St Thomas More's Primary School, Toowoomba eNewsletter

Prayer of the Week

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From the Principal’s Desk…

During the week, whilst walking down the main street I watched children scuttle out of the cars near the post office.

First the little poppet from a local primary school, shirt in, hat firmly on his head. Deftly he opened his family post box, carefully read the front of each envelope to ensure he had the right mail and then hightailed it back to mum.

Then along leaps a taller secondary school, unlocks his box, rifles through the correspondence and then, bless him, hops in line to collect a parcel.

Their mums sat contentedly in their cars, checking their phones and shopping lists.

Blissfully I remembered the days when, if the phone rang, three little bodies hurtled towards the shrilling to welcome each caller. Or the awkward peeling of potatoes, or the helpful cracking of eggs which added a surprise crunch to quiche or the excited ‘Can I vacuum now?’

For a brief honeymoon period, I thought by age 12, I’d have our three children all robotically working in a well-run, tidy household.

Now, almost daily, I listen to parents ‘tearing their hair out’ at the in-school and/or at-home behaviour of their children. I nod vigorously and often add my own two cents about my own parenting experiences (and failures).

You may know the quote, over 2500 years old, attributed to Socrates or Plato (academics are unsure), "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

Or Hesiod’s comment: "I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

Gee, lots of words ring a bell, echoing what I hear sometimes in my office – spoilt, disrespectful, tyrants, lack of exercise. The conflict between children and parents (and teachers) is timeless.

However, Hesiod was wrong, those words said years ago “I see no hope for the future” were incorrect. The future beyond Hesiod, just kept improving in the past one thousand two hundred years.

Kids do make it. Hey, we did.

Not all kids are ‘naughty’ of course, but many do go through a developmentally normal rough patch. So work with us as a school. As parents stick to your guns, have firm parameters and clear consequences when things go wrong, give them hope in their future and reassure that they are loved. And possibly pray, like I did 12 years ago, that our children come to understand the trials and tribulations of parenting themselves.

Maybe it is also a good time to give our parents thanks for ‘getting us through’ and supporting us to be the best adults we can be.

Enjoy the next two weeks.

See you all on Tuesday 11^th July for the start of Term 3.

Thank you everyone for your support this term. It has been greatly appreciated.

It is the effort and not necessarily the result that makes it a success or failure.

Thanks for reading…

God Bless,

Duane Wann

Principal

Student Protection Contacts

From our APRE

We have finally made it to Week 10! Thank you to our whole school community for a wonderful Term 2. It has been great exploring the concept of HOPE as our Term 2 school value and I was pleased to see so many examples of hope this term at St Thomas More's. Not only can be draw hope from the life and stories of St Mary MacKillop and St Thomas More, but we can also draw hope from the way we interact as a school community.

Some highlights from this term that really stood out to me as examples of HOPE in our school and community include ....

ANZAC Day

I think we can really draw hope for the future from the amazing turnout we had at the ANZAC Day March this year. ANZAC Day is such a huge part of our Australian culture and the fact we had so many families invested in commemorating the day in a special way fills my heart with hope.

Service Club Kindy Visits

Each week I am filled with hope as we head off to Creative Gardens for our weekly Kindy Visits. Our Service Club Representatives are such great role models and mentors for their Kindy Buddies and always treat them with compassion and respect.

Tiny Tommy's Mornings

This term, we launched our Tiny Tommy's Program which aims to support Prep transition. It has been great to meet so many new families and welcome them to our STM community.

Year 4 Camp

Year 4 Camp was a big event for our Year 4 students (and teachers!). The first camp is always a bit scary and unknown but the children managed it beautifully! Koojarewon Camp is a great opportunity for children to work on teamwork skills, which gives us great hope for the future leaders of our school.

Under 8s Day

As an early year's trained educator, I can't help but love Under 8s Day! A whole session to celebrate not only our littlest people the wonderful learning and exploration that happens each and every day in our Lower School classrooms as well.

Athletics Carnival

We had so many wonderful examples of children bringing hope at our Athletics Carnival this year through their kind and thoughtful interactions with one another. The sportsmanship on display also filled me with pride!

Camp Quality Fundraiser

Looking out and seeing a sea of crazy hair was quite special last week. Service Club did a wonderful job raising awareness for this fundraiser and it I am sure it filled many in our community with hope to see so many students and families support such a worthy cause.

Our Various Prayer Celebrations

As the APRE, how can I not say our class Prayer Celebrations fill me with hope! It is such a pleasure to work in a community that values these experiences, which is so evident in the excitement and enthusiasm teachers and students show when planning these special experiences.

