2024 Term 1 - Week 7 - Newsletter

Prayer of the Week

During Lent this year, we will continue to share the same Lenten prayer in the newsletter each fortnight. This is a prayer that classes are using in their daily prayer at school and a good reminder of this special Church Season of Lent. 

From our Principal

International Women's Day is more than just a day to feel inspired and empowered; it's a day to remind your children — girls and boys — that women matter, that women are important, and that women deserve to be recognized. If you're wondering how to explain International Women's Day to your child, I get it. Maybe you're worried that your kids will ask why the world doesn't celebrate women every day. Maybe you're nervous that your son will ask when he gets to celebrate being a man, and then you'll have to refrain from making a Samantha Bee joke. Maybe you're just not sure how to approach the topic of sexism, of the patriarchy, and of the importance of feminism right now.

But hey, it's time. And there's no better way to start those conversations than by explaining International Women's Day to your child.

Originally created in the early 1900s, International Women's Day, according to the official website, is "a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women." Because the day doesn't belong to any specific group or government entity, it's the perfect way to celebrate all women from all walks of life and to unite them together to reflect on the strength and perseverance of women.

If your children are old enough to go to school, they can probably name a few important figures in history. George Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Edison — all incredibly important to the world, but all men. To begin explaining International Women's Day, ask your children to name some women who have made a difference in the world. Hopefully, they can shout out Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Helen Keller, but they may not. Being a Catholic school, they might even be able to recall Mary (the Mother of Jesus), St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and Sister Catherine McAuley.  And that right there is the lesson in why International Women's Day is so important.

Explain to your kiddos that there have been times in history, both recent and not-so-recent, when women have made huge contributions to the world and their achievements were not celebrated as much as a man's contributions. Talk about the challenges women face, like having to balance motherhood and work (when men aren't expected to juggle both) and having to fight stereotypes. Explain that when a woman is misheard in the boardroom and tries to speak up, she's often called "bossy" or "loud" or "rude." Teach them that for a long time, society valued a woman based on how well she could birth children and run a home, but that men were expected to make the bigger contributions to society. Talk about the women in their life that have influenced them and how their stories are often lost in history.

And combine all of that information into a succinct explanation: much like a birthday that is all about one person, International Women's Day is dedicated to all women. It's to celebrate the lives and achievements of women, whether they've been recognized for it or not.

When you put it like that, your child should understand. Like blowing out the candles on a birthday cake for their grandpa and sharing stories of his life to celebrate him, let International Women's Day be explained as a giant birthday for all the women of the world. Blow out some candles, appreciate those women, and feel grateful for another year of celebrating them.

Thanks for reading.

God Bless,

Duane Wann

Principal

Process for Late Arrival, Early Departure, Volunteers and Collection Areas for Parents (End of School Day)

I outline the St Thomas More procedures for safe and orderly delivery and collection of students from the school. We love welcoming our students and families onsite and ask that you work wit us as outlined below.

As part of attendance requirements, St Thomas More’s School ensures the consistent management of student attendance to meet legislative requirements and sector standards.  The Queensland Government states that “each parent of a child who is of compulsory school age has the legal obligation to ensure their child is enrolled and attends a school, on every school day for the educational program in which the child is enrolled, unless the parent has a reasonable excuse.”

Our school has a responsibility to record student attendance and respond to instances of irregular attendance, late arrival and early departure of children.  Our school, and by virtue of their employment, our teachers, are legally required to monitor and record attendance of students in their care on a daily basis, whether absent or present in class, late arrival, early departure, on excursion or at a school-based activity.

This is a valuable opportunity to remind families of the requirements pertaining to late arrival to school and early departure from school.  Our aim is to safely account for all students while minimising disruption to teaching for the staff and learning for the students.

Late Arrival

• a student is considered to have arrived late any time after the 8.30am bell on a school day
• all students arriving late must sign be signed in by a parent, family member or themselves. Children then transition to the classroom by themselves

Early Departure

• a student is considered to have departed early any time before 2.55pm on a school day.
• Parent/Guardian to call, email or present to the School Administration Office to inform School Administration Staff their child/children will be departing early and offer the reason for the early departure
• the School Administration Staff will contact and advise the Class Teacher of an early departure and request for the child/children to present to the School Administration Office at a prescribed time
• Parent/Guardian to collect child from School Administration Office and sign child out
• Parents/Guardians are not permitted to attend the classrooms and withdraw children directly
• Parents/Guardians are not permitted to visit the classrooms between the hours of 8:30am and 2:55pm unless invited to do so. This is to avoid disruption to teaching and learning. Should there be a need to visit a classroom or drop something off to a child/children, this can be arranged through the School Administration Office.

