St. Michael's Primary School ~ Term 4 - Week 4

IMPORTANT DATES

Principal's Message

Dear Families,

It was absolutely wonderful to see our school community come together in a sea of red for Day for Daniel. The students showed great enthusiasm and understanding as we raised awareness for child safety. Through engaging activities and discussions, they learned valuable strategies to help keep themselves safe—an essential part of their development and wellbeing. We also celebrated the Parallel Wild Launch Day, which was a huge success! Our Year 5/6 students showcased incredible creativity and collaboration, and we’re proud to share their work alongside contributions from surrounding schools. Click the link below to explore the amazing projects they’ve created.

https://parallelwilds.com/index.php/where-the-mountains-are-home/

Our staff recently had the opportunity to join colleagues from Tallangatta Primary and Tallangatta Secondary College for a fantastic professional learning session with Dan Petro. The day was filled with insightful strategies and practical tools to support positive classroom behaviour. We all walked away feeling inspired and better equipped to foster supportive learning environments.

Looking ahead, we’re excited for the upcoming Colour Run on 21st November! To get ready:

• Set up a student Fun Run profile if you’d like to participate in fundraising  Click Here

• Organise a white top for your child to wear on the day—it’ll be a colourful celebration! 

Please note that Tuesday 4th November is the Melbourne Cup public holiday, and the school will be closed on that day.

This term is certainly a busy one, with lots happening including:

• Swimming lessons
• School transitions
• F/1/2 Day Camp

Please make sure to keep an eye on Class Dojo for updates and event details so you don’t miss a thing.

Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our vibrant school community.

Warm regards,
Marsha Ardern
Principal

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

Grade 5&6 - Mrs Mez Moffat

Grade 6  

Luke
Best - Parallel Wilds with VR and making the VR program videos and pictures with the 360 cameras. 
For 2026- Questacon at Canberra but especially the drop slide and the interactive things at Questacon.  

Leon 
Best - Camp bike riding around lake Burley Griffin, Parallel wild/ VR program, skate boarding, tree planting, being out in the creek during tree planting and learning about sugar gliders.  
For 2026 - Can’t wait for the end of primary school.  

Carla 
Best - Questacon at Canberra Camp. 
For 2026- excited for woodworks, metal work and food tech at Catholic Collage.

Macey
Best - Parallel Wilds, tree planting, buddies, riding around Lake Burley Griffin, ten pin bowling.
For 2026- swimming carnival, term sports and seeing Yr 6 friends .

Tilly
Best-enjoyed the Canberra Camp at the AIS and the Parallel Wilds program that lasted over 2 days 
For 2026-extracurricular activities but especially the Drama and Agriculture. 

Indi 
Best- Canberra Camp and all the things there was to do like Questacon, AIS and more as well as all the food.
For 2026- new opportunities, different subjects and meeting new people. 

Leala
Best- being a Year 6 leader and having a good impact on the school as well as the fun activates in class and privileges, we get such as going to Bolga Court.
For 2026- Doing all the extra activities in high school such as Art and Music  

Jye
Best- Tree planting. 
For 2026- excited to play footy at Catholic College .

Year 5 

Boyd 
Best- Canberra Camp and all the activities.
For 2026 - Melbourne Camp. 

Jack
Best- Getting a foundation Buddy we did heaps of stuff together and another favourite was the tree planting. 
For 2026- being a school leader and getting yr 6 privileges.  

Will
Best- Yr 5/6 Canberra Camp with all the activities. 
For 2026- Melbourne Camp.  

Xavier
Best- playing loud music.  
For 2026- last year of primary school. 

George
Best- I liked Canberra Camp and loved the drop slide in Questacon and loved all the games we played at camp.
For 2026- can’t wait for the YR 6 shirts next year! 

Ella 
Best- I really enjoyed Canberra Camp because I really enjoyed Ten-Pin-Bowling.  
For 2026- To learn how to skate board better.  

Teghan 
Best- Canberra Camp with Questacon doing free fall, learning about science and biking around Lake Burley Griffen.  
For 2026- new laptops and Melbourne Camp with all the new discoveries.  

Matilda M
Best- Canberra Camp with Questacon and all the interesting activities.   
For 2026- Being a Year 6 with more privileges. 

James 
Best- Parallel Wild and Canberra Camp with the bike ride around Burley Griffin.  
For 2026- going to Melbourne camp and doing new activities.  

Oscar
Best- Canberra Camp, cycling around the lake, seeing all the ducks and Questacon. 

Year 3&4 - Mrs Sally Maguire

Year 3/4 Classroom News

It’s been a busy and heart-warming few weeks in Year 3/4!In English, we’ve wrapped up Charlotte’s Web—a text that brought out many emotions and even a few sneaky tears. Students absolutely loved it. To celebrate, we created artwork and published our favourite quotes from the story, which will be proudly displayed in the main corridor. We’ve also been working hard on our own narratives, with a particular focus on figurative language. Idioms have been a big hit—there’s been lots of excitement when students hear or think of a new one to add to our classroom chart, including gems from home like “pull your socks up”!

