ST MICHAEL’S SCHOOL bASSEndEAn

V E R I T A S

NEWSLETTER 16

2nd June, 2017

St Joseph’s Parish,

20 Hamilton Street, Bassendean 6054

Parish Office: 9379 2691

Fr Son Nguyen : 9279 1549

Email: bassendean@perthcatholic.org.au

MERCY

St Michael’s School is a school community founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1914. We aspire to provide a secure, caring learning environment where commitment to

Faith, Truth, Service and Compassion are encouraged as a way of life.

St Michael’s School

4 James Street, Bassendean 6054

PO Box 428, Bassendean 6934

Phone: 6278 9888 Absentees: 6278 9802

www.stmichaelsbass .w a.edu.au

Merit awards this week

PP……Emily Q., Felix K..;

Yr 1 ….Amelia F., Clementine R-S.,

Yr 2…..Eva A., Mitchell B.;

Yr 3…..Lola W., Sophie M.;

Yr 4.. .. Travis B., Alexander J.;

Yr 5…...Lachlan F., Kaitlyn G.;

Yr 6…...Griffin B., Clare F.

Dear Parents On Wednesday this week, our much loved parish priest, Fr Son celebrated his birthday. On behalf of the whole community, I would like to extend to him our good wishes for his birthday and our gratitude for being such a fantastic priest. I know I tease him about being the Bishop of Bassendean, but he is truly loved by all the staff and students as we know how lucky we are to have him. His own life story of growing up in poverty in Vietnam is a tough one, yet, he has come through it as a positive and happy person. That is what we find so inspirational! Catholic Day - This weekend, we get to have an extra long weekend as we are taking our Catholic Day next Tuesday 6th June. The Catholic Day is one day per year we are granted to acknowledge the extra commitment the staff makes to their own parishes and our school’s parish. Although it is an extra day off school, please be aware that most of the teachers will be writing reports that day, so they won’t necessarily be resting. The students will return to school next week on Wednesday 7th June. As it is a short week, there will be no newsletter. Interschool Cross Country Next Friday 9th June, the Year 3-6 students who were selected to participate in the interschool cross country, will be travelling by bus to Good Shepherd School in Kelmscott to compete against nine other single stream schools. I know that our squad has been well prepared by Mrs Griffiths and that they will do their best to represent our school. Parents are most welcome to come along and join us at the carnival. Usually the P&F at Good Shepherd have nice food for sale for morning tea and lunch. Good luck everyone!

Laurie Bechelli PRINCIPAL

Dates for your Diary

Mon 5 June WA Day Public Holiday

Tue 6 June PUPIL FREE DAY

Fri 9 June Assembly

Fri 9 June Interschool Cross Country Carnival

Wed 14 June Mass, Year 2

Fri 16 June Assembly, Year 1

Mon 19 June Board & P&F meetings

Fri 23 June Assembly, Year 4

Fri 23 June SSCS Lightning Carnival

Wed 28 June Mass, Year 3

Fri 30 June Walkathon

Fri 30 June Assembly

Fri 30 June Last day of Term 2

Any day above ground

is a good day.

Before you complain about anything,

be thankful for your life

and the things that are going well.

Germany Kent

SCHOOL FEES

Our ANZ Bank Account details are as follows, for anyone wishing to pay directly into it. .

BSB: 016-255 ACC: 4247 69155

Your name must be included in any payments made

through the bank account.

Alternatively, direct debit forms are available from the school office if you wish to set up a regular payment.

If you wish to apply for HCC discount on the tuition fee portion of the account, please come to the office to fill in a HCC form and present a copy of your concession card.

ABSENTEE LINE: 6278 9802 Please phone the number above if your child is absent from school. We ask that you do not email individual class teachers regarding absence, but use the dedicated phone line instead. You will also need to give a signed note of explanation to the class teacher on your child’s return to school.

TRASH FREE TUESDAY We ask that on every Tuesday you are mindful of the way you package your children’s lunchbox to minimize waste at our school. Ideally we would love to see no wrappers, and all food packaged into containers.

NO PARKING IN KISS AND RIDE! Please don’t park in the Kiss & Ride and leave your vehicle. It badly impedes the flow of traffic and holds up other families who are trying to drop children off. If you need to help your child out of the car or escort them to the classroom, please park your car elsewhere.

OUR SCHOOL IS A NUT FREE ZONE St Michael’s School is an Allergy Friendly School. We have students who can experience a life threatening reaction to tasting, touching or smelling nuts.

Students should not bring ANY items of food where the key ingredient is nuts. This means pastes such as Nutella and Peanut Butter; raw nuts such as almonds, pistachios, cashews and peanuts; or foods with nuts as a main ingredient, such as muesli bars or

chocolate bars containing nuts. We ask that these

products not be brought to school .