Confirmation

Confirmation is always a special time for any school community. Working with families as they prepare their children to receive this Sacrament is such a rewarding experience that highlights just how special this is to many members of our community.

Toowoomba Catholic Schools Arts Fest

This week, we have a number of students and teachers involved in the first-ever Toowoomba Catholic Schools Arts Fest! This is a great opportunity for our students to join with other schools in our Diocese and celebrate all things The Arts!

We will be submitting a whole school art project to the Art Show at the Micah Centre. We also have both our Junior and Senior Choirs attending and participating in both the Sacred Choral Concert and Artsfest Mass during the week. In addition to this, a small group of students is also part of the Musical Theatre Performance, which will be performed at the Belief in the Arts Concert at the Empire Theatre on Wednesday evening during Artsfest Week. Please see a quick overview of Artsfest Week below.

Families are most welcome to attend Arts Fest but bookings are essential. Use the link below to secure your spot!

Arts Fest Booking Page

Feast Day of St Thomas More

Please note that our Feast Day Mass originally scheduled for the Thursday of Week 10 has now been moved to the last day of Term 2, Friday, June 23rd at 11:30 am.

As part of our Feast Day celebrations this year, Service Club will be holding a Pancake Morning on Thursday, June 22nd. Students will be able to get a maximum of two pancakes at no charge to celebrate St Thomas More, who is very special to our school. Pancakes will be available from 8:00 am - 8:30 am in the Quad.

During the coming weeks, students will also be learning about St Thomas More in preparation to celebrate his Feast Day. As one of the most famous saints in the UK, there is certainly no shortage of information out there about him! Ms Roberts and I were lucky enough to visit some places of significance in his life when we were in England earlier this year and learned a bit more about him ourselves. I encourage families to discuss the life of St Thomas More in the coming weeks and reflect together on what his life teaches us today. Although our theme for the year, Never See a Need Without Doing Something About It, comes from the life of another saint dear to our school, I feel this is something we can also see reflected in the life of St Thomas More as well.

If you don't know much about St Thomas More, the clip below from the Tower of London should provide a good introduction.

Semester 1 Academic Reports

Our Semester One Report Cards this year will be distributed via the Parent Portal in the last week of this term. If you have yet to start using the portal, it is vital that you make the move to doing so in the next few weeks. If you need any assistance at all accessing the portal, feel free to contact our wonderful staff in the office and they will be more than happy to help you however they can.

Over the course of this semester, teachers have been gathering evidence of learning for each learning area for each of our students. This process involves gathering, analysing and reflecting on multiple sources of evidence to make an informed judgment about what students know, understand, and can do.

Assessment in the classroom can come in many forms. It can either be …

Diagnostic (assessing prior learning) - pre-tests and work samples.

Formative (assessing for learning) - observations, group work, individual conferencing, ongoing work samples.
Summative (assessing of learning) - tasks, assignments, presentations.

In Week 10, families will receive Semester 1 Report Cards for students from Prep to Year 6 via the Parent Portal. This Report Card is a culmination of your child’s academic achievement throughout the semester, as well as a snapshot of their spiritual and social development. It is just one way of communicating information about student achievement, effort, and behaviour.

The Australian Curriculum is written in such a way that there is an ‘Achievement Standard’ for each year level for each subject area. It is this Achievement Standard that we report against. The standards are written as a statement of what a student is aiming to achieve by the end of the school year for their year level. A student receiving a ‘C’ standard indicates that they have met this standard, that is, that their work demonstrates a conceptual understanding of the concepts covered and that they can apply this knowledge and skill in familiar situations. Simply speaking, a ‘C’ standard indicates that your child is able to do what is expected of them for their year level.

To move beyond a ‘C’ standard, a student must demonstrate that they are developing sophistication of conceptual understanding, with a strong application of skills, and that they are beginning to transfer their knowledge and skills to new situations (B standard). For an A standard, students must demonstrate the excellent application of skills and be readily applying the knowledge and skills to new situations.

Similarly, a ‘D’ standard does not constitute a fail but indicates that a student is continuing to develop their understanding of the expected curriculum, and may be able to demonstrate some of the elements within it, whether with support or inconsistently. A rough outline of these standards is provided below.

Standard
A	Evidence in a student’s work typically demonstrates that the student has the targeted knowledge and · A sophistication of conceptual understanding. · An excellent application of skills · The ability to transfer these to new situations.
B	Evidence in the student’s work typically demonstrates that the student has the targeted knowledge and · A developing sophistication of conceptual understanding. · A strong application of skills. · They are beginning to transfer these to familiar situations.
C	Evidence in the student’s work typically demonstrates that the student has the targeted knowledge and · Expected conceptual understanding. · Expected application of skills. · They are able to transfer these to familiar situations.
D	Evidence in the student’s work typically demonstrates that the student is · Developing the targeted knowledge and conceptual understanding. · Developing the application of skills. · Beginning to transfer the above to familiar situations.
E	Evidence in the student’s work typically demonstrates that the student · Has an emerging knowledge and conceptual understanding. · Has an emerging application of skills and · can apply these in scaffolded situations.