Volunteers

• Parents /Guardians wishing to volunteer on school grounds or in classrooms must complete a Volunteer Declaration form and complete mandatory training with TCSO before commencing.
• Involvement inside the classroom must be at the invitation of the classroom teacher.

Collection Areas for Families (End of School Day)

As part of the afternoon end of school day collection of children, parents/guardians are always invited and encouraged to collect children within the confines of the school in places that do not disrupt teaching and learning.  In doing so, we respectfully ask families to wait in the following areas:

• Drop Off/Pick Up Area on South Street (outside the Prep collection area)
• The Quad Area (the collection of children in Years 1, 3 – 6)
• The seats outside of the Year 2 classrooms (Year 2 children)

Can I please acknowledge and sincerely thank parents/guardians who have adhered to these guidelines since the commencement of the year.  I truly value and appreciate your assistance with this matter and look forward to seeing you during the afternoon pick up!

School Lunches

In recent weeks we have experienced an increasing number of children visiting the Administration Office seeking food and fruit for lunch.  Although we are happy to support families and children in need, we are also asking families to monitor lunch consumption and have conversations with children regarding eating requirements when at school. 

Student Protection

From our APRE

Can you believe we have crossed over into the second half of this term! What a busy start we have had to this year … but a what wonderful start as well! Thank you to all the families who came along to Family Mass over the weekend. It was lovely to see so many families in attendance. Thank you to all the children who helped lead the Mass. You did a great job! At Family Mass on the weekend, Father Nathan shared a thoughtful homily with us that required those in attendance at Mass to consider how they would describe Jesus. A lot of familiar adjectives were used … kind, caring, loving, perfect! However, the Gospel on the weekend showed a very different side of Jesus. It showed a Jesus who was angered by the incorrect use of the Temple. Father Nathan then encouraged the congregation to consider times they had been angered by things they thought were unjust. Lent is a great time to think about justice and how we can be the Hands of Christ in our communities, not only identifying injustice but doing something about it as well.

This week we see the first of our Class Prayer Celebrations. A big thank you to Mr Barnes and 3 Red who have been madly preparing their International Women’s Day Prayer Celebration to share with the school community on Friday. All STM families (especially 3 Red) are most welcome to attend.

Sacramental Program

The STM Parish Sacramental Program commenced last week. We have a number of students from St Thomas More’s who are part of the program this year and working towards receiving the Sacraments of Penance, Confirmation and First Communion. I am sure the whole school community joins with me in thinking of these children and families in the coming weeks as they continue their Sacramental journey.

Although the program has started, it’s not too late to join. Contact the Parish Office if you would like to enrol your child/ren for the 2024 Sacramental Program.

International Women’s Day

This Friday is International Women’s Day. We have a number of amazing and inspiring women on our staff and part of our community here at St Thomas More’s. Although we can celebrate and admire them all year round, it is wonderful to have a special day to remind us of the contributions of these women to our lives and the contributions of women across the world to modern-day life.

As well as 3 Red preparing a lovely Prayer Celebration to celebrate International Women’s Day this year, Audrey and Flynn are also on the case and have a special IWD surprise in store for assembly on Friday.

The theme for IWD this year is Inspire Inclusion … this is a timely reminder of the importance of belonging in communities and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

I wish all the women in our STM community a very happy International Women’s Day this Friday.

Harmony Day

On Thursday March 21 STM will celebrate Harmony Day with schools and workplaces across the country. Students and staff are encouraged to wear orange on Thursday March 21 to show support for Harmony Day and to show that Everyone Belongs at St Thomas More’s Primary School. This will be a full free dress but is not a fundraiser, so you don’t need a gold coin donation. Don’t panic if you don’t have orange clothing … although ideally we would love to see a sea of orange, children are welcome to wear brightly coloured clothes if they have nothing orange at home. Please be mindful of clothing choices for this free dress day …

- Clothing must be sun safe.

- Shoes must be closed in.

- Shorts and skirts must be of an appropriate length for school.

The Harmony Week theme for 2024 is Everyone Belongs. Some may be disappointed to see a repeat of the 2023 theme, but you cannot argue about the importance of belonging for little people (and big people too!). This year in the week leading up to Harmony Day, students will engage in Harmony Day lessons in class and create an artwork for our annual whole school art display for Harmony Day. Watch this space!

