St Michael's Primary School - Kaleen eNewsletter

As we enter the final hours of the 2019 school Image result for teaching quote year, I would like to say a huge thank you for your continued support. St Michael's is truly a great school. I absolutely love coming into work everyday helping, supporting, challenging and having fun with our students. That is not to say that it hasn't been hard work.

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs going, the time and energy given to the job is non-stop. Anyone who knows a passionate teacher will know the amount of hours they spend at school, thinking about the children, the families, what worked, what didn't etc. Every teacher has asked themselves at one point during the year 'can I keep doing this?', 'can I cope with this?'. Understanding and dealing with student needs, the complicated lives of students, parent emails, parent meetings, CE and government requirements, compliance, training and professional development are all increasing. Whilst, at the end of the day this all assists with our job, it is all above the actual teaching and learning that occurs between 9-3pm. Luckily for us the staff at St Michael's have answered 'yes!' to the above questions and we have all our staff at St Michael's returning in 2020. A very unique situation for any school (I am extremely thankful) where staff all feel supported and have what they need to ensure they can do their job to the best of their ability.

Teaching in a Catholic School is not just a job but a calling. We are called to service. Called to teach, influence and inspire. Called to do our best everyday for every child. In saying that, we are humans with our own lives, our own children, partners and families. At many times during the year, your child's needs come before our own children or our own families. We do it, because we love what we do. We go the extra mile because we care about your children, we spend those hours in the middle of the night thinking how we can be better, because we want the best for every child in our care.

As we break for the year, please take the time to personally thank your child's class teacher. The positive impact they have had this year may not yet be realised. It will be there. Every child takes not only the academic learning experienced that year from their teacher, but they take so much more. They take the memory of who that teacher was, their character, their values, their personality. I am aware that there are years when children feel like they haven't had the best year with their teacher for whatever reason. As parents, I would encourage you (as I do with my own children) to discuss what they have taken away from the year. To look for the positive in every situation. To be reflective and think about how they can be better in 2020 compared to 2019.

Year 6 Celebrations

Congratulations to all Year 6 students on your final year at Primary School. Congratulations especially to our 5 students who were presented with special awards on Friday for their efforts, passion and displaying school values.

Amelie L	Academic Excellence Presented by Senator Zed Seselja	Amelie has maintained an extremely high standard of work across all curriculum areas throughout her learning. She enjoys sharing her creative and critical thinking with others and has a clear passion for her learning. She is to be commended for her hard work throughout her time at St Michael’s. Her self-efficacy is truly inspiring for others
Liana A	Academic Excellence Presented by Senator Zed Seselja	Liana continues to show great drive and dedication to her studies and diligently responds to feedback. She continuously pushes for self-improvement and always looks to support other class members. Liana is to be congratulated for the growth that she has made and the way she looks for further opportunities to learn.
Mischa W	Community Service Presented by Mr. John Scarano from Rotary Club	Mischa has a clear passion for serving others and continues to be a shining example to other students. She has been selfless in the way that she has pushed initiatives that support environmental causes and is always willing to stand up for what she thinks is right and just. Mischa is to be commended for the community partnerships that she has helped form during her time at St Michael’s
Bailey M	Pastoral Care and Christian Values Presented by Father Loi	Bailey is a kind and compassionate student, who continues to live by strong Christian Values every day. He is always willing to go beyond to help staff and students and no task is ever too big for him to tackle. Bailey has constantly shown his trustworthy attributes and helps maintain a sense of calm and ease around the school.
Tamika K	Pastoral Care and Christian Values Presented by Father Loi	Tamika continues to live out Mary Mackillop’s legacy of ‘Never Seeing a need without doing something about it’. She is unrelenting in the way that she supports other students and teachers around the school. She always has a smile on her face and her empathy for others is clear in all that she does. She brings joy to those around her.

Congratulations also to the Year 6 students who were presented with their Maths Olympiad certificates and to Alex C (5/6B) for his award where he placed in the top 2% of Australia.

We had a beautiful Passing the Light Ceremony and Graduation Ceremony and Dinner earlier this week. Beautiful moments to mark a beautiful occasion. We wish Year 6 and their families all the best as they journey into high school. A huge thanks to the Year 6 teachers, Ms Younger, Mrs Papasidero, Mrs Monro and all other staff who helped and supported to ensure these special moments in Year 6's final week were special.

Before School Care - 2020

As mentioned, in 2020, YMCA will be operating Before School Care from our School Hall. We would love to see as many families as possible accessing this service. This service will operate Monday-Friday from 7am and include breakfast.

To apply or receive further details and support could we ask that you please phone YMCA Canberra on (02) 6242 4040 (ask for Nadine or Jenny) email us at cs.canberra@ymca.org.au or visit our website for further information https://canberra.ymca.org.au/what-we-do/outside-school-hours/

A reminder from the start of the 2020 school year, supervision at school will start at 8.20am (30 minutes before the start of the school day). The library will no longer be open at 8am. This was a short term measure whilst we secured a formal Before School Care arrangement.

Any questions, please make contact with myself or YMCA directly.

Step Up

Tomorrow, students will have the opportunity to 'Step Up' into their 2020 class. This is a chance for students to meet their teacher, see what room they will be in and see who will be in their class with them. This is an attempt to eliminate as much anxiety as we can for students over the break.

Please know that every effort has been made to place your child in the best class that we feel they will be able to shine in. Every child across the school has one of their 4 choice of friends and we have taken into consideration the different abilities, friendships, behaviours and requests to the best of our ability. If parents have requested particular teachers, this then can impact with any friendship choices that the student may want and affect placements. I have also tried my best to accommodate parent requests, some I could not manage. Class lists actually started getting put together in Week 3 this term and I personally move students into class groupings based on the information provided by teachers. These lists then go back to teachers for thoughts and amendments and back to me (sometimes this can be 3 or 4 times), until we collectively feel like we have placed everyone in the right class for them.

Please note that it will be very unlikely that any child will change classes after Step Up. In fact, I have never moved a child out of a classroom in all my years of teaching. I don't think that is in the best interest of the child. All children will still get to play together on the playground, which is where the majority of social interaction takes place anyway.

A reminder that class lists will not be placed on the library windows anymore and class lists will not be provided to parents. This custom, we also feel, doesn't send the right message to children. We would encourage you to talk positively with your child when they come home on Thursday about the year ahead.

Tomorrow during Step Up, students will bring a hard copy resource list note home. We ask if families could provide these additional items for the start of the school year. We also provide some of these items, but the additional supply will assist us greatly. Digital version of the note can be found on our website under Term 1 Notes.

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

I would like to take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas to everyone. I wish everyone a safe, relaxing and prayerful Christmas break and a Happy New Year.

Thank you for your ongoing support during 2019.

School resumes on Monday 3 February.

Kind regards,

Pat Ellis

Principal

2 Dec	Reports Sent Home All day

2 Dec	Kinder 2025 - Orientation 2 9:15 AM - 12:00 PM

5 Dec	Thanks Giving Mass and Rainbow Awards All day

6 Dec	Daramalan Orientation Day for students who have been offered a place in 2025 All day

6 Dec	Christmas Carols and Christmas Markets All day

9 Dec	Yr 6 Graduation and Dinner All day

12 Dec	Candle Ceremony - Passing of the Light 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM

13 Dec	Yr 6 Fun Day All day

16 Dec	Last Day of School All day