Dear Parents and Carers,

In our last newsletter we shared the journey of reimagining our school vision and mission statement. A critical part of this process is gathering student and parent voice. Yesterday Mr Gary Quinn spent some time with the students in each class asking them some great questions around what it means for them to be a student at St Michael’s. Their responses are incredibly valuable in informing the process.

Likewise having your input, as partners on this journey, is incredibly important. Your responses are anonymous and Mr Quinn will collate your responses to form a part of the process of reviewing our school vision and mission statement. This is part of a 3 year strategic plan to reinvigorate our vision and mission and to ensure it is relevant and inspiring for us all. As we continue to work through the process, we look forward to next year bringing it all together and finding ways to bring it to life with the community. 

If you have not had the opportunity already, please find attached a link to a short survey which will inform decisions about our school vision and mission. Thank you for your ongoing support.

 Google Form  

God Bless

Mrs Belinda Hughes - Principal

Book Week 2020

We had a wonderful day for Book Week 2020 on Friday October 23rd around the theme ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’. Thank you to all the students from Kinder to Year 6 who came dressed as their favourite book character. Congratulations to all the students who got a place in our book week competition and to Cecillia Medina for organising a book for the winning student from each class. The students got to read some of the shortlisted books in class and do an activity based on this book. We had a great day highlighting the importance of reading by celebrating books, in particular Australian authors and illustrators.

 Mission Day - CRAZY SOCK DAY 

At just 16 years old, Chen’s life changed in a moment when he stood on a landmine that took both of his legs. With his family already struggling to make ends meet, they were unsure if they would be able to provide the necessary care for Chen. Thankfully, Bishop Kike, offered a lifeline, which has opened up many doors for Chen. The Arrupe Centre, established by Bishop Kike in north-western Cambodia in 2001, has been a home for many people, especially children, with disability – helping to empower them and offer opportunities they might otherwise not have. However, there are many more children like Chen that rely on the support and care that the Arrupe Centre provides. By fundraising through World Mission Month, we can help restore dignity and empower people living with a disability, like Chen.

 What are we doing at St Michael’s? 

• Week 3 Friday (Friday October 30) we will be having a Zoom Liturgy from 2:15pm - 3:00pm to learn about Cambodia and the work of the Church to support young people who are living with disabilities due to land mine accidents. We need to hear their story, just as much as they require our economic support.
• Week 3 Friday (Friday October 30)  students wear “crazy socks” and bring in a donation. The money will be sent to Catholic Mission in order to help empower children and young adults with disability at the Arrupe Centre in Cambodia, which provides vital care for those who would otherwise have limited opportunities or support to lead a fulfilling life.

 Parent Spirituality 

Ripples! 

This week's Episode features Paige Bullen who currently works for Grief Care and prior to this was a Visual Arts Teacher. She is passionate about Visual Arts as a way of embodying and expressing difficult to describe experiences. 

PODCAST LINKS:

LINK TO PODBEAN: https://ripples.dow.catholic.edu.au

APPLE PODCAST LINK: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ripples/id1511337808 

First Penance and First Communion

Year 2 or older students who have enrolled for the Sacraments of First Penance and First Communion will be contacted shortly by the Parish Office regarding preparation for these Sacraments.  Enrolment Forms are still available on the Parish website:  www.thirroulcatholic.org.au

Activate Fire 

St Michael's Year 6 students will be involved in the Activate Fire Formation Experience on Monday 2 November, 2020. The day will be an Immersive Spiritual Experience based on the Yr 6 unit Confirmation: Celebrating the Gift of the Holy Spirit. Joel Duval from the Catholic Education Office will be assisting in facilitating the day with Miss Cole, Mrs Hughes and Mr Bryce. 

REMEMBRANCE DAY

On Wednesday 11th November our school will be participating in a zoom Remembrance service from 10:30am -11am. Students from Years K to 6 will be involved in the service. 

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION

Congratulations to the 32 Candidates who are being confirmed this year between 31 October and 12 November.  Congratulations to Kody G;  Sienna H;  Tyla G;  Zoe W;  Ava A;  Zali N;  Shelby R;  AJ D;  Rory M;  Emmanuel O;  Joshua K;  Stella W;  Sara T;  Michaela L;  Kalani P;  Mila C;  Anabel G;  Joel E;  Elena O;  Ciaran S;  Layla B;  Jessica S;  Destiny A;  Violet J;  Isabella H;  Sandon R;  Lauren A;  William E;  Oliver H;  Zoe M;  Kalan T;  Cooper M.  Thank you to the Candidates, parents, sponsors and families during this somewhat difficult year.  Please remember these Candidates before the Lord, especially during the next week or so.

Thirroul Parish Mass

There will be a special Mass on All Souls Day, Monday, 2 November at 09:15am

Miss Emma Groves- Religious Education Co ordinator

Term 4 Assemblies

On Friday of week 2 we came together for our fortnightly zoom assembly. For this assembly we added a bit of fun with a virtual book week guessing competition. A special thank you to our Year 6 leaders for their enthusiasm and support in making our virtual assemblies engaging and meaningful to our student community. 

Our fortnightly assemblies will continue to run on a Friday in weeks  4, 6 and 8. We look forward to continuing to come together as a whole school to recognise and share the wonderful work and achievements of our students both academically and pastorally. 

Professional Learning Update 

In week 2 we engaged in our final professional learning meetings on writing for 2020. It was a great way to consolidate our professional learning and recognise the impact staff have had on student learning. Despite the challenges of 2020, our wonderful staff have shown great determination and flexibility to continue to learn together. We are very pleased with the shifts in practice and the tremendous impact this professional learning has had on student outcomes in writing.

