28 June 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Friends of our School,

Jesus is on his way to fulfil the request of a named male synagogue official who has given voice on behalf of his ill daughter. Jesus is stopped in his tracks by an unnamed voiceless female who has been ostracised from the social and religious life of the town.

Part of her healing is to get her voice back. She tells Jesus everything and he addresses her with the beautiful title, ‘Daughter’. Imagine the joy of this woman hearing such a term of affectionate relationship. Jesus went on: ‘… your faith has made you whole: go in peace and be healed of your disease.’

Jesus did not regard this as an interruption to his journey to heal the daughter of Jairus. Stopping was an absolute priority subverting the expectations and power structures of society. The healing presence of Jesus was, and is, radically egalitarian.

Perhaps we could take a moment to pray that we have the courage to touch the hem of Our Lord’s cloak in Confession. There we can tell him everything which has left us ill-at-ease in our relationship with God, our fellow human beings and in ourselves. With confidence in his Divine power, we can ask him to heal the dis-ease in some part of our personality. Hear him respond: “Daughter (or son), your faith has made you whole: go in peace and be healed of your disease”. Then, share in the joy of the woman of our Gospel story.

© Fr Michael Tate

Reference: http://liturgyhelp.com.au (2018)

Next week we farewell the Anderson family as they embark on a new chapter of life in Queensland. I’d like to thank the Anderson family for all their support over many years. We wish Sophie, Taylah and Jack all the best in their new school.

A reminder that we all need to follow the rules around pick up time. On Campbell Street no one is to park in the crossing zone and the area in front of the gate is a pick-up zone, which means that cars are not to be parked there. These rules are in place to ensure all of our children are kept safe.

It was lovely to see so many families at Mass on Friday morning to celebrate our feast day. A big thanks to all the parents who helped with providing our shared lunch; our children enjoyed the experience.

We had a great evening at our P&F Bingo Night last Friday night, it was great to see many families there. I look forward to our next event.

Next Friday our G5/6 will be showcasing their findings from their science inquiry unit. You are most welcome to come along at 1:30pm on Friday to see firsthand what our budding scientists have discovered.

Students' Semester 1 reports will be sent home on Wednesday 4th July.

School photos will be on Monday 2nd July, all students are expected to wear full winter uniform.

As this is our last newsletter before the school holidays, I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable two-week break. School resumes on Monday 23rd July.

God Bless
Shayne Kidd
Principal

Captains Corner

Welcome to this week’s captain’s corner. This past few weeks have been fun, the top runners went to the interschool’s. There has been exciting lead up to the science fair and we learnt about how to deal with cyberbullying.

The final countdown to the science fair is on. The 5/6 senior students have been working vigorously on their projects. Pupils have particularly been enjoying learning about the scientific method (observations, questions [making sure they are testable!], hypothesis, background research and data analysis). The school captains cannot wait to see the results of the hours put in to activating their inner scientist!

Cyber Safety is a discussion that all schools have. Students need to be aware of the dangers online and how to avoid and deal with them. There was some controversial talk about social media (mostly that everyone in school shouldn’t have social media because the sites are 13+) and about gaming and some of the games that people are playing (Fortnite). But in all, everyone learnt a whole lot about cyber safety in the end.

On Wednesday some of the schools fastest runners were put on the interschool world stage. Our runners pushed through a tough day of running, being nervous. When they finally got put on the starting line they were ready to go and they left nothing on the line. So, a big shout out to everyone who participated. Our school came 4th, just behind LCGS. Overall, a good day.

Until Next Time…
William Barns, Abbey Smith, Ella Webber and Thomas Chambers

School Photos

School photos will be taking place on Monday 2nd July 2018.

Please ensure children are wearing full school uniform.

All school photo envelopes need to be returned to the school office by Wednesday 27th June weather paying cash, online or not purchasing.

St Thomas More’s Feast Day

On Friday 22nd June the school celebrated the Feast Day of St More’s by celebrating with a school Mass and a traditional English Avenue Party. It is very important that we as a school and community embrace the traditional Catholic practice of a Feast Day. One of the extra highlights was at the end of Mass Mr. Kidd presented each class with a picture book highlighting that Thomas More valued the importance of reading and educating his children.

Our patron saint was a man of faith and integrity. He lived in England around 500 years ago. He was ‘the King’s good servant, but God’s first.’ People said he was ‘born and made for ‘friendship’ and that he was a ‘man for all seasons’.

