27 July 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Reflection

Next week 11 of our students will be Confirmed at the Church of the Apostles, so I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on what it means to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Confirmation is the second of our initiation Sacraments, Baptism being the first. It leads us to be prepared to accept the Eucharist, where we can express our full belonging to the Church. Although the Holy Spirit is present in all sacraments, we highlight the Spirit within the Sacrament of Confirmation.

During the Sacrament the Bishop will place his hands over the candidates and will call for the Spirit to come upon them and for them to be sealed by the gift of the Spirit. There are many gifts of the Spirit, which St Paul explains:

7 The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all. 8 To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge. 9 To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. 10 To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages. 11 All the gifts are produced by one and the same Spirit. He gives gifts to each person, just as he decides. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

Following the Sacrament candidates are encouraged to use their gifts from the Spirit to promote and live Jesus’ message. We all possess gifts from the Spirit, how do we use our gifts?

Dear Parents and Friends of our School,

I wish to welcome us all back to another exciting term. This term we will commence the UR Strong program to help teach our students about positive relationships and how to resolve situations with their friends and peers that they may not be happy with. This program sits within our PBS (Positive Behaviour School) Framework and will help us have consistency of language and practices across all grades. We have also asked our students to complete an online quest which will give us information on our students’ social interactions and needs so we can better target this program.

Late last term some teachers approached me about homework and what our expectations are. As a school we believe that students need to do some homework during the week as it helps them consolidate work learnt in class, teaches them responsibility, can help with time management and prepares them for expectations later in life. For our younger grades reading or being read to is the most important homework students can do and as we move up through the grades practice and consolidation of skills learnt at school is recommended. Although education has changed throughout the years, it is important that we academically prepare our students for their future, we cannot wait until they get to high school. Just as a builder would not build a house without first laying solid foundations, we too must ensure are given our children are given a solid foundation in their learning.

I look forward to seeing you all at our Rock and Roll night on Friday 3rd August. It will be held at St Albie’s Hall Launceston between 6 and 8pm.

God Bless,

Shayne Kidd
Principal

Changes to Student Medical Details

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 and a replacement maybe required?

STM Science Fair

On the final day of Term 2, all of the Grade 5/6 students participated in the annual St Thomas More's Science Fair. They get better every year! This year we had a range of topics across many different areas of science. There were 60+ different projects on display in the exhibition; the culmination of a full term's worth of scientific investigations. Our students wowed and impressed the over entire school student body and around 100 parents and family members who visited with their knowledge of the scientific method. They could discuss the variables and controls of their experiments and evaluate why their hypothesis was proven correct or incorrect. Student projects will go on display soon for those who missed them.

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

STM TECHSPOT: Online Gaming

Online gaming continues to be a huge issue for many families, with the sensation of Fortnite being the major problem at the moment. So, how do we deal with these issues. One of the keys is to set strict family guidelines around internet and game usage. Having clear consistent boundaries that are set out and enforced is one of the first steps in maintaining a positive life balance. Fortunately the Australian eSafety website provides us with information to help with this and many other gaming issues that may be present. There are links below to get you started.

The Everybody Program

From Friday in Week 3 to the following Friday in Week 4 we will have Wendy Gregory coming in to our school to run The Everybody Program. For more information on this please see the letter and information brochure below.

Awards

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

Prep Foot

Jonte Rak
Grace Charles

Prep Greig

1/2 Carr/Rooney

Esther Bounday
Addison Clayton

1/2 Tams

Oliver Shepherd
Sebastiano Ercole
Alex Smart

1/2 Scharapow/Atkins

Nicholas Wahl
Kingston Gowler

3/4 Love/Chugg

3/4 Morgan

3/4 Wilson/Edwards

5/6 Healey

Sienna Brown
Ava Pankiw
Mitchell Neil

5 / 6 O’Neill

Scarlett Morrison
Maverick McCausland

5 / 6 Pearce

Elena Darby-Rodriguez
Ruby Karas
Ada Howard
Shakaya Van der Matten

2018 Term Dates

Term One - 8 Feb – 13 April
Easter - 30 Mar – 3 April
Term Two - 1 May – 6 July
Term Three - 23 July – 28 Sept
Term Four - 15 Oct – 20 Dec

Digital edition of the Catholic Standard

Here is the link to this month’s online edition:

Please find attached three graphics as requested: One for Facebook; one for Instagram, and one that could be used on websites or in e-newsletters.

Outside School Notices

Dance for Maddie