A Prayer for Simplicity This Advent Season

Pray for attentiveness to what truly matters, without being distracted by trivial things.
Pray for opportunities to learn something new regularly.
Pray for the grace to be able to rest, become aware of God's presence, and enjoy it.
Pray for strong relationships with other people in the bond of loving community.
Pray for peace in all situations, no matter what the circumstances.
Pray for an enlivened imagination that helps you contribute to the world in creative ways.
Pray for freedom from all that burdens you - past mistakes, fears, destructive habits, hurts other people have inflicted, and more.
Pray for joy and a sense of humour.
Pray for confidence in God's love for you and trust in His power
to work things out for the best in your life.
Pray for a clear mind and the ability to clearly communicate what you value to others.
Pray for purity so you can grow as a person and encounter God more fully.
Pray for openness to the Holy Spirit's guidance.
Pray for a genuine awareness of God's grace in your life and the humility to extend grace to others.
Pray for a passion to pursue justice.
~ Edited from Whitney Hopler's “Pray for Simplicity this Advent”

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEOPLE WITH A DISABILITY
Every year on 3 December, people around the world take part in International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD), a day to celebrate the achievements of people with disability and promote awareness, understanding and acceptance in the community. Providing awareness, helps to break down barriers for the 4.3 million Australians with a disability and create a more inclusive community for all. Schools are a vital part of this by providing opportunities to help grow inclusion in their own communities. Students can learn more about people with disability, recognise the challenges they can face, and talk about ways to be more inclusive. International Day of People with Disability, also provides an opportunity to celebrate the talents, achievements and positive contributions of students with disability.

YEAR 3 SOLAR OVENS
During this term, Year 3 have been researching about heat energy. They created some solar ovens and had lots of fun cooking “smores” in their ovens. Congratulations Year 3 on a fantastic Science experiment.

CHRISTMAS CARDS AND CANDY CANES 
We ask that you please refrain from allowing your children to hand out Christmas cards and candy canes until Week 9 so that we are able to keep the students settled and focused on the work that is still taking place in the classrooms.

HELPER THANK YOU MORNING TEA
Throughout the year there are many family and community members who help out within the school for reading, fundraising, student banking, sporting events etc. We would like the opportunity to thank you for your generosity with a morning tea. Please find an invitation accompanying this newsletter. We hope you are able to join us.

2019 SCHOOL FEE REMINDER 
A courtesy reminder, all school fee accounts are to be paid in full by the 6th December 2019.  If you have concerns regarding your ability to pay your school fee account, we ask that you contact the School.

Parents of students in Year 6, with no siblings continuing at St Michael's are asked to contact the school and make arrangements to ensure that their school fees will be paid by the 6th December.

SCHOOL CALENDAR

A reminder to please check the school calendar, with the busyness of Term 4, events are continually being added to the calendar.

Have a lovely week.

Mrs Katrina West
Acting Principal

Listed below are some important school dates.  The school calendar is updated regularly and can be accessed via the school website and Compass parent portal.

Recently Year 4 parents received a note with information about the BYODD (Bring Your Own Designated Device) iPad Program which will continue in 2020. 

Don't foret we will be holding a parent meeting on Friday 29th November following the afternoon assembly (approx. 3 pm).  At this meeting we will further explain how iPads will be used in Year 5 and Year 6 to enhance the children’s learning and answer frequently asked questions about the program.  Please contact the school if you are unable to attend this meeting but have a question about the program.

Term 4 

• • St Vincent De Paul Winter Appeal Christmas Hampers collection 18^th -29^th November 2019
  • Year 5 excursion to Mary MacKillop Place Museum, Wednesday 27^th November 2019
  • Mission Day (Mufti Day), Friday 6^th December 2019
  • End of Year Mass Tuesday 17^th of December 2019 at 9:30 am, St Michael’s Church, Mittagong

PARISH NEWS 

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION
Congratulations to the students who made their First Holy Communion on Sunday. Just a reminder that you can collect your certificates after one of the four weekend Masses.

 A very big thank you to the liturgy group who were able to attend.

FIRST RECONCILIATION
Parents who have children going into Year 3 in 2020 (or older) and who wish their children to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist next year, please collect an enrolment form from Father Sean after Mass.   ENROLMENTS WILL CLOSE 8^TH DECEMBER 2019.

REMINDER: St Vincent De Paul Christmas Hamper 2019

Just a reminder that this week is the last week for donations to be brought in. Please help St Vincent De Paul support people in our community who need help over the festive period.  

These non-perishable food items will be donated to our local St Vincent De Paulcharity to distribute to families in need within our local community.

Please see below an item list for each Year. There are some suggestions of items for each class but you are not limited to the items. 

