Term 4 - Week 2 - Newsletter

Prayer of the Week

Image retrieved from https://www.loreto.gi/home-learning-work-05-05-20/flower-spring-prayer/ 

From our Principal

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Last Friday, the incoming Principal of St Thomas More’s, Duane Wann, visited the school. Duane was introduced at assembly, visited each of the classrooms and met the staff. To begin his induction into the community, he spent time with the school’s leadership team to learn more about the school’s current procedures and structures, as well as learning about some of our strengths and areas that will need further development.

We will have further meetings with Duane before the end of the school year to ensure a smooth transition.

To facilitate planning for 2023, it would be appreciated if any families who have students who will not be returning to St Thomas More’s next year could please let our admin staff know as soon as possible.

God Bless

Michael Cash 

Principal

From our APRE

What a busy week we had to start our final term for 2022! Just a few reminders from me this week of upcoming school events and celebrations. 

Grandparent's Day

This Friday we celebrate Grandparent's Day at STM. See the flyer below for more details. Please note that due to a funeral at the STM Church at 11:00 am, we will be slightly altering our day. Please see a rough outline of the timing of the morning below.

8:40 am - 9:00 am: Prayer Celebration in the Sportscentre including a showcase of 1 Matilda song performed by the whole school

9:00 am - 10:00 am: Classroom Visits

10:00 - 10:30 am: Morning Tea

We respectfully request grandparents DO NOT PARK in the CHURCH Car Park. Staff will vacate the STM Hall Carpark (gravel car park next to the STM Parish Hall) for families to use in the morning, but our visitors will need to leave promptly at 10:30 am to ensure there is sufficient parking for the funeral later in the morning. 

Prep Play Mornings

As part of our Prep transition for 2023, STM will be holding some Prep Play Mornings in the coming weeks. If any of our 2023 Prep Families have not received information about these dates, please contact the school office.

Hike for Homeless

This year Service Club have expressed interest in having a STM Hike for Homeless Team once again. If you would like to come and hike with some of the STM staff, please use the link below to register and join our team. Staff will only be hiking the 5km course, but if you are a keen hiker and want to hike the longer courses, feel free to register for those. I can't join you this year (post-surgery orders from the doctor) but will be at the finishing line to cheer on our STM hikers!

Day for Daniel

This year we celebrate the Day for Daniel on Friday, October 28th. We invite all students in our STM school community to participate in the Walk for Daniel on this day to honour his memory. Please use the form below to register your interest and get further details. 

Family Mass

This term we celebrate Family Mass on Saturday, October 29th as part of the 6:00 pm Mass at the St Thomas More's Church. We warmly invite all STM families to come along and join the parish to pray and celebrate. 

Families who would like to be part of the Mass in a special way (reading, carrying forward symbols or singing) will need to let Miss Byrne know via email ASAP. We have such an enthusiastic school community, so please be aware that all those who volunteer will not be able to be part of the Mass in a special way, but are still welcome to come along and join in prayer with the parish and school community.

Worship Choir

Worship Choir will start again next week and run each Monday for the rest of this term during first break. We have a few celebrations we will be leading the singing for this term! Children from Year 2 - Year 6 are welcome to join Worship Choir. Come and have some fun singing with us. 

Socktober

This year we celebrate Socktober on Monday, November 7th. Children can wear their normal school uniform with their most crazy socks for a gold coin donation. Children will also be able to participate in the Socktober Kick Off. We are looking for parent volunteers to be kick-off goalies. You don't need to be David Beckham - you just need to be able to stand in a goal and at least attempt to stop some soccer balls making it through! We're after 30 minute commitments - you can do longer if you are available. Please let me know if you are able to help out!

Why Socktober? 

Each year Catholic Mission supports communities across the world. In 2022, through Socktober Catholic Mission is giving students and their families across Australia a chance to raise funds to support families in Ethiopia who are facing malnutrition and food insecurity.

The reason we use soccer is because sport is something that unites people across the globe. Children in Ethiopia play soccer just like we do, they just don’t have access to the same resources. Many children in the communities Catholic Mission helps don’t have access to soccer balls like we do, so they have to make their own out of materials they have around their home and school. They might have balls made out of socks, old clothes or plastic bags. As you prepare for Socktober, it would be a great idea to make your own ball to use for our Kick Off, with the help of your adult, using something from home.

Matilda - Final Update!

Matilda Jr. The Musical was so much fun last term! We are so proud of all of the children and their amazing performances last term! This Wednesday at 10:00 am, we will be having a special Matilda Jr. Assembly to celebrate our wonderful show. Families are most welcome to attend! Here are just a few photos from our show!

Matilda Jr. 2023

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Once again, a huge thank you to Evention for their sponsorship and support! You went above and beyond and we are so very thankful! 

God Bless.

Miss Kristin Byrne

Assistant Principal: Religious Education

Important Dates to Remember for Term 4

Learning Support

Before the holidays,  I provided information regarding Dyslexia. This week, information is provided on the specific learning disorder - dysgraphia (impairment in written expression). This information comes from AUSPELD: A Guide for Parents (2018).  

