From the Principal

Please note that weekly Parish mass times will now be located each week on our School Hours / Timetable page in our newsletter. 

Prayer 

Prayer to St. James the Apostle

O glorious St. James,

Apostle and beloved disciple of Jesus,

You followed Him with all your heart,

Leaving behind everything for the sake of His call.

You were privileged to witness His miraclesAnd stand in His presence.

With courage, you proclaimed the Good News

And bore witness to the truth of Christ's resurrection,

Even to the point of dying for your faith.

You were the first of the apostles to be martyred,

Testifying to your steadfast faith.

You traveled the difficult path of discipleship,

May we too walk with faith and love,

Bearing witness to Christ's light in the world.

St. James, pray for us,

That we may persevere in faith

And one day share the eternal glory of heaven.

Amen.

Camino Pilgrimage

As most will be aware, I have returned this week after spending the previous two weeks walking 117km of the Camino, the way of St James in Northern Spain. This path was believed to be have been walked by St James the Less, one of Jesus' closest Apostles, who, with true conviction and passion, spread Jesus' message in a time of great danger for his followers. 

Our team of Principals had five full days of walking the track, from Sarria to the Compostela in Santiago. In addition to the 20+ km of walking, most days challenged us further with heavy downpours. With wet packs and squelchy feet, we persevered to complete the distance each day, growing in our resilience and understanding of what there was to learn on this journey. Our daily reflections and prayers encouraged us to enter each new day, knowing we had the guidance of the Holy Spirit and each other as support. Reaching the Compostela, the exquisite Cathedral dedicated to Saint James, and having the chance to celebrate mass with my colleagues in here was a highlight of the journey. 

I'm incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity for self growth and spiritual development and know that I will always carry a small part of this journey with me through the good times and the bad in life! I would highly recommend it to anyone considering undertaking this amazing journey!!

Sacrament of Confirmation

Congratulations to all our students who received the Sacrament of Confirmation at St Michael's church last Saturday. From all accounts, both services went very well, lead by Bishop Les Tomlinson, accompanied by Father Darien Sticklen, our newly appointed Parish Priest. Thank you to Ray Hickey (Year Five / Six Teacher and Religious Education Leader), Deacon Malcolm, Jess Casey and Emma Quinless for your work with the students and your support at these Sacraments on the day.

New Uniform

As expressed in our newsletter last week, there have been some changes to some items of the St Michael's school uniform. Please see the Previous news and information section of this newsletter to review the details. Some photos below show some elements of the new uniform.

Second Hand Uniform Sale and Parents and Carers Coffee Catch-Up 

On Friday 18th October, the School Uniform shop will be open from 8.40am - 9.30am.

There is also a large range of good quality second hand uniform items for sale during this time. 

After your purchase/s you will receive a token for a Coffee on behalf of the uniform shop which you can enjoy with other parents and carers from the Coffee Van on the top court.

Prep 2025 Transition Program

Yesterday we commenced our 2025 Prep Transition program. With 30 excited Preps entering the gates and just as many Year Five students in waiting, we knew it was going to be an action packed morning!! The children arrived with their parents for a 9am start and eagerly entered the classrooms with the Senior students leading the way. They worked with Miss Ally and Mrs Cremer, playing some games and completing some tasks together as they started to get the feel of the school. A huge thank you to our Year Five students who showed great maturity in their efforts to welcome the Preps and their families.

Mandarin Cultural Awareness Week - 18 November

This term, Ms Lily Luo will be working with the staff and students to host Cultural Awareness Week in the week beginning Monday 18th November. Lily's focus is to highlight and celebrate the language of Mandarin and also to acknowledge how different cultures have brought so much to Australia and are now part of our culture. On the 18th and 19th November in Mandarin lessons, the students will have the opportunity to explore Chinese culture through a hands-on activity where they will make and cook traditional noodles using simple ingredients of flour, salt, and water. Lily will show the students how they are made and the students will have a chance to taste the noodles with some additional flavours to include. A notice will be shared on Operoo shortly about this and we look forward to having some parents assist and be part of the celebrations. 

Sunscreen in classrooms

A reminder to our families that we have sunscreen available for students to use as the we head into warmer weather. It's generic sunscreen and students are required to rub this in themselves due to health reasons. If your child has an allergy to sunscreen, we recommend that you provide a clearly labelled container of it for use at school and please let the classroom teacher know. 

Swimming 6-15 November, Prep to Year Two

As has been advertised in the Term Dates for some time, our Year Prep, One and Two classes will be attending the Ashburton Pool and Recreation Centre for swimming lessons from 6th November to 15th November. We will be calling for parents to support us by walking us to and from the pool on each swimming day so please check your calendars and lock us in! Details about swimming times for each class and how you can be a parent helper have been sent out through Operoo.

Planning for 2025

As we are now commencing the planning of class structures for 2025, we ask that you please email Annie Herbison if your child will not be returning to St Michael's School next year. It is vital that we have this information as soon as possible, as from the commencement of term 4, a great deal of organisation and planning is involved in setting up the following year's classes, staffing, budgets etc. Thank you

Instrumental Lessons

Would your child like to learn violin next term? See the St Michael's School hours and Timetables section of our newsletter for details and receive a FREE lesson!