Mission and Religious Education

Mission

Staff Mass

On Wednesday January 31 our wonderful staff celebrated Mass in St Michael’s Church with Father Curran, to pray for God’s Blessing throughout the 2024 school year. At the Mass, staff received a special blessing for educators from Father Curran and committed themselves to working together to support one another, students, parents and the wider school community, as together we work to achieve a high standard of education and improve the faith, wellbeing and learning outcomes of our students.

Beginning of Year Mass

Last Thursday March 8 we celebrated our Beginning of Year Mass. It is important to take the time at the beginning of the school year to gather as a school family and pray for God’s blessings. It was a wonderful celebration of school spirit as students and staff gathered with parents, other family members, friends and parishioners. Many of our students participated through altar serving, reading and taking up symbols of our school year to create a prayer focus and our School Captains: Molly Gallagher and Farrer Burke and Sports Captains: Thomas Taber and Nulla Gillon were officially inducted and presented with their badges by Father Curran and Bronwyn Underwood. Congratulations Captains, we know you will do a great job and represent the school with pride. We thank Father Curran for his guidance and support of all we do.

Symbols of our school life at St Michael’s.

The Bible – The Bible reminds us of how to act in all of life’s situations by following God’s word and examples.

A Candle - A candle reminds us of our school motto “Let Your Light Shine”, which encourages us to be an example to others, a light shining in the darkness, a guide along life’s path.

Our School Flag – Our school flag reminds us that we are called together as one family under the banner of St Michael’s.

Our School Houses of Penola & MacKillop – Our School Houses of Penola & MacKillop remind us that we have fun together and work together in teams to support one another.

School books – Our school books remind us that we will learn many new and interesting things that allow us passage through understanding to the fullness of life.

Music & Sports equipment – Our Music and Sports equipment remind us to enjoy all aspects of school and to live life to the fullest.

St Michael’s School Captains and Sports Captains Pledge

Lord, we offer ourselves to you as leaders of St Michael's School in 2024.

Lord, help us to show love and loyalty to you, Fr Curran, our teachers, other staff members and our fellow students. May the Spirit of God open our eyes to the needs of others, open our hands to give freely in service and open our hearts to all.

Help us to use our gifts to be of service and to give good example to others through humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance and love.

AMEN.

C2S Committee

Last year our Mini Vinnies / Catholic Earthcare Committee discussed changing the committee’s name to something a little shorter that reflected our work in both social and environmental justice areas and during Term 4 we compiled suggested names over a number of weeks. At our first meeting this year last Monday 5 February the committee voted for the name C2S Committee. C2S stands for Called to Shine, which reflects our school motto Let Your Light Shine, as we answer the call to do good in our world. At St Michael’s we have a strong sense of Social Justice and the C2S Committee is our student-led group of dedicated students in Years 3-6 and staff who volunteer their time and talents to lead social and environmental justice initiatives and organise charitable works at St Michael’s school. These initiatives are founded in recognising and protecting the dignity of the human person and strive to promote the common good. This year we have had 32 students volunteer to be on the committee. This is an amazing response and reflects the leadership and commitment of these students to helping others and the environment.

St Michael’s C2S Committee supports the work of Mini Vinnies, St Vincent de Paul, Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion and Catholic Earthcare Programs, Catholic Mission’s Socktober Program as well as engaging with other organisations and initiatives such as Bear Cottage and Clean Up Australia Day. We are a Level 3 accredited Catholic Earthcare school and this year we continue to have a special focus on Laudato Si’ leading ecological change and promoting Environmental Sustainability.

In addition to the C2S Committee we have our Environmental Champions student volunteers in Years 3-6, who have, over the last few years made a significant and positive impact within our school community leading environmental initiatives such as recycling, composting, gardening, reducing energy consumption, promoting biodiversity and sustainability. Students are rostered on over a number of weeks andto an environmental task and this changes each week. This year we have 38 students who have volunteered their time to be an Environmental Champion, which is a great testament to these students and their dedication to Care for the Earth.

We welcome any parents and carers who would like to join our C2S Committee in supporting our work throughout the year. We meet most Monday’s of the Term at 11.00 am for approximately 15 minutes in the Year 5 Classroom.

At the Ash Wednesday Mass on Wednesday 14 February, all C2S Committee members will receive a Mini Vinnies Badge from Mr Paul Burton, State President of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society and Mrs Underwood. After this presentation we will induct our 2024 C2S Committee and Environmental Champions. Parents, relatives and friends are welcome to attend.

Twilight Prayer Retreat

Parents, carers and parishioners are invited to join with St Michael’s school staff in attending a Twilight Prayer Retreat on Tuesday 12 March 3.30pm - 5.00pm. This retreat is facilitated by the CSO Spirituality Team and is a time for adults to gather together in prayer.

Lent

Lent is the Church season when we prepare to celebrate Easter. It is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving (giving to the poor). The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and finishes on Holy Thursday at sundown. Busted Halo has a clip Lent in 3 Minutes that is helpful in understanding Lent.

Ash Wednesday Mass

On Ash Wednesday 14 February we will be attending Mass with the parish. At this Mass all in attendance are signed with a cross of ashes on their foreheads. When the children receive the ashes the words “Remember friend that Jesus loves you” are spoken to remind us on the first day of Lent that Jesus loves us. Throughout Lent we strive to grow closer in our relationship with God. Everyone is welcome to receive the ashes at this Mass.

