3 May 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Friends of our School,

Reflection

In Sunday’s Gospel John shares with us Jesus’ most important commandment;

Love one another as I have loved you. Jn 15:12

In English love can have a variety of meanings, from the intimate feelings two people may have for each other, the feelings a parent has for their child, the feelings we have for our friends, and in this example, the feelings we have our fellow human beings. Although love is a feeling it is demonstrated through actions, by the way we treat others. To live Jesus’ commandment, he is calling us to treat everyone with dignity and respect. By doing this we will be loving one another as he loves us. This is easy to do for our friends and the people we like and agree with but can be very challenging to demonstrate towards people we don’t like or disagree with.

I challenge you over the week to try this; when someone does something that you are disagreeing with, pause, stop and acknowledge that you disagree with it, but don’t let it upset you or make you angry. An example could be someone cuts you off in traffic, instead of getting mad, tailgating and swearing at them, you could back off, take a breath and wish them a safe drive. By doing this you are fulfilling Jesus’ commandment and also, I guarantee you’ll personally feel better and have a better day. Have a great week.

Welcome back to Term 2. This term we welcome 3 new staff members, Miss Meghan Edwards who will be in 3/4LC on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays while Mrs Love is on leave. Mrs Carmel Willetts will be in 1/2T on Fridays while Mrs Tams is supporting teachers. Miss Prudence de Quincey will be in our office on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Last week I was very proud to march with our students through the streets of Launceston for the ANZAC Parade and Service. I thank all our parents who brought your children to the event and I am very pleased to inform you that I received several comments of praise on how well our students represented our school. ANZAC Day is a long held Australian tradition that reminds us that we are very blessed to live in the country we live in and we must be grateful to all those who have given service to ensure we continue to enjoy the freedoms we have.

You’ll see in our calendar that we have a number of events occurring early on this term, including Launceston Competitions and our Cross Country. We also have NAPLAN for our G3 and G5s occurring in Week 3. More detailed information on these events will be shared through Schoolzine and Seesaw.

As mentioned above we have NAPLAN commencing in week 3. NAPLAN is a national assessment given to all students in Australia in G3, 5, 7 and 9. There is often a lot of hype around NAPLAN from the media, often negative, however NAPLAN can provide us with meaningful data that can assist us in improving the education we provide your children. The important thing for us to remember is that NAPLAN is like a marker, a tool we use to measure where children are on their education journey, it is not a pass or fail test. I often refer to assessments as being like roadside markers, telling us how far we have travelled, how far is left in the journey and to ensure we are still travelling on the right road.

Finally, practicing tests like NAPLAN are important as we continue to require people to pass tests such as achieving a driver’s license. The more comfortable we can make children with this process of testing in a safe environment, the easier it is for them to face the important tests that they’ll have to complete when they are older.

I congratulate all our students who received classroom awards this week.

At the end of last term, I met with the owner of Targett Uniforms to discuss the supply of our school uniforms. I believe some people have had some difficulties obtaining certain items of the uniform and we wish to work with Targett to overcome these difficulties. Can I ask that if anyone has any concerns with obtaining the uniform can you please inform the office. Targett and I will review these concerns in an endeavour to resolve them.

God Bless,

Mr Shayne Kidd
Principal

Mother's Day Breakfast

From the 2018 LEGO Competition Winner

On the 25th of April 2018 I went to the Albert hall, with my Lego seaport I had built. To get to enter in this huge event you had to win the Lego competition for your school. I had won our school competition that’s why I got to enter my Lego seaport in the school competition, at Brixhibition.

When I walked in that door to put my Lego seaport down I saw all these cool creations from other schools. Some I thought I would never have beaten, but I ended up coming on top and winning the schools individual competition. I won a $300 gift card to games world plus and a big trophy.

By Oliver Belsak

Captains Corner

Gala Day, the ultimate sporting fun for year five and six students!

The Saint Thomas More’s senior students were packed on a bus and carted off to various locations last term, such as Scotch Oakburn and the NTCA Cricket Ground. Our school took part in four sports which were speedball, touch football, tabloid and T20 cricket. Here is what some students thought about the day…

Jordan passionately stated,

“Touch football was really fun. The coaches were really nice. Next year hopefully we get some more girls for I was the only girl on the touch team and it is a very cool sport to participate in”

Zali who took part of the tabloid activities told us,

“I loved the skipping we did in tabloid the most because everyone was very supportive and nobody minded if you accidentally made a mistake or got caught in the rope”

Ava an enthusiastic T20 Cricket player explained,

“I love cricket and all the volunteers that came along gave me amazing support. I know know much more about the sport cricket!”

The keen speedball player Sarah claimed that,

“The experience that I gained from the day full of six speedball games has helped me with my speedball ball skills and team spirit, I would happily play speedball many more times.”

