Congratulations to the students who received Term 3 Rainbow Awards. Congratulations to Ned and Lydia from KL, Maya and Arietta from 1/2F, Jahzara and Isabella from 1/2M, Luca and Logan from 1/2W, Austin and Finley from 3/4YM, Mitchell and Clarisse from 3/4AK, Ari and Mischa from 5/6B and Joshua and Tayla from 5/6FW. 

Some words used to describe these children by their teachers include kind, thoughtful, inspiration, determination, enthusiasm, passion, motivated, considerate, hard working, friendly, respectful and kind-heartedness. 

Mr Webb and I look forward to celebrating with these students, along with Term 1 and Term 2 students who received a Rainbow Award and those students who will be awarded later in Term 4, when we have a special Rainbow Award Celebration Day. More information to come next term.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Tomorrow we begin our Sacrament of Reconciliation journey for those students in Year 3 and their families. Tomorrow, our Parent Formation Night will be held at St Monica's at 6pm. If you can't attend, please email Meaghan to let her know meaghan.younger@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Year 5/6 Travel Expo

This afternoon and tomorrow morning, our students in Years 5/6 will be hosting a Travel Expo in the hall. I have been observing these students working extremely hard to showcase their learning about a particular country. The hall will be open from 2-4pm this afternoon and again tomorrow morning from 8.30-10am. Please come along to see their great learnings. 

2020 Staffing News

It is with great pleasure that I can confirm that Jess Figura and Sarah Anderson, both who have been with us in a transfer position this year, have decided to accept permanancy with us moving forward from 2020. Both Jess and Sarah have provided so much to their classes and the wider school this year and we are delighted they can stay with us. 

I can also officially announce that Jess Lewis will continue on with us in 2020 in a temporary position. Jess has also given so much to her class and the school community this year. We are very pleased that Jess has decided to stay with us again next year.

Jacqui Ramesh will also be staying with us next year to continue in a temporary capacity to teach Indonesian lessons. Again, very pleased that Jacqui will be with us again in 2020.

It is great testimony for a school to have staff who choose to remain at a school. This is something that isn't very common with changes normally occurring each year. At this stage, we will hopefully have very minimal changes. Of course, things can change and I will keep you up to date when I can. I will have further news in the coming fortnight to share.  

A reminder that Lost Property items are on the bench going into B Block. There are many jumpers/jackets and containers. Anything not claimed by the end of term will be cleaned and reused by the school or discarded if not in good condition. 

Our St Michael's Fun and Fitness Day will be happening on Thursday next week. Thank you to those parents who have already emailed Damien to offer to help cook the BBQ and cut fruit. If you could spare some time on Thursday 26 Spetember between 12-1.30, that would be greatly appreciated. Please email Damien at damien.webb@cg.catholic.edu.au 

The plan for the day will be that we start with St Michael's Feast Day Mass at 9.30am. A special recess of a packet of chips and muffin will be provided to students. After recess, students will enjoy movie time in the block areas. A sausage sizzle will be provided for students for lunch at 1pm, followed by the Colour Fitness afternoon starting at 1.30pm. Any families wanting to join in the Colour Fun, are welcome to come along. We will finish our fun day with an ice block and fruit. 

Enjoy the week ahead.

Regards,

Pat Ellis

Reconciliation

For those families with children in Year 3 or above and wishing to prepare them to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation this year, there is a Formation Evening for parents this Thursday, 19^th September. This will be at St Monica’s School from 6:00pm and finishing by 7:00pm. Commitment Masses for this Sacrament will be on 21^st and 22^nd September at any of our parish masses. 

St Michael’s Feast Day Celebrations

We will mark St Michael’s Feast Day next week on Thursday 26^th September. We will begin with our whole school Mass at 9:30 in St Michael’s Church. All families and friends are warmly invited to help us celebrate this special day.

The app of the week is Mental Up. This is a play based game aimed at developing mental strategies in children 4-13 years old. Children work through a range of tasks using an avatar and work on developing skills in visual and verbal intelligence, logical reasoning, analytical thinking, memory and problem solving.

ACT Athletics Championships

We congratulate Josh (5/6FW), Mitchell (3/4AK) and Kobe (3/4YM) on their fantastic effort at last weeks ACT Athletics Championships. We look forward to presenting Josh with his first place ribbons for the 100m and 200m and Kobe for his third place in the 70m. Weather permitting, presentation of ribbons will take place at morning assembly this Friday.

Sporting Schools Grant

We have been successful in our grant application for a Term 4 Sporting Schools Grant! We are now in the process of finalising the details of the clinic to commence in Term 4. More news to come!