REMINDER - LATE ARRIVALS Parents, if your child gets to school LATER THAN

8:40am a parent/guardian MUST SIGN THEM IN at

the Office so the Roll can be adjusted. Thank you

for your cooperation. .

ABSENCE CALLS / NOTES / EMAILS Please note, teachers do not get to sit down and check their emails first thing in the morning, so if you have emailed the teacher regarding your child’s absence, they may not receive the information until later in the day. Therefore, please do not be upset if you receive an SMS or phone call from the Office to clarify the absence. For this reason, a phone call to the ABSENTEE LINE is a more efficient way of communicating an absence than an email. Please note also, a SIGNED NOTE also needs to be provided to the teacher on your child’s return to school. The Department of Education Services has confirmed that whilst an SMS or phone message is NOT a substitute for a signed note when reporting absences, an email meeting the following criteria can be accepted: · the full name of the student · the class / roll group of the student · the reason for the absence · the full name of the parent/guardian at the end of the

message (the ‘from’ email address is not sufficient).

UNIFORM SHOP OPENING HOURS TUESDAY mornings 8:30—9:00am THURSDAY afternoons 2:30—3:00pm

SEQTA Engage Parent Log-in Dear Parents, It is important that you please check your log in for SEQTA Engage as early as possible so that you will be able to access your child's report at the end of this term. To do this you need to go to the following site: https://stmichaelsbass.coneqt-p.cathednet.wa.edu.au/ and use your current username and password credentials. If you have remembered your username but have forgotten your password, please click on the “Forgot Your Password?” link and an immediate email will be sent to you. The email will expire within one hour, so please action this immediately. If you forgotten both of these, then please contact the school and we can remind you of your username. If you are new to using SEQTA Engage then you will receive an email to set up a new log in account. This email will expire within 7 days so please, action this as soon as possible. If you have any issues, please contact the school.

Assistant Principals’ Update

LIFELINK DAY On Wednesday 7 June, we will be celebrating LifeLink Day.

In class, students will make paper hearts to heighten their awareness of others less fortunate than themselves. On one side of the heart there is a space for students to write a message to people in need in the community, or draw a picture or write a prayer. With assistance from teachers, these hearts are then affixed to a wooden stake.

The Archdiocese of Perth established the LifeLink organisation in 1994 to provide for the ongoing financial and promotional support of agencies established or assisted by the Church. LifeLink’s agencies deliver professional services & caring support to thousands of people in need throughout Western Australia each year and deliver millions of dollars in professional programmes, care and direct assistance. The Official Launch of LifeLink Day 2015 will be held on the Wednesday 7 June 2017 and a video of this lauch will be available on the LifeLink website.

This coming weekend, we not only have a long weekend, but also at this time every year, the staff take a Catholic Day. The Catholic Education Office gives all Catholic schools an extra day in recognition of the time and effort staff put into our faith commitment outside of regular hours of work. Our staff usually takes it upon themselves to utilise this time in the completing school reports. Our Catholic Day this year is next Tuesday 6th June, which means we have an extra long weekend and the students return to school, Wednesday 7th June. INTER SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY The Inter School Cross Country event will be held next Friday 9th June at Good Shepherd School, Kelmscott. Mrs Griffiths will be providing the participants with all information needed next week. Parents, we urge you to come along and support our competitors. Good luck to all who are participating in the carnival.

Feast of the Ascension – 28 May 2017 Jesus’ disciples spent three years following Him. They heard Him teach about God’s Kingdom and witnessed Him perform many miracles. When they saw the Son of God nailed to a cross and die they may have experienced feelings of abandonment.

Even though Jesus had told the disciples what to expect they were most likely frightened and overwhelmed when the things that Jesus said would happen were taking place.

Three days after Jesus was buried in a sealed tomb God raised Him from the dead. He did exactly what he told the disciples He would do. To prove that Jesus was really alive and not a figment of the disciples’ imaginations, Jesus stayed on the earth for 40 days after His resurrection.

God’s plan was for Jesus to return to heaven. Jesus had chosen His apostles to be messengers for Him after He left. When Jesus finished instructing the apostles, His feet lifted off the ground and He began to ascend or go up into the sky. As He went up into the sky a cloud hid Him from the apostles’ sight.

The Feast of the Ascension was held Sunday, 28 May. The Ascension of Our Lord celebrates the day that Christ, in the presence of His apostles, ascended into Heaven (Luke 24:51; Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11). It is also a celebration of the new creation that God brought into

being by the ascension of Jesus. Jacquie Fox & Lisa Liebregts

P&F NEWS Don’t forget, 2017

Entertainment Books can now be ordered. Order forms are

available in the school office, or to order your digital membership

or book securely online visit: www.entbook.com.au/861u42

https://

www.gofundme.com/noel-jess

The Jess family needs your help.

