St. Michael’s Parish Traralgon

St Gabriel’s Primary School Rangeview Drive ,Traralgon

Phone : 5174 5515 Principal: Mr. Paul Mulqueen

E-mail: principal@stgtraralgon.catholic.edu.au Website: www.stgtraralgon.catholic.edu.au

Newsletter 9—Term 2—Week 7—5th June, 2014

ENROLMENTS FOR 2015 Existing families need to complete enrolment forms for siblings for prep

2015. Interviews for existing families will be conducted nearing the end of this term.

improving student learning over time. Students are an im-portant part of this process as the learning we wish to im-prove is theirs!

Parent-teacher-child interviews are another form of report-ing and an excellent opportunity for parents, teachers and students to meet. By asking questions and gathering more detail about the information provided on the student report card, you have an opportunity to become more involved in your child's learning and provide support where needed. It is critical that we spend as much time on the child’s strengths as we do with the areas of improvement. It is too easy to be drawn into what the child can’t do and not spend much time on their strengths. We request that parents go online and allocate a time for your interview if you have not already done so. If in doubt please contact Sue in the office.

School Closure

A reminder that Friday 20th June is a school closure day

for all students. Staff will be involved in a Professional development day on ‘Spirituality’ which will be facilitated by the Catholic Education Office Sale. End of Term 2 for all children will be on Friday 27

th June at

12:30pm.

Queen’s birthday A reminder that this Monday coming, 9

th June, is the

Queen’s Birthday holiday. There will be no school on this day. Working Bee A sincere thank you to our small band of parent helpers who came to school last Saturday for the working bee. Whilst the team were disappointed with the number of par-ents present, they worked enthusiastically on the tasks they could complete during the allocated time. On behalf of the children and staff at St Gabriel’s we thank the parents who attended and applaud their ongoing sup-port for the school.

Dear Families, As we draw near to the end of the 7

th week of term two we reflect

upon the many activities that classes are continually involved in, and the many ‘extra curricula’ events which complement our class programs or whole school initiatives. In all cases these events are planned in conjunction with the underlining premise of developing key learning experiences for the children and building a culture which endeavours to promote the wellbeing of all. Chil-dren of course are learners and will make mistakes along the way. This is real learning, and it is only through doing and in-volvement that children will learn effectively. When we support the children’s efforts, accepting that mistakes are a natural part of the learning process, and focus on strengths, then children will become responsible for their learning and engage more effec-tively with their learning environment. Accepting children for who they are, acknowledging that they are different from anyone else, helps each child appreciate their gifts and develop self-esteem and happiness within. Each one of us can be different but yet fit in: in fact when we know and ac-cept ourselves we can then enjoy real and meaningful happi-ness. Parents and teachers play a vital role in building and ap-preciating the difference, and uniqueness, in every child. The community of St Gabriel’s, particularly parents and teachers, equally have a collective responsibility to support each child and recognise each child’s individuality. This can then help to build student’s connectedness and sense of belonging and self-worth. The result of course, is students who feel valued, are engaged with others and truly begin to understand true happiness! Parent/Teacher/Child interviews/reports A reminder that half yearly school reports will be issued on Mon-day 23

rd June. The written reports form one part of the reporting

process regarding your child’s strengths, areas of improvement and ways that we (staff, parents and students) can work togeth-er. The reporting process is an integral part of teaching and learning. The reports are based on a range of assessment practices and evidence such as teacher observations, annotated student work samples, tests, portfolios, exhibitions and presenta-tions. These practices enable regular monitoring of student learning and ongoing constructive feedback, with the intention of

ST. MICHAEL’S FACEBOOK PAGE

St. Michael's Parish has created a new group Facebook account for all its Parish members. Our Facebook Id:

St. Michael's Catholic Church Traralgon "All but Only" the Parishioners of St. Michael's may

send a friend request as early as possible and encour-age all other parishioners to do the same.

St Michael’s

Parish

VISION

STATEMENT

The family of St Michael’s Parish, living gospel values, celebrates the

rich diversity of its members. As a faith community, journeying with God,

we welcome others along the way.