Dysgraphia is a persistent difficulty with written expression, handwriting, and/or spelling that may occur in isolation, but more often, occurs in conjunction with dyslexia. A specific learning disorder with impairment in written expression (dysgraphia) often remains undiagnosed. 

Dysgraphia can be defined as: 

… a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterised by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent written expression and by poor spelling and handwriting skills. These ongoing delays in writing are often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. 

Students who have dysgraphia often have to work much harder and longer to produce written work to the same standard as an individual with typically developing writing skills. 

In the past, a specific learning disability with impairment in written expression was identified as either language-based dysgraphia or motor-based dysgraphia. It is now more common to use the term specific learning disorder with impairment in written expression when describing the language-based difficulties and developmental coordination when describing the motor-based difficulties associated with written expression. 

When looking at identifying a Specific Learning Disorder with impairment in written expression (dysgraphia), deficits in one or both of the following key academic areas are usually present: 

• Difficulties with spelling (e.g., may add, omit or substitute vowels or consonants). 
• Difficulties with written expression (e.g., makes multiple grammatical or punctuation errors within sentences; employs poor paragraph organisation; written expression of ideas lacks clarity). 

Children who have a specific learning disorder with impairment in written expression (dysgraphia) will show some or many of the difficulties listed below.  

Next week, information will be provided regarding the Specific learning disorders with impairment in mathematics (dyscalculia).

God Bless.

Mrs Patricia Wardle

Learning Support Teacher/Middle Leader

From our Sport Desk

Below is the timetable of swimming lessons for Prep, Yr 1, Yr 2 & Yr 3 for Term 4. Please ensure your child has their swimming costume, towel, cap and goggles for their lessons and anything else you feel they may require. They do not need sun shirts as they are inside for lessons. Swimming caps are encouraged for both swimming lessons and the swimming carnival at the end of the year.

If there is a problem with your child’s lessons, please speak to their class teacher and they will deal with the concern. Please do not contact the pool directly.

COVIDSafe Initiatives Pertaining to the School Program

• Children and School Teachers are not permitted to attend the DLSA if they have experienced cold or flu like symptoms within the previous 72 hours or have visited a Covid-19 Hotspot within the previous 2 weeks. The DLSA reserves the right to refuse entry to anyone who we feel are exhibiting symptoms.
• Anyone entering the DLSA Facility 18 years and above will be required to provide a Health Declaration/Contact Tracing log.
• No parents will be permitted to attend the lessons.
• Everyone must wash their hands using hand sanitiser provided when entering and exiting the facility.
• School program participants need to minimise the need to utilise the facility change rooms. We require the swimmers to arrive with their togs on underneath their school clothes. (Children will get changed into their togs underneath their uniform before heading over to their lesson)
• Any personal belongings left behind will be passed onto the School Teachers in the following group if possible, otherwise lost property items will be discarded.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact myself or your child’s classroom teacher.

God bless,

Stacey Hancock

HPE Teacher 

From our Service Club

This term we have organised an STM Team for Hike for Homeless. Miss Byrne has shared a link with families on our Facebook page and it will be in the newsletter over the next few weeks. You can use the link to register and join our team. Hike for Homeless raises money for Base Services, which work with homeless people in the Toowoomba area.

This term we have our Socktober Celebration Day in Week 5 on Monday, November 7th. You will be able to wear crazy socks and have a kick for a gold coin donation. We will share more details about this with you over the coming weeks.

This term we have decided to invite Year 5 to come along to Service to see what it’s all about. If you are in Year 5 and want to be in Service Club next year, you can come along to our meetings from Week 3. We meet each Wednesday at first break. Bring your lunch with you.

This term we have decided to cut back our groups and just do Library Group on a Friday at first break. Come on down to the library and share a story with us!

Have a great week.

God bless,

Oliver, Aimee and Ava from the Service Club

From our Student Representatives

We had a great time doing the House Cup Competition last term! We will continue our House Cup Minute to Win It challenges this term as well. Please see an overview of the challenges you can participate in this term below. 

Don't forget ...

House Cup Challenge is in the Digi-Tech and Music Room

each Thursday at second break. 

Have a great week!

God bless,

Darcy and Ava

Awards

Wonderful work from our Week 1 award recipients! 

From Our Library

BookGen, our intergenerational book club for students in Year 5 and 6 and a significant adult in their lives eg. parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, neighbour or friend, has been a huge success.  

BookGen was held twice a term on a Wednesday evening from 5.30-7.00pm in Term 2 and 3.  Everybody read the same book and then came together after six weeks for a discussion. To finish the evening, we shared a pizza meal together.  

Reading books, talking about books, sharing our ideas and thoughts about books, recommending books and enjoying the company of other people who love books while eating pizza – what more could you want! 

The first book we chose to read was a verse novel titled “Zoe, Max and the Bicycle Bus” by Stephen Herrick. When the invitation to join BookGen was sent out, thirteen families signed up. So, to get the ball rolling, the P&F kindly donated a set of 30 books, which could also then be used as a class set in the future.  The P&F also paid for our first pizza meal as they were very excited about the opportunity for parent engagement in the school. 

