Principal's Page - Judy Egan
Dear Parents and Carers,
Congratulations to our Confirmation candidates and their families who received the Sacrament last night. We thank everyone involved including Father Luis, the Parish Sacramental Team, Meaghan Younger and our Year 5/6 teachers. Did you know that the Fruits of the Holy Spirit are Joy, Goodness, Peace, Self-control, Kindness, Gentleness, Patience, Love and Faithfulness? (Galatians 5:22-23) These are powerful ways of expressing our Christian care for those around us.
National Day of Mourning
As per the announcement made by Prime Minister Albanese, Thursday 22 September has been gazetted as a one-off public holiday, a National Day of Mourning for the death of Queen Elizabeth II. All CECG schools, including St Michael’s Kaleen and the Catholic Education Office will be closed on this day. Business will return to normal for all CECG schools and the Catholic Education office Friday 23 September.
Collaboration across schools
On the 8 September 2022, St Michael’s Primary School hosted Matt Holdway, Principal of Monash Primary School, three staff including Executive and Intervention teachers and Speech Pathologist together with Todd McCoy, Deputy Principal of Mount Rogers Primary School. The team had heard about our Let’s Decode Programme and our collaboration and coaching with Associate Professor Lorraine Hammond AM, PhD, CF, Brooke Wardana and Jordan O’Sullivan. They are big fans of explicit instruction and the engaging way we are using our experiences with coaches to make a huge difference with our student learning.
They loved what they saw and are keen to continue a strong relationship with us. The experience tells us that the professional learning and pedagogical growth gained as part of the Catholic Education Catalyst Initiative is certainly having positive impacts both at St Michael’s and across the ACT Directorate.
This week Jordan O’Sullivan from the Catalyst Perth Team visited us for coaching in Numeracy. I sincerely thank St Michael’s staff for their dedication to personal improvement in classroom teaching. We know that better teaching leads to improved learning outcomes for students and students are at the heart of all we do at St Michael’s.
Special Lunch Order Day
Next Wednesday 21st September we are offering a special lunch order for all students via an online local business-Merchant’s Feast. We will send more details via COMPASS. It is an opt-in option for families and payments for the special lunch order are ONLY made via qkr (No cash payments). The lunches are delivered and we will transfer them to classrooms.
Team Colours
On the last Friday of this term, Friday 23 September, we will be having a "Wear your team colours" day as a fundraiser for Jariah Education Centre: https://www.globalschoolpartners.org.au/jariah-education-centre
Jariah is our Global Schools partner located in Kisii County, Kenya. For a gold coin donation students may wear their favourite team colours!
Rainbow Awards
At the end of each term class teachers present Rainbow Awards to students who have put in a great effort over the term. We are hoping to present Rainbow Awards at our morning assembly on Friday 23 September at 8:50am (weather permitting) Parents are welcome to attend in the courtyard.
Updates
Thank you to the many families who ordered pavers as part of our 40th Anniversary celebrations. Please keep Saturday 19th November 11am-2pm free for our wonderful community event.
Sharing our Learning
Next Wednesday 21st September 3:15pm- 5:30pm, come along for a relaxed visit after school to give your child 2 stars and a wish and look at all the wonderful learning that’s been happening at St Michael’s.
Thank you for your continued support,
Judy Egan
Principal