Dear Parents/Carers,

This year as part of our school improvement plans the CE has adopted a new platform for our community survey. The survey will include the voice of students, teachers and parents from St Michael’s community. It is called Tell Them From Me.

The Tell Them From Me Parent Survey is anonymous, voluntary, and easy-to-use. It is based on a comprehensive questionnaire covering parents’ perceptions of their child’s experiences at home and at school.

Insights into parent and staff communication, activities and practices at home, and parent voice on the school’s support of learning and behaviour all build an accurate and timely picture that schools can use for practical improvements.

The survey window is now open and closes on Friday 11 June. You can access the survey via the following link;

http://tellthemfromme.com/8mnsm

Thank you for your time completing this survey, we really value your feedback.

Compass Parent Portal/ Semester One Reports /Parent Interviews

Thank you to all parents who have downloaded the Compass Parent Portal. We are continuing to send out reminders and passwords. We have been advised by CE that your child’s Semester One report will be delivered via the Parent Portal. Paper reports will not be issued to families. Parent/Teacher interviews will also be booked via the Parent Portal and will occur this term as soon as reports have been sent. You are no longer able to send student absentee notes through the Schoolzine app. All school events/information will be sent via the compass parent portal.

Today I will be attending a Principal’s Retreat for the day at Galong. Thank you to Damien Webb for his leadership in my absence.

Please find the information below from CE about reporting this Semester.

Many Blessings

Judy Egan

Reporting - Semester 1 2021

Schools have begun the process of creating each child’s Semester 1 2021 report.

In Semester 1:

For Kindergarten students:

• Achievement in each subject will be reported using a four-point scale (Well Above Expectations, Above Expectations, Meeting Expectations and Working Towards Expectations).

For Year 1 to Year 6 students:

• Academic grades for each subject using a five-point scale from A-E will be reported using the Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards.

For all students:

• Strand Achievement will be reported in English, Mathematics, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health and Physical Education, and The Arts using a five-point scale (Excellent, High, Sound, Basic, Elementary).
• Engagement with Learning statements, which are taken directly from the Australian Curriculum, will provide specific information about your child’s Critical and Creative Thinking, and Personal and Social Responsibility, using a three-point scale (Beginning, Developing, Consistently).
• Individual student comments will not be used in the Semester 1 Reports.

Dialogue is an important feature of reporting. The Semester Report in this format encourages parent engagement and conversation about student learning. We want your child’s semester report to be the entry point for parent-teacher interviews in K-2 and three-way conversations in Year 3-6. We can engage in genuine conversation about your child’s strengths, challenges, effort and areas for growth.

You are encouraged to book in these meetings with classroom teachers, which will be held in Week 10 of this Term. All the bookings for meetings will be made via the new Compass app.

The new approach to Academic Reporting is a developing process. Further work will be undertaken in the coming months to determine how progress and achievement is best reported based on what we know to be important information about a student’s learning and progress.

Sacramental Program 2021 – First Eucharist for students in Year 4 from 2021

The Sacrament of First Eucharist will be celebrated in Term 2 of 2021 on the following dates:

• Tuesday 8 June at 6pm in St Michael’s Church
• Wednesday 9 June at 6pm in St Monica’s Church
• Thursday 10 June at 5.30pm in St Monica’s Church
• Thursday 10 June at 7pm in St Monica’s Church

Please keep the candidates for First Eucharist in your prayers.

Home Booklets for the Sacrament – should be completed (including the last page with the ‘Parents’ Discernment of Readiness’ signed and dated) and handed into the school by Wednesday 2 June 2021.

Registration for the Sacrament of First Eucharist
Registration have now closed and no further registration can be accepted.

Commitment Masses
There will be no additional commitment masses.

Booking a Mass time for the Sacrament
Bookings for the Sacrament have now closed.

Purchasing a stole for First Eucharist
Purchasing a stole is optional and is not compulsory. If you wish to purchase a stole, please make a payment of $20 through the Qkr! App and send an email to sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au and arrangements will be made for delivery/pickup.

For further information please contact the Sacramental Program coordinator at sc.belconnennorth@cg.org.au or the parish website at www.cg.org.au/belconnennorth

St Michael’s Primary School families are warmly invited to participate in Archdiocesan events taking place at St Christopher’s Manuka on Sunday 30^th May to celebrate

Marriage and Family Sunday and to launch the Year Amoris Laetitia Family announced by Pope Francis which will be celebrated in the Archdiocese until June 2022.  

On Sunday 30^th May you can participate in:

• Marriage & Family Sunday Mass with the Archbishop, 11am at St Christopher’s Cathedral or watch via https://www.catholicvoice.org.au/mass-online/
• A Marriage & Family Expo 12-1pm in the Haydon Hall, behind the Cathedral, including a free lunch and a launch by the Archbishop of the Year Amoris Laetitia Family

Register here for the Expo, Launch & free lunch 12-1pm http://bit.ly/mfsregistration

Last Friday Mrs Egan, Mr Webb and three students, Natasha, Frazer and Stefano represented St Michael’s at Laudato Si Jubilee at St Peter Chanel’s Church and gardens, Yarralumla. They took part in a Liturgy of the Word, Smoking Ceremony and tree planting, honouring Pope Francis’ encyclical on Ecology. It was wonderful to be part of this prayer celebration.

