29 November 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Reflection

On Sunday we welcome the season of Advent, the beginning of our Liturgical Year. Advent is a time of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus, a time for us to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.

At this time of year, it is easy to be caught up in the commercial pressures of buying the right present, ensuring “Christmas Dinner” is a perfect occasion and getting ready for our summer holidays. It is easy for us to feel frustrated when the checkout lines are long, or your relatives stay too long at your house, or when someone else buys the last toy your child really wanted. The challenge is for us to take this time to stop and remember why we are celebrating this season, to reflect and give thanks that we do have food for our Christmas dinner, we do have loved ones to buy presents for, and that we live in a safe country free from war so we can enjoy the summer holidays. Let us show in all we do Peace, Hope, Joy and Love.

Dear Parents and Friends of our School,

Next Thursday your children will have the opportunity to visit their class for 2019. All care and effort has been made by the whole teaching team to place your child in classes that we believe will best benefit their learning. From my international experience I can confidently say all of our teachers at St Thomas More’s are high quality teachers who understand and cater for individual students’ learning needs. At this time your child may feel a little nervous about their new class or classmates and this is quite normal; your child experiencing this will help them develop resilience skills, which we all know is an important skill if we wish them to succeed in life. It is important that you support our decisions with the classes for 2019.

I wish to congratulate Mr Atkins who has won the Deputy Principal position at St Patrick’s, Latrobe. Mr Atkins has been a key leader of our school for many years and he will be sadly missed. Mr Atkins has been instrumental in our ICT program, most recently coaching the Galaxy Gurus as they prepare for the First Lego League Challenge in Sydney. I wish to thank Mr Atkins for all his hard work here at St Thomas More’s.

Next year there will be a few changes in our staffing, Mrs Julie Love will be assisting Mrs Nailer in our SLN area as well as providing a support for our G1/2 and G3/4 team. I wish to welcome Miss Jessica Gleadow onto our team. Miss Gleadow has been teaching G1 at Sacred Heart and will be joining our G1/2 next year. Also, I wish to welcome Mr Brendan Rose, Mr Rose has spent time teaching at St Joseph’s, Queenstown, and will be joining our team to provide support to our G5/6 and to assist with PE.

Mrs Tams will be taking leave from Friday. We wish Mrs Tams and her family all the best as they arrange for a new chapter in their lives as they prepare for a new baby. We look forward to meeting the new edition to the Tams family early in the new year. Mrs Tams will return in Term 3 as our G3/4 teacher.

Teachers for 2019

God Bless,

Mr Shayne Kidd

Family Godly Play

Godly Play has been an integral part of our RE program at STM for some time now. We would like to extend our Godly Play to any families who might be interested in attending a session. We envisage that this would happen after school from 3:30pm - 4:15pm in the Oak Tree Room. Godly Play involves listening to a story from our Faith tradition, reflecting on the story and responding through art materials. It is an opportunity for personal faith formation that we think some families may like to experience together. There is no expectation on participants to do anything more than come along and enjoy the time together. If you are interested please contact Jacquie Wood by email (jacquie.wood@catholic.tas.edu.au) or in person and we will make a time that suits the respondents. Grandparents and other family members also welcome.

Lucky Numbers Fundraiser!

Every day this week (week 7) starting on Monday 26 November the STM All Girls Lego Robotics Team, the Galaxy Gurus, will be selling LUCKY NUMBERS for $2 per number before school in the Piazza and after school on Abbott St. Anyone can buy multiple numbers if they wish. We have some fantastic prizes on offer and these are listed below.

LUCKY NUMBER - PRIZES

1st Prize - 24" bike valued at $450.00 - donated by Geared Cycles
2nd Prize - Star Wars: Jedi Challenges virtual reality game valued at $399.00 - donated by Harvey Norman
3rd Prize - Lego: DC Super Hero Girls valued at $119.99 - donated by Toyworld
4th Prize - Brick (compatible with lego blocks) USB 5 port smart charger valued at $89.00 - donated by Another Computer Store
5th Prize - Petrarch’s Bookshop Voucher valued at $50.00 - Donated by Petrarch’s Bookshop
6th Prize - 2 x Heat Me Ups (Toy Heat Packs)

There are still 400 numbers available for sale, so don't forget to support the girls in getting to Sydney for the National First Lego League Tournament and buy some LUCKY NUMBERS this week

We need your help!

