From the Principal

PRAYER

Loving God,

As winter surrounds us with its cool mornings and quiet days, 

we thank You for the many blessings You give us each day. 

Thank You for the warmth of our homes, the love of our families, 

the care of our teachers and friends, 

and the many opportunities we have to learn and grow.

Help us to remember those who may be cold, lonely, or struggling during this season. 

Open our hearts to show kindness, generosity, and compassion to everyone we meet.

Just as You continue to care for Your creation throughout winter, 

remind us that Your love is constant in every season of our lives. 

May we be grateful for Your many gifts and 

share Your light and hope with others each day.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Dear St Michael’s School families,

Welcome back to Term 3!

We have had an amazing start to Term 3, despite the cold it has brought with it! We have so many things to look forward to this term: Gradnparents' & Special Friends' Day, Biennial Art Show, Book Week and so much more. Be sure to keep up to date with the weekly newsletter!

WELCOME NEW STAFF

This week we have had the pleasure of welcoming some new staff to the St Michael's team and welcoming back two members of our existing team. All of our staff in the following positions come with experience in their respective fields and are passionate teachers, excited to be working at St Michael's School. We welcome them and wish them well in this second semester.

Welcome to St Michael's:

STEM Specialist Teacher - Mrs Felicity Hadden (Mondays and Tuesdays)

fhadden@smashburton.catholic.edu.au 

Performing Arts (Media) - Ms Claire Hanson (Tuesdays)

chanson@smashburton.catholic.edu.au 

One/Two B Classroom teacher - Miss Alison Hastings (Monday to Friday)

ahastings@smashburton.catholic.edu.au

Welcome back to:

Three/FourB Classroom teacher - Mrs Deanna Imbriano (Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday)

dimbriano@smashburton.catholic.edu.au 

Mrs Kylie Ashton - Many will be aware that Kylie has been away in first semester, recovering and rehabilitating after an injury last December. We are delighted to welcome Kylie back to school this week. As part of her return to work, she will be gradually increasing her hours over the coming weeks and will be working with small groups of students across the school. We are pleased to have her back as part of our community and wish her all the best as she continues her recovery.

kashton@smashburton.catholic.edu.au 

ANNIE ON LEAVE 

I wish to inform you that I will be taking two weeks of Long Service Leave later this term, from Monday 7th September to Friday 18th September; the two weeks preceeding the September school holidays. During my absence, Mrs Eloise Ellis will be the Acting Principal. Please make contact with Eloise with any concerns during this time via email on eellis@smashburton.catholic.edu.au 

GRANDPARENTS AND SPECIAL FRIENDS DAY

On Friday 7th August, we invite our grandparents and special friends to join us for a special afternoon of celebration at St Michael's Primary School.

This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to share part of their school day with the important people in their lives. We look forward to welcoming our visitors for an afternoon of hospitality, prayer and classroom activities.

The afternoon will run from 1pm to 3.15pm.

To assist us with catering and seating, please complete the NForma form   with how many adults will be attending, by Friday 31 July.

Don't forget to send your Grandparents and Special Friends photos to rhickey@smashburton.catholic.edu.au

ART OF THE WEEK

Thank you to our Year Six Arts Leaders for making the arrangements each fortnight for our Art of the Week competition.

THEME: Holiday Experience

ARTWORK DUE:  Thursday 23rd July to be presented at assembly on Friday 24th July

ROAD CLOSURE - FRIDAY 24TH JULY

Please be advised that we have received notification of a partial road closure which may affect some families travelling to school on Friday morning.

The roadworks are scheduled to take place from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm.

ST MICHAEL'S INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT

Many families will be aware that St Michael's has an Instagram account, which we regularly use to celebrate student learning, share school events, and showcase the wonderful experiences that take place across our community.

Recently, Instagram's parent company, Meta, introduced new AI features that can allow public images to be used to create AI-generated content. As part of our ongoing commitment to protecting the privacy of our students, staff and families, we have reviewed our account settings and have disabled the option that allows others to use our public images with these AI editing features. This additional safeguard helps ensure that the photos we share cannot be altered using Meta's AI tools, providing greater protection for everyone featured in our posts.

STUDENT LEARNING PORTFOLIOS

If you have not yet signed and returned your child's learning portfolio (sent home to you at the end of Term Three) we ask that you please do so as soon as possible. Thank you

PARENT / TEACHER / CHILD LEARNING CONVERSATIONS

A reminder to all that we will be conducting Parent / Teacher / Child Learning Conversations during which students will attend the beginning of the meeting for up to five minutes to take part in the discussion. Parents will then have the last five minutes of time with the teacher alone for further discussion. Should you require more time for this, please ensure you make an alternative time with your child's teacher as others will be waiting to follow you.

DATE: Wednesday 29th July, from 1.30pm 

HOW TO BOOK: Through nForma portal

NB: School will finish on this day at 1pm and child minding will be available at TheirCare should you need. 

HOMEWORK POLICY

Hopefully you have had an opportunity to review our updated Homework Policy which was shared with you last term. We will keep a copy on our Quick Links page this term for your reference. Please speak to your child's classroom teacher about any questions or concerns regarding homework at our upcoming Parent / Teacher / Child Learning Conversations.

STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING DAY - FRIDAY 31ST JULY

A reminder to all our families that our school will be closed on this date so that our staff can participate in one of our professional learning days. On this day, our focus will be on Christian Meditation through the example shown by Mary Mackillop. Please note that TheirCare will be providing care on this day for children.

UNCLAIMED ITEMS

We currently have two fitbits in the school office which were found in the playground and that have not been claimed for some time. If your child has lost a fitbit, please see Kathy or Louise in the school office.

Also, someone genrously loaned us their Esky on wheels back in March when we held our 80th birthday celebration day. It remains in our staffroom at present. Please visit us if you are still looking for it!!

GARDENING

Thank you to Miss Jesson's Year Five/Six class who cleared some of our raised garden beds this week of some weeds and dying plants! These are now ready for some new planting which will be happening next week!

BOOK WEEK 2026

This year the Children's Book Council of Australia's (CBCA) Book Week Theme is Symphony of Stories. This wonderful image has been specially created for Book Week by author, illustrator and composer, Matt Ottley. At St Michael's School, we will hold our Book Week Parade on Monday 24th August, 9am and we invite children to come dressed as any book character they would like. Our focus for Book Week is always for children to delve deeply into the books and characters that they love and hopefully learn a little about other children's interests as well.

We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we learn, play, pray, work and gather. 

We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and we honour the ongoing cultural, spiritual and educational contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.