Dear Parents/Carers,

The children have settled in calmly to the start of Term 3 and I hope families are getting back into their usual school routine.

Please see below a message from CE;

As you may be aware there was a positive COVID-19 case reported in Goulburn on 13 July 2021. This has not affected our School’s which continue to operate as normal. As always, please continue to follow COVID Safe Practices.

St Michael’s remains a safe place for our students and staff during this time. We remain in close communication with government health authorities and have not been advised of any cases within our school community. Should this change, I will update you via compass regarding any potential temporary closure of our school and provide advice on how this will be managed.

MAINTAINING WELLBEING

One of the keys to good mental health for children, particularly during these unprecedented times is being able to identify feelings and emotions.

Earlier this year I talked to our amazing Arts teacher Jane McKeough about ways we
could help children identify and acknowledge their feelings and emotions. She came up with the idea of steppingstone mosaics with images of emotions, which she designed and supported the students to create. We are putting these stones into the garden as a place to walk and talk. As Michael Grose notes;

“If children and young people are not tuning into their emotions, they are missing a rich vein of information that will assist decision-making, learning and importantly, their wellbeing. It’s relatively easy to tune into behaviour and our thoughts, but much harder to detect our emotions.”  (https://www.parentingideas.com.au/blog/maintaining-kids-mental-health-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/)

I would like to publicly thank Jane and acknowledge Rivoland Tiles for donating the tiles, Bink Pavers for their generous discount and Adam Ciuffetelli for his advice and free glue. 

COMPASS UPDATES

We have discovered an issue around remote sign out. While on the parent portal you can sign your child out remotely before picking them up, however the system then records a full day unexplained absence. We have let the Compass team know and they have advised that until it is rectified parents should not sign out the child remotely but use the compass kiosk in the Front Office to sign them out when collecting the child from school.

A reminder that all student absences need to be recorded through the Parent Portal, we still have quite a few unexplained absences in the system.

TRIVIA NIGHT

Save the date for a fun-filled night with our community at 6pm on Friday 13 August, in the hall.

Thank you for your continued support,

Many Blessings

Judy Egan

Religious Education Curriculum

Students in 3/4 are exploring how and why we pray. They are investigating different prayer structures for blessing and meditation. Students will look at some Psalms and stories in the bible of times when people were given special blessings. Perhaps this is an opportunity to set a prayer ritual for your family at home? Perhaps renewing a commitment to Grace before the evening meal? Or praying the Rosary once a week? We’d love to hear from you if you would like to share any stories about prayer in your home.

Religious Life of St Michael’s School Community

NAIDOC Whole School Prayer Time

Thank you Mrs Blakey and 1/2B for your very special Whole School Prayer Time last Friday. Did you know it was the very first time to lead prayer for the whole school for at least half the class? They were super excited to get that opportunity finally! Well done on your choices of beautiful prayers and music.

NAIDOC Mass

Thank you to Miss Lewis, Mrs Burns and the student representatives who attended the Archdiocesan NAIDOC Mass at St Christopher’s Cathedral last week. They all said what a lovely Mass it was and how exciting it was to see Katija recognised for her winning artwork. Make sure to check it out in our prayer space in the Front Office.

Confirmation

A reminder that the Confirmation Parent Information Evening is tomorrow night, Thursday 22^nd July from 6:00pm in the St Monica’s Church. It is vital for parents to attend as there are some changes to the program from previous years. Families will be asked to attend a commitment Mass over the coming 3 weekends.

K-2 Swimming Program

The K-2 swimming program will take place in Term 4. The program will run from 25th -29th October. An information note came home last week and is due back by Friday 30th July.  If you have misplaced your note you can download a copy from our website or pick one up from the Front Office.

Year 5/6 Basketball

Our two 5/6 teams enjoyed participating in yesterday's Jamie Pearlman Cup.  They were wonderful representatives of St Michael's.   Thank you to Pete and Kylie for coaching and Ms Kapantais for supervising the team for the day.

Boorowa Touch & Netball Carnival

Thank you to the many families who have already returned their permission notes.  Notes are due back by next Friday 30th July. If there are other students who wish to participate we are still needing a few players to fill teams.

At this stage, the carnival is scheduled to proceed.  We will keep you updated to any changes given the current COVID situation. 

