CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK
Last week we celebrated Catholic Schools Week. What a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all of the great things happening in our school and the ways we can be active members of our school community, local community and Diocesan community.

We commenced the week with our St Michael’s Primary Cross Country Carnival. We are very blessed with students and families who are so positive and encouraging and we all had a great day.

On Tuesday, we had 19 students represent our school in the Western Region Diocesan Swimming Carnival. Our students tried their very best and had a great day swimming with schools from Macarthur and Southern Highland Schools. From this event, we had three students who went on to the Diocesan Swimming Carnival. Congratulations to Esther, William and Breanna.

On Thursday, our school community celebrated a special Catholic Schools Week liturgy. Thank you to Mrs Mitchell and Year 6 for preparing such a thoughtful and prayerful liturgy.

On Friday, we held a Mufti Day to raise money to support those families in our local community, who require support for educational needs. A total of $228.45 was raised and will be given to St Vincent de Paul, to hand on to families, who may benefit from financial assistance to purchase school uniforms or educational supplies.

On Friday, our Year 6 Mission and Liturgy teams went to the Ecumenical World Day of Prayer service at St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Mittagong. The congregation were very grateful that our students attended and gave the children many thanks for their participation and beautiful singing.

Overall, our Catholic Schools Week was positive, prayerful and demonstrative of active service to our community both at school and in the community of Mittagong. Thank you to everyone who participated.

SECOND WEEK OF LENT-
PROJECT COMPASSION

Each week, Caritas has asked us to feature in our newsletters the stories of the people that Caritas is supporting and the students are learning about.

In Cambodia, 1 in 8 people live below the poverty line. This week through Project Compassion, we learn about Phany (pronounced Parn-ee). 

Struggling to earn a living as a farmer in Cambodia, Phany was forced to leave her daughter behind in the village to take up construction work in the city. 

Thankfully, through a Caritas funded program, Phany learnt new farming techniques which enabled her to get a better yield from her vegetable crops and to conserve water in her drought-stricken region. Phany’s community also took part in training in health, nutrition, hygiene and disaster preparedness, arming them with better strategies to cope with environmental changes. Watch a short film about Phany’s story. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=8aNYLtZrhTk&feature=emb_logo

Let’s Go Further, Together! Please support the Project Compassion: lent.caritas.org.au 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Advice
The following information is about the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Whilst I was researching, I found an explanation of what Coronavirus is and other information related to it. This is from NSW health.

https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov

A MESSAGE FROM CEO WOLLONGONG.
Our practice is to follow the guidelines from NSW Health and Catholic Schools NSW. As such, the following information has been the advice at this present stage.

Sending Home Sick Students and Staff
As the impact of the virus on children and healthy adults can be quite mild, there may be a tendency to continue working and attending school and hence increase the risk of infecting others. This is in contrast to SARS and Swine flu, where most people were quite unwell if infected. The advice from Health is that schools should be very strong on sending home staff and students who have the slightest sign of illness. This is not a time for soldiering on with coughs and colds.

Hygiene
Good hygiene remains the best protective measure against the spread of the virus. The World Health Organisation has also published useful advice on social distancing:

Foreign nationals (excluding permanent residents of Australia) who are in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) on or after 5 March, will not be allowed to enter Australia for 14 days from the time they have left or transited through the Republic of Korea.

Only Australian citizens and permanent residents will still be able to enter Australia, as will their immediate family members (spouses, legal guardians or dependants only). They will be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days from the day they left the Republic of Korea.

Previous advice from the NSW Government remains current:

• Any student or staff member who has left, or transited through mainland China since 1 February, Iran since 1 March, or the Republic of Korea (South Korea) since 5 March, is excluded from child care services, school or work for 14 days from the date they left mainland China, Iran or the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
• Any confirmed case of COVID-19 will be excluded until they are medically cleared to return.
• Close contacts of a confirmed case of COVID-19 will be excluded for 14 days since last contact with the confirmed case.

Students and staff who have returned to Australia and have shown no symptoms during the 14-day self-isolation period are able to return to school or work.

The NSW Ministry of Health has processes in place to identify any close contacts of cases confirmed in Australia. It is advising these close contacts about not attending work, school or early childhood and childcare services.

CSNSW continues to work closely with NSW Ministry of Health to monitor and respond to developments and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff.

Consistent with current guidelines, children, students and staff who are unwell with respiratory illness should remain at home until symptoms resolve. In accordance with our current practice if any student becomes unwell, we will implement our infection control guidelines and follow the advice provided by the NSW Ministry of Health as appropriate.

Resources
Maintaining good hygiene standards is an important way to reduce the risk of acquiring and spreading respiratory infections. We ask staff, parents and carers and students to promote good hygiene including handwashing with soap as handwashing is the single most effective way to reduce the spread of germs that cause respiratory disease.

Bishop Brian has issued a statement regarding temporary Mass Changes in the DoW and the Australian Bishops have also released the following advice pertaining to liturgical implications which can be found below.

The Australian Government publishes a daily alert with the latest medical advice and official reports.

Most importantly, it is advised to stay calm, remain considerate of others and be reassured that we are closely monitoring this situation as it develops and we are following and implementing all advice and direction from the appropriate health and government authorities. 

