From the Principal
PLEASE RETURN ALL TAKE HOME READERS AND LIBRARY BOOKS IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO
Final day of school for students - Wednesday 18th December, 3.30pm
Carols tonight on the tennis courts, 5.30pm start (sausages from 4.30pm)
Please note that weekly Parish mass times will now be located each week on our School Hours / Timetable page in our newsletter.
Prayer
Third Week of Advent
Advent
A Prayer for the Third Week of Advent
The third week is known as Gaudate Week - Rejoice - focusing on JOY as we prepare for Jesus' coming.
God of Peace and Joy,
As we light the pink candle of joy,
we are reminded of the angel’s message:
"Do not be afraid; I bring you good news of great joy for all people."
May our hearts be filled with Your joy, even amidst challenges,
As we await the celebration of Christ's birth.
Help us to see Your light in the world
And to reflect Your love and kindness to those around us.
Give us the grace to rejoice always,
Knowing that Emmanuel—God with us—is near.
Prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus anew,
That we may live as people of hope, peace, and joy.
In the name of Your Son,
Our Savior and King.
Amen.
Christmas mass times, St Michael's Church
We welcome all our families to attend any of the mass times over the Christmas period at St Michael's Church. What a great opportunity for our children to experience the wonder of Christmas at mass on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day!
Tuesday, 24th December 2024
4:00 pm Christmas Eve Mass
6:30 pm Christmas Eve Mass
10:30 pm Carol Service
11:00 pm Mass of Christmas Midnight
Wednesday, 25th December 2024
10:30 am Christmas Day Mass
Wednesday, 1st January 2025
10:00 am Mass, The Solemnity of Mary Holy Mother of God
Ashburton Street Festival
Many of you will recall the event held in February this year with the hugely successful St Michael's Cakes and Snow Cones stall!! What a wonderful event it was and great to see some of our students on the stage performing to the wider community. Again in 2025 we need a volunteer committee to run the stall. The date is Sunday, February 23rd which is only a few weeks into Term 1. We have parents in our school who have previously organised the stall who are more than happy to support you with it. Get a team of parents in your year level together, or even just two of you to start the process going.
See Annie Herbison if you think you can help.
End of Year Events
A reminder of the remaining End of Year Events. Come and join us when you can!
Friday 13th December -
*9am - Thank You Morning Tea - We invite families to come to the hub and share a PFA / School Thank You morning tea. In gratitude for your support of the school and community in any which way in this past year, we welcome you to come and join us for a cuppa and a chat. See you there!
*10am - End of Year Mass - All classes will attend mass together to show gratitude for the year and families are welcome to join us. PLEASE NOTE, the Handing over of Leadership from Year Sixes to the Year Fives occurs at this mass.
Tuesday 17th December - Year Six and Staff Departing - Farewell Ceremony, 2.30pm in the Quadrangle. We farewell our Year Six students who are venturing to their Secondary Schools and staff who are leaving St Michael's School.
Wednesday 18th December - Any Year Prep - Year 5 Students Departing - Farewell assembly at 8.50am in the Quadrangle.
Student Reports
Student reports will be available on the Nforma portal from tomorrow for all Year Levels. Please take the time to go through these reports and should you need any clarifying, please make a time to discuss it with your child's classroom teacher.
If your child is departing from St Michael's School at the end of this year it is highly recommended that you download your child’s report/s, as later in the new year your access to the portal will no longer be available.
2025 Staffing
On Monday this week, 2025 classroom teachers were announced to families via Operoo in preparation for Tuesday's 'Meet the Teacher' morning. The following list is our complete staffing list for 2025.
