Welcome to Term 3! I trust that everyone had an enjoyable and restful break (if you got one). We have a busy term ahead with many different learning opportunities.

School Fencing 

Starting next week, the school oval will be out of action. This means it will not be opened for drop off or pick ups (students/families will need to walk around to the front of school to enter/exit - sorry for the inconvenience). We will be removing the current bollards and replacing them with school fencing. The fencing will match the rest of the fencing around the school and follow our school boundary line where the bollards are currently. Over the last year, there has been strong feedback from our school community of the need to fence this area, especially with the road and footpaths right next to where students play. We will have a double gate (where current red gate is) and a single gate up in the back corner. I trust that the school community supports staff and community council with this decision. The fencing should be finished by Friday next week. 

Parent/Teacher Interviews  

Next week we will hold our mid semester Parent-Teacher Interviews. This is an opportunity to reflect on the last semester, and more importantly plan for the semester ahead. To book, please follow the link to SchoolZine https://stmichaelskaleen.schoolzineplus.com/view-session/2

Please note, that there will not be interviews for 5/6B with Mrs Blakey on Long Service Leave. Parents/Carers can connect with her upon her return. Catherine Beckett who is taking 5/6B for the majority of this term is more than happy to meet with parents to discuss Term 3 and goals for students. She can be contacted via her email catherine.beckett@cg.catholic.edu.au should you wish. 

NAIDOC Week

This week we celebrate NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself. 

On Tuesday, each class learnt about and created a Yarning Circle. In line with this year's theme of Voice, Treaty, Truth - yarning circles provide a central focus to celebrate this. The use of a yarning circle (or dialogue circle) is an important process within Aboriginal culture and Torres Strait Islander culture. It has been used by Indigenous peoples from around the world for centuries to learn from a collective group, build respectful relationships, and to preserve and pass on cultural knowledge.

A yarning circle is a harmonious, creative and collaborative way of communicating to: encourage responsible, respectful and honest interactions between participants, building trusting relationships, foster accountability and provide a safe place to be heard and to respond, promote student–student interactions and student–school–community connectedness, enrich learning experiences for students.

In some instances, the ‘no language’ method can be applied to the yarning circle. This method originated from watching elders. Very few questions are asked; the primary method of learning is through observation.

Peer Support Program

Tomorrow, our Year 5/6 students will spend the day training to begin leading the rest of the school through the Peer Support Program. This program encourages peer connections throughout the school and assists students in developing practical skills to enhance social and emotional wellbeing. The Peer Support Program assists schools in achieving and maintaining a positive school culture. Every student will participate in Peer Support as part of their Health Curriculum this term with students in Year 5/6 jointly leading a small group each.

Just Like You Workshops 

Coming up in Week 3 and Week 4 this term, students in Year 1-6 will participate in the 'Just Like You' workshops (two lessons over two weeks). Variety – the Children’s Charity is proud to deliver the “Just Like You” disability education and awareness program. For the past ten years, the “Just Like You” program was delivered by Cerebral Palsy Alliance, educating primary school students on the acceptance and inclusion of people living with a disability. The program helps them learn that people living with a disability are the same as everyone else – they are “Just Like You”. From October 2016, the Just Like You program is proudly delivered by Variety – the Children’s Charity. Variety – the Children’s Charity is dedicated to empowering Australian children who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs to live, laugh and learn. They believe, as do we, that all children deserve the same opportunities in life regardless of ability or background.

Variety’s Just Like You program will deliver lively, interactive and compelling workshops, where our students are engaged to reflect on their own roles and actions as a citizen in their school and community. We look forward to students participating in this program.

Kulture Break Performance and Workshop

Next Thursday (1 August) students will have the opportunity to witness Kulture Break. This year Kulture Break is bringing a message of hope to ACT schools with a tour that will feature international guests ‘The Nubian Gents and Feminine Fire’ from New York City, led by prominent school teacher Lamont O’Neil. Accompanying Mr O’Neil will be seven of his past and present students that have been transformed by his philosophy of overcoming adversity through skill, and developing character through self-expression.

The Hope Tour school presentation will be a highly engaging and interactive dance and music display mixed with powerful words of inspiration and empowerment that will leave students feeling encouraged and hopeful.

Francis Owusu, CEO and founder of Kulture Break, believes creating environments that encourage positive self-expression is a powerful way to empower and transforms individuals.

Students will witness their performance and then participate in a half hour dance worskhop. 

ANNUAL SATISFACTION SURVEY

An annual satisfaction survey of parents, students and staff will be conducted on behalf of all Catholic schools in the Diocese this term. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement. Responses are confidential and individuals can not be identified. 

The surveys will be launched via email on 29 July and close on 9 August 2019 using the email addresses supplied to the school. If you do not receive an email with a link to the survey, please email the school to obtain. 

Thank you in advance for your honest and constructive feedback. 

Enjoy the week ahead. 

