Welcome to 2026 at St Michael’s
Gerard Houlihan, Head of the School
Dear St Michael’s Community,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to 2026 at St Michael’s. I hope that this finds you well rested, refreshed and ready to Aspire this year.
Aspire – 2026 word of the year
Each year, I nominate a word that serves as the focus for our students, staff and families, providing a shared theme that helps to align our efforts, language and intentions across the School. In 2026, I invite our community to embrace ‘Aspire’ as our word of the year.
• Aspire to be the best version of ourselves as individuals and as a community.
• Aspire to consistent effort, approaching learning with determination, good habits, and the willingness to persevere when work becomes challenging.
• Aspire to personal growth, in the manner we work together, play together and learn together, centring our School values of ‘Dignity, Respect, Care and Compassion’ in our decision-making and treatment of ourselves, others and our environment.
• Aspire to courage, whether in a particular subject, activity, sport, friendship challenge or other opportunity presented to us at St Michael’s.
• Aspire to leadership, locally and beyond, through being a diverse learning community united through our shared values and strengthened by the dignity of difference.
• Aspire to sustain excellence, ensuring the present and future strength of a St Michael’s education for every student, including through engagement with Foundation initiatives that support our facilities, programs, scholarships and bursaries in a complex funding environment.
At St Michael’s, we educate our students to identify their strengths, discover their passions, and develop a strong sense of purpose ready to make a positive impact as contributing citizens in the world. As the ancient Greek poet Pindar wrote: “Become who you are, having learned what that is – in short, to self-actualise”. Aspire, for us, is both a call to higher standards and a call to deeper self-understanding becoming more fully ourselves and helping our students do the same.
As we begin our 131st year, our revised Daily Structure supports our shared commitment to Aspire reaching upward to standards, relationships and practices that strengthen our community. I’m confident 2026 will be a year of outstanding academic, co‑curricular and community achievement, with continued strengthening of what makes St Michael’s exceptional.
VCE Class of 2025 Tertiary Destinations
I am pleased to share the continued success of our Class of 2025. Once again, every student who sought a tertiary placement was successful in securing one an outstanding area of consistent strength for our School.
Preferred institutions by this cohort are The University of Melbourne, Monash, Victoria University, Deakin, RMIT and Swinburne, and top interest areas include Business, Commerce, Law, Arts, Science, Engineering and Technology, International Studies, Psychology, and Creative and Performing Arts. Some students are pursuing paths less frequently travelled, as they build on budding careers in professional sport, theatre, fashion and more.
Here, you can view our Class of 2025 VCE Excellence brochure. Please join me in again congratulating these students, whose journeys I look forward to following for years to come.
The lifelong value of belonging to the St Michael’s Community
Our Class of 2025’s achievements contribute to the strong reputation our School enjoys in the broader community – not just regarding our expansive and diverse academic and co-curricular programs, but about the character for which St Michael’s students are known.
I regularly hear from members of the public who comment on our students’ courtesy, kindness and mature conduct on camp, during immersions, through community initiatives such as the Merry Month of May, and even on public transport. It is a powerful reflection of the culture of Dignity, Respect, Care and Compassion (DRCC) that we build together at St Michael’s and a credit to you as parents, guardians and families.
Students take the St Michael’s reputation with them as they embark on their next chapters at University, and in the workplace. And Old Michaelians routinely tell me that having St Michael’s as their alma mater comes up positively long after they leave this place, and gives employers, even newfound friends, a good starting impression.
Upcoming Key Events
Families choose St Michael’s because they connect with our educational approach and our values and while schools like to take the credit, I want to acknowledge the role parents play in shaping who our students become. St Michael’s parents are formidable partners in education, and I am grateful for the many ways you support your child’s learning journey and contribute to our community.
I look forward to thanking you in person at my Parent Reception on Friday 20 February an opportunity to meet parents in your child’s year level, connect with staff, and hear a strategic outlook on the year ahead. This year we will gather on our new outdoor-undercover courts, The Coleman Courts a space designed for broad community use and made possible through community generosity.
