Filter Content
- Reflection
- Principal's Message
- CBCA Book Week 2020 – Book Week Parade
- Lochie shaves his head for cancer
- STM Achievers
- Student Awards
- Term 4 commencing Tuesday, 13th October
- Apple for the Teacher - Vote Now!!
- P & F Assistance Required
- P & F Cookbook
- Playground Improvement - have your say!
- Parish Bulletin
- Surviving and Thriving in Grade 11 and 12 with Dr Michael Carr-Gregg
- YMCA Holiday Program
- Little Stars Yoga school holidays program
- St Patrick's Shamrocks
- Camps Tasmania
- LCFC School Holiday program
No Salvation outside the Church?
This is a story of the day labourers of Jesus’ time. The ‘early birds’ contracted for the just wage of one denarius and did the hard work over the course of a long day. They were outraged when latecomers also received a denarius.
This little parable circulated in the Christian community of the first century because there was great antagonism between the Jews who became followers of Jesus and the non-Jews, the ‘Gentiles’. Jewish Christians looked at their long history of hardship preparing for the coming of the Messiah. And, now, here were these Gentiles who had done nothing by comparison, and God appeared to be granting them whatever it took to enjoy the ‘daily bread’ of the Kingdom of God.
Jewish Christians had to be shocked out of their idea that God’s grace could not be lavished on those outside the boundaries of the Chosen People.
We could pause to pray to be taken by happy surprise by those billions of people outside the Church who, by the grace of God, will share with us ‘the Bread of Life’, given for the salvation of all the world.
© Fr Michael Tate; mtate@bigpond.com
Dear Families,
This week is now the longest continuous time our students have spent at school all year and we have noticed some tired children. It is important that we do allow our children some down time and to rest, which I know can be a challenge with the busyness of life. I do encourage you all to make opportunities for yourselves and your children to relax and recharge.
On Wednesday we’ll be holding our Athletics Carnival - thank you for all our parent volunteers. I thank Mr. Stacey for organizing our event, which has numerous challenges due to the Covid restrictions. A reminder that we cannot have spectators at the event. Also please note that although we will share lots of photos and maybe some video, we are unable to livestream or share footage of every event. Please understand that our staff and volunteers’ priority is to ensure your children have a safe and enjoyable day.
I am providing some advance notice that we will unfortunately not be able to have any events that encourage large gatherings of people, which includes Grandparents’ Day and our Carols by Candlelight. We are exploring alternatives for some of these events. For smaller events, such as Kinder athletics and their Nativity, we are working on ways to allow families to participate. We are committed to our G6 leavers’ dinner, although there will be some restrictions; we are currently working on a G6 awards presentation for families. I will communicate more about this early next term. I thank you all for your understanding and patience with this.
Today Chilli FM’s morning DJ’s visited our assembly as we have eight teachers nominated for Chilli FM’s Apple for the teacher. It is great to see that our children value the hard work our staff here at St Thomas More’s, and to be honest, I believe all our staff deserve to be nominated! Click here to vote for a teacher.
Continuing with our theme on internet safety, today I thought I would share some thoughts on YouTube Channels and online videos as I am aware some of our students have a channel. Having a genuine audience for a piece of work can be very encouraging and meaningful. YouTube or other sites can provide a platform for this, however there are some things as a parent, you need to be aware of. YouTube is part of Google, and outside of the Education platforms that we use, Google accounts have an age restriction of 13+. Google is a company that collects data for marketing and advertising. (Google Education platforms have strict content restrictions and data is not collected for marketing or advertisement. Students using the Google Education suite are not subject to any advertising.) If the comments are left on, children can be subject to any comments being written. As parents it is our responsibility to ensure that we provide a safe and secure environment for our children, which includes monitoring our children’s online usage. If your child wishes to publish videos online, which can be a positive experience, I suggest you be sure to view all your child’s content before it is posted. Whatever is posted is online and available forever and you lose control of how others may use this video. At school we control all the apps loaded onto school devices and have filters on our internet at school to prevent students accessing unwanted sites.
