30 November 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Giving Thanks and Living out the Word.

At St Thomas More’s we strive as Catholic School to provide 4 key elements of the Catholic faith: an range of prayer times and prayer types for all; to spread the Good News of the Word of God; always seek to deepen our own spirituality and relationship with God and to serve others. This week in particular the serving of others was evident in the Grade 6 camp. We had parents, grandparents and staff giving of themselves with time and energy to the students ensuring that the best possible organisation enabled a truly wonderful experience. An experience that allowed for deep reflection on their life at primary school – for some this had spiritual connections. The whole camp experience saw everyone living out the Word of God: being thankful, reaching out to others and understanding vulnerable times and weaknesses.

“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:4-5)

I wish to thank staff for the time and effort put into the placement of students for classes in 2018. In placing students consideration is given to a multitude of factors that enable a student to maximise their learning in all areas. As adults we do need to allow our children to experience change and different settings as this is an essential aspect of life and one in which we undergo new learning that enhances not only our academic and social skills but also help develop resilience, courage and independence. Being positive about student classes for 2018 and the great and exciting new learning opportunities that this offers is the best way to ensure that your child can confidently take this next step. Be assured that we too are always supporting your child on their learning journey – in whatever form this takes.

Carol Seagar
Principal

Music Program Concert & Award Evening

Email Communication between teachers and parents/carers

Many parents/carers use email to communicate with the school and with classroom teachers. email can be a very advantageous way to communicate, however it can also have downfalls. Below are some of the expectations the school has around email communication between parents and teachers.

• Try to be brief/concise. Teachers often receive anywhere from 20 to 100 emails per day and reading these emails can be extremely time consuming.
• Be patient when waiting on a response. Teachers can not reply to emails during class time (they are teaching your child), so don’t expect a reply until after 3pm. Also, a reasonable timeframe for a reply is anywhere up to 24 hours, and can be longer in some circumstances.
• Don’t expect a reply on the weekend or after 5:30pm on weekdays. This is family time for our teaching staff and we would like to respect this time.
• Don’t send the teacher emails that are actually office related. For example, if your child is going to be picked up early to go to the dentist it is no good emailing the teacher at 9:30am the day you will be picking them up. This type of email should be sent to the office email address stm@catholic.tas.edu.au

Below is a link to document from The Federation of Catholic School Parent Communities that goes into much greater detail in outlining expectations around Parent-Teacher Communication.

What is Bullying?

The word bullying often gets bandied around (sometimes incorrectly) when there is an incident between children at school. So what is/isn’t bullying? How do we know when a child is being bullied? And what can be done? The linked article below, from the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, is a fantastic resource that answers these and many other questions regarding bullying.

Christmas Carols – Supervision Reminder

A reminder that teaching staff do not have duty of care on carols night. Therefore, parents/carers must ensure that their children are supervised and act/behave accordingly.

Families leaving the school at the end of 2017

If your family is leaving St Thomas More’s at the end of 2017 could you please let Carol know ASAP via email: carol.seagar@catholic.tas.edu.au

Fees

FEES: Thank you to all parents who continue to pay fees regularly through direct debit. Please be aware that at enrolment the signatories on the enrolment form continue to be responsible for fees even if family situations change.

Back to School Book Lists

Book List Order Information

All students have received an information sheet regarding booklist orders through Officemax for 2018. These sheets are also available below for each grade.

Key points to keep in mind

• All orders submitted prior to the 10 December 2017 will not attract a freight charge – an incentive to get in early!
• Orders received after 10th December will incur a $12.95 (per family) freight charge
• We encourage you to use OfficeMax for your BTS books as the school receives a percentage of sales from all orders. This money in turn benefits the students.
• We will also introduce a new method of payment called zipPay. See details below.

Christmas Hampers

Community Care Meal Roster

Our Community Care Meal Roster is almost filled. We just need a few more volunteers for Weeks 8,9, and 10. If you can help please email jacquie.wood@catholic.tas.edu.au

Kind regards,

Jacquie Wood
Teacher/ APRE

Fair News

Thank You

On behalf of St Thomas More’s Catholic Primary School we would like to thank the P & F organising committee for our recent fair. We know that this fantastic community event does not happen without an enormous amount of organisation for months before the actual fair date. Co-ordinating stalls, ordering produce, buying items for the chocolate wheel, raffles & the treasure chest; writing letters to businesses to ask for donations; liaising with staff and parents and then managing the actual fair day. This is a tremendous amount of work and effort for which we are very grateful.

Melissa Woolridge & Ethan Crisp
(School Captains)

Art Frame Winners

Thank you to all the wonderful artists who submitted work for he art competition. The judge was very impressed with the high standard and the amount of time and effort put into all the work. Below is a list of the winners. Congratulations!

