From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

As we head deeper into Lent, leading us into this special season of the church year, Easter, we take time to reflect and pray for guidance.

Plant in us, Lord, seeds of solidarity, 

so that, rejoicing in your gifts, we may cherish your presence 

in each other and all creation.

Root us, Lord, in compassion and justice. 

Pour your Spirit down like gentle rain, 

softening our hearts,

washing away division and selfishness.

Cultivate in us, Lord,  attentiveness to your call. 

Give us hope to dream of a better world and strength to play our part

to make it a reality. 

Grow in us, Lord, your ways of peace and courage, 

so that in this time of Lent,

we may bear witness to your love,

revealed to us in Jesus.

Amen.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Congratulations to all our students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. We were blessed to have Fr Laurence and two supporting priests at St Michael's Church last night who guided the children in receiving this Sacrament. After completing their time with Father, the children were encouraged to say a prayer, then reflect on ways they can show forgiveness to others. Thank you to the Year Three/Four classroom teachers for their work in preparing the students and for being there last night to support them and families: Mrs Desiree Harding, Miss Samantha Isaacson, Mrs Deanna Imbriano, Miss Bianca Toldi. Thank you also to Mrs Rachael Lo Ricco for her organisation of the faith nights, the Sacrament last night and for overseeing the program.  See more about this special celebration in our Religious Education section of the newsletter.

St Michael's Holy Week Liturgies

We invite all our families to attend the Holy Week Liturgies at St Michael's Church. Attendance at these will help to cement our children's understanding of these special events in our Catholic calendar, which is a focus in their Religious Education learning during Lent.

Year 6 Leadership

It has been a great pleasure to be working with the various leadership teams we have here at St Michael's School. This week again, the Sustainability Leaders were eager to remind us all about Nude Food and had lots of other ideas to share. Our Art Leaders are doing amazing work in encouraging students to submit their artworks for review in readiness for this week's assembly. They have taken the liberty of purchasing some stickers to give to students who have submitted works. Some students in Years 4 and 5 had some great conversations with me about their thoughts for the top courts and began to plan some ideas for what they would like to see. Our SRC group has so many ideas for what we can do to make St Michael's the best we can, which they have shared with their classes. It has been such an encouraging term and I'm so grateful to have such open minded and forward thinking students with which to work. So many plans. So little time!!!

Harmony Day

What a fabulous day we had last Friday with our Harmony Day celebrations! It was wonderful to see so many students and staff arrive in the colours or costumes from their culture. We really went all out to find items which connected to our culture. The students engaged in an incursion during the day which immersed them in the South American culture, learning some of the greetings, wearing some of the colours and doing some art activities. See here for more details and photos.

Staffing

We inform families of another slight change to our staffing. Ms Josie Ferraro was recently appointed to St Michael's office for three days per week and has been working Wednesdays in there for the past three weeks. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Josie is not able to continue in the role here and we have since appointed Mrs Louise Story, one of our long serving Learning Support Officers (LSO), to the position. Louise has had previous experience in Administration and certainly knows the students and processes at St Michael's very well. Louise will continue as an LSO for two days per week (Mondays and Thursdays) and will take up the Administration role for three days per week (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays). We wish Louise well in this new endeavour for her.

Today Mr Paul Mitchell joined the staff to commence induction at St Michael's School. Paul takes over from Mrs Lyn O'Brien in Five/Six B, who will be going on maternity leave from Term 2. Paul spent time planning with Lyn, meeting some of the leaders and spent some time with the students. We wish Paul all the best for his start here next term.

Soccer Clinics for students with LIVERPOOL FC

Term 2 - Salesian College is offering after school soccer clinics for ALL students, aged 6-16 years. Check it out in our community sectionSt Michael's Enhancement Session

St Michael's Enhancement Session last Saturday

Thank you to all the parents who attended last Saturday's School Enhancement Session. The painting works that were completed in the stairwell near the art room, the entrance to the hub and the Year 5/6 classroom doors have given them all a much needed lift.  We were also able to level the soft fall at the biggie playground which helps to keep our children safe when falls happen. Thank you

Our next Enhancement Session is due to be held on Saturday 20th May, 9.00-11.00am. Dates for Enhancement Sessions can be found on our school website in the Community section and have been added to the School Hours / Timetable section of our newsletter. Dates / times may need to be changes due to the needs of the school at the time, however I will endeavour to give as much notice about a change as possible.

