I am pleased to share that this year we will be implementing a peer support program to support our students in their growth and development. For the past year or so we have been exploring relevant and appropriate leadership opportunities for our students, that develop the skills of team work, collaboration and a focus on being the best that we can be.

This week Year 5 and Year 6 students participated in Peer Support Leader training, as they will facilitate peer group sessions next term. The details of how this will run are further explained in the school news.

We are very excited to embark on this journey with our students and see them grow in leadership and making connections across the grades. Thank you to Mrs Peardon and Mrs McLeod who have led and coordinated the implementation process of the Peer Support Program.

Mrs Belinda Hughes - Principal

First Holy Communion

With the  support of Father Ken and the St Michael’s  Parish and families, the students have been prepared to receive this Sacrament. Over the last three weekends, they have made their First Holy Communion during the weekend parish Masses. Congratulations to our students for continuing their faith development.

St Patrick’s Feast Day - March 17

The students learnt about the life of St Patrick and how he was a courageous faith filled man. They decorated shamrocks. St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the holy trinity with each leaf representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three leaves of a shamrock are also said to stand for faith, hope and love.

St Joseph's Feast Day - March 19

Last Thursday March 17 for the first time since the COVID restrictions began, the entire school was able to come together to celebrate a special liturgy for St Joseph hosted by Year Five. During the liturgy, the Year Five students brought forward symbols that represented the various aspects of St Joseph’s life as Worker, Teacher, Father, Husband and Man of Faith.

Harmony Day - March 21

Harmony Day was held on Monday March 21st. It is a very important day for our school as we celebrate the cultural diversity & harmony of our school community. We celebrated by participating in many harmonious activities in our classrooms. Each student decorated a hand to show how unique we are. These hands came together to create a St Michael’s masterpiece.

Andrew Chinn is a composer of liturgical music for children. Our children sing Andrew's songs in our Masses and Liturgies and also in class. On Friday 6th of May Andrew will be visiting our school to conduct fun singing workshops with all of our students during the day. All parents, friends and members of our school community are then invited to join us for a concert from 2.05pm -3.05pm in the school hall. Andrew will host the concert which will involve every one of our students performing one of his songs with fun, energy, singing and movement.

Holy Week 

For Holy Week this year each class will be responsible for leading a reflection of the Holy Week events. This is a  time of remembrance and prayer as we walk alongside Jesus in his last moments of his life on earth. These reflections will take place at 12.30pm on 

Monday 28th March- Kinder and Year One

Tuesday 29th March- Year Three and Four 

Wednesday 30th March- Year Six and Year Two 

Thursday 28th April - Term Two Week One Easter - Year Five 

All parents, caregivers and grandparents welcome to join us as we gather as a faith community. 

Caritas 

This year in linking with the theme ‘For Future Generations’ our Caritas: Project Compassion Fundraiser for the students is - come dressed up in “What you want to be when you grow up.” This will be held on Friday the 8th April (Last day of Term One). In support of Caritas, students are asked to donate a gold coin on this day.

Grace & Blessings

Mrs Steph Brown - Religious Education Coordinator

St Michael’s involvement in Curriculum reform 

At the end of 2019 NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) developed a statewide teacher network program called the TENS.  The TENs group is a network of teachers from across the whole of  NSW from the Public, Catholic and Independent schools that are involved in curriculum reforms. 

I have been a part of this program and will continue in this role for the remainder of the curriculum reform. This means that our school is user- testing new resources and parts of the new curriculum, providing feedback and advice to NESA. As a TENS teacher I am also working with other teachers from across all sectors (Catholic, Public and Independent) and gaining resources and professional development that is continuing with the staff at St Michaels’.

As a result of our school being part of the TENS our teachers have already received professional learning on the new curriculum and the explanation to why certain changes have been made. This professional learning will continue through the next two years as the curriculums are introduced to schools. We at St Michael's have been and we continue to be privileged in having first access to the draft curriculums and be allowed to ‘user- test’ and work alongside other schools that are also ‘user- text’ sharing resources and ideas. We at St Michael’s will also be giving feedback and advice to NESA on what support resources teachers and students may need for the successful implementation of the new curriculums. 

