18 October 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Reflection

In Sunday’s Gospel we hear that the sons of Zebedee wanted Jesus to lead a revolt against Rome. It needs to be understood that in Jesus’ time the Roman Empire ruled over the people of Israel and they expected Jesus to conquer them. This was not Jesus’ mission. Fr Michael Tate explains how Tasmania has helped our Catholic Church with its struggle with power. The sons of Zebedee expected Jesus to lead a Messianic revolt to throw off the yoke of imperial Rome. But they wanted to be part of a similar sort of power structure. They had not grasped that Jesus had come to turn that sort of society upside down. However, over the centuries, the Church took on much of the trappings of power of imperial Rome. The popes governed much of Italy. Giuseppe Garibaldi was one of those generals who defeated the forces defending the Papal States, and in doing so actually liberated the papacy from its role as feudal overlord of much of Italy. In the course of the campaign, when despondent, Garibaldi often reflected on the delightful time he spent on Three Hummock Island just off the coast of Tasmania. So we may say that the liberation of the papacy, enabling it to respond more clearly to today’s Gospel, began in Tasmania! Pope Francis embodies the spirit of today’s Gospel. He rails against a Church exhibiting ‘the leprosy of a feudal court’. Rather, he has said: ‘I see the Church as a field hospital after battle. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.’ And in his actions he has shown himself as a true ‘Servant of the servants of God’ as Jesus commands in today’s Gospel. We may pause for a moment to pray for Pope Francis that he may have the strength and time to persevere in his responding to today’s Gospel so that the papacy may be truly liberated so as to practise a radically different way of exercising leadership in the Church and for the world.

© Fr Michael Tate

Dear Parents and Friends of our School,

Welcome back, it’s hard to believe it’s already term 4. We have another busy term coming up with our School Fair next week, and later this term we have Grandparents’ Day, our Carols evening and our Grade 6 Graduation, to mention just a few. This term we’ll be commencing our Student Acknowledgement System. As a PBS School it is important that we acknowledge students who are displaying the expected behaviours at school, the recommendation is 6 praises to every 1 correction. Our new system, which is only for playground behaviour will see students receiving a STM sticker for displaying appropriate and targeted behaviours. Students are then required to collect their stickers in a sticker book, which will be stored in their classroom. Once students receive 25 stickers they take the booklet to the office and they will receive a postcode via the mail acknowledging their good behaviour. Classes will also be combining stickers to receive class acknowledgements, the first being at 250 stickers. Stickers will be given to students displaying the appropriate behaviour and class teachers will monitor their students’ progress to ensure we hand out the stickers equitably.

This weekend sees the first of the Primary School Regional Basketball Tournaments with our G3/4 Teams playing at the Elphin Sports Centre and St Patrick’s College. Our G5/6 teams will be playing the following weekend. I wish all our teams all the best.

Mr. Stacey will be on leave for the next four weeks. Mrs. Edwards will be taking PE lessons and coordinating the athletics carnivals during this time. Next week we have our Kinder Athletics on Monday and our Prep – G1/2 Athletics Carnival on Wednesday. Both carnivals commence at 11:30am.

Following concerns at the beginning of this year regarding the stationary orders we have investigated the process of the school bulk buying books and stationary and distributing it to students when they require it. By doing this we will be able to reduce the cost of stationary and ensure that all students have the correct stationary for school on Day 1. For 2019 the school will be trialling purchasing all necessary books and stationary.

Our P&F have been tirelessly preparing for our upcoming School Fair, on Friday evening, 26 October. I’ve seen all the hard work they are putting in and I know it’s going to be a wonderful event. I look forward to seeing everyone there!

God Bless,

Mr Shayne Kidd
Principal

Family Mass

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Important notices:

2019 Enrolments

If your child/children are not returning to St Thomas Mores in 2019, can you please notify the school office as soon as possible.

2019 Booklist/Stationary

Due to concerns raised by parents about last years stationary order process the school will be placing a bulk order to cover all student requirements and in turn providing a cost saving.

Therefore parents will not be required to purchase separate books or stationary for 2019 and an additional amount will be included in your 2019 school fees account.

Hay Fever Season

The spring and summer months should be great fun for kids, with lots of opportunities for outdoor learning and play. But children with hay fever can find this time of year difficult; their symptoms can make them uncomfortable and even affect their academic achievement.

If your child/ren suffer from hay fever, please ensure that you are medicating children before arriving to school.

Student Medical Detail Changes

Please ensure to keep the office team up to date if any medical information for you child/ren changes.

Or if you have previously supplied an epi-pen or any other medications that may need replenishing or is soon expire.

Reminders:

Summer Uniform

Children are now wearing full summer uniform. Please ensure your child/ren have a hat and sunscreen is applied.

Working with Vulnerable People Cards

Reminder, that if you currently volunteer or wish to volunteer in future within the school (excursions, sports days etc.) you a required by law to have a current WWVP check.

Our current records display a large amount of expired WWVP for parents – Please contact the school office to update your details if you wish to help in the future.

To apply for a new or expired card please follow the below link:

Dates to remember for term 4

Term 4 begins – 16th October
ECE Athletics Carnival - 24th October
STM School Fair – 26th October
Recreation Day – 5th November
Grandparent’s Day – 12th November
Orientation Day – 6th December
Carols on the oval – 6th December
End of year Mass – 18th December
Term 4 ends - 20th December

School Uniform for 2019

Please find Targetts back to school 2019 order form below. To enable placed orders to be collected from late January 2019 or early February 2019.

All order forms need to be returned to Targetts by the end of November 2018.

Parent Library

STM now has a Parent Library with a range of books providing advice on various aspects of parenting. The collection is held in the school office and items are available for short-term loan to parents. Please see the office staff if you are interested.

