From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

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

Prayer 

Today we pray for those who have died and gone to their rest before us. We remember our family members, our friends and special people in our lives who have died.

Thank you to our Parents and Friends Association

A huge thank you to the PFA who treated the staff last Friday, World Teacher's Day. We entered the staffroom to find an array of delicious foods, a huge selection to choose from!! It was such a nice treat to be able to enjoy some delicious food together and be acknowledged in this special way. It was a wonderful surprise and greatly appreciated by everyone. And thank you also for the generousity of the School Uniform Shop who also provided a morning coffee from Thymes Five Cafe.

THANK YOU

Enhancement Session

Thank you to all who have signed up to the School Enhancement Session coming up next week on Friday 10th November, 5-7pm. We are immensely grateful to all who have supported the school throughout the year as part of this process. You have assisted us in gardening, weeding, clearing, repairing, cleaning, shovelling softfall and we've been able to spend time together in building links with each other too. If you have not yet responded to the Operoo for the upcoming session, please do so as soon as possible. We will hold a BBQ straight after it.

Our session on 10th November will include: clearing out the garage, removing and replanting some plants in the garden, shifting soft fall, and clearing the Supper Room kitchen. Please bring garden gloves, rubber gloves, old cloths for cleaning.

Altar Servers at St Michael's Parish

The Parish is looking for Altar Servers for 2024. Students who have received their Eucharist are eligible to be an Altar Server. If your student is wanting to apply, please email a short application to rloricco@smashburton.catholic.edu.au explaining why they would like to be an Altar Server.

See the Religious Education section for some information on Our Giving Tree 

Sausage Sizzle next week

On Thursday 9th November there will be a sausage sizzle held for students who wish to have this for lunch, before we head to the the Twilight Sports event that afternoon. A form has gone home in your child's school bag for you to complete beforehand and will need to be returned to school, with money included, by Wednesday 8th November.

Twilight Sports

When: Thursday 9th November, 3-5.30pm

Where: Warner Reserve

What to bring: A picnic basket and outdoor chairs (NO alcohol please)

We look forward to our annual Twilight Sports day where all students will be able to engage in athletics events and novelty games for the afternoon. Parents are invited to come along and bring a picnic to enjoy and watch the events for the afternoon. Please note this will be an alcohol free event due to child safety regulations. Please refer to the Operoo notification for further details. 

On this night the Graduation committee will be selling Zooper Doopers and lolly bags as well for the students. Please bring some gold coins for these.

Carols on the Green

We look forward to our annual St Michael's Carols on the Green event for the celebration of Christmas 2023. 

When: Thursday December 7th, 6-7.30pm (Gates open from 5:30pm

Where: St Michael's Tennis Courts

What to bring: A picnic basket and outdoor chairs (NO alcohol please)

Students will sit in their class groups in front of the stage for the evening and return to parents at the end of all class performances. Families are invited to bring along their picnic rugs and sit on the grass or bring chairs and sit along the concreted areas towards the side and back of the tennis courts. Please note this will be an alcohol free event due to child safety regulations. Please keep an eye on the newsletter for updated details.

PFA BBQ - The PFA will be serving a BBQ from 5.00-6.00pm on the Soccer court. 

2024 Get to know you sessions

This week we held our first "Get To Know You" session, during which we spent time with the students who will be in our levels for next year. We engaged in cooperative activities and were encouraged to move outside our comfort zones and work with students we haven't really worked with before. This is one way of building familiarity and supporting students as they transition to their new groupings for 2024. Over the coming weeks we will commence work on class placements. It was excellent to see our children using a 'growth mindset' as they ventured into these groups on Monday afternoon.

Chess Mates 

With such a wonderful response to the the Chess Mates trial session last week, St Michael's is very pleased to confirm that there will be an after school Chess Club in the library every Thursday from November 16th until the end of the term. 

The booking link will be sent out in an Operoo. Looking forward to seeing all our Chess Sharks out there!!

