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As the term draws to a close, I am always grateful for the community we are a part of. This term has seen the easing of restrictions and the opportunity to open the gates of the school to parents. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for your support and understanding as we have navigated uncharted territory and attempted to still remain connected as a community.
Last week was Harmony Week and as a school we remembered it is a time to celebrate Australia’s cultural diversity and to focus on the values of inclusivity, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. The students engaged in many activities that reinforced our critical role as a Catholic Community in living these values every day. Please see in the RE section of our newsletter a small snippet of some of the work by our students.
Next week is an important week in our liturgical calendar. We enter Holy Week, an unfolding of the story of Jesus and a reminder of the joy and the suffering of Jesus’ life. The Easter Story is a time to focus on the importance of forgiveness, compassion and salvation. I wish all our families a Holy and Blessed Easter break and I pray that you will all be able to spend some time celebrating the true meaning of Easter.
God Bless
Mrs Belinda Hughes - Principal
Religious Education and Catholic Life Goal 2021: All staff will engage in the revision and refining of the school vision and mission statement that is informed by spiritual formation so that there is collective ownership by whole community and is ritualised as a part of the school life.
This year is the summation of an authentic and purposeful 3 year strategic plan (2019-2021), which is culminating in the revised vision and mission of our school.
This Term we had Gary Quinn (Team Leader - Staff Spiritual Formation Catholic Life, Education and Mission Services / Macarthur) come out to continue our Vision and Mission journey at St Michael’s. Gary unpacked the feedback from both parents and students, which is key to informing our school vision and mission. We also ‘looked back’ at the work we had done last year in terms of what do we value and believe at St Michael’s. What is the PURPOSE and what are our PRINCIPLES of our school.
After this meeting with Gary we have established a small writing team compromising of staff from St Michael’s and using the raw data from parents, students and staff we will begin the task of revising our vision and mission. The writing team will take their ideas back to the staff to further refine the vision and mission. This year we plan to finalise, roll out and ritualise our Vision and Mission across the school. Students will be prompted to think about…. What qualities a graduate of St Michael’s will possess?
Miss Emma Groves - Religious Education Co Ordinator
Holy Week
For Holy Week this year each class will be responsible for leading a reflection (5-10 minutes) based on the significant events of Holy Week. These reflections will take place at our new outdoor prayer space. We look forward to the students across the school learning from each other.
200 Years of Catholic Education
Catholic Education is celebrating 200 years in Australia, marking the bicentenary of the first Catholic school established in Parramatta in October 1820.
Over 200 years, Catholic schools have grown to become the largest provider of schooling in Australia (outside government) with one in five school age students attending a Catholic school.
This represents some 768,000 students in 1,751 schools across the country and employing 98,000 teachers and staff. Nearly 40 per cent of Catholic schools are located outside of metropolitan cities in regional, rural and remote communities.
Below is the prayer for this important bicentenary.
Confirmation
The Sacrament of Confirmation will be conferred by Bishop Brian on Tuesday and Wednesday, 22 and 23 June 2021 to Year 6 (or older) students. Because of COVID-19 current arrangements might be changed.
Enrolment Forms for the Sacrament of Confirmation close on 11 May 2021. To download an Enrolment Form, click here
Download and complete the Form, then return it to the Parish Office: thirroul@dow.org.au Parish Office: 325 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Thirroul. Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9am to 3:30pm and Fridays 10am to 3pm
Parents/Guardians need to attend the Parent Meeting:
7:30pm, Tuesday, 1 June 2021 (parents only attend)
Parents/Guardians and students need to attend:
Class 1: Tuesdays June 8, 3:45pm to 5pm (parent and student attend)
Class 2: Tuesday June 15, 3:45pm to 5pm (parent and student attend)
(same day as netball gala day - students attending will need to come back to school from 3:45pm to 5pm)
Parents/Guardians and students need to attend:
Confirmation Practice: Monday, 21 June, 7:00pm (parent and student attend)
Sacrament of Confirmation:
7:00pm on Tuesday, 22 June 2021
7:00pm on Wednesday, 23 June 2021
Parent Information Sheet will be available soon
Confirmation Classes Information will be available soon
Confirmation Handout #1 will be available soon
Confirmation Handout #2 will be available soon
Ripples: Parent Spiritual Formation
The Ripples Podcast can be accessed via Podbean or Apple Podcasts.
In this week’s episode, Kylie Harris shares the story of Midnight Feast: Theatre that Unites (Part 1). Kylie is a singer, actress, writer, director, and producer. Over the past ten years, Kylie has been working in the Performing Arts making theatre with people with significant disabilities. She is currently the Founder and Artistic Director of Midnight Feast which has become the first theatre company in residence at NIDA. The company has performed at the Opera House over the last ten years to a sold-out crowd.
Kylie has an extraordinary gift of seeing the capacity and gift in everyone she meets and she responds to all those she meets with a sense of dignity, respect, compassion, and incredible joy. It is through these gifts that she has created a path in theatre that is unique and life-giving to so many.