At this stage our kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 teachers are working closely with myself as we trial the K-2 English curriculum. The new curriculum has a focus on building strong foundations for future learning.  Next term we will begin to look at the K-2 Mathematics curriculum and after I have completed more professional development on the draft 3-6 English and Mathematics curriculum we will begin user testing and professional development in these areas. 

As we continue to learn about the new curriculums and shape our professional development and learning around focus areas we will also provide information opportunities to our parents on the new curriculums and changes to what and how our students will be learning. This information will be provided in a number of ways from updates in the newsletters to information sessions for parents. 

The curriculum reform is a positive and exciting movement for staff, parents and especially students. We are extremely lucky to be working closely with NESA and a range of schools in the implementation of the new curriculums.  

Miss Eliza Treble - Assistant Principal

2023 Kinder Enrolments

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

Afternoon Dismissal

Thank you to our community for supporting the return to pre-Covid afternoon dismissal procedures and ensuring the safety of all children. The parent pick up is a routine we are excited to welcome back. Please find below reminders to the procedures and times for afternoon dismissal.

• 3.15pm bell - this is the first dismissal bell for students to be ready for parent pick up

• Students are dismissed by the class teacher, this allows us to be able to be aware of where and who the children are going home with
• South bus, car pick up and fun club are dismissed to the hall for supervision

• 3.20pm bell - this is the end of school day bell. Car pick up begins. By this time there is safe dismissal of remaining students.

• If there is no room in the car pick up line please drive around the block to avoid traffic congestion for the community.

Please be mindful that the car pick up zone is not to be used as a parking space for parent pick up. 

NAPLAN

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit in May each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students do. As students progress through their school years, it’s important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy. 

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time. 

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ progress.  

St Michael’s NAPLAN Testing Schedule

Parents, carers and students are invited to use the public demonstration tests to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and related functionalities available in the online NAPLAN assessment. 

Please go to this link for further details: https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site 

House Captains

We would like to introduce our Red & Gold House Captains in the following video clip!

Band

Band and singing online information session tonight at 7.30pm. Please see the flyer in the community section for further details.

Peer Support Program 2022

In Term 2, all students from K-6 will be engaging in a Peer Support Program that will be facilitated by our Year 5 and 6 students. 

This week, the Years 5 and 6 student’s were involved in a two-day leaders training program in order to prepare them for their role as Peer Support Leaders and highlight the structure of the Peer Support Program. Students engaged in a range of activities that aimed to assist them in developing the skills needed to effectively run the sessions which will begin in Term 2. 

The Peer Support Program will provide a fun and engaging environment for the students to address issues that arise throughout Primary School.  Trained Peer leaders will facilitate activities each week over an 8 week period for 30 mins with small groups of younger students. Each group will include two-three Peer leaders from Years 5 and 6 and multi age groups of 8-10 younger students from Kindergarten to Year 4. 

The module that we have chosen to run this year at St Michael’s is called, ‘Keeping Friends’. This module will support the students in developing knowledge, skills and attitudes enabling them to make friends more readily and maintain those friendships. The students will be provided with a range of  opportunities to discuss different types of friendship, the importance of friendships and how to play well together. 

Keeping Friends is underpinned by the premise that resilient children have a broad range of supportive networks as opposed to a single best friend. 

Parents can assist their children by encouraging them to play with many different children, hence strengthening their social capacity and ability to cope. The following is a list of key behaviours parents can encourage in their children to help promote friendship skills:

• talking with others during play 
• offering encouragement 
• taking a genuine interest in others 
• being willing to share with others 
• smiling often 
• learning how to move graciously into or out of a group 
• providing help to others

Mrs Ronelle Peardon and Mrs Chelsea McLeod

This has been a huge 2 weeks for our Mini Vinnies!

Vinnies Flood Appeal: 

Last Thursday and this Monday we had a stall at recess and lunch raising money for the Vinnies Flood Appeal.

