Dear Parents,

Parents & Friends

On Monday night we had our Parents & Friends (P & F) meeting where various options were discussed in relation to how best to spend the money raised by P & F fundraisers. I have been very impressed by what an active, vibrant and capable P & F body that we have at St. Michael’s, and due to their hard work, our P&F is currently in an excellent financial position. I would like to encourage all parents to come along to P & F meetings! Each parent in our school is automatically a part of our P & F Association and meetings are for everyone to attend, not just our committee members. It is so important that we have as many people in the room as possible when generating ideas and coming to a consensus about where and how to spend monies raised. Ideally, we want to have as many year levels as possible represented. Your presence at meetings does not mean you have to take on a job nor a role on the P & F committee, it’s about having your say into what resources are purchased with your funds! Fundraising is one of two roles of the P & F, the second is that of ‘friendraising’ and so we also encourage you to come along and get to know other parents! P & F meetings are held on the third Monday of each month (with the exception of during school holidays when there are no meetings) at 7pm in the staffroom. Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday 17th September. Bring a friend!

Athletics Carnival

Congratulations to Miss Nat Brescacin for co-ordinating the Athletics field events today and to all the students who competed. Thank you also to the parents and family members who attended and particularly those who assisted in various ways. We are looking forward to our track events on Wednesday 29th August at Ern Clark Recreation Centre. Please pray for fine weather! A reminder to all spectators to please remain in the spectator area and behind the barriers to allow the place judges to have a clear view of the race. To help us maintain good supervision in the bays and a swift marshalling process, we ask parents to remain in the designated spectator area and out of the student bays. Parents are welcome to visit their children in the bays during the break sessions. Our priorities for the students during our athletics carnival are fun, participation and good sportsmanship. With this in mind, I’d like to remind spectators that the judge’s decisions will be final and no discussions will be entered in to.

Fathers’ Day Activities

Next Friday 31 August, we invite all the dads in our school to join us for some Fathers’ Day activities in the hall at 8am. This will be followed by a light breakfast at 8.30am and brief assembly at 9am. We hope you enjoy this special morning with your children! Thank you to Laura Marzo, Bethany Griffiths and Nat Brescacin for co-ordinating and to Linda Ford in the canteen for the catering.

Pick Up Routine – James Street

We are currently trying to streamline our after school pickup routine on James Street in an attempt to ensure student safety and keep the drive through moving steadily. Students have been asked to ensure they come out to the front of the school promptly after the bell rings and sit along the cream walls in front of the school on James Street. They are not permitted to walk down to the roundabout to enter cars but are only to hop in their car if it is in the areas painted with diagonal lines. We ask cars at the front of the line to move forward and park in a parking bay (if available) if their child is not out the front of the school. This will allow other cars to progress in the queue and keep the drive through moving. We request that drivers in the queue remain patient and do not try and cut in as this can be very dangerous.

We also remind parents to collect students promptly after school. I encourage parents to update their emergency contacts in the event that your child has not been picked up and we cannot reach you. Thank you for your support with this.

New Art work at Reception

Our reception area has received a new pop of colour with the installation of four glass discs and a beautiful cross created by Prendiville Catholic College students. Each of the discs represents one of our houses: Morahan, Kelleher, McAuley and Mercy. We are thrilled with the results and thank Ms Lynn Vroombout and the students of Prendiville for their fantastic work! Thank you also to Mrs Liebregts for co-ordinating the project.

Mrs Siobhan Galos
Principal