TERM 3 WEEK 2 NEWSLETTER

This month is known as Kind July. It is a time to stop and think about ways we can be kind to others and maybe even “pay forward”, the kindness that is shown to us. Our school community has been thinking of ways we can share kindness with others even in the most simplest of ways…. sharing a smile…. acknowledging the presence of others…. listening….. 

The children have really embraced this act of kindness and are thinking of ways they can be kind as well as truly embracing the kindness of others. 

Last week in our online assembly, I shared a prayer/song about kindness that was written by Greg Hunt (a member of the Wiggles) and performed by the NSW Police Band.  They loved the message of the song and we talked about the many ways we can provide service to others. Utmost in the lives of our essential services and workers and our staff, especially at this time, is the care of others. They are showing kindness in the deeds of helping take care of people. Our school community is praying for all those who are experiencing difficult situations in their lives. We pray that kindness and hope can be a part of their lives too. 

CHANGES TO OUR EVENTS
It is with great sadness that I let you know that we have needed to make changes to many of the events we have been planning for this term and some of next term. Looking at the bright side, we are so very fortunate to be able to still conduct schooling on our site, as most of our Wollongong Diocesan Schools are in remote learning. We are very blessed to be able to teach at school and have the students here with us. However, due to the current COVID 19 situation in NSW and the “unknown” of how things will be in the near future, we have been required to follow advice and alter some of our planned community events. 

Firstly, our planned MINI OLYMPICS DAY is still going ahead as of this point in time. The students will still participate in the activities planned and I am sure they are going to have lots of fun. The change to this day is that parents are not able to attend. We will take plenty of photos and share them with you. I have suggested to the students that they try to seek sponsors from other family members such as aunts, uncles, grandparents, godparents etc  

Our ultimate goal is to raise enough money for a SMART TV for one of the classrooms. Thank you for your support of this day. 

The SMM Mini Olympics Day is next Wednesday 28th July. All students need to wear their sports uniform on that day. 

The WESTERN REGION ATHLETICS CARNIVAL has been cancelled due to COVID 19 restrictions. 

Our BOOK WEEK PARADE will still go ahead for students on Wednesday 25th August. Students are asked to dress up on this day as a book character. The theme of this year’s Book Week is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’. Parents unfortunately will not be able to attend this year. 

The Year Six students will also run a BOOK WEEK HOT DOG DAY. More information about this will be forthcoming. 

As mentioned last week, our SCHOOL PHOTOS have been postponed to August 17th due to the restrictions at the moment for visitors to the school. 

Our P&F ST MICHAEL’S BOOK FAIR will still go ahead. Students will view the books and bring home their wishlists. We really rely on the Book Fair commissions to purchase further books for our library. A big thank you to Mrs Linda Sewell for organising the Book Fair and Book Week activities again this year. Mrs Sewell does a wonderful job in our library to support and encourage the children’s love of reading.  

Our FATHER’S DAY STALL will be going ahead, with members of the P&F providing the gifts that the students can purchase. Staff this year will help with the selling of the gifts as parents are currently not allowed on site. Thank you to the P&F for organising this, in particular to Mrs Katrina Bartone, who has organised the purchase and wrapping of the gifts.

The Father’s Day stall will occur on Wednesday 1st September.

Our G DAY CELEBRATION will need to be online again like last year due to covid restrictions. It will be a great celebration and the teachers and students are currently planning what they will do for the concert section of the celebration. Hopefully next year, we will be able to have our grandparents and special people back on site. 

SMM FETE- Our P&F Fete Committee met via ZOOM last Friday to discuss the fete and the current situation of the uncertainty of COVID 19 as well as financial strains on families and potential business supporters of the Fete. We have come to the conclusion that we will postpone the fete for this year and continue to plan for it to occur next year. I thank our wonderful Fete Committee for all you have done already to support the plans for the fete. We will continue with the planning of the fete and you will hear further organisational announcements about the fete throughout this year. 

At the Fete Committee meeting it was mentioned that they would still like to do some fundraising this year. If you have any ideas for fundraising that can be organised keeping in mind of COVID restrictions, can you please contact one of the P&F committee members or the school office. A couple of ideas that were raised in the meeting was a possibility of a 130th Year St Michael’s Cookbook or a 130th year St Michael’s T-Towel; a gingerbread house kit (for Christmas); Pie Drive; Cookie Dough drive; Cadbury Chocolate Drive etc. These are only suggestions… you may know of something else that has worked as a fundraiser. If you have an idea, please let us know as soon as possible. 

The P&F will be putting out a survey to see how many people would be interested in helping create and/or purchase a 130th year Cookbook. The idea with the Cookbook is for each family to send in their favourite recipe to be published. If you have had experience with setting up a cookbook previously, or know of a company that produces a reasonably priced fundraising Cookbook, can you let the office staff know. Thank you.

