Mission and Religious Education
Jacquelene Cronin
Assistant Principal - Mission
Mission and Religious Education
Catholic Mission - Socktober - Crazy Sock Day Fundraiser
Today at St Michael’s we put our best ‘feet’ forward, for Crazy Sock Day and raised $122.80 for Catholic Mission’s ‘Socktober’ fundraiser. Catholic Mission is the Pope’s international Mission agency in Australia. It is focused on ‘Love of God and Love of Neighbour’ and they work with communities across the world, with a number of projects including healthcare, education and spiritual care. This year’s focus country is Mongolia.
We also made ‘sock balls’ in solidarity with many in low-income countries who make or have made their own sock balls to play with. Pope Francis recalls making sockballs to play soccer with and in 2015 Pope Francis initiated ‘Sport at the Service of Humanity’ to inspire and encourage people to “Live Like We Play!” With joy, respect, compassion, balance, enlightenment and love.
Real Talk
On Monday 28 October St Michael’s students in Years 4 and Year 6 will be engaged in sessions with Real Talk. Real Talk is a company engaged by CSO Armidale to provide information sessions for students in Year 4 and Year 6. The module for Year 4 is the Digital World Online which is focused on cybersafety and cyberbullying and the module for Year 6 is Love and Life which is focused on self-worth, the impact of the media, friendship and body language.
Real Talk’s Parent Membership Site
Real Talk have sent the following communication for staff and families.
You (and your community) can gain access here https://realtalkparents.com/armidale. Valued at $49 it is FREE this year for your staff and families as part of our working relationship with Real Talk. Real Talk Parents Membership Site is a quality resource bank in the area's of eSafety, relationships and sex education. I'm sure many in your community will be helped and supported by accessing this resource in fostering Catholic values, resilience, and relationship success. So please encourage your parents and caregivers to take advantage of this Parent's Membership Site - because parenting doesn't come with an instruction manual!
School Mass - All Saints Day
On Friday 1 November K-6 will go to Mass at 9.30am to celebrate All Saints Day. On All Saints Day we remember all of those who live good and holy lives and are now with God in Heaven. Some of these are well known Saints to us like St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and many are unknown.
All Souls Day
Saturday 2 November is All Souls Day, when we remember and pray for all those who have died.
Australian Catholics
A copy of the Summer edition of Australian Catholics has been sent home today. This edition has information focused on understanding other faiths as well as the Catholic faith.
Connecting With Our Parish
Weekend Mass Times
We encourage all of our families to celebrate Sunday Mass with our parish.
Manilla Parish Mass Times
1st Sunday of the month - Sunday 8.30am
2nd, 3rd & 4th Sunday of the month - Saturday 5.00pm
Attunga Mass Times
2nd, 4th & 5th Sunday of the month - Sunday 12 noon
Living Well, Learning Well - Pastoral Care and Wellbeing
Legends of the Light Shine
Our new Legends of the Light Shine focus for Weeks 3 and 4 of Term 4 is “Compassion”. This focus compliments Catholic Mission’s Socktober focus for the month of October and encourages us all to have compassion for others.
We encourage our students to show compassion in word and action.
The Australian Conservation Foundation is encouraging communities to get involved with The Platy Project. The platy-project encourages community members to log online when and where they have spotted platypus in an effort to understand the platypus more and prevent further declines in their numbers.
On Tuesday 22 October students in Years 3 and 4 participated in a platypus spotting project organised by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Tamworth Regional Landcare Association with Dr Gilad Bino from the University of Sydney. Dr. Bino, a renowned expert in platypus ecology, guided the students through the process of spotting and monitoring platypus populations, offering valuable insights into their habitat and conservation needs. Our students were very attentive and full of questions for Dr , with many recounting their own experiences of spotting platypus in our local area. Below is a photo of some of our students in Dr Bino’s platypus net as he explains to the students how he catches platypus and then gathers important information about the platypus before releasing them back into the wild.
At St Michael’s we are very passionate about caring for the environment and all of the people, animals and plants and we encourage everyone who has spotted platypus recently to go to the The Platy Project website and record these sightings, as we work together to look after this very cute and uniquely Australian animal.
“Let Your Light Shine” support others to let their light shine and remember “We Shine Brighter Together”
Jacquelene Cronin
Assistant Principal - Mission