Message from the Principal

Birthdays

Congratulations to the following students who have celebrated birthdays in the recent holidays and during last week. We hope everyone had a fabulous time on your special day.

Evie Lendon, Pippa Duff, Jack Aurisch, Maicee-Grace Elliott, Jaden Hancock and Farrer Burke.

Awards

Merit Certificates

Nulla Gillon - great work in Mathematics. Keep up the fantastic work Nulla!

Clancy Burrows -  a brilliant start to Term 4. Well done Clancy!

Adelaide Coleman - fantastic work during Art. Clever work Adelaide!

Gemma Beattie - excellent effort in the classroom. Keep up the great work Gemma.

Legends of the Light Shine Award - 

Tobie Weekes, Eloise Trotter, Connor Shepherd, Angus Dillon, Evie Lendon

  (Merit Awards)

(Legends of the Light Shine Awards)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 4. The year has certainly moved quickly and this Term will be no exception I’m sure. We have a multitude of activities planned and the attached calendar will give an outline of these. We still have some final dates to confirm regarding end of year events, but this will be completed in the upcoming week.

Last week, Jesse George, one of our fabulous Aboriginal Education Workers, attended the NSW Catholic Schools’ Aboriginal Education Conference hosted by the Parramatta Catholic Diocese. Jesse had a wonderful time working with Aboriginal Educators not only from the Armidale Diocese but from the many Catholic Diocese across  NSW. The Diocese of Armidale will host the next NSW Catholic Schools’ Aboriginal Education Conference in 2025.

This coming Sunday, some students in Years 5 and 6 will be confirmed by Bishop Kennedy. The Confirmation Mass commences at 10.00 a.m on Sunday in St Michael’s Parish Church. This week, the students will participate in a number of activities in final preparation for this important Sacrament, including joining with students from St Joseph's Barraba on Tuesday for a retreat. Thanks to Jacqueline Cronin, Isabella Rasche and Father Curran for working with the children as they prepare. A huge thankyou also to the children who have volunteered their time to be part of the Choir for the day, to help make this an extra special event.

On Wednesday, Cathy Shepherd, Jacqueline Cronin, Amanda McNair and myself will travel to St Nicholas School in Tamworth to work with staff from St Joseph's Quirindi and St Joseph's West Tamworth as we present our Annual Improvement Plan Review for 2022. It’s always great to hear what other schools are doing in the education space and we will begin our initial planning for the 2023 school year. We look forward to a wonderful day of collegial planning with our colleagues from other schools within the Diocese of Armidale.

Our Playgroup has reconvened for the Term. It was wonderful to see some new faces and we look forward to welcoming everyone again at 9.15 this Thursday for an hour of fun and friendship. All children aged 0-5 are most welcome to attend. Morning tea is provided. Thanks again to staff member Renae Catlett for coordinating this great community event.

On Friday, we will have the first of our transition to Kindergarten mornings commencing at 9.00 a.m. in the Kindergarten classroom. We have a wonderful cohort of students enrolled to commence at St Michael’s in 2023 and we are looking forward to a morning of fun activities with them on Friday. Our parent information night for Kindergarten 2023 is scheduled for November 2 commencing at 5.30 in the Kindergarten classroom.  

A reminder that all students are required by law to be at school everyday unless there is a reasonable excuse. A reminder also, that school shoes are required to be worn on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. These are to be plain black with the correct colour and style of socks please. Uniform items for St Michael’s can be purchased from Budden’s Hardware. 

Last week, we farewelled Dustin Sing from our Year 3 cohort. Dustin is now enrolled at Manilla Central School and will commence there at the end of the month, following a family holiday. We wish Dustin all the best as he continues his education journey. 

Enjoy a fabulous week,

Bronwyn Underwood

PRINCIPAL