Please keep up to date with all our news via the Newsletters and the News Feed items on COMPASS, as it is an ever changing situation with event planning and NSW Health Guidelines. 

WELCOME TO OUR SCHOOL
This term we have welcomed the Catania Family to our school community. Welcome to Jonathan in Year 5, Nicholas in Year 3 and Michael in Year 2. We know that you will really enjoy your learning journey here at St Michaels. 

THANK YOU
Thank you to the Butler Family for their kind donation of a Canon Camera to the school. We will enjoy capturing many exciting moments at St Michaels with this special camera. 

SCHOOL FEES AND SUPPORT
If you are experiencing financial difficulties at any time, especially at the moment, please do not hesitate to contact me or the staff in the office for support. Below is our Diocesan statement on fee support. 

God bless
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.

12-23 July                 St Vincent De Paul Winter Appeal
12-23 July                 Knit for need
4th August                 National Aboriginal Children’s Day
8th August                 St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Feast Day
9th August                 St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Feast Day school Celebration

St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal
Each year during winter the St Vincent de Paul Society work tirelessly to collect

A big thank you to everyone who has donated so far. We still have a few more days for more donations. Each class has been allocated items, but are not limited to these items. This is a wonderful way to help support our local community and the St Vincent de Paul Society is grateful for your support. Thank you again for your continual support for others in our community.

Knit for Need
A very big thank you to all the wonderful students, parents and grandparents or aunties who have donated beanies, scarves, gloves and even a knitted blanket. We still have until Friday for collection so please send any further donations to the school office or to Mrs Mitchell.

PARISH NEWS
Due to the current COVID situation you will be required to scan the QR code on entry or use the sign on sheet at the entrance. This a government regulation and the parish is responsible for ensuring this information is available if requested. There is always a member of our parish there to help you sign in.  

Please remember that all Masses will currently be celebrated at St Thomas Aquinas Church because of the social distancing requirements.

Weekend Masses

​Saturday Vigil - 5:00pm
Sunday - 8:00am 
Sunday - 9:30am
Sunday - 5:00pm

Weekday Masses

​​Tuesday - 8:00am
Wednesday - 7:30am
Thursday - 7:30am 
Friday - 8:00am

IMPORTANT UPDATES 

SCHOOL PHOTOS - CHANGE OF DATE
We have been advised by The School Photographer that due to the changes in COVID19 restrictions, the date for our school photos will now be Tuesday 17th August 2021 (subject to any further  restrictions due to Covid19).  All children are to wear their FULL WINTER UNIFORM on this day – not sport uniform.

Photo envelopes were sent home earlier this week.  Payment can be made by cash or online.  Individualised payment envelopes with cash or online payment details, can be returned to the school on or before 16th August 2021.  We encourage parents to pay online before the school photography day.  See your photo envelope for further details.

Sibling photo envelopes can be collected from the school office.

Any parents who have money held with Quickcliq will be able to cancel their account and obtain a refund.  You need to log in to your Quickclieq  account, cancel the account and funds will be returned to you.  See image below. 

 

Any queries, please contact Quickcliq on 1300 11 66 37. 

SIGN IN PROCEDURES FOR PARENTS/VISITORS
With the exception of students, every person who enters the school will need to sign in using the ServiceNSW app in addition to our existingiPad sign-in process. Parents/carers who are dropping off or picking up students outside the school gates do not need to sign in or use the Service NSW QR code.

COMMONWEALTH BANK - STUDENT BANKING
As parent volunteers are not permitted on site due to current guidelines, the student banking serivice will be temporarily unavailable.  

BOOK CLUB DUE 21 JULY 2021

This year we will be celebrating Children’s Book Week on Wednesday 25^th August. The theme for Book Week is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’. We were hoping the children could come dressed up on that day to support that theme. Some ideas I have discussed with the children is: Prehistoric World (dinosaurs etc), Underwater World (octopus, shark, fish etc), Ancient Worlds (mummies, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome etc), Animal World (monkey, elephant, dog, zebra etc) Fairytale Worlds (princess, Rapunzel, Jack and the beanstalk, giant etc), Outer Space World (spaceman etc). Further information on this day will be forwarded to you closer to the day.

Linda Sewell

Over a number of terms many students have been involved in the construction of the schools new worm farms which are now located near our school library. The worm farms (subpods) now have new residences which are ‘red wrigglers’ who have been settling into their new environments.

With the weather being quite cold now we are slowly introducing more of our fruit scraps into our new worm farms to create rich compost which we plan to add to our school veggie pods.

Many thanks to all those students who have had a hand in their construction.