School Holiday Clinics

A number of sporting clubs and organisations offer school holiday programs. The details of these are best obtained directly from the organisations and clubs. However, we have received flyers for some of the clinics on offer for the October holidays. They can be found on the noticeboard in the courtyard.

Boorowa Training

Training for the 3/4 Touch Football team will take place before school 8:20-8:50am, tomorrow Thursday 19th September and next Thursday 26th September (Weeks 9 & 10). This training will not be under the supervision of St Michael’s staff and parents are required to supervise their children during this time.

If there are any other coaches who would like to organise a training session please email Erin Hardwicke at erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au

Outstanding Payments

If you are yet to pay for Boorowa Touch and Netball or ACT School Sports events we would greatly appreciate if these can be paid as soon as possible. Thank you for your assistance.

Overdue Books

Today during library lessons, all students received notices of any overdue books. If these books could please be returned before the end of term it will assist us in updating our system over the holiday break. If you have misplaced a book please email Erin Hardwicke at erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au. This will allow us to update your childs account.

Author Visit

We are very excited to be welcoming author Chris Collin, author of the very funny Funky Chicken series to our school early in Term 4. On Monday 28^th October, Chris will present two workshops; one with the students in K-2 and then another with the students in Years 3-6. We look forward to meeting Chris and learning more about being an award winning author and the writing process.

For more information and resources visit the FunkyBooks website https://www.funkybooks.com.au/home-2/about-us/

WEAVING  

We will finish the term by completing weaving projects and learning about the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander textiles.

Weaving is a great craft activity for developing many skills:

*builds fine motor skill

*aids visual tracking

*building hand and eye coordination

*physical experience of spatial concepts of up, over, and under

*helps in using both the dominant and non-dominant hands at the same time

*weaving involves crossing the midline.

The art of fibre has a long history in Arnhem Land as evidenced by the many depictions of fibre objects in rock art.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make a variety of objects from animal and plant fibres. Their skills in basket weaving are evidenced in everyday tools such as baskets for collecting food, nets for fishing and ceremonial items such as headgear and wristbands.

Commonly used fibres include the leaves of pandanus, palms, jungle vine, and the inner bark of kurrajong and stringybark eucalyptus trees.

Help us to raise $2500 to purchase Jariah Education Centre a Water Tank so they can access clean, fresh water at school as they learn!

A huge thank you to these two businesses (EcoSmart Builders and Premier Capital Properties) who have generously donated to sponsor our Jump Fest. Please support those businesses who support us. 

EcoSmart Builders are highly experienced and established Canberra builders who are committed to offering a collection of high energy efficient homes.

EcoSmart Builders all have one thing in common: they build beautiful, modern homes using cutting edge building practices designed to achieve high Energy Efficiency Ratings. Check them out at https://ecosmarthomes.com.au/

Premier Capital Properties are ACT real estate agents offering specialist property services to buy, sell and rent real estate. Visit them at Shop 20, The Marketplace, Hibberson Street Gungahlin. 

The Lualua Family and Scentsy would like to do some fundraising through the students at St Michael’s for CDH Australia. As some of you may be aware their son and Ana’s brother passed away from CDH (Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia) in April. When Tasi was diagnosed at 15 weeks of pregnancy the family was put in contact with CDH Australia. They were a great support and gave them something no one else could give at the time, HOPE. CDH Australia raise awareness about the rare birth defect, provide support services for families and also help raise money for research. 

Scentsy are selling Scent Circles for $30 (pack of six) and all the commission will be donated to CDH.  Order forms are available from the Front Office and a sample of the circle and scents are also on display.

Get your family and friends involved, the more circles sold the more money that goes to CDH.

Please see the link below to the fundraising page for Tasi, you are welcome to donate to this page at any time.

https://give.everydayhero.com/au/in-memory-of-tasi/wizard/donate

Thank you for your support.

The lost property boxes are overflowing with unnamed clothing and lunchboxes/drink bottles.  All items are displayed on the bench leading into B Block and will be disposed of at the end of Term.

Please ensure that your children's belongings are clearly labelled.  As the weather is warming up, there are quite a few jumpers discarded in the playground and unclaimed at the end of the day, please remind your child/ren to collect them at the end of playtime. 

Congratulations to the following children who have achieved a Harmony Award in Week 9 and will receive their award this Friday at morning gathering (weather permitting).

KL	Eden S
1/2F	Isabella P
1/2M	Trisha T
1/2W	Toby M
3/4AK	Matilda W
3/4YM	Isaac U
5/6B	Cooper R
5/6FW	Alana R

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

Mallory 1/2M, Tony 1/2W and Samuel 3/4YM

We hope you have a great day!!

