Dear Parents and Carers,

The year has begun and we are already 3 weeks in. Our new Kindergarten class has begun with enthusiasm and are settling in nicely. They have met their buddies and are having a great time learning about how school works. It is wonderful seeing their bright faces every morning. Congratulations to all our Kinder families who have dealt with the wet weather mornings, not an easy change to adjust to so quickly.

Thank you for assisting your children to transition back into school life after the Christmas break. All students have returned to school enthused about learning, working with their new teachers and beginning a new chapter of their St Michael’s journey. I look forward to what the year ahead brings.

Today we acknowledge the anniversary of National Apology day. I would like to share an excerpt from an article that reflects on National Apology day 12 years on and the value of saying sorry.

Apologies are encouraging because they embody a decency that we long for. We try to build it into the lives of our children, but often fear that it is being lost in society. Apologies affirm a shared sense of right and wrong by which we can judge our lives and which we are called to pass on to our descendants.

When we are teaching children a right way to live, we want them to learn three magic words: please, thank you, and sorry. If they make these words central in their lives and mean them, they will treat everything in their lives as a gift not as an entitlement, and they will be well equipped to form and heal relationships. If their lives are lacking in the reality of the three words they will be lacking in humanity.

Of the three words sorry is the lubricant. It acknowledges the shared inevitability of failure to act well, and enables fresh beginnings.

Eureka Street – Volume 29 Number 3

Creator God, Creator Spirit, God of the Dreaming, empower us to

honour the history of this Great South Land.

Help us to remember the story of those who have gone before us and to

ensure the future is one of peace, reconciliation and harmony for all who

walk this land.

Amen

Opening School Mass

Our Opening Whole School Mass is being held on Friday 28th February at 9:30am in our Parish Church. 

This is an important occasion when we come together as a school and parish community to ask God’s blessings for the year ahead. It is an important time to welcome our new students and staff to our community, as well as acknowledge our 2020 Year 6 leaders. Fr Ken will bless the Year 6 students and present them with their badges. At the conclusion of Mass, Year 6 parents are asked to pin a leadership badge onto their child’s uniform in the courtyard beside the Church. 

All parents, grandparents and families are invited to come and share in celebrating Mass with us. 

Following Mass the P&F have organised a lovely morning tea in the school hall to welcome everyone to our school community. 

Non -Perishable Items 

In service to the less fortunate of our community, we ask that each student bring a non-perishable item into their classroom before the opening school Mass on Friday 28th February. Thank you for supporting the St Vincent De Paul Society.

Ash Wednesday - Whole School Liturgy 

For the first time at St Michael’s we will be having a whole school Ash Wednesday prayer service in the school hall on Wednesday 26th February at 11:40am for 30 minutes. Parents, grandparents and families are welcome to attend. The service will be lead by our Year 6 students. Ash Wednesday begins a holy season for many Christian religions. It marks the start of the 40 days leading up to Easter (not including Sundays). This 40-day period is known as Lent, and it usually includes a focus on fasting and prayer.

Catholic Schools Week

Catholic Schools Week will be taking place this year from the 2nd - 6th March, 2020. We will have open classrooms and a whole school assembly on Friday March 6th from 1:45pm onwards. More information will come out in the Week 5 newsletter. 

Confirmation

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be conferred by Bishop Brian on Thursday July 2nd @ 7:30pm.  Enrolment Forms for the Sacrament of Confirmation close on Monday 11 May 2020. 

To download an enrolment form go to the St Michael’s Parish website (http://www.thirroulcatholic.org.au/) and return it to the Parish Office.              

Project Compassion 

Caritas Australia is the international aid and development organisation of the Catholic Church in Australia, and is part of one of the largest aid and development networks in the world – Caritas Internationalis – working in over 200 countries and territories. 

Each year, Project Compassion runs during the six weeks of the Church season of Lent. We are raising money and awareness for project compassion by doing a CRAZY SOCK DAY at St Michael’s on Friday March 6 (same day as Catholic Schools Week open classrooms and assembly). Students are asked to bring in a donation and these donations will go to the most vulnerable women, children and men in Australian and around the world. Together, we can all help to break the cycle of poverty and injustice.

