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- Reflection
- Principal's Message
- STM Achievers
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- St Thomas More's feast day -Tuesday 29th June
- STM's got TALENT!
- CREATION with Fr Chatty
- Catholic Education Transportation Survey
- Cheerleading competition
- Please shut the gate
- Book Blogger Celebration
- Have you welcomed a bundle of joy since October, 2020?
- Parish Bulletin
- Metro bus travel, Mon 19th July
- St Anthony's Fireworks Night
- Community News
For God and Country
On Saturday we celebrate the Feast of St Thomas More, our school’s patron saint. Thomas More was born in London in 1478. More followed in his father’s footsteps and became a lawyer. In 1504 he entered parliament, was elected speaker of the House of Commons in 1523 and in 1529 was appointed Lord Chancellor and worked closely with King Henry VIII as a trusted advisor. During this time More wrote many books. Soon after More was appointed Lord Chancellor, King Henry VIII chose to break away from the Roman Catholic Church and establish his own Church. More was unable to accept this, he resigned from his position and refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as Queen of England, which angered the King.
In 1534 More was required to pledge his allegiance to the King and Anne Boleyn. More refused to pledge his allegiance as he believed that the King was still married to Catherine and only the Pope could annul marriages. More declared that the King’s authority could not override the Church. He was found guilty of treason and was beheaded on July 6, 1535. Before his execution More reputedly stated, “I die the King’s loyal servant, but God’s servant first.”
In 1935 Thomas More was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church and the St Thomas More Feast Day is celebrated on June 22.
Dear Families,
If you have been to Launceston Library, you would have seen our wonderful Reconciliation Week display. Our display shares our wishes, thoughts and actions for a more inclusive, equitable, and just, Australia, starting in our Launceston community.
This week is Refugee Week. We often hear a lot of negative comments about refugees in our media which frustrates me. Our refugees are displaced people through no fault of their own, they didn’t choose to live in a war zone or for a corrupt government to take control of their country. The question I put to everyone is: what lengths would you go to, to ensure your children have a safe and secure place to grow up in? It is important that countries like Australia continue to welcome refugees and celebrate the richness these people bring to our community. We have staff members here at STM whose parents and grandparents were refugees. We very much appreciate their contributions in our community and are glad that they were able to make Australia their home.
On Wednesday evening Diana Butler, CEO and Co-Founder of Care for Africa spoke with our community about our involvement in her next shipment. St Thomas More’s community will be sending uniforms and our school resources. Over the next several months we will be collecting any old uniforms that are in good condition to send to Africa. We also ask that you please ensure all donations are clean. Later in the year we will call for other items to be donated.
Last Friday evening was our Strings Soiree. It was a lovely evening at St Patrick’s College, and I am always amazed at how well our students perform.
On Tuesday a large number of our students participated in the All-Schools Cross Country at Symmons Plains. A cross country run is always a challenging event, and the resilience shown by all students to complete it on a cold day was amazing. Well done to all our students.
Mrs Christine Booth has informed me that she will be retiring at the end of the term. I wish Mrs Booth all the best and thank her for her many years’ service in our office at St Thomas More’s.
I wish to share with you a story as a proud dad, and one that proves that hard work and dedication pays off. On Wednesday evening my daughter Emerald was promoted to the rank of Regional Cadet Under Officer, the highest Army Cadet position in Tasmania. The position is a result of the work and effort Emerald has put into her Army Cadets over the past few years. Both my children have found Army Cadets rewarding and I strongly recommend it as it teaches our young people resilience, perseverance, and self-discipline. Children can join cadets the year that they will turn 13 years of age.
Over recent weeks we have had several staff absent due to illness. As a community we can all help prevent this. If your child is sick, we ask that you keep them home for the day to rest and if they show cold and flu symptoms, they are recommended to receive a Covid Test. At school we have maintained our daily sanitising of high touch areas, students are encouraged to regularly wash hands and if our staff display cold or flu symptoms, they are required to have a Covid Test. I wish to thank you for all your support with this.
