Term 1 - Week 2 - Newsletter

Prayer of the Week

Image retrieved from https://courtneydefeo.com/back-to-school-prayers/ 

From our Principal

Paediatrician and author of a number of child raising books, Dr. John Irvine, often has articles published in several notable newspapers and magazines.  His advice is always spot on and contain a lot of common sense. A couple of years ago he wrote about the importance of the relationship between schools and parents. He highlighted the need for parents to be supportive of teachers in front of their children. Not much different really than how important it is for parents to be united in their approach to parenting.

In the article, he pointed out that schools can be pretty different places to the experience parents had of school. Parents need to be wary of having their view of the child’s school coloured by their own experience. Schools today, and St Thomas More’s is an example of this, are welcoming places. In a good school, parents are able to contact and speak to staff or the Principal very readily. There are easy to follow processes to assist when problems arise. If parents speak negatively at home about their child’s teacher or teachers in general, it won’t be surprising if that attitude is replayed at school by the child. This is never helpful.

I hope that every member of this community; student, parent, staff, parish member, will always feel comfortable in approaching someone at the school if or when there is a problem. I have come across very few problems that are solved by doing nothing and hoping that they might go away. There aren’t many things that can’t be resolved if all parties are prepared to listen to another point of view and be open-minded. All of us look at life through a different lens of our particular experience. Sometimes we need to try and look at things through a different lens.

I love parents who support their children in all that they do. Experience would tell me though, that it is not uncommon that children relate to parents the summary of facts that they think they need to know. I get awfully worried when a parent tells me that their child would never tell a lie. They might not tell lies but all of us, and especially young people, are prone to sometimes giving a particular version of an event. In all cases, if we are concerned by something we have heard and we approach the relevant person, it is often good to start with a line like, “Look, this is what I have been told and I am concerned, so I wanted to check out with you so I have all the facts.” Better solutions will follow.

Problems are part of life, even for children. Shielding them from conflict, negative issues, etc. is harmful to their development. There will be misunderstandings, people will make mistakes and due to the business of life, things will get overlooked. If we all follow these four steps when we have a problem, we will achieve significantly better outcomes.

Problems should be….

• Addressed at the earliest possible opportunity
• At the lowest possible level
• With the most appropriate or relevant person
• In the most informal manner possible

One of the great things that I enjoy at St Thomas More’s is the level of support I have found from parents and the level of commitment of the staff. Almost without fail, parents want the best for their child and at the same time teachers and support staff also want to do their best for the children who are in their care. As I mentioned before, problems will occur, however when we keep in mind that we are all on the same side and working together for the common good, success is guaranteed.                                                                 

Parent Information Evening:  Tuesday 7^th February

Don’t forget, the 2023 Parent Information Evening has been scheduled for Tuesday 7^th February . Your child’s teacher will facilitate a concise presentation which will cover various topics including, curriculum content, classroom, homework and behavioural expectations.  All Parent Information Sessions will be held in the Teachers’ classroom.  Please see below the schedule for the evening.

We will be serving food from 5pm so please feel free to arrive a bit earlier to grab a bite to eat and mingle and be seated ready to go by 5.15pm. 

We will stop serving food at 5:40pm. 

5:15pm – 5:35pm:  Principal Welcome

God Bless

Duane Wann

Principal

From our APRE

Welcome back! A special welcome to our new staff; Julie, Kathleen, Matthew and Duane; and to all of our new students and their families. I hope all of our St Thomas More’s families had a wonderful first week back at school for 2023. It’s been lovely to see so many happy faces back at St Thomas More’s! Don’t forget to keep up to date with all things STM by keeping an eye on your emails, the Parent Portal and our official STM Facebook page. We are hoping to have a school Instagram account up and running in the coming weeks and will share details of this once it’s off the ground.

This year our theme for the year is …

Never see a need without doing something about it.

This is a great lesson we can learn not only through the life and actions of a saint very dear to our school, St Mary MacKillop, but from the life and teachings of Jesus as well. This year, we challenge all members of our STM community; students, staff and parents; to consider the life and teachings of Mary MacKillop and Jesus in their interactions with all of Creation.

Building on from our theme of the year, we will also be learning more about our school values during 2023; justice, joy, hope and faith, which are part of the story of St Mary MacKillop as well. This term, our focus will be on JOY, exploring all the different ways we can give and receive joy in our school community.

A few things for the coming weeks …

1. Leadership/Start of Year Mass this Friday, February 3^rd in the Sportscentre from 9:00 am. All STM families and friends are most welcome to come and celebrate the start of another fantastic school year with us.
2. Worship Choir begins next week. Children from Year 2 – Year 6 are invited to attend each Monday from 10:30 am in my room. Bring your lunch box along – we have a snack before we get into our singing!
3. Sacramental Program letters were sent home with Year 4 students last week. The St Thomas More’s Parish Sacramental Program begins soon and is open to students in Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6. Students will complete Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Communion this year. Please contact the Parish Office for more details.

