Term 1 - Week 4 - Newsletter

Prayer of the Week

Image retrieved from https://europe.anglican.org/main/latest-news/post/1894-a-prayer-for-the-earthquake-in-turkey-and-syria 

From our Principal

With the beginning of the school year well under way and the business of life, schedules, timetables, homework etc., becoming routine, it may be a good time to take a short breather and look for some inspiration.  One source of inspiration that I found an easy read and makes a great deal of sense is Wayne Bennett’s book entitled ‘Don’t Die With the Music in You’.  I know a lot of people have read it but if you haven’t I highly recommend it (despite being a parochial New South Wales supporter!). He doesn’t talk too much about football, but a lot about life. The message is simple, yet profound and is important for children and adults alike.

Bennett emphasises how important it is to be happy and to live life well. He explains that the only person in the world who can make you happy is yourself. He is quick to point out that a lot of people rely on other people or things to make them happy – generally with negative results. He said that a lot of people he has worked with often relied on their parents, teachers and mates, or even alcohol and drugs, to make them happy. Happiness, he says, is an interior journey. When you know that you have done your best, when we are the best people that we can be—we will be happy.

“If you are not becoming a better person every day—you are getting worse.”

Wayne Bennett

As most people would assume, Wayne Bennett won’t often be described as warm and fuzzy. He talks a lot about making tough choices and if the right things mean losing favouritism or friends – so be it. Young people sometimes confuse loyalty to friends and the ‘need’ to give our friends unconditional acceptance – that’s rubbish but the tough decisions are not easy to make.

Right decisions are not always popular decisions and popular decisions are not always right. He also points out that both children and adults fall into the trap of making excuses: blaming parents, blaming teachers, even blaming the weather for their mistakes instead of accepting responsibility and owning responsibility for their actions and what life offers up.

“Life is not fair. It is far from perfect but it’s the only one we have—so get on with it!!” – Wayne Bennett

In the coming weeks, we will look to ensure the correct application of both the St Thomas More’s Uniform Policy and Accessory Guidelines.  In the next two weeks, I encourage you to take time to read both and do your best to ensure the Uniform Policy and Accessory Guidelines are adhered to. 

Uniform Policy

Upon enrolment, an agreement is made with the school to follow the school guidelines and ensure that all students wear the designated uniform. Students are expected to wear the correct school uniform at all times. It portrays pride in oneself and pride in the school. The policy includes expectations for shoes, socks, jumpers, jackets, hats, jewellery, watches, earrings, body piercings, nail polish and hairstyles. The uniform is as follows:

• Girls Uniform Summer: Check dress or royal blue skort with a check blouse, short blue socks and black shoes.
• Boys Uniform Summer: Royal blue shirt, grey shorts, long grey socks with blue/gold stripes and black shoes.
• Unisex Sports Uniform: Blue shorts, gold shirt with blue trim, blue socks with gold bands, joggers.
• Hat: Royal blue wide-brimmed hat (no hat no play policy).

Guidelines

• No jewellery, rings, body piercings or nail polish are to be worn. One earring in each ear only, stud or sleeper.
• Hairstyles which draw attention to the individual, including but are not limited to: mullet, scullett, mohawks, tracks, tails, hair colouring etc. are not permitted.
• Shoulder length hair or longer to be tied back, both boys and girls. Hairstyles and colours to be sensible. Hair bands to be royal blue, navy, black or gold.
• Watches are allowed, but no liability or responsibility is accepted by the school. Any deviation of the above requires a note from parents explaining why.
• A uniform shop operates from the school, selling new and second-hand clothes.
• On casual clothes days, all clothing to be modest and sensible. No inappropriate messages on shirts. Appropriate closed-in footwear and hat to be worn.
  
• Boys formal shirts are to be tucked in and socks to be pulled up. It is not an expectation that sports shirts are tucked in.

God Bless,

Duane Wann

Principal

Student Protection Contacts

From our APRE

Over the past two weeks, I have had the pleasure of meeting with our House Representatives, Student Representatives and Service Club Representatives. It has been inspiring and encouraging to hear the ideas students have for the year ahead and how they are already embracing our theme for this year ... never see a need without doing something about it. Not only have I witnessed some great leadership from students who are involved in these meetings, but from our broader Year 6 group as well as they go about their days at STM, especially in the care and consideration they show for our younger students. Keep up the great work STM leaders! 

