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

Prayer for Children Preparing for First Eucharist

Heavenly Father,

We come before You with humble hearts, thankful for the gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and for the precious Sacrament of the Eucharist. 

As our children prepare to receive this holy sacrament for the first time, we ask for Your abundant blessings upon them.

Lord, guide these young hearts as they come to understand the profound mystery and grace of the Eucharist. 

Open their minds to the teachings of Jesus and fill their spirits with a deep sense of reverence and love for Your presence in this sacrament.

Grant them the wisdom to appreciate the beauty and significance of the Eucharist, the courage to embrace their faith fully, and the joy to celebrate this sacred occasion with a pure and grateful heart. May their preparation be a time of spiritual growth and deepening of their relationship with You.

Bless their parents, teachers, and all who are guiding them on this journey. Give them the strength and wisdom to nurture these children in faith, providing them with the support and encouragement they need.

Jesus, You welcomed the little children with open arms, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14) We entrust these children to Your loving care. May they always find joy and peace in Your presence.

We pray that this preparation period will be a time of blessing for our whole community, strengthening our faith and bringing us closer together in Your love.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

Amen.

St Michael's Women's Brunch

I am greatly looking forward to our upcoming Women's Brunch this Sunday from 10am in the Hub. Be ready with your active wear as we are going to have the opportunity to relax, stretch and spend time together. See you there!

The organisers are very excited about this year's Women's Brunch. This year, they are fundraising for Domestic Violence Charity ' White Ribbon'. For those attending, please bring some coins to buy raffle tickets. If you aren't attending, but would like to contribute to the amount raised, please contact Emma Quick or Liz Fida or email pfa@smashburton.catholic.edu.au

Prep 2025 Enrolments

Have you got a child starting Prep next year?

     Have you completed their enrolment form?

          Have you submitted the form to St Michael's                         School office?

We are currently arranging meetings for all families who have a child commencing Prep in 2025 so if you have not yet notified us of a sibling starting in 2025, please submit your application form as soon as possible.

Eucharist Reflection Day

As successful day was had by all at our Eucharist reflection day. The students were able to meet with local Parish children who are also receiving the Eucharist for the first time and they were able to delve deeply into the meaning of this Sacrament.

No doubt all our families are busily working on their banners for this special occasion. We ask that all banners are please returned to Mr Ray Hickey through the school office no later than Wednesday 29th May (next week). This will give us enough time to have the banners up and ready in the church for Saturday 1st June and Sunday 2nd June celebrations.

Neurodivergence FREE Information session

Advanced Psychology, a provider of psychology services now at St Michael's School, is conducting a free evidence-based info session on Wednesday 29th May at 10 am or 4 pm over Zoom focusing on Neurodivergence - Autism and ADHD. The workshop is for any parent or other professional who may want to find out more about the presentation and what to do next if wanting to explore an assessment.

The info session is 20 minutes plus 10 minutes allocated for Q&A at the end of the presentation. This session is open to all people but will be most relevant to those querying whether someone close to them or their child is neurodivergent.

The learning aims of the session include: 

·       Understand ADHD, Autism, and AuDHD 

·       Understand what an 'internalised presentation' is and how that relates to upper     primary school age children

·       Things to consider and the steps of getting a diagnosis/formal assessment  

The session will be completed as an online seminar format. The workshop will be recorded. 

In order to join the session email admin@advancedpsychology.net stating your full name, email, referral source, phone number and which session you would prefer – 10 am or 4 pm. Note that each session is capped at 100 participants and registration is open until all spots have been filled or by Tuesday 28th May at 4 pm.

Kinder Kids Session 1

Last week we held our first Kinder Kids session for 2024 with a STEM focus. We read the story, Let's Build a House, then used a range of materials to do exactly that. We talked about all the elements needed to construct a house, then had a go with our Year Five helpers, who then read the Kinder Kids a story at the end. Thank you to the Year 4s for making the delicious apricot slice for us! We also loved the St Michael's fliers that we got to take home. We are looking forward to the next session coming up on Friday 14th June at 9am in the school library. 

Personal Digital Devices

As you would be aware, some of our students bring their mobile devices to school as they are required to make contact with their parents in transit. The pracitce at St Michael's has been to place these items into their school bags between 9am and 3.30pm each day as one of our risk management strategies. As we are noticing an increase in these types of devices, many of which are also costly, as a staff we discussed another process for how to store them safely during the school day.

Books and Bubbles night

Have you heard about our Books and Bubbles night?? If not, check it out in our Literacy News section of the newsletter. See you there!

Hoop Time practices

The students in Years Three to Six have been steadily and faithfully practising their basketball skills at every opportunity. This week we have cleared the top court at three separate play times to allow space and time for practice and we thank the many parents who have been able to assist with coaching at these sessions. 

Year Three/Four Hoop Time - Wednesday 5th June

Year Five/Six Hoop Time - Wednesday 12th June

Good luck to all!

Bracelets for the RSPCA

Thank you again to Peta, Jenna and Saisha, AND Sophia and Anna who I accidentally omitted last week! There were many requests to please hold the stall again the following day and it was a huge success. The girls raised a total of $110 which will go towards funding the work of the RSPCA.

National Simultaneous Storytime 2024

A wonderful annual event, National Simultaneous Storytime is an opportunity for the whole nation to share an Australian story at the same time. This year it was Bowerbird Blues, which follows the journey of a bowerbird on his quest for all things blue, all the while feeling that there is something amiss in his life. This story invites us to think about the environmental challenges in our nation. 

Mosaics in the Quadrangle

No doubt some of you have noticed that our beautiful mosaic displays in the quadrangle, underneath the stairs, are in dire need of repair. Can you help???

If you have equipment, skills, creativity or any artistic flare and could give us a hand in removing or repairing any of this area, please make contact with Annie Herbison in the school office. We would love for the children to be involved in this as much as possible as well.

TheirCare Out of Hours Care

As noted earlier this week via Operoo, our Out of Hours Care program will be switching to TheirCare from Monday 15th July, the beginning of Term 3. We will be holding an information evening for any parents wishing to attend to find out a little bit more about the program on Thursday 13th June, 6.15pm in the Support Room. More details about booking in for TheirCare are in the attached flier below.

St Michael's School Year Six, 1983 Reunion

In 1983, the top five songs were:

The 1983 Grade 6 class at St Michael's Primary School were superstars too and it's time for a 40 year reunion!!  

So if you, or somebody you know, was a Grade 6 graduate of St Michaels, Ashburton in 1983, we would like to hear from you to organise a reunion to reflect, celebrate and make fun of each other!  Contact Gian Sberna (gian.sberna71@gmail.com) or John Bresolin (johnbresolin78@gmail.com) to let us know if you'd like to join us to relive the days of awesome music, questionable hairstyles and past glories.