Noel Jess, father to Veronica in Year Four and Georgia who graduated

from St Michael’s last year, has stage four cancer but has the chance

take part in a medical trial at the Mayo Clinic in the US. It’s an

immunotherapy treatment that doctors believe could work for Noel’s

rare type of cancer. But getting there and taking part is expensive and

the Jess family are downsizing from their lovely Bassendean home to an

apartment to help fund this. But you can also help by making a

donation of any size to a gofundme page set up for them, or if that’s

not possible, by sharing this page on Facebook and other social

networking sites.

You can support the Noel and Carolyn Jess and their daughters here:

https://www.gofundme.com/noel-jess

School Banking

Give your child a head start in money matters!

The deposit wallet is to be placed in each classroom inside the CBA grey satchels

each Wednesday for collection and return. Please check your child’s school bag to make sure that the deposit wallet has been processed and returned. In the event that

the deposit wallet has not been returned the same day each Wednesday, please

check with your respective class teacher. In the event that your child arrives late at

school, and the CBA grey satchels have been collected, please come and see us at

the work room at the back of the school library (only up to 9.55am) to drop off

your banking wallets or with money to be banked accordingly as per your

instructions if you have forgotten your wallets , but still wish to make a deposit.

In 2017 all Students who open a New CBA Youth Saver Account and

commence banking at St Michael’s in 2017 for the first time, will receive a

once off amount of $5.00 to be deposited into the same account and to be

processed at the end of each term from the St Michael’s P&F.

REWARDS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE: Cyber Handball and Colour Change

Markers. Term 2 2017: 3D Chalk Set and Tablet Case.

TO MAKE ONE DEPOSIT PER MONTH - In order to ensure that your

child’s Youthsaver account earns bonus interest on top of the standard interest you

must make at least one deposit per month.

Calling for School Banking Volunteers! - Please confirm your interest in

volunteering for this great program by contacting me on details provided.

Jordana, School Banking Coordinator 0405829869 or r@jrgroup.com.au

St Joseph’s 24:7 Bassendean Youth Group Our next meetings are on the 2nd June and 16th June- 6.30-8.30pm in the Parish Hall For all youth in Years 6-12. For more info call Amanda 0421 144 992 or Samuel 0474 310 944

“Growing Up Online”

If you missed Susan McLean speaking about “Growing Up Online” on Tuesday night here are a few key points:

Tackling cyber safety requires a whole community approach. At St Michael’s we need to all support each other to

keep our children safe online.

Don’t be afraid to be a strong parent and say no! They may not like you for it, but they will still love and respect

you.

Children should not be accessing sites such as Kik, Instagram and Snapchat, that all require children to be over the

age of 13. Musically has been identified as a particularly dangerous app for children, please do not allow your child

to use this. YouTube is also not a safe platform for children to be using, apart from the YouTube Kids App – this is

different to the website. Allowing your children access to any site that allows communication with other people,

including Instagram and Snapchat, is exposing your child to the risk of online predators and cyberbullying.

Keep computers and devices out of bedrooms and model this with your own actions.

* Be aware that once children see inappropriate content online, particularly pornography, they cannot ‘unsee’ this.

Children are reporting that they are seeing “rude pictures” or pornography online at the age of 8, and they often

don’t report this to their parents for fear of losing access to the internet or their device.

Start communication about online safety and responsible use of technology at an early age and continue open

conversations as your child grows older.

Have rules or an agreement for your child’s internet use.

* Be aware that whilst you may do all the ‘right’ things in your household, your child is still likely to encounter friends,

or be with other children that do not necessarily have those same

rules. Encourage your child to talk to you if this happens to them.

Susan spent Wednesday morning with our Year 5 and 6 students.

Children were taught that before doing anything online they should

ask themselves if they are showing respect to themselves and others,

is it a responsible use of technology, and how is what they are doing

going to affect their digital reputation? They learnt about not

disclosing personal information, cyberbullying, online predators, and

how to look after themselves online. You may find your children

wanting to delete some social networking sites following Susan

advising them that those under 13 are breaking age restrictions.

Please help them to do this, and protect them from seeing

inappropriate material, or becoming a target for online predators or

cyberbullying.

The St Michael’s Walkathon fundraiser is a school

community event promoting health and wellbeing.

This year’s walkathon will take place on the last day of

term - Friday 30th June 2017.

A note together with the sponsorship form, will go home

via each student today, requesting permission of

participate and calling for volunteers.

Thanks The Fundraising Committee

Yr 5 & 6 students

With Susan following the presentation