Dates for your diary:

• Ash Wednesday Liturgy: Wednesday 26th February @ 11:40am (School Hall) 
• Opening school Mass and Morning Tea (each child brings in non perishable items before this date): Friday 28th February @ 9:30am (Church)
• Catholic Schools: Open Classrooms, Whole School Assembly & Crazy Sock Day (Donation for project compassion): Friday 6th March @ 1:45pm onwards (Classrooms, Hall) 
• Year 5W attending Mass - February 14th @ 9:30am (Church)
• Year 4 attending Mass - Friday February 21 @ 9:30am (Church)
• Year 6 attending Mass - Friday March 6 @ 9:30am  (Church)
• Year 3 attending Mass - Friday March 13th  @ 9:30am (Church)
• Year 5 Liturgy - St Joseph's Day - Tuesday March 17th @ 2:30pm (Hall)
• Year 5B attending Mass - Friday March 20th @ 9:30am (Church)
• Year 5W attending Mass - Friday March 27th @ 9:30am (Church)
• Year 6 attending Mass - Friday April 3rd @ 9:30am (Church)
• Holy Week Prayer Services from Monday 6th April - Thursday 9th April @ 9:30am each day (Outdoor Prayer Space)

Miss Emma Groves - Religious Education Co ordinator

2021 Kindergarten Enrolment Applications

2021 Kindergarten Enrolment Forms are now available from the school office. You may also access the forms from our school website. We look forward to welcoming siblings and new families to our wonderful community.

The enrolement package is available from our school or online at www.dow.catholic.edu.au

Parent - School Partnership Framework

The Catholic Education Office has released a Parent-School Partnership Framework which outlines the crucial relationship between home and school. Please see below a small excerpt from the website and the link to download the framework. The framework will be included in all new enrolments from this year on. All families will receive a hard copy of the framework after its official launch in Week 6.

“We must take note of the changes that have affected both the family and the school, and renew the commitment to constructive collaboration – for the benefit of children and young people” — Pope Francis  

Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) strives to create vibrant Catholic communities of faith and learning and believes this is best achieved when there is a genuine partnership between home and school.

https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/for-parents/parent-school-partnership-framework

2020 School Fees Information

Please see below a message from the Catholic Education Office in regards to the new process for School Fees.

School fees have been invoiced to families and they are available to view in the Compass Parent Portal.  We anticipate that school fee statements will be issued by email within the next 10 days. We apologise for the delay in distribution of statements, which was unanticipated and due to system issues.  For your information payment requirements are as follows:

• For families who pay annually, payment in full is due on 28 February 2020.
• For families that have submitted a Request to Pay by Instalment or who previously had a School Fee Agreement in place, a schedule of the required payments and the due date will be issued with school fee statements.  The first instalment payment will be due on 28 February, 2020. Parents may commence payments earlier if they wish, however, it is important that any existing regular payment is equal to the instalment amount provided on the schedule and that payment is made on or before the due dates on the schedule.  Reference should be made to the Request to Pay by Instalments on the school’s website for conditions relating to payment in this manner. 
• For families who have a Fee Concession in place, you will be contacted prior to your review date to complete annual documentation and arrange an interview with the Principal.  If you have a current payment plan in place, and you are unable to increase your payments to meet your 2020 school fees, you may continue to make these payments until your next review date.
• Parents should be aware that our new accounting system will send automatic reminders for overdue payments.

The following documents are available on the school’s website for the information of families:

• Diocesan School Fee Management Policy
• Diocesan Frequently Asked Questions
• Diocesan Request to Pay by Instalments
• Information regarding school Fees at our school

Meet And Greets

Meet and Greet conversations will be held next week (Monday 17th February - Friday 21st February) for all students Year 1-6. This is your chance mums, dads and carers, to value add to the teacher’s knowledge at the start of a new year. 

How can you support Meet and Greets?

• Please arrive on time for your conversation
• The side gate will remain open next week from 8am - 9am and 3:20pm-6pm to allow parents easy access to classrooms.  NB Parents are responsible for the supervision of children on the school site before and after school hours 
• Don’t forget to bring the Parent Questionnaire 
• Teachers will have back to back bookings.  A reminder that the Meet and Greet conversations are 10 minutes duration, so if necessary, please make an appointment for a longer chat at another time.  

P&F AGM and General Meeting

The St Michael’s P&F meeting will be held on Thursday Week 4, 20 February starting at 7pm. We look forward to having you join us as we discuss how we can work together in supporting all our children. 

TEA AND TISSUES THANK YOU

Thank you to our year 1 parents for providing the food and serving for the Tea and Tissues morning tea for our Kindergarten families. It was much appreciated by all and a lovely way to start the first day of Kinder for our families.

Save the Date

After our school opening mass on Friday 28th February the P&F will be hosting a Welcome to St Michael’s Morning Tea in the hall. This is a great way to meet other families and welcome in the new year as a community. We hope you can join us for a cuppa and a chat.

Compass

Please ensure you have the Compass app installed on your devices as this is only way messages and permission notes are now communicated. Turn on notifications so that you get all the information you need. If you have any issues please see the office.

Car Pick Up and Drop Off

Please ensure that you follow the road rules when using the drop off and pick up zone outside the school. This is a drop off and pick up zone only, it is not for parking. Pick up begins from 3.20pm and children will be escorted to the car, drivers must remain in the vehicle. 