Week Grade Masses

12/6 Senior School Mass

19/6 1/2 classes

26/6 3/4B & 3/4F

St Michael’s Parish

AN INVITATION TO OUR SCHOOL MASSES

Each week a Mass is celebrated in St. Gabriel’s school Chapel which is prepared and attended by two to three classes of children. Sometimes the “Mass of the Day” is used and sometimes a theme being discussed in the

classroom is celebrated. Parents and parishioners are always welcome and en-couraged to attend these school Masses and celebrate

with the children. It would be wonderful for your children to see that you

value and enjoy this aspect of their Catholic education.

Masses will be held at 9.15am in the chapel located off

the main foyer at St. Gabriel’s.

PIETY STALL (Confirmation) The Piety Stall will be open from 1pm—3pm on the following dates, June 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 13th. For further information phone Lyn Kennedy on 5174 5848 or 0411 149 030

Liam ALESI

Jack BEECHEY-DANVERS

Tommy CAMPBELL

Michael CONNOLLY

Larni DE MARIA

Julia HARRIMAN

Danielle HEALEY

Amber LEYSHAN

Steven McLACHLAN

Sienna RYAN

Jye SALIBA

Max SMITH

Stephanie

SZABO

Grace BARNES

Henry BISHOP

Will CLARE

Luis D”ANGELO

Kieran GEORGESON

Kate HAYES

Will LESTER

Isabella LOCANDRO

Declan McNELIS

Jacob PIANTA

Jayden SEYCHELL

Brodie STODDART

Jordan THOMAS

Congratulations to 26 of our Year 6 students who

will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation on the

weekend of June 13th/14th. Fathers Bernard and Ba-

bu will lead our celebrations and Father Bernard will

confirm these children:

We thank our families for the commitment to the Sacrament program and for the support they have given to their children during this time. Please pray for these students as they continue

along their faith journeys.

SACRAMENT OF

CONFIRMATION

Value of

the Week is

Congratulations to the

following children

Gemma Bezzina 3/4D

and Lucy Chilver

3/4Fwho received the

Award for Patience

As a way of keeping the NED message of:

Never give up (focus, persistence) Encourage others (kindness, shared learning)

Do your best (diligence, excellence)

alive in everything we do and say here at school,

we have a weekly raffle. Congratulations to Ryan Massaro 5/6L and

Angus Pollerd 3/4F

A W A R D S

CASSE AWARD As a way of promoting our work in CAS-SE, each week we will draw a raffle at

assembly. The CASSE award recognises the efforts by a student to help build a car-ing, safe and supportive school environ-ment. Congratulations to Stephanie Szabo

5/6R and Coral Poole 1/2C

Principal Award

Prep A Sienna Belle Pivato

Prep M Ella Bedford

Prep P Lianne Mulheron

Prep S Kade Thorley

1/2A Ashton Pavlic

1/2C Brody Watson

1/2KL Riley Dinsdale

1/2N Ryder Colantuono

1/2Q Dylan Rosato

3/4B Harry Tosch

3/4D Lexi Jones-Sullivan

3/4F Nellie Kennedy

3/4M Anthony Wolswinkel

3/4S Ellie Beechey Danvers

5/6H Heidi Winter

5/6K Angela Francolino

5/6L Ella Hill

5/6R Chelsea Lawn

5/6W Ashton Hall

Class Award

Prep A Abbey Lesiw

Prep M Alexandra Di Grazia

Prep P Matilda Hamden

Prep S Skye Galea

1/2A Paul Antonopoulos

1/2C Jorja Landels

1/2KL Blair Syme

1/2N SavannahVickers

1/2Q Max Crawford

3/4B Hunter Carman

3/4D Abbey Cowley

3/4F Athena Cowley

3/4M Athena Kavadias

3/4S Jett Newborough and

Bayley Lewis

5/6H Ryan Bosch

5/6K Jasmine Beadle

5/6L Jacob Collison

5/6R Benjamin Fleming

5/6W Jye Saliba

Aussie of the Month Congratulations to Han-nah Whitty PA and Elsie Reid 1/2KL for receiving Aussie of the Month for the Month of April. Well done!

