Dear Parents,

It’s hard to believe it is Week 6, Term One. We have had a busy and enjoyable start to the school year. Last week Mr Paton and Mrs Mathieson travelled to Los Angeles to represent the Diocese of Wollongong at a Religious Congress. Mr Paton and Mrs Mathieson have visited various schools and attended conferences, gaining great insights to share when they return to school.

On Wednesday 22nd February, Power FM visited St Michael’s for their Breakfast Show. Our School Captains Yuin Hill and Eleanor Boyton shared what they believe is great about St Michael’s and Max Bailey won a prize playing Scatterbrains. Congratulations Max! All the students enjoyed participating in games, talking with Navy personnel and engaging with the King and Queen of Green. The school community had a wonderful morning and the happy engagement of students, staff and parents reflected the spirit of St Michael’s.

Last Wednesday also marked the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Your child received a cross of ash on their forehead made from blessed palm branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday Mass. During Lent, as Catholics, we are called to consider the times when we have distanced ourselves from God through sin. When the ashes are placed on the forehead we are encouraged to accept the ashes as a symbol of penance. As we progress through the season of Lent to Easter we encourage families to join the school and Parish community at our Grade and weekend Parish Masses.

On Thursday 23rd February, our School Captains were invited to cut the ribbon for the opening ceremony of the new Nowra Bridge. They represented the school with pride and appreciated the privilege of contributing to a significant event in the history of the Shoalhaven. Well done to Yuin, Eleanor and the members of the school community in attendance. 

Last Friday (24th February) was a special day for our Year 6 leaders and Kindergarten students. This day was marked with a Beginning School Liturgy for Kindergarten. This week is Kindergarten’s fourth week of school. The students are fortunate to be very well supported by their parents, teachers, School Support Officers and their Year 6 buddies. We are all very pleased with how well they have settled into learning and playing with newfound friends. I would like to thank all of the school community for supporting and caring for our Kindergarten students.

This Tuesday (28th February), parents and carers were invited into the classrooms to meet their child’s class teacher. The students were encouraged to share their learning and classroom environment with their families. There was a positive buzz across the school and we thank everyone who was able to join us. If at any time you would like to discuss your child’s progress please do not hesitate to make an appointment by contacting the school office.  

On Thursday 9th March St Michael’s will be hosting an Open Day for 2024 prospective enrolments. Families seeking enrolment are welcome to attend a brief information session at either 3:30pm or 5pm. The information session will be followed by a tour of the school. If you know someone interested in attending St Michael’s next year please share this information with them. There is no need to register for the Open Day.

This year our Year 3 and Year 5 students will participate in NAPLAN (National Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy). NAPLAN is an annual, point-in-time assessment for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The testing period is from March 15th until March 27th.

On Friday 10th March students in Years 3-6 will be participating in the annual Cross Country Carnival. More information about this event has been provided through Compass and is available in the Sports section of the Newsletter.

I wish you all the best for the coming week. 

Yours in Faith and Virtue,

Mrs Carolyn Rutkowski

Acting Principal

During Term 4 last year, Grade 5 (our current Grade 6) brought in essential items and school supplies to donate to the flood affected regions in central west NSW. The towns of Canowindra, Eugowra and surrounds were devastated by the severe floods in November 2022. Jackson Bartley’s family were generous enough to call some of the schools in these regions. They transported these items themselves at the end of the school holidays.

This is some of Jackson’s and his Mum’s account of the journey:

With the addition of the Nowra Officeworks donation, we put together the packs of school supplies and travelled to Bedgerabong (near Forbes) and met with Kate, a representative of the school. She was very grateful for the donation. During the floods, the students and teachers were surrounded by water and some had to be airlifted out of the school. 

The next morning, we travelled to Eugowra, which was about half an hour away. We donated more of the school supplies to Eugowra Public School. St. Joseph’s Catholic School and the local pre-school students were sharing the space at Eugowra Public School. Driving through the town was really hard. Most of the homes were unoccupied because there was so much water damage. People were living in caravans and were waiting for tradespeople to help with the rebuilding of their homes. The footpaths and the roads were washed away.

Kylie from Eugowra Public School wants to thank the students from St. Michael’s for their generous donation. She said it is very overwhelming that so many people care about their small community. It will help so much with the long recovery.

