8 February 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Welcome back to St Thomas More’s Catholic Primary School for 2017. We are all looking forward to a year of learning and growth for all.

Over the holidays the amount of constant rain enabled my garden to flourish well into January unlike any other year in the last 11. The rain fed and nourished my garden and enabled it to grow when in other years it has dried off. This experience serves as an analogy for our community. We all need to nourish and feed our school community in order for us all to be nurtured and enabled to flourish even more each year. In the Catechism of Catholic Church under the heading of: the Communal Character of the Human Vocation (section1878) it states that: “All men are called to the same end: God himself. There is a certain resemblance between the unity of the divine persons and the fraternity that men are to establish among themselves in truth and love. Love of neighbour is inseparable from love for God”.

May we all come together throughout the year at any time when we gather in twos, threes or more to continue to build our community for each other and for our children.

I wish to invite you all to our Commencement Mass on Tuesday February 14th at 12:00 to participate in the Eucharistic Liturgy together as we recognise and accept God in our lives this coming year. Your are also most welcome to join us in our Welcome BBQ on Friday 17th Feb starting at 5pm. This is an opportunity to come together as a community in our beautiful grounds as a community of parents, children, staff and family members.

I wish to warmly welcome to St Thomas More’s for 2017 Anthony Healey (Grade 5/6), Melissa Atkins (3/4 W/A on Fridays), Rachael Foot (Prep F), Gemma Stephens (Kinder S), Courtney Parker (Teacher Assistant) and Rebecca Seward- Linger (Teacher of Japanese).

We hope you enjoy the new format of our newsletter, which we will continue to build upon. This newsletter will be in fortnightly instalments. Any urgent news will be sent out via email, the SZApp, Team App and Facebook.

Welcome back to all for 2017.

CR Seagar

PBS – Change in Break Times for 2017

This year we will be restructuring our break times as part of our Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) plan. We are implementing this for the following reasons:

• To reduce the number of incidences occurring in the playground in the last 15 mins of 2nd break playtime, as our data indicates that the majority of playground incidents occur at this time.
• To allow more eating time at 1st break to provide students with time to eat substantial food (namely sandwich or the like) which will increase attention/focus and productivity in the middle session; and in addition reduce the amount of food and rubbish being taken in to the playground.

The following additional changes will also be implemented:

• Students will be encouraged to eat their main meal at the 1st break.
• Lunch orders will come at the 1st break rather than the 2nd break.
• Specialist lessons will start at 8:50am rather than 9am.

The school will review and assess these changes at the end of Term One in 2017.

Birth to 4 Program at St Thomas More’s

Starting 21st February in the Josephite Hall 9-10:30 . All parents and children 4 and under are most welcome. Looking forward to seeing you.

St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School Swimming Carnival

23rd February Grades 3-6 - Letter from Mr Stacey has been emailed to families.

Welcome BBQ

All families are invited to our welcome BBQ Friday 17th at 5pm. Food provided please bring your own rug, folding chairs and drinks.

P & F Meeting and AGM

Wednesday 1st March at 7pm, in the school staff room, is our first P&F meeting and AGM for the year. All welcome.

Compulsory Grade 5/6 Parent iPad Restrictions Session

All Grade 5/6 parents are required to attend our iPad restrictions session on Wednesday 15th February at 6:30-8:00 in the Josephite Hall. Child minding provided. This session will focus on providing parents with necessary information to ensure that student iPads have appropriate restrictions for school and home use.

Important Health Request

Dear Parents

You may be aware that Pippa Harmey, a student in Kinder this year, Is receiving treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (a type of cancer) which puts her at risk if she is exposed to Chicken Pox, Shingles or Measles. Please inform the school office as soon as possible if you or your children or friends come into contact or become ill with any of the above.

Pippa's parents, Yvette and Dave have asked for our help in this very important matter.

This is especially important for all families in our school.

This is a simple but very important way we can help Pippa on her journey towards wellness.

Thank you in anticipation of your support.

Kind regards

Carol Seagar
Principal

5/6 Student iPads

5/6 Students are asked not to bring their iPads to school in weeks 1 & 2 of Term 1 as we will not be using them in class during this time. This will also give parents a chance to set up restrictions on the iPad before they come to school after the Compulsory iPad Restriction Session on Wed 15th Feb.

Gallery

We now have brand new Plexipaved Courts, which look absolutely fantastic. Many thanks to our P&F for organising and funding this project.

School Calendar

We are endeavouring to create a school calendar embedded in Schoolzine. You will be able to access this calendar through a tab at the top of the e-newsletter shortly. There will be no hard copy calendar this year as events are often subject to change. This e-calendar will keep you more up to date with school events.

UPCOMING EVENTS

THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY - STUDENTS BEGIN SCHOOL
THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY - BOARD AGM MEETING 7:00PM
TUESDAY 14 FEBRUARY - COMMENCEMENT MASS 12:00PM
FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY - WELCOME BBQ 5:00PM
TUESDAY 21 FEBRUARY - BIRTH TO FOUR 9:00 - 10:30AM
THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY - SWIMMING CARNIVAL
WEDNESDAY 1 MARCH - P&F AGM 7:00PM
THURSDAY 2 MARCH - INSTRUMENT ALLOCATION FOR BAND MEMBERS
MONDAY 13 MARCH - LONGWEEKEND
THURSDAY 23 MARCH - NIJSSA SWIMMING CARNIVAL
THURSDAY 23 MARCH - BOARD MEETING 7:00PM
MONDAY 3 APRIL - PUPIL FREE DAY
FRIDAY 14 APRIL - GOOD FRIDAY

Schoolzine

St Thomas More’s has moved to a new all-in-one parent and community communication platform called Schoolzine. Schoolzine will replace a number of the communication services we currently provide including our newsletter, Team App, and event booking systems. Schoolzine provide access to content through a website and free app that is downloadable on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. You will be accessing this eNewsletter through the website right now and the app will allow you to access our new school eNewsletter also. Furthermore, the app will replace Team App, as it provides the ability to send out push notifications, as Team App does, but with increased functionality. In 2017 we will still continue to send out notifications using Team App, up until we feel comfortable that everyone has had a chance to switch over to the new Schoolzine platform. This new platform will also replace our booking system for Parent/Teacher Interviews and any other event bookings that we may need throughout the year. We hope that this new all-in-one platform will allow for increased and more user-friendly communication between the school and families. You can download the Schoolzine app and find St Thomas More’s right now. This way as we role into using the Schoolzine app throughout the year you will be ready to go and start receiving notifications straight away. As with Team App, it is important to leave push notifications turned on when you install the new Schoolzine app.

St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School Newstead has a new app!

SZapp is a great way to keep up to date with all of our latest news and information. Using SZapp will give you easy access to information such as:

• Newsletters on the go
• Latest News & Reminders
• Calendar
• Forms and Documents
• Contact Form