Have a great week.
God Bless,
Shayne Kidd
CBCA Book Week 2020 – Book Week Parade
Each year the Children’s Book Council of Australia celebrates Book Week to highlight the importance of reading and to promote quality Australian children’s literature. This year CBCA Book Week is being held from 17-23 October. The theme for 2020 is “Curious Creatures, Wild Minds.”
As part of our celebrations St Thomas More’s is holding a Dress-up Parade on Monday 19th October from 9-9.30am. Students are welcome to dress-up as a character from a book that they know and love. Please encourage your child to be creative, using clothes they may already have or recycled items. It is not compulsory but if your child would like to take part they may come to school dressed as their character. We recommend that students bring the book they have chosen.
Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, parents are unable to attend.
Rebecca Thomas
Librarian
Lochie shaves his head for cancer
Hello, some of you may know me as one of the school captains, but I am here today to tell you why I am going to shave my head on the 1st of December.
I have wanted to do this for a couple of years now but feel that this is the right time because earlier this year my Grandpa passed away from cancer. I want to donate to the Holman Clinic because over the last two and a half years they supported my Grandpa through his cancer journey.
Please donate to my gofundme page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/
Congratulations to Lukas Slama who has received 25 stickers in his sticker booklet. These stickers are given to students displaying positive and respectful behaviour in the playground. They are a great role model for others. Well done!
Congratulations to the following students for receiving awards this week:
Term 4 commencing Tuesday, 13th October
Please note that Monday, 12th October is a Staff Spirituality day. Term 4 commences for students on Tuesday 13th October.
Apple for the Teacher - Vote Now!!
Playground Improvement - have your say!
We are excited to commence a long term playground improvement project. To help us create the best playground for our children, we would like to here from you.
A link to our concept plan and feedback form is below - please follow the link to have a say.
Playground Improvement Project
Please find attached the current Parish Bulletin.
Surviving and Thriving in Grade 11 and 12 with Dr Michael Carr-Gregg
Launceston Grammer has asked us to extend this invitation with our schools and their school communities.
This is a free event for anyone to come along and hear from Michael. There will also be refreshments available.
Michael has a specific session around this topic which is very relevant in regards to COVID.
Surviving and Thriving in Grade 11 and 12 with Dr Michael Carr-Gregg will take you to the page to register directly.
Please see the attached flyer for the YMCA Holiday Program:
Little Stars Yoga school holidays program
Welcome Spring!!
It's that time of year again, when our mornings are shining brighter and the days are getting longer. Spring is in the air and it comes with the promise of new life and endless opportunities. I hope you're families are all thriving and enjoying the chance to be active and socialise again, we are extremely fortunate!
SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAM
I'm excited to share that we've partnered with My Gym Tas to bring you our school holiday program (flyer below)
Tuesday 6 October
10.30am - Intro to Yoga (7+ years)
11.30am - Parent & Child Yoga (3+ years)
We have reduces class sizes so registrations are essential.
For more class details please visit www.littlestarsyoga.com.au or email natalie@littlestarsyoga.com.au to register or for any questions.
Much love and warmest wishes to you all
Nat xo
Camps Tasmania are running Summer Camps this January for youth aged 9-16. Empowering young people to accept challenges, think for themselves, form friendships and develop skills in a welcoming, supportive and safe environment.
There are many benefits to attending Camps and can include the opportunity to develop self-confidence, resilience, independence amongst many leadership, communication and team work skills; all as I'm sure we can agree are very valuable life skills.
Through our Summer Camp program we encourage youth from all across the state to make new connections, try different activities, disconnect from technology and enjoy the Summer Sun.
Any questions please just reach out to our friendly team,
To learn more about us: campstasmania.com.au
Launceston City Football Club are running a skills camp for primary school aged children during the upcoming school holidays.
Please see the attached flyer for details.