This week I was talking with our G5/6 about Social Media Apps, and how their misuse could result in the user getting themselves in a lot of trouble. One story I heard recently was of a young teenage boy facing Federal charges for distributing inappropriate photos of a female friend via social media. One silly action can ruin several young people’s lives. Also, as I was explaining that some apps have age limits for their protection, a couple of students openly admitted to me that they put in false dates of birth to get around this safeguard. Although I am not surprised at all by this, it has prompted me to share the following piece I wrote last year with you.
Over the past few years, we have witnessed an increase in the use of social media and messaging apps, which students are using at home to connect with their peers. These tools can help us stay connected and can be extremely beneficial during lockdown periods, however they can also be used inappropriately, either through the content shared, or the writing of hurtful comments. Unfortunately, we are not immune from the negative effects, and I have received reports from across the whole school that some students use these tools inappropriately. As a parent it is important, we are familiar with our child’s online usage, what apps they are visiting and who they are communicating with. There are plenty of websites to support you with this, a good place to start is the eSafety Commissioner website and our teachers will continue to teach and promote safe online behaviours. Most importantly we need to monitor our children’s online usage and engage with them about what they are doing online.
As adults we also need to ensure that we are good e-citizens, being mindful of what we post on apps like Facebook as our content can sometimes be misleading or hurtful. The best solution to resolve a concern with another person is to directly approach them with a curiosity to understand, publicly posting opinions or half-truths is not a helpful way to resolve anything.
I also recommend the website Commonsense Media for a family-friendly review of any media from movies, books to apps.
Kind Regards,
Shayne Kidd
PRINCIPAL
25th June 2021
Congratulations to Matilda, Ivy and Logan, who have received 25 or 50 stickers in their Student Acknowledgement booklets. These stickers are given to students displaying positive and respectful behaviour in the playground. They are great role models for others. Well done!
Congratulations to those students who have received awards today:
On Tuesday 3/4 joined together to celebrate a liturgy about CREATION with Fr Chatty. The children sang beautifully and participated wholeheartedly. Thanks Fr Chatty for guiding our hearts to think more deeply about Creation. This was a lovely culmination to our term’s Religion unit about God’s Marvelous Creation.
Catholic Education Transportation Survey
The Catholic Education Commission Tasmania (CECT) is conducting a review of bus transportation currently available to students and families attending Catholic schools. You are invited to complete this short survey on how students travel to and from school. The CECT appreciates your input and suggestions to this review, and your feedback will help to improve the provision of transportation for students.
The review will also be looking at the attitudes families and students have towards bus transportation and reasons why they may or may not use bus transportation. The survey will close on Friday, 2nd of July 2021.
Please use the following links to complete this survey:
Student Travel - Student Survey
Student Travel - Parent Survey
Thank you for your support.
Last weekend, Saturday 5th June, students Evie and Grace competed in the Infinit Spirit Cheer and Dance Cheerleading competition. Their team finished first place in the Novice section - well done girls!
We would like to remind families and visitors to please ensure you close the school gates securely as you enter and exit the school grounds throughout the day. Your assistance in keeping our students safe is appreciated.
Have you welcomed a bundle of joy since October, 2020?
HAVE YOU WELCOMED A BUNDLE OF JOY SINCE OCTOBER, 2020?
We would like to celebrate your exciting new addition in our School Magazine this year. If you are happy to be included, could you please forward an image of your little bubba, their name, their sibling(s) at our school, and their date of birth to Miss O'Neill on cassie.oneill@catholic.tas.edu.au by 1 October, 2021. Thank you and congratulations!
Attached is our Launceston Parish Bulletin for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time B (26/27 June 2021). For those who use planned giving envelopes to support the work of the parish, new sets of envelopes are now available for collection from your usual Mass centre. If you cannot collect your envelopes please contact the Parish Office (6331 4377) to arrange collection. With every best wish and blessing,
Fr Mark Freeman