 St Mary Magdalen's School, Chadstone

As many families would be aware, St Mary Magdalen's School, Chadstone, will close at the end of 2023. We are happy to welcome to St Michael's some of the families from St Mary Magdalen's Primary School. We are very sad to hear about the closure of their school but we know they will find a safe and happy space in our school community and that all of our families will make them feel welcome. We have a number of students arriving to join us in 2024, who will also be transitioning to our year levels over the coming weeks. The first of these transition days is Wednesday 8th November, after Melbourne Cup Day. We are excited to show them all the wonderful things we do at St Michael's.

Prep Transition Da

Another enjoyable morning was had today with our 2024 Preps this morning and the Year Five students who greeted them at the door and helped settle them into the classrooms. We are proud to announce that our 2024 Prep Teachers will be Miss Ally Panas and Mrs Erica Cremer. Ally and Erica arranged learning centres and activities for the children to engage in at this morning's session, spending time getting to know the children as best they can. We are delighted that they will be looking after our Preps in 2024!!

We look forward to our next Prep Transition sessions on:

Thursday 16th November, 9-10am and

Thursday 30th November, 9-11am (Please bring a small morning tea for this session)

Additional Closure Day this term

As you would be aware, we have already notified families of our closure day on Monday 6th November for Assessment and Reporting purposes, the day before Melbourne Cup day. After much deliberation, planning with staff and consultation with the School Advisory Council, we will be holding an additional closure day this term on Monday 27th November. This is so that we can plan ahead for 2024, with the following focuses:

• Finalising of Class Lists
• Handover of students - detailed and comprehensive discussions with the teacher next year about academics, social and emotional needs, friendship groups and any other specific information needed by students' 2024 teacher
• Review of updated CECV Intervention Framework
• Planning of Inquiry concepts - 2 year cycle
• Review of new RE curriculum
• Overview of Religious Education for 2024 to align with Inquiry Concepts
• Maths professional development 2024
• Literacy & Numeracy Scope & Sequence for 2024

We realise the challenges for working parents when we hold a closure day and don't make these decisions lightly. We will again inform Extend of this date so that child care could potentially become an option onsite for you. Thank you for your understanding.

Information Session for parents and carers

End of Year Dates

All dates have now been entered into the calendar page so please check this page to coordinate with your own diaries.

 Online Safety Information for Parents and Carers

The Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools (MACS) has sent information to principals highlighting online sessions which are provided by the eSafety Commissioner for parents and carers. These sessions are designed to help you understand what our children are doing and using online and how we can best keep them safe. I highly recommend you take advantage of this free webinar to keep yourself abreast of the latest information. Please note, you will need to register for this so please get onto it quickly.

2024 Planning

As you would be aware, we are now commencing transition activities with the students as the year slowly draws to a close. We ask that you please inform us as soon as possible if your child from Years Prep to 5 will not be returning to St Michael's in 2024 so that we can make classroom arrangements for everyone.

As noted previously, we are aware that some parents may have valid reasons to have input into the placement of their children for the forthcoming year. Should there be numerous requests from parents then the ability for staff to make positive and professional judgements for the best learning environments for our classes is compromised.  Given this, if parents have any relevant information that you believe is essential to the grade placement process, I invite you to make contact with Eloise Ellis eelliss@smashburton.catholic.edu.au or myself, Annie Herbison aherbison@smashburton.catholic.edu.au to share your thoughts for the 2024 year.  We will evaluate all requests and make a professional judgement on the placement of the child in question. Please note that the final decision must rest with the school in the interests of providing the best scenario for all students. 

NEXT ENHANCEMENT SESSION - Friday 10th November, 5-7pm

Confirming that Friday 10th November, 5-7pm, St Michael's will be holding our next School Enhancement session. We will be doing some clearing of the kitchen adjacent to the Supper room, as well as some garden maintenance. An Operoo notice has been sent about this during the week.  Please complete this as soon as possible.

Jump Rope for Heart at St Michael’s!

We’re skipping through the term!

We have 28 students signed up to Jump Rope for Heart, with a total of $495 raised so far! We are so close to our $500 target! If you haven't registered your child, it’s not too late: www.jumprope.org.au/parents

We will be holding a special Jump Rope For Heart Fundraiser day later in the term for all students to get involved!