St. Michael's Primary School ~ Term 2 Week 8

IMPORTANT DATES

Principal's Message

Dear families,

I hope this message finds you well and warm as we settle into the winter season. It’s been a vibrant and busy time at school, filled with exciting updates and wonderful opportunities for our students.

We are thrilled to announce the recommencement of our accessibility building works. This is an important step forward in ensuring our school continues to grow as an inclusive and welcoming space for all members of our community. Thank you for your ongoing patience and support during this process.

We’re excited to launch our CDF Pay platform, which will help streamline our school payments and event processes. Our first event using CDF Pay will be Hot Dog Day on Thursday 26th June and we’re looking forward to this fun and delicious lunchtime treat!

A huge congratulations to all involved in our recent F–2 Cross Country! It was a fantastic success and such a joy to see so many parents, families and community members cheering on our students. A heartfelt thank you to our amazing educators who made the day so memorable—especially the surprise Dance Party at the finish line, which brought big smiles to everyone’s faces.

Next week, I will be accompanying our Year 5/6 students to Canberra for their highly anticipated camp. It’s always a joy to see our students engage with our nation’s capital and all it has to offer. During my time away, Charlene Fenton will be on-site to assist and ensure everything continues to run smoothly.

Recently, our 5/6 students took part in a Spirituality Retreat Day at Catholic College Wodonga. We are extremely grateful to CCW for welcoming our students and providing them with a meaningful opportunity for spiritual reflection and growth.

Finally, our thoughts and prayers are with the communities in New South Wales who are currently affected by severe flooding and drought affected communities of Victoria and South Australia. Events like these remind us of the importance of compassion, courage, and community—values we hold close at our school. These moments call on us to stand together, offer support where we can, and model empathy and care for others. It’s in these times that we truly see the strength and heart of a connected community.

Warm regards,
Marsha Ardern
Principal

Absence and Teacher Communication Map 

New Allied Health Available

Allied Health Counsellor, Tamika Gigliotti will be available at St Michael's School on Thursdays.  For anyone seeking support with their children or families, a private and confidential space will be available at school for sessions with Tamika.  

Garden Club Donations 

Dear St Michael’s Families,

As we look ahead to the cooler months, the St. Michael’s Garden Club is getting ready for our winter planting—and we’d love your help! 🌱❄️

If you have any winter seeds to spare, we’d be so grateful for your donations. You can drop them off at the school office or bring them to Miss Kaycee’s Year One classroom.

Your contributions help our students learn, grow, and get their hands dirty in the most wonderful ways. Thank you for supporting our little gardeners!

Warm wishes,
The St Michael’s Garden Club.

Student Pick-up Arrangements

Please phone the school if your child/ren are not going to be on the bus or have changed pick up arrangements. This is a part of our daily process and our commitment to Child Safety at St Michael's.

Please update ongoing changes when they begin or conclude e.g. sport training or guides. 

School Advisory Council and Parent Representative Group 

We are looking for new members!

If you would like to take the opportunity to nominate for our School Advisory Council or join our PRG we would certainly appreciate new members. They are both great ways to connect with other families and support your child/ren's education and make our school even better. 

If you have any questions about the council or PRG please contact the school. 

2025 Pupil Free Days

Term 3: 13  August CESL Staff Spirituality Day

Term 4: 20 October Dan Petro Behaviour Analyst Professional Learning, 28 November 2026 Planning day and  17 - 19 December Staff Professional Learning Day and Magnify Sandhurst Days

STUDENT ILLNESS & ABSENCES

A reminder that if your child has gastroenteritis or fever please notify the school and record on your child's absence notification. This will help keep our school safe and our students healthy.

Gastroenteritis exclusion from school - 48 hours from last symptom of vomiting and/or diarrhoea.  

St. Michael’s Primary School is committed to child safety and the inclusion of all children.

SWPB - School Wide Positive Behaviour

🌟 Growing Hearts of Kindness at Home 🌟
Supporting Children to Build a Culture of Care and Respect.

At our school, we value kindness as one of the most powerful ways to build strong relationships, respectful communities, and confident learners. As children grow, they look to the adults in their lives for guidance on how to treat others. Families play a key role in shaping the attitudes and behaviours that help children become thoughtful and compassionate members of the community.
Here are some simple yet meaningful ways to help encourage a kindness mindset at home:

1. Model Kindness Daily
Children learn by example. Whether it’s saying thank you to a shop assistant, offering help to a neighbour, or speaking respectfully during a disagreement, your actions speak volumes. Let your child see you being kind—even in small ways.

2. Talk About Feelings
Encouraging your child to name their own emotions and consider how others might feel helps build empathy. Try asking, “How would you feel if that happened to you?” or “What do you think your friend felt when that happened?”

3. Celebrate Acts of Kindness
Notice and praise kind behaviours at home and at school. Acknowledge moments when your child shares, helps, includes others, or speaks gently. Reinforcing positive actions helps children understand the impact of their kindness.

4. Use Books and Stories
Stories are powerful tools for teaching values. Reading books that highlight empathy, inclusion, and cooperation can open up conversations about how we treat others. Ask questions like, “What would you have done in that situation?”

5. Encourage Giving Back
Involve your child in acts of service, like donating toys, writing cards to someone who is sick, or helping a younger sibling. These actions show children that they can make a positive difference in someone’s life.

6. Be Patient — Kindness Takes Practice
Just like learning to read or ride a bike, kindness takes time to develop. Mistakes will happen, but every experience is a chance to reflect and grow. Support your child in thinking about how to make things right when they’ve hurt someone else’s feelings. Together, let’s continue to build a school community where kindness is not only encouraged but expected.

