Dear Parents and Carers,

My heartfelt thanks to everyone in our community for coming along and celebrating the 40^th Birthday of St Michael’s. So many of our students expressed to me how much fun they had on the day! We could not have held the day without organisation from Maria Papasidero and our amazing St Michael’s staff. They painted faces, sold books, assisted at the BBQ, had sponges thrown at them, worked on tombola and much more!

Huge thanks also to our parents and families who ran a stall and to our Community Council who worked tirelessly all day on the Barbecue!

We are dedicating this newsletter to the wonderful 40^th celebrations last weekend! There are some great photos also on our Facebook site.

Winners of the 40^th Anniversary Art Award

Congratulations to the winners of our Art Award that was part of our 40^th Anniversary celebrations.

These were judged externally by Ms Rosie Clarke Develin; a long-term Artist and Secondary Arts Teacher. Congratulations to the overall winner: Mihail Ishchenko.

His colourful 3D interpretation caught the judge’s eye!

The winners for each grade are also listed below:

Kindergarten:  Ivy-Rose G

Year 1: Sofia S

Year 2: Ryder T

Year 3: Annika S

Year 4: Olivia S

Year 5: Coco T

Year 6: Katie P

Thank you to Mrs Jane McKeough for her wonderful organisation of the competition and organisation of judging and prizes. Jane also assisted the students of all ages to create magnificent portraits- if you haven’t seen these, they are truly amazing. Jane is an accomplished and creative artist and teacher who exposes our students to many fabulous arts experiences-we are truly blessed to have her on our staff! 

End of Year Events

There are several events coming up at school which we will keep advertising via newsletter, Compass and Facebook. This is not the full list- updates on our website, Facebook and for specific events, teachers have sent home information.

• K-2 students will be participating in Swimming Lessons next week.
• Our 5/6 Cohort will be attending Camp in Jindabyne 5-7 December.
• We welcome back our Kinders for 2023- Thursday 8 December.
• On Friday 9 December, at Morning Assembly, Father Loi will be with us to say farewell.
• We will also hand out final Rainbow awards and prizes at this gathering.

Further Reminders:

We greatly appreciate families paying school fees to ensure we are up to date financially before the start of a new year. Please contact Lynda if you have any questions/concerns.

Please let us know if you have had a change of circumstances and will not be returning to St Michael’s in 2023.

Sincere thanks and gratitude for a wonderful community event on the weekend as I mentioned in my speech on Saturday, the values of the Ursuline Sisters, the first administrators of St Michael’s, were wisdom, justice and compassion. I’m proud to say that St Michael’s holds firm to a proud Catholic tradition where these values are expressed in the life and teachings of Jesus and in our everyday interactions as a school and parish community.

Thank you for your continued support.

Many Blessings,

Judy Egan  

Religious Education

RE in 1/2

In Religion this term 1/2 have been looking at the New Testament. 

Specifically investigating and understanding the stories, parables, miracles, and narratives told within the New Testament.

Over the last few weeks, students have delved into the story of when Jesus Walks on Water and explored the biblical era of this time.

Starting the day with prayer each morning continues and the students in 1/2 are having a wonderful time singing songs with actions. Hearts on Fire has been a favourite thus far. Give it a listen: Hearts on Fire

Religious Life of St Michael’s

Advent

Next week marks the beginning of the season of Advent in our Church calendar. In the first week of Advent we light a purple candle, the candle of hope. Have a look at 5 fast facts about Advent.

We will have speical Advent liturgies starting from next week. 1/2 are busily preparing the first of our Advent Celebrations.

Advent 1 will be on Monday 28^th November. This will occur in the courtyard at 9:00am, weather permitting. All are welcome to join us in this special celebration.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Hamper Appeal

It is that time of year again when we focus on preparing for Christmas and the celebration of the birth of Jesus. During this Advent season, as part of our preparation for Christmas we will be focusing the children’s attention on the fact that Christmas is not only about receiving gifts but gift giving.

It is a tradition in our school community to reach out and support those in our local community who may not have sufficient food or money to enable them to have a special family meal on Christmas Day. Our parish St Vincent de Paul representatives would like our support in providing hampers for those in need in our local area.

Today, each class was given a list of items to make a food hamper for a family in need. In your child’s class, each child will be asked to donate an item of food from this list to bring to school and place in the class St Vincent de Paul hamper basket. The completed class hamper will contain the goodies required for a family to enjoy a Christmas meal.

We ask that all items be sent in to school by Week 9, Thursday 8th December 2022. We thank you for your support of the parish St Vincent de Paul team and this wonderful Advent initiative.

Our Giving Mass will be held on Tuesday 13^th December at 9:30am. All are welcome to join.