Treasure Chest Winners

Congratulations to our treasure chest winners, Zane Cauchi from Grade 1/2CR and Lucy Williams from Grade 3/4LC. Their names were drawn out at assembly on Tuesday 28th November, as both chests were not opened by keys before the cut off date.

Raffle Winners

Congratulations to all our raffle winners listed below.

Book Prize – Yvette Harmey

Library Notice

The Library will be closed for the last three weeks of term for stocktake and preparation for next year. Please return any outstanding books as soon as possible.

Thankyou for your co-operation,
Rebecca Thomas
Librarian

Lets Recycle

By Georgia Harmey

Today we had a Recycling lesson with Mrs.Gill. She brought us lots of things and it was a lot of fun.

One of the things we did was sort out rubbish we had to either put it in the recycling bin or the rubbish bin.Some things you can put in the recycling bin are=hard plastic, milk bottles, cans, cereal boxes and more.

Little things like yoghurt containers which are hard plastic but they’re too small to be recycled so you can’t put it in the recycling bin.

At the Seaport they’ve put a new decking on.

The new decking is made up of loads and loads of plastic bags!!If you go to the Seaport and go on the board walk just think that your walking on a million plastic bags.Did you know that if you crush cans you can’t put them in the recycling bin because they won’t be able to be recycled.

Some of the ways clothing is made is by stuff like plastic bottles. For an example a cap is made up of about five plastic bottles. Just think that when you’re wearing a cap you’re got five drink bottles on your head!

Thank you Mrs. Gill and Ken for coming in from Kerbside Recycling. Thanks to them I know what goes in which bin. If you want to find out more go to the link below.

How are you going to make an impact?

P & F

This year’s committee members are: President – Jacqui Cross; Finance Officer – Kylie Smart; Secretary – Kirsty Pedder.

Fair Coordinators; Belinda Lehner and Belinda Anderson

Ipads 2018

BYO iPads @ STM in 2018

Dear Parents of Grade 4 Students

In 2018 we will be continuing our one-to-one BYO iPad program in Grade 5/6. For next year’s program the school will not be offering the outright purchase of iPads through the school. The main reason for this is that iPads can now often be bought cheaper when stores have sales on Apple products. Educational pricing discounts can’t match 10% or more off. Therefore, we ask that you keep an eye out for good deals on iPads and purchase one for your child for Grade 5/6 next year. Refurbished iPads can also be purchased; these iPads are often considerably cheaper than a new iPad with the same specifications. Many stores that sell Apple products now allow parents to buy iPads with the 5% education discount. These stores include The Mac Shop (please see attachments for The Mac Shop below) and JB HiFi.

IMPORTANT: St Pat’s request that iPads have no less than 32GB memory. Also, from 2019 iPads will be used to do NAPLAN online. iPad Minis are not suitable for this purpose and therefore both St Thomas More’s & St Pat’s ask that iPad Minis are not purchased. iPad Airs, iPad Air 2s, the new iPad and iPad Pros are all suitable.

We will offer a lease-to-buy option for those parents that do not want to buy the iPad outright and will also still offer an iPad for use at school only, if you are unable to buy an iPad at all.

LEASE-TO-BUY OPTION

Forms will be sent to those parents that requested the lease-to-buy option soon.

STM Techspot – Social Engineering

Social engineering as described by the eSafety Commissioner website is “the act of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information like passwords and PINs”. Young people, and even adults, often incorrectly term this as hacking, however it is not hacking in the traditional sense. Social engineering relies on trickery and peoples' lack of knowledge to steal or gain access to private and sensitive information and/or files. Young people are particularly prone to this as they are often more gullible and/or believe that they are savvy technology users. A common example of social engineering is when a pop up comes onto your device telling you that you are the X millionth visitor to the site and you have won some sort of prize. Of course we know this is fake, but it can be very tempting for young people. The dangers with this are obvious; your personal information, files, images, etc. are stolen and can be used against you later down the track. The below eSafety Commissioner website explains social engineering in more detail and also gives some helpful advice on things you can do to ensure that you and your private information stay safe.

Students Climbing Trees

We formally support children extending their learning and development via those who wish to, being able to climb a limited number of school trees, when adult supervision is offered.

We advise: Trees with our WHITE PAINT markings on their limbs, indicate that this is an approved tree for Kinder or Prep children, while trees with our YELLOW PAINT markings are for Grades 1 to 6 children.

These markings show the maximum height for a child’s feet, the rest of their body can be higher.

Know we have a process to inspect trees condition; reapply worn paint markings; and remind people of expectations.

If you child wishes to actively participate, please discuss with them related aspects below. Feedback is welcome to the Principal.

• Students once IN trees are to ‘climb down’, not jump out;
• Staff on duty can limit the number of trees being climbed at any time, if supervision is limited; and
• To get up into trees, DON’T place extra objects underneath (to be stood on). If needing help, children have another person give them a ‘hand grasp’ boost, or select another tree.