The CASSE kids team have been meeting on a regular basis during this term to focus on the promotion of the CASSE goals. One of the initiatives they are tak-ing up is the idea of catching CASSE moments both out on the playground, in the classroom and generally around the school. Rosters are being made where two or three children will be on the lookout for students displaying the CASSE goals. These could be in the form of fair and peaceful play, being an upstander

or showing empathy towards others. They will be on the lookout for those moments in our school community which enhance our motto of strength and gentleness. These will be captured and shown during our whole school assemblies. The last of the one/two grades will be visiting O’Mara house this week. As has already been men-tioned, the wonderful conversations and sharing of songs, books and stories has certainly en-hanced the children's learning. They have come back to school to write stories, share incidents and even produce classroom books on their community service. We thank O’Mara House for their continuing welcome of our students and their hospitality when we are there.

WELLBEING NEWS

St Gabriel's School commemorated Sorry Day with a whole school assembly on May 26.We began with an Acknowledgement of Country and paid respect to the ab-original elders and to the traditional owners of the land. Then School Captains,House Captains and other year 6 children were invoved in readings and displaying the Aus-tralian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags as well as other symbols to explain the importance of this day.

We listened to the words of Archie Roach's song "Took the Children Away" and acknowledged the Stolen Generation. This is an area of Australian history that is being covered in Library through stories of the Dreaming and discussion about art, culture and the way of life of the Aboriginal people. We also listened to "From Little Things Big Things Grow" by Paul Kelly which all the children particularly enjoyed and joined in with the chorus!

Safety & Environmental Team Update- June 2014 On Monday the 19

th of May the whole school came together in our

CARE groups to work on the aspect of understanding how we are ‘Stewards of our World’. In each CARE group teachers and children discussed the idea that we are Friends of our World and the same qualities that we show our friends we show to the world . Also dis-cussed was the concept of REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE which plays an important role in our schools environmental philosophy and children were able to relate this to our school being a rubbish free

school and recycling of computer cartridges and paper. It was won-derful to hear and see children enthusiastic about caring for our school and world. The Environmental team want to further develop this concept of being ‘Friends of our World’ by revisiting how we are a rubbish free school and what this actually means. The Year 1/2’s have been busy planting Kale, Lettuce, Beans, spinach in the vegetable patches which they hope to harvest be-fore school finishes for this term our future farmers. To enable both the gardening group and the Year 1/2s to continue planting this term we are asking that you send along empty 2litre milk containers washed out. These will be used to plant out seed-

lings that may be sent home or planted into washing baskets. You may have noticed the large wooden potato boxes which were donated by John Askew which will be used by the gardening group and the envi-ronmental team to begin a bush tucker garden to compliment our already fast growing vegetable patches. Some of the environmental team began painting the boxes but the rain has put a stop to this at the moment.

The Safety team have been busy tidying up around the new sand pit and sensory garden and reminding children to walk in the cor-ridors. As winter is now here just a reminder that children crossing the roads on wet days need extra help, so wearing a bright coloured coat or carrying a bright coloured umbrella will make them more

visible to motorists. Vic Roads states that Children up to 5 years Parents and carers must always hold chil-dren’s hands when near traffic or the road. Once a child is mobile, especially walking, they must never be left unsupervised around roads or vehicles. Young children lack the skills, knowledge and judgement to be able to cope with traffic and so need to be constantly supervised. Children 5 years up to 12 years Parents and carers can help children by providing plenty of prac-tical supervised experience in using the road safely, as a part of the journeys taken every day. Research shows that children un-der age 12 do not have the skills and experience to be safe in traffic. Teach them safe traffic behaviour and set a good exam-ple.

______-

Did you know that physical activity contributes to

healthy growth and development, increased mental

awareness, improved social skills, self esteem and confi-

dence and improved sleep?

The following website has information about promoting and influ-encing healthy food choices for your child.

http://healthy-kids.com.au/parents/

For some basic information on how to create a healthy lunchbox have a look at this flyer.

http://healthy-kids.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/

LunchboxFlyer.pdf

Knowledge is Power

Up Coming

Events

JUNE

5th Divisional Cross

Country

11th Winter Sports

(Except football)

16th Football Winter

Sports

17th Divisional Winter

Sports

19th Regional Cross

Country

Cross Country Last Wednesday Miss Albanese and 26 children made their

way to Bermingham Park near Glengarry to participate in ei-

ther a 2km or 3km cross country run. Every child did a terrif-

ic job at representing St. Gabriel’s school and as a team they

came 2nd out of the 7 schools across Traralgon who were

competing.

