On Friday I had the pleasure of attending the Key Personnel Day for CE. This day was attended by every Principal, Religious Education Coordinator and Parish Priest from across the Archdiocesan of Canberra-Goulburn. This day was centred on Pope Francis' Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation to Young People 'Christus Vivat'. Many important moments within Christus Vivat starting with 'Christ is alive! He is our hope'. As a Catholic school, how do we ensure Christ is alive at St Michael's?

Canberra Theatre Excursion

On Friday our K-2 students will attend the Possum Magic show at the Canberra Theatre.  This will be a fun and engaging experience for all our infant students. A reminder that no lunch orders for K-2 students on Friday.

Year 5/6 Games Night

Also on Friday, we will hold our first Year 5/6 Games Night. This is an opportunity for the student leaders of our school to have a little fun with their teachers.  I have said before, but as a collective, our 5/6 students are great leaders for our school. They have worked hard, and will continue to work hard, to leave a positive legacy at St Michael's. Hosting this night is our way of saying thank you and to celebrate the time we have left with them. 

RoboCup

I wish good luck to our RoboCup Team who will be competing this Saturday at SFX. They have been working extremely hard at lunch times and after school to get prepared and ready. A huge thank you to Jess Figura for her leadership in this space. 

Bush Tucker Garden

Next week we begin the next phase of our focus on Sustainability with the introduction of our Bush Tucker Garden. We have been busy getting our garden beds ready for the planting of some native herbs and plants. Exciting times ahead. Thank you to Jess Lewis for her leadership as our Aboriginal Education Contact Teacher. 

Sacrament of Confirmation

Thank you to all the families of our Year 6 students who will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is an important step on their faith journey and we appreciate the support, guidance and love shown to them during this time of preparation. We look forward to Tuesday (St Michael's Church) and Wednesday (St Monica's Church) celebrating with our students. 

Term 3 Award's Assembly 

On Friday 13 September we will present the Term 3 Rainbow Awards. These special awards are presented to two students from each class who have been going above and beyond over the last term to display our school values, demonstrate hard work, consistent effort, use their manners, helping those in need and be an overall good role model for their peers. I look forward to presenting these awards. A formal letter will come home this week informing parents if their child has been selected by their teacher, to receive one of these awards. 

Late children

Just a reminder that it is important for students to be at school for the start of the day at 8.50am. It is quite disruptive for classes when students arrive late. We understand there are sometimes unavoidable issues that present, but we consistently have some children who arrive late every morning. This means that they miss connecting with the friends at the start of the day in an informal way on the playground, miss praying with their class first thing, miss any important messages at morning gathering and miss the explicit Literacy teaching that often occurs first thing in classes. To set every child up for success each day, it is important to have students here ready to start. Every minute lost at school adds up and has a ripple effect to their learning and development. 

Missing just 2 minutes each morning adds up to....

10 minutes a week

100 minutes per term (approx 1hr)

400 minutes per year (approx 6hrs)

2800 minutes for the whole of primary school (approx 46 hrs)

I wonder what impact that would have on a child or what support and teaching they would miss out on during that time?

If there is anything we can do to help get children here on time, please let us know. We would be happy to help in anyway we can. 

Staffing News

This is to advise that Yvette Whalan will continue to take leave for personal reasons next term. Fortunately, Natasha Kapantais who is currently teaching in 1/2W will continue to do so in Term 4. Natasha will be on 1/2W everyday next term. Natasha has developed a strong relationship with the students in 1/2W and is passionate and dedicated to continue to strive for each student to reach their full potential as a learner. 

Nadia Farhadi will replace Natasha on 3/4AK each Wednesday in Term 4 in Sarah Anderson's absence. Nadia completed her final 4th Prac with us this year and is an exceptional beginning teacher. Mrs Sarah Anderson will continue to be the main teacher on class. 

Congratulations

Congratulations to Sienna (5/6B) who has been successful in her audition for the Part-Time Vocational Training Course at the Canberra Dance Development Centre.  Sienna will commence dance training in 2020. A massive achievement, well done!

Enjoy the week ahead.

Regards,

Pat Ellis

Principal

Confirmation

Mass for Confirmation is at 6:00pm on Tuesday 10^th September (St Michael’s Church) and Wednesday 11^th September (St Monica’s Church). We keep in our prayers our candidates as they prepare to receive the Holy Spirit in Confirmation:

A reminder that all candidates should have received Reconciliation in the month prior to Confirmation. If you have not done so already Reconciliations are heard in St Monica’s Church on Saturdays from 4:30 – 5:30pm and in St Michael’s Church on Sundays from 4:30 – 5:00pm.

Mass

Thank you to 1/2M for your prayerful leadership of Mass celebrating Dads last week. Our next Whole School Mass will be celebrating the Feast of our Patron, Saint Michael, on Thursday 26^th September.

Reconciliation

For those families with children in Year 3 or above and wishing to prepare them to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation this year, there is a Formation Evening for parents on Thursday 19^th September. This will be at St Monica’s School from 6:00pm and finishing by 7:00pm. Commitment Masses for this Sacrament will be on 21^st and 22^nd September at any of our parish masses.

