Dear Parents & Carers,

Welcome to our last newsletter of this term. What an amazing term we have had! 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 include: 

PUBLIC SPEAKING

Public Speaking is a lifelong skill that we begin to develop from Kindergarten at St Michael’s. I am always so proud to see our students confidently participate in assemblies, speak before their peers and present their learning to others. 

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. I was so proud of our students, Esther Yap (Year 6) and Halle Whipp (Year 5), who represented our school at the Diocesan Public Speaking Competition at Holy Family School in Ingleburn. They did a great job and presented their speeches with grace and enthusiasm.

DIOCESAN CHRISTMAS STORY AND ART COMPETITION

It has been an exciting few weeks for students in Stage 3 who have created Christmas Artworks based on scripture to participate in the Wollongong Diocese Christmas Art Competition. We have entered six artworks to represent our school in the Diocesan Christmas Story Competition.  We are very proud of all our Stage 3 students and the reflective artwork they have created. We will put them all on display closer to Christmas.

Over the next few newsletters I will share with you the six finalist students' scripture response as part of our newsletter prayer response. This week, I thought I would share with you Jerwill's reflection on his origami inspired artwork and Lucinda’s reflection on her artwork. 

Lipad Ng Papel

(Flight of Paper)

Jerwill Hipolito 

Saint Michael’s School Mittagong 

Yr.6

The Flight to Egypt, from Matthew 2:13-15, tells the story of Mary and Joseph fleeing their homeland to protect their child, Jesus. This journey of two young parents resonates deeply with my own family’s story. Like Mary and Joseph, my parents left their homeland, the Philippines, to give me a better life here in Australia. Their sacrifice and courage remind me of the challenges faced by the Holy Family on their journey to safety.

For this artwork, I have chosen the ancient craft of origami to represent this timeless story. Origami has been a part of my life for many years, and it seemed fitting to use it to tell a story that holds personal meaning for me. 

The paper choices add symbolism to the piece. Yellow, pink, and brown represent the desert landscape that Mary and Joseph travelled through. Mary is created with rose-coloured paper, as roses are a botanical symbol of her. Joseph is represented with paper made from a travel map, symbolising the difficult journey he undertook to protect his family. The brown tones also link to Joseph’s profession as a carpenter and his role as a builder of dreams for his family.

Pieces of Faith

Lucinda Ticchio

Year 5

St Michael’s Primary Mittagong

I chose the passage, “The Birth of Christ’ in Matthew 1:18-25 as inspiration for my artwork as it is where all the parts of the Christmas story come together. The Christmas story is my favourite passage from the bible as it is the start of Jesus’ journey through his life with us on earth. When Mary and Joseph left Nazareth they journeyed on a simple donkey which is special because donkeys symbolise service and humility. 

To create my artwork, I used black art line pen and watercolour pencils. I chose colours and patterns that remind me of stained glass windows. The angel wings, halo, candle and star represent our guiding lights and the flowers symbolise new life. Blue hearts represent Mary and unconditional love. All of these pieces fit together to show that God is with us.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces on their own do not make a whole picture until they are all connected. In the birth of Christ, the pieces did not make sense until an angel of the Lord encouraged Joseph to have faith and then everything came together to create the beautiful birth of baby Jesus. I think life is like this - we can’t always see the bigger picture but with faith, we eventually will. 

CATHOLIC MISSION

William and Gabby along with Mrs West, attended the Diocesan Launch of Catholic Mission Month at St Michael’s Church, Thirroul. Bishop Brian asked all in attendance to think about their own special relationship with God and to mission to others about the love of God for all people. At the end of the liturgy, Gabby gave Bishop Brian some beautiful origami cards that she had made for him. Bishop Brian was thrilled with his special gift.

CRAZY HAIR DAY

Staff and students had lots of fun coming to school for Crazy Hair Day. It was a special way to raise funds for Catholic Mission. Thank you to Year 6 for organising this special fundraiser and to all the parents who helped create the crazy hairstyles.

HSIE CURRICULUM EXCURSIONS

Over the past two weeks students from Years 1,2 and 3 have had exciting experiences learning about history in a really unique way. Thank you to the staff who organised and attended these events. Below is a snapshot of the two excursions:

STAGE 1 EXCURSION

Students in Years 1 & 2, travelled to The Wollondilly Heritage Centre to learn about what life looked like in the past. They experienced school in the 1900s, living life in a cottage without electricity, coal mining and painting Indigenous stories on boomerangs. A great day was had by all and the volunteers at the Wollondilly Heritage Centre & Museum at The Oaks were outstanding.

YEAR 3 EXCURSION

Students in Year 3 from our two parish schools of St Michael’s Mittagong and St Thomas Aquinas Bowral, travelled together into Sydney, to learn about early Australian history. They visited Hyde Park Barracks, St Mary’s Cathedral and the State Library. What a wonderful experience for them all and what fantastic friendships were formed. 

P&F PIZZA DAY

Thank you to the members of the P&F who organised another fun pizza day for our students. As we don’t have a canteen, it is wonderful for the students to have an opportunity to have a special treat meal. Thank you to Year 6 who helped distribute the pizzas. A great community event!

EXCEPTIONAL POETRY

Last week, our dedicated community fire brigades were doing some hazard control burns on Mt Alexandria. One of our students was inspired to write this piece of poetry and I was so amazed at the thought and sophistication of his writing that I wanted to share it with you. Well done to Anthony Brand in Year 4 for this creative piece that brings persona to the fire he imagined.

