From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

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

Prayer 

We look forward to this Saturday's celebration of Confirmation with our Year Six students and families at 1pm and 3pm. Please see our Religious Education section for more details. Together as a community we pray for the children receiving this Sacrament. We encourage families to join us in prayer using the Apostles Creed.

St Michael's School Production

An Aussie Adventure

An amazing time was had last week with St Micahels' first production on stage in quite a while! The excitement built as we entered the Crossway Baptist centre that morning for our practice day. Many students were nervous about the night but looked forward to their hard work coming to fruition. The students worked really hard in their rehearsals, along with Sally and Bec from ASPA who calmly moved through each number with gentle encouragement and ease. We are so delighted with the final product and after many playground conversations, so are the children. These experiences help prepare our children for so many life events where they need to step out of their comfort zones and challenge themselves in life. Many thanks again to their classroom teachers for the additional classroom practices held, no doubt repeated at homes in bedrooms and living rooms all over Ashburton! Thank you also to the two committees for your commitment and tenacity in bringing everything together. A wonderful evening for all!

Year Prep / One / Two Swimming Program

Next Monday, 16th October, our students in Years Prep, One and Two commence their Swimming program at Ashburton Pool and Recreation Centre. The swimming program is mapped and aligned with the Victorian Curriculum and students will receive acknowledgement of their engagement in the program. Please remember caps need to be worn with long hair or hair must be tied back. Please ensure all items of clothing are labelled clearly. Refer to Operoo for swimming times. Thank you to the many parents who offered to walk their child's class to the pool. Remember to bring a coat on rainy days as students will walk regardless of the weather.

End of Year Dates

All dates have now been entered into the calendar page so please check this page to coordinate with your own diaries.

Year Five / Six Public Speaking Program

Next Friday our Year Five / Six students will take part in a 2-hour public speaking program, led by Super Speak, a company which specialises in working with students in the areas of:

• Public Speaking
• Presentation skills
• Drama
• Communication

Super Speak bases their program on areas of the Australian curriculum to develop specific oracy skills. Building skills such as these will assist with students in various ways: presentations, oral assessments, interviews, debating and a range of drama based activities. We look forward to hearing about how the students in Year Five / Six enjoy the session and seeing them in action in the many events happening over the next few months!

Chess Sessions

St Michael's School is looking to arrange Chess Sessions for students who are interested in after school sessions. A trial class will be held before official sessions begin. Parents will be able to sign their child up to the trial class through a link. The trial class is free and is capped at 20 students in any age group. More information to come soon!

Lecky the Therapy Dog

You may recall last term we had a visit from Lecky the Therapy Dog at St Michael's School. Due to the popularity of the visits and the keen interest of students, Lecky will be visiting each Tuesday this term as we've been able to secure a little bit of wellbeing funding to make this happen. With the right training, dogs like Lecky can help to improve students' social and emotional skills, behaviour and overall wellbeing. Lecky and her owner / trainer, Lee Hunt, will be timetabled to be in every class throughout the term and parents will be able to greet Lecky on Tuesdays before school in the quadrangle.  We look forward to having her with us. 

Online Safety Information for Parents and Carers

The Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools (MACS) has sent information to principals highlighting online sessions which are provided by the eSafety Commissioner for parents and carers. These sessions are designed to help you understand what our children are doing and using online and how we can best keep them safe. I highly recommend you take advantage of this free webinar to keep yourself abreast of the latest information. Please note, you will need to register for this so please get onto it quickly.

St Michael's Parish, Excelsis Choir Concert

If you haven't already heard this amazing choir, it's well worth the time to attend the concert, being held here in our own St Michael's Church. Book online for tickets and be quick as they will sell out quickly! Click the image to access the link.

2024 Planning

I ask families to please refer to the last few newsletters regarding information about our planning for 2024. Arrangements about classes for 2024 will be commencing so if there are any details you require, all information is held in last week's / term's newsletters.

A significant amount of time and care goes into these arrangements so it's important to be aware of what we have shared with you. 

As noted previously, we are aware that some parents may have valid reasons to have input into the placement of their children for the forthcoming year. Should there be numerous requests from parents then the ability for staff to make positive and professional judgements for the best learning environments for our classes is compromised.  Given this, if parents have any relevant information that you believe is essential to the grade placement process, I invite you to make contact with Eloise Ellis eelliss@smashburton.catholic.edu.au or myself, Annie Herbison aherbison@smashburton.catholic.edu.au to share your thoughts for the 2024 year.  We will evaluate all requests and make a professional judgement on the placement of the child in question. Please note that the final decision must rest with the school in the interests of providing the best scenario for all students. 

Food at St Michael's School

Earlier this year our Student Representative Council noted the amount of rubbish often left in our quadrangle and as a staff team we discussed this last term. As one measure of reducing this, St Michael's students will now be given more time for eating inside their classrooms. Should students not finish what they need to eat in time, they are still welcome to take food outside, but will need to do so without any wrappings. We hope this helps to reduce rubbish found in our playground, also ensuring we are doing our bit for the environment!

School Closure day- Monday 6th November

Just a reminder that Monday 6th November will be a school closure day for staff assessment and reporting obligations. Please note that the following day, Tuesday 7th November, is the Melbourne Cup Day public holiday. 

NEXT ENHANCEMENT SESSION - Friday 10th November, 5-7pm

Confirming that Friday 10th November, 5-7pm, St Michael's will be holding our next School Enhancement session. We will be doing some clearing of the kitchen adjacent to the Supper room, as well as some garden maintenance. An Operoo will shortly be made available for this. Please mark this in your calendars.

School hats

Given the warm weather we have had in recent weeks, we will be requiring that children have their hats everyday in Term 4. If not, they will be asked to play only in undercover areas for their own health and safety. Please ensure your child has the correct school hat. 

Jump Rope for Heart at St Michael’s!

We’re skipping through the term!

Jump Rope for Heart is well underway and it’s great to see so many children out in the playground skipping with smiles on their faces. 

We have already raised $218 of our $500 goal.

It’s not long until our Jump Off Day in Term 4 so keep on practicing those tricks! And don’t forget to share your online fundraising page with friends and family to raise money for a great cause!

Still need to sign up online? It’s easy just follow this link and enter your details. www.jumprope.org.au/parents