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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.
ELDA FINDS HERSELF IN THE ELDGJA CANYON
“Finding your true self is an act of love. Expressing it is an act of rebellion.” – Cory Muscara
In August of 2012, Elda Björk Ólafsdóttir, was part of a group of 50 tourists travelling through the southern highlands near the Eldgja canyon. As they trekked through the highlands on a Saturday morning and the weather began to warm, she paused for a moment to rest and change her clothes and became separated from the group. But as an experienced tourist and hiker, she simply followed the well-marked walk through the highlands through the next few hours eventually returning to the starting point and remainder of the tourist group that afternoon. She was not the first to arrive back, but was not the last, having passed some of her fellow tourists on the path.
But as the early evening came, she was concerned to hear that a member of their party had become separated and had not yet returned. A description of the lost tourist was circulated through the group, and neither Elda nor the rest of the group had seen her on path, nor seen her return.
Very soon the local police had been contacted, and the party was separated into smaller groups to commence a search of the highlands path, by both vehicle and foot. They searched for hours into the fading light of the early evening, and then into the dark of the night, only pausing briefly to eat. As the search persisted into midnight the region’s Coast Guard were contacted and a helicopter was brought in to support the search from the air.
But it was not until 3:00am as Elda desperately searched the array of walking tracks through the Eldgja canyon, and she reflected on the events of the day, and paused to consider the description of their missing party member, that it dawned on her. She was the missing party member! She revealed herself to her peers in the search party, and showed them the clothes she was wearing when she had left that morning to confirm that she was indeed, the missing tourist!
Now, of course, this story is both crazy and comical. But it really is an apt metaphor for the plight of the human condition, and the challenge that our young people are facing to be themselves, or find themselves, in the midst of an over-commercialised and stimuli-saturated, post-modern marketplace of values, identity markers, and expressions of individualism.
The task of childhood and adolescence in terms of forming and constructing an identity is the building of a container. A container in which the young person feels safe and comfortable, adorned with values, markers, and expressions that sit somewhere between aligning with social norms, and meeting their pressing desire to express their individualism as a unique and self-sustaining human being - a container. Young people will define themselves, and build this container around; the clothes they wear, the activities they pursue, the music that they listen to, and of course, the company they keep. They will ‘shop’ their container around seeking belonging, connection, and acknowledgement that they are worthy of inclusion in a particular social group. And sometimes will change their container, not as an authentic expression of their personhood, but simply to ‘fit in’ to the new social crowd.
And for many, this process of seeking, searching and adjusting persists into adulthood. Like Elda, they are constantly seeking for connection, searching for belonging, desperate for inclusion, and adjusting the container in order to feel safe. But they will never be safe for long. The search will continue long into the night. Until eventually they will realise that while they’ve been so busy searching ‘out there’ for who they are, that all along, the person they were looking for is right here.
It is our task, as the teachers, parents, and staff of St Thomas More's Catholic School community to provide the moral capital, the social capital, the ethical capital, and the spiritual capital that students trust and rely upon to build a safe and strong container during this stage of their life. We are called to teach, model and live the behaviours and relationships that we wish for our young people to learn. Then, when they are ready, and they no longer need that container, and they are ready to be themselves, celebrate their idiosyncracies, and embrace their weird, they will emerge as whole and integrated young adults - ready to change the world.
Mr Casimir Douglas
Sunday 14th April, 2024
SALUTATION
Grace to you and peace.
CROSS COUNTRY CARNIVAL!
On Friday 24th May our students participated in the Cross Country carnival, representing their House groups with pride and enthusiasm and getting covered in mud and sweat! This carnival is such a special community event, and it was so wonderful to see all the families of our students come in to support the event and, of course, their children!
The Cross Country carnival enables students to develop and maintain their personal fitness and wellbeing, build resilience, demonstrate House spirit and cultivate school culture. All students gave their very best effort in the races, the results of the carnival are:
| House | Points |
| Chisholm | 451 |
| MacKillop | 422 |
| Tenison | 409 |
Congratulations to all students for their excitement, participation and energy, and well done to Chisholm House on claiming the Cross Country Cup!
A huge thank you to all our parent volunteers who helped out today, and to Mr Rik Bryan for his tireless work in preparing for the event. And last but not least, to Mr Nick Stacey, for his leadership and organisation of the Cross Country Carnival!
NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME 2024
This Wednesday (22nd May), our students participated in National Simultaneous Storytime, an initiative run by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Each year an Australian picture book is selected to be read simultaneously in schools, libraries, bookshops and homes across Australia and New Zealand.
Students across the whole school shared the beautiful story, Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker, along with over 2 million participants. We learnt about bowerbirds, created wonderful bowers, completed word searches and searched for anything blue! What a great way to share the joy of reading!
Also, the team from Nightly News 7 Tasmania dropped in to capture the magic of our students engaging in National Simultaneous Storytime! When you access the YouTube link below, it (should!) will take you directly to timestamp for the report featuring our students from Prep and Grade 3/4! The story starts at the exact 9-minute mark.
Thank you very much to our Teacher-Librarian, Ms Rebecca Thomas, for her support and promotion of the wonderful initiative!
LITTLE GEM - EARLY YEARS PRODUCTION FILMING
Our Early Years team has embarked on an inspiring new collaboration with Adam and Sarah from Tasdance! This dynamic duo has been engaging our students in meaningful conversations about gratitude, empathy, and mindfulness, exploring what these concepts mean to our young students.
In addition to these enriching discussions, our Early Years team, Tasdance and all early years students are diving headfirst into an exciting new project. For the next seven weeks, they will be dedicating their time and energy to practising for a special production. This production, which will take place in Week 10, will integrate the themes of gratitude, empathy, and mindfulness, bringing these important values of wellbeing to life through performance.