Presentation of Athletics Carnival Ribbons

We will present the ribbons from our carnival this Friday 23rd July at morning assembly.  Parents are welcome to join us!

Erin Hardwicke
erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au

Volunteer shoutout

We are seeking volunteers to cover library books once again.  If you are able to assist, please see Mrs Monro or Mrs Hardwicke for some books and contact.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation

This year during Book Week  (Term 3, Week 7) we will hold another Great Book Swap. After the wonderful support the event received last year we would like to show our support to the Indigenous Literacy foundation (ILF) again. The Giant Book Swap will take place on Tuesday 24th August. In order for the event to be a success we are asking each student to donate a pre-loved book, that is in good condition, and can be enjoyed by someone else. On the day of the book swap students will then be able to choose a new book to take home for a gold coin donation. The money we raise is used by the ILF to purchase books that are then sent to regional and remote Indigenous communities. 

We ask that all donations of books be made prior to the Friday 20th August. Books can be left at the Front Office or with Mrs Hardwicke in the Library. Thank you in advance for your support of this important initiative. 

Chief Minister's Reading Challenge

Reminder that the challenge concludes on 6th August.  Please ensure your forms are with Mrs Hardwicke by this date.  

CBCA 2021 Book Week

Term 3 is always an exciting time for the library as we celebrate Book Week and spend the term looking at this year's short listed books.  We were excited to receive our delivery of this year's short listed books during the holidays, and these are now available to our students and will be used during library lessons this term.  

This years theme is 'Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds'.  We have a range of exciting events planned for Book Week and the students are already looking forward to our Book Week dress up day on Wednesday 25th August.

Congratulations to the following students who achieved a Harmony Award in Week 2.  Awards will be presented at Friday morning's assembly (weather permitting).

Well done!!   

Special wishes to those children who celebrete their birthday this week:

Gordon KF, Aaliyah KF, Christopher KF and Oscar 3/4A

We hope you have a great day!!

DANCECORE -  Dance classes are on Wednesdays at recess in the school hall, enrolments are now online (please see ad in Newsletter).
Contact Cassie 0417 442 750 

CHESS -  Chess classes are held in C Block on Tuesdays at recess, forms are available at the Front Office.  Contact Sydney Academy of Chess 9745 1170

GUITAR - Guitar lessons with Sam on Thursdays, please contact
Sam on 0408 196 855

PIANO - Piano Lessons with Mary-Liz on Mondays & Tuesdays, please contact Mary-Liz on 0413 425 753

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB -  Scholastic Book club is back and runs twice a Term.  If you have any queries, contact Mrs Monro or Mrs Hardwicke.

Dancecore enrolments are now to be done online, please see below.

The Entertainment Book is back, bigger and better, prices starting from $69.99.  Please click on the link below to order your digital copy of the new book.

https://au.entdigital.net/orderbooks/232g38

Please see the School Sport ACT webpage https://schoolsportact.org.au/ or Facebook page for the most up to date information.

SCHOOL SPORT ACT TRIALS – Please keep an eye on the School Sport ACT website https://schoolsportact.org.au/ for upcoming ACT trials. The process for registering can be found below. If you need any assistance registering your child please feel free to ask for assistance.

How to register your child with School Sport ACT

School Sport ACT now collects all registration information online – this is to prevent the movement to and fro of a paper note and have all information readily available to officials prior to the trial. As this process incurs a fee for data storage, system maintenance and admin, a small $5 fee payment via credit card will be required.

1. Go to the School Sport ACT website – https://schoolsportact.org.au/
2. Click Register (top right corner of homepage) for an Account – enter parent details and password
3. A confirmation email will be sent to your chosen email that will contain a link that you must click on to verify the email account.
4. Click Log In (top right hand corner of home page) enter password then click on top tab My Profile
5. You will see a ‘dashboard’ of your information, click green box to Add Student – enter student and medical details and save.
6. Go to the Sports Tab – choose your specific sport, click on Trial Information box then click on the Register to Trial link.
7. Select your child’s name from the dropdown box and then enter the optional fields for Playing History, Preferred Position (if applicable) and Representative Experience. If you are already in the system, ensure your child’s school is up to date in your profile – have they moved onto High School?

Please contact me via email if you have any questions, feedback or are able to offer your assistance at any of our sporting events throughout the year.

Looking forward to another big year of sporting participation,

Erin Hardwicke
erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au