Amazing effort!

KINDERGARTEN 2024 ENROLMENTS- NOW OPEN

We wish to advise that we are now accepting enrolments for Kindergarten 2024. Enrolment packages may be downloaded by clicking here or collected from our school office.

Please share this information with friends and family considering enrolling students in 2024. Important dates for the diary include;

• Thursday 9 March 2023: St Michael's Open Day (2 sessions: 3:30pm & 5pm). Bookings not required.

• Friday 21 April 2023: Kindergarten 2024 Application Forms and supporting documents due to be returned to St Michael's.

• Saturday 6 May 2023: Kindergarten 2024 Enrolment Interviews with the School Principal and Leadership team.

• From Term 2, Week 9: Enrolment advice letter and offer of place, if successful.

• Term 4: Kindergarten 2024 Orientation.(Date to be advised)

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SCHOOL CROSSING SUPERVISOR

YEAR 3 - 6 CROSS COUNTRY

Next Friday 10 March, students in Grade 3 – 6 will be competing in the annual school Cross Country at Willandra. Students will be running or walking 2km. We are praying that this year the event gets to take place as the previous years have been called off due to Covid and wet weather. Please note, canteen facilities will not be available at Willandra or at school for Year 3-6 students on this day. Students must bring all food and drinks.

Parents are more than welcome to come and watch on the day. We do ask that parents stay at the northern end of the car park which is next to the finish line. Parents are asked not to come into the student areas as it will become very crowded. If parents are able to assist on the day, can you please let Mr Allmark know as soon as possible.    

K-2 CROSS COUNTRY

The K-2 Cross Country will be held at school on Friday 24 March at 12pm. Parents are welcome to watch the event and join their child for lunch.

REP SPORT

Today and next week, we have students trialling for Wollongong representative teams in a variety of sports.

We wish the following students the best of luck in their trials and look forward to hearing about their successes and experiences in the next newsletter;

Next Tuesday 7 March, we have 17 students representing the school in the Wollongong Diocesan Trials at Corrimal Pool.  Congratulations and good luck to the following students;

On Tuesday 21 February Tommy Webster and Morten Ellerington of Year 5 and Thomas Webber of Year 6 travelled to Wollongong to trial for the combined Wollongong/Canberra AFL team. These boys were up against 40 of the best players from both Canberra and Wollongong. The boys very quickly noted the talent of the other boys trialling and had to step up their efforts in order to be noticed amongst the pool of talented players. From all accounts received, each boy put their all in during the trial. Congratulations to Morten Ellerington for making the final 20 player squad. We wish Morten all the best in the in the NSW MacKillop Trials which will be held in Wagga on Tuesday 28 March.  

On Sunday 26 February, Isaac Dunphy from Year 3, represented the Shoalhaven in baseball and was selected to play for the Illawarra Ironbirds in the Rookie Cup Tournament at North Ryde. The tournament was made up of teams from all over Sydney. Isaac played 4 games throughout day. This tested all the players endurance and energy as temperatures were in the low to mid 30’s for most the day.

Isaac fielded in shortstop, the outfield and third base throughout the day whilst making some clever fielding decisions. With the bat, Isaac topped the RBI (Runs Batted in) stats in his team. The highlight of the day was Isaac knocking the ball out of the park with an amazing home run which was the result of his skill, precision and timing. His home run resulted in his team scoring 3 runs for the one play.

Isaac’s coach was extremely impressed with this effort. In the presentation at the end of the day he said the following about Isaac,

Well done to Isaac on his outstanding performance!

WINTER SPORT

THE NRL season has started and that means Junior Winter competitions are just around the corner. Registrations for Winter sports have already opened and teams will be looking at grading very soon. Here are some local sporting teams that your child may wish to participate in the winter months.