"We celebrate abilities not limitations. Our theatre explores humanity in all its diversity and challenges assumptions."
Harmony Day
Harmony Day is a day to celebrate our cultural diversity – a day of respect for everyone who calls Australia home.
In the spirit of Harmony Day, Year 6 did some cooking for homework this week.
Miss Emma Groves - Religious Education Co-Ordinator
Family Holidays During School Time
Recently there has been a significant increase in the number of applications for leave during school time. School attendance is a priority and the ultimate recommendation is that holidays are planned during the pupil vacation period. It is important that students are at school during learning time. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
NAPLAN
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses the literacy and numeracy skills of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students participate in NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. NAPLAN provides an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. The tests are just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance. NAPLAN also provides schools and education authorities with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.
This year the NAPLAN program is:
Tuesday 11 May - Writing
Thursday 13 May - Reading
Monday 17 May - Language Conventions
Wednesday 19 May - Numeracy
The National Day of Action (NDA) against Bullying and Violence, 19th of March 2021
The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence is an important day in the St Michael’s calendar as we join with other schools across Australia to say ‘Bullying. No Way!’
We joined the nationwide movement with schools across Australia to Take Action Together against bullying on Friday 19 March 2021. We’re proud to say ‘Bullying. No Way!’ At our school, we encourage students to take hold of the issue and talk about what works. Let’s support our students to drive powerful messages and take action to prevent bullying. The NDA promotes school, parent and community partnerships to build supportive learning environments and find workable solutions to address bullying. Together we can make change. Everyone has a role to play in supporting young people in dealing with bullying and helping to energise positive discussions about the issue.
Students had the opportunity to engage in constructive lessons that gave them skills to help navigate actions that they can take in regards to bullying. The Bullying is Never OK! lessons aim to help students understand and recognise what bullying is, how to report it, and where to get help.
Term token winners and St Michael’s Blue Awardees
At the end of every term, the top two token winners from each class, along with St Michael’s blue winners are rewarded for their great achievements. We have revamped the reward this year. For Term 1 and Term 4, the winning students will be treated with a visit to Thirroul Park, escorted by Mrs Hughes. In Terms 2 and 3, students will get to share a movie session with Mrs Hughes. Students will need to bring their own lunch. When I shared this information with the students on Monday morning it caused much excitement and anticipation. Mrs Hughes is very much looking forward to having some play time at the park this term. Term 1 token winners and St Michael’s blue awardees will be announced next week. Hopefully the sun will be shining!
Mrs Ronelle Peardon - Middle Leader 1
Lighting The Way 2023 & Beyond
This week a survey was sent out to parents, encouraging you to participate in the Diocesan Survey to inform future planning. By completing the survey you will be in the running to win a prize. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Easter Hat Parade
A reminder that we will be holding an Easter Hat Parade on the last day of term. We will begin at 2.00pm before the Easter Raffle. Parents are welcome to attend.
Holy Spirit College
We would like to extend out thanks to all of the families who attended the Holy Spirit College Open Day last month. It was a pleasure to have you visit our College community.
Please note that enrolment applications for Year 7, 2023 closes on April 1, 2021.
Families that would like to submit an application for Year 7, 2022 are advised to do so as soon as possible, as there are a limited number of vacancies for next year.
Please contact the College on 4285 2877 if you have any queries regarding the enrolment process.
The Leaders of Living The Faith has some wonderful messages in their latest video.
SPLICED 2021
SPLICED (Strengthening Potential through Learning in Interactive Challenging Environments) is already underway at St Michael’s for 2021. The title of the program this year is “Imaginative Mind: Exploring Possibilities through Multidimensional Thinking”. The unit is a Critical, Creative and Reflective Thinking process that is offered by the Catholic Education Office with many schools from the diocese participating. SPLICED can include engagement in a broad selection of Key Learning Areas such as Mathematics, History, Religious Education, English, Science, and The Arts.
So far selected students have engaged in two workshops where they explored an area of investigation and submitted a proposal for their intended work. From here it has been determined the most suitable way for students to engage in the unit of work, with many students already commencing in class. Some of our SPLICED participants will be involved in a half day workshop next Tuesday (Week 10) at school. Parents will be notified by compass if their child will be participating in this workshop.
We wish all students involved in SPLICED this year the best of luck with their projects and we look forward to sharing their work with the school community later in the year.
Congratulations to the following students who attended Sport Trials this term. Well done on being selected to participate in the trials, an achievement in itself.
Hockey - Finn M
Basketball - Angus D
Soccer - Rose D, Darius H, Cameron S, Sophia L, Eliza R and Ari C
Tennis - Audrey M and Baden B
Please find attached the details of our Annual Easter Raffle.
Raffle tickets will be sent home with families this Thursday 11th March.
All parents/carers are welcome to attend the raffle draw on the last day of School, pending COVID restrictions do not not change between now and then.
Congratulation to the following students who received awards at last week's Assembly:
Principal's Awards
- Charlotte A
- Monique S
- Zara K
- Audrey M
- Baden B
