Term 3 - Week 9 - Newsletter

Prayer of the Week

From the Principal’s Desk…

One of the most important keys to safe and healthy childhoods is to ensure parents and caregivers have the support they need. Raising children is a bit like sailing a boat. But when we experience serious stress: e.g., due to finances, health, isolation, or other problems – raising children can feel like sailing in a storm. Support can be the lighthouse that we all need to navigate these rough waters.

These are some of the main Helplines that you can call for guidance:

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 (make sure your kids know this one)

Parentline Qld: 1300 30 1300

Lifeline: 13 11 14

13 YARN: 13 92 76 (24 hours/7 days - free and confidential service run by, and for, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Or: refer to the Australian parenting network - raisingchildren.net.au

This year during Child Protection Week we have encouraged students to think of themselves as ‘upstanders’. An upstander is a person who speaks up, or acts, when they recognise that something is wrong. Even very young children can be taught to recognise concepts such as anger, bullying and unfairness, and to tell an adult if someone is being harmed. Older children and young people may be capable of becoming more involved in advocacy if they are helped to practice this skill. As adults we play an important role in modelling these behaviours when our children are watching us manage conflict that may arise in our everyday lives.

During Child Protection Week our students will be engaging in a number of activities to reinforce safety messages. Should any student be concerned about how they are being treated by an adult, or another child or young person, they are encouraged to speak up to a trusted staff member or one of our School Student Protection Contacts (SSPCs):  Mr Wann, Mrs Wardle, Mrs Grimshaw & Mrs Farquharson. All students were reminded of who our SSPCs are, and that they are depicted on the ‘Keeping Safe’ posters located around the school.

Child Protection really is everyone’s business, and we are committed to making our school a safe, secure, and protected place of learning for every student.

Thanks for reading…                                 

Duane

God Bless,

Duane Wann

Principal

Student Protection Contacts

From our APRE

V9.0 of the Australian Curriculum 

In the latter half of 2022, the Australian Curriculum was updated to Version 9.0. This new version includes several changes and enhancements, aimed at providing an improved education for our students. The intent of these amendments is to provide students with a World Class Education that prepares them for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. 

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) states that v9.0 of the Australian Curriculum is to be implemented in schools in timelines determined by state education and curriculum authorities. Full implementation of v9.0 of the Australian Curriculum is not expected to occur straight away – rather, a gradual familiarisation and implementation is occurring for us here at St Thomas More’s Primary School. 

On Friday of last week, STM teachers engaged in a deep dive of the revised English Curriculum. In working with the revised English curriculum, we are currently developing units as part of a school scope and seuqence.  Over the next few weeks, our teachers will be working collaboratively to achieve this, to ensure consistency, depth and quality of learning for all students. 

V9.0 of the Australian Curriculum can be viewed at Home | V9 Australian Curriculum. 

Grandparent's Day

As you may have seen in our official STM School Calendar, this year we celebrate Grandparent's Day on Friday 13th October. Our day will commence with a Whole School Prayer Celebration in the Sportscentre at 8:40 a.m.  A flyer will be sent out via the parent portal next week to be shared with our STM grandparents and those who are like grandparents to us.

Father's Day

I hope all our STM families had a lovely Father’s Day over the weekend. A big thank you to 1 Red and Mrs Jones for leading the whole school in our Father’s Day Prayer Celebration.  We were all very impressed with how confident the year 1 students were in leading the whole school in prayer and how reverent the school community was during the entirety of the Prayer Celebration.  Thank you to the P&F for organising the before-school breakfast, with a massive thank you to the Rosies volunteers for giving of their time to help ensure the morning was a success. 

God Bless.

Mrs Patricia Wardle

Acting Assistant Principal: Religious Education

Term 3 Date Claimers

Please see below the important dates for Term 3. 

Thinking STM for Prep in 2024 ...

From Our Sports Desk

Interschool Sport – Friday 8th September 

Last week we had a huge number of children that didn’t have a water bottle for interschool sport. Can you please support your child by ensuring they have a water and hat for sport.  

If your child has chosen to play soccer, they will be required to have/wear shin guards. If your child has chosen to play rugby league, they will be required to wear a mouth guard and wear school-coloured footy shorts and socks.  

