Congratulations to those students in Year 6 who received the Sacrament of Confirmation this week. What a special night for them, their families, their teachers and the wider school and parish communities. Archbishop Christopher's homily last night was quite powerful. Proclaiming that as a Catholic and for our Year 6 students receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Catholic Faith is about 'Belonging, Believing and Becoming'. To be truly Catholic we are a community, it is about worshipping and praying together, not in isolation. We belong. We have traditions that date back through time, we hold these close to our heart. We believe. We are active, we help those in need, we go out and spread the Good News. We become. I wish all our Year 6 students well as they continue their faith formation and journey. 

Next week we will begin the formal preparation for those children who will be receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation this year with our Parent Formation Night on Thursday 19 September at 6pm at St Monica's School. 

Games Night

What a fun night our 5/6 students had on Friday night. Thank you to Mrs Figura and Mr Webb for giving up their Friday night to host the event. The start of a new tradition for our 5/6 students each year. 

RoboCup

What an amazing day on Saturday. I was so inspired to see our two RoboCup teams in action. These students demonstrated such patience, skill and dedication. Teams faced various challenges on the day where they needed to code and recode their machines to try to overcome these. These students in 5/6 have given up recess and lunchtimes and some after school sessions in the lead up. Amazing! A huge thank you to Mrs Figura for giving up so much of her time to guide, challenge and support these two groups of students. We look forward to more students joining in RoboCup next year. 

Year Book Orders

Just a reminder if you would like to order a Year Book for 2019, you will need to return your order slip and payment by Thursday 19th September. We will be ordering the exact amount based on orders received to ensure we don't have multiple copies not used. We look forward to sharing and celebrating the year in review via the Yearbook. 

Canteen Committee

Thank you to all those parents who have responded regarding forming a canteen committee to organise special lunch days in 2020. We have had a great response. We are just forming up an afternoon in Week 10 where we can have the first brainstorm meeting and get everyone's input and ideas. Watch this space!

ACT Athletics Championships

Congratulations to Josh 5/6FW, Mitchell 3/4AK and Kobe 3/4YM who both competed at yesterday's championship. The boys did extremely well in their races and we are still waiting for official results.

St Michael's Fun & Fitness Feast Day

We are getting excited for our upcoming celebration of St Michael's Feast Day. Our Year 6 leaders have been busy planning the Fitness Colour Afternoon. A reminder that on this day, in the afternoon, students will be sprayed with coloured powder. It would be best for students to wear clothes that they don't mind getting coloured powder on. Last year, wearing a white shirt worked best. This is a uniform free day. If your child does not want to get coloured powder sprayed on them, please email their teacher directly. We would not be forcing a child to get colour sprayed on them. 

Reminder that the promised $10 is also due, if not already paid.  Please see Lisa if you have any queries.

We are also after some parent helpers to prepare food (cook BBQ, cut up fruit etc) on the day from 12 o'clock. If you are able to assist, please email Mr Webb directly damien.webb@cg.catholic.edu.au Thanks in advance!

All are most welcome to participate in the fitness colour afternoon. This will begin at 1.30pm. 

2020

A reminder, if your child is leaving St Michael's at the end of the year (apart from Year 6), could you please email the front office to let us know. We are starting plans for 2020 and in a need to know our numbers for class structure. Early next term I will ask for any requests regarding student placement. These will need to be emailed to me directly. More information will come out at the start of next term regarding those requests. 

Enjoy the week ahead.

Regards,

Pat Ellis

Principal

Confirmation

Congratulations to those students who received the Sacrament of Confirmation last night.  Thank you to all the staff for supporting them through their journey.

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 an information evening for parents on Thursday 19th September.  This will be at St Monica's School from 6pm and finishing by 7pm.  Commitment Masses for this Sacrament will be on 21st and 22nd September at any of our Parish Masses.

On Monday we were lucky to have Adam Shipp from Yurbay visit us to help install a bush tucker garden in our garden beds between the water tank and greenhouse. Adam spoke to the students about the plants he had brought with him and how Aboriginal people used them for food and medicines. Some new plants we now have in our bush tucker garden are: salt bushes, river mint and mountain mint, sarsaparilla, native raspberry and lily pilly to name a few. When these plants mature, students will be able to pick berries or leaves to use in cooking or to nibble on. We encourage everyone to come and take a look (and a taste when they grow and mature a bit more!)

Children and adolescents are among those at greatest risk for concussion. Concussions can result from a fall, or any time a student’s head comes into contact with a hard object, such as the floor, a desk, or another student’s head or body. The potential for a concussion is greatest during activities where collisions can occur, such as during sport lessons, playtime, or school-based sports activities.