Belconnen Region Cross Country Carnival

Today we had the pleasure on taking 43 of our students to represent St Michael's at the Belconnen Region Cross Country Carnival at Stromlo Park.  The students should be commended on a great effort.  I will let you know of the results when we receive them.  

Athletics Carnival - Friday 11th June

Today all students received a parent letter and special lunch order form for our carnival.  If you could please return order forms as soon as possible, including any dietary requirements, it would be greatly appreciated.

Parent volunteer notes will come home next week and we thank those people who will assist us on the day.  

The Belconnen Region Athletics Carnival will be held on Friday 20th August (Term 3). We will finalise our team after we have held our carnival.

Please note, if you wish your child to be selected to Belconnen Region for long jump or  high jump, an official result will need to be provided to the school before Friday 11 June. 

Erin Hardwicke

For our school sustainability program this term we are aiming to collect many items that would normally be sent to landfill. These items will be made into other items for people in Australia and poorer countries around the world. Our aim is to make the environment a cleaner place while helping the community. The items we are collecting to recycle for a better purpose are: 

• Toothpaste tubes, floss containers and old plastic toothbrushes
• Electric toothbrush heads
• Medical ointment tubes
• Hair gel tubes and caps
• Hair paste plastic jars and lip balm tubes
• Face soap dispensers and tubes
• Lotion bottles, tubes, dispensers, and jars
• Shaving foam tubes (no cans)
• Plastic razors and blades
• Lip gloss tubes
• Mascara tubes
• Eye liner pencils and cases
• Eyeshadow tubes
• Concealer tubes and sticks
• Medical blister pack
• Spray or pump from cleaning products
• Coffee pods
• Party supplies and dining disposables (single-use cutlery and straws)
• Prescription drug packaging (blister packs)
• Plastic bread tags 

If you could collect these items at home and bring them into school, there will be a tub at the Front Office for you to drop off your collected items. 

We would appreciate your help and assistance. We hope together we can make a difference in the community and maybe even further.

 Thank you.

 Your Sustainability Team

Congratulations to the following students who achieved a Harmony Award in Week 6.  Awards will be presented at Friday morning's assembly (weather permitting).

Well done!!   

Special wishes to those children who celebrate their birthday this week:

Xanthia 1/2H, Zoe E KF & Arna 5/6F

We hope you have a great day!!

DANCECORE -  Dance classes are on Wednesday's at recess in the school hall, forms are available at the Front Office. 
Contact Cassie 0417 442 750 

CHESS -  Chess classes are held in C Block on Tuesday’s at recess, forms are available at the Front Office.  Contact Sydney Academy of Chess 9745 1170

GUITAR - Guitar lessons with Sam on Thursday's, please contact
Sam on 0408 196 855

PIANO - Piano Lessons with Mary-Liz on Mondays & Tuesdays, please contact Mary-Liz on 0413 425 753

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB -  Scholastic Book club is back and runs twice a Term.  If you have any queries, contact Mrs Monro or Mrs Hardwicke.

The Entertainment Book is back, bigger and better, prices starting from $69.99.  Please click on the link below to order your digital copy of the new book.

https://au.entdigital.net/orderbooks/232g38

Please see the School Sport ACT webpage https://schoolsportact.org.au/ or Facebook page for the most up to date information.

SCHOOL SPORT ACT TRIALS – Please keep an eye on the School Sport ACT website https://schoolsportact.org.au/ for upcoming ACT trials. The process for registering can be found below. If you need any assistance registering your child please feel free to ask for assistance.

How to register your child with School Sport ACT

School Sport ACT now collects all registration information online – this is to prevent the movement to and fro of a paper note and have all information readily available to officials prior to the trial. As this process incurs a fee for data storage, system maintenance and admin, a small $5 fee payment via credit card will be required.

1. Go to the School Sport ACT website – https://schoolsportact.org.au/
2. Click Register (top right corner of homepage) for an Account – enter parent details and password
3. A confirmation email will be sent to your chosen email that will contain a link that you must click on to verify the email account.
4. Click Log In (top right hand corner of home page) enter password then click on top tab My Profile
5. You will see a ‘dashboard’ of your information, click green box to Add Student – enter student and medical details and save.
6. Go to the Sports Tab – choose your specific sport, click on Trial Information box then click on the Register to Trial link.
7. Select your child’s name from the dropdown box and then enter the optional fields for Playing History, Preferred Position (if applicable) and Representative Experience. If you are already in the system, ensure your child’s school is up to date in your profile – have they moved onto High School?

Please contact me via email if you have any questions, feedback or are able to offer your assistance at any of our sporting events throughout the year.

Looking forward to another big year of sporting participation,

Erin Hardwicke
erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au