Netball  

1:35pm Senior A vs St Saviour’s court 6 

12:50pm Senior B vs Glenvale Blue court 7 

12:50pm Junior A vs St Saviour’s court 12 

1:35pm Junior B vs Glenvale court 8  

Boys Soccer – Captain Cook Oval  

1:35pm Senior A Boys vs Fairview Heights 

12:50pm Junior A Boys vs Fairview Heights  

Girls Soccer – Captain Cook Oval  

12:50pm Junior A Girls vs Fairview Heights  

Rugby League – St Mary’s 

12:50pm Senior A vs St Mary’s     

Year 4 Rugby 7’s – TAS  

12:50pm – 2:15pm  

God Bless,

Stacey Hancock

HPE Teacher

From Our Counsellor

From Our Library

Vegemite the Library Gnome

During the term Miss Jodie’s Mum, Rilla Hoath, who is nearly 93 years old made a gorgeous gnome for the Library for our garden theme.  As the gnome didn’t have a name, we had a Name the Gnome competition.  Miss McAleer and I made a shortlist of our top ten favourite and sent the list to Rilla to make the final choice.  There was great excitement on Wednesday at the Book Week parade when the closely guarded name was revealed after opening the wax sealed envelope.  And the winner was… “Vegemite!” which was nominated by Ellouise in Year 6. Vegemite the Gnome will now become our Library Mascot and feature in all our adventures throughout the year.

Book Fair - Week 9 - Monday 4 Sept – Thursday 7 Sept.

Class Newsletters

From our P & F

From OSHC

Good Afternoon St Thomas Mores Families ,

I hope you have had a great week and are ready for a wonderful weekend. Spring has certainly sprung and we are having some beautiful weather.  

This week our theme has been Peppa Pig which the children voted on.

Monday saw Miss Jannali having a craft activity where they made a Pig nose out of egg cartons. The children thought it was funny when they put them on.

Tuesday Miss Hayley had a great activity on how to draw Peppa Pig. A few of the Prep children liked this activity.

In the afternoon the children had the choice of having afternoon tea or going out to play straight after roll call. As per normal, they asked what was for afternoon tea. We made a special treat out of yoghurt and jelly and it was called Peppa Pig P… The children absolutely loved it. Braxtyn said , “Miss Debbie this would be perfect for vacation care in summer. I know yoghurt and jelly doesn’t sound like a nice combination , however it actually tastes like sorbet. For anyone interested , it is one cup of jelly mixed in hot water until it dissolves, and then add one cup of yoghurt. Mix together and put in the fridge on a tray, then when set, cut in to small chunks. The staff actually froze ours and it was just like strawberry sorbet. So nice.

Wednesday Miss Hannah completed a family tree activity with some of the older girls.

Thursday I had Peppa Pig Bingo. This was a great success. The children wanted to play it today . Zoe was so excited when she won a full house that she screamed the place down. Pictures attached.  I lost my voice from laughing so much. It was a lot of fun.

Friday- Today Miss Laetitia had a cooking activity where 5 children helped her make Pigs in a Blanket for a lunch snack. The children loved them with tomato sauce. We had many games of soccer . The girls did my hair, and each other’s hair. They had another game of soccer in the afternoon , as well as a few games of bingo.

We have had a lot of parents book their children into vacation care early. Thank you for getting in early. To avoid disappointment , please book your child in as early as possible . If  booked before 6^th Sept, you will be charged at a permanent rate, if booked after 6^th Sept, it will be a casual booking. Please be mindful that if we have an excursion we may not be able to take ad hoc bookings , as numbers will need to be booked in advance for the venues.

Staffing-

Miss Gemma is still on Prac and will return on the 11^th Sept.

I am on leave from today until the 14^th September. Miss Jannali and Miss Hayley will share the Responsible Person role while I am away.

Enjoy the pictures attached.

See you when I return.

Kind Regards

Debbie

From our Tuckshop

Open every Thursday & Friday.  Please place your childs order through FlexiSchools by 1pm Wednesday for Thursdays & 1pm Thursday for Friday. 

Tuckshop Menu

From our Uniform Shop

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!

A huge thank you to Meat Cellar for their continued support for our school events.

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