New Pupil Free Day

All Catholic Schools have been allocated an extra Pupil Free Day At St Michael’s this will be scheduled for the end of the school year on Monday 19 December. This means that the last day for students will be Friday 16 December.

 

Reporting Timeline and Student Led Conferences

Friday 24 June, Week 9, Year 1-6 students will receive their Semester 1 reports. The Semester 1 report, will demonstrate student’s academic achievement in relation to what they have learnt in Term 1 and Term 2. Reports will be released via Compass. This will be followed by Parent/Teacher Interviews in Week 10. There will be one late night of interviews on Tuesday 28 June. Interview bookings will close on Friday, 24 June.

This year we are pleased to return to Student Led Conferences in Years 3-6. Teachers are working with their class to prepare the children to be able to talk about their learning progress and how they use their learning goals and success criteria to improve in their learning. This means that students will need to attend the parent teacher interviews from Years 3-6.

Kindergarten parents will not receive a formal report, however we still have the opportunity for a parent / teacher interview in Week 10.

We look forward to sharing your child’s journey at school with you.

 

Over the past few weeks, the students have engaged in a range of activities that looked at how to play in a friendly way in order to maintain friends and build positive relationships. Through the various activities, children discovered the importance of taking turns and having consistent rules throughout a game. The groups also focused on the skills of winning in a friendly way and coping with losing. The students participated in various activities and discussed how to accept the outcome of a game, no matter what it is, in a friendly way in order to maintain those friendships. 

In next week’s final session of the Peer Support module ‘Keeping Friends,’ students will be participating in a board game, reinforcing all of the concepts and skills that have been learned over the past 7 weeks. They will be reminded of the qualities of a good friend and the skills needed to maintain friendships and make new friends. Each Peer Support group will have the opportunity to celebrate what they have learned and the new friendships and connections they have made.

The student’s have all engaged in the sessions with great eagerness each and every week. It has been so rewarding to watch the growth of not only our student leaders but all the participants in the groups as they worked together on tasks each and every week. 

Some students were asked to reflect on their experience of the Peer Support sessions. Here is what they said………

In Peer Support:

• l have enjoyed being greeted with a friendly smile each and every week.  
• l like how my peer support group explains the task and they don’t just leave without really telling us what to do. 
• l like how my groups include everyone and never exclude people with activities they don’t understand.
• I have enjoyed  the games and the way that all the classes are brought together in groups, because all of them include some of the younger classes that show us how to be friendly and kind. 
• I like how the peer Support leaders help us with the tasks instead of just giving instructions and leaving us to do it by ourselves. I think peer Support helps and encourages us to be the best person we can be. It helps a lot, and at the end of the day, it always puts a smile on my face.
• My leaders help us learn new ways to be kind and how to introduce ourselves. It always puts a smile on my face.
• I loved learning new things. I also liked how we were able to join new groups and how we worked together to help others through interacting and solving problems.
• I have enjoyed learning how to make strong friendships, forming groups, playing games, talking and chatting about friends.
• I really enjoyed playing educational games and learning new things about people in other classrooms. I really cooperated in discussions and loved working in teams and meeting new people. I also learnt some ways to see what people are like in other classes.
• I loved helping younger students understand and how the leaders were so supportive and how they guided us carefully through the sessions. 
• I enjoyed learning new things about how I can be a better friend to others.  
• I liked how kind and caring everyone was in my group. We really worked together in teams and we all are happy and learn together. 
• I have enjoyed playing fun games, working with other people, gaining confidence to ask or to join people in games and learning new things.
• I have enjoyed learning new things and meeting new people. It makes me stronger with talking to different people and with the peer support leaders.

Now that the Peer Support Program for 2022 is coming to an end, we will still continue to foster the important bonds and messages that the program has developed in our students. To help maintain these bonds and support networks, one day each week in Term 3, the students will come together to eat their lunches in their Peer Support groups to reinforce the friendships that they have made. 

See YouTube link for student reflections

Mrs Chelsea McLeod and Mrs Ronelle Peardon

Mini Vinnies Winter Appeal:

This term, the Mini Vinnies hosted an extremely successful Winter Appeal so that we could provide warm items to those less fortunate and enable them to stay warm and dry during these cold Winter months. Each classroom was provided with a basket for students to collect their warm items. Everyone participated so well and we were able to donate 7 full baskets to St Vincent’s De Paul!

John Denning presented the school with some beautiful books from the Lions Club as a form of appreciation for St Michael’s hard work and to encourage students to continue to read. 

We thank you for all the support you have provided to the school, the Mini Vinnies team and the community for this Winter Appeal!

Miss Negus and the Mini Vinnies team.