Regards,

Pat Ellis

Principal

Please RSVP via this link https://docs.google.com/document/d/155aPgqLJRC8Rxzus9ApYfwocQxV6ky5Y_XTawyjlMv4/edit?usp=sharing

We hope to see you all there!

Confirmation

Our Information Evening for Confirmation is this Thursday, 25^th July, in St Monica’s School Library. The meeting will begin at 6:00pm and is anticipated to conclude by 7:00pm. This Information Evening is for parents of students wishing to receive the sacrament of Confirmation this year. Our parish has been allocated the 10^th and 11^th of September for this special sacrament. A reminder that children wishing to receive this sacrament will need to attend a parish Mass on either Saturday 27^th or Sunday 28^th July to make their commitments. At least one adult will need to attend this Mass with each child. 

NAIDOC Whole School Prayer Time

This Friday, 26^th July, Year 6 will lead the Whole School Prayer Time. The theme for prayer will be NAIDOC. We invite all families and friends to join the whole school community for prayer from 2:25pm in the St Michael’s Church.

Growing with the Spirit

At St Michael’s this year we continue to reflect on how we are growing with the Spirit. This term our Student Leaders will take charge of leading the whole school in Peer Support. This is a wonderful example of how we encourage students to take ownership of their own learning and to help themselves, and others, as learners. This term is a good opportunity for all students to reflect on their learning and what steps they can take to be more responsible for achieving their own learning goals.

In Staff prayer this week we have been reflecting on NAIDOC Week celebrations. One morning we listened to the song, from little things big things grow, by Paul Kelly. It was such a beautiful link with our theme for the year “Growing with the Spirit” that I’d like to share it will you all.

https://youtu.be/6_ndC07C2qw

What little things are you ‘planting’ that could grow into something bigger?

We will start the term by developing our drawing skills. 

Each child will graphically record information about themselves. All students will be encouraged to capture and organise information in a meaningful way using words, shapes and drawings.

They will have access to a variety of drawing materials.

The more experience children have of using a wide range of material the more they will feel able to make independent, confident, drawing decisions.

The app of the week is Winky Think Logic Puzzles. With over 180 logic puzzles ranging from simple to complex this is an app that will have children thinking that little bit harder. This app currently costs $4.49 on the App Store.

Scholastic Book Fair

Save the Date Tuesday 6th – Friday 9th August 

We are looking forward to our second Book Fair of the year. The theme for this Fair is ‘Dino-mite’

The Book Fair is a great opportunity to check out the new and exciting titles or even to make some early purchases for Christmas presents. We appreciate your support of these events as a percentage of the proceeds are given to our school to purchase new books for our library. 

The Book Fair will be open each day from Tuesday 6th Aug – Friday 9th August. Before school 8:20-8:50am and after school 3:00 – 4:00pm. 

Celebrating Book Week 2019 at St Michael’s

During Weeks 5 and 6 we have lots of exciting events to celebrate Book Week!

Tuesday 20th August - Book Week Dress Up Day

Students can come to school dressed as their favourite character. Our parade will take place in the Hall immediatley following Morning Gathering. Parents are very welcome to attend.

Wednesday 21st August – Great Book Swap

We will be showing our support for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation by holding a ‘Giant Book Swap’ during library lessons on Wednesday. For a gold coin donation students can choose a book to take home from a selection of donated books.

To support this important cause, we are calling for donations of pre-loved (but still in good condition) books. These books will then form part of the Giant Book Swap. We are hoping to receive 200 books so there are enough books for each child to take part in the swap. If you are able to donate a book, or maybe even two, books can be left in the tub behind the library desk or dropped to the Front Office. If donations can be brought in to school by Friday 16th August, it would be appreciated.

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation aims to raise enough funds to gift over 35,000 books to remote communities in 2020. We would love to show our support and assist in addressing the literacy gap in Indigenous communities.  

Friday 30th August – Big Dreams Performance

Our whole school will come together for the ‘Big Dreams’ performance in the Hall at 9:10. The performance links together the themes of the CBCA shortlisted books for this year.  

Touch Football Clinics

All students kicked off the term with Touch Football clinics starting yesterday.  Lots of positive feedback was received from the students and we look forward to the remaining two sessions. We are thankful to ACT Touch Football for running these clinics for us free of charge.  

Belconnen Athletics Carnival

All students representing us at this year’s regional carnival received their information and permission notes on Monday. The carnival will be held on Monday 19th August at the AIS Athletics Track. Mrs Krippner and Mrs Anderson will accompany the team. Please meet them in the St Michael’s area from 8:00am. The first events will commence promptly at 8:30.

It is of great assistance if permission notes can be returned promptly. If your child is not attending the carnival, please return their note indicating this is the case. Thanks to all those who have already returned notes!

Please note that students will need to be collected from inside the venue and that students will not be permitted to walk to the carpark without adult supervision.  

