Principal's Message
GOSPEL MESSAGE
THE PRESENTATION OF THE CHILD JESUS IN THE TEMPLE
LUKE 2: 22-40
The Gospel story presented this weekend at Mass, relates to Jesus and what others thought he would do when he grew up. Do you think Jesus, as a child, knew what he wanted to be? Other people knew, from the time of his birth, who he was and what he would become.
In the Bible, in the second chapter of Luke, we read about two prophets – people who, guided by God’s Spirit, anticipated that Jesus was a special leader. The first was a man named Simeon. When he saw the child, Jesus, he praised God because he knew he was seeing the Messiah, the one who came to bring God’s love to the world. The second prophet was a woman named Anna who also praised God because she recognized the child, Jesus, as the one who had been sent by God.
The story then tells us, “the child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (2:40).
This is what we want for every child; that they grow strong and be filled with wisdom to make good choices. Our students and children may not know what they want to be when they grow up, but know that God’s love, is upon each one of them and they have the support of their parents, teachers and mentors to help them on their life journey.
OUR TERM SO FAR…
Thank you to all of our wonderful parents and carers for helping the children return to school in such a happy and well organised way. The students and our staff have had a great start to the school year and all have settled in well to their new learning environments.
This Thursday, 6th February, we welcome our new Kindergarten students. It has been lovely seeing each one of them visit our school over the past week, to complete Best Start with their teacher Mrs Bourke-Nash. All of our Kindergarten students are very excited to begin school. I am sure their families are very excited as well, to see their child start “Big School”. The Kinder students will meet Mrs Bourke-Nash in her classroom at 8.40am on Thursday.
ST MICHAEL’S VISION AND MISSION
Last year, our staff started the process, to review our school’s Vision and Mission statement. The purpose of this review is to ensure that everyone associated with the school has a clear understanding about its purpose and direction, so that it is able to provide the best possible Catholic education for our community.
We have been working with Mr Gary Quinn from the Catholic Education, Diocese of Wollongong. His role is with Adult Spiritual Formation for the Diocesan Schools. As part of this review, parents will be asked to complete a survey regarding our current Vision and Mission. Recognising the partnership between home and school, this survey is an opportunity for you to provide some feedback. I thank you in advance, for your interest in completing this survey. Later this week, you will be sent the link to the survey.
Our current School Vision and Mission Statement is:
Vision and Mission
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
Our Mission
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.
OUR BEGINNING OF SCHOOL MASS
On Friday, 14th February, we will be holding our Beginning of the 2020 School Year Mass at 9:30am in St Michael’s Church. We will be commissioning our Year 6 students in their leadership roles for this year. All parents and friends are welcome.
HEALTHY HAROLD
Healthy Harold! Life Education has been supporting the wellbeing of children for 40 years. The big friendly mascot, Harold the giraffe, with the Life Education Facilitator, will be visiting St Michael's on this Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Life Education programs and sessions are linked to the PDHPE syllabus. All lessons are held in the Life Education Van at the School. Students in Years 1-6 will have the opportunity to visit the van with their class teacher.
We are excited for our visit!
OUR SCHOOL SWIMMING CARNIVAL
Next Wednesday we have our school swimming carnival for Years 2-6. Thank you to those who have already sent back your notes.
MEET AND GREET
On Wednesday 19th February, we will hold our 2020 Meet and Greet meetings for Years 1-6. This is an opportunity for you to meet your child/children’s class teacher and learn about the various activities planned for their class.
Times for Meet and Greet
Year 1 and Year 2: 5:30-6:00pm
Year 3 and Year 4: 6:00-6:30pm
Year 5 and Year 6: 6:30-7:00pm
Thank you for your continued support of St Michael’s Mittagong.
WORLD READ ALOUD DAY
This Wednesday is World Read Aloud Day- a day to celebrate the unique ways reading aloud to another person can inspire others. Please find a link below for parents to find out ways our children can benefit from reading aloud and listening to stories.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Please remember to check the calendar on the newsletter each week so that you are aware of upcoming events. We try to give at least three weeks notice where possible.
Our first assembly will be held this Friday at 2:30 in the hall.
P&F - THANK YOU
Late last year, Liz Martinovic decided to step down from her role on the P&F Committee. I take this opportunity to thank Liz for all that she has done on behalf of the P&F and St Michael's. We appreciate the many ways in which she has provided support to the School. Amongst many things, a highlight would have to be the Colour Run held in 2018.
I invite our school community to continue to support the P&F. Nominations are now open for 2020 positions. Further information is in the newsletter below.
We are grateful to all who offer to help, in any which way.
PARENT HANDBOOK
The parent handbook is available on our website which contains some useful information for both current and new families. The handbook can be found under About Us/Policies and Procedures/parent handbook.
Best wishes,
Mrs Katrina West
Principal