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| THIS WEEK | ||
| 4 November | Reconciliation Parent/Child Formation Night 6pm | |
| NEXT WEEK | ||
| 9 November | Sacrament of Reconciliation | |
| COMING UP | ||
| 23 November | Sacrament of Confirmation | |
- Bookclub Issue 7
- Library Overdue Book notes
- Fee Schedule for 2022
Please remember that copies of notes sent home are available on our website. https://www.stmichaelsps.act.edu.au/notes
Dear Parents and Carers,
Hooray!
It’s been a long journey for everyone, but finally we were able to welcome back all our students to St Michael’s on Monday. A huge thank you to all our families for their amazing contribution to the support of home learning and to our staff for their dedication and focus. Thank you to parents for supporting a really calm and balanced transition.
Award Winner
Each Year as part of Children’s week there is an opportunity to nominate staff for the contribution they make to children and young people. This year I nominated Shahenie Burns our Wellbeing Officer, for her dedication to the care and wellbeing of our students. The ACT Children’s Week Committee has endorsed the nomination and at our World Teacher’s Day Morning Tea on Friday I presented this award to Shahenie. Well done Shahenie and congratulations from everyone at St Michael’s.
Staffing News
We were thrilled to learn this week that CECG have advised they will support the allocation of two Kindergarten classes for 2022. This impacts positively in many areas of school life and we are now looking to allocating classes and teachers.
In other staff news, we are excited to welcome Victoria de Mattia, currently working at St Patrick’s Griffith to join us in 2022. Victoria is a passionate young teacher who will be a wonderful asset to our community.
Our amazing Office Manager Lisa Monro will be leaving us in February for a sea change. Lisa has made a huge contribution over her many years at St Michael’s and we are happy for her as she starts a new adventure.
Yvette Whalan who has also been a staff member for many years will be retiring this year.
We thank Lisa and Yvette for their magnificent contribution to St Michael’s and we celebrate their achievements and dedication to Catholic families and Catholic Education in our archdiocese.
School Fees
CECG (Catholic Education Canberra/Goulburn) have recently released information regarding School Fees for 2022. On Wednesday night the Community Council met to discuss and approve the fee schedule for St Michael’s. When looking at the breakdown of the fee structure it is important to recognise that the Tuition Fee and the Canberra/Goulburn Building Fund are set by CECG. These increases reflect the need to fund a high-quality Catholic Education while keeping increases manageable and fair for families in the current economic environment.
The school levies are set by the school to cover operational costs, including utilities, buildings, maintenance, furniture, teaching/learning resources, excursions, and the continued need to update Information Technology resources such as i-pads and Chromebooks. The community council acknowledges that this has been a financially challenging year for many families. As such, our school levies for 2022 have only increased by $12.
CECG provide discounts for tuition fees to lesson the costs for families with multiple siblings. St Michael’s also support and encourage families to put in place a Direct Debit payment plan spreading your costs over the year. This year CECG, offered fee Remissions around COVID and we are committed to supporting families at a local level if there are concerns or changes to family circumstances regarding the payment of school fees. We are conscious everyone in our community does their best to pay fees regardless of circumstances and we would love to continue to support you and your family.
If you have any questions or would like a more detailed explanation of the way Catholic Schools receive funding, the Catholic Schools Parents Australia is a good site to visit.
https://www.cspa.catholic.edu.au/school-funding
The fee schedule is attached to this newsletter. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding fees for 2022.
Thank you for your continued support
Many blessings
Judy Egan
Principal
Remembrance Day
At this point we are still unable to invite families in to share our special liturgy to honour the fallen for Remembrance Day on 11/11. Students in all classes will spend some time in a shared prayer celebration that will be held in individual classes. We invite our families still working from home to virtually join us in pausing for a minute’s silence at 11:00am to honour those who have died in service of our country.
First Reconciliation
Tomorrow evening, 4th November, all of our First Reconciliation candidates and their parents will join together in a final preparation session via Zoom. The children will be celebrating their First Reconciliation next week. We keep them and their families in our prayers at this special time. Candidates from St Michael’s School are:
|
Peyton |
Mallory |
Finnlay |
Madeleine |
|
Chiara |
Alexander |
Nina |
Hannah |
|
Toby |
Charlotte |
Kye |
Massimo |
|
Isabella |
Olivia |
Hamish |
Nick |
|
Oliver |
Eliane |
Logan |
|
Confirmation
Please see the information from our Parish Office below. We keep all the candidates for Confirmation in our prayers as they faithfully prepare to receive this blessed sacrament in November.
