23 August 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Reflection

When you read this Sunday’s reading it is interesting to note that Jesus, like us, sometimes had difficulties with others; in this passage it is his followers. In the Gospel we hear that many of Jesus’s followers questioned his teachings and could not accept what he was challenging them to do, hence they deserted him, leaving only twelve. In today’s society we too are faced with a similar challenge, our society preaches and promotes the right of the individual, which in itself is not a bad ideal, except when it is to the detriment of the common good. Our challenge today is to find the ideal medium, where our individual rights are respected while maintaining the common good. To do this we need to listen to the Spirit, and we find the Spirit through Jesus.

Jesus said…”It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer.
The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” (John 6:60-69)

When we hear Jesus’s words and accept them through taking Holy Communion, let us reflect and commit like Simon Peter did when he responded to Jesus, ‘You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.’ (John 6:60-69)

Dear Parents and Friends of our School,

It was great to see our students celebrate Book Week in their colourful and creative costumes. Reading is the key to a successful education and opens the doors for success later in our children’s lives. It is important that we promote and celebrate a love of reading with our children. Studies over the years have proven that children who have a love reading perform better in both English and Maths, and I’d dare say in other subject areas as well. Also sharing a storybook is a great way to build a positive open relationship with your child. If you don’t already, challenge yourself to read with your child daily and for yourself, instead of watching TV, surfing the web or mindlessly following a stranger on social media, try reading a book. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the experience.

Communication between School and home is vital if we are to truly work in partnership and we have a few guidelines to help facilitate the process and ensure that messages are clearly received.

1. The classroom teacher should be your first contact. If other staff members need to be involved your classroom teacher will arrange for this. Methods of communication may include email, Seesaw message, phone call, letter or face-to-face.
2. All communication is to occur outside of class teaching time, (this is when the teacher is with the students), and you should receive a response within 24 hours, excluding weekends and holidays.
3. Urgent messages need to be to the office. Office staff will ensure it is passed on.
4. The principal should be notified only after you have spoken to the classroom teacher or if you feel the matter is extremely serious.
5. When communicating face-to-face be mindful of who else may hear your conversation. If you are talking about something sensitive in a public place you may embarrass your child or others.

It has come to our attention that many of our students claim that they chat to unknown people online and this often occurs at night and without your knowledge. I encourage you to take some time to discuss and monitor your child’s online activities. Just as you would be cautious if your child had a face-to-face conversation with a stranger, the same caution should be taken when online. Here is a link to a British video that highlights the dangers of online chat sites. It is suitable for primary students to watch.

A reminder that St Thomas More's has a uniform policy and it is expected to be followed. Although most students are wearing the correct uniform I have noticed some students with extra piercings, jewellery or extreme hair styling. Attached to this newsletter is the policy.

A reminder that our Father’s Day Breakfast is coming up on the 3rd of September. I look forward to seeing you there.

Our P&F Team have been working tirelessly for several months now preparing for our up and coming fair. Although the fair is still a while away it does take hours of preparation and coordination. To assist our team, I ask for your support by providing your donations for the class baskets. I do thank all of you who have already supported our team and supplied your donations.

We wish Macie who will be representing Tasmania this weekend in the National Road Walks Championship in Kawana Waters on the Sunshine Coast.

God Bless,
Mr Shayne Kidd
Principal

Confirmation and First Eucharist

Recently, 15 of our children have celebrated the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist within the Parish of Launceston. We congratulate the children on these special events that complete their initiation into the life of our church family. At Baptism parents commit to bringing their children up in the faith of our church. By helping the children to prepare for these Sacraments their parents have been true to their commitment. We believe that being part of a faith community can help us to grow in love; to become the people God created us to be. Thank you to the Gr 3/4 teachers and the P&F for your support of the supper after the First Eucharist Mass on Saturday night. Celebrating together in this way adds to the sense of occasion and helps to build our community.

Condolences

Please keep Fr Richard Ross and his family in your prayers. Fr Richard's mother died on Sunday after a long illness. We offer our condolences to Fr Richard and his family.

Family Mass

Father Day Breakfast

To celebrate Father’s Day St Thomas More’s would like to celebrate our Fathers/grandfather/loved men in our lives by holding a Father’s Day Breakfast.

