During last week, I visited all of the classes and we talked about the importance of saying thank you to others and expressing gratitude. We have so many things to be grateful for; our world that God continues to bless us with, our families, our friends, our school and the wonderful sight of rain this week!

The children wrote a prayer of thanks and made a class prayer chain, which we placed on our “Gratitude Tree” during assembly. It was a very special time of prayer and thanksgiving for the small blessings in life that we sometimes take for granted.

Below is an “I’m Thankful” Prayer, a snapshot of some of the things that the students are grateful for.

YEAR 1
I AM THANKFUL FOR BEING HAPPY (ZAC)
I AM THANKFUL FOR THE WHOLE WORLD (BRIDGET)
I AM THANKFUL FOR ST MARY OF THE CROSS (NIXON)

YEAR 2
I AM THANKFUL FOR AUSTRALIA (JERWILL)
I AM THANKFUL FOR MY LIFE (DYLAN)

YEAR 3
I AM GRATEFUL FOR TECHNOLOGY (REEVE)
I AM THANKFUL FOR ALL HOPE AND LOVE THAT COMES FROM OTHERS (ISABELLE)
I’M THANKFUL FOR THE EXISTANCE OF THE DINOSAURS BECAUSE THEY INTEREST ME A LOT (LUKE)

YEAR 4
I AM THANKFUL FOR MY FAMILY BECAUSE THEY LOVE ME (JOSIE)
I AM THANKFUL FOR THE NEW KINDERS STARTING (MICAH)
I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE SCHOOL BEING BUILT (HARRY)
I AM THANKFUL FOR BEING AT ST MICHAELS AND MEETING NEW FRIENDS (SOPHIE)

YEAR 5
I’M THANKFUL FOR WAKING UP EVERY DAY AND HAVING PARENTS (HUNTER)
I’M SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND FOR ALL THE AMAZING ADVENTURES THEY HAVE TAKEN ME ON (PATRICK)
I’M THANKFUL FOR THE FIRIES, FOR SAVING OUR HOUSE (LILY)
I’M THANKFUL FOR THE RAIN, PUTTING OUT THE FIRES THAT HAVE WOUNDED OUR COUNRTY (SKYE)

YEAR 6
I’M THANKFUL FOR THE DOCTORS THAT HELP US (JACOB H)
I’M GRATEFUL FOR BEING ABLE TO GO TO A SCHOOL (DANI)

BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR/WELCOME MASS AND MORNING TEA
This Friday is our Beginning of School/Welcome Mass. It will be held at 9:30am in our St Michael’s Parish Church. During this Mass we will commission our Year 6 Leaders and welcome all those new to our school. All are welcome to attend, especially our Year 6 Parents and Carers.

After Mass, we will hold a Welcome Morning Tea for our parents, especially welcoming our new Kindergarten parents and those parents whose children have commenced St Michaels this year. All St Michael’s parents are welcome to attend. Stop by the school hall and have a cuppa and a chance to meet new parents.

VISION AND MISSION SURVEY
As mentioned in our newsletter last week, our school is currently reviewing our School Vision and Mission statement. The purpose of this review is to ensure that everyone associated with the school are clear about our school's purpose and direction, so that it is providing the best possible Catholic education in this 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 are asked to complete a survey regarding our current Vision and Mission. Recognising the partnership between home and school, this is an opportunity for you to provide some feedback. I thank you in advance for your interest in completing this survey.

You can access the survey by  clicking the link below or copying and pasting it to your browser.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GNBBInlWj6JYaJ4xtDLIGiqhqpEMvOuxWaCFS79DCUk/edit?ts=5e2fb49f

SWIMMING CARNIVAL
Tomorrow is our Swimming Carnival. At this point in time, the swimming carnival will be going ahead. Students participating will need to bring their swimmers, towel, lunch, water bottle, sunscreen, goggles (if required) and entrance money/pass to school.  If it rains significantly in the morning, we will need to cancel the carnival. We will inform all parents if the carnival gets cancelled via COMPASS and our School Facebook page.

We have been informed by Mittagong Pool that unfortunately there is no back up date available. We will need to do the next best thing, which will be, take groups of students who are potential representatives at the Diocesan Carnival, to the pool and time them in order to make up a St Michael’s team. The St Michael’s Representative Team details need to be sent to the CEO by Monday Week 5, so we do not have a lot of time to decide this team. The details regarding any representative team, will be given later this week, dependant on the outcome of tomorrow.

WEST TIGERS VISIT
Today Chris McQueen and Josh Aloli, two representative players from the West Tigers, visited our school. They talked about showing RESPECT- Respect for each other, respect for a team, respect for the players and good sportsmanship. We thank the West Tigers School Liaison team for coming today to present a very informative presentation on the NRL and in particular, how to show respect to others, both on and off the field. 

