Enrolling Now

We’re enrolling now for 2026! Applications are fee-free and can be made online. If your child is due to start Kindergarten next year, the best time to make your application is in Term 1 this year.  

Learn more about our school and the enrolment process here:

https://www.smtdow.catholic.edu.au/

Welcome back to Term 3!

I feel incredibly blessed to be stepping back into the role of Acting Assistant Principal from Weeks 1-8 this term. It’s such a privilege to support our wonderful students, staff, and families, and to be part of such a caring and vibrant school community.

We’ve had a fantastic start to the term! Students have returned to school with big smiles, a positive attitude, and a readiness to learn. Classrooms are buzzing with excitement as students have reconnected with their peers, settled into routines, and embraced new learning opportunities with enthusiasm.

On Wednesday 4th August, we were excited to welcome eight early career teachers and their mentors to St Michael’s. Add more

Here at St Michael’s, there is a strong focus on student agency as part of our Faith, Learning, and Well-being (FLW) Framework. This means creating classrooms where students are supported to make meaningful choices, set personal learning goals, and take positive steps forward. Our teachers are helping students by:

• Setting clear learning goals together
• Giving them different ways to show what they know
• Providing helpful feedback and regular check-ins
• Encouraging independence, reflection, and problem solving
• Listening to student voice to guide classroom learning

It’s all part of creating a school where students feel confident, capable, and excited to learn.

Book Week 2025: ‘Book An Adventure’

In Week 5, we will be celebrating Book Week with a range of fun, creative and inspiring activities that bring books, writing and imagination to life! From buddy reading to library and author visits to dress-ups and open classrooms, it’s a week full of joy, learning and storytelling.

Here is a list of the exciting activities that will take place across Book Week. 

We warmly invite all families to join us in celebrating a special morning of learning and sharing on Thursday 21st August. Come along to our Parent Information Session about our Writing Journey, visit our Open Classrooms, and then enjoy the Book Parade and Picnic Lunch. Here's the schedule of events for the day.

9.00am – Parent Workshop in the hall: Our Writing Journey: Join us for a short session exploring how we teach writing and the 5 Key Learning Questions that help students reflect on their progress.

9.30am – Open Classrooms: Celebrating Our Writing: Come into the classroom and take a tour with your child as they proudly share their writing growth with you. Their books or published work will be on display, and they’ll have a special Writer’s Tour Checklist to guide your visit.

10.15am – Book Week Parade & Picnic Lunch: After visiting classrooms, join us outside for a Book Week Parade and bring along a picnic lunch to share with your child / children. 

During Open Classrooms: Each student will have the 5 Learning Questions on their desk to guide your conversation:

• What were you learning about?
• How did you go? How do you know?
• What did you do if you didn’t understand?
• How can you improve your writing?
• What are you most proud of in your writing?

We’d love you to leave a kind note for your child / children with something they did well, and a little encouragement for what they can keep working on.

We can’t wait to celebrate this special morning with you!

ICAS Dates: The ICAS Competitions have begun in full swing kicking off this week with Digital Technologies and Writing. Please see the dates and times for the remaining competitions for the students who have elected to enter the competition.  

Waste Free Wednesday Results

Week 2

Kinder: 77%

Year 1: 55%

Year 2: 76%

Year 3: 64%

Year 4: 50%

Year 5: 79%

Year 6: 70%

So the Gold waste free warriors are: Year 5: 79%

And the silver waste free warriors are: Kindergarten: 77%

Week 3

Kindergarten: 73% 

Year 1: 61%

Year 2: 83%

Year 3: 41%

Year 4: 65%

Year 5: 85%

Year 6: No data, as we were at mass with the Bishop.

So the Gold waste free warriors are: Year 5 with 85%

And the silver waste free warriors are: Year 2 with 83%

St Michael’s Science Fair 2025  “Decoding the Universe”  Optional: You’re invited to be a scientist! This year’s theme is:  “Decoding the Universe” – discovering how things work in our world and beyond! Your Task: Choose something in Science that makes you curious and create a project to help explain it to others Science Fair Showcase Day: Tuesday 2nd September in the school hall All students from Kindergarten to Year 6 will have the chance to showcase their amazing science project to the school community.  Your project can be: - An experiment (e.g. What melts fastest? What makes plants grow?) - A poster (e.g. What is gravity? What lives in the ocean?) - A model or display (e.g. Solar system, volcano, animal habitat) - A presentation (e.g. slideshow) Here are some ideas to get you started.  You can either use these or design your own. What do living things need to survive? What makes rain? How do magnets work? What happens when we mix things? How do birds fly? What happens to light when it travels through space? How do planets orbit the sun and why don’t they fall in? How do clouds form and what do they tell us about the weather? What causes tornadoes and how can we recreate them safely? How does the water cycle keep the environment balanced? What to include in your project: A big question or idea What you found out Pictures, drawings, or results Something that helps others learn from your project Let’s explore, investigate, and decode the universe together!

Mrs Chelsea McLeod -  Acting Assistant Principal 

Student Learning and Wellbeing:

Gotcha 4 Life

I am looking forward to continuing Mrs Cheetnam's work on building our mental fitness as a school community. 

It has been great seeing students use the Gotcha 4 Life protective factors as they have transitioned back to school routines. Students have engaged in mental fitness check-ins throughout the day to build their emotional muscles. Students are supporting members in their village and are reporting when they feel worried. 

Next week (Week 4), we are celebrating Bullying No Way Week. This year, the theme is ‘Be Bold. Be Kind. Speak Up.’ Over the week, there will be activities that you could do in class to further explore the theme and how our protective factors from Gotcha4Life, ‘Build our Emotional Muscles, Embrace our Village, and Don’t Worry Alone’ connect. 

On Thursday (14th of August), we will be having a purple mufti day, with students participating in the third session of Peer Support. Students will engage in activities that explore the protective factor of ‘Embracing Our Village.’ Our Stage 3 students will lead their groups in discussions and activities that involve reviewing what makes a village and identifying who is in our village.

Gotcha 4 Life Year 5 Student Voice Project:

In Week 5, Year 5 will be working alongside Gotcha 4 Life to launch a student voice project. Students will be tasked to create something of their choice that demonstrates their understanding of mental fitness and that communicates the importance of mental fitness. Updates will be shared in the next newsletters.

Mental Fitness Week:

Get excited, as in Week 6, it is mental fitness week! It is a week that emphasises the importance of building our mental fitness together as a community. Activities will be shared through Compass in Week 5.

PB4L

At St Michael’s, we use the Positive Behaviours 4 Learning (PB4L) Framework to help create vibrant and positive learning environments in which all students are supported to be their best version of themselves. This framework authentically aligns with our vision, as students are provided with support and resources that enable them to flourish within our school community.

As we start a new term, we would like to remind everyone of our uniform policy. At St Michael’s, we work together as a community to take great pride in our uniform. Therefore, we will be looking to introduce the following out-of-uniform slip. 

Student Engagement

Throughout the year, students in Year 5, alongside Mrs Cheetnam and me, have engaged in Amy Berry’s work on Student Engagement. This has involved reviewing the definition of engagement and identifying what student engagement looks like. Over the term, I will be exploring a range of strategies with Year 5 that authentically collect data on student engagement. This will involve students identifying which level they are at on the Continuum of Engagement during different KLA’s and setting intentions for the lesson. 

Mr David Ryan - Middle Leader 2