section of our newsletter for details and receive a FREE lesson!

St Michael's PFA News

PFA NEWS:

St Michael's Fundraising Parent Social Event