We are incredibly proud of our students' enthusiasm and hard work and cannot wait to see the final production. Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to the performance date. It's going to be an event you won't want to miss!
Thank you very much to Mrs Leah Wheeler and all the Early Years teaching team for their passion, vision, and energy they are pouring into this project. It will be amazing!
PRINCIPAL'S MORNING TEA
At our Friday afternoon School Assembly last week, there were a number of students who received a Gospel Value Award for demonstrating the value of EMPATHY. These students attended a special Principal’s Morning Tea in Josephite Hall this Tuesday (21st May) with myself and Fr Jesse Banez.
We were treated to a smorgasbord of fruit, cake, scones and muffins, and we each shared what we are grateful for in our lives, including; friends, Mum, siblings, God, pets, the current weather... cold but sunny! They also shared about their hobbies, interests and dreams which included basketball, Auskick, soccer, tennis, cricket, netball, volleyball, crafting, drawing, sketching, the monkey bars at school, swimming, and playing tag!
KINDER 2025 ENROLMENTS
After conducting a number of interviews with families for our 2025 Kinder enrolment process in Term 1, since returning to school in Week 2 of this term, I have conducted nearly 50 Kinder interviews in the past three weeks! It has been such a pleasure to meet the parents and their wonderful young children, both of whom were equally earnest and eager for their child to be engaged in Catholic education at St Thomas More's Catholic School.
There are a few of these families still to interview, and more applications coming in each day. Last year we had over 100 applications for Kinder, and we have more applications now, than we had at this time last year! This is credit to the continued generosity, spirit, goodwill and hard work of our staff, who are responsible for our positive school culture, and excellent reputation. It also a credit to our students in the manner that they represent our school proudly, and to our parent community for continuing to promote our school through the positive word of mouth.
I must express my sincere gratitude to Mrs Sharon Woolridge and our Admin team for their diligence, professionalism, and quality communication and organisation during this process.
SPEAK UP - Stay ChatTY:
On Tuesday the 8th of May Kylea Aldred and Callan Hume from Speak Up! Stay ChatTY Came to STM to deliver the GritFit for kids program to half of our Grade 6 students.
GritFit for kids is a 1 hour interactive session centred around mental wellbeing and resilience. This evidence informed, clinically endorsed program provides students with foundational information tools and strategies across the following:
Mental Health: What is mental health?
Depression and Anxiety: Exploring the difference between healthy and anticipated emotions/experiences and what to look out for in yourself and others when it comes to anxiety and depression.
Resilience: Why is it important, and exploration of how we build resilience.
Tools: How do we develop ways to boost our mental wellbeing and help release feel-good chemicals in our brains/bodies.
Kindness: The importance of building a kindness culture and how we can participate in it.
Thank you very much to Mrs Simone Ross, not only for organising this opportunity for our Grade 6 students, but for her tireless work and amazing support of the wellbeing of all our students.
PARENT INFORMATION EVENING W/ SUE LANGLEY
Please find attached below a flyer for our Positive Psychology for Productive Parenting Practices parent information evening with CEO and Founder of the Langley Group, Sue Langley.
This is a free event that we strongly encourage all of our parents to attend. Please access the link or QR code in the flyer to register your attendance. Places are limited!
Sue is global wellbeing speaker and thought-leader in positive psychology. She is an expert on the practical application of emotional intelligence, positive psychology and neuroscience. The evening is an opportunity for parents to explore positive parenting practices to be the best parents we can be to help our children be happy, resilient, and succeed in life. If you wish to learn more about Sue Langley's work, please access the following link: https://langleygroup.com.au
This event is a collaboration between the six Catholic Schools in Launceston, and has been funded by the parent engagement grants made available by the Tasmanian Catholic Schools Parents Council. It is being held at St Patrick's College on the evening of Tuesday 27th August, 2024.
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
On Wednesday 22 May, STM staff and students participated in National Simultaneous Storytime, a reading initiative run by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Each year an Australian picture book is selected to be read simultaneously in schools, libraries, bookshops, child care centres and homes. In 2024, there were 2, 359, 147 participants across 21, 969 locations across Australia and the world who enjoyed the beautiful story Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker. Students learnt about bowerbirds, created their own bowers, searched for blue items in their classrooms and drew and coloured bowerbirds. NSS is a great celebration of the wonder of story and the power of quality literature.
We have been able to secure a catch up date for school photos for those students who were absent on Monday, 13 May 2024.
This catch up date will be Friday 31st May 2024.
We will be able to offer family photos and individual photos only. Family photos will commence at 8.30am so please ensure that your children go straight to the hall if a family photo has been ordered. The photographers will then follow on with individual photos.
For Grade 3-6 students who require catch up photos, please ensure that they are in their formal school uniform on this day. If they have a PE lesson or normally wear their sports uniform, they may like to bring their sports shoes in their bag.
If your child is in Kinder T (Mrs Edwards class) and were absent, you are welcome to come in between 8.30-9.30am just for their photo/s.
You do not need to contact MSP Photography to re-order these photos, they are already aware and will honour orders placed.
If you have any questions please contact the school office.
Within the next few weeks, while at recess or lunch we will hold an unannounced emergency practice with staff and students, to test our response to a potential scenario that staff may identify a threat warranting the school go into lockdown (opposite to evacuation).
Like for fire evacuation drills, we recognise the worth to test this process. We have plans in place to make this practice as least disruptive as possible.
If you have queries please call our Safety Officer, Katie Gardner on 0456 849 497.