Thank you for the many ways you guide your children to grow in compassion and care. Kindness really is contagious—let’s keep it spreading!

Link for story: ⭐ Kids Book Read Aloud: MOST PEOPLE by Michael Leannah

Divisional Cross Country

Congratulations to the following students for competing at the Divisional Cross Country, at Willow Park Wodonga on 30 May. 

Dusty - U9/10 - 68th, 
George - U11 - 58th
Leon- U11 - 68th
Declan- U9/10 - 56th
Mietta - U9/10 - 53rd
Lily - U9/10 - 17th

Year 1 - Ms Kaycee Frew

What Have the Year Ones Been Up To?

It has been a productive and exciting few weeks in Year 1! The class has been fully engaged in mid-year academic testing, a task that can feel quite big for our young learners—but one they have tackled with confidence and resilience. We’re incredibly proud of how they’ve approached the assessments in reading, writing and mathematics, showing not only their growing skills but also their positive attitude towards learning challenges.

In reading, students have been demonstrating their ability to decode unfamiliar words, read with fluency, and make meaning from texts. Many have grown in their comprehension and enjoy sharing their favourite parts of books.
In writing, children have been working hard on forming complete sentences (or super sentences as we call them), using correct punctuation and adding descriptive details to their writing. We've seen great improvements in handwriting, as well as in students' ability to spell common sight words and use their phonics knowledge to attempt unfamiliar words.

In mathematics, the assessments have focused on number fluency, basic operations, and problem-solving. Of course, after such dedicated academic effort, the students have earned some much-needed brain breaks—short, energising activities that give their minds and bodies a chance to reset before jumping back into learning.

Alongside assessments, we’ve launched an exciting new topic in maths: Measurement! This has brought a lot of hands-on fun and real-world learning into the classroom. Students have been exploring the concepts of length and height, comparing classroom objects using string and developing vocabulary such as longer, shorter, taller, and equal to.

They've also been learning to use rulers accurately, understanding how to line them up correctly and read measurements in centimetres (cm). One of our favourite activities so far involved measuring common classroom items—pencils, books, glue sticks—and recording our results in a measurement chart. This has not only built their measuring skills but also encouraged teamwork, communication, and careful observation.

Many students have commented on how much they’re enjoying this practical, hands-on learning, especially after some of the more abstract and challenging maths units earlier in the year. It’s been heartwarming to see their confidence grow and their curiosity sparked as they explore math in such a tangible way.

We're so proud of our Year 1 learners and all that they’ve achieved so far.

Grade 2 - Ms Bianca Kennedy

Year 2 Term Update

What a fantastic and busy term we’ve had in Year 2!
We were excited to welcome two new classmates to our room — Charlotte and Jordan (J.B.). They have settled in beautifully and it’s been wonderful to see our class showing such kindness and care as they made new friends.

In literacy, we’ve been diving deep into vocabulary, noun groups and adjectives. The students have been exploring how descriptive language can bring writing to life and their creativity has really started to shine. Our spelling focus has also continued strongly, with a special emphasis on understanding the /ch/ sound when it makes a /k/ sound — tricky words like arachnid, orchestra, and stomach have challenged us, but we’ve enjoyed the opportunity to learn and grow our spelling strategies.

In maths, we’ve been busy working on place value, ordering and comparing numbers, and rounding numbers up and down — all the way to the thousands! The students have shown great progress and are developing strong number sense as we work with larger numbers.

We’ve also had two very special excursions this term. One to the park, where we enjoyed some outdoor fun and team-building activities, and another to the local library, where we proudly viewed some of our artwork on display.

It was a joy to see our creations being celebrated in the community. We are so proud of all the learning and growth that has taken place this term.

Well done, Year 2!

Wodonga Catholic Parish News

Hello everyone, 

Yes it is that time again, please find attached our lates Parish News....

This weekend Sunday the 15th of June 2025
~ "The Most Holy Trinity" ~
As the candidates come to the final stages of the First Reconciliation Program we pray for them and their families. 

Please take note of the information in regards to 'Fake' YouTube and social media posts.

As 'AI' is being more accepted and used in our daily lives, there is a down side. The information on page two of the parish news this week is a good read. It should be noted to always check prior to sharing or forwarding any information on your socials and or emails.

I hope you are all staying warm and cosy inside.

Once again, I appreciate the many wonderful comment’s on our Bulletin/Parish news. Thank you . Don’t forget to share your smile with a stranger or a friend.

Kind regards

Sonni 🌻

What's On

Border Triathlon Squad

The Border Triathlon Squad are excited to offer to you our 2025 Duathlon Series.

This series will be held at two different locations, one being Tangambalanga & the other in Wodonga.
The best part of this series for us, is that we are offering it for kids from the age 5 upwards and are also including adults to join in the fun. Depending on the age of the child, the distances will be different. (Attached is our flyer with all the details on distances per location)

Best of all, there is a discount if you register for more than one event & kids under the age of 7 are free!!! 

For those that register, an email will be sent out prior to the event with all the details you need to know. 

Cheers
Nadine & Jeremy Border Triathlon Squad 

Writing Competition 

Hello
As part of our Albury Wodonga Martial Arts' birthday celebrations, we are running a writing competition with a martial arts theme. You don't need to be a martial artist to enter, just be inspired by it! All ages can enter. There are prizes and the winners will be published in Martial Arts Magazine Australia.

I have attached the competition details, entry form and terms and conditions.

We have just recently extended the deadline for entries to the 14th of June, 2025.

Entry fees are $10 for the 16 and above category and $5 for the younger writers. Proceeds are going to Yes, Unlimited! - an organisation that helps some of the most vulnerable in our area.

Regards
Dianne
www.austwriters.com