Tēnā koutou katoa St Michael’s Catholic School Community,
Ma tini ma mano ka rapa te whaiMany hands make light work
The Book Parade was a superb event, and everyone had a great time. Thank you to Anna for organising this. A big thank you to all the parents who bought books from the Scholastic Book Fair and thank you to Monique Booth who organised the volunteers to sell the books. Scroll down to view photos.
We had a great turn out at our New Families' evening last week. There are a number a few new families joining our school next year, and we are looking forward to welcoming them into our community. Thank you to the PTA for organising the drinks and nibbles.
Congratulations to the Kirit Family who have recently welcomed baby Laurence Benedict Kirit. Allen (Rm 3) is a proud big brother and has been helping Mum and Dad out over the past few days with his new little brother.
Athletics Day - Friday 15 November - If Wet Monday 18 November
In order for this to run smoothly, Miss Bagnall is looking for parent helpers to fill a range of roles. One of the key values of our school is to “do your bit” and we would love your support in ensuring the success of this event. If you are available to help on the Save Date (Monday 18 November), please email Charlotte at c.bagnall@smcs.school.nz.
St Michael’s Catholic School Policies – all our policies are on SchoolDocs, please follow the next four steps.
Start typing the school name and then select from the dropdown list.
Enter the community username and password: Username: smcs Password: mackillop
This term we are reviewing:
Finance and Asset Management Policy (board)
Managing Income and Expenditure (board)
Financial Conflicts of Interest (board)
School Donations and Student Activity Payments / Attendance Dues and Other Income
Expenditure
Asset Management and Protection (board)
Property Planning and Maintenance
Prevention of Bribery, Corruption, Fraud, and Theft
Please click on “Current Review” and then click on and read the policies. Next you click on “Under Review” and complete the survey. Your feedback would be appreciated.
Class Makeup for 2025
To ensure a balance across all classrooms next year, teachers are currently identifying children’s academic, behavioural, social attributes and friendships to support class placements. Please rest assured that we consider a range of factors and put a lot of time and thought into the class placement of each child to ensure they are in the right place for their learning journey.
We respectfully ask that you do not make requests for particular teachers or for specific children to be placed together next year.
Friday 15 November - SMCS Athletics Day at Glover Park
Monday 18 November - SMCS Save Day for Athletics
Monday 18 November - 3:15pm - 2025 Year 6 Camp Meeting
Tuesday 19 November - The Internet will be down while our switches are being replaced.
Wednesday 27 November - Athletics Prize Giving 2pm
Monday 28 November - 9:15am - Jesse Tree Mass
Friday 06 December - Year 6 Graduation Dinner
Wednesday 11 December - 1:30pm - Christmas Concert
Thursday 12 December - 10:00am - Year 6 Thanksgiving Mass (please note change of time); and Special Character Awards and at 11:30am - End of Year Prizegiving
Tuesday 17 December - Term 4 Ends (at 12:30pm)
Director of Religious Studies News - Whanau Faith Discussion
Theme: ‘Do your bit’
Mary MacKillop shows us how to do our bit to make life better for others. Never see a need without doing something about it.
Questions:
‘Do your bit’ - What does this mean to you?
As a family, how can we help others?
How can I make life better for my friends? And family?
What are some ways I can do my bit and be more like Mary MacKillop?
‘We must teach more by example than word‘ Mary MacKillop 1867
St Michael’s Parish is training students who are Year 4 and older and have already received their First Holy Communion. The training is on Sunday 17th November from 9am - 10am at St Michael’s Church.
School Rosary: Fridays at 1:15pm at the reflective area (Church if wet).
School Masses - 9:15am
Thursday 21st November - Room 4 & 1
Thursday 28th November - Whole School Jesse Tree Mass - All invited
Thursday 12th December at 10am - Thanksgiving Graduation Mass - All invited
Religious Education Term 4 Overview
For Year 3-6
Week 5 - 7: Strand - Communion of Saints
Week 8- 10: Advent and Christmas
The themes in our Religious Education Programme are broad categories of knowledge and learning that overlap, weave together and build upon each other.
For Year 1-2
Over the last 4 years, a new Religious Education Curriculum, To Tātou Whakapono Our Faith, has been developed. Level 1 (Year 1 & 2) students will be learning from the new Curriculum from this year. The term 4 theme is Kia Noho Hāhi Being Church. This theme focuses on 'I belong’.
Daily Prayer and Blessing to Celebrate the life of Julian Tenison (Born 15 November 1832) Written by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart
Prayer“We Pray, Creating God, We give you thanks for the life of Julian Tenison Woods whose response to your prompting began our story. We ask that he continues to influence us in our commitment to address the pressing needs of our times in our places. We make our prayer confident of your generosity, in the name of Christ and the Spirit. Amen”
THE 2024 CHRISTMAS GIVING TREE - PLEASE BRING GIFTS BY 8th DEC!
Be an early bird giver! Advent is approaching and our Christmas Giving Tree will be in the church from Sunday 17th November.
Please take a tag/s away and replace with appropriate gifts by Sunday December 1st or at the latest December 8th.
The ages for gifting include babies, primary, secondary and university students. Vouchers are great for the older ones at Secondary and University. Monte Cecilia Housing Trust will begin the Christmas collection to their families on 9th December. They will have teams on the road busy collecting and dropping off presents and food to everyone within that week. Thank you for enabling families to have a Christmas to remember.
If you need help giving, please contact Louise 021 748 834.
PTA NEWS
Have a couple of hours a month to dedicate to the school? We want to hear from you!
We are looking for a Secretary and a Treasurer to work alongside us next year.
As a treasurer you will be responsible for maintaining accurate financial records, handling banking transactions, preparing and presenting financial reports at PTA meetings, and ensuring all funds are properly accounted for.
As a secretary, you will organize the agenda for the PTA meetings and take minutes.
Interested in any of those or want to hear more? Reach out to us on ptasmcs@gmail.com
Yummy Apple stickers
Thank you for your incredible participation in the 2024 Yummy Sticker Collection activities. We are thrilled to announce that we collected $561 this year, a wonder increase from last year's collection of$377.
Continue collecting those yummy stickers throughout the year (including the cut-out labels from Costco Yummy Apple bags), and get ready for another collection drive in Term 3 next year!