If you are able to volunteer at the carnival we would love to hear from you. Regional level carnivals are dependent on volunteers in the same way we require assistance to run our school carnivals. For each regional carnival we are required to send a volunteer to assist on the day. Without this support the day isn’t able to run as smoothly as it needs to and most importantly the experience for your child isn’t as positive as it otherwise could be. We would be extremely grateful for any assistance you may be able to offer.

Boorowa Touch Football and Netball Carnival. 

Save the date:  Friday 25th October

Please consider if your child would like to take part in the Boorowa carnival this year. Information and permission notes will come home next week, as we need to register our teams. The carnival is a wonderful day and a terrific way to support the town of Boorowa and the surrounding region. Last year saw 434 teams compete and thousands of children enjoying a day of sport focused on participation rather than competition. We would love to have even more students involved than we did last year.  Students from Years 2-6 can participate in either touch football or netball. 

ICAS Testing 

Students from Years 3-6 are invited to participate in the ICAS assessment competition. These assessments will give students the chance to partake in a variety of different assessments that will test their skills and knowledge in particular subject areas.

All the assessments have now moved to an online format. All participants receive certificates which explain their results and are given suggestions on areas of improvement. The dates of the assessments and costs involved are included in the note that went home yesterday.

Please ensure that all notes and payments are made by Monday the 29^th July.

National Tree Day

This Friday Australia celebrates National Tree Day. In sustainability lessons this week all classes planted a range of native trees and shrubs. These have been a great addition to our courtyard garden beds. Please ask your children what plant their class planted and test their knowledge!

A special thank you must go to Bunnings Belconnen, who kindly donated 11 new plants for our courtyard. These will go a long way to helping support our culture of sustainability.

Next Tuesday 30 July is Kindergarten's 100^th day of school!! The time has flown! To mark this milestone, KL will be having a celebration on the day!! They will be having a little party in class with some fun games and activities, and the Kindergarten children are welcome to wear free clothes for the day. If you would like to send in a treat to share with KL that would be wonderful! Something easy and not too messy! Please remember we are a nut free school, so nothing containing nuts! There is also an option to decorate your clothes with 100 themed things! (In the past I have seen Monopoly money, 100 bows, numbers, 100 buttons etc). I would also like to invite the children to bring in a special soft toy to spend the day with us at school! It is going to be a great day!! Well done Kindergarten! - Miss Lewis

Congratulations to the following children who have achieved a Harmony Award in Week 1 and will receive their award this Friday at morning gathering (weather permitting).

Special wishes to those children who celebrated their birthday in the holidays:

Bentley 1/2F, Bailey 5/6FW, Vera KL, Amelie 5/6FW, Hunter KL, Isabella 1/2M, Jayden 1/2F and Jack 1/2M

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

Oscar 1/2M, Eliane 1/2W, Daniel 5/6FW and John 3/4AK

We hope you have a great day!!

Lunch Orders are to be placed by MIDNIGHT on Wednesday nights. 

The canteen still require assistance on Fridays from approximately 12.30-1.45 to help pack lunch orders, if you can assist in anyway, please contact Lisa in the Front Office.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  

Please feel free to contact Empire Catering on 0408 200 481 for queries with lunch orders or any constructive feedback you have regarding menu items.  

Reminder that school banking is processed on a Thursday morning, please leave your books at the Front Office for processing. 

Information packs are available at the Front Office for anyone wishing to open a new account or claim your rewards.

Thank you to Fiona, Connie & Cheri for assisting with the banking this year.  

Playgroup is held on Wednesdays in Weeks 2 to 9 from 9am til 10.30am in the School Hall. It is for children ages 0-5 and their parents/carers.  Please contact Kylie Arena or Lisa Monro on 62414022 for any enquires. 

Altar Servers Training

A reminder to all students who would like to train as Altar Servers, that a practice will be held at 3:30 pm on Wednesday 31st July at St. Michael’s Church.

Anyone who has received the Sacrament of the Eucharist will be very welcome. Children who are already trained are asked to come along to assist the new candidates. Many thanks and God’s Blessings, Sr Kate

CHESS!!

Learn to be a chess champion! Coaching for students at St Michael's is held on Tuesdays from 11:00am to 11:40am, starting on 23rd July 2019.

Learning and playing chess helps children develop their logical thinking and problem solving skills, improves their concentration and focus, while also being a great source of enjoyment. Activities include group lessons on a demonstration chess board or interactive whiteboard, puzzle solving and fun practice games.

Students earn merit awards by making checkmates, or by displaying skills and positive qualities, which all good chess players strive to develop.
If your child is interested in taking part, you can collect an enrolment form from the school office, or email enrol@sydneyacademyofchess.com.au for a copy. For all enquiries, please contact Sydney Academy of Chess on (02) 9745 1170.

The 2019/20 Entertainment Book is still available to purchase.  Books can be purchased at the Front Office for $60 or digital copies can be ordered through the following link.  Please see Lisa in the Front Office for more information.