God Bless.

Miss Kristin Byrne

Assistant Principal: Religious Education

From Our Learning Support

This year, three staff members will form the Learning Support Team here at St. Thomas More’s. I will be overseeing the Learning Support Team and be providing support to teachers and collaborating with parents, while Daryle Petzler and Jordeigh Standfield will be providing the intervention for students from Prep to Year 6.  Both Jordeigh and Daryle work Monday – Wednesday and I am available Monday – Friday.   

For the first week or two of the school year, the Learning Support Team will be meeting with class teachers to analyse class data and discuss the needs of the students within the classes. Further assessments will also be undertaken, where necessary, to pinpoint students’ strengths and weaknesses and areas for intervention.  This will become an ongoing process for the support team as new data is gathered throughout the year.

As in previous years, we will be following The Response to Intervention Model. This is a three-tiered model for learning and intervention. The Learning Support Team will provide support across all three tiers – within the classroom, in small groups, and with individuals. 

Tier 1: Classroom Support

The majority of students (80%) succeed in the regular classroom with assistance from the class teacher and school officer. Class teachers use data (assessment results) to monitor student progress and make adjustments according to these results. Teachers record modifications and adjustments in PfPL overviews (Planning for Personalised Learning). Teachers are more than happy to discuss with you modifications and adjustments that may be in place for your child and we welcome your contribution to PfPL also.

Tier 2: Small Group Support

A Small percentage of Students, around 15%, require additional support to achieve at the expected level. The Learning Support Team works alongside teachers and parents to identify these students and to provide intensive, short-term, targeted support. This support is in addition to classroom support provided by the class teacher and school officer.

Tier 3: Individual Support

A very small number of students (5%) require a high degree of support and a team approach from a number of specialists. These students often require a more individualised program and may be on a Modified Curriculum Plan (CMP).

The Response to Intervention Model has been produced below.

Please remember that staff at St. Thomas More’s want to work with you to best support your child and their learning journey. It is critical that you keep your child’s teacher informed of any information that may affect your child’s learning while in our care. You can do this by contacting your child’s class teacher, by contacting the school office or by contacting Head of Learning Support.

If your child engages with any private therapists including Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, psychologist, etc, it would be greatly appreciated if you could let your child’s class teacher know. We also have access to a Speech Therapist and Occupational Therapist employed through the TCEO. They provide advice to educators on how to support students within the classroom environment rather than a therapy approach of which a private Speech Therapist or OT would provide. We also have access to a Guidance Counsellor who is onsite 5 days a fortnight.  Further information will be providing in the upcoming newsletters regarding what support our TCEO specialists provide. Please contact me via email: patricia.wardle@twb.catholic.edu.au if you feel that it may be beneficial to engage with specialists from TCEO.

Teaching and learning News

Welcome back to what I am sure will be a fantastic year!  

As some of you would be aware, over the last few years, Catholic Schools within the Toowoomba Diocese have engaged in various Tier Projects. This year, we will not be undertaking any new Tier Project but rather consolidating with staff the Tier projects undertaken thus far, particularly the Reading and Writing connection of which were both part of the Reading Improvement Strategy and The Writing Improvement Strategy.

You may have also heard and/or seen on news platforms or on social media that this year will see some schools starting to implement Version 9 of The Australian Curriculum. The STM staff have decided to not yet fully implement V9 but will however start to become familiar with V9 via Professional Development and exploration in preparation to start teaching some subject areas of V9 commencing in 2024. This approach aligns with the QCAA Professional Development and Support Schedule. Further information can be found at https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/p-10/aciq/version-9.

NAPLAN 2023

Students in Years 3 and 5 will take part in the 2023 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) from Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27 March 2023. Please mark these dates on your calendar.

This is the first year NAPLAN will be held in March, having previously taken place in May. This change was made so school systems would have access to results earlier in the school year, so they can be used to inform teaching and learning plans for the remainder of the year. 

NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning at school. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for, and students are not expected to do so. NAPLAN does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance. Students participate in a total of 4 tests over the testing window including Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language, and Numeracy. All tests are completed online using a laptop except for the year 3 writing test which is a pen-and-paper test.  

Students and parents wishing to familiarise themselves with NAPLAN can visit https://www.nap.edu.au/ where you can also access the demonstration site, example papers and parent information about NAPLAN.  

A test schedule will be sent out over the next couple of weeks.  If you wish to discuss your child’s participation in NAPLAN, please contact me as soon as possible at Patricia.wardle@twb.catholic.edu.au 

Enjoy the rest of your week!