In Maths, we’ve finished our unit on decimals. It’s been fantastic to see students approach this tricky topic with persistence and positivity. We’ve explored how decimals connect to everyday situations like time and measurement, helping make the learning meaningful and practical. A great example of this is our classroom Plank Challenge, where students record their times digitally using decimal notation (e.g. 1.35 minutes). It’s a fun way to reinforce their understanding of decimals while focusing on personal growth—not competition—and celebrating effort and improvement.

PE Thursdays have been a highlight, as we’ve joined with Year 1 and 2 to play cooperative games. These sessions focus on teamwork, honesty, sportsmanship, and agility, and it’s been wonderful to see students shine in these areas.

In Religion, we’ve completed our unit on Parables, with thoughtful reflections and discussions. We also celebrated Grandparents and Special Persons Day with a beautiful Mass, followed by afternoon tea and games at school. It was lovely to see so many special people join us and share in the joy of the day. A big congratulations to those who’ve earned their pen licences—we’re encouraging everyone to keep working towards this milestone before Year 5.

We’re hoping to have another go at incubating chickens in our room, thanks to our resident chicken expert, Sebastian. The last batch hatched during the holidays—very cute and very exciting! Finally, it’s been a joy to see students so engaged in their reading. Fostering a love of books has been a big focus, and it’s paying off—our classroom often has every student reading silently and happily.

Stay tuned to Class Dojo for more updates as we move through the term!

Warm regards,
Sally Maguire
Year 3/4 Teacher

Wellbeing - Mr Joe Quinn

Parents and Carers

From time to time, you may get a call from the school letting you know that your child is involved in some behaviour incidents. You know you child better than most and sometimes their behaviour at school can be very different from what you experience at home.  

The Education Department provides helpful information to help parents work together with the school to support the teachers and your child to make learning and being at school a successful experience for all. 

What do I do if my child is getting into trouble at school?

Steps to take if there’s been a behaviour incident. If an incident occurs, the school should contact you. If this happens:

• Listen to what the school has to say about the incident. Try not to jump to your child’s defence without hearing all sides of the situation or to blame them before you’ve discussed this with them.
• Talk with your child. Keep an open mind. Hear them without adding input.
• Work as a team with your child and their teachers to assist them to make amends if they need to and move forward in a positive way.

Set up a meeting with the school to discuss ongoing behaviour concerns.

If your child is displaying ongoing behaviours of concern, you may need to set up a meeting with your child’s school and with your child if they are old enough. Together you can discuss what’s been happening and create a way forward.

How to problem-solve together:

• Work with your child and their teacher to develop a plan to solve the issue.
• Ask your child what they think possible solutions could be.
• Speak to their teacher about whether these can be implemented in the classroom.
• Work together with your child’s teacher to solve any issues
• reinforce school expectations, rules and routines often
• Celebrate success!

Joe Quinn
Mental Health Wellbeing Leader 

Catholic College Wodonga - Transition Days

Wodonga Catholic Parish News

Hi everyone,

Last night, we held an ecumenical prayer service dedicated to pregnancy and infant loss. It was a truly beautiful and heartfelt gathering. I want to extend my gratitude to Sr. Eileen Reardon and Fr. Andrew Fewings for their contribution.

The feedback we received from several attendees was overwhelmingly positive; many expressed their appreciation for being part of this meaningful event. Several shared the profound emptiness they experienced due to their own losses, as in the past, these topics were often difficult to discuss or grieve openly. I am glad to see our world evolving in its understanding of these important issues.

We are optimistic that this event will take place annually in October, a month dedicated to raising awareness about the challenges related to pregnancy and infant loss.

The Bulletin for this weekend is now available for you to view, which I have attached.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,  I hope you can make time to enjoy the glorious sunshine and don’t forget to share your smile with a stranger or a friend. 🙃

Kind regards

Sonni 🌻

Try not to let the rain camouflage the beautiful colours in your world.  

What's On

Hello Tallangatta, 

Tallangatta Trick or Treat will be held on Friday 31 October from 6pm to 8pm.  Halloween trick or treating is a great opportunity for our community to get outdoors and connect and for the children to have some fun! 

Neighbourhood House will put together a list of addresses so everyone knows where trick or treating is welcome and the list will be posted on Facebook on the day.

Participating households will be provided with a ‘Trick or Treat Welcome Here’ sign to display.

* Trick or treaters don’t need register – just the houses who will be giving out treats* 

To register your household address phone or text Neighbourhood House on 0408 573 474 or drop in to 5a Banool Rd on Monday to Thursday between 9.30am and 2.30pm. Any help you can give with promoting this event to your children, students and families via whatever method you may deem appropriate would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Katherine

Movie Night - Jarvis Creek 

Al's Skate Co. - Skate Series - Local Comps for November