ST MICHAEL’S FEAST DAY MASS

This Thursday, we will be celebrating our St Michael’s Feast Day Mass in St Michael’s Church at 9:15am. All are welcome to attend. Mrs Mitchell has more details about St Michael in her RE News. 

ASSEMBLY THIS THURSDAY

Assembly will be on  Thursday this week due to the Colour Run being on Friday. It will commence at 2:20pm. All are welcome to attend

2025 ENROLMENTS

If you know that you may be moving out of the area, or your child/children will not be attending St Michaels next year, can you please let our office staff know via email.  We are in the process of working out our classes for next year and we have had families ask if there is any availability for 2025 in some of the classes. We do have spaces available in a couple of classes. Enrolment applications can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LHwPLISl8HYk4CC0GxTGaY-NLKSiMeLb/view

THANK YOU 

Thank you to Mrs Janine Webb and Mrs Taylot Solevski for teaching Kindergarten and Year 3 over these past five weeks. I appreciate all they have done to support our students. Mrs Bourke-Nash and Mr Nash will be returning from their long service leave in Week 1 Term 4. They have had an amazing experience climbing mountains in Nepal. I’m sure they will have lots of great stories to share with us when they return. 

Photo taken at sunrise on  Mardi Himal Base Camp Nepal after 5 days of trekking and at 4200m high. 

BEST WISHES TO MR SHERRY

Next term, Mr Sherry will be on parental leave to spend some really special time with his beautiful baby daughter Lexi, who was born earlier this year. We thank Mr Sherry for all he does for our students and staff here at St Michaels. Mr Sherry will be back again next year and he too, I’m sure, will have lots of stories to tell of his special leave. 

COLOUR RUN

Only a few more days until our P&F Colour Run!! 

I am very thankful for the team of P&F parents who have organised this amazing day and to our staff who are preparing lots of fun activities for the students to participate in. May I take this chance to thank also, all of our parents who are helping raise money through the colour run sponsorship. I appreciate all that you are doing to help get new resources for our students.   

All of the details of the Colour Run are on the COMPASS notes, however these are the main things to remember:

1. All students are to wear: 

• a white or light coloured t-shirt 
• shorts (any colour- something that is comfortable to run in and is ok to get washable colour on)
• sandshoes
• a jacket if it is cold

1. All students need sunglasses for the colour run. If you have ordered sunglasses via the P&F, the students will get them on the day. Headbands that have been ordered will be given on the day too. 

• All students are to come to school first and will be transported to Chevalier by bus

1. All COMPASS event permission notes need to be completed by parents so we firstly have your permission for your child/children to participate in the event and secondly, so we know who is going back to school by bus at the end of the event
2. All students returning to school need a second set of clothes to change into at Chevalier, so that they do not bring colour dye on the bus returning to school. Please pack these clothes in a plastic bag with their name clearly marked on it
3. All students are to bring morning tea and water bottles with them. Students who have ordered bbq lunch will not need to bring additional lunch food, however they will need to bring morning tea
4. Parents are able to pre-order bbq lunch or if you arrive on the day and have not ordered, the P&F will be cooking extra for you to purchase
5. Parents are not allowed to be with the students at any time during the event (this is due to staff needing to keep classes together for WHS reasons. You will be able to sit around the course in designated areas, so you can watch the students in their activities
6. Please do not post photos of other students on social media. Each student will be having a photo on the day after they have run in the colour run and our school will share photos on our facebook page
7. The colour run activities and lunch should be finished by 12:45pm. Parents are able to take their children home after the event, however, you will need to sign each student out via seeing their assigned class teacher. Please do not take your children unless you have signed them out- this is a very important request for the management of the day
8. If you are able to help the P&F organisers, please do… It will make the day go so smoothly with helpers. All P&F helpers will be wearing Hi-Vis vests, to signal that they are a helper to the students and staff. Please let them know prior to the day if you can help
9. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our school office
10. Lastly, please pray for fine weather :) If it is wet and we need to make a decision to postpone the day, we will send out a COMPASS note on Thursday. Our alternate date is on Friday Week 1 Term 4

See you all on Friday. We are looking forward to a great end of term event, with the students, staff and parents experiencing  a lot of community fun. 

FIRST DAY OF TERM 4

Students return on TUESDAY 15 OCTOBER, as Monday 14 October  is a Staff Development Day. 

Students will be wearing their summer uniform for Term 4. 

Best wishes also for the coming holidays. May you have a truly special time with your family. 

God bless,

Katrina West

Principal

BASKETBALL GALA DAY AT MOSS VALE STADIUM

Last Friday, 30 students from Year 3 - 6 participated in a Basketball Gala Day (Western Region) at Moss Vale Stadium. This was our first entry in the event for some time, and the children had a great opportunity to experience friendly competition and represent our school in a team format. Thank you Mrs Williamson and Mr Adams for looking after our students, and the parents who helped out as well. Thank you Mr Farrugia and Mrs Norman from St Paul's Moss Vale for organising the day, the student referees from Moss Vale High and the staff of Moss Vale Basketball Stadium. Thank you Mrs Linolli and our school support officers at St Michael's for a wonderful job organising logistics for the day.

MACKILLOP ATHLETICS TRIALS

Congratulations to Will Solomon who will be representing our diocese and school in the MacKillop Athletics Trials in Sydney on Wednesday. We are very proud of you Will and we wish you well on the day.  This needs to be adjusted depending on the day we send out the newsletter.