WELCOME TO OUR 2020 SCHOOL YEAR

Dear Families,

Welcome back to St Michael’s Mittagong. We hope you have a wonderful 2020 school year. We were all very excited to see the students and their families today. Everyone looked like they were really looking forward to their new classes. We wish all our students, teachers and families, a very happy new year, filled with exciting learning experiences and community events.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of our new staff and families to our school. Our Kindergarten students will be joining us next week and today we welcomed the following new students and staff to St Michael’s Mittagong:

STUDENTS

Year 1
Nixon Kearney
Charley Ritchie

Year 2
Kiera Cram
Thomas Leggett
Jerwill Hipolito

Year 4
Sophia Pascoe

STAFF

Mr Nathan Sherry- Middle Leader and Year 5 classroom teacher
Mrs Janine Webb- REC release teacher, teaching Year 6 every Tuesday
Mrs Erin Whipp- Creative Arts Teacher teaching K-6 every Tuesday
Miss Keva Abotomey- Music and Liturgy teacher- teaching K-6 on Thursday and Friday.
Mrs Emma Storry - School Support Officer Wednesday and Thursday.

STAFF MASS
Yesterday, our staff attended a very special Mass celebrated by Fr Sean Cullen. Also attending this Mass, were the staff of St Thomas Aquinas Bowral, St Paul’s Moss Vale, our casual staff that work across our three schools and local catechists. It was wonderful to have this opportunity to commence the school year as a teaching community. Below is a photo of the majority of our 2020 St Michael’s staff :

(Mrs Carol Davies and Mrs Emma Storry do not work on Tuesdays, therefore they were sadly not in our photo)

OUR STAFF FOR 2020

BUSHFIRES
Over the holidays, our community experienced a lot of sadness, with the impact of bushfires affecting many people in the local area. We are very conscious that the students may have been affected, in many different ways.

The Catholic Education Office has put together many resources to help support families and I encourage you to look at the following link, if you wish to find out ways community organisations can support people impacted by the fires. 

https://bushfireresources.dow.catholic.edu.au/families

Helping children who have been affected by bushfires

https://psychology.org.au/getmedia/9cd44a11-cdcd-41e6-bd13-70a704716b54/Helping-children-affected-bushfires.pdf

We are intending to nurture our students, by providing a space where they feel safe and that the routine of a normal school day will continue. If you do have any concerns about your child, please do not hesitate to contact our school office.

Let us keep in our prayers, all those who have helped our community in so many ways. We pray also, for those who have been affected by bushfire and the ongoing drought.

PRAYER FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY BUSHFIRE AND DROUGHT: 

Eternal God,
In wisdom and love
you created our earth to sustain us and give us life.
We turn to you now in faith, hope and love,
asking you to look with favour
on our fire-ravaged and drought-stricken land,
on our starving and displaced animals,
on our failing crops and burning farms, towns and forests.
Strengthen, sustain and give new heart to our farmers
and to all who are affected by drought;
be with those who support them.
Strengthen and comfort the victims of the fires,
those who have lost family, friends, property and stock.
Protect our volunteer firefighters and all members of essential services. 

In your loving providence,
send abundant rain to quench the fires
and to restore our parched earth.
Father of all compassion,
hear our prayer through Jesus Christ your Son,
in whom the promise of new life has dawned,
and through the power of the Holy Spirit,
the Lord the giver of life:
Renew your faithful people;
Renew the face of the earth.
Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Mary, Help of Christians – Pray for us.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop – Pray for us.

 Amen

At the beginning of the year, the children will be getting to know their new teachers and the routines of their new class. Below is a table indicating the various activities that the children will be doing with the support of additional teachers. We have also included the days your child’s class will be wearing their sports uniform. Please keep a copy of the table to refer to.

UPDATED ADVICE REGARDING CORONAVIRUS
A message from our Catholic Education Office Wollongong

PERMISSION NOTES AND FORMS
This week you will receive a variety of forms to complete. Please try to return these forms as soon as possible, so that we can update our school data.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our school community. May everyone have a wonderful 2020 school year.

Best wishes,
Mrs Katrina West
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.

The Life Education Van will be visiting St Michael's next week from the 4th to the 5th February.

Children in Years 1-6 will have the opportunity to visit the van for a lesson that supports the PDHPE curriculcum.

The cost per child is $6 per child which has been included in your 2020 school fees.

During the van's visit, there will be an opportunity for your child to purchase merchandise, this is purely optional.  Coming home with this newsletter, is a copy of the merchandise order form with details of how to order.

The Canteen will open from next week on a Thursday and Friday.

Please find attached the new canteen menu.

In 2020, a new Consent for Use of Student's Works/Images Form is required to be signed by parents and returned to the School.  It is important that this form, which is being sent home today, is completed, signed and returned to the school as soon as possible.

It is now required that the school must receive permission on an annual basis.

Unfortunately, if the form is not returned we are not able to display, publish, publically acknowledge or "use" any of your student's works or images. This includes but is not limited to our newsletter, social media, newspaper articles, or in school displays/Open Days/Showcases (eg SPLICED, Gday, Office Displays, assemblies), Diocesan publications or Catholic Education Office Publications.

A copy of this form is below.

Please refer to the Social Media Flyer and CEDoW Social Media Statement below.

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

Please note that fees can be paid weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly.    If payments commence on 30 January 2020 the weekly payments will be made over 44 weeks; the fortnightly payments will be over 22 fortnights and the monthly payments will be over 11 months.  This will ensure that fees are finalised by 4 December 2020.

If you are paying by CDF Direct Debit or BPay please ensure that the amount you are currently paying will be sufficient to cover your commitment for 2020.

If you need to alter your Direct Debit please contact the school office to have a CDF Direct Debit Alteration form sent home for completion.

DIOCESAN REQUEST TO PAY SCHOOL FEES BY INSTALMENT FORM 
A copy of the Diocesan Request to Pay School Fees by Instalment form for 2020 is attached for your reference.

If you wish to pay your 2020 Fees by instalments please complete this form and email it to:  instalments@dow.catholic.edu.au for processing by the Finance Team at CEDoW.