Students may also get a concussion when doing activities outside of school, such as weekend sport, but then come to school when symptoms of the concussion are presenting. Concussions can have a more serious effect on a young, developing brain and need to be addressed correctly. Proper recognition and response to concussion symptoms in the school environment can prevent further injury and can help with recovery.

For this reason, we have protocol at school that any bump to the head, a parent will be called to be informed. Often these are just little bumps and we can monitor and keep parents in the loop throughout the day if any changes occur. Most of the time, these are the cases that occur and are mild. Sometimes however, cases might be more moderate with signs of concussion not presenting until later that day/night or even the next day. 

The site below provides useful information regarding general advice for head injuries that I would encourage all parents to read.

https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Head_injury/

WEAVING  

We will finish the term by completing weaving projects and learning about the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander textiles.

Weaving is a great craft activity for developing many skills:

*builds fine motor skill

*aids visual tracking

*building hand and eye coordination

*physical experience of spatial concepts of up, over, and under

*helps in using both the dominant and non-dominant hands at the same time

*weaving involves crossing the midline.

The art of fibre has a long history in Arnhem Land as evidenced by the many depictions of fibre objects in rock art.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make a variety of objects from animal and plant fibres. Their skills in basket weaving are evidenced in everyday tools such as baskets for collecting food, nets for fishing and ceremonial items such as headgear and wristbands.

Commonly used fibres include the leaves of pandanus, palms, jungle vine, and the inner bark of kurrajong and stringybark eucalyptus trees.

This Term in Indonesian the classes learnt a variety of topics.

The Kindergarten and 1/2 classes learnt more about colours using the picture dictionary. They learnt how to connect colours to what they see in the world. The picture dictionaries helped them to learn new vocabulary as well.

Year 3/4 learnt about numbers in Indonesian. They also played a memory game to hone their skills on numbers within 1-10.

Year 5/6 are working on ordering in a restaurant in Indonesian.

Help us to raise $2500 to purchase Jariah Education Centre a Water Tank so they can access clean, fresh water at school as they learn!

A huge thank you to these two businesses (EcoSmart Builders and Premier Capital Properties) who have generously donated to sponsor our Jump Fest. Please support those businesses who support us. 

EcoSmart Builders are highly experienced and established Canberra builders who are committed to offering a collection of high energy efficient homes.

EcoSmart Builders all have one thing in common: they build beautiful, modern homes using cutting edge building practices designed to achieve high Energy Efficiency Ratings. Check them out at https://ecosmarthomes.com.au/

Premier Capital Properties are ACT real estate agents offering specialist property services to buy, sell and rent real estate. Visit them at Shop 20, The Marketplace, Hibberson Street Gungahlin. 

Indigenous Literacy Foundation

Thank you for your support of our first Giant Book Swap during Book Week. We raised $209 which has been donated on behalf of our community to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

A huge thanks to the Sustainability Action Group who had a mini working bee on Sunday to move compost and manure to the courtyard garden beds and a general tidy up in Miss Jordan's Garden. We really appreciate your time. Thank you Nat and Todd Ryall, Matt and Esther Coghlan, Belinda Larner, Todd and Loreana White, Irene and Marty Ward and Mia and Alan Taylor. A wider whole school community working bee will occur in the future and we will be calling for more helpers. Thanks again!

Congratulations to the following children who have achieved a Harmony Award in Week 8 and will receive their award this Friday at morning gathering (weather permitting).

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

Orla 3/4AK, Austin 1/2F, Jesse KL, Xavier 3/4AK & Olivia 5/6B

We hope you have a great day!!

The lost property boxes are filling up very quickly with unnamed clothing and lunchboxes/drink bottles.  Please check the boxes for any missing items.  All items will be displayed on a table during Week 9 and Week 10 and will be disposed of at the end of Term.

Please ensure that your children's belongings are clearly labelled.  As the weather is warming up, there are quite a few jumpers discarded in the playground and unclaimed at the end of the day, please remind your child/ren to collect them at the end of playtime. 

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.  

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. 

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. 

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

Youth Mass - St Michael's, 15th September

The 5.30pm Mass at St Michael's Church, Sunday 15th September, will be a Youth Mass.  Volunteers are needed for the liturgy; readers, offertory procession and collectors.  Please join us for a light  meal afterwards. 
Contact Monica on 0435 876 303.

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

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.

Books are no longer available for sale at the Front Office, however they can still be ordered through the following link as well as digital copies for your phone.

Please see Lisa in the Front Office for more information.