Dear Parents and Carers,

Tonight we will hold our Year 6 Graduation Liturgy in the Church followed by dinner, speeches and awards in the school hall. Thank you to everyone involved in the organisation and preparation for the event. All family members are most welcome to attend the Church liturgy, while graduates and parents are joining our staff for dinner. We ask God’s blessing for our Year 6 Graduates and their families and acknowledge in a special way those families who will finish their association with St Michael’s in 2021. We truly value the commitment and dedication of our families and farewell the following families with love and gratitude, the Barry, Blakey, Bhatia, Ciaccia, Ciuffetelli, Djikic, Ernst, Hawke-Slattery, Keogh, Latimore, Mastoris, Roberts, Scuderi, Sherwood, Sudario and Walsh Families.

While we pause to think of those who are leaving our community, we are excited to welcome our new families in 2022. This year we have worked hard to market our beautiful school and its wonderful learning and play spaces. If you haven’t visited the school website lately, have a look at the new video with drone footage and our students and teachers doing great things at St Michael’s.

https://www.stmichaelsps.act.edu.au/

We are in a great position to grow our school with 2 small Kindergarten classes. Do you have neighbours, friends or family moving into town or looking for a great school? Let them know about St Michael’s and all we have to offer as strong enrolments will keep our school viable in the future.

As we have been unable to hold our Kindergarten Orientation, we are putting together a special digital story to share with our Kindergarten students, to help them see some of the rooms and spaces they will enjoy in 2022. On Thursday 27 January at 1:30pm our new students in classes 1-6 will visit the school and at 2pm our Kindergarten students and families will join us. We will hopefully be able to come together as a group, however if COVID-safe practices remain in place we will keep the date and be in touch with families to arrange small group sessions.   

Vaccination

The Australian Government and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has provisionally approved the Pfizer vaccine as safe and effective for use among 5 to 11-year-old children in Australia. ACT Health now awaits further information from Australian Government regarding final considerations and recommendations from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), and other related approvals. Keep an eye out for delivery of vaccines in January, https://www.covid19.act.gov.au/stay-safe-and-healthy/vaccine

Staffing

We have had some last-minute staffing changes which I will share with you next week and we are interviewing currently for several Classroom Support positions. As you can appreciate family circumstances can change, however we will always keep you up to date. Teachers have worked hard to finalise class lists with everyone’s best interests at heart.

It is with mixed emotions of joy and sadness that we farewell Nadia Farhadi, Yvette Whalan and Sarah Anderson as they move onto the next chapters of their lives. Parents are invited to attend a morning Assembly on Monday 13 December at 8:50am to thank and farewell these staff members.

A couple of reminders

Have you addressed any outstanding student absences; you can always check with Lisa if unsure? Lisa has been sending out emails and hard copy notes to families and would really appreciate your assistance to clear the unexplained absences list.

Please ensure you have fees up to date, if you have any questions please contact us.

Car-line, pick -up

We have been instructed by CECG, to continue our pickup arrangements that separate cohorts of students in the event of a COVID case. Thank you for your patience and support with this, however we have had some complaints from families in Tyrrell Circuit who are struggling to get out of driveways to collect their own children due to the bank up of traffic in the street. Cars do not need to arrive before 2:55pm, currently cars are arriving and parking at 2:25pm, causing a huge car line bank up. As mentioned last week if you’d like to come early, please park in side streets or adjacent to the school and walk across the bridge via the back gate, there are also some spots at the Church or on the far side of the basketball court. It would be great for families to communicate this information to other family members who also do afternoon pick-ups. With only 8 more pick-ups to go, your support would be greatly appreciated.

This week Maria Papasidero has been finalising our 2021 Highlights in a digital magazine. Despite a challenging year we really managed some amazing days and events with our community, I am really proud of what was achieved and the fun and laughter we shared. We will send the link with next week’s final newsletter.

Thank you to everyone for all that you do to support us as we draw closer to the end of an 11-week term and a hugely challenging year,

Stay safe and well, many blessings

Judy Egan

Advent

Next week marks the third week of the season of Advent in our Church calendar. Children will have special Advent prayers in class on Monday and then hold a final prayer for our fourth Advent Candle on Friday 17^th December.  You may wish to share our third week of Advent with this small prayer: https://youtu.be/w20L25cxIqs . In the third week of Advent we light 2 purple candles, as well as the pink candle, the candle of joy (also known as the Shepherd’s candle).

Graduation Liturgy & Dinner

This evening we have the Year 6 Graduation Liturgy and Dinner from 6:00pm. The Graduation Liturgy will be in St Michael’s Church at 6:00pm followed by formalities and dinner in the School Hall.

Leadership Ceremony

The handing over of leadership from Year 6 to next year’s leaders will be tomorrow morning, Thursday 9^th December. It will be at the start of the school day in the church. We will begin as closely to 8:50am as possible as we need to be out of the church by 9:25 to make way for the weekly Mass at 9:30am. This very special blessing of both our current and future Year 6 Leaders is able to be attended by parents of Years 5 & 6.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Hamper Appeal

Christmas is of course our season of giving. And what better way to share in the joy of Christmas than to brighten the life of someone with less than we have? In our own community of Kaleen our St Vincent de Paul chapter is seeking support to provide Christmas Hampers for those unable to buy their own special foods at Christmas. Can you please spare a box of chocolates, a tinned pudding, tinned ham, fancy biscuits or chips like you will enjoy in the season of Christmas? Baskets will be at the front of the school each morning for easy delivery, or your child can add your family donation of non-perishable food to a basket in their classroom. All donations will be given to St Vincent de Paul at our Giving Mass on Thursday 16^th December at 12:00pm. Thank you for your generous support of those in need this Christmas.

Sacramental Preparation 2022

For those families with children in Years 3, 4 and 6 next year these are the proposed dates for reception of the sacraments in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in 2022:

• Parish Sacramental Program Information Evening Thursday 17th February 6:00pm Zoom (All sacramental year families to attend this zoom)
• First Communion: 18/19 of June  (Weekend between weeks 8 & 9 Term 2)
• Confirmation: 13 & 14 September TBC with Bishop (Week 9 Term 3)
• First Reconciliation: 15, 16 & 17 November (Week 5 Term 4)

Sacramental Program 2022