To make our follow-up book discussion extra special, I approached Stephen Herrick to see if he would talk to the students and adults online.  Stephen was really impressed with the idea of the intergenerational book club and agreed to do a zoom session. He even took time out of his bicycle trip while holidaying in Greece! Which was quite fitting given the topic of the book. It was an amazing chance for both students and adults to ask some very thoughtful questions. A night we will all remember. 

The second book we read was “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen. A classic novel, full of suspense and drama. It also covered some deep topics which gave parents an opportunity to talk about some challenging subjects and for students to raise questions in a safe setting.  

Each evening we also included a fun library game for example a library treasure hunt which involved finding a list of books such as a book set in another country, a book with a red cover and a book that has been turned into a movie. On another night, each participant was given an author’s name and they had to find a book by that author. The quest was to see how many they could find in a given time. Both the students and parents had to complete the activities on their own, so it was super fun to see the parents get involved in this way and play along.  

Below is some feedback received from some of the BookGen group: 

• Great opportunity for parents and children to read together. It helps to develop discussion around the book and to acknowledge the opinions of others as we all have different ideas.  It also helps children who are not big readers to develop an interest in reading. 
• I don’t want it to end. 

• I loved having an insight into texts my daughter reads and a shared learning experience. It gave me a way to actively support and encourage a love of literature. 
• BookGen was fantastic.  It was a great way to bond with my son and encourage him to read more. It helped us to have more reading-based discussions. Plus, my son loved the pizza incentive! 
• I have really enjoyed the BookGen experience.  From a parent’s perspective, it has been a great way to connect with my son in a fun way that’s just for the two of us. It has been a good way to spend time with other school families as well.  I loved the two book choices and would love to do this with my daughter next time.  
• I enjoyed being exposed to different books I hadn’t read and a new style of writing. It was good to do it with my daughter and read books together.  It was nice to relax with the other parents during the sessions.  I enjoyed the challenges and activities each week.  Thanks for all your hard work. 
• I really enjoyed BookGen because it was a great opportunity for different people from different classes to come together and learn.  I also loved the activities, games and pizza. 

• I think that BookGen has encouraged me to read books I wouldn’t often read. The way Mrs Heuschele has organised the club has been a truly wonderful experience.  She shows such passion for these books and club, so it is always a pleasure to step into the warmth of the library, knowing you were in for a good time.  (The pizza was very good as well) 
• BookGen was an amazing way to get parents socialising and it was a fun way to get into reading.  You can talk about books and why you like them. 
• We have really enjoyed BookGen because we enjoyed reading the books together.  My son and I read out loud and followed along.  I could help when he stumbled and keep the momentum going, particularly helping him get through the first few chapters before he got into the book. Once my son was “into” the book he wanted to keep reading and even asked to read!! We will miss not having it next term!! 
• I have really enjoyed book club because it was the first time I’ve read the same book as my child and it was so great to be able to discuss the book together. It was great to be involved in the library – it’s not something parents see much of, but it’s clear how much the kids love it! 

God bless, 

Dr Margy Heuschele

Teacher Librarian

Book Club

Book Club Issue 7 has landed! It is fantastic, once again, to partner with you as we continue to connect kids with reading through Book Club. Our bumper Christmas Edition, Issue 7, is jam packed with fantastic offers for both Teachers and Students.

Here is a suggested timeline for Issue 7 that you can tailor to suit your school:

• I would also advise parents Thursday 20^th October as the due date and place orders on Friday 21^st October.
• The latest order submission date for Issue 7 of Book Club is Monday 24^th October. Please ensure you submit by/before this date.

Classroom Newsletters

From our Tuckshop

Open every Friday.  Please place your childs order through FlexiSchools by 12pm Thursdays and please supply a Paper Bag for your childs order.

From our Uniform Shop

The Uniform Shop will be back to normal hours this term.

Monday 8.00am – 8.30am

Wednesday afternoon – By Appointment

Friday 8.00am – 8.30am

If these times don’t work for you please email your order through to THOuniform@twb.catholic.edu.au and the orders will be at the office for collection at your convenience.

Due to supplier cost increases for uniforms we are revising our School Uniform Price List.  We will keep you updated on when the new prices will come into effect.

Are you needing Girls Formal Summer Socks? If so we have some old stock that we are clearing out.  We have size 8-11 & 9-12 available and we are selling them for $5.00 a pair.  Please send me an email if you would like to order some.

Needs some uniform alternations?

A hem taken up?  A skirt taken down?  Some buttons adjust on a shirt?   Give Mrs Fix It a ring and see if she can help.   

From our P&F

If you can’t make it in person, join us via zoom ➡️

Are your Details up to date?

As we are drawing closer to Reporting time for our students, if your contact details have changed at all please contact the office to have these updated.

Thank you!

A huge thank you to Westridge Fruit and Vegetables for their continued support with the donation of fresh fruit every week for our students!

Notice Board

Day for Daniel

Position Vacant

Transport Assistance Scheme

Some information with regards to the 2022 Non State Schools Transport Assistance Scheme (NSSTAS) Semester 2 campaign.