Dear Parents and Carers,

Tonight we will hold our Year 6 Graduation Liturgy in the Church followed by dinner, speeches and awards in the school hall. Thank you to everyone involved in the organisation and preparation for the event. All family members are most welcome to attend the Church liturgy, while graduates and parents are joining our staff for dinner. We ask God’s blessing for our Year 6 Graduates and their families and acknowledge in a special way those families who will finish their association with St Michael’s in 2021. We truly value the commitment and dedication of our families and farewell the following families with love and gratitude, the Barry, Blakey, Bhatia, Ciaccia, Ciuffetelli, Djikic, Ernst, Hawke-Slattery, Keogh, Latimore, Mastoris, Roberts, Scuderi, Sherwood, Sudario and Walsh Families.

While we pause to think of those who are leaving our community, we are excited to welcome our new families in 2022. This year we have worked hard to market our beautiful school and its wonderful learning and play spaces. If you haven’t visited the school website lately, have a look at the new video with drone footage and our students and teachers doing great things at St Michael’s.

https://www.stmichaelsps.act.edu.au/

We are in a great position to grow our school with 2 small Kindergarten classes. Do you have neighbours, friends or family moving into town or looking for a great school? Let them know about St Michael’s and all we have to offer as strong enrolments will keep our school viable in the future.

As we have been unable to hold our Kindergarten Orientation, we are putting together a special digital story to share with our Kindergarten students, to help them see some of the rooms and spaces they will enjoy in 2022. On Thursday 27 January at 1:30pm our new students in classes 1-6 will visit the school and at 2pm our Kindergarten students and families will join us. We will hopefully be able to come together as a group, however if COVID-safe practices remain in place we will keep the date and be in touch with families to arrange small group sessions.   

Vaccination

The Australian Government and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has provisionally approved the Pfizer vaccine as safe and effective for use among 5 to 11-year-old children in Australia. ACT Health now awaits further information from Australian Government regarding final considerations and recommendations from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), and other related approvals. Keep an eye out for delivery of vaccines in January, https://www.covid19.act.gov.au/stay-safe-and-healthy/vaccine

Staffing

We have had some last-minute staffing changes which I will share with you next week and we are interviewing currently for several Classroom Support positions. As you can appreciate family circumstances can change, however we will always keep you up to date. Teachers have worked hard to finalise class lists with everyone’s best interests at heart.

It is with mixed emotions of joy and sadness that we farewell Nadia Farhadi, Yvette Whalan and Sarah Anderson as they move onto the next chapters of their lives. Parents are invited to attend a morning Assembly on Monday 13 December at 8:50am to thank and farewell these staff members.

A couple of reminders

Have you addressed any outstanding student absences; you can always check with Lisa if unsure? Lisa has been sending out emails and hard copy notes to families and would really appreciate your assistance to clear the unexplained absences list.

Please ensure you have fees up to date, if you have any questions please contact us.

Car-line, pick -up

We have been instructed by CECG, to continue our pickup arrangements that separate cohorts of students in the event of a COVID case. Thank you for your patience and support with this, however we have had some complaints from families in Tyrrell Circuit who are struggling to get out of driveways to collect their own children due to the bank up of traffic in the street. Cars do not need to arrive before 2:55pm, currently cars are arriving and parking at 2:25pm, causing a huge car line bank up. As mentioned last week if you’d like to come early, please park in side streets or adjacent to the school and walk across the bridge via the back gate, there are also some spots at the Church or on the far side of the basketball court. It would be great for families to communicate this information to other family members who also do afternoon pick-ups. With only 8 more pick-ups to go, your support would be greatly appreciated.

This week Maria Papasidero has been finalising our 2021 Highlights in a digital magazine. Despite a challenging year we really managed some amazing days and events with our community, I am really proud of what was achieved and the fun and laughter we shared. We will send the link with next week’s final newsletter.

Thank you to everyone for all that you do to support us as we draw closer to the end of an 11-week term and a hugely challenging year,

Stay safe and well, many blessings

Judy Egan