Project Compassion

Project Compassion is Caritas Australia’s Lenten social justice fundraising program, to help people in need throughout our world. We learn about the work of Project Compassion in class and will have a fundraising activity led by the C2S Committee this term. Project Compassion Boxes will be sent home to all families on Ash Wednesday 14 February and we encourage all families to support this program. Boxes should be returned to school Thursday 28 March or before the end of term.

Stations of the Cross

During the season of Lent the Stations of the Cross are prayed in St Michael’s Church on a Friday evening. Everyone is welcome. Please contact Father Curran for further information.

Living Well, Learning Well - Pastoral Care and Wellbeing

Legends of the Light Shine

The Legends of the Light Shine Program is a Christ-centred school-developed program that recognises and celebrates the sacredness of each individual developing student leadership skills, peer support, and fosters positive social and emotional behaviours. These behaviours reflect the example of Jesus ‘light of the world,’ who taught us all how to walk in the light as people of faith, hope and love. Our school motto “Let Your Light Shine” reminds each of us that we are all called to be Legends of the Light Shine by following the example of Jesus and being a light for the world and by supporting others to let their light shine. The program explicitly teaches positive character attributes that reflect the Light of Christ in the world today such as compassion, empathy, equity, honesty and teamwork. The program is led by Stage 3 students who work collaboratively to develop engaging activities to explicitly teach the weekly focus of a positive character attribute. Students are divided into small groups of students from K-6. Each group is then allocated a home room where teachers assist them. Teachers are responsible for monitoring behaviour.

Our first Legends of the Light Shine Groups session will be this Friday 16 February focusing on introducing our 2024 Legends of the Light Shine Groups and establishing high expectations.

St Michael’s School Rules for Living

Since the commencement of the school year we have been learning about and reinforcing our School Rules for Living. These rules are founded on a positive regard for our students as together we work to deliver a high standard of education and improve the faith, wellbeing and learning outcomes of our students.

New Laudato Si’ Award

This year we are introducing a new award - the Laudato Si’ Award, to recognise and celebrate all of the wonderful work we are doing at St Michael’s in the area of integral (social and environmental) ecology.

Laudato Si’ subtitled Care For Our Common Home is a letter, called an encyclical, written by Pope Francis in 2015, to all people in the world. In this letter Pope Francis reminds us that the world is a gift of beauty from God, for everyone to enjoy and look after. In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis encourages us all to listen to and respond to the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor, who are impacted the most by people polluting our world and taking more than they need. Pope Francis describes our world as looking more and more like an immense pile of filth and talks about how the poor are suffering the most and how plants and animals are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.

Pope Francis calls us all to take action, to work together for change, to build a more equitable world, where we care for all of God’s creation and protect our common home and its people, animals and plants. Actions include charitable works, prayer and making eco-friendly decisions such as reducing waste, recycling, saving water, saving power, picking up rubbish, making ethical purchases, supporting biodiversity, living more sustainably and many, many more actions.

This Laudato Si’ Award recognises a student’s positive contribution to answering Pope Francis’ call to action, to care for people and for our world, contributing to a healthier world and a more equitable society for today and for future generations to come.

St Michael’s Clean Up Australia Day

Friday 1 March is St Michael’s Clean Up Australia Day. On this day staff and students will take time to clean up our playground in support of the Clean Up Australia Day campaign on Sunday 3 March. You may like to send your child with gardening gloves on this Friday.

Road Safety - Media Release from NSW Minister for Regional Schools

Road Safety is a Back to School Essential

As children return to school, it is essential to keep safety in mind. Talk with your children about safely getting to and from school.

- Keep children safe getting in and out of the car. Always use the door closest to the kerb.

- Keep children safe by walking distraction-free. Expect your child to take off their headphones while walking.

- Keep children safe getting on and off the bus. Wait at the bus stop and stand at least one step back from the road's edge. Always meet your child at the bus stop. Never meet them on the opposite side of the road and call them across. Wait until the bus has gone before crossing the road.

- Keep children safe while using wheeled transport. Children must wear a helmet when riding a bike in any public place – it is the law. Foot scooter, skateboard and rollerblade riders should wear helmets and protective equipment.

Be a positive role model when you are a pedestrian, passenger and driver. Children learn from what they see, as well as what we say.

Never sacrifice safety for convenience.

Source: https://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/

Safety Town has some useful resources to enhance understanding about many aspects of road safety including information about how to help keep your children safe when riding. We have a number of students who are currently riding bikes and scooters to school. As a family we encourage you to look at the students section of Safety Town as well as the families section to help child/ren understand the importance of a correctly fitted helmet and how to check it fits correctly and that their bike is safe and ready to ride.

Road Safety Focus Areas

30 January to 12 April: School Zones are active during this time.

http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/schools/flashinglights/index.html

9 to 25 February: Bus Safety Week - Raise awareness to improve bus safety for all road users.

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/road-users/drivers/be-bus-aware

“Let Your Light Shine” support others to let their light shine and remember “We Shine Brighter Together”

Jacquelene Cronin

Assistant Principal - Mission

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