St Thomas More’s Primary School Newsletter

For me, yesterday’s Family Fun Day highlighted the impact the COVID-19 restrictions have had on our school. One of the key aspects of our school that I like to highlight is that we aren’t just a school, we are a community, and we are at our best when all community members are interacting & working together. Unfortunately, these opportunities were limited over the past year & we are worse off because of it.

Thank you to everyone who attended yesterday’s event; it was amazing to see 158 families gathered together to celebrate being a part of our school community. Thanks to our P & F committee & their band of volunteers for organising & conducting such a successful event. Thanks to the staff who were able to attend especially Liz Skinner for showcasing some of the work happening in music at STM.

Thanks to teachers for conducting last week’s Parent Information sessions. The sessions were well attended & I have received positive feedback regarding their usefulness.

The Parent Information sessions and Family Fun Day, as well as the P & F and School Board meetings, provided excellent opportunities for parent involvement & engagement. The challenge for us is to ensure that we make the most of these opportunities to foster positive relationships to enhance student learning further.

Interschool Sport

Thank you to St Joseph’s College & St Mary’s College for providing us with buses to allow our Year 5 & 6 students to attend interschool sport last Friday. We received late notification from Bus Queensland that they would not be supplying buses for this purpose this semester and we were left scrambling to make alternative transport arrangements. Unfortunately, this was only a stop-gap measure. We are having difficulty finding a bus company to assist us & it is most likely that our Year 5 & 6 teams will be able to continue in the Friday afternoon competitions this term. I will keep parents of our Year 5 & 6 students updated concerning developments in this area.

God Bless!

Mr Michael Cash

Principal

Dear Parents,

As you would be fully aware, the internet has become a powerful tool to connect and to share ideas and opinions. Social networking sites such as Facebook have become ingrained in our culture with many people using the various platforms to communicate with family, friends and others. The vast majority of people who use social networking platforms show respect in their communication with others and this is something that we must encourage, to show our children that we are positive ‘digital role models’. As a school we encourage parents to support us with the educational and wellbeing of their children. Parental and community feedback is important for our school. If you have a compliment, complaint or enquiry about an issue at school, the best approach is to make an appointment with the class teacher or to speak with the school leadership team directly about the matter, rather than discussing it in the public forum of social media. 

Being aware of a few simple strategies can help keep the use of social media positive and constructive 

• Before you post something online, ask yourself if the community or just the individual really needs to know. Is it relevant, positive and helpful? 

• Remember that what you post online is a direct reflection of who you are. People will potentially form lasting opinions of you based on what you post online. 

• Be a good role model. If things get heated online consider logging out and taking a few moments to relax and think. Hasty, emotive responses could inflame situations unnecessarily. 

• Be mindful when commenting, try to keep it general and avoid posting anything that could identify individuals. 

• A few years ago parents may have discussed concerns or issues with their friends at the school gate. Today with the use of social media, online discussions between you and your close friends can very quickly be shared with a much wider audience, potentially far larger than intended. 

• Taking a few moments to think about the content you are about to post could save upset, embarrassment, and possible legal action. 

• As a parent you have a role in supervising and regulating your child’s online activities at home and its impact on the reputation and privacy of others. 

Parents are their child’s first teachers – so they will learn online behaviours from you. 

Over the last couple of weeks in Digital Technology Lessons, students have been learning about what it means to be responsible users of ICT and how to remain safe in an online world. This information will again be touched on later in the year when classes undertake the ‘Daniel Morcombe Curriculum’. To facilitate further discussion at home, this week we will be sending home copies of our ‘Acceptable Use of ICT Agreement Forms for families and students to acknowledge and sign. Please return these forms to your child’s teacher at your earliest convenience. 

Have a great rest of the week and an enjoyable weekend. 

God Bless 

Aaron Wells 

Assistant Principal: Administration 

This week we begin our Lenten journey with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. Father Michael will be doing classroom visits for our Prep and Year 1 classes to talk about Ash Wednesday and Lent and will be leading the rest of the school community in an Ash Wednesday Prayer Celebration. This year, amid COVID 19 restrictions, Ash Wednesday will look a little bit different to normal (with do distribution of ashes), but we will still be taking time to celebrate this special day in our Church calendar. Families are invited to come along and celebrate Ash Wednesday with us this Wednesday at 11:30am in the Sport Centre. To help us with our COVID tracing, please ensure you use the QR code to sign in if you do come along to our celebration.  

Every year throughout Lent, many people pray, fast and give alms. These are the three pillars or traditions of Lent. During Lent, we take time to think about how the Holy Spirit can help us be more like Jesus and we take time to think about how we can care more about others. Through Project Compassion, we can learn about the ways that Caritas Australia is working with local partners around the world and people who live in poverty. Over the next six weeks as part of our Project Compassion campaign, Service Club will share stories of hope from Bangladesh, the Solomon Islands, Tanzania and Indonesia. Classes will receive their Project Compassion money boxes this week and we encourage students to consider pledging to 50c Friday for the rest of this term to support CARITAS in their good works around the world.   