In each KLA, students also receive an effort achievement level. This level is derived by the level of application and study habits during that particular KLA. Please see the table below for the effort achievement scale.

A	Excellent
B	Commendable
C	Satisfactory
D	Extra Effort Required
E	Significant Extra Effort Required
NA	Not Applicable

God Bless.

Miss Kristin Byrne

Assistant Principal: Religious Education

Thinking STM for Prep in 2024 ...

Miss Byrne's Important Dates to Remember for Term 2

Please see below some dates to keep in mind for this term ...

Date	Event/Activity	Year Level
Monday, June 19	Kaboom Percussion Incursion	Prep - Year 6
Wednesday, June 21	First Communion Session #1 3:30 pm in the STM Church	First Communion Candidates
Thursday, June 22	Feast Day of St Thomas More	Church Celebration
Friday, June 23	Last Day of Term 2	Prep - Year 6
	Feast Day of St Thomas More Mass 11:30 am in the Sportscentre	Prep - Year 6 STM Families

From Our Sports Desk

Athletics Carnival Results

Well done and congratulations to everyone who participated at the athletics carnival last Monday. It was such a great day having everyone try their best and having fun. Selected students for the Catholic Athletics Carnival will be given information later this week.

Age Champion Results

9 Years Boys

Age Champion - Levi

Runner Up – Darcy

9 Years Girls

Age Champion – Porscha

Runner Up – Aaliyah

10 Years Boys

Age Champion – Jonathan

Runner Up – Christian

10 Years Girls

Age Champion – Audrey

Runner Up – Makayla & Arianna

11 Years Boys

Age Champion – Jordan

Runner Up – Peter

11 Years Girls

Age Champion – Amelia

Runner Up – Harper Lea

12 Years Boys

Age Champion – Nathan

Runner Up – Koby

12 Years Girls

Age Champion – Kiara

Runner Up – Tamsyn

Overall House Points

1st Leonard 983 points

2nd MacKillop 976 points

3rd Finbarr 917 points

4th Hall 912 points

God Bless,

Stacey Hancock

HPE Teacher

From our Service Club

Thank you to all the students and families who supported our Camp Quality Fundraiser last week. We should be able to share our final amount raised by the end of this week. Your donations will go to help Camp Quality support families with children who have cancer.

This is our last week of our Vinnies Winter Appeal. So far we have had lots of donations coming in. Thank you for sending in what you can. You can send your donations in right up until the last day of this term.

This week we celebrate the Feast Day of St Thomas More! To celebrate this special day in our school calendar, we will be having a pancake morning on Thursday, June 22nd. We will be using the leftover donated pancake mix from Shrove Tuesday to make lots of pancakes for everyone. Pancakes will be free but will be limited to 2 per student. They will be available from 8:00 - 8:30am on Thursday morning in the Quad.

Have a wonderful last week of term,

God bless.

Milly, Emma and Anakha from the Service Club

From Our School Counsellor

From Our Library

Speak Up STM Podcast – Episode 4 – Bioluminescent Plankton

Have you ever heard of Bioluminescent Plankton? Find out all about it in this week’s episode of the Speak Up STM Podcast by Sam, Maeve and Abigail

Celebrating Neurodiversity Pride Day

A big thank you to Shontelle and Maeve for reading us the beautiful book "The Rainbow Brain" by Sandhya Menon and helping us to understanding how everybody's brain works in different ways. The children also enjoyed making a Rainbow Tree bookmark as a reminder of how we think differently.

Knitting Group

Week 9 Awards

Well done to our Week 9 award recipients.

Prep Blue	Kairo Willow
Prep Gold	Jack Lincoln
Prep Red	Harlin Evelyn
1 Blue	Atong Enoch
1 Red	Nicolas Mia Tristan
2 Blue	Alekai Ethan
2 Red	Hugh Ella Ruby
3 Blue	Wyatt Paige
3 Gold	Millie Lincoln
3 Red	Ari
4 Blue	Elliemay Fletcher Oliver
4 Gold	Amelie Ryan
5 Blue	Jordan Isla
5 Gold	Cinta Therese Jarrell
5/6 Red	Bastie Oliver
6 Blue	Jordan Nathan
6 Gold	Isaac Koby
Miss Byrne	Alice Brayden
Southern Cross	Morgan (2 Red)