A special mention to Mrs McLeod and Miss Riolo for their support and leadership throughout the writing professional learning this year. Their creative ideas and feedback have been pivotal in shaping our professional learning and ensuring it is relevant and targeted to the needs of all staff. 

It is always nice to take the time to stop and look back on our progress as a result of our professional learning. We are very proud of our progress in both reading and writing and look forward to continuing to grow and learn together in order to inspire, challenge and develop a love of learning in our students.

Mr James Bryce - Assistant Principal

Contacting Teachers

There are times when you may need to contact your child’s teacher for a variety of reasons. Please ensure that you send all messages via email through to the office email address; info@smtdow.catholic.edu.au  Please do not contact teachers or members of the leadership team directly. All enquiries will be responded to during work hours. 

Another way to contact the school is to phone the front office and your message will be delivered to the appropriate person. Please refrain from using See Saw as a communication tool with your child’s teacher. This is a wonderful avenue for you to view your child’s work, their progress with their learning and for you to leave feedback in regards to that piece of work.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

What is new at the school?

It has been an exciting few weeks here at St Michael’s as the Year 5 classrooms have been refurbished and transformed into contemporary learning spaces. They were in much need of a make over and the students and teachers are loving the new space.

Thank you to everyone of you that participated in the mufti day run by the P&F in Term 3, we were able to purchase new protectors for the poles in our playground. They are secure, look great and provide a safe play space for all of our students. The basketball court continues to be worked on in between wet weather. We are very close to having all the line markings completed. 

Holiday Leave

A reminder if you are taking any holiday leave, even one day, there are specific forms that must be completed and then the application is considered for approval by the Principal. The forms can be collected from the front office.

New Parent Calendar

We have been working with the CEO to set up a live parent calendar that can be accessed through our newsletter and through your Compass Parent Portal. 

 The calendar on the newsletter can be accessed in 2 ways:

• You'll find it in the 'Calendar' tab in your main menu on the newsletter (ie: on the top bar menu on desktop (ie: here); and in the main hamburger menu at the top-left of the screen on mobile).
• It is also added as an 'Upcoming Events' panel in your newsletter sidebar (circled in red below). This will be automatically updated whenever something is added to the calendar.

Sharing Celebrations in our School

Covid 19 has certainly presented many challenges, one of the more significant impacts has been the restriction of having parents and carers permitted on site. We certainly miss having you a part of our celebrations and events. We have attempted to where possible share photos, videos and news articles with you as a parent community. The CEO have released some further guidelines in accordance with the sharing of footage. Please find the summary below and the implications for us here at St Michael’s.

• Confirmation that an event will be recorded for distribution must be advised in writing to parents (this will be done via Compass)
• The signing of the annual consent form for publishing of photos, videos etc will be relied upon for permission. If parents would like to revoke this they can do so in writing via the office email address.
• No duplication or onward transmission of the recording is permitted

We will begin to share recordings of liturgies with our parent community, these will be advised via Compass before hand. These guidelines will ensure that we continue to maintain the privacy of students and families and follow current restrictions and guidelines.

Staff Development Day

The postponed staff development day from term 3 will be held on Wednesday 16 December. This means that the students last day of school will be Tuesday 15 December.

Creative Arts News

‘The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."
Albert Einstein 
This fortnight’s "Creative Corner” is our amazing Year 3 students, sharing their
wonderful creativity in the processes of creating ‘Violin and Newspaper’ inspired
artwork by Pablo Picasso and the arrangement of Hip-Hop dance. Demonstrating the
Criss Cross, Two Step, Happy Feet and the Hip and Pull techniques on the link below:

Thank you!
Over the last few weeks I have received many kind words of appreciation and thanks
from families and caregivers. I would like to thank you all, for your support in
celebrating the teachings of the Creative Arts curriculum.
Please feel free to contact me via the school office, if you have any questions or queries.

Mrs  Paula Jackson – Creative Arts Classroom Teacher

PB4L News:

This week I had the privilege of meeting with our Leaders of Community and Wellbeing. Our student leaders have had limited opportunity to constructively lead due to the dreaded COVID issues. However, I asked the team to put their heads together to come up with some COVID safe activities to which they took to task with gusto. We should see some of their excellent suggestions come to fruition, during the Year 4 to 6 break times, in the next few weeks. The students should expect to see some art sessions or maybe they might like to express themselves with song or dance. Other suggestions that we may see are charades or even a scavenger hunt. 

Thanks should be given to our team, consisting of: Emmanuel O, Oliver H, Jessica S, Mila C, Isabella H, Sara T, Kyan L, Cooper M

Mrs Ronelle Peardon - Acting Middle Leader 2

TECHNOLOGY

Year 5 2021 iPad Night

Thank you to all the parents who attended our  iPad information night via Zoom, we appreciate your time and participation.You will receive more information via Compass soon. 

Please email any questions to: info@smtdow.catholic.edu.au   Attention: IT

Stay tuned for links to our Online Workshops:

• How the iPad is used in the classroom
• Digital Citizenship 
• Tips for managing the iPad at home 

Police Youth Liaison Visit 

Last week Stage 3 had a visit from the Police Youth Liaison Officer. This was a great way for Year 5 and 6 students to consolidate their learning about online safety and ask some questions. 

If you are looking for a kid friendly resource about online safety. Please visit: https://www.esafety.gov.au/kids. 

Miss Emma Riolo - Acting Middle Leader 1

Learning Technologies

Principal's Awards

• Abigal Sharratt
• Elyza Ryan
• Alistair Forte
• Oliver Forte
• Taj Taylor
• Mahli Duffin

Gold Award

• Oliver Forte