STAFF SPIRITUALITY DAY
Yesterday our staff participated in a Staff Spirituality Day, lead by Mr Gary Quinn from the Catholic Education Office Wollongong. The theme for the day was People of Purpose: Exploring Vision and Mission. This theme, links with the 2019 School Review and Improvement Plan, to evaluate our St Michael’s Primary School Vision and Mission statement.

Our school Vision and Mission statement is:

Our Vision, inspired by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, is that all children who leave our school:

• have a positive sense of community
• have an appreciation of, and respect for themselves as valuable people
• have respect for other people and the world in which they live
• have been given the opportunity to attain their academic potential are aware that learning is a life-long experience.

Following the example of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, the Mission of our school community is to build a relationship with Jesus and live it in our values and relationships with each other.

Gary lead us through a process of discerning the many experiences and messages of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, and the impact her philosophy has on the lives of our community. Our school community was founded by the Sisters of St Joseph and their charism has been part of the tradition of this school. We discussed also the meaning of vision, mission and ministry. The day was a very positive and reflective day. I wish to thank our staff for the many ways they continually contribute to our school and make it such a wonderful community for our students to be educated within.

The next stage of our Vision and Mission evaluation, is to discuss ideas with our students and survey our parents. This will take place in Term Four.

In finishing the day, Gary lead us in this lovely prayer on being “People of Purpose”, which I would like to share with you.

God of all creation,
You call us to be people of purpose.
Help us to slow down and discern the way to proceed.
Open our hearts and our minds to your presence:
around us; in others; and in creation.
Renew within us an openness to your desire for us.

As we go about our day, O God;
as we strive to walk with Jesus as people of purpose,
help us to notice your generous gifts all around us
and help us to be fully present to those we encounter.
May your grace, mercy and peace,
bless us, keep us and transform us all,
this day, now and forever.

Amen

SOCCER GALA DAY
I wish everyone involved in the Soccer Gala Day on Thursday, a wonderful day, filled with team spirit and positive engagement. Thank you to the many parents who are either coaching teams and / or providing transport to and from the venue. A big thank you to Mr Tuckwell and the office staff who have organised the day so well, especially after it being postponed previously due to weather. Have a great day representing St Michael’s Mittagong!

WALKATHON
Time is getting closer to the big day, as we prepare for our Walkathon on Friday 20^th of September. Thank you to all of those parents who have already helped their children gather sponsors for the day. There are two ways you can collect sponsorship- either the paper card and collecting of money or online via the Go Fund Me Page. Please see further details in the P&F section of our newsletter.

There will be an informal walkathon meeting this Friday at 1.30pm in the school library to discuss the walkathon event details.  All are welcome to attend.

RAFFLE
In conjunction with the Walkathon, the P&F are holding a raffle. The prizes are:

5 x 2 gold event cinema tickets, 4 x children hampers from Bowral Sweets and Treats and 1 adult hamper from the Mittagong Information Centre! 10 prizes in total. 

 Tickets $2 each or 3 for $5.

Raffle ticket books are available at the office, if you would like to take some to sell. If you would like some raffle tickets, please fill in the form at the end of the newsletter. 

UNIFORMS - GIRLS SUMMER DRESS 
The new girls summer dress uniform will be ready for this coming summer season. The change will be phased in over the next couple of years, however we feel that it will look
so smart and compliment the uniform changes that have been made over the last year or so.  The new style summer dress is available from Mimosa. 

We do have a few of the old style summer dresses which we are selling at a significantly reduced cost - $15.  Please contact the school should you wish to purchase the old style dress.

Have a lovely week.

Mrs Katrina West
Acting Principal