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

• • Tuesday 17^th March - Year 2 Maubara Fundraiser
  • Thursday 19^th March – St Joseph’s Day , Whole School Mass 12pm
  • Friday 20^th March – Year 6 visit Abbey House
  • Thursday 9^th April – Holy Thursday
  • Friday 10^th April – Good Friday

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION
Confirmation is the final Sacrament of Initiation into the Catholic Church. Parents who wish to present their children (Year 6 or older) for the Sacrament of Confirmation can collect an enrolment form from Fr Sean after any weekend Mass over the next two weekends. Group classes will begin later this term and the Confirmation ceremony will be held Saturday, 16th May, 2020.

St Joseph’s Day Whole School Mass

Thursday the 19^th March, is the feast day of St Joseph. As our school was founded by the sisters of St Joseph’s, we celebrate our connection with St Joseph and the sisters with a school Mass. Next Thursday at 12 pm we will hold a whole school Mass. Kindergarten will be attending this Mass. All are welcome to attend.

The Abbey
For the time being Year 6 visits to The Abbey are on hold.

PARISH NEWS

Parish Fundraising To help fund our projects for this year (and beyond) eg. Awnings outside both churches, a “MEGA RAFFLE” has been launched.  First prize is a HONDAJAZZ, valued at over $20,000 (supplied by Southern Highlands Motor Group).  Tickets on sale now, $10.00 per ticket. Tickets can be purchased after Mass, via https://www.raffletix.com.au/ccsh or at the Parish Office.  The raffle will be drawn at the Trivia Night on 30 October, 2020. 

Catholic Enrichment
The Parish Catholic Enrichment course will continue on the 25th March, 2020 at 7:15 p.m in the Parish Hall. Topic: “Prayer & The Life of the Spirit.” All welcome to attend.

Reconciliation is held on Saturday morning at St Thomas Aquinas Church, Bowral at 9:30 a.m. There will be no Reconciliation this weekend 14^th of March.

Rebecca Mitchell
REC

All parents should have now received their fee statement via email for their 2020 School Fees.  If you have not received your statement please contact the office to verify we have your correct email address in our system.

Please note that families have been billed for all items known (eg; tuition, SEDSO, resource fees, incursion/excursion fees) for the 2020 school year and this is your fee obligation for 2020.  All payments made are allocated against your fee obligation - not against specific item on the statement.

Additional costs that may be payable would be things like representative and sport gala days or special activities (ie attending a musical at Chev).  Those attending and costs are not known at the time of fee billing and will be an additional expense.     

Fees can be paid by regular BPayment - the Biller Code and Reference details are on your statement.  If you were using this method last year please update these details with your Bank for 2020.  

The school office accepts payment for school fees by cash, cheque and EFTPOS. 

Alternatively you may wish to make a payment through CompassPay on the Compass Parent Portal.  CompassPay allows parents the convenience of paying school fees by credit card directly through the Compass App or Compass Parent Portal.  Please note that when making payments via the Compass Parent Portal it is best done through a browser on a laptop or desktop not through the Compass App on your phone.

Parents can log into their Compass Parent Portal at anytime and proceed to the My Payments section from the drop down menu in the settings cog on the top right hand corner of the page.  You can then go across to the History tab and view what you have been billed and what has been paid to date.  Any questions regarding payments by the Compass Parent Portal please do not hesistate to contact the school office for assistance.

All fees need to be finalised by 4 December 2020.

Should you be experiencing difficulty in paying your fees, please contact the school office.  All discussions are confidential.

During the past two weeks, many of our staff have or will, participate in professional development in-services. These valuable opportunities, support the staff in classroom practice and supporting the students. I thank our staff for undertaking this professional development and all it entails.

SEVEN STEPS TO WRITING SUCCESS
Mrs Anderson, Mr Tuckwell, Mrs Mitchell, Mrs Adams, Mrs Moroney, Mr Sherry and Mr Nash.

BEST START
Mrs Bourke-Nash and Mrs West.

CEO - ABORIGINAL & TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER EDUCATION CONFERENCE
Mrs Mitchell 

OLIVER LIBRARY TRAINING
Mrs Davies and Mrs Storry

LAMPLIGHTER SPIRITUALITY TRAINING
Mrs Berrell, Mrs Mitchell, Mr Tuckwell and Mr Nash

LEARNING FOR LEADERSHIP
Mr Sherry

Staff use a variety of means to communicate with students. A number of classes across the school utilise digital technologies to assist with this. Please note that not all classes utilise these tools.

Each year, students in Years 3-6 at St Michael’s are invited to be a part of this national Challenge which aims to encourage a love of reading in students and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition, but a challenge, for each student to read more widely.

The Challenge runs from 2 March to 28 August 2020.

Students from Years 3-6 are responsible for completing their own personal reading log. All student reading records are submitted on-line. This will be done by our Library staff. 

Please visit the PRC website to learn more about the rules and booklists for each level of the Challenge.

Mrs Linda Sewell

CROSS COUNTRY
Results:

4th: Jellore (Yellow)  - 96

Recently we ordered multiple sets of new netball bibs. They are high quality, quick drying and include our school crest.  No doubt we will stand out at the Netball Gala day later this year.  Thank you to Mr Tuckwell for organising.

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

Sophie T