What a big fortnight we have had in Australia and the world. The media and social media coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic has been at a level that we haven't seen before. Whilst this virus is of concern, the coverage has been quite alarming at times. Being a father of two young girls, it is interesting the questions and concerns they have when they get home from school, about the things they have heard on the playground. My advice, is be open and honest (of course age appropriate) to help ease anxiety and worries. You are the most trusted person in their lives. Help them to be critical of what they hear or read and provide age appropriate facts. Allowing children to watch or listen to the news at present, should be done so with caution. It is important that parents are taking the time to discuss what is happening in Australia and around the world with their children. This is not a role that should be deferred to a teacher at school. It is much easier to talk one-on-one with a child about these bigger issues, than what it is to talk to 25 students in class, all with different levels of understanding, experiences and questions. You know your child best, so this is best to come from you in the first instance. 

I have sent out an email earlier this week detailing precautionary action that will be taken as we move to the end of the term and to keep you as up to date as possible. Please refer to those emails. 

Whilst disappointing to cancel events, I must take the advice from CE, Department of Education and the Department of Health. As always, decisions are made to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of staff and students. In light of what is happening and the advice with COVID-19 and the flow on effect, many events coming up this term, have had to be postponed or cancelled. We apologise in advance and thank you for your support and understanding. 

School Photo Day - Postponed until Friday 6 November

Year 5/6 Camp - Postponed until Monday 19- Wednesday 21 October

Special Lunch Day - Week 8 cancelled 

Parent-Teacher Check Ins - Cancelled

Cross Country - Postponed until next term - date TBC

Belconnen Swimming Carnival - cancelled 

Year 5/6 Excursion - cancelled

Year 6 High School Open Day Visits - we assumed postponed. Will let you know revised dates if and when they are provided to us

Term 1 Award Assembly - Postponed until end of Term 2. We will do a Semester Award Assembly instead

Holy Week Reflections - done within class groups instead of whole school

5/6K Assembly - postponed until next term - date TBC

Whole School Prayer Times - cancelled for this term 

Please note - we will no longer be holding morning assembly. Students will still line up in the same spot, however they will then head straight to classes. 

Birthday certificates and harmony awards will be presented within their classes during morning class prayer circle. Thank you for your understanding with this. 

Harmony Day

Next Wednesday, we will be celebrating Harmony Day. This is an important day for us being 'People of Harmony'. Children will be involved in different activities throughout the day. 

We have Harmony Day Projects set up with thanks to Mrs Anderson. Each love heart contains a little reflection, something to consider something to action. More than ever it is important that
we think of others and create harmony in our school, our lives, ourcommunity and our world. Head into C Block and you will see the display. Take a photo of a heart or two and as a family explore further. We can be the change we want to see in the world. At St Michael’s, we are a people of Harmony.

National Day Against Bullying!

On Friday, although they have postponed the official National Day Against Bullying, we will still focus and draw attention to this important issue. 

Parent Representative Network (PRNs)

Thank you to all the parents who already put their hand up to be a PRN for 2020. We are still looking for parents in 3/4F, 3/4FR, 3/4A and 5/6K. If your child is in one of these classes and you feel the PRN role is something you would like to be a part of, please completed the section below. 

Walk gently in the week ahead. Take care of yourselves and each other. 

Kind regards, 

Pat Ellis

Principal

Religious Education Curriculum

Visits from Fr Loi

This term Father Loi has begun to make special classroom visits on Thursday mornings following Mass. He is sharing something of the life and mission of priesthood as well as helping answering some very big questions from our students. Last week he was with 5/6.

3/4 & 5/6

We are continuing to become more familiar with the Creation Story through exploring the 3 Worlds of the Text. We have investigated life for the Israelites in Babylonian Empire, found the ancient Babylonian Empire on a map and researched some of the ancient cultures with different belief systems, like the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans with their pantheon of gods. We have found out that the first Creation story was actually poetry and uses literary devices like repetition to highlight special parts of it. We even put it to music to really experience this piece of scripture in a different way.

Project Compassion

This week read about Barry. Father of four, Barry, embodies resilience and strength. Growing up in a tough environment, he had to look inside himself to make the right choices for himself and his family. See more about his story at https://lent.caritas.org.au/page/week-3

School Sport ACT Events

Please be aware that no School Sport ACT Calendar events will be taking place until the current restrictive measures are lifted, at this stage no one is certain of that date.

Trials for state representative teams, have been cancelled/postponed to keep in alignment with social distancing measures and not encouraging students from different schools to be in contact with each other.

On a national scale, the future of the National Championships are still unknown. They are based on state selections that are currently not taking place.

I will inform everyone as quickly as possible when we receive updates and further communication from School Sport ACT. Please also visit the School Sport ACT website or follow them on Facebook. Your local sporting clubs will also be a point of contact for families who seek information about state and national trials for your child’s chosen sport.

http://www.schoolsportaustralia.edu.au/news/

Cross Country

Our cross country carnival has been postponed and we will let you know when a decision has been made regarding whether or not it will be rescheduled. We will be guided by the decisions made in relation to whether or not regional and national competitions will take place. 

Belconnen Region Swimming 

In line with the cancellation of all School Sport ACT calendar events, the Belconnen Region Swimming Carnival will not go ahead. Thank you to all the members of our swim team for their understanding.

Basketball Clinics

Basketball clinics were held yesterday and at his stage the program will continue as planned. We thank ACT Basketball for their commitment to delivering the program for our students.

Book Fair

Thank you to all those who have already visited the Book Fair! The fair will be open for the remainder of this week between 8:20 – 8:50am and 3:00 – 4:00pm. Your support is greatly appreciated as every purchase generates credits for our school. We then use these to purchase new books for the library. This year our focus is on updating our non-fiction books to support our student’s interests in sport, animals, plants, astronomy, indigenous perspectives, geography, technology and coding.

Chief Ministers Reading Challenge

Not long now until the launch of the challenge! A great way to challenge students to read more over the next few months. During library lessons all students will find out more about how they can participate.

We have been informed by Macdonalds Schoolwear that they are running low on certain uniform items, particularly sports pants. If you are unable to purchase an item in your size, please feel free to drop into Lowes and purchase plain navy pants or jumpers to get you through until more stock arrives.

School Photos have been postponed until Friday 6 November.

Please hold on to your envelopes as we are waiting for advice from MSP Photography.

We thank you for your patience.

Please see the information attached regarding the upcoming NAPLAN assessments.

Congratulations to the following children who have achieved a Harmony Award in Week 7 and will receive their award this Friday in classrooms as there are no more morning assemblies until further notice.   

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

Everett 1/2W, Olivia 1/2B, Eamon 5/6K, Lachlan 3/4F, Elise 3/4F, Elliarna 1/2W, Mahlia 1/2W & Olive 5/6K

We hope you have a great day!!

Notice from CommBank School Banking
The health, safety and wellbeing of our communities and our people is our first priority. Due to the rapidly developing situation with coronavirus, School Banking has been temporarily paused from 20 March 2020 until the start of Term 2. Please don’t bring your deposit book with your weekly banking into school and we will notify you when banking will recommence.

The digital book is now available for $69.99 and is regularly updated with new offers.

Please click on the link below to order your 2020 Entertainment Book.

https://www.entertainment.com.au/orderbooks/232g38