God Bless,

Patricia Wardle

Learning Support Teacher

From Our Counsellor

God Bless,

Jayne Farquharson

School Counsellor

Important Dates to Remember for Term 1

From Our Sport Desk

Catholic and Zone Swimming Carnivals 

Children who have been successful in proceeding to these carnivals will receive information early this week. The dates for these carnivals are as follows: 

Catholic Swimming Carnival – Friday 10th February.  

Zone Swimming Carnival – Wednesday 15th February.  

 Interschool Sport – Years 5 & 6 

 Interschool sport for ALL Year 5 & 6 students will commence on Friday 10th February. This will continue every Friday afternoon (except for week 7 due to Year 6 camp). This term we are able to offer boys AFL and girls Touch. Interschool sport is a fantastic opportunity for students to have a go at a range of sports that they may not play outside of school. They will have the opportunity to interact with and play against other students from schools over all Toowoomba.  

As a safely requirement, boys will need to wear a mouth guard and get parental consent to play. This form has been handed out to students and will need to be returned ASAP. Boys & girls can also wear molded studded footy boots if they have them or Joggers are also perfectly fine.  

All children will need to remember to have a hat and water bottle for interschool sport. Draws will be available hopefully in Week 2 and information will be placed in the school newsletter.  

2023 Representative Sport Nomination  

Throughout the year Toowoomba Primary School Sport and Darling Downs School Sport run trials in a variety of sports to choose representative teams.  In most cases students are required to participate in a Toowoomba Trial to be eligible for a Darling Downs Trial. These teams will then travel away to Regional and State Championships.  

 For a student to be eligible for nomination they must meet the following criteria: 
 
1.        Be turning 10, 11 or 12 in the current calendar year. i.e. born in 2013, 2012, 2011 
 2.        Have had a reasonable amount of experience in their chosen sport. 
 3.        Have a high level of skill in their chosen sport.  
 
In some cases, like touch football, where there are a number of interested candidates, the school may conduct in-house trials to choose players to be nominated for these trials.  This is important for a number of reasons; 1) the players that the school nominates need to meet the required selection criteria, 2) be of a suitable standard to trial and 3) schools are limited to a certain number of students at these trials.  
 
With the exception of Netball and Boys Rugby League, all teams chosen are 12 year old sides.  While 10 and 11 year olds are eligible, they must be of a very high standard.  Most teams chosen will consist predominantly of 12 year olds. 10 year olds are NOT eligible for Girls Rugby League or Rugby Union. 
 
It is also important to note, that only students who are available to attend both the Regional and State Championships, will be eligible for nomination.  All nominations for these trials need to go through the school, and decisions on which students are nominated is at the sole discretion of the school.    
 Please note that the dates for trials are subject to change. 
 If your child would like to be considered for Toowoomba, Zone or Darling Downs Team selection, please check your availability for ALL the trial dates and complete the application form vis the link below. 

 https://forms.office.com/r/jUgWGWMVAN 

 If your child meets the criteria to attend a chosen trial, they will receive information about the trial as it gets sent through to the school.  
 2023 DARLING DOWNS SCHOOL SPORT 

COMBINED SPORTING CALENDAR 

As at 17 September 2022 (Dates are subject to change) 

God bless,

Stacey Hancock

HPE Teacher 

Awards

An amazing start to the year from our Week 1 award recipients. Keep up the great work!

Classroom Newsletters

From our Tuckshop

Open every Friday.  Please place your childs order through FlexiSchools by 1pm Thursdays and please supply a Paper Bag for your childs order.

From Our Office

Check out the article in The Chronicle about the first day of school at St Thomas More's! 

School zone safety – advice for motorists

With school back, it's a timely reminder to drivers to slow down in school zones and pay attention at children’s crossings.

Coming back after holidays it can be easy to forget what to look out for. School zone signs are displayed as you approach the school and shows both the speed limit and the times you need to reduce your speed around the school. Childrens' crossing are identified by children crossing flags, which are displayed near crossings before and after school hours.

When the crossing is supervised, you as a motorist must:

• wait until all pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders have crossed the road and the crossing supervisor has returned to the footpath
• abide by the direction given by the School Crossing Supervisor.

If the crossing is unsupervised, you as a motorist must:

• give way to pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders on or entering a children’s, pedestrian or marked foot crossings
• give way to pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders on or entering a road you’re turning into
• give way to pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders on a slip lane
• give way to pedestrians in a share zone
• travel at a speed allowing you to stop safely at a crossing if needed

As a driver, it's important to make sure you give way to all pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders  such as skateboards, e-scooters. You must also give way to pedestrians using a motorised mobility device such as a motorised wheelchair or a mobility scooter.