We have had multiple complaints recently from the community about the bank up of traffic. A reminder that the procedure for pick up is that if a spot is not available in the line you are to drive around the block and come back to the line. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

It is a girl!

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Dutaillis who welcomed the birth of their beautiful little girl, Eve Louise Dutaillis. A healthy bundle of joy on December 26. They are all settling in to family life very well.

HOME AND SCHOOL COMMUNICATION

If you would like to contact your child's class teacher for any reason (no matter how big or small) you can either:

• Check in at the office and ask if the teacher is available. If they are available the office staff will let you know where to meet them. If they are not available you can either leave a written message or leave a message for them to call you back.

• Phone the office and ask to speak to the teacher. If they are not available the office staff will leave a message for them to call you back (You may find that it is a better option to make a time to chat face to face)
• Email the school at info@smtdow.catholic.edu.au with the subject “Attention (insert teacher name)” and the office staff will forward the email to the teacher – please follow this process in regards to emails. Please do not email staff directly.

Cybersafety at St Michael’s 

Tuesday 11th February was Safer Internet Day. It is a worldwide event that raises awareness about online safety and encourages everyone to help create a better internet. 

This term students have engaged in lessons with their classroom teacher about Cyber Safety and Digital Citizenship to ensure your children are developing the necessary skills to be safe online. 

The esafety website has excellent resources for parents and carers to start the conversation at home. 

Mrs Belinda Hughes - Principal

School Assemblies

Assemblies at St Michael’s are an opportunity for our community to come together to acknowledge and celebrate the great learning and events that happen in our school. The school assembly allows all students at St Michael’s to be recognised for their efforts.  We welcome all parents and friends to our school assemblies which are held every fortnight on a Friday afternoon at 2.30pm in the hall (McCarthy Centre). Our wonderful Year 6 leaders will be facilitating these assemblies throughout the year. This year we are exploring other ways to showcase our learning through our assemblies.

Please see below dates for our Term 1 assemblies.

Week 4 - Friday 21 February 

Week 6-  Friday 6 March 

Week 8- Friday 20 March 

Week 10- Friday 3 April 

The Leader In Me

This year our wonderful Year 6 leaders have begun collaboratively planning ways to strategically keep The Leader In Me framework as a key component of our school culture. Last year we saw the implementation of the fortnightly focuses during our fortnightly assembly. This year our leaders have developed a new strategy that allows students and teachers to record actions of how this habit was displayed both on the playground and in the classroom. These recorded actions will be collected prior to the following fortnights assembly to decide on our class of the fortnight.

Dance the assembly away

To continue to engage our students and create a fun and exciting environment during our school assemblies we have decided to add music to the beginning of our fortnightly Friday assemblies. Students, parents and teachers are encouraged to dance their hearts away upon entering the assembly to create a positive and uplifting vibe before beginning our formal proceedings. 

Professional learning update 

This year we continue our journey with our professional learning on writing. This will be complemented with a key focus on differentiating content to ensure that learning is challenging and enjoyable for all students. Teachers will continue to implement our consistent assessment and data collection to ensure learning experiences are tailored to meet the needs of our students. In our collaborative planning meeting teachers will be utilising this data to develop engaging learning that responds to the interests, abilities and learning styles of all of our students. We look forward to sharing some of our progress and celebrations of student learning throughout the year. 

St Michael’s Award System

Please find below a summary of the fortnightly awards that are presented at our assemblies.

St Michael’s Uniform Expectations:

Please find below an excerpt from the Parent Handbook in relation to school uniform expectations. This ensures that a high standard is maintained. If students are consistently wearing the incorrect uniform a reminder slip will be sent home.

The wearing of the correct school uniform is an expectation at St Michael’s. It is important for students to take pride in themselves, and in their school, by being correctly groomed and wearing full uniform.

The following information from the Parent handbook outlines the school uniform policy. We thank you for your cooperation in ensuring that our students take pride in their school uniform.

Girls Summer Uniform

Blue check tunic, short blue socks, black shoes, hat with school emblem or culottes and shirt. 

Girls and Boys Sport Uniform 

Unisex microfibre navy shorts or culottes, polo shirt with emblem, blue socks, preferably white or blue joggers with white or blue laces. Navy microfibre sports jacket with emblem and microfibre sports pants, navy scarf (optional). School hat with emblem.

Boys Summer Uniform

Navy blue shorts, short-sleeved blue shirt, blue socks, black shoes. School hat with emblem.

Hairstyles

Hair that is over collar length must be cut or tied back. Hair may not be dyed. Hair that is untidy (for example long in length or on top or sides, in face) must be cut, no hairstyles that are inappropriate for school (eg. rat tails, mohawks, beaded hair etc.) are allowed. Only light blue or navy coloured bands, ribbons etc. may be worn.