Enhancing Catholic SchooI Identity (ECSI) surveys

Every four years our staff, parents and students are asked to complete surveys around how our Catholic identity is viewed in the community. As part of our School Improvement Review process, these surveys assist us in accomplishing the goal of understanding our current Catholic identity and where the school community might like to see itself in the future. Your thoughts in this area are essential in helping us understand what we are currently doing to promote our Catholic Identity at St Michael's and will support and guide us in our future actions. Can I please ask parents to consider completing the survey when you have the opportunity before Friday 28th April (after the school holidays). Thank you

Anyone who is available, we have a coffee cart coming next Thursday 6th April, from 2pm, before the Easter Egg raffle, and will have computers available in the library if you'd like to take this time to complete the survey. Your time would be greatly appreciated. 

Change of Year 6 Assembly

Please note that we have needed to make a change of dates for our Year 6 Assembly that is happening in December. It was scheduled and advertised for Friday 8th December, but will now take place on Thursday 7th December. Please make this change in your home calendars.

Class Contact Lists

Last week we sent home class contact lists in hard copy form to all families who gave permission through the Google form sent via Operoo. These lists are issued to support families to connect with each other. We would encourage you to take the opportunity of these upcoming holidays to meet with other families at the local park or arrange playdates at home to facilitate friendships between your children and also amongst yourselves. These connections help children strengthen friendships which begin in the classroom or playground. Many times I have overheard parents say that the friendships they forged with families through their children's Primary School have been friends for life.

Great to see some groups have already made arrangements for catch ups in their year levels.

2024 Prep Enrolments

HAVE YOU ENROLLED YOUR CHILD FOR PREP 2024? If you have a child ready for Prep 2024, we encourage you to please put in an enrolment form as soon as you are able. This will help us with organisation purposes. To access an enrolment form:

• Drop into the school office to collect one
• Email office@smashburton.catholic.edu.au and ask for a form to be sent home
• Visit the Enrolment section of our school website and download a form

School Closure - Monday 24th April

As has been notified in previous newsletters, Monday 24th April will be a closure day for St Michael's School. This is the first day of term 2 as well as the day before a public holiday, ANZAC day. Our Professional Learning focus for this day will be around the Mathematics curriculum. We have been given a grant through Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools this year to spend on professional learning and resources in this curriculum area. More details about this will be shared in future newsletters.

Unfortunately Extend has notified me that they are unable to provide childcare on this date. We apologise for any inconvenience and will inform parents if there are any local services operating on this date.

St Michael's Easter raffle

We welcome all families to be present for our special assembly on Thursday 6th April (final day of term 1) at 2.45pm in the Hub where the PFA will lead us to draw the Easter Raffle. We have a special visitor hopping in to visit on that afternoon too. See here for more details.

From 2pm next Thursday 6th April, we will also have a coffee cart available on the top court for parents who wish to come a little earlier and spend some time socialising before the Easter Raffle and the holidays. 

Additionally, if you wish, we will have computers available in the library at that time if you would also like to complete the Enhancing Catholic S... Identity surveys that are issued every four years to all Catholic School. It would help us enormously if you're able to complete one of these on this day OR at home when you have the opportunity. 

Nude Food at St Michael's

Again our Year 6 Sustainability Leaders have encouraged the students at St Michael's to remember Nude Food Days. Great to see how committed they are to promoting this sustainably thinking!

Whole School End of Term Park Play!

To celebrate the End of Term, our Class Reps have arranged a Whole School End of Term Park Play. 

Last day of term: Thursday 6 April, after school, From 3.45pm-4.45pm

At Markham Reserve. See flyer below.

Holiday fun

Are you looking for something fun to do over the holidays with the children? Check out what Salesian College has on offer for both girls and boys at their Bosco campus in our Community Section.

Student awards - Friday 17th March

Congratulations to these students who received an assembly award on Friday 17th March. Keep up the great work! - Lucas E, IsaacB, Ben S, Ben T, Isabelle M, Charlie P, Jay F, Rashwin L, Kiaan A, Milla K, Maxen M, Aaliyah G, Holly G, Kristin H, Darragh T, Ruby K, Zane F and Leo G 

Assemblies

Assembly dates for 2023:

Open Days