On Saturday the 3rd of November 10 of our St Thomas More's Year Five and Six Girls competed and won The Lego Robotics League Tasmanian State Tournament. They have been given the exciting opportunity to represent St Thomas More's Catholic School as well as Tasmania in Sydney to compete against other schools across the Nation.

Each team was judged on programming, robot building using EV3 Lego Robotics, core values, how the team worked together and problem solving.

With such short notice and the competition taking place on the 8th and 9th of December we are asking for you help to get our girls across to show them what Tasmanians are made of. All funds raised will go towards the student's flights, accommodation, food and transport.

Please hit the donate button below to show our girls the support they deserve and spread the word. Every little bit helps and is much appreciated.

This will be a trip these girls will never forget.

Please follow the link below to donate at our ‘GoFundMe’ page, the student’s will be looking at holding a range of fundraisers to:

A massive Thank you to all that have donated and our generous sponsors thus far, in helping our girls to Lego League in Sydney. We are over half way there with only one week to go!

We wish team Galaxy Guru’s all the best!

URSTRONG

Dear Parents,

We’re excited to be hosting URSTRONG, an internationally recognised Social Emotional Wellbeing program, that empowers children with the skills, language and self-confidence to be better friends and develop healthier relationships. To learn more about URSTRONG and their programmes please watch a short video describing the impact of URSTRONG on children and parents around the globe here.

URSTRONG’s Language of Friendship parent-child workshops will take place after our Parent Information Evening and Welcome BBQ on Wednesday the 13th of February 2019. The cost of the workshops is generously being subsidised by the St Thomas Mores P&F and St Thomas Mores Catholic School. When you register for the workshop simply enter the discount code STM to register and purchase tickets at a hugely discounted rate of $5 per person. For full details see the poster attached.

During the past school year, our entire staff has been focusing on social-emotional learning programs, implementing tools and strategies to support our efforts in creating a safe and caring school. We believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a school community where children are better able to manage their relationships in a safe and respectful environment.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions!

Thank you!

Shayne Kidd

Important notices:

Traffic & student’s safety

The school urges all parents to support road safety by obeying signage displayed, and also asks you remind your child(ren) to be very aware of potential traffic related dangers around the school.

Sometimes for example, motorists do not abide by road laws, and if students are crossing inappropriately (with or without you), or just not aware of their surrounds by always looking either way, we could have an accident.

The education and care of our students is a partnership between the staff and parents and we all need to do our bit by acting appropriately and not showing a disregard for road laws, even if only to demonstrate your support to any children watching.

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.

Bus from Hadspen/Carrick to St Thomas More’s

Thank you to all who responded and showed their interest in having a bus route from Hadspen/Carrick to St Thomas More’s. The information has been collected and passed onto Redline who are looking at starting a route in 2019. Further information will be announced if our application is successful.

Dates to Remember for Term 4

Orientation Day – 6th December
Carols on the oval – 6th December
End of year Mass – 18th December
Term 4 ends -20th December

Summer Vacation Care

We are very excited to announce that St Thomas More’s Outside School Hours care will be offering VACATION CARE from Monday 7th January to Wednesday 6th February 2019.

The vacation care program and booking form will be available next week. Please call 1300 119 455 or email ccs.admin@aohtas.org.au for a copy of the program.

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 at :

Captain’s Corner

We have many special things coming up at St Thomas More’s. The Christmas Carols are always something to look forward to, and the students put in tons of time to make it as amazing as it is. We also have the triathlon at Devonport for students grades 3-6. Then the grade 6’s have their orientation day at their high school to help them understand what is going to happen in the years coming up.