Easter Egg Raffle

Ticket sales are going well for our Project Compassion Easter Egg Raffle however we do have very few donations of eggs for our hampers. If you can donate some Easter Eggs or Easter items for our raffle, we would be very appreciative. These can be dropped to Miss Byrne’s Room at any time between now and Wednesday, March 27.

2024 Musical

It was with much excitement we announced our 2024 Musical at assembly last week! Drum roll please ….

This year we will be sharing our very own production of The Lion King Jr with the STM community. A huge shout out to our wonderful teachers who so expertly announced our musical with a song and dance of their own!

Students from Year 4 – Year 6 will be part of our cast, with each Upper School class contributing at least one song/scene to the musical. Information regarding main cast parts and the audition process for 2024 will be shared in the coming week or so, with Audition Packs available for collection in Week 9 and Week 10. Students will then have time to prepare their auditions over the break, with official auditions being held in Week 1 of Term 2.

As you can appreciate, a school musical is a huge undertaking, and we are still very much in our infancy phase at the moment. As more details and specifics are finalised, we will update families via the school newsletter and through messages in the Sentral for Parents app.

Hakuna Matata!

God Bless

Kris Byrne

Assistant Principal Religious Education

Term One Important Dates

From Our Middle Leader

To align with V9 of the Australian Curriculum, our Lower school teachers have been shifting to a synthetic phonics approach which includes the use of decodable readers. To assist teachers in making the necessary changes, we have implemented Promoting Literacy Development (PLD) which will not only support staff in the teaching of phonics but also supports our diocesan approach to reading.

What are Decodable Reading Books?

Decodable reading books have been developed in line with the Structured Synthetic Phonics (SSP) method of teaching reading which encourages learning through the recognition of letters (graphemes) and their associated sounds (phonemes). This helps learners ‘decode’ text by breaking down words into smaller units of sound for easier comprehension. By focusing on letters and sounds, decodable readers support learners in developing knowledge of phonics by encouraging them to sound out words using the SSP decoding strategy. Decodable readers differ from other types of levelled readers in that they teach children to focus on reading the words on a page rather than simply guessing or predicting what the text is based on using imagery or other cues on the page. Decodable texts are sequential and as children master more of the alphabetic code and progress through a series of decodable books, the vocabulary and story structure become more sophisticated, which builds on a child’s language and comprehension skills.

Decodable texts are not the only texts a child should read. Teachers and parents should read high-quality children’s literature that contains more complex vocabulary and sentence structures with students every day.

Tricky Words

Alongside the use of decodable reading books in Australian classrooms, is is common to introduce ‘tricky words’, ‘sight words’ or as PLD refers to them; ‘high frequency words’.

This is because as a child reads they are likely to come across words that are significantly more advanced than the level of code they have learnt or that they are irregular words that are difficult to sound.

These more advanced, high-frequency words are introduced, explained and decoded with the support of the child’s teacher.

Examples of irregular/tricky words include ‘you’, ‘do’, ‘said’, ‘water’, ‘was’, ‘people’ and ‘one’.

The early introduction and practice of these ‘tricky words’ supports better fluency as the child progresses.

(From: https://pld-literacy.org/decodable-readers/)

Thanks for Reading

Trish Wardle

Middle Leader

From our Sports Department

Interschool Sport Draw – Friday 8th March 

This week is our last week of interschool sport. Can I please ask that playing uniforms be returned to the Health room on Monday 11th March. These uniforms will be getting reissued to other students next Monday. It would be greatly appreciated if they are returned on time. Please have the playing uniform in a labelled zip lock bag.  

Girls Touch – Kearney Springs 

Boys AFL – Concordia (Stephen Street Entrance)  

Darling Downs Swimming Trials Results 

Last week we had Levi M, Tyrell W and Makayla W competing at the Darling Downs Swimming trials. They all did an amazing job. Well done to Tyrell, who picked up age champion with a first place in 50m freestyle and a third in 50m backstroke. Makayla was busy swimming in multiple events during the day and was successfully selected in the Darling Downs team for 50m Butterfly. Well done, we are very proud of you!   

South West School Futsal Carnival 

Next week we have 7 boys heading off to represent St Thomas More’s at the South West School Futsal Carnival at the Glennie School. Good luck to Tyrell W, Nicholas C, Darcy R, Jacob M, Fletcher W, Rhythm N and George T. A big thank you to Michael Wardle for coaching this group in the lead up to the carnival. Good luck boys!  

