Vision: Inspired by Christ, we aspire to excellence in learning, living life fully in community
The mission at St Michael’s is to:

• be a vibrant catholic community where all feel safe, valued, loved and respected

• display understanding, compassion and care for others and all creation

• foster dynamic and diverse learning opportunities

Easter message 

Being the last newsletter for the term, I would like to thank you for your ongoing support as I commenced my new role. I feel extremely privileged to be Principal in such a welcoming and connected community. 

I wish you all a wonderful Easter break with your families. I hope during this time, you each get an opportunity to feel God’s presence in these precious moments with family and friends. As we gather as a community of faith and hope, we are called to help those far and near that are most in need. Like our school vision statement, we strive to be people who are ‘inspired by Christ, living fully in community.’ It is our kind words and deeds that illuminate Christ’s love and brightens the lives of others. 

I’d like to share a prayer reflection that was shared during our leadership team prayer and was written by Declan Ryan (the lovely Claire’s husband). To me it beautifully illustrates the significance of Christ’s love as we support each other throughout life's journey. 

Easter Reflection by Declan Ryan
The human experience is such that for some reason whether we like it or not trials will form part of our story, just as it did for Jesus. In those times it is always a challenge to know how we are to respond. 

At Easter I am always aware of the change in season that is happening all around, summer gives way to autumn. You begin to feel a chill in the air each morning. It’s as if you can see nature begin to slow down and ready itself for the winter ahead where it will embrace the stillness and quietness that comes with it. 

It’s like nature will suffer its winter in anticipation of spring, where all the unseen growth will burst forth and all the unseen growth that has taken place beneath the soil will now be visible for all to see. 

Easter, perfectly positioned at the change of seasons, is our hope that when we face our own winter that we too will emerge into a new springtime with new life borne out of the growth that has taken place in the winter of our souls. 

Easter Sunday gives us hope.

Jesus Gives us this hope.

Jesus looked to God.

Jesus waited for God. 

Jesus trusted that God would bring him through it. 

The wonderful learning at St Michael’s 

One of the favourite parts of my job is the opportunity to connect with our students to see the wonderful learning happening within our school community. This year one of our improvement goals is focussed on the teaching of mathematics. My goal is to spend 30 minutes on days that I am at school, to support and be a part of the brilliant learning experiences our teachers provide. This fortnight I had the opportunity to drop into our Year 6 classroom to see a small snapshot of some of the new practices our teachers have applied. I learnt the new learning strategy of Vertical Non Permanent Surfaces that allowed the students to collaboratively solve problems and share their thinking. I even learnt some new vocabulary “non-canonical” numbers (not following the rules of place value). 

I look forward to visiting a number of classrooms in the upcoming weeks and sharing our learning journey with you. 

Parent support: Athletics carnival 

It was terrific to see so many of our parents join us for our annual cross country carnival. There was a great sense of community spirit, and I was extremely proud of the efforts of all participating students. Thank you to our parent task team, who worked in collaboration with Mrs Peardon to ensure an amazing carnival. We will continue to use the parent task team model in upcoming carnivals to ensure we provide the best possible experience for our students. 

After an extensive review of the photo finish I can confirm that Steven Davies is the 2023 parent, students, and teacher race champion. Congratulations Steven, and thank you to the parents who jumped in for a bit of fun. The students absolutely loved it! 

Parent engagement survey 

A big thank you to all of our parents who have completed the parent expertise survey. We have begun to review the document to identify ways we can utilise your expertise and experience to support the learning within our school community. 

Open Day

Today we held our first school Open Day which was a huge success. There was a great turn out of very interested families, wanting to find out more about our great school.

Thank you to the school staff for welcoming the families, to our fantastic P&F, Erin Matts and Alexa Marciano who were there to answer questions and cook up a sausage sizzle and our school leaders that showed so much maturity and enthusiam. We were very proud of you.

Living the St Michael’s Vision Awards

Tomorrow as a school we have a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the many successes that our students have achieved throughout this term. We will recognise those students that model leadership and live our school vision and mission daily.

Feast of St Patrick 

On Friday March, 17 we celebrated St Patrick. St Patrick was the patron Saint of Ireland who displayed courage, patience, and great love for God and the people of Ireland. 

