Dear Parents and Carers 

Welcome to the final week of Term 2. It feels like in the blink of an eye we are halfway through the year.

Our prayer today is one of gratefulness for so many things this semester. The many opportunities provided to your children and the sheer joy they have in belonging to such a wonderful learning community. I am wondering if you took a moment to close your eyes and focus on each of your children individually, how quickly would you be able to recall at least 3 highlights from the term for them that you appreciate. We hope you enjoyed the recent 3 way conversations and celebrating your child’s achievements with them and their teacher. So much to be proud of.

Fr Darien: Fr Darien is indeed someone who our entire learning community is grateful for as our remarkable, dedicated, selfless, hardworking and deeply spiritual Parish Priest. It is with sadness for us, we share the news that Fr Darien will be leaving our parish, after his appointed term of 6 years, and will take up a new appointment as Parish Priest at St Michael’s Ashburton in September.  Fr Darien’s last ‘official’ day in our parish will be Sunday 14th July but he will return to lead our students from Our Lady Star of the Sea and St Aloysius Primary Schools in their celebrations of First Eucharist during August. 

We wish Fr Darien many blessings as he moves onto another parish. How fortunate are St Michael’s. A recent quote that resonated with me and comes to mind when processing Fr Darien’s departure is ‘ Do not be sad about what has been, smile that it has happened.” We certainly have many happy smiles of Fr Darien’s time with us. The Irish blessing prayer today is dedicated to you Fr Darien.

Congratulations Isla Briggs: A huge congratulations to Isla Briggs on making the Victorian State Team in Football. A huge achievement from across Victoria with the initial stage of nominations in  Round 1 being 240 students; then Round 2, 80 students, Round 3, 50 students and making the Final Squad of 27 students. An incredible effort and a very humble and gracious finalist. We wish Isla all the very best in the national championships being held in Geelong on where she will compete in 5 games over 6 days, representing Victoria. We wish Isla all the very best. 

Annual Report to the School Community 2023: Click here link for a copy of the Annual report to the school community for last year 2023 which is  shared each year at this time. Please also note this will be added to the school website. We are also currently redesigning our school website in collaboration with our School Advisory Council, with the hope to release this at some stage in Term 3. Stay tuned.

Indonesian Day (By Winnie Ward and Noah Jennings): Last week we had Indonesian Day and we were learning different games and dances that they do in Indonesia. Each year level did something different. As a school we are reading the book called Bawang Merah and Bawang Putih. Each grade is adding their artworks that they created on Indonesian day to create a whole school mural outside the library. The senior year levels were playing (Badminton) and Sepak Takraw. Many year levels learned how to make Serabi Kuah, pandan flavored pancakes, and others made Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice). Everyone had a great day learning about the different traditions in Indonesian culture. 

Many thanks to Bu Bree, Bu Rika, Bu Ashlee and Bu Christine for their amazing preparation and, of course, our Indonesian Leaders Winnie and Noah.

Safety Message for exiting after school: For all children and families exiting Shell Road, please be mindful of not jumping over the oval fences. This is unsafe and a potential hazard of being cut from the signage. We respectfully ask for parent support with this. 

Wishing you all a restful and enjoyable Winter break after a very successful term.

Kerryn