Announcing our Woolworths Junior Landcare grant

We’ve been successful with our application for a Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant for our project, Garden Mania!

St Michael’s is one of 617 primary schools and early learning centres throughout Australia receiving a Woolworths Junior Landcare grant to help grow our next generation of environmental champions.

The grants are being funded with money made from the sale of the Woolworths recyclable Bag for good™ which was launched in 2018 when the supermarket stopped using single-use plastic bags.

The children and teachers are looking forward to working and learning from this project and we’ll keep you updated on the results.

   Click on the Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant map to read about our project and others.

 *the link to the entire map is: https://landcareaustralia.org.au/woolworthsgrants/maps

Or, if you want to just link to your school’s project, click on the big map, find your project and then cut and past the URL into this article and create a hyperlink.

Year 6 Graduation 

On Monday 2nd December at 7:00pm we will have our Year 6 Graduation Liturgy in the Church followed by supper in the hall. Our school community will gather to celebrate the journey of our Year 6 students who are soon leaving our school. I would like to thank Father Ken who will be celebrating the Liturgy. A special thank you also to Rebecca Ninness and the Year 5 parents who will be providing a lovely supper and helping out on the night. A reminder that students are to wear their full summer uniform.

MINI VINNIES TERM 4 APPEAL 

This year for our Christmas Appeal we are offering our support to the Christmas Card project run by Sister Myree Harris and the Gethsemane Community. Each child will receive a label of a man or woman who have mental illnesses or other disabilities and the students will write them a Christmas card. Our students will be making some lonely, isolated people very happy this Christmas. 

Every student is required to bring in 1 standard size Christmas card with an envelope. 

CHRISTMAS FOOD HAMPER BLITZ

We are collecting Christmas food items in our classrooms that are offered up at our End of Year School Mass on Friday, 13 December. The St Vincent De Paul Society will create hampers from the generous donations received from our school families. Ideas to bring in: canned fruit, Christmas cakes/ fruit cakes/ christmas pudding/ mince pies, custard- (long life- NOT FRESH), sweet biscuits- shortbread, scotch fingers, wafers, ginger biscuits, lollies/candy canes, chips, drinks- cans/ bottles/ cordial/ poppers, chocolates- christmas stockings, block chocolate, box chocolate, hot chocolate mix/ cocoa mix, pretzels, long life milk, noodle Cups/ noodle bowls, bon bons, savoury biscuits - jatz, ritz, sakatas, shapes, tea bags, cake/muffin/pancake mix, spreads- nutella/ honey/ jam/ maple syrup/ vegemite

SACRAMENT OF FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

We wish the students completing their First Holy Communion from St Michael’s (the second step in their initiation into the Catholic Faith) all the best over the coming weekends. 

Public Speaking News

On Wednesday November 20th Zoe McNamara represented St Michael’s in the Grand Final of the Diocesan Public Speaking Competition. Zoe was chosen to go to the grand final after placing 2nd in the regional competition. Zoe came up against some extremely talented public speakers from across the Diocese in the grand final. Zoe did an outstanding job of delivering a very powerful and engaging speech on the topic of “What Makes an Australian” to a large audience. She was congratulated by our Director of Schools, Mr Peter Turner. 

NET Day 

In line with our School, Review and Improvement goal of authentic faith formation for students and teachers on Wednesday November 13 the Wollongong MX Mission Team facilitated a Leadership and Faith Formation retreat for all Year 5 students. During the day the team facilitated three distinct sessions and used various elements to engage students in the theme of ‘Leadership & Faith Formation’. Through the lens of leadership, the day presented the students with opportunities to discover how God has gifted every person as a leader, seeking to inspire a life lived to the full. This day has assisted in preparing our Year 5 students as they become the leaders of St Michael's in 2020. 

Upcoming dates for your diary: 

Friday, 29 November: Year 6W Mass: 34th Week in Ordinary Time

Saturday, 30 November (5:30pm) and Sunday, 1 December (8:00am): Holy Communion 

Monday, 2 December: Year 6 Graduation Liturgy & Supper  - 7pm

Saturday, 7 (5:30pm) and Sunday, 8 of December (8:00am): Holy Communion

Friday, 6 December: Year 4W Attending Mass: Friday of the 1st Week of Advent & Anointing of the Sick 

Friday, 13 December: Final School Mass 2019 @ 9:30am

Miss Emma Groves - Religious Education Co-ordinator