Some of our most vulnerable road users are children getting to and from school, so it’s important to slow down and abide by the crossing rules, as it won’t make much difference to the trip time, but it could very well save lives.

Visit the Street Smarts website to find more information about what to do at pedestrian and children crossings.

Book Club

From Our OSHC

Dear Families,

Action Items:

• Bookings – Term 1 please email ASAP
• Updated enrolment information
• Reminder: SERVICE CLOSED FRIDAY 27^th January

We are touching base with all families as term 1 is fast approaching and our team want to ensure that all if your child/ren will be attending either before or after school care during term 1 could you please ensure you check your Xplor app in the bookings section that all your term 1 bookings have been added. If there are no bookings showing or incorrect bookings, please EMAIL our team and we will get this sorted for you!

Downloading Xplor App

It is mandatory that all parents and caregivers have the Xplor app downloaded and use this to sign children both in and out of care at either before school care, after school care or vacation care days. If you are yet to have access to the Xplor app yet, then please contact our team as primary and secondary parents will be unable to utilise the paper sign-in/out form from Monday 23^rd January.

Someone else collecting?

If the primary or secondary parent are not collecting your children from OSHC please ensure you text the full name, contact number and address to 0429 297 592 so our team. If our team does not have this message regarding the person collecting that afternoon our team cannot release your child into their care until we have got confirmation from either the primary or secondary parent.

Cancellations

Please note that now as we come into the school term the table below on the cancellation period that needs to be provided in writing to STMcare@tckc.qld.edu.au If any bookings are cancelled after the notice period they will be marked as absent and the fees will still be applied.

Allergies, dietary requirements, medical conditions, disabilities, etc.

Please ensure if your child does have an allergy, dietary requirements, medical conditions, a disability, etc. That our team is made fully aware as soon as possible as this information is crucial for our team to support your child the best we possibly can while they are in our care.

OSHC Room

Many families who have attended over vacation care will be aware that the OSHC has now officially received it’s very own room to operate from which will be the old music room. We are very excited to have this space as we can decorate with all of our artwork from children, remain set-up and have a consistent space for the children to play. While all our resources and OSHC office will now be located in this room we will still have all access to the deck out the front of the room, the playground, oval space and of course the hall! We feel extremely blessed and excited to see what amazing things will happen in the OSHC space for 2023.

The OSHC Team

As we come into 2023, we are excited to continue onwards our wonderful OSHC team, while we are on the hunt for a lovely new coordinator to come on board, we thank Miss Alannah (TCKC Roaming Coordinator) for supporting STM OSHC and the patience from our families during this transition period, we will let you all know as soon as possible when we have a new coordinator for the team. Miss Hayley will remain on supporting Alannah & the new coordinator into term 1, she has been away on an extended holiday and is excited to return! Miss Heather & Miss Charlotte will remain a crucial part of our team into the new school year. However, we are excited to announce our new educator Miss Drew who has been a part of the OSHC since the beginning of January and will be back in the OSHC in week 4 after she completes her uni placement. We currently have Miss Tenisha & Miss Rachel coming over to assist the service for the first few weeks of term.

If you have any questions or queries for our team, please do not hesitate to reach out to us as we are happy to help.

Warm regards,

The OSHC Team

Miss Hayley, Miss Heather, Miss Drew, Miss Charlotte, Mr Nic, Miss Alannah, Miss Tenisha, Miss Rachel

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.

Need 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

P&F Update

All parents and carers are invited to join a parent-run Facebook page to keep up to date with school activities and buy second hand uniforms 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/612293628865467/?ref=share_group_link

Parent Reps- each year level has a Parent Rep who is there to make you feel welcome at the school, answer non curriculum based questions, and help to organise year level social meet ups. 

The Parent Reps for 2023 are: 

Prep Red: Amanda Teese and Sara Olive
Prep Gold: Shenae Dolley and Trevor Tolson
Prep Blue: Emma Reilly and Katie Crichton 
Year 1: Kimberley Morris, Sophie McDonald and Sueanne Gola
Year 2: Megan Boulus, Tamarra Mulder and Kylie Haywood 
Year 3: Catherine Brodie, Teagan Cooke and Sara Olive 
Year 4: Jacinta MahYen and Brad Rae
Year 5: Lisa Trethewie and Patricia Thomas
Year 6: Shontelle Petrie and Tina Walsh

________

Parent Engagement committee and P&F meetings

Parent Engagement (teachers and parents working together to provide a better learning environment for  the children) 

Thursday February 2nd : 3.15pm

Miss Byrne’s room

P&F 

Monday February 13th : 7pm

Music room 

All parents and staff are welcome to attend either meeting. To find out more contact Kylie Haywood at presidentpandf@gmail.com or via the families Facebook page. 

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

From Our Parish