On Friday I had the pleasure of attending the Key Personnel Day for CE. This day was attended by every Principal, Religious Education Coordinator and Parish Priest from across the Archdiocesan of Canberra-Goulburn. This day was centred on Pope Francis' Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation to Young People 'Christus Vivat'. Many important moments within Christus Vivat starting with 'Christ is alive! He is our hope'. As a Catholic school, how do we ensure Christ is alive at St Michael's?

Canberra Theatre Excursion

On Friday our K-2 students will attend the Possum Magic show at the Canberra Theatre.  This will be a fun and engaging experience for all our infant students. A reminder that no lunch orders for K-2 students on Friday.

Year 5/6 Games Night

Also on Friday, we will hold our first Year 5/6 Games Night. This is an opportunity for the student leaders of our school to have a little fun with their teachers.  I have said before, but as a collective, our 5/6 students are great leaders for our school. They have worked hard, and will continue to work hard, to leave a positive legacy at St Michael's. Hosting this night is our way of saying thank you and to celebrate the time we have left with them. 

RoboCup

I wish good luck to our RoboCup Team who will be competing this Saturday at SFX. They have been working extremely hard at lunch times and after school to get prepared and ready. A huge thank you to Jess Figura for her leadership in this space. 

Bush Tucker Garden

Next week we begin the next phase of our focus on Sustainability with the introduction of our Bush Tucker Garden. We have been busy getting our garden beds ready for the planting of some native herbs and plants. Exciting times ahead. Thank you to Jess Lewis for her leadership as our Aboriginal Education Contact Teacher. 

Sacrament of Confirmation

Thank you to all the families of our Year 6 students who will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is an important step on their faith journey and we appreciate the support, guidance and love shown to them during this time of preparation. We look forward to Tuesday (St Michael's Church) and Wednesday (St Monica's Church) celebrating with our students. 

Term 3 Award's Assembly 

On Friday 13 September we will present the Term 3 Rainbow Awards. These special awards are presented to two students from each class who have been going above and beyond over the last term to display our school values, demonstrate hard work, consistent effort, use their manners, helping those in need and be an overall good role model for their peers. I look forward to presenting these awards. A formal letter will come home this week informing parents if their child has been selected by their teacher, to receive one of these awards. 

Late children

Just a reminder that it is important for students to be at school for the start of the day at 8.50am. It is quite disruptive for classes when students arrive late. We understand there are sometimes unavoidable issues that present, but we consistently have some children who arrive late every morning. This means that they miss connecting with the friends at the start of the day in an informal way on the playground, miss praying with their class first thing, miss any important messages at morning gathering and miss the explicit Literacy teaching that often occurs first thing in classes. To set every child up for success each day, it is important to have students here ready to start. Every minute lost at school adds up and has a ripple effect to their learning and development. 

Missing just 2 minutes each morning adds up to....

10 minutes a week

100 minutes per term (approx 1hr)

400 minutes per year (approx 6hrs)

2800 minutes for the whole of primary school (approx 46 hrs)

I wonder what impact that would have on a child or what support and teaching they would miss out on during that time?

If there is anything we can do to help get children here on time, please let us know. We would be happy to help in anyway we can. 

Staffing News

This is to advise that Yvette Whalan will continue to take leave for personal reasons next term. Fortunately, Natasha Kapantais who is currently teaching in 1/2W will continue to do so in Term 4. Natasha will be on 1/2W everyday next term. Natasha has developed a strong relationship with the students in 1/2W and is passionate and dedicated to continue to strive for each student to reach their full potential as a learner. 

Nadia Farhadi will replace Natasha on 3/4AK each Wednesday in Term 4 in Sarah Anderson's absence. Nadia completed her final 4th Prac with us this year and is an exceptional beginning teacher. Mrs Sarah Anderson will continue to be the main teacher on class. 

Congratulations

Congratulations to Sienna (5/6B) who has been successful in her audition for the Part-Time Vocational Training Course at the Canberra Dance Development Centre.  Sienna will commence dance training in 2020. A massive achievement, well done!

Enjoy the week ahead.

Regards,

Pat Ellis

Principal