Netball teams

Saints: http://saintsnc.nsw.netball.com.au/ 

Rebels: http://rebelsnc.nsw.netball.com.au/

Jervis Bay: http://jervisbaync.nsw.netball.com.au/

North Nowra and Bomaderry: http://nnbnc.nsw.netball.com.au/

Albatross: http://albatrossnc.nsw.netball.com.au/

Lyrebird: https://www.facebook.com/LyrebirdNetballClub/

Worrigee:  https://www.worrigeetigersnc.com/

For further information on different clubs, please follow this link for Shoalhaven Netball Association: http://sna.nsw.netball.com.au/

AFL

Nowra Giants: https://www.facebook.com/shoalhavengiants/

Bay and Basin: http://www.bombers.net.au/

Bomaderry: https://www.bomaderrytigersafl.com.au/

Rugby Union

Shoalhaven: https://www.facebook.com/weareshoals/

League

Bomaderry: https://www.facebook.com/Bomaderry-Swamp-Rats-270032815270/

Football

Bomaderry: https://www.facebook.com/BomaderrySoccerClub

Shoalhaven Heads/Berry: https://www.facebook.com/headsberryfc/

Don’t forget to redeem your Active Kids Sport Voucher where you can claim two $100 vouchers that can be used towards your child’s sport each year.

The school calendar is slowly filling up with events for the students to participate in and where students will be trialling for representative honours in a variety of sports:

UPCOMING EVENTS

Years 3 – 6 School Cross Country Friday 10 March at Willandra 

Infants School Cross Country Friday 24 March 12pm at School

Diocesan South Coast Swimming Carnival Tuesday 7 March Corrimal Pool

If you have any questions about sports or any events coming up, please don’t hesitate to contact me. 

Regards,

Mr. Andrew Allmark 

Sports Co-ordinator

Futsal_Shoalhaven_Programs.pdf

Futsal_Shoalhaven_Programs _pdf 1.48 MB

Saints Netball Club Nowra are looking for players aged 6 years upwards. Boys or girls any level welcomed. Active Kids vouchers accepted. Contact: NowraSaintsPresident@gmail.com or Angela on 0404727157.

GET READY! AUSTRALIAN READING HOUR: MARCH 9 2023
AUSTRALIAN READING HOUR HAS A SHORT AND SWEET MESSAGE: READ, SHARE, AND ENJOY BOOKS!

We’re asking all Australians across the nation to spend an hour on the day reading and sharing the stories they love with others. It’s a whole day, where the whole country talks about books together.

WHAT TO READ

You can read and share any book you like – what will you recommend to others? 

Australian Reading Hour is a great way to introduce someone to an author that you love, choose an Australian story or discover new titles suggested by others. 

What will you read with your children?

We are looking forward to a fun day in the Library exploring all things books- stories and art, journeys to fantastical places.

Barbara McKenna

SJE_Open_Night_2023_Brochure.pdf

SJE_Open_Night_2023_Brochure _pdf 3.70 MB

 

YOUTH MUSIC FESTIVAL - SEEKING YOUNG STALL HOLDERS

Headspace Nowra are looking for young people who answer yes to the below to submit their interest via: https://forms.office.com/r/kpfL6TK1Ta

• Are you aged 12-25 years?
• Do you have a business idea, service or something you want to sell? Like jewellery, photography, clothing, beauty products etc.
• Do you live in the Shoalhaven?
• Ever wanted to promote your product in the community?

 Now is your chance!

We can’t wait to receive your application at the link above. 

The call for young people to hold a Market Stall closes at 6pm on Friday 10^th March, 2023, so submit your application at the link above as soon as possible.

Contact Maria Pulido at headspace Nowra for more information at mpulidolopez@gph.org.au or call 444 67 300.

YOUTH MUSIC FESTIVAL - SEEKING YOUNG MUSICIANS

Headspace Nowra Youth Week working group is calling for musicians and performers for the upcoming NIGHT IS YOUNG FESTIVAL.

We are looking for young people who answer yes to the below to submit their interest via: https://forms.office.com/r/WsiNFD1unh

• Are you aged 12-25 years?
• Are you a solo artist, band, dance group, producer with original music or spoken word performer?
• Do you live in the Shoalhaven?
• Ever wanted to perform at a festival?

The call for musicians and performers closes at 6pm on Friday 10^th March, 2023, so submit your application at the link above as soon as possible.

Contact Jessica Richardson at Shoalhaven City Council for more information at communityconnections@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au or at 1300 293 111.

Shoalhaven_Local_Government_Area_83075.pdf

Shoalhaven_Local_Government_Area_83075 _pdf 229.06 KB

Competition_Poster.pdf

Competition_Poster _pdf 21.95 MB