Jewellery

For safety reasons, jewellery, with the exception of simple watches, signet rings and plain stud or small “sleeper” earrings, is not permitted. Crosses on chains may be worn under uniforms.

Nails 

Nails are to be kept short and clean.  (No nail polish or other cosmetics are to be worn.)

Mr James Bryce - Assistant Principal

Learning Labs

The April school holiday will see the return of the Learning Labs program. This will be delivered to THREE University of Wollongong campuses.

The focus will be on Batemans Bay and Southern Sydney campuses, with a smaller program in Wollongong. The larger July school holiday workshops will be back in Wollongong as per normal.

Learning Labs is an academic and creative arts enrichment holiday program. They are targeting students from Year 1 to 6 during 2020, who are passionate, self-motivated and curious learners. Please see the schedule below and follow links to each region’s webpage:

Dates: 

Wollongong campus: 14 – 17 April, 2020

Loftus Southern Sydney campus: 15 – 17 April, 2020

Batemans Bay campus: 15 – 16 April, 2020

Venues: 

Wollongong campus: Little & Early Learning Labs

Loftus Southern Sydney campus: Early Learning Labs only

Batemans Bay campus: Little and Early Learning Labs

Applications close: 27 February, 2020

LEARNING LABS APPLICATION PROCESS

• Parents/Guardians visit our website and select the campus you are interested in and get more information about workshops for that campus, dates and times. 
• Parents/Guardians (or school if parent/guardian is unable to) fill out the online application form.
• This is an academic enrichment program designed for students who are motivated and passionate learners and performing excellently in their area of interest. First-time applicants are required to demonstrate their suitability for the program. One piece of supporting documentation is required (see 'Supporting Documentation' section on website). Please note that the Teacher Nomination Letter can be used as a supporting document.

Please know that workshops fill very quickly.

We will also have several sponsorship places available for students who identify as Australian Aboriginal/Torres Strait or students experiencing financial difficulty. 

For further information about workshops and the application process please visit our website, or contact the Learning Labs team via email at learning-labs@uow.edu.au or phone on (02) 4221 5557.

We thank you for your continued support of Learning Labs and we hope to share our passion for providing further opportunities to your students in April!

Miss Eliza Treble - Middle Leader 2

PB4L - Wet Weather Activities

Last year we asked for student feedback on activities that they would like in classrooms when we are needing to stay indoors at break times. The feedback that we were given gave us a large shopping list of suitable activities for inside play. Recently we received several large boxes of all the goodies. Some of the activities included; UNO, Celebrity head, Battleships, Connect 4, Snakes and Ladders, dolls, plush toys, charades and many more. Each class has their own tub full of goodies and they have been put to good use already.

Mrs Ronelle Peardon - Middle Leader 1

PB4L Team

Postponed School Swimming Carnival - Now Friday 21st February

Next Friday, Year 3-Year 6, and competent Year 2 students, will battle it out at Thirroul Pool for the winning sports house at our 2020 swimming carnival. If needed, notice of a postponement due to inclement weather will be made via Compass by 8am.

NB 100m competitors will need to be at the pool by 8:30am. All other competitors will walk to the pool at the 9am bell with their class teachers. As this is a school event, students must sit in their house team to cheer on fellow competitors where they will be supervised by school staff.

Age Champions & The Winning House will be presented during the Monday morning assembly.

PAUL KELLY CUP: AFL Competition

The Paul Kelly Cup is being held on Tuesday the 3rd of March 2020.The Paul Kelly Cup Competition is the largest AFL primary school competition in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Students from Years 5 & 6 are encouraged to participate in Boys competitive and Girls competitive teams. The Winning boys and girls team from the round robin competition progress through to the next round, then opportunities to progress to State Finals.  Paul Kelly Cup teams consist of 12 players + subs (three zones consisting of four players). Games are played on smaller modified fields under 12 rules (modified tackle and 10-12 min halves), this allows children who are new to the game to experience and enjoy AFL in a fun and safe environment. Teams will play a minimum of 3 games at the Paul Kelly Cup round robin gala day. Winners will progress to the sub-regional finals in Term 2. Notes will be sent home in the coming weeks to seek expressions of interest.

Term 1 sport dates to take note of:

Swimming carnival Friday 14/2/20

AFL Trials (nominated players) Tuesday 18/2/20

AFL Paul Kelly Cup Tuesday 3/3/20

South Coast Swimming carnival Thursday 5/3/20

Football (soccer) Trials (nominated players) Friday 6/3/19

Rugby League Trials (nominated players) Friday 6/3/19

Netball Trials (nominated players) Friday6/3/19

Cross country Friday  20/3/20

Touch Trials (nominated players) Tuesday  31/3/20

Mr Jason Novak - Sport Coordinator