Breakfast will be held at St Thomas More’s on September 3rd 2018 from 7.45am-8.45am (Please note this time has changed, previously 7.30am)

If you would like to join please click the link below and RSVP by Tuesday the 28th of August 2018.

STM Father’s Day Breakfast Volunteers needed urgently!

We need your help!!

Volunteers are needed to ensure that the Fathers Day Breakfast on the 3rd of September will be able to go ahead.

If you are able to help please contact stm@catholic.tas.edu.au or speak to the office team.

Thank you.

Japanese – Grades 5 & 6

This term students in Grades 5 and 6 have been learning cultural customs and phrases associated with visiting someone’s house in Japan. Before you eat a meal in Japan, you must say the phrase: いただきます (itadakimasu). This means “I humbly receive”. It is a special prayer to say thank you to the people that made the food and the plants and animals that made up the dish. At the end of the meal, you need to say: ごちそうさまでした (gochi sou sama deshita) which means “thank you for what I have received”. The Grade 5 and 6 students have been asked to try to use these phrases when sharing a meal with their families at home.

The students also learnt how to use chopsticks politely and we played a game with chopsticks and dried beans. Here are some photos from class:

Captain’s Corner

Welcome to this weeks Captain’s Corner, the last few weeks have been exciting with many great things have happened, such as the 3/4 and 5/6 basketball tryouts for the basketball tournament. Also all of Saint Thomas More’s has been participating in the EveryBody program which is part of the school’s health unit.

Basketball tryouts were on for the students who are participating in the basketball tournament. The tryouts were used to determine which division the students should play in. Soon the basketball teams will be organised and the trainings sessions will begin. Many are excited to find out the teams, and cannot wait for a fun and exciting basketball tournament!

All of the classes at Saint Thomas More’s have been participating in the Everybody Program. This is a set of educational sessions that provide information on family life and growing up. Wendy who runs the sessions makes them interactive and fun so all students can learn many important points. We are sure the sessions will continue in a great standard. The Everybody Program is not one to miss.

Until Next Time…
Abbey, Ella, Thomas and William.

School Uniform Policy

Our St Thomas More’s school uniform is a proud symbol of who we are. It proudly proclaims who we are and what we represent.

We ask all families to continue to support your child/ren and our school by providing them with the correct uniform. Please see attached booklet for information about the required uniform.

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 Predators

Last week we were fortunate to have Wendy from the Everybody Program come in and work with our students. One of the topics discussed was around communicating with people online, wether that be through social media, online games or some other form of online communication. Wendy also asked the students if they had ever communicated with someone online that they did not know in real life. Alarmingly, many of our students (the numbers were greater in the higher grades) admitted to communicating directly with people that they did not know. This is a major concern as we know that children can be targeted by online predators, particularly in the most popular platforms such as games like Fortnite or social media apps like Snapchat. Talking to children about the ever present dangers associated with this is extremely important. One way of thinking about this is as follows - We would not allow our children to speak with a stranger by themselves down a back alley in Sydney, so why would we allow our students to speak with a stranger by themselves in an online environment that is equally as dodgy? The main difference is that there is no direct threat of physical danger, but online predators aim to lure their victims into a real life meeting in many instances. And, even where this is not the case, verbal bullying is also a major concern. Therefore, we offer two main pieces of advice. In the first instance, do not allow your child/ren to use apps or games that are rated higher than their age, these ratings are there for a reason and the apps or games have gone through a detailed process to receive this rating. In the second instance, where you deem that an app is appropriate for your child/ren, EDUCATION IS THE KEY. Talk about the dangers of online predators, what they should look out for and what they should do if they are ever in contact with an online predator (most games and apps allow you to BLOCK USERS). Keep an open line of communication with your child/ren. Also, discuss what types of behaviour they are expected to uphold in these types of environments.

As mentioned above, Fortnite is one of the main platforms that online predators are currently targeting (online predators usually choose the most popular games or social media apps to target). As stated in previous newsletters and SZ App posts, the school highly recommends that students at STM do not have access to Fortnite at all. Below is a link to information for parents from www.kidspot.com.au, however there is a lot of information to be found at the moment regarding Fortnite.