Feast of St Joseph

On March 20 at our Monday assembly Year One shared a special prayer service  for the feast of  St Joseph.  St Joseph was  loving and caring towards his family and lived a faith-filled life daily. 

Caritas

What a wonderful achievement the students raised $615 towards this year's project compassion from our jersey / sundae day last Thursday. Being able to have fun and help those in need brought so much joy.

Please continue to generously support and promote this year's project compassion, your child still has the opportunity to give to their class project compassion boxes. 

Next Monday April 3rd and Tuesday April 4th  at Recess there will be an Easter Egg guessing competition where the students can donate a coin to have a guess at how many eggs are in the jar. The winner will be announced at Easter egg raffle.

Remember all the  money raised goes to supporting those people living in the most vulnerable communities across the world in the hope to create a lasting future.

Mini Vinnies 

On Monday March 26  we had the pleasure of commissioning our Year Five and Six Mini Vinnies ambassadors for 2023. Mr John Denning and other members of the Mini Vinnies team came to support and acknowledge our new Mini Vinnies team.

The first initiative for the Year Six team will be to host an Easter Appeal so that our school can provide Easter care packages to those less fortunate and enable them to celebrate this Holy holiday. Each classroom will be allocated a particular non-perishable item to collect. We have extended the collection till Friday March 31 and then Mini Vinnies team will work together to create the care packages.

Allocated items for each grade - 

Our baskets are filling let’s keep this wonderful giving going!

Holy Week - Encountering Jesus on the Journey 

For Holy Week this year, Year One, Two, Three, Four and Six  will be responsible for leading a special part of the Holy Week journey. This is a  time of remembrance and prayer as we walk alongside Jesus in his last moments of his life on earth. This reflection will take place at 10.00am on Wednesday April 5th on the school grounds.

On Friday April 28 Kindergarten and Year 5 will share the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection/Easter at 2.30pm. 

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

Parent- Holy week Timetable 

Mrs Steph Brown - Religious Education Co ordinator

A Message from Fr Ken

Enrolments for 2024

Enrolment Applications for Kindergarten 2024 are now open. If you have a child attending Kindergarten next year or you know of anyone who is thinking of enrolling their child, please encourage them to visit our St Michael’s website or visit the school office for the Enrolment forms. There is also opportunities for new families to visit the school to have a tour and meet our new Principal Mr James Bryce. https://www.smtdow.catholic.edu.au

School Social Media

With so much going on at school, a great way to follow on up ad coming events and follow the great things that are happening please follow us on Instagram: stmichaels.thirroul or Facebook: St Michael's Catholic Primary School, Thiroul

 

Opportunity Class - 2024

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Harmony Day Celebrated at St Michael’s

On Monday the 20 March, we marked the very important event of Harmony Day. The theme for 2023 is ‘Everyone Belongs’. Our Living Fully in Community year 6 leaders worked with me to prepare and share cultural stories, quizzes, songs and videos with each class. There were even ‘orange’ lollies given for the most engaged students. The leaders wore orange which is the colour of social communication and meaningful conversations. Each class consolidated their learning with an activity throughout the day. Here are some snaps from the day.

Mrs Amy Sammut - Assistant Principal & Yr 5 Teacher

Vegetable Week 

This week the Dynamic Learning Team hosted Vegetable Week. Each day they have been tallying up how many vegetables each class is eating for munch and crunch. 

They have also led a mascot design competition at lunch. Students have been very creative with their designs. Check some of them out below! 

Miss Emma Riolo - Instructional Coach & Yr 5 Teacher

Week	Focus
10	Vision and Mission Awards

Term 2 Assembly Dates

Week 3, Friday 12 May

Week 5, Friday 26 May

Week 7, Friday 9 June

Week 9, Friday 23 June (Vision Awards Assembly)

Cross Country Carnival 

All our prayers must have been answered for a fine day and boy was it a fine day!

Our army of parents arrived early to Gibson Park and within minutes we had the park all set up for our Cross Country. 

The excitement was palpable as the children all arrived with cheers to what was to unfold. The Year 6 house captains were dressed for the occasion and officially opened our 2023 Cross Country event. 

The first event was the non competitive runners parading around the football field and we still had a level of competitiveness with some sprints to the end.