The app of the week is Lego Creator Islands. Build houses, boats, planes and trucks, unlocking new and exciting blocks with each successful build. This app encourages children to problem solve and use spatial awareness to explore how a variety of Lego pieces can be positioned on a board.  Lego Creator Islands is free.

School Sports and Boorowa Payments

If you haven’t already done so, please attend to any outstanding payments for Belconnen Region Athletics, ACT Athletics and Boorowa. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

ACT Trials Information

Please check the School Sport ACT website https://www.schoolsportact.asn.au/ for information about current and upcoming trials. The process for registration can be found in the School Sport Section below

Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge

The Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge concludes next Friday 13 September. Please ensure all completed forms are returned to school by this date. We have had a great response already, congratulations to those who have completed the challenge this year! Awesome reading!!

Congratulations to the following children who have achieved a Harmony Award in Week 7 and will receive their award this Friday at morning gathering (weather permitting).

Well done to Grace 3/4YM for achieving the Gold Queen Award for chess, presented by the Sydney Academy of Chess.

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

Levi 5/6B, Laura 5/6F & Cameron 3/4YM

We hope you have a great day!!

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

The canteen require assistance on Fridays for Term 4 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.  

DANCECORE -  Dance classes are held on Wednesday’s at recess in the school hall, forms are available at the Front Office. 
Contact Cassie 0417 442 750 

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

GUITAR - Guitar lessons with Sam on Thursday's, please contact
Sam on 0408 196 855

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

SPEECH & DRAMA  -  Drama classes are being held on Tuesday’s at lunchtime, please contact Elizabeth McIntosh if you are interested on 6255 9054

SCHOOL BANKING  -  Banking day is Thursday, please leave your books at the Front Office.

BOOKCLUB -  Scholastic Bookclub running 8 times a year, there will be two issues each Term.  If you have any queries, contact Mrs Monro or Mrs Arena. 

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. 

YMCA is setting up a donation bin in the foyer of the canteen… we would more than appreciate all donations of plastic lids even if you don’t attend Afters, please feel free to drop your lids in the bin.

Lids for Kids helps disabled children

Don't throw away those plastic lids. They can be recycled to make prosthetic limbs for disabled children using 3D printing.

Next time you are planning to throw your bottle cap away, think twice as it can be used to make prosthetics for children using 3D technology.

Previously all those lids were going into landfill. Now people can take the lids off their bottles and donate them. The bottles can still go into their kerbside recycling bins.

The lids are sorted and then fed into a 3D printer to make the mobility aids.

The idea comes from Envision Hands, a not-for-profit organisation based at Wheelers Hill in Victoria, which shreds low and high density (Numbers 2 and 4) bottle lids and turns them into new prosthetic limbs using 3D printing.

Nicole and Brad Sutherland, who established Lids for Kids in Goulburn, collect the buckets of lids from various sites, which is then shipped to organiser Tim Miller in Canberra.

"We had set a target of 5,000 lids a week but having surpassed it we are reluctant to set a target because the more we collect the better. Both Brad and I are thankful for the support from Goulburn and surrounding community," Mrs Sutherland said.

Tim then transports the lids to Envision Hands' warehouse in Melbourne, where they are cleaned and organised into colours. Next, they are shredded and then fed through an extruder, which produces an ink-like filament.

That filament is then used in conjunction with 3D software to print the mobility aids.

Changes to School Sport ACT

From the commencement of this year there will no longer be Belconnen Region level trials for specific sports. To replace the regional level completion, many sports are holding gala days for schools to attend. We will enter teams in these gala days where there is student interest. The pathway for selection to an ACT sporting team is through trials offered in the same way as they have been previously. Please see the information below in relation to the process of registering your child for ACT trials on the School Sport ACT website.

SCHOOL SPORT ACT TRIALS 

Please keep an eye on the School Sport ACT website www.schoolsportact.asn.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 – schoolsportact.asn.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?
8. Make the $5 credit card payment then click to register.
9. An automated email will then be sent to your Principal/School Approver for their approval to trial (no need to take anything to school for the Principal to sign).
10. You will be able to see the process has been complete back in My Profile – once your Principal/School Approver has completed the approval process your child’s information will be collated onto a list for the Team Manager and Coach prior to trial.
11. Note the registration process closes two days before the first trial date to allow sufficient time for approval and sharing of collated information.

Looking forward to another big year of sporting participation,

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

Parish News - Belconnen Youth Ministry

Inviting all students in year 3-7 to join us for an afternoon of faith, friendship and fun at South Belconnen Parish's Junior Youth Group and Youth Mass. Join us in Marian Hall just outside of St Matthew's Church, Page on Saturday 21st September at 4:45pm for Youth Group then stay on to celebrate Mass at 6pm. Contact Youth Minister Sarah for more information at Sarah.Larkin@cg.org.au

ONLY 3 BOOKS LEFT - LAST CHANCE TO PURCHASE

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.