Last week the U R STRONG program took place. This educational program provided advice and tips on how to solve Friendship Fires. Friendship Fire is another way of phrasing a fight with your friends. In the session students also learnt about the Friend-o-meter which is a scale ranging from red to green that describes the status of a friendship. If the Friend-o-meter is in the red the friendship is not healthy or in a Friendship fire, if it is in the green this is a healthy friendship. There is also a yellow, orange and light green for other statuses of friendship. We have the triathlon coming up for years 3-6 students. The triathlon is when the students head down to Mersey Bluff, Devonport and represent the school by either swimming, bike riding and running in a team, or doing it all by themselves. The track branches out both ways from Mersey Bluff, with students biking one way, and running the other.

For the grade 6 students going to St. Patrick’s College we have an orientation day on the 6th of December. We all head up to St. Patrick’s College and have a tour of the school, see our classes and meet our teachers. We then have lunch and make lots of new friends.

Students have been preparing to impress at the carols which will be held at week 8.

Until Next Time…

Abbey, Ella, Thomas and William.

STM Techspot

Reminder for 2019 Year 5:

Parents do not need to purchase an Ipad for 2019 year 5’s. The school will supply IPad’s for all year 5 pupils.

Messages from P & F

P&F Mettings

Our last meeting for the year is next Wednesday 5th December at 7pm in the staffroom.

All welcome to attend.

Tap Water vs Bottled Water

Joshua Stacey 1/2 Tams and Caleb Holloway 3/4 Morgan have been working on a project as part of their extending learning. They had to choose a topic they were passionate about. The boys are very concerned about the amount of waste and the fact there is not much time left for us to make changes and stop the damage to our planet.

Click the link below and watch their presentation.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Molly Hargreaves, Josie Chambers, Nieve Smith, Elliot Hommell, Ilana Kacarevic, Elyssa Langham and Molly Nolan who recently took out first prize in the Australian Children’s Television Foundation Little Lunch App Competition. The 2018 Little Lunch App Competition has proven to be the most successful so far in terms of both number and quality of entries from around the country.

Students clearly spent time crafting their Little Lunch stories, honing their iPad filming skills and rehearsing their performances for the camera. It was clear that entries were a collaborative effort and reflected a good deal of thought put into developing strong narratives and characters.

Heidi Arena (Mrs Gonsha in the Little Lunch TV Series) had the unenviable task of selecting the final winners from the impressive shortlist. She said about the winning entry:

“I have to love this story being about a Principal! All the actors played the Little Lunch characters extremely convincingly - great work Rory and Atticus! The story was very clear with a compelling message, but also really funny. I loved the stomping on the chocolate which was pure Little Lunch comedy. Well done to all the players and film makers.”

Georgia Harmey

Congratulations to Georgia Harmey who recently competed in the School Sport Australia National Track and Field Championships in Melbourne from 23-27 Nov 2018. Georgia was selected to compete in the combined event, 200m and Long Jump. Georgia finished in an incredible 6th place in her combined event against some very talented athletes. Congratulations Georgia!

Ella Webber

Ella received second place in the state wide Tasmania Science Talent Search in the category 'Research Investigation'. She also received an excellence award from BHP Billiton. Congratulations Ella.

Awards

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

Prep Foot

Maicy

Prep Greig

Lucy
Dylan

1/2 Carr/Rooney

Zachary
Ronan

1/2 Tams

Sofia
Zoe
Joshua
Alex

1/2 Scharapow/Atkins

Connor
Jaden
Lachlan

3/4 Love/Chugg

Ryan
Holly
Thomas

3/4 Morgan

Aliyah
Molly H
Molly N
Emily

3/4 Wilson/Edwards

Campbell

Michala

Harry

Ella

5/6 Healey

Claire
Alycia

5 / 6 O’Neill

Claire
Jasmine
Olivia
Elliott

5 / 6 Pearce

Ella
Campbell
Thomas

2018 Term Dates

2019 Term Dates

Gallery

Outside School Notices