2025 Term 2 - Week 8 - Newsletter

Prayer for the Week

Prayer for Our Sacramental Candidates

Loving and faithful God,
We thank You for the gift of our children who are preparing to receive Your holy sacraments.
You have called them by name, and now they take a special step in their journey of faith.

As they prepare for Confirmation,
fill them with the gifts of the Holy Spirit—wisdom, courage, understanding, and love.
May they feel Your presence in their hearts and know that they are never alone.

As they come to receive First Holy Communion,
help them to understand the mystery of Jesus, truly present in the bread and wine.
May this sacred meal bring them closer to You and to one another,
nourishing their souls with peace, joy, and grace.

We are thankful for the support and prayers of our St Thomas More Parish.
Their guidance and care help our children grow in faith and feel part of a loving Church family.

Guide their families, teachers, and our whole community
to support them with love, prayer, and good example.
May these sacraments be not just a moment, but a beginning—
a lifelong friendship with You, Jesus, who walks with them always.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

From our Acting Principal

As we approach the final weeks of Term 2, I want to extend my gratitude to our staff and students for their dedication and hard work. It has been wonderful to see students engaged in learning, and teachers have been impressed by the effort their classes have put in. This collective commitment to learning and positive behaviour has helped our school community navigate the changes throughout the term.

Change is a natural part of life, and embracing it helps students build resilience and adaptability—skills they will carry with them beyond the classroom. At school, we provide a supportive environment where students can develop these coping strategies and learn to manage transitions confidently.

With the principal recruitment process nearing completion, our staff remain committed to supporting students and families. We continue to provide a stable and predictable learning environment to ensure continuity. If your child is finding change difficult, please reach out to their teacher to talk through any concerns until new routines feel familiar.

The team at St Thomas More’s is here to work in partnership with families to support your child’s learning and wellbeing.

God bless
Have a great week.

Luke Barrett
Acting Principal 

From our APMI

We warmly invite all families to join us for our Feast Day Mass celebration on June 18 at 11:20am, which will now be held in the Church. This special Mass will take place with all students from Prep to Year 6 in attendance, and we are grateful to Year 3 Gold for leading and organising this beautiful celebration of faith and community.

This year we have a new fundraiser activity in support of the Vinnies Winter Appeal. On Friday, June 27, students are invited to come to school in their pyjamas in exchange for a long-life pantry item donation. On the day, we’ll also be selling cups of hot chocolate and popcorn to raise funds for those in need. In addition, during Week 10, we will have collection baskets in the Quad for donations of beanies, new socks and long-life pantry items. All proceeds and donations will go directly to the St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal, supporting families and individuals doing it tough this winter. Keep an eye out for more details in the coming weeks!

On Friday June 11, our Service Club Leaders and Year 6 Volunteers are also putting their faith into action by supporting the Winter Shelter. During their playtime, they will be heading to the Church to help set up and make beds for those sleeping rough in the cold. If you would like to support this valuable project, please contact our Parish Office.

Finally, we hold in our hearts and prayers our 2025 Sacramental Candidates as they prepare to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation on Wednesday evening and First Holy Communion on Saturday.

Prayer for Our Sacramental Candidates
Loving God, bless our children as they prepare to receive Your sacraments. Fill their hearts with joy, their minds with understanding, and their lives with Your love. May they always walk in Your light. Amen.

God Bless

Donna Barlow 

Assistant Principal Mission & Identity

2025 School Priorities

At the commencement of every school year, the teaching staff gather to consider and develop priorities for the year. For 2025, the focus of our practices will centre on the following:

2025 Theme:

2025 School Goals:

Before School Supervision

Before school duty commences at 8:00am. Children who arrive at school before 8:00am are kindly asked to sit in the ‘Quad Area’ until teacher supervision commences at 8:00am.

Process for Late Arrival, Early Departure and Collection Areas:

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.

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).

