Dear parents and carers

So we have come to the end of a wonderful and action-packed semester and our students are powering through their learning with great gusto.  As we prepare for a mid year break, we are reminded of the wonderful achievements and events that have shaped our year so far and look forward to more adventures in the months ahead.

SMG Choir visit to CPAC

Earlier this week I was privileged to join our newly formed school choir at the Cairns Performing Arts Centre (CPAC) to watch the Junior Eisteddfod school choirs perform. Competitors from schools around Cairns showcased their talents at this special event which is dedicated to promoting the Arts in our region and enabling students to experience public performance.

Led by the wonderful Mrs P, our St Michael’s choir has been meeting regularly to develop their vocal talents and practise for performing themselves at school events. The visit to CPAC was an exciting experience for our students and an opportunity for them to see for themselves what performing on a stage is like and whether they would like to join the competition next year.

SMG Choir visits our local elders

It certainly has been a busy week for our school choir, who were guests of honour once again at the Gordonvale Pyramid Residential Care Centre. Our students delighted the residents with some of their favourite songs, including our very own St Michael’s song “We Lift our Eyes to the Mountain”. Joining them were our Garden Club students who presented the residents with fresh herbs grown in our school garden. Also joining the fun were some of our Year 6 Student Leaders who were able to entertain their elders with conversation and some laughs too!

We hope to make these visits a regular part of our community outreach activities and an opportunity to further grow our relationship with our adopted ‘nanas and grandpas’.

Keely Randall Award

Keely was a past student of St Michael’s many years ago, who sadly passed away. In honour of her bravery in the face of adversity, her encouragement and support of others and her unwavering positivity, the Keely Randall Award is presented to a student each year after the Senior Sports Carnival.

This year there were so many nominations it was difficult to find an overall ‘winner’ so this year we would like to publicly congratulate all nominees.

Each of these students displayed outstanding sportsmanship, encouragement for their friends and team spirit during the 2025 Senir Athletics Carnival. 

Most outstanding on the day and beyond and our overall winners for 2025, were Lane Summers and Nate Pritchard. They consistently showed a positive attitude, a commitment to fair play and were an inspiration to our school community. Lane and Nate, you make us proud. Well done.

Inter-school chess tournament

What a fantastic final week of term it has been!

The last week of term is always full of exciting activities and this one was no different! On Wednesday, we were thrilled to host students from MacKillop Catholic College and St Therese’s School for our very first Inter-School Chess Competition.

Our clever St Michael’s students have been learning the game of chess for several months, and were eager to put their skills to the test against new friends from other schools. What a great way to challenge themselves and have fun!

Even our Year 1 to Year 3 students got in on the action, enjoying a friendly chess play-off with their classmates on Friday. It was wonderful to see so many young minds thinking strategically and enjoying the game.

A huge thank you to Mrs Evans and Mrs Anderson for organising such a brilliant event. We can’t wait to do it all again next year!

Faith hits the High Notes at the Eisteddfod!

A huge round of applause for Faith Manning, who wowed the judges and took out first place at the Junior Eisteddfod with her stunning solo singing performance!

Faith, your talent and hard work have truly shone through - we are all so proud of you! We can’t wait to hear your winning performance and (fingers crossed) see you join our school choir soon.

Bravo Faith!

A VERY special thank you…

Throughout the school year, there are many opportunities for us to thank the amazing teachers and school officers, parents and students who go out of their way to support our community events and activities. Rarely do we acknowledge the people behind the scenes who work day in and day out to ensure that the cogs keep turning in the machine that is our wonderful school. 

I would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank the incredible work done by Justine (Accounts and Human Resources); Christine and Carlie (Administration, Enrolments, Front Office, Work Health and Safety, Communications… the list is too long to print here!); Cassie (cleaning, Indigenous Liaison and bus driver extraordinaire), Peter Bailey who can do just about anything to help, and our incredible Tuckshop staff (Steph, Anna, Tash, Kathryn and Peter, led by the amazing Chandell who also runs our Playgroup with the help of Nikki).

A huge shout out also goes to the countless volunteers who appear just at the right time to help with sports carnivals, school events, celebrations, camps, mothers’ and fathers’ day stalls, and even driving our school bus!

Our school simply could not function without these amazing people who are literally our unsung heroes. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you do, with a welcoming smile and a ‘can do’ attitude.

School reports

Please be advised that Semester 1 school reports have been uploaded to the MyCE App and parent portal as of Thursday this week. As in previous years, each child’s end of semester report will include marks for each learning area using a five point scale, as well as a general comment describing your child’s progress, work habits and goals for learning, highlighting their progress in Mathematics and English.  You will notice that reports look a little different this year as our diocese makes the move to using a new platform. If you have any questions or concerns about the new-look school reports, please contact us.

Prep 2025

Prep places for 2026 are now full! We have had an unprecedented interest in enrolments this year and for the first time in many years, we have completed our intake for 2026 Prep by the middle of the year. If you have a child already enrolled at St Michael’s and have missed the intake for Prep next year, please contact our friendly office staff as soon as possible.