These stalls were hugely successful thanks to the giving and empathetic hearts of everyone in our school community. 

Last Thursday, everyone was in the spirit of St Patrick’s Day with their green ribbons! 

This Monday, students participated in Harmony Day activities with their orange ribbons! 

Through this initiative, St Michael’s raised an amazing $373.55!

All proceeds raised during these two events will be donated to the Vinnies Flood Appeal. 

You can also donate directly by accessing the St Vincent De Paul Society website. 

Easter Appeal:

This term, the Mini Vinnies are hosting an Easter Appeal so that they can provide non-perishable food and water to those less fortunate and enable them to celebrate in this Holy holiday. Each classroom has been provided with a basket for students to collect their non-perishable items. Non-perishable items include but are not limited to pancake mix, muesli bars, canned tuna, canned beans, noodle cups, tea bags, powdered milk, juice poppers etc. 

The Easter Appeal collection began running earlier this week and will continue through to next Friday (Week 10). The baskets will be collected by John Denning, the St Vincent de Paul Thirroul coordinator for our school, who will provide these items to people in need in our community.

We thank you in advance for all the support you provide to the school, the Mini Vinnies team and the community. 

Miss Negus and the Mini Vinnies team.

Check out some of the amazing things we have been up to …

Year 5 so far by Sophie L… 

Year 5 has been really fun and exciting so far.  In the first week or so we went on the school camp with year six. Then we met our amazing adorable buddies and we have been doing lots of activities with them.

Year 5 has been really hands on and collaborative. The learning we have been doing really helps us think out of the box and challenges us. I was really nervous at the start of the year because I didn't know what anything would be like but now I feel pretty silly for all that, because it is really fun and exciting. 

It is only week 9 but our classroom walls are full of our work and posters to help us with our work and even some random drawings of fruits (so many fruits).  Our marble jar is looking around a quarter the way full and there are plenty of dojos each day. 

We have been doing many different things for different subjects. From creating plays and historical narratives for history and using plasticine in experiments to learn about forces in science.  We have learned how to create gif animations and get to use our iPads to be creative. In maths we have been doing some rotations where we get to learn through playing games like mathopoly, using concrete materials and engaging in a variety of problem solving activities. We even have a bump it up wall (which doesn't really take up a whole wall) that focuses on the mathematical skill of reasoning. This has been a fun way to reflect on our learning and work our way up to developing a watertight mathematical argument. 

We can’t wait to see what the rest of the year with Miss Riolo & Mrs Kors brings!

Imaginative Writing by Imogen V (a snippet)

BANG CRASH BOOM, Thunder struck and lighting formed as people screamed and bolted towards shelters. I was scared and afraid that they would come for me… Only the box knew where I was. I stuck my letters in my pockets as sounds of people screaming and dashing through puddles of water made my gut flip. What if they were on to me? How would I escape them? I ran and ran to find a safe place to stay the night. Splashes of water covered my body head to toe as frogs leaped from vine to vine and birds hopped from branch to branch, Stray dogs running and babies crying, I didn’t know if I was gonna make it safely home. My head was full of thoughts of which way? and how many people were on to me tonight. Vines covered my face with water and my eyes were burning. I am on a search for the box. The leader of the forest, tonight the forest has become angry and dangerous for others to come near it… I have to save my village. I slowly pulled out my map with all my energy and sat down in a puddle of dirt and clay. My shoes were giving me blisters and my shirt had holes as big as plates. I am in a bad shape, I thought to myself. 