Key Community Events – Save the Date
• Head of the School’s Parent Reception Friday 20 February
• 130 Year Anniversary Gala Ball Saturday 28 March
Our planning committee is hard at work with current and past parents to deliver the St Michael’s Anniversary Gala Ball on Saturday 28 March. This event promises to be one of style, entertainment and connection, and I sincerely hope to see you there.
In times of tragedy: dignity, belonging and community
Our country experienced a deep tragedy whilst our campus was quiet, with many innocent lives lost at the hands of terrorism. The Bondi Attack shocked all of us, and devastated the Australian Jewish Community, directly targeted in this horrifying attack that will be remembered forever
Many in our community have also felt the weight of the troubling rise in antisemitism locally and globally. In times like these, we are called back to the primacy of human dignity: a value central to St Michael’s and deeply rooted in the spirit of our founders, The Community of the Sisters of the Church, whose legacy endures in our core values of inclusivity, Dignity, Respect, Care and Compassion
Our School community is rich in diversity, with many Jewish families attending our School in harmony with the other belief backgrounds of St Michael’s. My thoughts and prayers continue to
be with the many families at St Michael’s who knew and loved those who lost their lives and are mourning with the broader Jewish community.
Drawing on Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s The Dignity of Difference, we are reminded that difference must enlarge, not diminish, our shared humanity. In this context, the role of school communities should not be underestimated: we help form a social covenant a shared commitment to mutual responsibility, community-building and the common good and we reaffirm that civic engagement and character education sit at the heart of who we are and the kind of School we aspire to be.
Key Operational Updates
Revised Timetable / Daily Structure 2026
With school commencing for all students tomorrow, our revised student timetable will see Senior School students starting at 8.30am, and Junior School students embracing a school day with less transition time between classes, and longer learning blocks.
These innovations deliver sector-leading teacher-contact time to all St Michael’s students, and are central to our aspirations to uplift overall academic performance and to continue to attract and retain Australia’s best educators.
This new normal for our School is the result of extensive research throughout 2024 and 2025, and much planning has taken place to support the operationalisation of our revised Daily Structure. Parents can read more about our revised Daily Structure here.
Take advantage of our Bus Service – seven routes across Melbourne
Following recent communications from Operations Manager, Nat Hunter, I encourage all families to consider the many benefits of utilising our bus service which is now free to use and offers seven routes across Melbourne.
Students who travel by bus develop independence and enjoy valuable opportunities to connect with peers from their local Melbourne communities as part of their daily routine.
By choosing the bus, families help ease traffic congestion around our campus, contributing to a
safer and smoother start and finish to every school day, for everyone.
Fewer cars on the road also supports our shared commitment to reducing emissions, lowering fuel costs, and returning precious time in parents’ days for work, family, and themselves.
Changes to Gate Access to the ELC and Junior School
As part of continuous improvement to campus security, all ELC and Junior School parents are reminded that entrance gate access will now require a keypad code at peak times of the day. The Semester 1 access code has been sent to all ELC and Junior School families.
2026 Parent Handbook
For both new and returning families, our 2026 Parent Handbook provides key information about life St Michael’s. I encourage parents to download the document and to refer to it throughout 2026 as you navigate a new year in your child’s learning journey.
2026 St Michael’s Parent Handbook
2026 Uniform Guidelines
Uniform plays an important role in student life, safety and the reputation of our School. With certain items updated and a transition timeline in place for returning families, I encourage all families to become familiar with the guidelines that apply to you, striving to promote adherent and proud wearing of our Uniform by students, celebrated as one of Melbourne’s best.
• 2026 Uniform Guidelines (New families)
• 2025-2027 Uniform Updates (Returning families)
In the guidelines, you will find information about the Second-hand Uniform Shop (SHU), run by dedicated members of our Parent Community Association (PCA). SHU supports our School’s sustainability strategy, saving significant amounts of textiles from landfill, providing items to schools in developing regions, and generating funds to improve campus facilities and resources in consultation with student representatives.
Gerard Houlihan Head of the
School