Year 3 & 4 Rugby League Tag Gala Day 

We are offering all children in Years 3 & 4 the opportunity to attend the Toowoomba NRL League Tag Gala Day. This is a day of fun and enjoyment in learning new skills. This is a non-contact event and is for boys and girls. 
 
- Teams would be made up of 12 a-side. This means you will have 8 on the field and 4 reserves. 
- 15 Minute Games 
 
Date: Friday 15th March 2024 
Time: 9am - 2pm 
Location: Gold Park, Toowoomba 

Children will be bused to and from the venue. 

This is an optional opportunity for the children in Years 3 & 4. If your child is interested in attending, please indicate using the link below. The link will close on Wednesday 6th March.  

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

God Bless.

Stacey Hancock

HPE Teacher 

From Our Library

From our Student Representatives

Minute to Win It has been very popular! The points so far are ... 

Hall: 154

Leonard: 223 

MacKillop: 439

Finbarr:  279

Everyone had a great time trying the Card Stack and Chop Stick Stack over the past two weeks! Thank you to Mr Barnes and Ms Lisa for being such great supporters of our Minute to Win It challenge each week! This week the Minute to Win It Challenge will be the Ping Pong Challenge. Children and staff from Prep to Year 6 and staff are welcome to come along and have a try next week. Although Ms Lisa has been doing a great job, we’d love to see more teachers join in! We will be in the Quad at First Break on Thursday.  

The winning house for our challenge this term will receive the Student Representative trophy AND a sweet treat for each child from the winning house who participated. Don’t forget to check in with Miss Byrne before you have a try at our challenges.  

Joy Hunters

Eva and Audrey have enjoyed searching for joy in the playground. Joy is one of our school values because St Mary MacKillop lived a life full of joy. She shared joy by teaching children and helping the poor. St Thomas More is another saint special to our school who lived a life of joy. He found joy in his family and in his relationship with God.  

Check out where they found joy this week.  

Joy in the Playground

Have a great week,

God bless

Flynn and Audrey 

From Our Service Club

Kindy visits are going well. For the rest of this term, we will each take a turn reading a story and running an activity at the kindy. Arlia was the first to read her book this week and it was a lot of fun. The children really enjoyed the jellyfish activity we planned for after the story.   

Don’t forget LEGO club has started. It will run on a Wednesday each week at second break eating and play time with Mrs Wilson in the Spare Year 4 Room.  

Over the next few weeks, we will be teaching the STM community all about the three focus people for Project Compassion this year. The stories of these people show what happens with our donations and how Project Compassion and CARITAS helps people around the world.

Our Project Compassion focus person for this week is Ronita. Ronita is 22 years old and she lives in the Philippines with her husband and two children. Ronita became pregnant at a young age and had to drop out of school. Education is very important to her and CARITAS has helped her continue her education. Her husband works 7 days a week as a garbage collector so she can go to school at the Learning and Development Centre funded by CARITAS. After some time at this centre, she was able to go to high school and finish her education. CARITAS has not only supported Ronita with her education, but have helped her care for her children by providing regular doctor visits and medicines when needed.  

If you want to learn more about Ronita, check out the video below.  

Your Project Compassion donations help people like Ronita all over the world!  

You can donate at STM this year by putting money in your Project Compassion box in the classroom or buying an Easter Hamper Raffle Ticket. Tickets are on sale each day at second break eating time in Miss Byrne’s Office. Families can still donate eggs for our raffle!  

Well done to 6 Red and 3 Gold for collecting the most money in their Project Compassion boxes over the past two weeks. We wonder who will collect the most money this week!

Have a great week. 

God bless, 

Isla, Matilda, Grace, Arlia, Indi and James from Service Club  

Student Awards

Well done to our students who received awards in Week 5 and Week 6. Keep up the great work! 

Week 5

Week 6

Music Tutoring

Cooking Corner

Dont forget to send us photo's of your cooking adventures, cant wait to see what you are baking at home.

P & F News

Tuckshop News

Exciting news for 2024

Opening Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT 

NEW Tuckshop Menu

REMINDER - IF YOU CHILD IS SICK, PLEASE CONTACT THE TUCKSHOP BEFORE 9AM TO POSTPONE YOUR ORDER TO THE NEXT DAY!

From our Uniform Shop

From Our OSHC

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!

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