Sacramental Program 2021
Sacrament of Confirmation – New Dates confirmed
Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions in the ACT the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation will now be celebrated on:
Tuesday 23 November in St Michael’s Church at 12 noon and 6pm;
Wednesday 24 November in St Monica’s Church at 12 noon and 6pm; and
Thursday 25 November in St Monica’s Church at 12 noon and 6pm.
COVID Restrictions - due to Covid restrictions limited people are allowed in the church for each celebration and as some parents are working from home Fr Loi has included midday and evening liturgies to celebrate the Sacrament. This will be 6 liturgies with around 15 candidates per liturgy.
This means the number of people attending is restricted to a maximum of 4 per family and only people who reside in the household (and the Sponsor). Which means the people attending would be, the candidate, their sponsor and 2 other household members. If the sponsor is unable to attend, a parent may stand in as a proxy.
Booking a date for the Sacrament is oped and will close by 5 November 2021 (this Friday).
Bookings are to be made through the TryBooking links on the parish website at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth
Sacrament of Reconciliation
The Sacrament will be celebrated (5 minute timeslots for each candidate) on:
9 November in St Michael’s Church from 3.30 to 6pm;
10 November in St Monica’s Church from 3.30 to 6pm; and
11 November in St Monica’s Church from 3.30 to 6pm
Home Booklets – families should be working through the booklet with their child in preparation for the Sacrament and for use on the parent/child formation night this Thursday 4 November.
Parent/Child Formation night – Thursday 4 November 2021 via zoom
Zoom access - https://cgcatholic.zoom.us/j/64196950174
Commitment Cards – commitment cards were included in the home booklet and are to be completed and returned to the school on the week of 1-5 Nov 2021 or scanned & emailed to the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sue.coll@bigpond.com
The card must be returned prior to celebrating the Sacrament
Further Information – please contact the Sacramental Program Coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au or sue.coll@bigpond.com or check the parish website for updates at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth
Congratulations
Congratulates to our wonderful students who completed the Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge last term. It was lovely to present them with their certificates today. Some of the students won prizes in our lucky dip competition. We look forward to participating again next year.
Library Books
Overdue slips have come home with all students today. If families could please return any overdue books as soon as possible, it would be greatly appreciated. We require all books to be returned by Friday 30th November so as we can complete the end of year stocktake. Student loans will cease in Week 8. If you are unable to find a book/s please return the overdue slip noting which books have been lost. Alternatively, please email erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au
Board Games
If there are any families who are willing to donate board games they are no longer playing, we would gratefully accept any donations to be used during recess and lunch in the library. Board games can be left at the Front Office or given to Mrs Hardwicke in the library.
Special wishes to those children who celebrate their birthday this week:
Lauren 1/2B, Harriet KF & Peter 1/2B
We hope you have a great day!!
For our school sustainability program this term we are aiming to collect many items that would normally be sent to landfill. These items will be made into other items for people in Australia and poorer countries around the world. Our aim is to make the environment a cleaner place while helping the community. The items we are collecting to recycle for a better purpose are: - Toothpaste tubes, floss containers and old plastic toothbrushes
- Electric toothbrush heads
- Medical ointment tubes
- Hair gel tubes and caps
- Hair paste plastic jars and lip balm tubes
- Face soap dispensers and tubes
- Lotion bottles, tubes, dispensers, and jars
- Shaving foam tubes (no cans)
- Plastic razors and blades
- Lip gloss tubes
- Mascara tubes
- Eye liner pencils and cases
- Eyeshadow tubes
- Concealer tubes and sticks
- Medical blister pack
- Spray or pump from cleaning products
- Coffee pods
- Party supplies and dining disposables (single-use cutlery and straws)
- Prescription drug packaging (blister packs)
- Plastic bread tags
If you could collect these items at home and bring them into school, there will be a tub at the Front Office for you to drop off your collected items.
We would appreciate your help and assistance. We hope together we can make a difference in the community and maybe even further.
Thank you.
Your Sustainability Team