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Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,
The Minister for Education Ben Carroll last Friday announced the updated Victorian Teaching and Learning Model, which will be implemented in all government schools across the state from 2025 with explicit teaching at its core.
“All students from Prep to Grade 2 will be taught using a systematic synthetic phonics approach as part of their reading programs, with a minimum of 25 minutes daily explicit teaching of phonics and phonemic awareness.
This will be a core component of a comprehensive reading program that also includes explicit teaching of oral language, vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension.”
We are excited about this announcement as it reinforces the decision we made to implement InitialLit in grades Foundation to Two at the beginning of 2024, at our school. InitialLit is an evidence-based whole-class literacy program providing all children with the essential core knowledge and strong foundations to become successful readers and writers. InitiaLit is a three-year program, covering the first three years of school. It has involved some changes to our practice and what the children are bringing home as readers. We are excited by the progress that students are already showing us through the assessments that have occurred during this term.
Whilst the students are “learning the code” of reading we are now using Decodable readers that allow students to read books which include the sounds that they know. Students feel success as they read and are gaining confidence in their ability as readers. Once students have “cracked the code” they are then moving onto reading books of interest to help foster a lifelong love of reading.
We must also congratulate our teaching staff in Foundation to Two who spent part of their summer holidays learning about teaching phonics and since the start of the year have been implementing the InitialLit program, ensuring that students are learning at their point of need. Our teaching staff have put in many hours learning the program and working collaboratively to ensure that students can access the learning activities to the best of their abilities and engage them in the program.
Student Led Conferences
The children have been very busy preparing for the student-led conferences. They take pride in their work and are looking forward to sharing this with you tonight and tomorrow night. Please be prompt as the teachers may have continuous appointments and may not be able to fit you in if you are not on time.
END OF TERM
A reminder that Term Two finishes on Friday 28th June at 1pm. There will be no school buses running on this day. Reminder: All Country Bus Travellers will need to renew their applications for Term 3 if they are a full fare paying traveller.
IMPORTANT DATES
- 18th - 19th June - Student Led conferences
- 28th June - Last Day Term Two (1pm finish)
- 15th July - Start of Term Three 9am
- 18th July - State Cross Country - All the best to Tessa Jennings & Poppy Howe
- 26th July - Whole School Mass
- 26th July - District Basketball
PARISH NEWS
Each week students from each class are awarded Student of the Week certificates. These children are nominated for the example they have been within the school based on the School Wide Expectation focus for that week. The weekly focus will be from Wednesday until Tuesday the following week. Awards will be presented to students in their classrooms.
In Week 10 the School Wide Expectation focus is Honesty:
I always tell the truth.
I am honest when reflecting on my personal performance.
I take responsibility for my actions.
| Harper Heatherill | Sophie Mae Bailey | Sebastian Goicoa |
| Emma Paulet | Tessa Rouget | Leila Howell |
| Henley Ing | Grace Ketchion | Mia Hurley |
| Chenai Chikwinya | Marlee Williamson | Angus Ross |
| Elsie Rudolph-O'Donnell | Nadine Chihota | William Do |
| Indi Trease | Isaiah Baxter | Kaiden Warne |
Just a reminder that 2025 Foundation enrolments are due in by Friday 28th June 2024. Acceptance letters will be sent out early next term so that families and the school can start to prepare for the transition program in Term Four.
St Michael's Primary School Parents and Friends Committee are having a Lamington Fundraiser.
The lamingtons are being supplied by the Heyfield Bakery. You can purchase chocolate or raspberry flavours. From each packet sold, $3 will go back to St Michael's!
All orders and payments must be made via CDFpay by 10pm tonight, Tuesday 18th June 2024.
Your fresh lamingtons will be delivered to the school from the Heyfield Bakery on Tuesday 25th June for collection at the hall between 3:00pm and 4pm.
Mark 4: 26 - 34
Sunday’s Gospel is one that many will be familiar with - the Parable of the Mustard Seed. If we think back to life in the times of Jesus; a peasant in Galilee would hope for a return of 7:1 when sowing seed for a crop. So when Jesus pictures the Kingdom of God as a wonderful harvest (returning 100:1 as he put it in another parable), his peasant listeners would envisage a future without hunger, without servitude to rapacious landlords and money-lenders. A bright future indeed!
Naturally, they and we want to know when this new way of life, this fulfilment of the Kingdom of God, will come about. Our Lord replies: ‘Be patient. Your job is to sow the seed. Something will happen out of all proportion to your part in the process, just like the disproportion of the mustard seed to a mustard bush’ (which he exaggerates into a tree sheltering birds).
God’s creative power worked in the depths of the stony ground of the tomb to raise up the Gospel Seed who is Jesus Christ. From that, a community has grown which, at its best, leads to a fair and just distribution of the world’s resources, as Pope Francis insists is a major test of authenticity of our claim to be Christian.
St Michael's has been asked to join in an exciting opportunity to
perform in a collaborative concert program with other primary schools
throughout the Latrobe Valley called the Big Sing. The St Michael's
school choir is going to participate.
The Big Sing is a collaborative choir initiative offered to primary
school students within the Latrobe Valley region. This event provides
an opportunity for our local students to sing and perform in a massed
choir, developing confidence, resilience, cooperation and teamwork
skills in a fun and inclusive environment. Students have undertaken a
workshop with the Big Sing directors, Bek and Caroline, and have
rehearsed at home and at school leading up to this event. Don't miss
out - This is a concert bound to bring a smile to your face!
The concert is on Thursday night the 20th of June at 6:30pm at the St
Paul's Anglican Grammar School - Stadium (46 Cross's Road, Traralgon).
If anyone wishes to attend and support the St Michael's choir, tickets
are $10each and can be purchased through the following link.
https://www.trybooking.com/CQZWL
We offer hot lunches weekly on a Monday with Munch Lunch. They are a local company that offer a variety of lunch items.
Ordering is simple, download the Spriggy Schools app via your App Store or Google Play store, select St Michael's School, add your children and their class to the app and place your order! Lunches will then be delivered to school. Orders need to be placed by 9:00am on the day. You can pre order lunches 2 weeks in advance.
Contact: Munch Lunch 0459 220 445 or hello.munch.lunch@gmail.com
Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge
The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and St. Michael’s Primary School is excited to be participating. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:
- access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
- a modern user-friendly interface
- rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
- the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review
The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 6 September 2024.
Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.
All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.
To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit:
https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-reading-challenge
To register to be part of the challenge, please click on the link below:
Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge 2024