Lunch Orders are to be placed by MIDNIGHT on Wednesday nights. 

The canteen require assistance on Fridays for Term 4 from approximately 12.30-1.45 to help pack lunch orders, if you can assist in anyway, please contact Lisa in the Front Office.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  

Please feel free to contact Empire Catering on 0408 200 481 for queries with lunch orders or any constructive feedback you have regarding menu items.  

Playgroup is held on Wednesdays in Weeks 2 to 9 from 9am til 10.30am in the School Hall. It is for children ages 0-5 and their parents/carers.  Please contact Kylie Arena or Lisa Monro on 62414022 for any enquires. 

DANCECORE -  Dance classes are held 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

SPEECH & DRAMA  -  Drama classes are being held on Tuesday’s at lunchtime, please contact Elizabeth McIntosh if you are interested on 6255 9054

SCHOOL BANKING  -  Banking day is Thursday, please leave your books at the Front Office.

BOOKCLUB -  Scholastic Bookclub runs eight times a year, there will be two issues each Term.  If you have any queries, contact Mrs Monro or Mrs Arena. 

 

 

Belconnen Youth Ministry

Inviting all students in year 3-7 to join us for an afternoon of faith, friendship and fun at South Belconnen Parish's Junior Youth Group. Join us in Marian Hall just outside of St Matthew's Church, Page on Saturday 21st September at 4:45pm for Youth Group then stay on to celebrate Mass at 6pm. Contact Youth Minister Sarah for more information at Sarah.Larkin@cg.org.au

SVDP Kaleen Conference - New members needed

Over the past few months, the Kaleen conference has lost members. The conference is now seeking new members. Are you looking to help others in a meaningful way? Please consider joining the Kaleen SVDP conference to help those in need. Contact Ted 0411106295.

Fr Johny's Birthday Celebration

Parishioners are invited to celebrate Fr Johny's birthday after Saturday night Mass at St Monica's meeting room at 7pm on 21 September. Please bring a plate of finger food to share. 

YMCA is setting up a donation bin in the foyer of the canteen… we would more than appreciate all donations of plastic lids even if you don’t attend Afters, please feel free to drop your lids in the bin.

Lids for Kids helps disabled children

Don't throw away those plastic lids. They can be recycled to make prosthetic limbs for disabled children using 3D printing.

Next time you are planning to throw your bottle cap away, think twice as it can be used to make prosthetics for children using 3D technology.

Previously all those lids were going into landfill. Now people can take the lids off their bottles and donate them. The bottles can still go into their kerbside recycling bins.

The lids are sorted and then fed into a 3D printer to make the mobility aids.

The idea comes from Envision Hands, a not-for-profit organisation based at Wheelers Hill in Victoria, which shreds low and high density (Numbers 2 and 4) bottle lids and turns them into new prosthetic limbs using 3D printing.

Nicole and Brad Sutherland, who established Lids for Kids in Goulburn, collect the buckets of lids from various sites, which is then shipped to organiser Tim Miller in Canberra.

"We had set a target of 5,000 lids a week but having surpassed it we are reluctant to set a target because the more we collect the better. Both Brad and I are thankful for the support from Goulburn and surrounding community," Mrs Sutherland said.

Tim then transports the lids to Envision Hands' warehouse in Melbourne, where they are cleaned and organised into colours. Next, they are shredded and then fed through an extruder, which produces an ink-like filament.

That filament is then used in conjunction with 3D software to print the mobility aids.

Changes to School Sport ACT

From the commencement of this year there will no longer be Belconnen Region level trials for specific sports. To replace the regional level completion, many sports are holding gala days for schools to attend. We will enter teams in these gala days where there is student interest. The pathway for selection to an ACT sporting team is through trials offered in the same way as they have been previously. Please see the information below in relation to the process of registering your child for ACT trials on the School Sport ACT website.

SCHOOL SPORT ACT TRIALS 

Please keep an eye on the School Sport ACT website www.schoolsportact.asn.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 – schoolsportact.asn.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?
8. Make the $5 credit card payment then click to register.
9. An automated email will then be sent to your Principal/School Approver for their approval to trial (no need to take anything to school for the Principal to sign).
10. You will be able to see the process has been complete back in My Profile – once your Principal/School Approver has completed the approval process your child’s information will be collated onto a list for the Team Manager and Coach prior to trial.
11. Note the registration process closes two days before the first trial date to allow sufficient time for approval and sharing of collated information.

Looking forward to another big year of sporting participation,

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

Books are no longer available for sale at the Front Office, however they can still be ordered through the following link as well as digital copies for your phone.

Please see Lisa in the Front Office for more information.