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. 

Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for guiding us all on our way. We thank you that again and again you have led us through the darkness on a path of light. 

May our hearts turn to you and be filled with quiet certainty in all we are still awaiting. Remember us and remember the many who are suffering. Bring the light to those who are in darkness. 

We ask for your guidance and protection, through Jesus, your Son. 

Amen.

Feast of Assumption Celebration

Thursday 18th May, 10am. 

All families are welcome to attend the Feast of the Assumption Parish mass with our students on this date. 

Welcome Mrs Sue Carmichael

With Louise Story moving into the Administration position for three days per week, we have been fortunate to onboard Mrs Sue Carmichael in the capacity of Learning Support Officer (LSO). Sue has had extensive experience working with students with a variety of learning, behavioural and social/emotional needs and has planned learning programs alongside staff with whom she has worked. With a Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Certificate 3 in Children's Services, Sue comes to us highly recommended and with a vast array of skills. We welcome her to St Michael's on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Please join with me in making Sue feel welcome.

Continued Professional Development

Last week we commenced our focussed professional learning in the Maths curriculum as part of our Closure Day. This week, Rachael Lo Ricco (Maths Leader) met with individual year level teams to further this learning. We took the time to explore and exchange our understandings of five professional reading documents based on current research in teaching Mathematics. Much of the research focuses on allowing students to engage in a range of open ended problems, giving opportunities for students to apply different strategies to solving problems and then discussing the range of strategies that are used within the classroom. We also discussed the need to ‘enable’ some students and to ‘extend’ some students, differentiating the learning to meet the various levels of understanding within our classrooms. 

Our next steps in the process will be to arrange time for our level teams to plan, implement and reflect on this approach. A fabulous week of learning for our staff. Thank you to Rachael for your work in leading us in this area.

Enrolment Information Session

We held this session last night for parents of children who are due to commence Prep in 2024. It was an excellent opportunity for parents to come and hear about our approach to leaning and our various programs at St Michael's School. A huge thanks goes out to our Year 6 ICT Leaders for their organisation of the tech for the night and our School Leaders who presented information about our Specialist Programs. A great opportunity for these leaders to hone their skills! Thank you also to Eloise Ellis, Sam Isaacson and Ally Panas for their input to the presentation, and to Jess Fary, Maryna Tsikhanenka and Ann Lagreca for preparing the room with works from their specialist areas.

St Michael's Cross Country - Year 3-6 

Monday 15th May, all students in years three to six will be involved in our St Michael's community Cross Country event. Students may wear their sports uniform on this day. A path will be set out for the students to follow and staff will be stationed around the track to support and encourage students along the way. Students will then be selected from their performance in our local event to enter the District Cross Country event, occurring on Tuesday 23rd May. Your child will receive notification about this if they have been successful. We wish all students well.

Upcoming Enhancement Session

On Saturday 20th May, from 9.00-11.00am, we will be holding our next School Enhancement Session. In this session we will be working on the following tasks:

• Trimming bushes / trees
• Cleaning the grey brick wall near the Supper room
• Spreading the softfall under the biggie
• Trimming trees along the back fence / mending the fence

We ask that you please bring with you: gardening gloves, secateurs, sheers / pruning tool, metal brush, metal scraper, hammer.

If anyone has a hedge trimmer which you are happy to bring and use yourself, please let Annie Herbison know. Thank you

Details for signing up will come through Operoo. Please keep the date free.

Summer-Winter uniform

As per our Operoo notice this week, with the weather changing almost daily from very warm to cold, at this stage of the term you may make the choice as to the most appropriate uniform for your children to wear. A reminder please not to mix elements of both uniforms (eg stockings with Summer dress) or dress the children in "non-uniform" long sleeved tops underneath short sleeved shirts or dresses. Other warm items under shirts which can't be seen may be an option here.

Beginning Monday 29th May, we will ask for all students to be dressed in full Winter uniform until later in the year. 

We look forward to welcoming 3 and 4 year old kinder children to our Kinder Kids Reading Sessions. Please tell your friends and neighbours and please also bring along a friend from your child's kinder! Many of our students will be involved in preparing for and taking part in these sessions:

Year Six students - Serving refreshments to parents while children are reading

Year Five students - Reading with Kinder Kids

Year Four students - Baking sweet refreshments for parents and kinder kids

Year Three students - Selecting picture books to read and making small gifts for the Kinder Kids

It's a whole community affair! See you there.

Hands On Music Program

Are you aware that your child can learn an instrument while at school? The Hands On Music program has trained teachers who teach a variety of instruments during the school day. Lessons can be taken during school hours, or, if parents prefer, during recess breaks or after school. See the flier for more details and the options of some FREE lessons here.

Media Arts and Music programs

We look forward this term to working with our students in the areas of Media Arts and Music and being able to share our learning with parents as the term progresses. As part of our History Inquiry during Term 2 we will investigate ways we can retell stories from our history with the use of modern technology. We look forward to making use of our Black Box theatre and the capabilities of the green screen and digital technologies to create visual representations of our learning. We will also be incorporating Music into our inquiry learning this term, responding and interpreting to music particularly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

Staff Retreat & Professional Learning - Closure Days Term 2 

Tuesday 13th June & Wednesday 14th June (after King's Birthday Long Weekend)

As you would no doubt be aware, Catholic Schools are given four days of the school year during which they undertake Professional Learning for the staff. These days are vital in that we are continually able to keep abreast of the latest research and developments in Education, in order that we can offer our students the best possible learning. 

Next term, St Michael's Staff will undertake two days of Spiritual Development and Professional Learning in the area of Religious Education. These days will be held on Tuesday 13th June & Wednesday 14th June.  We will be taking time to unpack some of the Gospels, delving deeper into how we can work with our students in making connections with these Gospels and our daily living. We will also take some time for our own spirituality, aligning our beliefs with the Eucharist, again making connections with this Sacred Sacrament and our daily lives. 

We hope that selecting the two days following the King's birthday this year, enables families to enjoy some time together over the long weekend and possibly have the chance to lengthen your long weekend if possible.

We have informed Extend of these dates and will inform parents about the availability for child minding onsite.

We thank you in anticipation of your support for the staff development programs along with your continued support for the St Michael's school community. 

Crossing High Street Safely

Last term I was notified that a number of families/children have been crossing High Street and not waiting for the whistle. As a number of cars on this day had continued through a red light we would like to remind our families of how dangerous this can be. We ask families to please remind children about crossing safety and to also set this example when we as adults cross with children. The reason for the whistle is to indicate that it's fully safe to cross the road.

Enhancing Catholic SchooI Identity (ECSI) surveys

LAST OPPORTUNITY

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

Survey Access Code: v53S54 (case sensitive)

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

Open Days