Congratulations and good luck to Sophie Roberts, Molly Car-

gill, Jordan Answerth, Connor Kennedy, Ashton Hall, Chelsea

Lawn and Will Clare who made it through to the next round.

Also, thank you to Renee Cargill and Louise Bezinna for kindly

helping to transport and set up our shades, Kylie Murray for

her wonderful photography, as well as all the other parents

who helped out as spotters on the day.

It’s great to have so many parents involved in these days. __________________________________________________________

Active Children It has been fantastic to see that a number of children have

already completed 20 sessions of physical activity at home

since the Active Children cards were sent out.

We encourage you to continue with your fantastic efforts in

supporting your child to get off their screens and be active!

ST MICHAEL'S MUMS GROUP

Mums group is on every WEDNESDAY of the school term!

Time - 9.30am - 11.30am at St Michael's School Hall Come and join us for a coffee, morning tea and some fun

activities for the kids. Any inquires call Jenifer - 0437492349

We would love to see you there!

Respectfully yours,

Paul Mulqueen PRINCIPAL

Sunday 8th June Pentecost Sunday

Monday 9th June Queen’s Birthday Week. School Clo-

sure.

Tuesday 10th June P&F Meeting 7pm

Wednesday 11th June Winter Sports for Year 5 & 6 Healthy Lunchbox session for parents 9:15-St Gabriel’s.

Friday 13th June Confirmation Mass 6pm

Saturday 14th June Confirmation Mass 6pm

Monday 16th June Football

Tuesday 17th June Divisional Winter Sports

Wednesday 18th June Andrew Chinn performance

Thursday 19th June Regional Cross Country

Friday 20th June School Closure. Religious Education PD

Monday 23rd June Reports sent home with Students

Tuesday 24th June Year 5 Pilgrimage Mass Parent/Teacher/Child Interviews 2015 Enrolment Interviews

Wednesday 25th June Parent/Teacher/Child Interviews 2015 Enrolment Interviews

Thursday 26th June Parents and Friends Special Food Day and Dress Up Day.

Friday 27th June Term 2 concludes 12.30.

DATES FOR TERM 2—2014

Lavalla Catholic College 2015 Year 7 Enrolments

Enrolments for Year 7 in 2015

closed on May 30.

If you are intending that your child will attend Lavalla,

but have not yet applied, please do so NOW.

The cost of the Enrolment Application Fee is now $200 per application. This amount needs to accompany the

Enrolment Application together with all supporting documentation.

Enquiries to the Enrolments Registrar on 5174 7355

JULY SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAM AT LATROBE CITY LIBRARY Latrobe City libraries will again host a holiday program for all school children and their fami-lies. An electronic version of our holiday pro-gram will be sent to you shortly. . In Week One we will be having a show called Mr Ants and the Magic Circus. In this visual-ly stunning theatre experience, Mr Ants has created a world of magic and make believe and nothing is going right! He has lost his glasses, his dog, his magic tricks aren't work-ing and his friend Roger the stunt rat is trying to take over the show. What will he do? This show is suitable for children aged from 1-8 years old. The show Mr Ants and the Magic Circus will be held on Tuesday 1st July at Traralgon 10.30-11.15 am In Week Two Duck Cameron- Magician Ex-traordinaire will be performing his unique show which will captivate you and keep you on the edge of your seat! His energetic skill en-compasses music, illusions, and sharp rou-tines that guarantee you a magical event to remember. This is suitable for all ages.

Duck Cameron will be performing on

Wednesday 9th July 10.30 am-11.30 am

WELCOME TO THE NEW FAMILIES IN OUR SCHOOL We welcome two new families to the school. From 1/2KL (Taya) the Lauder family, 1/2C (Ann-Maria) the Thomas family and 3/4M (Arka) the Chowdhury family. Thank you. Rosa Francolino, New Families Co-ordinator.