Reminders for special events in Term 3

Term 3 begins on Monday 14th July with Thursday 17th being a student free day and Friday 18th Cairns Show Day public holiday.

Term 3 at a glance:

School start times

Please be reminded that students arriving at school in the mornings are supervised from 8:00am only. Students arriving prior to 8:00am must be enrolled at Outside School Hours Care.

And that’s it from me for Term 2. I hope you have a wonderful break and we look forward to seeing you in Term 3. Happy Holidays!

God bless

Prep B

Patterns you can see them everywhere; patterns you will find them everywhere. A Pattern will repeat, a pattern will repeat. It goes over and over and over and over again! 

Class 1B

What a fantastic term of learning it has been in Year 1! Our students have shown great dedication and growth, making progress across all areas of their learning. It’s been a joy to see their confidence and independence continue to flourish. We ended the term on a high with some memorable events, including our Teddy Bears’ Picnic and Junior Sports Day—both filled with smiles, fun, and teamwork. Wishing all our families a safe and restful break as we look forward to another exciting and engaging term ahead.

Class 2B

Over the past few weeks 2B have been looking at soundwaves in Science. We have discovered how vibrations travel by creating our own string telephones. It was great to see all the excitement as we tested how the sounds moved through the string and listened to our friends from across the basketball court.

Class 3B

Wow!!  What an amazing adventure we’ve had in 3B this semester! We dived into the magical world of Charlotte’s Web and created awesome iPad summaries to show off our thinking. Next term, get ready... because we’re jumping into the exciting pages of Matilda!

We’ve been busy authors too, typing up stories on our computers and learning how to create our very own books. In Maths, we’ve tackled tricky problems like champs, and we’ve discovered how helpful our maths dictionary can be when we feel stuck.

Half the year has zoomed by already, and we can’t wait to see where the next term takes us. Get ready for more fun, challenges, and lots of learning!

Class 4B

In Religion this term, our Grade 4 students have been diving into the mystery of the Holy Trinity — understanding that God is three persons in one: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As part of our learning, we’ve been exploring a wide variety of artistic representations of the Trinity.

 

These images have sparked rich conversations among the students. Together, we’ve examined the similarities and differences in the artwork, discussed the symbols used, and reflected on how each piece makes us feel and what it helps us understand about God.

Class 5B

Many thanks to all the parents and friends who joined us for the sports carnival. The students all had a wonderful time and all participated with a positive outlook and with great sportsmanship as well.

The term has come to its final days and we congratulate all the students in completing their assessments on time. There are so many to do and students had to dig deep to persisting in all the tasks to the best of their ability. Well done everyone.

We trust you will enjoy and celebrate your child’s accomplishments when you read the reports due in the next couple of weeks. As teachers, it is wonderful to see steady growth earned through a child’s hard work and consistent effort.

We wish our students a happy and relaxing family time break and look forward to term three where we have excursions and year 5 camp planned.

Class 6B

Our first semester has been a very busy one for the class, all of who are looking forward to a well earned break before beginning their last semester of primary school. This term the class have been reading and critiquing picture books with a focus on how illustrators use colour and shade to empahsise the mood of the story as well as identifying the message the author is conveying and the overall theme of the text. The unit of work culminated with the student’s writing a comparative analysis of two texts: The Little Refugee and The Arrival. Here is Seth’s comparative analysis of the texts.

Class Awards

Term 2 Week 10

2025 Senior Athletics Record Breakers

Age Group	Event	Name
12 Year Old Girls	1500m	Pikalia Demas
12 Year Old Boys	1500m	Ben Ganley
11 Year Old Boys	100m sprint	Logan Azzopardi
8 Year Old Boys	200m sprint	Carter Porta

SAVE THE DATE! BOOK WEEK 2025

PREMIER'S READING CHALLENGE

Join Our Tuckshop Fun!

Hi everyone! I’m Chandell, Tuckshop Convenor. I’m all about making our tuckshop a lively, fun-filled place, and I’d love for you to be part of it!

How You Can Get Involved:

VOLUNTEER Whether you’ve got an hour or two to spare, or just want to pop in for a quick hello, your help is gold to us! No need to let us know in advance—just swing by and join the fun. Don't forget to complete your volunteer induction first!

BAKE FOR US If volunteering isn’t your thing, we’d love your support through baked goodies. Sweet or savory, your treats make our tuckshop extra special!

Come for the laughs, stay for the community, and help us keep our tuckshop the heart of the school. We can’t wait to see you there! 

Volunteers always welcome in the tuckshop! Interested? Drop in and see us today :)

tuckshop.gordonvale@cns.catholic.edu.au 

TUCKSHOP OPENING HOURS

BREAK TIMES

Parents can see all of our current Tuckshop items in the Flexischools app.

Flexischools Online Ordering

Tip: Search for Gordonvale to find St Michael's School in the list.

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