The kindergarteners were treated to their first ever race but it was the cheering of the crowd that brought them home. Lots of red faces and puffing to be had - that was the proud parents who I think subconsciously ran the races with them.

The competitor’s course changed a little bit this year with the inclusion of a short steep hill and finishing off with their Olympic style last run around the footy field. Boy were there some last ditch efforts to come through with a placing. 

The top three place-getters will now be representing St Michael’s at Nowra in May.

A huge thank you to needs to go out to all the parents that gave up their time to support their children and to all the parents who helped with the smooth running of the day. It is days such as these that really remind us that we are embraced by such a wonderful community. Without the help of all of the parents, we are unable to run such a successful event.

Mrs Ronelle Peardon

The Catholic Paul Mc Gregor and Rod Wishart legends Gala Day 2023 will be held on Wednesday, 5th of April, 2023 at Reed Park Dapto. Schools arrive by 9:00am; Depart by approximately 2:30pm. First game 10:00am. Each team will play minimum 3 x 14 minute games, all games are non-competitive, all games played under NRL Safe Play Code.

This gala day is not a Diocesan gala day, therefore it is not included in the original expression of interest nominations. We are asking for expressions of interest if your child would like to compete in:

• Years 3 / 4 Paul McGregor Rugby League (Experienced players)
• Years 3 / 4 Development Rugby League
• Years 5 / 6 Rod Wishart Rugby League (Experienced players)
• Years 5 / 6 Development Rugby League
• Years 5 / 6 Rod Wishart Girls League Tag.

Expressions of Interest must be submitted in Compass by Tuesday, 28th March 2023. A follow up note of confirmation of teams will follow shortly after with final details of the event.

NSW Netball Primary

The School Sport Unit is conducting a state trial to select a NSW Netball Primary All Schools Boys 12 Years and Under Team to compete at the inaugural School Sport Australia 12 Years and Under Netball Championship in Perth, Western Australia (Years 5-6). Registration and trial details can be accessed through the attached flyer, registrations close Friday, 26 May.

Please note: All boys who aim to represent NSW at a School Sport Australia Championship in Netball must be selected through this pathway.

Attached is the flyer outlining all the details you require and how to register. 

To register you must use the Catholic Schools link on the Boys Netball flyer.

The flyer contains a registration link specifically for Catholic School NSW Students. Please note that students/parents must use this link as searching DASH for this event will not allow them to register.

To apply for the Primary All Schools Selection Trial, complete the relevant online registration form on DASH (NSW Government schools, NSW Catholic schools, NSW Combined Independent schools) and make payment by the closing date, Friday 26 May 2023.

Upcoming sporting events and nominations

Term 2 - 2023

May 2 - Cross Country Championships - Nowra

June 20 - South Coast Netball Gala Day

Term 3 - 2023

July 28 - Soccer 2023 South Coast Gala Day

August 8 - Athletics 2023 South Coast

September 14-15 - Basketball 2023 South Coast (BERKELEY ONLY)

September 14-15 Basketball 2023 South Coast Junior and Senior

Term 4 - 2023

October 12 - Cricket Gala Day (Yrs 5 & 6) 2023

October 27 - Softball - Boys and Girls - Selection trials (2024) - Paper Trial ONLY

November 14 - Basketball - Boys and Girls - Selection Trials (2024)

If you are interested in nominating your child for any of the above trials, please login to https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/sport/events-primary/ to find out further details about the events, how to nominate your child and the closing date. It is the responsibility of the parents to individually nominate their child.

If you require any further information about sporting events at St Michael’s please contact Ms Maria Shea (Sports Convenor). 

Remaining meetings 

Term 2

Executive meeting - Thursday 11 May (2-3pm) Venue TBC

General Meeting - Thursday 18  May (6.30-8pm) Venue TBC

Term 3

Executive meeting - Thursday 3  August (2-3pm) Venue TBC

General Meeting - Thursday 10 August (6.30-8pm) Venue TBC

Term 4

Executive meeting - Thursday 26 October (2-3pm) Venue TBC

General Meeting - Thursday 2 November (6.30-8pm)

The following student received awards at the last assembly:

Principal's Award:

• Isobel P