TERM 2 WEEK 2 NEWSLETTER

Dear families,

Welcome back to Term 2. I hope everyone had a very special Easter break. The students have settled back into our school routine so well and have been very excited about their new learning.

Talking about routines, I wanted to let you know that from tomorrow morning, we invite our parents to join us for our morning assembly. This means that parents can come into the school playground to either drop off their children or stay for morning prayer. The only thing we ask is that when the children arrive, that they go and play with their friends and that when the bell rings, we have all our community really settled to listen to announcements etc. 

It will be truly lovely to have this opportunity back as part of “normal” life here at St Michaels. 

We will keep the afternoon dismissal as it is presently. At the moment it is running very smoothly, with the children under the care of the staff whilst leaving the grounds and it means that cars move quickly from parking spaces, allowing the next lot of cars to have a parking space. 

FAREWELL TO MRS BERRELL
As mentioned in a letter to parents last week,  Mrs Berrell (Rachell) has been offered a wonderful position at a company called CEnet and will be leaving our school on Tuesday 10th May. Rachell has been an amazing Senior School Support Officer and runs our school office in a calm, organised, positive and happy manner. She has been a great support to our staff, students and parents and we will miss her very much. 

Rachell will keep in touch with us through her new role working with CEnet. CEnet is an information, communication and learning technology company that works with Catholic Communities across Australia. They provide internet services to our diocese and support our school through a variety of technological services. Over the time Rachell has worked for our school community, she has had major input into the technological advances of our school and her new position is a very exciting endeavour.

I hope you have a chance over these next few days to get in touch with Rachell to wish her well. I will miss Rachell. She is a true guide and support to me and I greatly value her contributions to our school community.

Best wishes Rachell. May you have very fond memories of your time here at St Michaels Mittagong.

FAREWELL TO OUR SCHOOL COUNSELLOR MS THERESE CALLAGHAN 
Next Tuesday May 10 is the last day that our current Catholic Care  school counsellor, Therese Callaghan will be working at St Michaels. Therese is going on maternity leave. We wish her all the very best for the coming weeks and may you truly enjoy your new life journey with your new baby. Thank you Therese, for all the wonderful things you have done for our students here at St Michaels. 

Our new counsellor Rochelle, will be commencing in the coming weeks. Rochelle has met with the staff and some students today. 

BISHOPS’ OF AUSTRALIA ELECTION STATEMENT 
Please find below to the Australian Catholic Bishops’ 2022 election statement, Towards a Better Kind of Politics, that includes a Prayer for the Election and the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

Laudato Si' Week is a weeklong event marking the seventh anniversary of Pope Francis' landmark encyclical on creation care. It is a time to listen and respond together to the cry of creation, rejoice in the progress we have made in bringing Laudato Si' to life, and intensify our efforts through the "Laudato Si' Action Platform", walking the "Synodal" path.

To celebrate Laudato Si Week, Catholic Earthcare is hosting an online screening of the newly released 'Regenerating Australia' short film. This short film is a sequel to the '2040' film which was released in 2019.

'Regenerating Australia' is a fictitious news segment set on New Years Eve 2029, examining the decade that 'could be'. The film challenges us to consider how we respond to the Cry of the Earth. Catholic Earthcare invites parish groups and families to join them online for FREE to view the short film. This film is available to watch on TUESDAY 17th May 2022 via zoom

From 6:00pm - 8:00pm AEST, 4:00pm - 6:00pm AWST

Booking is essential via

https://www.trybooking.com/BZADT

This is a FREE event

EASTER MASS
Last Friday our school celebrated our Easter Mass with Fr Sean. It was a very special Mass. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the students for the very respectful way they participated in the Mass and a big thank you to our liturgy group, led by Ms Abotomey and Mrs Mitchell, for their beautiful singing. Thank you to Mrs Mitchell and members of Year 6, for preparing the Mass.

YEAR 6 HOT DOG DAY
Kindergarten said “these are the best hot dogs ever!!”

Thank you to everyone who has supported our St Michael’s Project Compassion Appeal, with money raised through the money box collection and Thursday’s fundraiser, with Year 6 helping to sell hot dogs!! 

In total, we have raised over $600!! Thank you to Mrs Mitchell and our Year 6 Mission team for all the great work you continue to do. 

The hot dogs were “yummy”

MOTHER’S DAY STALL
A big thank you to the ladies who spent many hours wrapping the presents for our P&F Mothers Day Stall and to the parents who came today to help sell the presents. Our students were so excited to purchase a special gift for their mums. These days cannot be held without the generous support of our parent community. Thank you everyone. 

POSTPONEMENT OF THE DIOCESAN CROSS COUNTRY CARNIVAL
As a result of recent and predicted rain, with the potential for damage to the venue caused by the large number of expected participants, spectators and vehicles, a decision was made last week  to postpone the Diocesan Cross Country carnival. The new date will be Tuesday 24th May. Details have been forwarded to the families of participating students via Compass.

Parents will need to provide consent via the Compass parent portal for their child to attend on the new date.

NAPLAN 
Naplan commences next week for Year 3 and Year 5. Students in Year 5 will need to make sure their ipads are charged each night, ready for our school day and that each child has headphones/earbuds for the listening tasks.  Year 3 students also require headphones/earbuds. 

