13 December 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Reflection

With Christmas just around the corner and as we are about to celebrate the birth of Jesus, have we welcomed him into our lives? In reality Jesus was born over 2000 years and He is alive today and although it is important for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus let us not lose sight that He is already in our midst.

Jesus was born in poverty, not in a palace, but in a manger and Jesus was a refugee, following his birth his family fled to Egypt to avoid the persecution of King Herod. As Jesus began he adult mission he sought the company of the poor, the down trodden and of regular people. He never tried to live the life of a king.

Let us this Christmas take the time to reflect on whose birthday we are really celebrating and ask ourselves, have we welcomed Jesus in our lives. Let us pray for the refugees trying to find a safe haven for their families, let us give to those that are less fortunate to us and let us take the time to be kind to everyone we meet. A simple smile and a “G’day”, can bring joy into someone’s life.

I wish you all a blessed Christmas and encourage you to take the time to celebrate Jesus’s birthday at one of our masses. Merry Christmas.

Dear Parents and Friends of our School,

As I write our last newsletter for the year, it seems only like yesterday I started her at St Thomas More’s. This year our students have had many great achieved and have been involved in a variety of activities. For all this to be successful I must acknowledge all the hard work and dedication of our team her at St Thomas More’s, the tireless efforts of our parent volunteers and our wider community who have supported us in many ways. Thank you for all your support in 2018 and I look forward to another great year in 2019.

In our last newsletter I wrote about some of the staff changes, which I will continue in this newsletter. We wish to say farewell and thank you to Mrs Mel Atkins and Mrs Carmelle Willett. Mrs Atkins will leaving after 4 years at St Thomas More’s teaching many different grades over this time. Mrs Willett joined us this year and has taught our G1/2’s.

Next year Mrs Carr will be taking leave for the year. We wish Mrs Carr all the best as she prepares to welcome a new member to her family early in the new year. We look forward to meeting the new member of the Carr family soon.

Next week we farewell our Grade 6’s. I must say it has been a pleasure to get to know our Grade 6’s, who have set a high standard in our school. I have enjoyed working with our Captains and I wish to thank Ella, Abbey, Will, Tom, Subi, Ava, Anna, Tom, Tom and Augustine for their leadership this year.

A reminder that next year St Thomas More’s will be supplying all books and stationary for students. As this will be a bulk wholesale order we do not have any individual book lists.

Teachers for 2019

God Bless,

Mr Shayne Kidd
Principal

Thanksgiving Mass

Nativity Play

All children who would like to read or be involved in the Nativity Play at the Newstead Christmas Eve Family Mass are invited to contact Maryann Munnings, maryann.munnings@catholic.tas.edu.au by Monday 15th December.

There will be a rehearsal on Wednesday 17th December at 3:30pm in the Church at Newstead.

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:

Lunch orders

There will be no lunch orders on the last week of term 4 (17th Dec- 20th Dec) Please ensure that children bring a packed lunch.

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

End of year Mass – 18th December
Term 4 ends - 20th December (Prep-Year 6)

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.

From the Galaxy Guru’s

At 8:00 in the morning on the 7th of December the Galaxy Gurus arrived at the Launceston Airport ready to depart at approximately 9:35. After a pleasant flight the girls arrived in Sydney on schedule. After taking a minibus to Travelodge North Ryde they travelled to the Powerhouse Museum where the girls explored this wonderful place, learning lots around the way.

After a delightful buffet breakfast the girls took a walk to the competition venue which was Macquarie University. This was an action pact day filled with many fun activities including, two robot games, robot design judging, core values and the project judging. The Galaxy Gurus were happy with their results and in the first robot game scored a personal best of 72 points.

On the 2nd day of the competition the girls had an early start before heading to the university. This day flew by filled with a robot game and the closing ceremony which included some epic dancing! All the Galaxy Gurus kept their head high and had a fantastic time at the competition and were proud of their results. Our mini excursion to the Sydney Observatory was super fun, but first everybody experienced some cross country running after missing the bus!

On Monday 10 December, before heading home, we took a trip on the Ferry over to Manly. We all had a fantastic time on our trip to Sydney for the First Lego League National Competition and learnt a lot from our experience.

First Lego League Sponsors - THANK YOU

The Galaxy Gurus would like to thank all of our main sponsors and anyone else that contributed in any way, both large and small. Getting this group of Grade 5/6 girls to Sydney to compete in the National First Lego League Championship would not have been possible without this generous support.

THANK YOU

Catholic Education Tasmania
The Mac Shop
Definium Technologies
Tas Networks
Unique Doors & Windows
SMR Engineering
University of Tasmania
McDonalds
Tasmanian Premier - Will Hodgman
Cohen & Associates Surveyors
Ross Hart MP
HM Bamford
Newstead Hotel

Thank you also to anyone that supported the 'Go Fund Me' or bought Lucky Numbers.

Second Hand Uniform Sale

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.

Lucky Number Winners

Congratulations to the following winner of the Lucky Number from the Galaxy Guru.

1st Prize - Chloe Cocca- 24" bike valued at $450.00 - donated by Geared Cycles

2nd Prize –Damian Thomas- Star Wars: Jedi Challenges virtual reality game valued at $399.00 - donated by Harvey Norman

3rd Prize – Samuel Hill - Lego: DC Super Hero Girls valued at $119.99 - donated by Toyworld

4th Prize –Michelle Clark- Brick (compatible with lego blocks) USB 5 port smart charger valued at $89.00 - donated by Another Computer Store

5th Prize – Carl B-Petrarch’s Bookshop Voucher valued at $50.00 - Donated by Petrarch’s Bookshop

6th Prize – Jamie- 2 x Heat Me Ups (Toy Heat Packs)

If you have won a prize, please contact the school to arrange collection.

2019 School Leaders

Congratulations to the following 2019 Captains.

SCHOOL CAPTAINS:

TENISON HOUSE CAPTAINS:

CHISHOLM HOUSE CAPTAINS:

MORE HOUSE CAPTAINS:

Awards

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

3/4 Love/Chugg

Josie
Patrick
Matilda
Lucas

5/6 Healey

Andre
Fletcher

5 / 6 O’Neill

Subi
Ellie
Holly
Beth

5 / 6 Pearce

Matty

Japanese

Anna 5/6P
Emma 5/6H
Fletcher 5/6H
Alex 5/6O
Anna Bester 3/4W
Ella 3/4LC
Nevaeh 3/4M

Year 5/6 Life Skills session

The 5/6 students began their week with a Life Skills session, hosted by Emerald Kidd. Emerald is a St Patrick's College student who prepared a very information and practical presentation for our students informing them about Staying Safe Online. Emerald showed the students how to keep their privacy in tact online, on social media and other accounts. Where our Cybersafety sessions focus on the 'why' of cyber safety, Emerald focused on the 'how' also. We learned many practical tips on where to find our privacy settings, how to ensure our messages are not misinterpreted online in emails, chats, or posts, and how important it is to be open with our parents about our online presence to work together to stay safe. We spoke of pressure from peers or people online, privacy and control, and many other topics. We highly encourage all parents of children to have access online from home to have the conversation with your child about what online accounts they have and how they can make them as safe as possible.

2018 Term Dates

2019 Term Dates

Year 5/6 Japanese craft

Gallery

Outside School Notices