Catholic Recognition Awards

I am delighted to share the great news that Laura Frogley will be receiving an award at the upcoming CE Recognition Awards Ceremony at St Christopher's Cathedral on Thursday 29 August. Laura will be receiving a service award for her tireless dedication to inclusive education. Laura has been and continues to be a strong advocate for inclusive practices at St Michael's and ensuring all students are welcomed, accepted and affirmed no matter their difference. We are truly blessed to have an educator such as Laura at our school. On behalf of St Michael's, I congratulate Laura on her hard work and passion!

St Michael's Feast and Fitness Fun Day

We are excited to be hosting our first St Michael’s Feast and Fitness Fun Day. This will take place on Thursday 26 September to coincide with St Michael's Feast Day (which is celebrated on 29 September). This will replace our normal Walkathon this year.

Staff and Community Council have decided to hold the walkathon sponsorship fundraiser every second year, and instead this year, we will be giving our Year 6 student leaders the chance to coordinate and run a fun event for the rest of the school. The colour run was a huge hit with the students last year, so that will be returning as a part of this year’s celebration.

The cost of the day will be $10 per student. This cost will cover the purchasing of holi powder for the day, BBQ lunch and other special treats for the day. The school will be putting any extra funds raised into purchasing new garden games for our tuckshop play area such as connect four and jenga. 

We are very excited to see what our Year 6 leaders have planned for the day and invite families to join us for the afternoon fitness activities, beginning at 1:30pm. Please ensure that the permission slip is signed and money is returned to school by Friday 30 August. The day will start with the St Michael's Feast Day Mass at 9.30am, followed by a movie and treat in the middle session, a BBQ for lunch and then finish the day with the Colour Fitness Fun Event. If you are able to help with the running of the day, please send Damien an email damien.webb@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Father's Day Breakfast & Mass

On Thursday 29 August, we will celebrate Fathers and all the special men in our lives by hosting a Father's Day Breakfast between 7.30-8.30am. Please RSVP by this Friday for catering purposes via the below link. 

https://stmichaelskaleen.schoolzineplus.com/form/16 

We will hold a Father's Day Mass at St Michael's Church at 9.30am. All most welcome to attend both events. 

Global School Partners Event 

We are excited to annouce that we will be hosting a 'Jump Fest' in partnership with Canberra Jumping Castles. On Sunday 27 October Canberra Jumping Castles will set up their 10 jumping castles at school for a day of jumping fun. Cost will be $20 which gets you a jump on all 10 jumping castles. There will be some small stalls led by Community Council (BBQ, Cake Stall etc) to raise much needed funds for Jariah Education Centre in Kenya, our Global School Partner. We are aiming to raise $2500 for them to purchase a water tank for their students to use at school.

That means we need to sell 125 tickets to the event. Tickets will be available to purchase on the day before you jump. We will also be incorporating the Greenhouse to be opened and promote what is happening in that space (and to celebrate Spring). More information will follow in coming weeks, but please save the date and tell your friends. This is for a very good cause. This is not just a school event, but will be advertised more widely throughout Canberra. A huge thank you to the Aird Family for their idea and for partnering with us to raise these funds. Watch this space!

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A message from the ACT Catholic Primary Principal Association.

Future of ACT Catholic School Soccer and Netball Carnivals

Regretfully, this year is the final year for the ACT Catholic School Soccer and Netball Carnivals.

This decision was carefully considered and was made unanimously at the recent ACT Catholic Primary Principals Meeting.

Although these are great community days and have been going for many years, the huge workload on staff, increasing costs, complexity of indemnity and insurance and a lack of volunteers to assist has necessitated the decision to no longer host these events.

Schools are rostered on to coordinate, run and volunteer these events and are run, entirely, by the host school, irrespective of the school size. Parents volunteer on the day and staff work all weekend on these events. In the past few years, some executive staff have worked nearly fulltime in the lead-up to pull off these events, along with many staff who commit their time to support the planning and preparation, all of which is impacting on the teaching and learning agenda of the host school. 

ACT Principals acknowledge that there may be some parents and students disappointed by this decision, however, we have agreed that the future of hosting and leading an event such as this is untenable.

This year, Holy Rosary Watson will host the final ACT Catholic Schools Netball Carnival.

ACT Primary Principals

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Annual Satisfaction Survey

Over the last few weeks, emails were sent out and a link provided in the newsletter asking for parents and carers to complete our Annual Satisfacation Survey. A report has been generated by an external company and provided to the school. This assists us with our Improvement Agenda. Staff, students (Years 3-6) and parents were all surveyed and reports for each group were provided. 

I am very pleased with the feedback we have received. Overall, the feedback received by parents was extremely positive. I am pleased that the parent community are supportive of my leadership and the direction we are heading as a school. Of course, I can't do anything without the support of yourselves and the staff and students at school. I have a very strong group of staff members who support, challenge and assist me everyday - very fortunate! Below is the summary page from the parent report. As you will see, all areas are green, which is excellent. Please know we won't rest there, within each area there are certain things that we will continue to focus on and push ourselves to maintain a high expectation for all.

Enjoy the week ahead.

Pat Ellis

Principal