Dear parents

As we come to the end of another term, I would like to thank you for your support of our students and staff. Term 3 has been a very eventful and exciting term. Thank you to all the parents, grandparents and special friends who participated in the many activities throughout the term.

Highlights over the past few weeks have been included in the newsletter below.

PRAYER 

Our prayer for this week is for all families to have a safe and blessed holiday, sharing special time with their families and friends.

Prayer of Thanksgiving for the term and our families

Loving God,

As we reach the end of this school term, we give thanks for the many blessings we have shared together; the learning, friendships, and moments of faith that have filled our days at St Michael’s.

We pray especially for our families as we begin the holiday break. May this be a time of rest, joy, and connection, where we can enjoy one another’s company and make special memories together.

Keep our children safe in all that they do, and bless every family in our community with peace, love, and happiness until we gather again next term.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

SCHOOL CYCLIC REVIEW

Next term our school will be participating in a cyclic inquiry, which is a review of the last four years of the school. We are looking forward to meeting with the external panel of consultants who will hear about all the wonderful things that have been happening at our school.

Below is information from our Catholic Education about the process of a School Cyclic Inquiry

What is School Cyclic Inquiry? 

• Held every four years, School Cyclic Inquiry is an opportunity for a school to reflect on how effective it has been in the past four years improving the faith, learning and wellbeing of its students. 
• The school prepares a detailed report that identifies its achievements and its challenges over the previous four years, using data and feedback from a wide cross-section of the school community. 
• A panel of experienced, independent Catholic educators spends two days at the school looking closely at the report and talking with the school’s Leadership Team and other members of the school community. 
• The school’s performance over the past four years is measured against the Australian Council of Research National School Improvement Tool as well as the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong’s Living Catholicity Foundation document. 
• A detailed report is prepared by the panel that includes recommendations for a limited number of improvement priorities that would form the basis of the school’s four-year School Strategic Improvement Plan and its one-year Annual Improvement Plan.

RELIGIOUS LITERACY RESULTS 2025 - FIRST IN THE DIOCESE!

We are so excited to let you know that our Year 4 class as a cohort, came first in the Diocese with their Religious Literacy Assessment which was held earlier this term. The assessment is online and covers content in the religion curriculum from Kindergarten to Year 4. 

A big thank you to all the staff who have supported the students with their Religious foundation knowledge from Kindergarten to Year 4 and a special thanks to Mrs Whipp, Mr Sherry and Mrs Mitchell for the support they gave the students this year. As first educators we know the role of our parents is so significant and we thank our parents for supporting and encouraging our students in this faith dimension.

WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING AT ST MICHAELS OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS? 

STAGE 3 PUBLIC SPEAKING

At St Michael’s, we know that public speaking is a skill that benefits children for life. From Kindergarten onwards, our students have opportunities to speak at assemblies, present their learning, and share ideas with their peers. It’s always a joy to see their confidence grow as they learn to express themselves clearly and proudly.

This term, our students in Year 5 and Year 6 were involved in the public speaking program as part of the Diocesan Public Speaking Competition. This is an empowering program that helps to develop the skills of preparation, posture, pace, voice projection, and performance. Representatives from those classes presented their speeches before the school community. Next term, Kiri from Year 6 and Molly from Year 5 will be representing our school at the Western Region Diocesan Competition. Thank you to the Stage 3 teachers for supporting this wonderful initiative.

DIOCESAN CHRISTMAS STORY AND ART COMPETITION

Over the past few weeks, our Stage 3 students have been busy creating beautiful Christmas artworks inspired by Scripture. Their creativity and thoughtfulness have been truly impressive!

We have found out today that four of our students artworks will be hung in the Wollongong Art Gallery and will be part of the Christmas Art competition. Congratulations to Tobias, Amos, Oscar and Kiri. We are so proud of every student for the reflective and meaningful pieces they have produced.

All the artworks from Stage 3 will be displayed at school closer to Christmas so that our whole community can enjoy and celebrate the students’ efforts.