Term 1 - Week 6 - Newsletter

Prayer of the Week

Prayer retrieved from https://www.hathernprimary.org/school-prayer.html 

From the Principal’s Desk…

God Bless,

Duane Wann

Principal

Student Protection Contacts

From our APRE

Can you believe we are heading into Week 6! Where has the time gone? Thank you to all our families who supported our Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday celebrations last week. It's really special to be able to begin our Lenten journey together in such a memorable way! Thank you to the P&F and our wonderful parent helpers for assisting with our pancake cooking on Shrove Tuesday. There were some pretty amazing pancake flipping skills on display!

Project Compassion 2023

Our Project Compassion Campaign has officially begun! Over the coming weeks, Service Club will be teaching our STM School Community about some of the people around the world who are supported by Caritas. The generous donations from families at STM go a long way in helping people just like the ones we will learn about, so please donate what you can. 

Worship Choir

We've had a bit of a rocky start with Worship Choir this year! The plan (again) 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.

**Sessions for Penance begin this Wednesday, so if you are interested in having your child participate in the program this year, please ensure you contact the parish office before Wednesday. 

Volunteering at STM in 2023

We love our parent helpers at STM! 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

Thinking STM for Prep in 2024 ...

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

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 Sport Desk

Sport Trials 

Good luck to the following boys who will be trailing at the Toowoomba Rugby League Trials on Sunday 5th March; Cooper, Koby, Jonathan, Hunter, Christian, Noah and Fletcher. Good luck boys! 

Congratulations to Xavier for being selected in the Toowoomba Softball Team. Xavier will now go into the Darling Downs softball trials. Good Luck!  

 Interschool Sport – Years 5 & 6 

Boys AFL Draw – Friday 3rd Feb – Queens Park  

12:30pm Snr A vs St Mary’s  

1:15pm Snr B vs Glenvale 

1:15pm Jnr A vs St Mary’s  

 Girls Touch Draw – Friday 3rd Feb- Kearney Springs Touch Fields 

12:30pm Jnr A vs Glenvale 

12:30pm Snr B vs Glenvale 

12:30pm Snr B vs Glenvale  

1:15pm Jnr B vs Glenvale 

1:15pm Snr 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) 

2023 STM Cross Country Program 

• Tuesday 21stMarch 
• Andersen Park 
• Starting Time   11:00am 

The program for the day is below.  

All students require water bottles, sunscreen, and hats. Asthma puffers ( if required ) to be carried at all times. If any students have reactions to insect bites or any other allergies, please ensure the required medication ( epi pens ) has been given to teachers so that the required action can be taken. 

If students are going to absent on the day, or parents wish to take them home at conclusion of the cross country, then teachers must be notified either by note, email or seen in person on the day, as official rolls need to be marked. 

God bless,

Stacey Hancock

HPE Teacher 

From our Service Club

A big thank you to our P&F and Parent Helpers for making our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Morning such a success. We raised $112.15 to kick of our Project Compassion Campaign! Amazing work! 

You can start buying tickets for our Easter Egg Raffle this week. They will be on sale during First Break each day in Miss Byrne's room. Tickets are 50c each and you can buy as many as you would like. 

Have a great week and God Bless!

Service Club

Classroom Newsletters

Week 4 Awards

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

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

Get In The Game Photos

We have had some fabulous photos coming in for our All Stars Reading Team.  I think the parents should get the gold medal for catching these great action shots!

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.

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