Student Medical Detail Changes

Please now consider for your child if since the last advice to the school, medical information has changed & hasn’t yet been advised to the school office.

Or you previously supplied an epi-pen; other medication; or similar…. which may have since expired, so a replacement is required?

Newsletter

Please read our newsletter and all contents as it only comes out fortnightly.

RWVP Card

Parents, Grandparents and Caregivers are reminded that if they wish to do Parent Help with their children they must have a current RWVP card, which has been copied and held on file at the office.

How to apply for a RWVP Check & Number

1. Complete the online application form via the link below:
2. Print the “Application Receipt” which is generated when the application has been completed in full.
3. Take the “Application Receipt” (and your 100 point check to confirm identity) to a Service Tas Shop and pay the fee.
4. Take your RWVP card to the school office where your number will be recorded. If you are not recorded in the office you will not be able to do parent help, camp, etc.

School Assembly

School Assembly’s are held every fortnight at 2:15, all parents and friends are welcome to attend.

Dates: 12th December

End of Year Assembly and End of Year Mass

End of Year school Assembly, with Grade 6 Presentation, will be held on Tuesday 19th December at 2pm. All Grade 6 parents welcome to attend.

End of Year Mass will also be held on Tuesday 19th December at 6:30pm at Sacred Heart Church, Newstead. All are welcome to attend. Please arrive no latter than 6:15pm as Mass will start promptly at 6:30pm.

UPCOMING EVENTS

FRIDAY 1 DEC - BAND CONCERT AT ST PATRICKS
THURS 7 DEC - 2018 ORIENTATION DAY 10:00am – 11:00am
THURS 7 DEC - CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT
MONDAY 18 DEC – GRADE 6 LEAVER’S DINNER
TUESDAY 19 DEC - LAST DAY OF KINDER S
TUESDAY 19 DEC – GRADE 6 AWARDS ASSEMBLY @ 2:00pm
TUESDAY 19 DEC - END OF YEAR MASS @ 6:30pm – ARRIVE BEFORE 6:15pm
WEDNESDAY 20 DEC - LAST DAY OF KINDER W AND GRADE 6
THURSDAY 21 DEC - TERM 4 ENDS

2018 Term Dates

Term One: 8 Feb – 13 April
Easter: 30 Mar – 3 April
Term Two: 30 Apr – 6 July
Term Three: 23 July – 28 Sept
Term Four: 15 Oct – 20 Dec

Operating Dates for Metro Tasmania School Buses – 2018

Metro Tasmania operates its school bus services according to the term dates gazetted by the Department of Education. The dates of operation for the 2018 school year will be as follows:

The Department may also declare student-free moderation days on selected dates during 2018. Services to schools which remain open on these days may be modified according to the required demand.

Outside School Events

All School State Track and Field Competition

Recently Demi Petterwood and Bryce Lawes participated in the All School State Track and Field Competition for primary and secondary students. From this students from across all of Tasmania were then chosen to represent their state. Both Demi and Bryce have been successfully selected to represent their state. They will now be lucky enough to be going to the 10th Pacific School Games being held in Adelaide (which only occurs every 2 years) from the 2nd December 2017. As well as this, Demi will then be going on to join the Secondary State Team to compete at the All School National Track and Field Competition, which is also being held in Adelaide.

We wish them both the very best of success whilst away and to enjoy this very prestigious achievement that they have attained.

Gold Coast 2018 - Queens Baton Relay Launceston

Come along and celebrate the Queen’s Baton Relay arriving in Launceston on the 7th of February 2018! The baton’s journey around the world to the Gold Coast 2018 XXI Commonwealth Games started on March 13, 2017 at Buckingham Palace. Launceston will be the first relay destination in Tasmania. On the 7th, join the community celebration in Civic Square from 9am and enjoy a number of relay-related activities, a morning radio broadcast with Chilli-FM breakfast team Dan and Candice, children’s activities, and breakfast!

The relay will start in Abbott Street, East Launceston at 9.25am. It will then make its way through the streets of the city, finishing at Civic Square around 10.15am. A series of rolling street closures will minimize disruption for morning travellers in the city, with affected streets to be closed for no more than 15 minutes at each location.

Gallery

First Lego League

On Saturday 18th November STM had two teams, The Plumbers & Blue Bricks, compete in the First Lego League regional event in Launceston at the AMC. This is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) competition that is ran globally where teams build and program Lego Robots and investigate scientific concepts. Both teams represented St Thomas More’s extremely well. The Blue Bricks team won the research project section of the competition and received a trophy. All students participating learnt a lot and had an extremely enjoyable day.

LAUNCESTON HISTORICAL SOICIETY - Primary History Prize Winners 2017

Outside School Notices