From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

We wish you all a happy and safe holiday time together and look forward to seeing you again on 10th July for Term 3. Thank you for your wonderful input and support of the children and staff at St Michael's School.

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

Prayer of Gratitude

We have so much to be grateful for as we come to the close of the second term this year; thankful for our friends and family; for our staff, those leaving and those we are returning to St Michael's next term; for all that we have each day. 

We take time to thank God for all that we have and for teaching us to make the most of our special gifts.

St Michael's School Production

We are pleased to release the date of our School Production for 2023. More details about the location of the production and booking will be released early in term 3. Please keep the date free!

School Fees

Thank you to all families who have already paid school fees and are up to date with payments. Reminders have gone home this week and we ask you please to check when your next payment is due or please organise to make a payment as quickly as possible if you are overdue. Thank you

Maths Competition - an opportunity

The Australian Mathematics Competition is an engaging 30 problem competition that demonstrates the importance and relevance of mathematics in students’ everyday lives. It is designed to motivate, stimulate, and develop mathematically interested students in Years 3 to 10. If you are keen to find out more about this and potentially engage your child in this opportunity, read our Maths Monthly section for more details.

Year Five/Six Excursion ~ The Chinese Museum

This week our Year Five/Six students attended The Chinese Museum in Melbourne as part of their Inquiry into history this term. 

The Chinese came to Victoria in the 1850s for a better life and to pan for gold. Many of them had experience panning for gold in other places. They became like a family and took on different roles on the goldfields. Some mined for gold while others took care of the animals or cooked the food. When gold was found they split the money from the gold between everyone in the group.

We were shown the three dragons in the museum which help to celebrate new year. The oldest dragon is not used any longer. The youngest dragon is used to celebrate Chinese new year now. Four people fit inside the head and the head and tail together are between 40 and 50 metres long. 

~ Olivia B and Emily T

Kidly Winks Balloon Show

This morning all our Prep, One and Two students attended a special show put on by the Kidly Winks Children's Entertainment Group. The children have been writing narratives in class and Kidly Winks presented their own version of Fairy Tales with a twist, incorporating the art of balloon shaping. Lots of the children were invited to join in the role play and enjoyed the show.

Some reminders for Term 3

Opening Time / Bag Placement: 

As explained over the last two weeks in the newsletter, when we return from the holidays, classroom doors will be open from 8.45am, instead of 8.30am (gates still open from 8.30am). This week, we worked with our students to let them know where they will be able to place their school bags upon their arrival to school if it is before 8.45am. We have arranged for placement in the undercover areas around the quadrangle. Classroom teachers will meet students on their safety lines at 8.45am and accompany students to the room after collecting their bags. Hopefully this will be a smooth transition to the change for everyone.

Assemblies:

These will take place on Mondays instead of Fridays (see below for the timetable) due to production practice taking place every Friday in term 3.

Sports Uniforms:

As we will be practising for our production every Friday, students may wear sports uniforms on Fridays as well as on their PE day (see Deputy Principal news for Specialist days)

Term 3 Kinder Kids Reading sessions

With the wonderful feedback we have had about our Kinder Kids Reading sessions this term, we are excited to announce dates for Term 3. These sessions are for all 3 and 4 year old children at kinder. They will meet with our Year 5 students and enjoy some reading together and some fun activities in our school library. Please bring along your friends!

DATES:

Thursday 13th July, 8.50-9.45am

Friday 25th August, 8.50-9.45am 

Grandparents and Special Friends Day

We welcome all our students to invite their grandparents or a special friend to celebrate with us on Thursday 27th July, from 1.00-3.30pm. This is one of St Michael's much anticipated and most enjoyed events of the year so we hope you are able to join with us, even for a short part of the session. See the details here below and an RSVP will be made available through Operoo. We look forward to see everyone there!

Parent / Teacher / Student Conversations

Year One/Two Red Parent / Teacher Conversations are occurring TODAY in the library from 1.30pm. See Operoo for details for this class. Days and times for ALL interviews have been communicated through Operoo last week. Please check you class details.

Thursday 13th July (NEXT TERM)

ALL classes will finish at 12.00 noon on this day to enable Parent / Teacher / Student Conversations to go ahead in the Hub

Thursday 20th July (NEXT TERM)

Three/Four B Mrs Des Harding & Miss Sam Isaacson in the library (All classes will continue until 3.30pm)

One/Two B Miss Caitlin O'Donnell in the library (All classes will continue until 3.30pm)

Currently, our students and their teachers are developing individual goals as a focus for future learning. These goals will be based on information and data collected about the students' learning progression over these first two terms of the school year. Students will present their goals to parents at our upcoming Conversations and include ways that they will help themselves to move forward and what you can do to help too! 

This week, times for Physical Education and Visual Arts Specialist classes were opened up and communicated through Operoo. We will not be able to hold Parent/Teacher conversations for the learning areas of Mandarin and Science as the teachers in these areas conclude their time at St Michael's at the end of this week. There will be opportunity for parents to meet with Ms Lily Luo and Mrs Charlotte Allan at a later date in Term Three.

Staffing for Term 3

As noted in the last few weeks' newsletters, Miss Alex Terzakis will be leaving St Michael's at the end of this term. We welcome Mr Owen Mahoney and Mrs Rose Wray-McCann to work in One/Two Red for the remainder of this year. Owen has worked at St Michael's for the past few years as a Learning Support Officer and Rose has extensive experience in teaching, both as a classroom and specialist teacher.

We also welcome Ms Nyree Masterson as a new Learning Support Officer, who will be working three days per week from the beginning of next term. Nyree has worked at St Michael's School throughout term 2 as an emergency LSO and we are pleased to have her join us on staff.

An updated list of classroom teachers and Learning Support Officers has been provided here for your reference.

Student Semester 1 Reports

Just a reminder that student reports were available to parents on the Nforma portal on Tuesday this week. If you have had any issues with accessing your child's report, please email the school office for assistance with this.

Prep Parents Social Night

Last Friday evening, the Prep parents met at Oydis for their Term 2 social gathering. There was a great turnout at the event, with over 30 parents in attendance! It was a great opportunity for everyone to get to know each other better, especially for the families who are new to the school. A great time was had by all who came along! 

Assembly

Congratulations to all students who received an award at last week's assembly. Great to see the efforts you are making.

Coco C, Jeremy B, Claire R, Alessia L, Charlotte K, Leo C, Srinya N, Patty P, Zoe L, Alyssa S, Jordy C, Natalie B, Blanca J, Poppy W, Elise D, Jess B, Darcy B

Art of the week winners

Sloane M (Prep) and Mali O (Five/SixG)