Communication Protocols

St Thomas More’s Primary School recognises and respects the right of employees to disconnect from work and not respond to work-related electronic communications outside of designated hours. St Thomas More’s Primary School staff will reply to electronic communication within the hours of 8.00am and 5.00pm Monday to Friday. Where contact is made outside of this span of hours, employees will respond within two working days of the employee’s next designated working day considering weekends, leave, other non-working days, vacation periods and holidays.

Grooming Expectations

Please be mindful, hairstyles which draw attention to the individual, including but are not limited to: mullet, scullett, mohawks, tracks, tails, hair colouring etc. are not permitted.

Student Phones

Student mobile phones are to be signed in at the School Administration Office each morning and collected at the end of the school day.  Children are not permitted to text or make calls from phones or smart watches during the school day.

From our Sports Dept

Athletics Carnival 

Our annual athletics carnival will be held on Tuesday 17th June at O’Quinn Street Oval. Classes have been busy preparing for the carnival. High jump events for children Yrs 9-12 will be held in Week 6,7 & 8. A timetable is below.  

Buses have been booked for all students to utilise to and from the carnival.  

This year we are after some champion parent helpers for our Athletics Carnival this year. Champion parent helpers would have the option of staying on a field event for the whole day or move around the field events with their child/children so you could still see them participate. You would be required to help with measuring, racking sand and retrieving equipment. You don’t have to know much about the field events, as there will be a teacher accompanying you and running the actual event. Please use the link below to register to be a champion parent helper!  

https://forms.office.com/r/fGkJmry8pF 

High Jump Timetable 

We will be holding our final high jump events at school on Friday 13th June. Below is a timetable for each age group. A start time has been listed however, it’s very hard to put an exact time on when each group will begin. I will be moving straight onto the next group as soon as the previous one has concluded.  

These events will be held in the sports centre. The scissor kick technique will be the only style allowed.    

Athletics Program 2025 

Tuesday 17th  June  

Cross Country News!

On 20th May, Ethan Murphy, James Olive, Wol Mawien, and Louie Townsing—proudly represented our school at the Darling Downs Cross Country Trials.

All four boys demonstrated outstanding effort and sportsmanship throughout the event. A special congratulations goes to Louie Townsing, who placed 5th in the 10-year-old boys’ 2000m race. This impressive result has earned him a spot on the Darling Downs Team!

Louie will now go on to compete at the State Championships in Nudgee on 18th July. We wish him the very best as he prepares to take on the top runners from across Queensland!

Well done to all our competitors—you’ve done our school proud!

Stacey Hancock

Health and PE Teacher

St Tommy Movers Showcase!

This term, the students have been learning Dance in the arts classroom. The students have been taught a choreographed dance which will be performed at our St Tommy Movers Showcase. We would love to have families come along and watch! 

When: (Week 10) Thursday 26th June 2025. From 12pm - 1pm. 

Where: The Sports Centre. 

What To Wear 

The school has purchased costumes for the students; however, they will need to bring clothes to perform in. If you are unable to bring in the right clothing the students can wear their school uniform. All students will wear their school shoes. Please no dresses or skirts. Students will only wear these clothes during the performance so they will need to come to school on the day wearing their correct school uniform. 

Prep (Bunny Rabbits): wearing white 

Year 1 (party theme): wearing green and/or yellow 

Year 2 (cowboy theme): wearing denim on bottoms. White or checkered shirt on top 

Year 3 (Sailors): wearing white and/or navy blue 

Year 4 (Monkeys): wearing brown and/or black 

Year 5 and 6 (Rock and Roll): wearing black 

From the Library

From our Uniform Shop

P & F News

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Tuckshop News

Opening Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

Order via Flexischools App.  If you need help to navigate the App or to adjust your order, please feel free to pop into the tuckshop and chat to Jemma or email jemma@archerscateringandevents.com.au 

Cut off of Online orders...
Order before 7am for Wednesday and Thursday orders.  For Friday orders, please order by 1pm Thursdays.

Tuckshop Email:  jemma@archerscateringandevents.com.au 

NEW Tuckshop Menu

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

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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