Dear Parents and Caregivers

Welcome back to the 2020 school year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the holiday period. The staff and I are excited to begin another wonderful year with you and your precious children. It was a delight to see all our students arrive for school on Monday with such vibrant enthusiasm and bright, happy smiles. Thank you to our wonderful staff for facilitating such a smooth start to the year and showing such care for our students as they get used to all the changes that moving to a new year level brings!  Congratulations to Katherine Riolo who was married over the holidays! She is now Mrs Turner!

New families and staff

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new families and staff who are joining our St. Michael’s family. We are thrilled to have you all as part of our community and I hope that you will create some wonderful memories during your time with us!

In terms of staff, we are excited to welcome our new Pre-primary teacher, Miss Glasgow-Collins (or Miss GC) who comes to us from Liwara Catholic Primary School. Welcome back to Mrs Cullen who is joining us for 6 months to cover for Mrs Saunders in Year 3. Mrs Cullen is ‘on loan’ to us from her substantive position at John Paul II Catholic Primary School. Thank you and welcome back to Mrs Shanahan who will be filling in as our art teacher until her replacement, Mrs Charles, can commence her new position.

Assistant Principal Roles

A reminder that Mrs Jemima Saunders, who usually co-ordinates curriculum and IT and is line manager for Kindy – Year 3, is on long service leave this term. Mr Ryan Powles, who co-ordinates Religious Education and administration and is line manager for Years 4 – 6, will cover both assistant principal roles this term while Jemima is on leave.

In term 2, as I will be taking long service leave, Ryan will be acting Principal and Jemima will cover both assistant principal roles. In semester two, all roles will return to normal.

If you have questions or concerns, your first port of call should be the classroom teacher. Please make an appointment to see them at a mutually convenient time. If you still have concerns, you are invited to make an appointment to speak with the relevant assistant principal (Term 1 – Ryan, Term 2 – Jemima, Terms 3 & 4 – K – 3 Jemima and Yrs 4 – 6 Ryan). After which you may request an appointment with myself.

Principal’s Secretary and Email Address

This year, Mrs Lisa Grazia will be working in the role of Principal’s Secretary on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Any parents wishing to email or make an appointment with myself are asked to use the following address: principal@stmichaelsbass.wa.edu.au.

Principal’s Vision and Code of Conduct

The start of a new year is a timely opportunity to, once again, share with you my vision for St. Michael’s and the values that I hold dear, as it is up to all of us to work together to create a supportive environment for our students.

My vision for our school is a place where:

Christ is at the centre of all we do;

Every child can flourish;

Enthusiasm for learning is fostered for staff, students and parents;

Students are supported to discover and their gifts and talents and what makes them special;

Everyone feels welcomed, included, accepted, safe and loved;

Students are provided with a wide range of quality experiences to help them develop physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually and academically;

Students can feel engaged in learning;

Staff and parents can work collaboratively and in partnership with each other to achieve the best outcomes for students; and

Open and respectful communication and a positive culture exist.

I invite all our community members to actively and positively engage with us in the education of your most precious gift/s, your child/ren, through the variety of opportunities that are available for parent involvement. We value your presence and your ideas!

To help ensure that all community members positively contribute to our school, we have in place a code of conduct. The school code of conduct can be found on our website: https://www.stmichaelsbass.wa.edu.au/pdf/policies/policies_codeofconduct.pdf . Both staff and parents are required to adhere to this code at all times to ensure both the safety of students and that all members of our community are treated with respect and dignity. This document also outlines the importance of confidentiality, which is a timely reminder that, whilst we encourage and appreciate parent assistance in classrooms, we ask that volunteers maintain confidentially at all times to ensure student wellbeing. Please take some time to familiarise yourself with this document.

Parent Information Evening – Monday 10 February

Our 2020 Parent Information Evening is being held this coming Monday night. This year there will not be a session in the hall, instead, parents are invited to make their way directly to classrooms ready for a 6pm start. Information sessions will run for 30 minutes and the second session commences at 6.40pm. The second session is a repeat to allow parents to get to multiple classrooms if they have more than one student at St. Michael’s. We encourage each family to have at least one parent in attendance so that you can hear about how your child’s class will operate this year. If you are unable to attend, please touch base with your child’s teacher in the near future so that they can keep you in the loop about important routines etc. A reminder that this is not a forum to engage individually with teachers about your child. Should you wish to do this, you are most welcome to make an appointment to see your child’s teacher at a later date.

Beginning of Year Mass and P & F Welcome Event

To celebrate the start of a new school year, the Year 5 class will lead us in a liturgy on Wednesday 12 February at 9am in the church. We would love to see you all there.

Thank you to our amazing Parents and Friends (P & F) association for welcoming our new families with a magnificent morning tea this morning.  I encourage all families, particularly those who are new, to come along to our P & F welcome event on the evening of Friday 21 February. Keep an eye out for more information to follow!

P & F Event Co-ordinator Needed

The P & F are urgently seeking a parent to take on the role of event co-ordinator. This role does not mean that you have to co-ordinate events yourself, but requires someone who can co-ordinate teams of people to run P & F events. Without this role, we are unable to have great community building events such as the quiz night. Please consider volunteering for this role and contact myself or Tanwyn Travers (P & F President) if you are interested. Our thanks go to Kirsty Evans who took on this role at the last minute mid 2019 and did a wonderful job co-ordinating various events!

After School Club – Robotics

Bricks4Kidz is a robotics club which runs an after school club in our library on Monday afternoons. They are commencing on Monday 10 February. Please see their ad in the community news section of this newsletter for more information. 

Please note that these after school programs run separately to the school program and students will not be supervised by school staff during this time. The club commences at 3.30pm however St. Michael’s students who enroll in Bricks4Kidz can head directly to the library after school where they can engage with the robotics under the supervision of the Bricks4Kidz staff.

James St Closure Next Friday 14 February

Thank you for your patience with our alternative pick up routine today. A reminder that the same arrangements will be in place next Friday due to the James St. closure for the WonderRealm Festival.

Old Perth Road between Wilson Street and James Street (including James Street) will be closed from 7am. Cars will not be permitted to enter James Street or drive behind the Town’s Administration Centre from Wilson Street to James Street. Cars will be permitted to enter Hamilton Street off Old Perth Road.

The alternative pick up and drop off arrangements will be as follows:

• In the morning, please drop students off at the Hamilton St entrance.
• In the afternoon, we encourage parents to park at the shopping centre and walk up to the school to collect your child/ren via the Hamilton Street entrance.
• Teachers will keep students in classrooms when the bell rings, and parents can collect their students from classrooms.
• At 3.10pm, any students who have not been collected will be taken to the front of the church and supervised on Hamilton St.
• Parents who wish to pick up their child/ren via the drive through option are asked to wait until 3.10pm to collect their child/ren. They may do so via the drive through at the church from 3.10pm.

 We apologise for any inconvenience. Thank you for your patience and for working with us to ensure student safety.

Cyber Safety Resources for Parents

National Online Safety has put together some fantastic resources for parents about social media apps, online games, and trending issues to allow parents to have informed discussions with their children.  All resources can be accessed from the National Online Safety website:

National Online Safety website:
https://nationalonlinesafety.com/resources/wake-up-wednesday/

Additional Resources: http://bit.ly/2v8rsEX (additional resources available from National Online Safety website)

Visit the National Online Safety Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NationalOnlineSafety/

 

Wishing you all a fabulous year and may God watch over you and bless you as the year unfolds.

Dr Siobhan Galos

Principal