The vision for St Thomas More's Catholic School is to be a vibrant, positive, and energetic learning community, where every child is valued, and where relationships, the Gospel, and our Josephite charism are at the heart of every aspect of our educational program.

We have high expectations for student learning and student behaviour, and aim to support our students to grow into independent and confident learners, but community-minded contributors to society.

Students are invited into an intimate relationship with Christ. We know we have achieved this goal when our students smile when they arrive at school, and are still smiling when they leave.

INTENTIONALITY

“We live in a world saturated with the love and intentionality of an ever-present God, and we are not alone.” - Dr Barabara Holmes

Dr Barbara Holmes is a spiritual teacher, activist, writer, and scholar focused on African American spirituality, mysticism, cosmology and culture. The focus of her theology is on how the cosmos both reveals and can expand our limited constructs of religion, race, and power.

Everyone knows the famous passage from St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (13:4-8) that lectures on the very nature of love. It has been read and recited at weddings throughout the world for centuries. Please read St Paul’s words below carefully:

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; love is not irritable or resentful; love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

A thought exercise for all of us to complete is to read this passage again, but this time to replace the word ‘love’ with ‘God’. Perhaps not astonishingly, the passage still makes complete sense. The purpose of the thought exercise is to illustrate and exemplify what we already know to be true: God and love are synonymous - indistinguishable. After all, “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

The claim that Dr Barbara Holmes makes in the quote at the start of this reflection, is that not only is this world soaked in God’s love, but is also soaked in God’s intentionality. That is, the presence of God’s love in the world is not passive and distant, and only to be found if one really searches for it. But God’s love is active, present, and shaping us, our relationships, and desire to influence the world around us.

God isn’t something that comes from somewhere else and occasionally comes here. Our present reality is saturated with His love, His grace, His mercy, and His intentionality. We are chosen and called by God in the here and now to live in right-relationship with each other, right-relationship with God, and right-relationship with the world. Matthew’s Jesus, when teaching his Disciples in Chapter 13, exclaims (Verse 16): “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and blessed are your ears for they hear!” And again he exhorts (Verse 9): “Anyone with ears, let them hear!” It is a message about intentionality.

All we must do to truly experience God’s love is to be intentional: intentional in opening our eyes to see God’s love - looking for it everywhere; intentional in opening our ears to hear God’s love - listening for it everywhere; intentional in opening our hearts to feel God’s love - showing love to everyone. 

After all, Jesus gives us real eyes to realise where the real lies.

Tuesday 19th March, 2023

Mr Casimir Douglas

Dear Parents and Carers,

SALUTATION

Grace to you and peace.

STM TV: BETTER TOGETHER

This episode for Term 1 - Week 5, 2024, features the students from our More classes. This week in our episode Better Together, we are exploring letters, emotions, and harmony!

STM TV is our school's episodic YouTube show designed to share the key learning experiences of nominated students and classes each week to engage our parents and the broader community in the learning journey of our school.

GOSPEL VALUE AWARDS: DIGNITY

Our fortnightly Gospel Values Awards process provides for the nomination and presentation of the Gospel Value Awards for those students who demonstrate, live out, and exemplify the school's Gospel values. For the month of March, the school community is focused on the Gospel value of DIGNITY. Our Gospel Values: Head, Heart & Hands Framework, reminds our students that to show the value of DIGNITY is to be myself, do my best, and be proud.

The following students received a Gospel Value Award at our School Assembly on Friday (22nd March), as nominated by their class teacher for exemplifying the Gospel value of DIGNITY:

Term 1 - Week 7, 2024
Violet Jankowiak	For always being yourself and treating all around you with dignity and respect. Violet, thank you for always trying your best and being such a caring member of our classroom.	Prep More
Emmett McInerney	Dignity. Emmett you are always trying to be the best version of yourself by consistently treating others with kindness and honesty, and doing your best in all class activities.	Prep Thomas
Toby Rowe	For giving everything his best and being proud of himself. Toby shows the Gospel value of dignity by trying his hardest and not letting challenges get in the way.	Grade 1/2 More
Thomas Beeson	Dignity in 1/2S means getting things wrong and still moving forward without getting upset. Thomas has made so many gains in this area and he should be extremely proud of himself. Regardless of what is thrown your way, you choose the positive side of life, both inside and outside of the classroom.	Grade 1/2 Saint
Blake Stocks	Blake has really stepped up with his learning and “doing his best” this week. It is a joy to see your love and excitement for learning, Blake! You are proud and so you should be. Well done on displaying our Gospel Value of Dignity! Remember to keep doing your thing and singing your song!	Grade 1/2 Thomas
Elina Pedder	For being a kind and compassionate peer to your classmates. You show dignity beautifully by reaching out and helping others when you see a need and bringing smiles to our faces each day. Keep up the great work Elina.	Grade 3/4 More
Kip Cruse	For showing dignity and respect towards his peers and teachers through his everyday actions.	Grade 3/4 Saint
Toby Matthews	Toby shows the true Spirit of Jesus in our classroom. He is always respectful and kind towards his peers and teachers. Toby works hard and puts his best efforts into all his studies. Keep shining bright, Toby.	Grade 3/4 Thomas
Jessica Hernyk	Jessica has really focused this term on being herself, trying her best in all areas, and being proud of her achievements, both small and big!	Grade 5/6 More
Isabelle White	Isabelle White for always being herself and treating everyone with dignity and respect. She shows love in her work, showing priority and passion in helping the office with lunch orders. Well done Issy, keep being you!	Grade 5/6 Saint
Mason Swain	Mason consistently gives his all towards everything he is doing and takes pride in his leadership role as School Captain.	Grade 5/6 Thomas

