REFLECTION
Last weekend’s scripture seemed to focus on the need to work. In 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, the writer of this letter has advice for people waiting for God’s new creation to be realized.  One is that we are to “work while we wait.” 

Work is described as a blessing and a good way to be God’s partners in creating the new creation. 

For children, they often think that school is a lot like work. People often ask children “what do you want to be when you grow up?”  Having chats about this can be a great opportunity to encourage children to think about ways we can all “work” to continue to make our world a better place. 

In Luke 21:5-19, The basic message of this passage is that there will be tough times and that the only thing to do during tough times, is to endure them, trusting that in the end God will win. Unfortunately, there have been so many tough times for people in our community recently. We pray that everyone struggling at this moment with whatever is troubling them, finds comfort and solace in knowing that there are people who care for them. This is especially important in our next message….

ST VINCENT De PAUL CHRISTMAS APPEAL
This week we commence our St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. Mrs Mitchell’s has explained in her RE News, how we can help those in our community have a special Christmas. I thank all of our families for their generosity.

STAFFING NEWS
At the end of last week, Mrs Carolyn Hadley from the Catholic Education Office announced the following to our community:

Dear Colleagues and Parents,

On behalf of the Director of Schools, Mr Peter Turner, I announce that as previously notified, Mary-Lynn Lane, Principal of St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish Primary School, Bowral, has been on leave this semester due to unforeseen health reasons. Mary-Lynn is progressing well with her treatment but requires further time to return to full health.

I therefore wish to confirm the continued acting appointments which will be in effect for 2020 at St Thomas Aquinas and St Michael’s Catholic Parish Primary School, Mittagong:

Principal of St Michael’s, Kayleen Petzer, will continue to support St Thomas Aquinas as Relief Principal.

Assistant Principal, Katrina West will continue as Acting Principal at St Michael’s,

Religious Education Coordinator (REC) Richard Tuckwell as Acting Assistant Principal, and - Rebecca Mitchell as Acting REC.

These staff are experienced educators and leaders who will seamlessly maintain the high standard of education at each school.”

On behalf of Mr Tuckwell, Mrs Mitchell and myself, I would like to thank all of our students, staff and parents for the great support you have given to us this year. It has certainly made our transition into these new roles, go so smoothly with your care and support. We sincerely thank you.

MISS "O"

Additional to this news, some parents may not have known, that Miss O’Brien, affectionately known as Miss “O”, is retiring at the end of this year, after serving 37 years in Catholic Education, with 34 of those years here at St Michael’s Mittagong. Whilst it is very, very sad to see Miss O leave at the end of this year, I know she will still be “popping in” to see how we are going and I’m sure after she has gone on her well-deserved leave, I will be able to convince her to come back to do the occasional teaching day here at St Michaels.

Miss O doesn’t want a “fuss” made about her retirement, however, she would love to see her past students and families before she goes and has suggested that our Christmas Concert evening would be a great night to do so. We agree!! So I’m asking, if you know of any families or ex-students who may wish to come to our Christmas Carols evening on Monday 16^th of December, and say “Hi” to Miss O, can you please pass this message on to them. Details below.

MISS MORONEY
Exciting news for Miss Annaliese Moroney this week, when she was offered a teaching position at Sacred Heart School Broken Hill.  This will be Miss Moroney’s first fulltime teaching position. Although we are sad that Miss Moroney won’t here with us a casual teacher next year, we are very excited for her and wish Annaliese all the very best for her role next year.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT
On Monday, December 16, we will be holding our St Michael’s School Christmas Concert. It will be such a great time to celebrate the coming season of Christmas and the end of our school year. Please mark this date on your calendars and invite your family to come along. The evening will commence with a sausage sizzle at 5.30pm and the Concert at 6:30pm. 

KINDERGARTEN 2020
Today, we welcomed our Kindergarten 2020 families to our school, with a parent information session and morning tea. Thank you to all our new students’ parents and grandparents for coming along to hear about our school and all the plans we have for next year. A big thank you our wonderful staff Mrs Bourke-Nash, Mr Tuckwell, Mrs Mitchell and Mrs Berrell and to the representatives from our Parents and Friends; Berrima Buses; Athlete’s Foot and Mimosa; for supporting our presentation.

Following the presentation, we were blessed with a wonderful morning tea, provided by our fantastic Kindergarten 2019 parents.  Thank you so much for your help today. 

Thank you to Vanessa Tasker, Sheree Lyons and Liz Martinovic for their assistance with hosting the morning tea this morning. 

SPLICED
Last Thursday, six of our SPLICED students (Stretching Potential through Learning in Interactive Challenging Environments in the Diocese of Wollongong) went along to the celebration of the 2019 SPLICED Unit "The Good, the Beautiful, the True" with the launch of the SPLICED Book, Website and Presentation of Certificates.

Thank you to the students’ parents who also accompanied us to the launch. We are all very proud of your efforts.

Pictured below are our representative SPLICED students along with Dr Paul McCann who is Head of School Improvement Services at the Catholic Education Office, Wollongong.

CLOTHING POOL
As the year is coming towards an end, we are asking for donations to our clothing pool, of any uniforms that you will no longer need for 2020. We especially need larger sizes for our Years 4, 5 and 6 students. All donations can be left in our school office. Thank you.

CHANGE OF SCHOOL 2020
Please let us know if you are planning to move your child/children to a different school in 2020 as soon as possible, as we have had quite a few enquiries over the past weeks for new enrolments and we need to gauge an idea of class sizes for 2020.

LEARN TO SWIM (Kinder, 1, 2 and 3). 
A reminder that the Learn to Swim program starts next week for Kinder, Years 1, 2 and 3.  

If you have not already done so, please notify the school of your child's swim ability so that the appropriate learn to swim groups can be allocated.

Payment is due by this Friday.  If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the School office.