MEET AND GREET (Years 1-6)
On Wednesday 19^th February, we will hold our 2020 Meet and Greet meetings. 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.

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.

Term 1 2020

• • Friday 14^th Feb – Whole School Mass (Beginning of the year/Welcome Mass, 9:30 am)
  • Friday 21^st Feb – Year 6 visit the Abbey Nursing Home
  • Wednesday 26^th Feb – Ash Wednesday Liturgy
  • Monday 2^nd – 6^th March – Catholic Schools Week
  • Friday 6^th March – World Day of Prayer
  • Thursday 19^th March – St Joseph’s Day Mass 9.30am
  • Friday 20^th March – Year 6 visit The Abbey
  • Thursday 9^th April – Holy Thursday
  • Friday 10^th April – Good Friday

Whole School Mass
To celebrate our new school year, St Michael’s will have a Whole School Mass THIS Friday the 14^th of February at 9:30 am. During the Mass Year 6 will also be presented with their leadership badges. After the Mass there will also be a morning tea. It will be a wonderful way to celebrate returning to school.

All are welcome to attend!

National ‘Apology Day’ 13th February 2020
On Thursday the 13th February, we mark the 12th Anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations. In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd presented this apology in the Australian Parliament. We pause and acknowledge this day and pray that we will work together to mend all hearts of the people of Australia.

THE HERMITAGE
News from The Hermitage!

You may be interested in taking some time to nurture your spiritual world by participating in one of our 2020 retreats. A range of retreat possibilities are listed on our website (www.thehermitage.org.au) or take one of our brochures located in the church foyer.

​We have available a range of spiritual reading books, prayer journals, religious gifts, cards and a large variety of gifts for sale. You are invited to drop into the main office Monday to Friday from 8.30 – 4.30pm or on weekends by arrangement to see what we have available.

We are located at the Corner of Old South Road and Bong Bong Road Mittagong.

Rebecca Mitchell
REC

Medical Information

Anaphylaxis awareness
From time to time some children in our school may suffer the life threatening condition of anaphylaxis. Essentially anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction which is caused as a result of an intolerance to some food products. As well as this we do have a number of children in the school who may suffer anaphylactic reactions when exposed to nuts and nut products, eggs, seafood and sesame seeds. In order to respond to this situation and provide safe, fair and responsible procedures for all in the school community the following practices are in place:-

1. There will be no peanut butter sandwiches, peanut-based products or egg sandwiches available in the school canteen.
2. Parents are encouraged whenever possible to avoid sending in peanut based products as part of their child’s lunch.

Severe allergies/medication
If your child suffers from a severe allergy/asthma or medical condition and you have not already notified the school please do so as a matter of urgency.  If we hold any medication in the office for your child you will need to complete a Request to Administer Medication form.

Asthma
St Michael's is required to annually update our school records of children with asthma. All families with children who have asthma, are asked to complete an Asthma Management Plan with their doctor, signed by their doctor and returned to the office each year.  Please also ensure that the School holds current ventolin and spacer for your child.

COMPASS PARENT PORTAL TIPS

Keeping up to date with Events by using the Compass App
Did you know you can see events taking place across the school by looking at the calendar in Compass? Compass calendar will list excursions, special events, class Parish mass and sport gala days. We are hoping parents can use this tool to keep up to date with the many activities across this school.

All excursion/incursion/activity permission notes will be sent out through the Compass App for online parent consent/approval.

Student Absences must be reported and logged in Compass
Reminder to Parents they must log their child absences via Compass School Manager App on the morning of the absence prior to 9am. When logging the absence please give reasons in the comments section giving a brief description for the absence? E.g. Doctors Apt, Illness type, etc.

In addition, all unexplained absences must be explained by Parents by the end of the term. 

COMMUNICATION 

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
• 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.
• Contact the School.
• 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. 

Road Safety Around Schools
Please see updated flyer which we have received from Wingecarribee Shire Council.

GET INVOLVED IN 2020
Many hands make light work, and we thank the many parents who have kindly offered their time to help out in any way.

The following positions are open in 2020:-

• Executive Committee Member
• Class Parent Representatives

Anyone can nominate for these roles and we encourage you to think about it and get involved! This is a great opportunity to become involved with the School.

If you are interested, please send an email to the P&F c/- info@smmdow.catholic.edu.au stating which role you wish to be considered for nomination.

Happy Birthday to the following students who have recently celebrated a birthday (up to and including 14th February):

Charley R, Rylan B, Ava M, Daphne S, Sophia P, Daniella P, Ruby T
and Kylah P.F