Rebecca Thomas
Librarian

Students Need School Libraries

Students Need School Libraries

• Did you know… that your school library supports your child to engage with a diverse range of books to extend their imagination and develop a lifelong love of reading?
• Did you know… that school libraries are responsive and collaborative learning spaces that provide students with access to a wide range of resources that are relevant and appropriate to their learning needs?
• Did you know… that school libraries support your child to reach their potential by teaching them how to become capable researchers and to navigate the world of online information and fake news?
• Did you know... that teacher librarians hold specialised qualifications as both a teacher and a librarian? Quality library staff are trained to support keen and reluctant, successful and struggling learners.

Students need school libraries. If you are keen to ensure that EVERY child in Australia has access to a quality school library, check out the information available via the link below:

Treasure Chest Keys

For sale in the piazza before school next week
$5 per key
2 big gift vouchers up for grabs

STM School Fair

FAIR REMINDERS…….

Facebook Online Auction

Over 40 items!
Ends this Sunday 21st @ 8pm

Pick – A - Cups

Please return your cups to the office asap.

Cake Plates

2 Cake plates will go home with your eldest child.
Please return filled plates to school on fair morning.

Books & electronic games

Donations can be left at the office

Art Competition

Collect your frame from the office $2

Treasure Chest Keys

Treasure chest keys will be available for purchase next week in the piazza for $5

Captain’s Corner

It has been a fantastic start to Term 4 with lots of exciting things happening and coming up! We also had a fantastic end to term 3. On the last week of Term 3 a few events stood out such as the athletics carnival for years 3-6 and a farewell for Mr. Nas. The athletic carnival was a huge success for the grade 3 to 6. They participated in events from long jump to high jump, sprints to shot put and javelin to discus. It was great to see all the students putting in their very best efforts. Part of the event was to find the best athletes for each event. These athletes will represent our school at the upcoming inter-school events this term. The farewell for Mr. Nas included all the students and many others saying goodbye to a teacher we have had teaching us for many years. Mrs Zegveld will be our new music teacher this term, who has already had a lot of experience teaching music and leading the choir at our school. We wish Mrs. Nas all the best.

Mr Kidd has instigated a new student acknowledgement system to help teach students good behaviour and demonstrate that teachers know when they are doing the right thing in the playground. When a student is noticed to be doing the correct thing by a teacher, they will receive a sticker to put in their booklet. If a student gets 25 stickers, they will have a postcard sent to their home, so their family will know that their child is showing appropriate behaviour at school. If your class receives 250, 500 or 1000 stickers between them, there will be a whole class acknowledgement. Hopefully this new system will see lots of students being recognised.

Until Next Time…

Abbey, Ella, Thomas and William.

STM Techspot: iPad 2s FOR SALE

Recently the school has upgraded our school owned iPads. As such, we now have all of our old iPad 2s to sell. These have been completely wiped and are ready to set up from scratch. They are all 16GB iPad 2s and the highest iOS they support is iOS 9.3.5 (this is important to know as some newer apps may not run on this older iOS - PLEASE CHECK THIS BEFORE PURCHASING). We will be selling them for $50.00 each as is. If you would like to buy one simply come in and purchase them from the office.

Messages from P & F

P&F Mettings

Wednesday 5th December 2018-09-27

All are welcome!

Japanese

Each year, the JATNET organisation (Japanese Teachers’ Network of Tasmania) holds a poster competition for Tasmanian students who are learning Japanese. This year’s theme was きせつ kisetsu (the seasons). Students had to design a poster on the theme and include some Japanese text. The following entries have been shortlisted to appear in the state competition. The state competition will take place in Term 4.

Grades 5/6 Shortlisted entries by: Ella Webber; Sarah Shepherd, Ava Walker & Anna Herd and Isabel Amaya.

Grades 3/4 shortlisted entries by: Josie Chambers & Lillian Barns; Rebecca Howell, Nevaeh Taylor, Emily Crisp & Nieve Smith & Macie Petterwood & Molly Hawes.

Congratulations

We would like to congratulate the following St Thomas More’s students who are award recipients in the 2018 Deloraine Youth Drama Festival.

And a huge round of applauses to all students that participated.

Honourable Mentions:

Alannah Rae for Tamara in “Little Lunch; The Top of the Fireman’s Pole”
Lucas Jarman for Rory in “Little Lunch; The Nightmare Before Graduation”
Elyssa Langham for Debra Jo in “Little Lunch; Lost and Found Box”

Runner-Up Ensemble

“Little Lunch; Lost and Found Box” - STM

Runner-Up No Such Thing as a Small Role:

Jack Manshanden for Rory in “Little Lunch; Lost and Found Box”

Awards

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

Prep Foot

Prep Greig

1/2 Carr/Rooney

Connor
Anabelle

1/2 Tams

Sebastiano
Mary
Nick

1/2 Scharapow/Atkins

George
Eleanore

3/4 Love/Chugg

Lucy
Izzy
Owen

3/4 Morgan

3/4 Wilson/Edwards

5/6 Healey

Liliana
Abbey

5 / 6 O’Neill

Emily
Olivia
Hugh

5 / 6 Pearce

Bryn
Hannah
Anna

Japanese years 3/4

Japanese years 5/6

Library

2018 Term Dates

Gallery

Athletics Carnival

Outside School Notices

Intro to Yoga & Mindfulness!

Come and Try Day- Rugby Union

Launceston Rugby Union Club is running a try rugby union day for junior players on Friday October 19th at 5:15pm at the rugby clubrooms at Royal Park. This event is free and is open to all boys and girls aged from 7 years. The club will also be holding a BBQ following training, as part of our relaunch and unveiling of the new club logo and jersey. We hope you can join us!