NAPLAN ONLINE - TRIAL OF THE NEW ONLINE ASSESSMENT PLATFORM

You may have heard that NAPLAN Online is being introduced across Australia over three years from 2018. Tasmanian schools will be administering NAPLAN online from 2019.

NAPLAN Online will provide better assessment, more precise results and faster turnaround of information.

Our school will trial the new assessment platform (the computer system the test will be taken on) and assess our readiness to participate in NAPLAN Online from 2019. This trial is called the School Readiness Test (SRT).

The SRT is not a test of student achievement and results will not form part of a student’s overall assessment.

Participating in this trial is important as it will help us ensure we have adequate internet connectivity, and whether students have access to sufficient number of devices for NAPLAN testing. During the trial, our school will have the opportunity to practice managing the classroom logistics for an online assessment and the new test administration processes.

Feedback from schools participating in the trial will inform transition to the online assessment as well as provide valuable feedback to shape the final development of the NAPLAN Online platform.

The SRT has not been constructed to assess curriculum knowledge, but rather to provide students an opportunity to experience the types of questions that will be included in the new online assessment.

During September 2018, selected students in Years 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 will participate in the trial of the assessment platform, by undertaking two online tests that include examples of the new NAPLAN Online questions. Each test will take approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Participation in this trial is a key step to ensuring a successful NAPLAN Online experience.

If you have further questions, please contact Kurt Atkins at the school or email kurt.atkins@catholic.tas.edu.au

Father’s Day Stall

Messages from P & F

STM School Fair Donations

Fair Raffle Basket Donations

Our baskets are looking very bare……. So this is just a reminder to bring in your donations.

These baskets will be packaged up to form prizes on our raffle prize list.

Each child is asked to bring in an item suited to their class allocated category and place in the box located in their classroom.

Please note that donations are due by 31st August.

Kinder/Prep – Alcohol, kitchen, dining, homewares
Gr 1/2 Garden, outdoor, entertainment,
Gr 3/4 Sport, entertainment
Gr 5/6 Toys, books games.

All items need to be in new, unused condition.

Lets be creative and make these baskets a great prize for the lucky winners.

Awards

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

Prep Foot

Ava Cross
Georgia

1/2 Carr/Rooney

Marina
Isabelle

1/2 Tams

Jessie
Isla
Nick

1/2 Scharapow/Atkins

Jack T
Emily
Jack A

3/4 Love/Chugg

Joseph
Patrick
Oliver

3/4 Morgan

Emmerson
Alex
Rebecca

3/4 Wilson/Edwards

Millie
Noah

5/6 Healey

Hamish
Emma

5 / 6 O’Neill

Samuel
Samuel
Emily

5 / 6 Pearce

Sarah
William
Thomas

Japanese

Hamish 5/6 H
Grace 5/6 H
Jasmine 5/6 O
Abbi 5/6 O
Sarah 5/6 P
Bryn 5/6 P
Nylah 3/4 M
Charlotte 3/4 M
Madeleine 3/4 LC
Mitchell 3/4LC
Emmerson 3/4W
Jasper 3/4 W

Library

Awards went to the School Captains - Ella
Abbey
Will
Thomas
for their help with the Book Week Parade.

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

Gallery

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Book Week Parade

Our Prep students all painted a penguin to be displayed in the Australian Antarctic Festival earlier this month. There were over 8000 penguins in total.

Altar Servers

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Outside School Notices

Picture clipping

The Schools Triathlon Challenge is on again this year and will be held in Devonport on Thursday 29th Nov. This is an event open to all students in Gr3-6. Students can either enter as individuals or in teams of two or three with one student completing different legs of the race. If you want to enter this event entry forms are available at the school office and information about the event can be found at the link below:

The entry fee for the event is $20 which includes backpack and finishers cap and for this you can enter both individual and team events. Entry forms can be collected it the office or downloaded from the website and these need to be returned to school with the relevant entry fee, then the school will enter all participants on a single entry form. The school needs to return the entry form by the end of term 3 (Fri 28th Sept).

Unfortunately the school is unable to provide supervision for the day so students wishing to enter they will be responsible for their own transport and supervision on the day, but it is always a popular event and it would be great to see as many students as possible compete on the day.

Launceston Grammar Spring Fair.