Our school was opened in the year of his canonization, hence our name.

We are proud of our connection to St Thomas More and each year we celebrate his Feast Day.

We would especially like to thank the members of the Parents and Friends who volunteered their time Mrs. Cross, Mrs. Rae, Mrs. Belsak and Mrs. Pedder who helped with food preparation. Thank you also to all the parents who prepared food for their children to share.

The Grade Three/Four Teaching Team

Please see the gallery at the end of the newsletter to view photos of the day

Kindergarten 2019

Kindergarten applications for 2019 have now closed.

Family Mass

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

STM Techspot

Last week we were lucky to have Senior Constable Annabel Shegog come and do Internet safety and awareness sessions with our students. Annabel works with Think U Know to provide students with the most relevant and up to date information regarding safe technology use. Our students from Prep to Grade 6 had the opportunity to discuss current issues facing them and to ask questions. Think U Know also have a parent portal that has practical advice and resources for parents. Click on the link below to check it out.

When you next get a chance have a chat with your child about the Think U Know presentation they viewed and ask if they have any further questions. Keeping lines of communication open regarding safe technology use is vitally important.

NIJSSA Cross Country Carnival Report 2018

The St. Thomas More’s Cross Country team competed with great effort and tenacity at the recent NIJSSA Cross Country Carnival, which was held at Windsor Park. On a cold winter’s day, and with rather wet underfoot conditions, all runners put in their maximum effort to propel the school to a fourth place finish, which was a great result for the school. All students should be congratulated for putting in their best effort on a cold and soggy day.

Many thanks to all those parents who helped out with officiating at the event. Without support from across the school community, the NIJSSA would not be able to put on events like this for our students, so we are all extremely grateful to those who are willing to give up their time to allow our students to compete.

Special mentions go to race winners Josie Chambers (Gr4 Girls) & Alex Towns (Gr5 Boys), placegetters Matilda Gear & Matthew Cox and finally to Jett Patterson, Ella Mannion, Holly Miller, Toby Callow and Thomas Chambers, for completing excellent runs and finishing in the top 10 in their respective races. We are looking forward to a great day out at the All Schools race at Symmons Plains, where we will take a squad of 27 runners to compete.

Sports

These beautiful St Thomas More’s students represented the school over the past 6 weeks in the Newstead Athletics Schools Series cross country. They braved the cold and showed an amazing team spirit each week. Neve Smith was also a part of this team but is not in the photo.

Awards

Congratulations to the following children who have received an award this fortnight:

Prep Foot

Flynn McKinnon
Neve Gear

Prep Greig

Jasper Pentland
Ethan Crawford
Kai Thomas

1/2 Carr/Rooney

Emily Phillips
William Raitt

1/2 Tams

Zoe Porte
Sophie Shelton

1/2 Scharapow/Atkins

Eddie Richardson
Jess Ripper

3/4 Love/Chugg

Hary Brown
Lilyann Ollard
Lucas Jarman

3/4 Morgan

Pallas Doolan
Emmerson Bryan
Aliyah Cocks
Nylah Pearce
Zane Cauchi
Lukas Slama

3/4 Wilson/Edwards

Taylah Anderson

5/6 Healey

Lucas Cameron
Imogen Richards

5 / 6 O’Neill

Eliza Duigan
Isabel Amaya
Jake Richardson

5 / 6 Pearce

Lochlan Wells
Phebie Leslie

Japanese

Fraser Mackenzie 3/4M
Liliana Langham 5/6H
Alex Towns 5/6O
Laura Fulton 5/6P
Ella Manshanden 5/6P
Kayla Hendriksen 5/6P

Japanese - Family

This week students in Years 5 and 6 completed a family portrait task where they selected 6-8 members of their families, drew a basic sketch of them and labeled them in Japanese. The photographs are of work from Anna Herd 5/6P and Liliana Langham 5/6H. The girls included their family members' names, age, gender and titles. They used two Japanese scripts to complete this task: Hiragana and Kanji.

Lost Property

Can parents please check the lost property box before the end of the term? Anything left on the last day of term will be cleaned out.

2018 Term Dates

Gallery

St Thomas More’s Feast Day

NIJSSA Cross Country

Outside School Notices

Dance for Maddie

Legonauts