From the Principal

Dear St Michael’s School families,

We continue to pray for those preparing to receive the Eucharist for the first time.

All welcome to attend masses over this coming weekend:

Saturday 21st June, 6pm

Sunday 22nd June, 10.30

Prayer

Loving God,

We thank You for the precious gift of our children,

And for the joy of watching them grow in faith.

As they prepare to receive the Eucharist for the first time,

May their hearts be open to Your presence,

And may they come to know the deep love

You share with us through this holy sacrament.

Bless their families, teachers, and all who guide them,

So they may walk gently beside these children

And help them understand the wonder of receiving Jesus.

Fill our whole community with renewed faith,

So that together we may support these young ones

And reflect the light and love of Christ to them.

We pray this in the name of Jesus,

Our Bread of Life.

Amen.

SACRAMENT OF FIRST EUCHARIST

Today the children receiving the Eucharist for the first time this coming weekend, celebrated a Reflection Day together. St Michael's students meet the candidates in our Parish who are also receiving the Eucharist for the first time this weekend. They reflect on some of the readings related to the Last Supper and the significance of this very special time in their Sacramental journey. They have spent time today in a Liturgy with Father Darien, who also shared the significance of this Sacrament. Together as a group they were able to practice what would happen at their special mass and ask Father Darien and their teachers some clarifying questions.

ST VINCENT DE PAUL'S WINTER APPEAL

A reminder to all our families who wish to donate non-perishable food items for the annual St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal to please bring these in as soon as you're able. Items can be dropped off at the school office and will go towards the St Michael's Parish stock. These items are donated to people in need in our local community who, at this cold time of year, must be incredibly grateful for the support. Anyone wishing to see other works of the Vinnies or wishing to donate any funds go to: vinnies.org.au 

STAFFING UPDATE

Yesterday, families of Prep B students were informed that Miss Adriana Corso has made the greatly considered decision to leave St Michael’s School. A young teacher, Adriana wishes to take time to explore new opportunities, both within education and beyond and consider new directions in her career and life. 

Adriana has worked solidly and compassionately with Prep B this semester and her children have grown and benefitted greatly from her dedication. Naturally we are very sad to see Adriana leave but also understand her need as a young teacher to explore both the profession itself and life beyond it. We wish Adriana well in her new endeavours for her teaching career and life beyond it.

We are currently seeking Adriana's replacement for Semester 2 and will inform families as soon as the employment process has been finalised.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB

This week your child/children brought home a Scholastic Book Catalogue (Issue 4). Please see ordering information on the back page of the catalogue.  As always, you do not have to purchase anything from the catalogue.  If you do purchase, 15% of your purchase price is given back to the school in the form of reward credits which are used to purchase new books for the library and literacy aids for the school.

All purchases need to be made either online through the Scholastic Loop (see catalogue) or through the School Office by THIS Friday, 20th June so that we can get your purchases to you in time for the school holidays. 

Book purchases will be distributed via the office basket or if you mark your order as a "gift" it will be held in the school office for you to collect.  

Thank you again for your on-going support.  Any questions, please reach out to me on therese.molnar@gmail.com or via mobile: 0417.014.772

Therese M

(Seb 5/6B and Luke 3/4R)

MILO'S FIRST BIRTHDAY

What an exciting week it was last week for our Prep students who celebrated Milo's first birthday! As part of the Little Learners Love Literacy program, our Preps were invited to come along dressed as characters from the story, Milo's Birthday Surprise, and celebrate their learning of the letters and sounds of the alphabet. This program has shown great success with the children in their engagement in learning and is accompanied by the Little Learner decodable texts. These specially designed texts are sequential in nature and build phonic knowledge gradually. 

Thank you to the amazing effort from all our Preps and their family support in making Milo's special day so successful. A special thank you also to Caitlin O'Donnell, Adriana Corso and Sue Carmichael for your organisation of the day.

KINDER KIDS - FRIDAY 13 JUNE

Last week we held our second Kinder Kids session where 3 and 4 year old children are invited to come and enjoy reading and playing some games with our Year 5 students. This mentorship assists Year Fives to ready themselves for the responsibility of taking on a Prep student next year as part of the St Michael's Buddy Program. Again our Year Five students were amazingly calm, respectful and supportive of our young visitors. It also helps prepare pre-school children and helps to demystify school for them somewhat. Our visitors were engaged and loved the calming presence of our older students.

A special thank you to Mr McIlroy and his Year 4 students for making a special hedgehog slice for the occasion! By all accounts, it was delicious!!

ESSENTIAL ASSESSMENT PARENT NOTIFICATION

By now you will have received your parent log in for Essential Assessment. If not, please make contact with your child's teacher for this information.

Again, I urge parents to take the time to look into this platform and to review the My Literacy and My Numeracy tasks assigned as practice. These tasks are set specifically with your child's needs in mind and you can oversee how they are progressing and even 

clarify any misunderstandings your child might have while they are working through the questions.

As already noted, early next term you will have an opportunity to discuss your child's progress with their classroom teacher and discuss their new learning goals. It is vital that you keep in communication with your child's teacher and work together for the best of your child.

ST MICHAEL'S VEGGIE GARDEN

This week we saw our Prep children planting strawberry seeds in our veggie garden. Whilst the actually strawberries won't appear for a while, this will be a great opportunity for children to observe the seed to seedling to fruit stages of growth. We can't wait to enjoy these sweet delights when they are ready.

It has been so amazing to see the children engage in the garden throughout Semester One this year. For the final two weeks of this term, we will take time to watch what's happening and observe the growth and change in the garden. 

Thank you again to the PFA for raising the funds to make this happen!

WEEKLY CAKE RAFFLE

Thank you to our wonderful community for supporting our school fundraiser and providing delicious treats to be raffled each week. Thank you to Charlotte Jones for providing the cake two weeks running! 

If you would like to contribute please sign up HERE. It will also run throughout Term 3.

If you would like to donate, please send loose change with your child to school. 50c per ticket or 5 for $2!