Dear parents and carers,

Thank you to all who helped prepare their children for our wonderful St Michael’s Book Week Parade and Picnic. It was so lovely to see so many of our families join in the celebrations on the day. The students were very excited to be involved in the event that showcases literature and the love of reading. I thank our terrific staff who joined in the fun of the day too. We had some unicorn “visitors” who sparked the imagination of the crowd, along with characters from well known story books. Literature can really develop a child’s imagination and love for all things in the world. 

Below are a couple of photos from the day. If you go to our St Michael’s Primary Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/stmichaels.mittagong you will see a further collection of photos and videos from the event.  

Last Thursday and Friday, I attended our Annual CEDoW Principal’s Retreat at the Marist Brothers Hermitage Centre in Mittagong. It was a time of reflection and renewal based around the call to take time to contemplate.  

The presenter reflected on the times we should allow ourselves to pause and take notice of the space we are within. We all live such hectic lives…. How many times during the day do you take the opportunity to mindfully breathe, or go outside and look at the nature around you or write a reflection about something important to you that is not work based? 

The time spent in collegial discussion also proved to me that we are truly sharing a very special community here at St Michaels and my life is blessed each day I spend with our staff, parents and students.

Prayer

Each week, our staff come together in prayer, led by a member of staff. Recently, we reflected on the wonderful community support with the Wakakirri production and recognised the many blessings the students, staff and families gave to this. Mr Adams shared a special prayer and I would like to share it with you.

MRS BOURKE-NASH AND MR NASH

Mrs Bourke-Nash and Mr Nash will be taking a well deserved period of long service leave this term. This leave will be from Week 6 until the end of term. 

We have employed Mrs Janine Webb for the Kindergarten class and Mrs Taylor Solevski for the Year 3 class. Mrs Webb already takes the Kindergarten class each week and Mrs Solevski is a regular casual member of our staff and knows the Year 3 students very well, so the teaching programs will remain consistent.

Mrs Bourke-Nash and Mr Nash will be celebrating their 30th Wedding Anniversary during this time, which is a truly special occasion. We wish them safe travels and may they enjoy their long service leave.

FATHER’S DAY STALL TOMORROW

This  TUESDAY 27 August , the P&F will be holding the Father’s Day Stall. A reminder for students to bring along a labeled plastic bag to put their gift purchases in. Thank you for your support of the event.

WAKAKIRRI 2024

Wow!!! What an absolutely incredible performance from our St Michael’s students at this year's Wakakirri Show at the Wollongong Entertainment Centre. They were so creative and enthusiastic and had so much fun presenting our story of legends that have inspired communities in the Southern Highlands. Our whole school community is so proud of you!! A huge thank you to the staff who have been preparing this production over many months and to the wonderful parents who supported this year’s Wakakirri event.

G DAY - THIS FRIDAY 30 AUGUST

Grandparents Day (G Day) is one of our favourite days at St Michael’s Mittagong. We are very happy to once again be hosting “G Day” this Friday 30 AUGUST 2024. 

A reminder that “G Day” is for grandparents and if your child’s grandparent is not able to be here, then godparents or another great person in their life can come along. As our hall cannot cater for large numbers of people, unfortunately this day is restricted to grandparents or godparents or “great people” only. Thank you for your understanding. 

The format of the day will be very similar to last year’s organisation, which worked very well. 

We will be having two identical presentations with approximately half our families’ visitors allocated to attend the first presentation, and half our families’ visitors allocated to attend the second presentation. 

Each identical presentation will include a short prayer liturgy followed by a children’s concert featuring all students from Kindergarten to Year 6. 

In between the two presentations our parent community will be providing a light but delicious morning tea for our special visitors. During this time, grandparents are welcome to spend time with their grandchildren on the playground spaces.

The plan for the day will be as follows:

Please note:  In the past at our Grandparents Day celebrations, children have often been dismissed from school early so that they can spend the afternoon with their family (grandparents). Due to the fact we are having two identical concerts, we must insist that all children remain at school until the conclusion of the second performance / concert.  

Grandparents who attend the first performance / concert are very welcome to return to school at 1:00 pm if they would like to collect their grandchildren early. 

We are looking forward to seeing our special visitors on Friday 30 August.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our school office or the P&F committee.

G DAY MORNING TEA

As has been the tradition at our school for G Day, our parent community has kindly provided morning tea. This year we are asking for donations of cakes, slices, biscuits, fruit and sandwiches. 

All families are encouraged to help with this, as we will have many grandparents on site for morning tea. 

Previously a note went out for you to fill in if you could help with providing food for the morning tea. All food donations can be brought to the canteen or office on the day. 

If you are able to help with the catering set up on the day, can you please contact our P&F helpers-, Melissa Bartolo (co-ordinator), Michelle Bennett (P&F President) or our office ladies. Thank you to those parents who have already indicated they can help with the day. Can you confirm your attendance too please. 

We greatly appreciate your help with this.

Year 6 Hot Dog Day

Year 6 is excited to announce a “Hot Dog Day” fundraiser on Tuesday, 10th September, to raise money for their special gift to the school. A note will be sent home with ordering details for those who wish to participate. The students are eagerly looking forward to this event and hope to achieve their fundraising goal for the gift.

NGUNUNGGULA SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS REGIONAL GALLERY-ART EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

Over the past two weeks our students K-6, took part in portrait art lessons led by educators from the Ngununggula Art Gallery. Jodie, the Creative Learning Manager and Lily, an Education Assistant, shared their expertise in guiding the students to observe, design and draw portraits. It was an amazing experience for all. Thank you Ngununggula Art Gallery for supporting our students and thank you to Mrs Whipp for organising this experience.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our school community.

Have a wonderful week ahead.

God Bless

Mrs Katrina West

Principal

P&F MAJOR FUNDRAISER FOR 2024- THE COLOUR RUN

This year, the P&F have organised a Colour Run for the students. It will be held on the grounds of Chevalier College on the last Friday of Term (27th September). We thank Chevalier College for their generous offer to provide a venue for our Colour Run and know that it will be great fun for all. Families are encouraged to attend on the day.

Today you will receive  a paper copy of the details that you need to know regarding this event such as details of how people can sponsor your child/children in the Colour Run and hints on how you can share the details of the trybooking sponsorship https://www.trybooking.com/CTTPI with your family and friends. Successful fundraising can occur by sharing the details to your families and friends. 

We are aiming to raise money to purchase new robots for our school's STEM program. As you can imagine, these robots are quite expensive to initially purchase, so the more funds we can raise through our family and friends networks, the more technology we will be able to purchase for our students. 

Students on the day, can wear a white or light coloured t-shirt, perhaps one you already have at home. The P&F are not ordering the t-shirts. We are, though, putting in an order for sunglasses and Colour Run headbands. All children will need to run with sunglasses on and they can either wear sunglasses that they already have or opt for the option in the attached order form. All children will need to travel to the venue by bus. At the end of the event, they will be able to go home with their parents. 

To assist us in getting the orders in for bus travel, sunglasses and headbands, can you please fill in the paper copy of this order form and return by no later than Monday 2nd September. 

We thank you for your support of this event.