| Principal | Annie Herbison |
| Deputy Principal | Eloise Ellis |
| Religious Education Leader | Ray Hickey |
Office Manager | Kathy Muhllechner (Mon, Tue, Fri) |
Administration | Louise Story (Tues, Wed, Thu, Fri) |
Classroom Teachers | |
| Prep | Caitlin O’Donnell |
| Prep | Adriana Corso |
| Year One / Two | Deanna Imbriano (Catriona O’Donohue) |
| Year One / Two | Rachael Lampe |
| Year One / Two | Kylie Ashton / Lou Hedley |
| Year Three / Four | James McIlroy |
| Year Three / Four | Desiree Harding / Lou Hedley |
| Year Three / Four | Rachael Lo Ricco (M-W) / Ann Lagreca (Th-F) |
| Year Five / Six | Ray Hickey / Elise Rimington (Thurs) |
| Year Five / Six | Jessica Casey |
Leadership | |
| Religious Education Leader | Ray Hickey |
| Learning & Teaching Leader | Eloise Ellis |
| Numeracy Leader | Eloise Ellis |
| Literacy Leader | Elise Rimington |
| Learning Diversity Leader | Samantha Isaacson |
| Student Wellbeing Leader | Emma Quinless |
Specialist Teachers | |
| Physical Education & Digital Technologies | Jordan Lo Ricco (Tues - Fri) |
| Performing Arts | Emma Quinless (Mon & Tues) |
| Visual Arts | Jess Fary (Wed-Fri) |
| Mandarin | Lily Luo (Mon/Tues) |
| Science & Technology | Sam Isaacson (Prep to Year Two) Eloise Ellis (Years Three to Six) |
Learning Support Staff | |
| Giovanna Boccari | Louise Story |
| Erynn Moser | Kate Borg |
| Zainab Baquari | Sue Carmichael |
| Nyree Masterson | |
2025 School Leaders
After an anxious week of voting and waiting, our Year Five students were informed about the outcome of voting on Monday this week. We are so proud of the incredible effort that our students put into their speeches, clearly showing the Public Speaking Skills they had learned in previous weeks. At tomorrow's Celebration Mass at 10am, our Year Five students will be handed the leadership responsibility for the 2025 school year from our current Year Six students. We welcome all to be present for this.
Congratulations to all our Year Five students in their leadership positions for 2025:
SCHOOL LEADERS Sam Sahely Aaliyah Greca Olivia Devasagayam Brayden Fida | ARTS LEADERS Laila Cordeiro-Braganza Diaz Franceschini Saisha Senaratne Peta Bakasetas |
BLUE SPORTS LEADERS Jay Fida Alex Burn Chloe Devasagayam | DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES LEADERS Eleni Mingas Luke Henshaw Cedric Wong Will Rush |
GREEN SPORTS LEADERS Anna Rorke Julien Birt Annabelle Squire | WELLBEING LEADERS Inaya Rapose Charlotte Koletsas Isabelle Kerr Amy Barclay |
RED SPORTS LEADERS Leo Esposto Gabriel Giacomantonio Sophie Long | ENVIRONMENT LEADER Anthony Tesoriero
|
GOLD SPORTS LEADERS Francesca Gleeson Sebastian Molner Sanne McMillan | SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER Elise Dodds |
St Michael's Carols Night
We are looking forward to our Carols night tonight and to all our families enjoying some carols together. Tonight we will share our Toys Donations with St Vincent de Paul and we thank everyone for their generosity at this time of year. We will also be drawing our Christmas raffle with 6 major prizes to go.
See you there at 5.30pm on the tennis courts!
Lunch with the Principal
This week we finally were able to make time for our Lunch with the Principal prize from our Wild West night in October! Two families won the prize and on Monday we enjoyed toasted sandwiches and pizza together, just the girls! There was lots of girl chatter and plenty of ideas flying around for what we should do on the holidays!!
Thank you girls for your company!
School Fees
A reminder to all families to please complete your 2024 Fees / Levis payments as soon as possible. Also to return your 2025 School Fees / Levies Payment Commitment form to the office when you're able. Please see Kathy Muhllechner in the school office with any questions about school fees or email at kathym@smashburton.catholic.edu.au
Thank you Crossing Supervisors
As always our Level Crossing supervisors on High Street and Victory Boulevard have worked hard to ensure our safety each day. Thank you to Robyn (High St) and Pauline (Victory Blvd). We wish you both a very happy Christmas and look forward to seeing you again in the new year!!
TheirCare Summer Holiday Program
We are so excited that TheirCare will be offering a Summer Holiday program at St Michael's School! Here is the first glimpse of the program. Hard copy fliers are on their way!