Dear Parents and Carers,

There was huge excitement on Friday as we installed our new bubbler and re-fill water station!

The design is called Connection and Harmony and is created by Luke Penrith a Sydney based Aboriginal artist. This artwork captures where freshwater rivers meet the salty sea. This symbolises the interconnectedness of life and the vital role water plays in our communities.

The word Kaleen from the language of the Wiradjuri cultural group, is translated in English to mean ‘water’

The connection to water and harmony is special to St Michael’s as our vision is to live in harmony with each other and with creation.

Confirmation Congratulations

Congratulations to our Students preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation for a wonderful and prayerful Retreat Day. Thank you so much to Father Mick, Erika Tokich and the Parish Team for the organisation of a huge event. There are photos and updates later in the newsletter.

Other school happenings

I commend to you the Sharing our Learning afternoon- Wednesday 25 September 3:30-5:30pm. This is an opportunity I am proud to have initiated with our staff at St Michael’s. It is an informal opportunity for families to share student learning and enjoy some positive time together at school. This year we will have students demonstrating the filming studio in our Library Hub with afternoon tea. We were able to fund resources for this hub by securing a grant from the ACT Education Directorate’s Non-Government School Parent Engagement Grants Program. Thank you to our ICT leaders who will be part of this sharing.

Other exciting events this term include St Michael’s Feast Day- Friday 27 September.

The privilege of wearing non-uniform this day is to donate a raffle item for our St Michael’s Christmas, Friday 6 December. Please see event reminders appearing on Facebook and via Compass for further details.  

Congratulations to our STEM team who have been working and preparing with Jess Hallahan for a Robocup event at Carolyn Chisholm High School on Saturday 14 September. Thanks to Jess for her leadership in this space and to the families and students who are very excited for the event. We hope you have a wonderful day.

Congratulations also to our 3 students who gave their best at the recent Belconnen Athletics Carnival and received ribbons at Assembly last week. Mahli, Olivia and Nicole were a credit to themselves and to St Michael’s achieving wonderful results, great effort girls!   

Thanks to our staff and parents who support our students attending these events. We are grateful for your support.

Staffing news

In weeks 9 and 10, I will be accessing some planned long service leave. In my absence, I have full confidence in the capable and experienced Principal leadership of Bridgette McCann. Supporting Bridgette will be Erika Tokich in the role of Assistant Principal (AP) and Emily O’Rourke in the position of Religious Education Coordinator. (REC) Currently Danielle Madsen and Victoria De Mattia are also on leave. We are indeed fortunate at St Michael’s to have quality relief teachers such as Ellen Fletcher and Connor Howland to support teacher’s leave. This ensures there are minimal impacts to classes with consistent and quality learning a priority.  

I am proud to lead such a great community where we are not only achieving excellent results in academic learning but offering many experiences across curriculum areas for your children.

We have worked together to build a positive culture at St Michael’s where students feel safe and valued. Thank you to everyone who upholds our vision- to live and learn in harmony, inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus.

Many blessings,

Judy Egan

Principal

Community Council Corner

The community council met for their last meeting of term three and there was so much great news to share. The school has had a wonderful write up in the Riot Act, sharing the beautiful work the school is doing with Catalyst and the students.  Excellent feedback has been received about Science week, the Book fair, the Father’s Day stall and Liturgy. Well done to Mrs McKeough has been nominated for a Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) award.

There are teams of talented students attending both the Boorowa netball and touch football tournament and the Robocup STEM competition. A new bubbler and some bark chip has been ordered for the playground, as well as routine safety tree maintenance planned to be done. There may be a working bee toward the middle of November. Which means the playground will look lovely for the St Michael’s Christmas. Planning is underway for the community to come together and celebrate the close of the year, with a sausage sizzle, carols, stalls and live performances from the classes. More details to come. 

As always if you have any feedback or would like to get in contact with the Community Council, please reach out! 

Key Dates

The final school day for Term 4 2024 is Monday 16 December.

Tuesday 17 December will be a Pupil-Free Day for school staff.

Save the Date

St Michael's Christmas Celebrations on Friday 6 December - more information to follow soon.