Dear Parents and Carers,

We had a wonderful Athletics Carnival at Merici College last Thursday. Thank you so much to Erin Hardwicke our sports lead and all the staff and parent volunteers who helped us on the day. The children had a great day including a sausage sizzle for lunch and participation in many novelties as well as races, shot put and discus events. Our Kindergarten students enjoyed the 70-metre running race so much that that they continued running after the finish line! There were some very tired little people and adults on Thursday afternoon!

Staff and student Illness

This is the time of year when we have staff and student illness impacting our classes. We are fortunate to have a small pool of relief staff however if they become unwell, we may need to split classes across the school. You may hear your child refer to their ‘day away folder’ all staff prepare learning in the event of unexpected absence to ensure the students continue a quality learning programme.  It is important that staff and students remain at home if they are unwell- this assists in curbing the spread of illness. We thank our families for supporting us in ensuring students do not attend school if they have cold or flu symptoms or are generally unwell.

Digital Safety

Does your child have a personal device, i-phone or i-pad? Are you monitoring the use of the device?   Primary school aged children are not in a place to make informed decisions about digital safety- they need your help. We are including information around parent controls and recommend these strategies. The statistics on the harm caused by misuse of digital devices is frightening, please take control of your child’s use of devices to keep them safe. Here are some suggestions:  

• Only using the iPad or phone at a table where adults are around
• iPad/phones are not taken into bedrooms
• Parental controls are installed
• Parents monitor chat rooms

Parental Controls information by Apple, provides family sharing support around securing your child’s access and content on devices.

https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208982

Below is a link to the E-Safety Commissioner website that provides valuable tools for parents to feel informed about cyber safety.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

School Fees

School fees have been sent out and we thank all our families for promptly paying fees to support St Michael’s. If you are experiencing issues with fees, please call and make an appointment to see me. CECG are working with schools to ensure we have systems in place for fee collection. If you have any questions, please reach out to Lynda our Office Manager or arrange to meet with me, we would be happy to address any questions or concerns.

Positive Mental Health

We continue to partner with The Resilience Project to teach our students the importance of emotional resilience through gratitude, empathy and mindfulness. What is one thing that you are grateful for today?  We are teaching our students that positivity, compassion and kindness lead to happines, hope and joy. Thank you for helping us to build a community where trust and mutual support is so highly valued.

Many blessings,

Judy Egan

Principal