Project Compassion 

This year the theme for Project Compassion is ‘Be More’, drawing from the wise words of St Oscar Romero, ‘Aspire not to have more, but to be more.’ This week at assembly Service Club will introduce the school community to Jamila from Bangladesh. Jamila lives in a refugee camp with her daughter and mother and had to flee her home country when it became too unsafe for her family to stay there.  She had nothing when she arrived in Bangladesh, but CARITAS has helped her family in many ways. They gave her and her family food and shelter and taught Jamila how to sew, so she can now earn an income for her family. You can learn more about Jamila and how CARITAS has helped her by visiting https://lent.caritas.org.au/students#lpstorybooks  

Service Club 

This year we have a very enthusiastic group of Year 6 children in our Service Club! Keep an eye out in each newsletter with an update from the Service Club. This term they have decided they would like to focus on Project Compassion and student engagement. They have lots of different activities planned for breaktime over the week and have committed to going on the hunt for some examples of how our St Thomas More’s community lives like Jesus every day. Check out their newsletter article further down for more details. 

Just a quick reminder that Service Club meets each Tuesday in my office from 10:30am (children can bring their food with them). All children in Year 6 are welcome. 

Worship Choir 

We have a lovely group of Year 6 girls who make up our current Worship Choir, but we have room for many more! Children from Year 3 – Year 6 are welcome to come along to Worship Choir, which meets each Wednesday at first break in my room from 10:30am (children can bring their lunch with them). Worship Choir learn songs each week that they can lead the whole school in singing at whole school celebrations. With easing COVID restrictions, we may even be able to lead some singing during Parish Mass later this year.  

Sacramental Program Update

The Parish is in the process of putting the dates together for the Sacramental Program 2021.  Once this information is available we will pass it on to families.

Important Dates this Term …. 

Tuesday February 16th: Shrove Tuesday 

Wednesday February 17th: Ash Wednesday Prayer Celebration, 11:30am in the Sport Centre 

Friday February 20th: 50c Friday 

Friday March 5th: 2 Red Prayer Celebration, 11:15am in the Church 

Friday March 12th: 5 Red Prayer Celebration, 11:15am in the Church  

Wednesday March 17th: St Patrick’s Day 

Friday March 19th:  Feast Day of Saint Joseph 

1 Gold Prayer Celebration, 11:15am in the Church 

Thursday April 1st: Holy Week Prayer Celebration, details TBC 

God Bless

Miss Kristin Byrne

Next week we will be starting our lunchtime groups during playtime at second break. All students are welcome to come along to our Creative Group on Monday and our Prayer Group on Thursday. Both of these will be in Miss Byrne’s room. Children in Prep and Year 1 are also invited to our Sport Group on a Friday in the Prep and Year 1 play area.  

This week marks the beginning of Lent and our Project Compassion Campaign. Each week during Lent we will be teaching you about some of the people around the world that CARITAS helps. We hope this year with our Project Compassion campaign to raise over $800. That sounds like a lot of money but is only about $2 from each student. Each class will be given a Project Compassion money box and we encourage anyone who can to commit to 50c Fridays during Lent to bring your money along each Friday and place it in your classroom box. We will also be holding a super chocolate raffle in the lead up to Easter, with all money going to CARITAS as well.  

This term we would also like to issue a challenge to all students and staff and parents at St Thomas More’s to be like Jesus. Each Wednesday we will be out and about at playtime looking for examples of how we can all be like Jesus. We will share what we find with you each week as assembly. 

We hope you have a great week.  

God bless. 

Kaydee and Lara from Service Club 

Uniform Shop Opening Hours:

Monday Morning:  8:15 am - 8:45 am

Wednesday Afternoons:  2:45 pm- 3:15 pm

Friday Morning:  8:15 am - 8:45 am

Email orders welcome: THOUniform@twb.catholic.edu.au

Hey families!

Tuck Shop orders are still closing at 12pm Thursdays for the foreseeable future so please make sure they're in through Flexischools.

Baked goods are available as of this week.  Next week we should have iceblocks available for cash purchase at second break!

Thanks for your support and patience while I get everything in place.

Whitney @ the Tuckshop"

St Thomas Mores School uses the Skoolbag App to provide information about the school to parents & the school community. The SkoolBag app is an easy way to stay up-to-date with school events, last minutes notices, newsletters and all school communications such as reporting student absences.

Please follow the instructions below to access the SkoolBag school app. 

For iPhone and iPad users:

Click on the “Download on the App Store” button, or go to the Apple App Store, search for “SkoolBag” and download the free SkoolBag app. After opening the app, create an account then search for St Thomas More Toowoomba, Add our school and you’re ready to go! 

For Google Android Users:

Click on the “Get it on Google play” button, or go to the Google Play Store, search for “SkoolBag” and download the free SkoolBag app. After opening the app, create an account then search for St Thomas More Toowoomba, Add our school and you’re ready to go!

Please follow the link to the most recent St Thomas More's Parish Bulletin