Kindergarten	Year 1		Year 2	Year 3
Lollies & chips	Paper Plates, cutlery Paper cups serviettes Christmas crackers		Pantry Item: Jams Salt and Pepper Flour Mint sauce Apple sauce Vegemite Tomato Sauce BBQ Sauce Salad dressings	Biscuits: Savory and sweet
Year 4		Year 5		Year 6
Desserts: Christmas Pudding Jelly Packet mix puddings/cake Mince pies Custard		Drinks: Coffee (instant and tin) Soft drink Long life Milk Cordial		Canned Goods: Tins of soup Tins of meat/tuna Tins of fruit Tins of

YEAR 5 FETE 
Well done to Year 5 for another fantastic fete. Students enjoyed a variety of activities and games. The white elephant store proved to be a popular attraction with a variety of toys and other exciting items. Congratulations to the students who won different prizes for competitions during the course of the fete.

The sum of $729.25 raised from the fete will be donated to Sr Anna Warlow’s Good Samaritan Rural Outreach program and the Maubara Orphanage. If you would like to find out more about this program please click on the following link.

https://goodsamsfoundation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SGSF-WINTER-2019-News-.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1R_S-cZT4zcQ0lSMNKLn90bHX8IQqSTmIe-I6KKLvAxJzTPCulnLZvH9Q

UNITING CHURCH SING-A-LONG 
The Liturgy group on Monday the 25^th November visited the Uniting Church, Mittagong for their monthly sing-a-long. The students sang beautifully and put a smile on every one’s face. It is important that as a school we connect with other members of the community especially as we approach into the holy season.

MISSION DAY - ORANGE THEME
Next Friday is Maubara Mission Day. Students are allowed to wear mufti clothes to school. Students are encouraged to wear wear orange clothes and/or orange accessories to brighten the day. It would be appreciated if students could please bring in a gold coin to donate.

CATHOLIC ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME
This Wednesday night (27^th November, 2019) in the Parish Hall at Bowral at 7:15 pm, there will be a Catholic Enrichment evening where different aspects of our faith will be discussed. This week’s topic will be “Mary”. All are welcome to attend.

SCRIPTURE STUDY
This Tuesday (10^th December, 2019) in the Parish Hall at Bowral, all are invited to an introductory meeting at which a general overview of how we approach a study of scripture and a discussion about the gospel of St Matthew which will be used for most of our liturgical year beginning in a few weeks. If there is interest, this could become a monthly gathering. All welcome.

COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS EVENT 
All are welcome to attend the "Walk through Bethlehem" at Mittagong Anglican Church.  See details below.

Rebecca Mitchell, Acting REC

COMPASS APP AND PAYMENT OF SCHOOL FEES 
We are aware that the Compass phone and iPad APP advises parents 'do not pay fees' or they cannot see their fees when using the Compass mobile application.   This issue is currently being investigated by Compass and we are hopeful of a fix in the near future.

In the meantime, we suggest that you access Compass via your web browser either on your mobile device or on a computer.  See picture below.

Note: The mobile app is not designed for complete use of the Compass platform; it is designed for quick access to a set of specific information and specific actions.

School Fees 2020
The Catholic Education Office and its system of schools are in the process of a business transformation.  Part of this transformation involves a new administration and accounting package being rolled out to schools.  As you would be aware our school as been introducing Compass as our administration system over a period of time.  It is now functioning together with a new web based accounting system called Technology One.

This will allow for school fees in 2020 to be invoiced centrally by the Catholic Education Office under advice from schools.  Additionally, families will still be offered the opportunity of paying their school fees by regular payments over the school year as is the existing practice.  However, the new system also allows for instalments to be calculated and advised to families with a Schedule of Payments and the dates that they are due.  This replaces our current process of School Fee Agreements and the necessity for families to calculate their own payments.

With the introduction of the new system, we now have the ability to generate system reminders for late payments.  Should you default in your payments, reminders will be issued for each payment missed and they will continue to be issued until your account is brought up to date.  

You will have the opportunity to contact the school, if necessary in these circumstances, to provide explanation and make a further arrangement for payment.

Schoolzine Newsletter Tips

Each week the newsletter is distributed via the Schoolzine platform and Compass Parent Portal. Reading our school newsletter is the best way to stay up to date with what is happening at St Michael’s.

Did you know that when you click on the link and are directed to the online newsletter you then have the option to:-

• Visit the school website
• View previous newsletters (see Newsletter Archive tab)
• Subscribe to the newsletter. This is a great way for relatives and community members to keep up to date with the wonderful things happening at St Michael’s school.
• Like us on Facebook
• View the newsletter in different languages.
• Increase the viewing text size of the newsletter.
• View the school calendar.
• Print a hard copy of the newsletter.

Please take the time to use the tabs and links to explore features available.  The advantages of this mode of communication is we can include many more photos, videos, pdf flyers, links to the school calendar and a direct link to our school website.

Our School Newsletter and Compass Parent Portal are the most important forms of regular communication with parents and families. Our school Facebook page is regularly updated with photos and updated information regarding events. 

At St Michael’s we encourage and promote communication between the school, parents and community.

Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrate a birthday this week:

Kobe F and Maggie S.