From the Principal

Dear St Michael’s School families,

TOMORROW our whole school will be attending St Patrick's Cathedral as Pilgrimage as part of the Catholic Church Year of Jubilee. A wonderful opportunity for us all. We ask parent helpers please to drop off as usual in the morning, then please check your email as you have been emailed details about some minor changes to tomorrow's timetable. You are required to be present for a child safety briefing before we depart. We remind parent helpers that you are required to have a valid Working With Children Check which you must carry with you for the day. We also remind you about our St Michael's Child Safety Code of Conduct which applies to all adults at all times with our students and staff.

For the day:

• all students will need their school hats. 
• students are required to wear full school uniform. 
• students may bring a small backpack for their lunch and drink bottle
• no student mobile phones or devices which connect to the internet are permitted on the excursion
• as there is a medium chance of showers tomorrow, please pack a rain jacket for your child.

Prayer Before Our Pilgrimage

Loving God,

When we begin our pilgrimage tomorrow,

we open our hearts to You.

Guide our steps and keep us safe on our journey.

Help us to walk with open minds and caring hearts,

ready to see Your presence in the places we visit

and in the people we meet.

May this time help us grow in faith,

strengthen our friendships,

and remind us that You walk beside us always.

Bless our travels, O Lord,

and bring us home safely 

with joy and gratitude in our hearts.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

REMEMBRANCE DAY

Lest we forget

Thank you to our School Leaders for leading us this week in a prayerful, reflective prayer and remembrance service. This was a wonderful opportunity to stop and think about those who have fought for our freedom, and those out there who still serve and protect us. We all observed a minute's silence after listening to The Last Post.

TWILIGHT SPORTS

Our annual "twilight" sports will be taking place next Wednesday 19th November from 12.50-3.15pm. Thank you to the many parents who indicated that they are able to assist on this day - your support is greatly appreciated. Please enter the school through the front office and sign in upon your arrival. The event will be held onsite at St Michael's School in different locations on our playground. We invite parents to come along as spectators (also need to sign in please) if you are not assisting with one of the events on the day. A detailed program and map will be made available early next week.

After the event, Zooper Doopers and lolly bags will be made available for purchase so be sure to bring along some cash that afternoon. The EFTPOS machine will also be available.

CHANGE TO OPEROO PLATFORM

We have recently been advised that Operoo will be discontinuing its services from early 2026, meaning schools will need to transition to a new School Management and Communication System. At St Michael’s, we are fortunate to already have familiarity with nForma, which we currently use for student reports, interview bookings, and medical notifications. The Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools (M.A.C.S.) has strongly recommended that schools already using nForma transition fully to this platform. Parents will already have a login and password for nForma from when you accessed your child’s school report in June this year.

Given the short timeframe for this transition, we ask all families to log in to the nForma system as soon as possible to add or update your child’s medical information. This is a great opportunity to become more familiar with the platform while ensuring that all essential details about your child are accurate and up to date. Don't worry!! Operoo will be with us until the end of the year! So it would be good to get onto this asap!! 

The attached documents will assist with installing the nForma App on your mobile phone or tablet (if you haven't already) and with how to log in and access what you need.

YEAR SIX MINI FETE

Next week our Year Six students will lead the annual mini-fete to raise funds for their Big Day Out. Year Fives are busily helping them to prepare for this day and observing the Year Sixes in preparation for their own mini-fete in the future. Between 12.15-1.15pm on Thursday 20th November, students in other year levels will be able to check out all the amazing stalls. They will be able to pop away with popcorn, indulge in sweet lemonade, play Cup-Pong or Mini Golf and Guess the number of lollies in the jar. Students will need gold coins for the various stalls.

YEAR ONE/TWO EXCURSION

Last week our Year One/Two students attended the Melbourne Museum. This excursion was part of their Inquiry learning about bugs on our planet. The students visited three exhibitions: Our Wondrous Planet; Bugs Alive! and Forest Gallery. A fabulous learning experience for everyone!!

ST MICHAEL'S CAROLS TIME AND LOCATION

We warmly invite all families to join us for our Annual Christmas Carols Celebration on Thursday, 4th December, from 5.00–6.15pm (approx.). This year, we are delighted to host the event in St Michael’s Church — a beautiful and fitting setting, with excellent acoustics, to reflect on the true meaning and reverence of the Christmas season.

Students are encouraged to dress in costumes that complement their class songs (soon to be communicated), and families are welcome to sing along with their favourite carols as we prepare our hearts for this special time in the liturgical calendar.

Following the carols, sausages will be available for purchase at the front of the church. We look forward to sharing this joyful evening together as a community and celebrating the wonderful year we’ve had.

THE BIGGIE

We kindly request today that families do not visit the Biggie playground after school today. A mound of soft fall will be delivered before 3.30pm today which will be distributed at our Enhancement Session tomorrow. Thank you for your understanding.

HOOP TIME REGIONAL FINALS

Congratulations to our 5/6 Girls Hoop Time Team for making the Regional Finals on Thursday, 6th November! The girls competed against 14 other teams, with only four able to progress to the State Finals.

Despite the challenge of having three team members unavailable to play, our girls fought hard and made it into the final, narrowly missing out on a win. An outstanding achievement and a testament to their skill, determination, and teamwork.

A huge thank you to Anthony Squire for coaching the girls throughout both Hoop Time rounds this year and for supporting them to reach this incredible milestone.

We look forward to 2026 and another opportunity for St Michael’s students to showcase their skill and talent across the school sporting calendar.

ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY BLOG

St Michael's School has partnered with Advanced Psychology with a psychologist working onsite weekly. This link takes you to a blog with podcasts / webinars that deal with a variety of topics which might be of interest to parents and teachers. 

https://www.advancedpsychology.net/blogs