Project Compassion 2023

Service Club are very excited about their projects for Term 1. Their major project this term will be helping to lead our Project Compassion Campaign. Each year during Lent, St Thomas More's runs a Project Compassion Campaign that aims to raise money and teach our school community about the wonderful work that CARITAS does around the world to support communities less fortunate than our own. 

This year, Bishop Robert has invited all schools within the Diocese to celebrate Project Compassion with the Project Compassion Launch Mass on Sunday, February 19th. At this stage, we have quite a large group of Year 6 students who have volunteered to come along, which is absolutely fantastic! For those Year 6 students attending, and any younger students and families attending, please note that ...

• Students in attendance will need to arrange their own transport to the Cathedral.
• Students in attendance will need to be accompanied and supervised by an adult during the entirety of the Mass. Some staff will be in attendance but will not be acting in a supervisory capacity.
• Students in attendance are to wear their full formal school uniform. 
• Students and families are invited to come a bit early, from 8:30 am, for a meet and greet with Bishop Robert on the green out the front of the Cathedral.
• Mass officially begins at 9:00 am. 

Thank you to all our Year 6 families who have already committed to coming along. It's such a great example of the kind of community we enjoy at St Thomas More's.

Don't forget Service Club are kick-starting our STM Project Compassion fundraising this year a bit early on Shrove Tuesday. Students can purchase a pancake on Pancake Tuesday (Tuesday, February 21st) between 8:00am - 8:20am for 50c. All money raised will go to our Project Compassion Campaign. We are asking our school community for donations of pancake mix in the coming weeks. These can be dropped off to the office or Miss Byrne's room. 

Service Club will also be holding its annual Easter Raffle this year. Families are also welcome to donate Easter Eggs for our hampers. These can come in right up until Week 10. 

Worship Choir

We've had a bit of a rocky start with Worship Choir this year! The plan is to begin choir this week. To accommodate Service Club Kindy visits, Worship Choir has now moved to a Tuesday at First Break. Worship Choir leads the liturgical singing for all our whole school celebrations and on occasion will help pick hymns for our celebrations and represent our school at diocesan events and celebrations. 

Children from Year 2 – Year 6 are invited to attend each Tuesday from 10:30 am in my room. Bring your lunch box along – we have a snack before we get into our singing!

2023 Sacramental Program

Sacramental Program letters were sent home with Year 4 students earlier this term. 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.

Volunteering at STM in 2023

Any parents who would like to volunteer at STM this year will need to complete the TCS Volunteer Induction. This needs to be completed each year by parents who volunteer at our school. Please email me (Kristin.Byrne@twb.catholic.edu.au) if you would like an induction pack sent home. 

Out of Bounds Areas

Just a friendly reminder that we have aligned our before-school and after-school out-of-bounds areas. Please note that in the afternoons there is no play on any school ovals or equipment after school, just like there is no play in these areas before school until 8:15 am when the teacher on duty opens these areas. Teachers on the Stop Drop and Go duty near the Church Carpark may choose to open the Bottom Oval Playground for play after 3:15 pm. There is to be no play on this equipment until the teachers on duty indicate so. 

Harmony Week

This year, St Thomas More's will celebrate Harmony Week in Week 9! The theme for Harmony Week in 2023 is everyone belongs. Our Cultural Committee has planned some really exciting things for Harmony Week. Further details will be shared about this closer to the end of the term. 

At this stage, we can share that we will be having a Harmony Week Prayer Celebration led by 4 Blue - with Prep to Year 6 to attend. We will also be creating our beautiful Hallway of Hearts again this year, with our annual whole-school art project. This year, our hearts will represent artwork and styles that reflect the diversity within out St Thomas More's community. If we have any parents or family members who would like to come and teach our students about Indigenous Artwork, African Artwork or Polynesian Artwork, please contact Miss Byrne via email. We would love your help. Families who have other cultural backgrounds will also have the opportunity to create a heart at home to add to our Hallway of Hearts. 