These students will also attend the Principal’s Morning Tea next Tuesday (26th March) in the Josephite Hall during the first break at 10:50am with myself and Fr Chatty.

FAREWELL FR CHATTY!

The Catholic Parish of Launceston received the unfortunate news over the weekend that Fr Chathura Silva, affectionately known as Fr Chatty, has been moved to the Mersey-Leven Parish on the North-West Coast of Tasmania.

Fr Chatty is a beloved figure at St Thomas More's Catholic School. He has been the Parish Priest on the School Advisory Board for the past two years, and Fr also visits our school every Tuesday morning to hold class liturgies and participate in the Principal's Morning Teas for our Gospel Values Award recipients each fortnight. Fr Chatty has also been the principle celebrant of our key Masses throughout the school year. But the scope of Fr Chatty's contribution to our school is not confined to the Board Room and spiritual duties. Fr Chatty can also be regularly found playing soccer, basketball or cricket with the students at break times, chatting with the staff at morning tea time in the Staff Lounge, travelling to Smithton to join our Grade 6 Camp, rugged up on the School Oval deep into the evening to participate in our Grade 5 Leadership Retreat, and joining the St Thomas More's team at the Catholic Education Tasmania trivia night, where he chooses to represent our school above all others!

Fr Chatty has immersed himself in the life of our school community, and we are all the richer for it. The litmus test of a person's legacy in a community is whether they left the place better than they found it. And Fr Chatty most certainly did. But more than just bidding farewell to a Parish Priest and Board Member, we are saying goodbye to a dear, dear friend. 

Fr Chatty will still be maintaining his role as the Chaplain at the University of Tasmania campuses here in Launceston, and so we will still be able to enjoy his company from time to time. So I ask the entire St Thomas More's Catholic School community to join me in farewelling the great man we know as Fr Chatty, and wish him all the best for the brand new adventure ahead of him. 

Fr Chatty, this isn't goodbye, it is simply see you down the road, my friend. 

HARMONY WEEK

The theme for Harmony Week 2024 is: Everyone Belongs! It is a powerful message about inclusion, belonging, connection and relationship. The learning for our students is that every individual is unique and special, every individual has gifts they bring to school community, and it is our task to celebrate every individual person and their gifts. 

As a symbol of our solidarity in recognising and acknowledging the diversity of our school community, and to celebrate Harmony Day, all students were invited to wear orange clothing to school for the day on Thursday 21st March. The sea of orange reminds us that whilst we are all different, every individual belongs in our school community.

Throughout Harmony Week, the students participated in a learning activity with their buddy classes where they explored the different cultural backgrounds that are prominent in our school community. All students also decorated a colourful leaf with their name on it to add to our Harmony Day Tree display in the Reception Area. The tree is a reminder that as a diverse community of individuals, we come together in solidarity to grow together along the journey. 

I wish to express my sincere gratitude for the work of Mrs Simone Ross for organising these events and activities for our students during Harmony Week.

FINAL GREETING

May the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

God bless,

Mr Casimir Douglas

Principal

Congratulations to our new SRC representatives for Semester 1 2024. We presented our new representatives with their badges on Friday 22nd March at our school assembly.

As previously advised, the Easter non school attendance days are as follows:

Good Friday = 29 March 2024, Easter Monday = 1 April 2024
Easter Tuesday = 2 April 2024

Return to school on Wednesday, 3 April 2024

A reminder that Term 1 concludes on Thursday, 11th April 2024.

Term 2 resumes on Monday, 29th April 2024.

St Thomas More's are so excited to be working with the Resilience Project (TRP) again in 2024 to support and foster the Mental health and Wellbeing of our students and whole school community.

The Resilience Project is committed to teaching positive mental health strategies to prevent mental ill-health and build young people’s capacity to deal with adversity.

Teachers and students will engage in weekly lessons and activities around the key principles of Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness (GEM), and Emotional Literacy to build resilience.

Check out their website for more information:

The Resilience Project

And check out TRP@HOME; a place filled with inspiration and activities for the whole family, to help improve your wellbeing and build resilience.

TRP@HOME