Kindergarten 2025 Playgroups

We welcomed our new kIndergarten 2025 students and their families to St Michael’s with our Playgroup sessions commencing in Week 2. What an amazing group of students we have joining our vibrant community next year. I can already see life long friendships starting to form and the bonds between parents are also starting to grow.

Introduction of Writer’s notebooks

If you want to see how budding Year 2 authors grow seeds(ideas) from their notebooks into masterful writing pieces, please take a look through this document. Well done Year 2 and Mrs Cheetham who are absolutely loving being authors with a purpose and audience and experimenting with their Writer’s notebooks Writer's notebook implementation .

Our Year 4 and 5 students are also diving into their writer’s notebooks to gather ideas and spark creativity. These notebooks provide a space for students to express themselves, develop their seeds, and discover their unique voices as writers. It’s inspiring to see them growing in confidence and developing a true enjoyment of writing.

What’s on the Horizon?

We are so excited to inform you that we have been successful in gaining a 3 year partnership with Gotcha4Life, a non for profit organisation that supports schools to build a ‘mentally fit’ culture. As part of 2025 improvement plan, we will have a focus on embedding social and emotional competencies into our teaching and learning and with the support of facilitators from Gotch4life, we will have a whole school focus on mental fitness. To start the journey, the leadership team have met with facilitators and have mapped out a plan. There will be parent workshops on mental fitness strategies, teacher professional learning and lessons, strategies and group work for students. We encourage you to get on board and support us as we create a ‘mentally fit’ school community where we:

-build, flex and train our emotional muscles

-don’t worry alone

-make mental fitness and wellbeing a HABIT

Visit the website for tips and tricks on how you can check your mental fitness https://www.gym.gotcha4life.org/

Register for this webinar with Dr Justin Coulson

How to Stay Connected in Times of Change

How to Stay Connected in Times of Change Flyer

RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS NEWS

At St Michael’s, we are committed to fostering a respectful and caring culture where everyone feels valued. As part of our New Respect Focus, we’re encouraging all students to follow the guidelines for respectful behaviour, especially during line-up times.

Our new respect focus is: When the whistle is about to be blown, Level zero is the tone!

What we want to see and hear:

. Students sitting in lines at voice level zero.

. Whole body listening in lines - facing the front, no speaking, listening with our ears   and our eyes, not playing with any objects

. No eating in lines

. Model to other students who are speaking what level 0 looks and sounds like.

. Show respect to the person on the microphone

. Show reverence throughout prayer

What we don’t want to see and hear:

. People talking in lines 

. People eating in lines

. Students facing backwards

. Students not joining in prayer

. Students not demonstrating whole body listening

. Students distracting other students in lines. 

By working together to reinforce these expectations, we can create a positive and respectful environment at St Michael’s. Let’s encourage our students to embrace these values and help build a stronger, more caring school community!

Waste Free Wednesday update

The Waste Free Wednesday Week 2 data:

Kindergarten: 92%

Year One: 56%

Year Two: 60%

Year Three: 53%

Year Four: 58%

Year Five: 90%

Year Six: 48%

So the Gold Waste Free Warriors for Week 2 are: Kindergarten

and the Silver Waste Free Warriors for Week  2 are: Year 5

The Waste Free Wednesday Week 3 data:

Kindergarten: 92%

Year One: 56%

Year Two: 60%

Year Three: 53%

Year Four: 58%

Year Five: 90%

Year Six: 48%

So the Gold Waste Free Warriors for Week 3 are: Kindergarten

and the Silver Waste Free Warriors for Week  3 are: Year 5

Mrs Chelsea McLeod - Acting Assistant Principal

Diverse Learning Update: 

Over the past few weeks, teachers in Years 3-6 have worked collaboratively to design tiered tasks across various Key Learning Areas and have begun implementing these in their classrooms. These tasks are tailored to meet the diverse needs of students by offering activities at different levels of complexity, ensuring each student is appropriately challenged according to their understanding, learning style, and interests.

The tiered tasks are aligned with Bloom’s Taxonomy skills, encouraging students to develop across a range of cognitive levels. They are engaging with skills such as remembering, understanding, and applying knowledge, as well as higher-order thinking like analysing, evaluating, and creating. Since introducing these tiered tasks, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in student engagement, with students more actively involved in their learning and progressing confidently at their own pace.

We are proud of the work that the students have produced so far, and are excited to continue implementing more tiered tasks as the term goes on. This approach not only fosters a deeper understanding of the content but also encourages collaboration among students as they tackle tasks suited to their individual levels. It promotes a positive learning environment where students feel empowered to take ownership of their educational journey.

Here are some of our fantastic Year 3 students working on a tiered HSIE task. They created comic strips to step into the shoes of convicts and recount what life might have been like on the First Fleet.

Mrs Chelsea McLeod -  Diverse Learning Coordinator - High Potential and Gifted Students