After all this great feedback we are sure our whole five and six cohort are excited about the term two Gala day full of netball, soccer, football and tabloid!

ANZAC Day is not only about the biscuits, it’s about the soldiers. As you may know, ANZAC Day has just been celebrated and we, as a school decided to remember the brave deeds of our soldiers by marching in the ANZAC Day parade through town. For many of us, ANZAC Day is full of strong feelings as we celebrate the soldiers that have fought and fallen in past and current wars. We were honoured to represent our school by marching in front of a large crowd and placing a wreath for our soldiers.

“The ceremony was well organised and planned out and I was honoured to be there” said grade six student Sam Lehner.

Overall the ceremony was great and it should be a day that more students St Thomas More’s students should be encouraged to attend in the upcoming years.

Until Next Time…

Abbey Smith, Ella Webber, Thomas Chambers and William Barns.

NAPLAN 2018

This year NAPLAN Tests will occur for Grades 3 and 5 from Tuesday 15 May to Thursday 17 May with Friday 18 May being a catch up day.

Please see the below document for more detailed information regarding the NAPLAN Tests.

IMPORTANT: Unsupervised Students

Before School

A reminder that students who arrive at school before 8:30 are not directly supervised by a duty teacher. Therefore, these students must sit down in the Piazza and wait quietly until the 8:30 bell goes. We ask parents to remind their children as we have had a number of students that have not been following this instruction. If your child/ren must be dropped off well before 8:30 it is preferable to book them into before school care.

After School

Students should not be left at school unsupervised at the end of the school day. There are duties on Abbott St until 3:25pm and on Campbell St until 3:20pm where students that are being picked up should be. No students should be anywhere else in the school grounds unless supervised by a parent/carer (this includes any after school sport training). We thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

The three documents below give information regarding the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on Students with Disability (NCCD)

Walk to School Day

Community Care Meal Roster

School Uniform Donations

Donations of outgrown school uniforms can be left at the office to be shared with families in our community. Any families needing uniform items please contact Jacquie Wood: jacquie.wood@catholic.tas.edu.au.

Book Club

Throughout the year we administer Book Club for Scholastic Australia. Approximately every month the children will be given brochures offering books for sale. Please feel no obligation to buy.

If purchasing, please return the form to school together with payment in a clearly marked envelope with your child’s name and grade. The options are: cash – please endeavour to have the correct money, cheque – made out to Scholastic and credit card. If paying by credit card you are now able to use Book Clubs LOOP system. Loop allows parents to order and pay via the Scholastic website or app. Books are sent directly to the school and distributed to students.

The school receives commission from sales in the form of books for the Library.

Rebecca Thomas
Library

STM Techspot

eSafety Commissioners ‘Screen Smart Parent Tour’

Whether you're a parent, carer, aunt, uncle or grandparent it can be a difficult task keeping up with young people and technology or even knowing when and how to start the conversation about online safety in your household.

Meet Screen Smart Parent Tour – The eSafety Commissioners new interactive self-reflective tool that helps parents and carers of pre and young teens keep on track with online safety.

The virtual tour takes you through six important online topics including social media, screen time, personal information, inappropriate content, cyberbullying and contact with strangers. Each topic offers practical tips and advice on how to allow children to explore safely and manage online issues if they arise.

Key Apps to Monitor

Fees

Invoices sent

Invoices for 2018 have now been sent out. You will also have received Direct Debit and Payment Forms via Schoolzine email and via the Schoolzine App.

Thank You

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.

UPCOMING EVENTS

For upcoming events please see left side bar.

2018 Term Dates

Outside School Notices

Legonauts

Kooee Snacks School Cross Country Competition.

As a participant of last year’s event, Newstead Athletics would like to invite you to this year 2018 Kooee Snacks School Cross Country Competition.

New for this year

Northern All Schools Competition

This year we have reinstated the Northern All Schools Cross Country Competition. This is on the 12th May and is an excellent opportunity for you to race prior to the Symmons Plains State School Competition in June. Age group medals for male and females!

Register and pay online for the series. No need to stand in the queue to pay, paper waiver not required. Just get your tag and run.

Note: Not available if your school is paying your registration

Extra Details (coming in the next couple of days)

Also our Web site includes (will include) extra detail including maps of how to get there, and maps and description of the courses. Feel free to pop on over and have a look. You can go to the link below and click on the 2018 School series INFO link (left menu) and click on each venue to get the details.

Please feel free to reach out if you need any more information, and don't forget to get your school to enter a team or two

I have attached a detailed package that was sent to your school for your convenience. (its also available on the web site)

Kind regards

Barbara Clayton
School Series Coordinator

Autism Tasmania Annual BBQ

Studio National Dancing