Below I have shared a link to a song that will feature heavily in our Harmony Week celebrations this year. Happy singing! 

God Bless.

Miss Kristin Byrne

Assistant Principal: Religious Education

Vinnies Buddies Program

Are you interested in the Vinnies Buddies Program? Check out the flyer below. 

Miss Byrne's Important Dates to Remember for Term 1

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 Daryl Petzler and Jordeigh Standfield will be providing the intervention for students from Prep to Year 6.  Both Jordeigh and Daryl 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

Middle Leader/Learning Support Teacher

From Our Counsellor

God Bless,

Jayne Farquharson

School Counsellor

From Our Sport Desk

Catholic and Zone Swimming Carnivals 

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected to represent St Thomas More’s at the Catholic and Central Zone swimming carnivals; Scarlet, Koby, Kiara, Tamsyn, Flynn, Mya, Makayla, Penny, Xavier, Jonathan, Christian, Arianna and Levi.  

Catholic Swimming Carnival – Friday 10th February.  

Zone Swimming Carnival – Wednesday 15th February.  

Zone Touch Trials  

Good luck to Scarlet, Emilia, Zara, Makayla, Fletcher and Cooper who will be trialing at the Zone Touch Football trials on Thursday. We wish them the best of luck.  

Interschool Sport – Years 5 & 6 

Boys AFL Draw – Friday 17th Feb – Queens Park  

12:30pm Snr A vs Glenvale  

1:15pm Snr B vs Wilsonton 1 

1:15pm Jnr A vs Glenvale  

All children will need to remember to have a hat and water bottle for interschool sport.  

Due to a change in the start time for games this term, students will stop work at 11:45am to get on the bus and arrive at venues for a 12:30pm start. Students are encouraged to bring a small bag (school swimming bag) that they can use to pack some lunch to bring and eat once they arrive at the venue. Students will return to school between 2:15pm-2:30pm.  

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 

From our Service Club

Meet your 2023 Service Club! This year Service Club wants to help St Thomas More's have a wonderful 2023, with lots of fundraisers and fun things for everyone to participate in. This term, our main fundraiser will be Project Compassion, which begins on Shrove Tuesday with Pancake Morning. We will share more information about this in the coming weeks. Our Project Compassion fundraiser this year will also include an Easter Egg Raffle. Tickets for this will be on sale later this term. This year we really want to continue working with our local community and are excited to be working with the Kindy children again. We can't wait to share all our ideas with our STM family this year. 

God Bless,

Emma, Anakha, Isaac, Mckenzie, Evelia, Oliver, Bella and Brooklyn from Service Club.

Classroom Newsletters

Week 3 Awards

Well done to our students who were recipients of awards last week. Keep up the great work!

From our P&F

Our first P&F Meeting for the year is tonight. Can't make it in person ... no worries. Please use the link below to join us via Zoom.

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

From the Library

Our library is running a competition to promote reading in the library this term.  Our winners from Week 3 are as follows:

Get in the Game – READ!

Students who are in Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 can participate in the Get in the Game - READ House Challenge by filling out a Reading sheet. The idea is that students can read a book or have a book read to them.  The books can be school library books, books from home or books from the town library.  Every ten books read will be ten points towards the House Reading Challenge and one entry into the Get in the Game - READ Prize Draw.  Students may complete more than one sheet. You are welcome to print out as many sheets as you need using this file (Attached).  More sheets are more points for your team and more chances to win.  It also means more reading and more learning.  A win-win situation for everybody!  

STM Reading All Stars!

As part of the Get in the Game - READ promotion, students receive a token if they send in a photo of them reading at home.  As we have a sports theme, we have an extra twist.  If they send in a photo of them reading while doing a sporting activity eg. kicking a ball while reading a book, they get two tokens. Photos can be sent to my email - margy.heuschele@twb.catholic.edu.au.

Here are two photos that have already been sent in.   

From Our OSHC

Dear Families,

Action Items:

• Bookings – Term 1 please email ASAP
• Updated enrolment information

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 its 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 the Parish

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.

Notice Board