St Michael's Primary School - Kaleen eNewsletter

Principal's Page - Pat Ellis

Canteen Success!

What a great success Friday was for our Parent led Canteen Committee. We were served with a delicious Pasta Bake loaded with pasta and mince (as well as some sneaky grated carrot and zucchini). It was a delicious meal. We had 74 orders placed and a huge amount of over the counter sales for snack food both at recess and lunch. It was great to see our Year 6 leaders helping with the washing up also.

I understand that perhaps you didn't order because your child didn't want Pasta Bake. As this is a parent led initiative, and they are all volunteering their time to provide this service to the school community, we will only be offering one option each time the special lunch orders come around.

To put into perspective regarding running a canteen. When we outsourced to the prior company, they were only paying us $20 each Friday to use the canteen and our facilities. This included electricity, rubbish disposal, use of fridges, ovens and warmers and the general wear and tear on the canteen benches, cupboards and floors. So, we received $200 a term which is not a lot of funds to maintain the facility when you consider cost of the above items. For schools that run their own canteen on a regular basis each week and pay a canteen manager, generally run at a loss or just break even. These type of canteens rely on their 'red food days' to generate additional funds through increased purchases to be able to maintain the facility.

For our new approach, with providing a more targeted and strategic approach that was healthier and more sustainable, we made approx $300 in the one day. This money will be able to go straight back into the canteen facilities to continue to upgrade and assist with further catering events for the community. A huge success which I am very grateful for our canteen committee. A huge thanks to this team, especially Emma Bickley who has taken the lead and Lina, Scott, Courtney, Jeanette, and Esther supporting closely.

Wendy Rix - Aboriginal Art

What an amazing fortnight we have had with Wendy Rix working with us. So many great moments occurring with Art and Aboriginal Perspectives. I know many of you, like myself, have watched each afternoon as the rainbow mural takes shape heading into B Block. An inspiring piece of art that has captured the true meaning of St Michael's. We have also new art additions in the foyer and a new tree art taking shape in the tuckshop area.

Each year, we are granted with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander funding. This funding has allowed us to commission Wendy for her visit to bring awareness and focal points for us to acknowledge, affirm and celebrate Indigenous Perspectives at St Michael's.

Pick Up Procedures in the Afternoon

Just a reminder to parents that students are not permitted to exit the school at the end of the day to the carpark by themselves. I understand some children walk home, and this is different. My concern is some students just walking to their parents who are parked in the carpark waiting for them. This is a significant risk and not one that I am prepared to allow to happen.

Of an afternoon, we have two teachers on duty in the courtyard. One who is supervising and one who is on lock up procedures. Moving forward, the teacher on lockup duty (or a member of the school executive) will be standing at the glass doors ensuring students do not walk to the carpark by themselves.

If this is going to be a challenge for your family arrangements, I would be happy to sit down and discuss this and come up with an alternative solution that will ensure everyone's safety.

Community Council

Last week we held our first Community Council meeting for 2020. I am pleased to announce the roles for our council.

Chair - Esther Coghlan

Deputy Chair - Serae Love

Treasurer - Gabriel Walsh

Secretary - Evan Thomas

PR - Emma Bickley

Staff Rep - Jessica Lewis

Damien Webb (AP) and myself will also be members of council. Fr Loi as Parish Priest, is also a member and will attend when required. I will assist with reporting between St Michael's Community Council and the OLPH Parish Council.

As part of the first meeting, we have taken all feedback from last year regarding events to hold and fundraising ideas. Over the next 12-18 months, our fundraising efforts will be to raise funds to install shade sails over our play equipment. Obviously, these is an expensive operation, so our fundraising efforts will need to be well supported for this to occur.

Community Council planned events for the year will include our annual Trivia Night, Carols Night, Family Movie Night, Disco and an End of Term 1 Family Picnic Afternoon. As we have previously decided to hold our Fete every second year, the decision was made to conduct the raffle in the alternate years. This year to coincide with the Family Movie Night we will be holding a school raffle.

Image result for we need your help We are putting the call out now for any parent who would like to take the lead with organising one of the events mentioned above? Of course, Community Council members will be involved, however, we think it more effective to have another parent taking lead. Please express your interest by emailing council.stmichaelsps@cg.catholic.edu.au

We are also asking if there are any parents Image result for donations who own a business or work for a business who would be willing to donate items or vouchers for us to use in our raffle or in a silent auction that will be held on the trivia night. We would like to promote and support businesses connected with St Michael's in the first instance. We are particularly looking for items such as restaurant vouchers, accommodation vouchers and electronic items. Of course, any item or voucher would be greatly appreciated and we would promote company names, logos, websites, services offered etc via our newsletter and social media sites as well as on the day/night of the event. Again, please email council.stmichaelsps@cg.catholic.edu.au

School Counsellor

I am pleased to inform the school community that CatholicCare have appointed a new school counsellor. Jess Dawson to be the new counsellor at St Michael’s and she will start at the school on Wednesday 18th March. Her regular hours will be 8.30am – 12.30pm each week. Once Jess starts, we will ask her to introduce herself to the community via the newsletter. Further information to come.

Swimming Carnival

What a great day we had yesterday. The Swimming Carnival was a lot of fun and the venue was much better than previous venues. Congratulations to everyone who had a go and tried their best. A huge thanks to all the parent volunteers and especially to Erin Hardwicke for your organisation.

LENT

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Along with our Parish, today we received ashes on our forehead to mark the remembrance of the dust in which God made us. 'Remember you are dust, and dust you shall return'. The season of Lent is one of reflection, of fasting, of prayer. The ashes symbolise that we have sinned and must ask for forgiveness 'Repent and believe in the Gospels'.

During this period of Lent, we ask ourselves, how can we be a better person, to be more like Jesus? Consider giving more time to prayer, to attend Church, to clean up something within yourself that you have been wanting to focus on, to go without something, to give to those in need, to volunteer your time. To focus on the important things in life to live a more prayerful and meaningful life.

On Monday we celebrated Shrove (Pancake) Tuesday due to our swimming carnival and water fun day occurring on the Tuesday. This is a great way to enjoy something special before Lent begins.

Catholic Schools Week Community Breakfast - Save the Date

CE Online Survey

Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, will shortly release an online survey to seek a better understanding of your opinion of the value Catholic schools, like ours, provide and what that means for you and your children. The findings of this research will be used by Catholic Education to improve the offering of Catholic schools.

The survey will be sent out to parents via email in the coming week and should take less than 15 minutes to complete.

Privacy and confidentiality

Please note that Catholic Education has engaged JWS Research to host the survey, collect the data and analyse the results. JWS Research is an independent, fully accredited, Australian research agency (see www.jwsresearch.com for further information). Survey results will be reported in the aggregate with individual responses remaining completely confidential and treated in accordance with the relevant privacy laws, including the Market and Social Research Privacy Principles and the industry’s code of professional behaviour.

Thank you in advance for your time and participation.

Enjoy the week ahead.

Kind regards,

Pat Ellis

Principal