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual tests in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. All NSW schools will sit NAPLAN online in 2022.

Our school will be participating in NAPLAN between 10 and 20 May 2022. 

I saw this image last year and it is timely to remember the “whole picture”. Keeping things in perspective… NAPLAN is important and helps to assess components of your child’s understanding of concepts, and is very helpful for schools to gauge where to support our students…..remember though, there are many other important aspects to your child’s growth and development…..

Last term we sent out the parent information sheets about NAPLAN. Images of these sheets are below. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our school. If your child should unfortunately become sick, there is a two week timeframe that we can work around, however please contact our office as soon as possible.  

God bless,
Mrs Katrina West
Principal

• May Month of Mary
• 21^st May Confirmation at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church Bowral
• 24^th Mary Help of Christians
• 26^th May National Sorry Day
• 27^th – 3 June. Reconciliation Week
• 5^th June World Environment Day
• 16^th June Corpus Christi Feast Day
• 17^th June Staff Spirituality Day

Whole School Easter Mass
On Friday the 29^th April, St Michael’s celebrated Easter as a whole school with a special Mass. Father Sean explained how with the gifts and knowledge that Jesus was with them, the disciples were able to overcome the obstacles and come together to lead the way.  Miss Abotomey and the liturgy group lifted the roof with their wonderful music and singing. It was a wonderful opportunity for our school to be able to celebrate Easter together.  

Project Compassion
During Lent each class had a special money box to donate coins towards Caritas Australia, Project Compassion. Year 6 also ran a Hot Dog Day in week one and together our school community raised over $600. This money will be much appreciated by communities Caritas Australia help! Thank you for your continual support to help better the lives of others.

Anzac Day Liturgy
Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served". Many services were held on Sunday the 25^th of April.

On Monday 26^th April students  and staff at St Michael’s gathered for a beautiful liturgy to commemorate this very special day . Thank you to those who have and still do serve and protect us.

 Let us pause and say a prayer for the all those who served to keep us safe.

Gracious and loving God, the cross of Christ is the sign of your desire for justice and peace for all.

Open our minds to your vision as we remember all who suffered through Australia and New Zealand’s involvement in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. Grant all servicepersons who sacrificed health and life for the good of all, the gift of your deep peace.

May we who inherit the freedom for which they fought become instruments of your peace in our homes, workplaces and world.

We ask this prayer through Christ our Lord.             Amen

Confirmation

There are many children who are in Year 6 or older who have begun the Sacrament of Confirmation. Please keep all these candidates in your prayers over the coming weeks.

Corpus Christi Parish Mittagong-Bowral News

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.

RECORDING OF ABSENCES ON COMPASS

The NSW Education Act (1990) and Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) require Parents/Carers to ensure that children of compulsory school age attend school on each day that the school is open for instruction. If children are absent from school, Parents/Carers are required to provide the school with an acceptable explanation, within seven days of the absence. 

During the recent school holiday vacation period the settings in compass wereadjusted to reflect the requirements of the Education Act (1990). After seven days, absences will automatically be recorded as Absent - unexplained / unjustified if the school is not provided with an acceptable explanation from Parents/Carers. Parents wishing to provide the school with an acceptable explanation after the seven day period, will need to contact the school and the school will adjust the attendance register. Parents will no longer be able to enter the absence through the parental portal in Compass after the seven day period. 

The school will continue to support Parents/Carers and frequently send home letters giving Parents/Carers the opportunity to provide the school with an  explanation for absences.

Please do not hesitate to contact the school should you require further information regarding the change.

A reminder that Year 5 parent/teacher interviews will be held next week.  These interviews were not able to be held last term due to Mrs Anderson's long service leave.   If you have not yet made your booking, please contact the school.

Mother's Day Stall
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR volunteers who have assisted with the Mother's Day Stall, from purchasing, wrapping gifts, to assisting on the day.  

Easter Raffle
Thank you for the generous support of the P&F Easter Raffle from the donation of prizes, the time to wrap the gifts and the purchase of raffle tickets.  There was over 113 prizes.  Over $1,000 was raised.

Disco
Our next P&F event will be the school disco.  This will be held on Friday 27th May from 5-7pm.  Cost will be $8 which will include entry,  glow sticks and a lolly bag.  A note will be sent home in the coming weeks.

BOOK CLUB ORDERS are due 11th May 2022.  A reminder that the school no longer accepts cash for book club orders.  See below for information on how to purchase. 

LOOP - order online 
LOOP is the Scholastic Book Club Linked Online Ordering & Payment platform for parents. It allows you to order and pay online via credit card, negating the need to return forms and cash to school. It also cuts out the middle man, so you can be assured that your order is exactly as you want it. No waiting for change or wondering if the order actually made it to the Book Club Organiser. You can order and pay for Scholastic Book Club by credit card by visiting the Scholastic website at  https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent.aspx or on the go with the app (available in Google Play and the App Store). More information here http://www.scholastic.com.au/schools/bookclub/assets/pdfs/toolkitpdfs/Loop%20registration.jpg
 
Returning members can jump straight into your login and order here https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent/Login.aspx