Rivers flowing rapidly down the middle of the crossing in my town. There are people running for their lives, dogs barking and children lost. They are depending on me. I can’t lose hope. This is all me. Dark deadly clouds formed above my head and trees crashed as lightning struck through the body of vines. Splash splash splash cars engines were becoming louder and louder this scared me… I looked through every crack and corner of the trees to find the box or even just a clue. But then when I started to lose hope I suddenly looked down to see a little brown mouse with a red arrow drawn on his back, just like the arrow that is on the box! This was a feeling I didn’t think I would ever feel. Hope. The mouse squeaked 2 then off it went into the forest. I had to follow it! I was running with all my energy faster and faster then all of a sudden I heard a sound rustling through the bushes behind me… it took all my attention away from the mouse as the sound became louder and louder.. I spun in circles slowly searching my surroundings. Was it them… Have they found me… 

Swimming Selection Trials 

Congratulations to all of the students who went to the Wollongong district swimming carnival Monday 14th March, Riley S, Noah H, Abigail S, Flynn S and Jemima C, we are very proud of you all. Another congratulations to Jemima C for coming first in her event and breaking a record. Jemima went on to swim in the Wollongong swim team at the MacKillop Trials at Homebush on Tuesday 22 March and came 9th/16 in the 50 m freestyle event. 

DOW Representative Soccer Trials 

Congratulations to Elyza R and Ari C who attended the DOW Football (Soccer) Trials on Monday 21st March. The selectors had a difficult job selecting students due to the number of talented individuals who trialled. Another congratulations to Elyza R for being selected for the Diocese Representative team and Ari C for making it as a backup for the team. 

Miss Emma Wragge - Sports Coordinator 

For Easter [16/17 April] we need HEAPS of small plastic bottles for people to take home Easter Holy Water  … please drop them into the church or Parish Office.

 Confirmation for Year 6 students:  enrolments close on 9 May 2022.  Enrolment forms are on the Parish website:

• http://www.thirroulcatholic.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21:confirmation&catid=6:sacraments&Itemid=26

• Olivia L
• Angelika F
• Jesse M

Principal Awards:

• Lila H
• Sophie L

Gold Award

• Lila H

Welcome

The P&F team are very excited to be working with the school and look forward to bringing more opportunities for parents and carers to engage and collaborate at the school as we start to see restrictions ease post-covid. Thank you again to this years class reps for 2022, we look forward to celebrating the success of each event with you.

You can reach the P&F team at pandf@smtdow.catholic.edu.au.

P&F General Meetings

Each term the school will host a P&F General Meeting. We encourage all parents and carers to come into the school and join us for a tea, coffee and sweet treat beforehand. This will give us an opportunity to meet one another and engage in a face-to-face environment. We hope to see many of you over the next few meetings. We are hoping to bring an exciting and interactive experience to the P&F Meetings moving forward. Stay tuned for more details.

Term 2

Week 5, 26 May 2022, 6.30pm for tea and coffee, Meeting commences at 7pm 

Term 2 P&F General Meeting we welcome guest speaker Sophie Sedgwick from Peer Support  to discuss the Peer Support Program.

Term 3

Week 4, 11th August 2022, 6.30pm for tea and coffee, Meeting commences at 7pm

Term 4

Week 4, 3rd November 2022, 6.30pm for tea and coffee, Meeting commences at 7pm

Please send through any questions you would like raised to pandf@smtdow.catholic.edu.au at least one week before to allow for the committee to prepare.

Easter Raffle

This years Easter Raffle will be held at the school on the last day of term 1, Friday the 8th of April. Raffle tickets have been sent home and additional tickets can be picked up from the office. Easter donations are welcome. We are encouraging parents to donate Easter chocolates, baskets, activities, craft, books etc. All donations will need to be handed in by Wednesday, 6th April ready for the raffle day. All parents/carers are welcome to attend the raffle draw and Easter hat Parade on the last day of school term, Friday 8th April from 2.30pm. 

Gala Day kits

Family donations are still available via the Uniform shop within the Flexischool app. All contributions are very much appreciated, and we are very excited to have the kids in their new gear for the upcoming gala day! Many thanks for your support.

Mufti Day

The P&F Mufti day is this Friday 25th March! All students are encouraged to wear casual clothes and bring a gold coin donation! 

In Term 2, the P&F will be looking to be holding a themed mufti day, Friday Week 10 July 1. Example themes could be "dress up as your favourite superhero" or perhaps wear your house colours for the day etc.  We are calling for ideas for themes. Please send all ideas through to pandf@smtdow.catholic.edu.au

These ideas will be discussed at the next P&F meeting, 26 May 2022.