St Thomas' News

St Thomas’ Primary School is part of a faith community centred on the life of Jesus, as expressed in our Motto, ‘Together in Christ’

Our Vision is to 'Educate the Whole Child' and empower learners as global citizens, to be curious, collaborative, creative and critical thinkers, inspired by Christ.

TERM FOUR

Friday 12 November - Assembly PP 9 am

Friday 12 November - Family Movie Night gates open 6:30 pm

Wednesday 17 November - Environmental Day Incursion Yrs 1 - 6

Thursday 18 November - Volunteers Morning Tea 9am

Thursday 18 November - Romily House Visit by Choir

Friday 19 November - Crazy Hair Day Fundraiser - gold coin donation

Monday 22 November - Swimming lessons commence PP - Y6

Tuesday 23 November - Annual General Community Meeting 6pm - All parents welcome

Thursday 02 December - Road to Bethlehem 7 pm St Thomas the Apostle Church

Friday 03 December - Keyed Up Music Concert 3:15pm

Tuesday 7 December - Christmas Concert

Wednesday 8 December - Orientation/Transition for 2022 morning 11 am

Thursday 9 December - End of Year Whole School Mass & Year 6 Graduation 9am

Friday 10 December - Students last day

God of freedom, On this day of remembrance We give thanks and honour for the lives Of those who have helped make our beautiful country A place of freedom and peace. Your son Jesus showed us that the greatest love is in giving one’s life for the sake of others. May we always remember the generosity and bravery Of those who have died in war As they worked for the freedom of others. Let us strive to be people of peace in our thoughts, words and actions as Jesus has shown us. We make our prayer in the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace. Amen.

We were thrilled to see Linzi Carter, our Artist in Residence, start our new school mural on Tuesday. Inspired by our students around the themes of St Thomas’ and 200 years of Catholic Education, it is exciting to see this mural come to life. The students have thoroughly enjoyed the process of art and design thanks to the talents of Linzi and Mrs Kate Byrne, our Art Specialist.

Remembrance Day

In order to pay our respect to all those who fought and/or died at war, our staff and students held a Remembrance Day Ceremony this morning. The ceremony was full of reverence with our student leaders leading us in prayer. Each student was given some rosemary as a sign of remembrance. It was a special ceremony that allowed staff and students to take the time to reflect on the sacrifices that were made by so many Australians for us to live in such a peaceful country.

Volunteers Morning Tea

Throughout the year, we have been privileged to have so many of you volunteer your time to assist in the education of our students at St Thomas’. We welcome the opportunity to say thank you to all our volunteers with a morning tea on Thursday 18 November at 9am. If you can attend, please RSVP to Mrs Julie Wray on email admin@stthomas.wa.edu.au by Friday 12 November.

Annual General Community Meeting (AGCM)

A friendly reminder that the Annual General Community Meeting for St Thomas’ will be held on Tuesday 23 November. Please join us for refreshments at 6pm in the Hall followed by the meeting at 6.30pm. Staffing for 2022 will be announced, and there will be a report on the 2021 school year. All parents and caregivers are welcome to attend.

May God bless your week,

Natalia Thomson

Principal

Our Remembrance Day prayer service was a little more special this year, with our talented guest playing the bagpipes. At the same time Alex Malla was playing, every student layed their stem of rosemary (emblem of remembrance) under the flagpoles as a sign of their will to remember and give thanks to those who have fought to protect this land and bring peace.

Thank you, Student Leaders and our former student, Alex Malla.

Mobile phones or wearable devices with messaging, Internet and Bluetooth capabilities are part of modern society and St Thomas' Primary accepts that some students may possess these devices.

These devices must be switched off whilst at school and handed to the school office for safe keeping.

If your child needs to contact you during the school day they can do this through the school office. When children use their devices unsupervised to make contact during the day we are unable to protect them from the access these devices give to the outside world, along with the distraction their use causes.

If your child needs to bring a mobile or wearable device to school our Mobile Phone Usage Permission Form must be completed. The policy takes into account the use of mobile phones for speaking, photographs, text messages and all forms of use of the device.

Together in safety.

Share the Dignity Campaign

This year the Mini Vinnies are involved in filling handbags for the Share the Dignity Campaign where a preloved handbag is filled with toiletries and essential items to make a lady or girls Christmas brighter. The women that receive these are homeless or victims of domestic violence. The Mini Vinnies will use the profit from the Art show to buy supplies, we are looking for donations of handbags (medium to large size)

Please donate your unwanted handbags in good condition to the box outside the library. The Mini Vinnies will then purchase items to fill the handbags. Thank you.

https://www.sharethedignity.com.au

Christmas Hampers

Term Four is upon us and Christmas time is fast approaching. This is the time when we start collecting for the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Hampers. The society helps to provide hope, comfort and dignity to families who require extra assistance during the festive season. All our donations are distributed to families in our local community. Due to the nature of the season, Christmas can be a particularly emotional time of year where feelings of disappointment, failure and isolation can be heightened. We hope you will help bring ’Christ into Christmas” and generously donate non -perishable items to our appeal. Baskets are placed in each classroom and in the Front Office.

Romily House

Romily House caters for people that suffer from mental illness. They have 95 residents at present (70 male, 25 female). We collect items to give each resident a Christmas present. The School Choir performs a Christmas Concert to the residents in Week 7 that is a highlight of the year for many of them ( as told to me by the staff there). Each class has approx. 10 large snap lock plastic bags to collect items. If families could join together to fill a plastic bag named Male or Female each family would only need to bring in a couple of items. These are some suggestions: Roll on deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, soap, beanies, socks, moisturizer, other personal items or a little Christmas gift ( please note: no razors).

Donations are voluntary, we thank you in anticipation of your kindness and generosity. The last date for collection of items will be Friday 30th November. Any volunteers later to the date that can assist in wrapping the presents will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

APPLE TEACHER CERTIFICATION

In Term Three Mrs Gibbs and Mr Nankivell attended a course facilitated by Apple Education to develop a professional learning plan for staff up skilling in embedding technology into the classroom. The first stage of enacting this plan, was a professional learning event held by Shane McGurk of Next Learning who launched the Apple Teacher certification program to staff at St Thomas’.

Apple Teacher is a professional learning program available to educators internationally, designed to support and celebrate teachers using Apple products for teaching and learning. Teachers worked on guided tutorials and examples of integration to earn badges and gain official recognition from Apple for their acquired skills. Badges are available for iPad and Mac, and cover apps such as GarageBand, iMovie, Keynote, Pages, Numbers and general use of the device. Our dedicated staff have worked outside of work hours to complete the minimum six badges required to achieve Apple Teacher certification, with many completing more.

To date, a massive 121 badges have been earned by our staff within only a few months. This directly translates into teachers increased understanding of how to best integrate iPads in to your child’s learning. 10 staff members have received Apple Teacher certification. Congratulations to our dedicated teaching staff who have taken on this challenge with such enthusiasm.

YEAR 3 2022 – 1:1 IPADs

Thank you to the parents who attended the parent information session regarding the iPad program for students in Year 3 2022.The conversation was fantastic, ensuring we are all on the same page with how students are expected to use their devices. At this session we detailed information regarding the iPad program, purchasing and logistics of set-up. There may be some delays in obtaining iPads, so I encourage all parents to please look in to this as soon as possible. Due to our management software requirements, all iPads must be reset (i.e. all content deleted) and installed in line with our software requirements, so if your child will be using an iPad you currently own, please be aware of this requirement. Alternatively we strongly encourage you purchase through Winthrop Australia. The iPad program is designed to allow for learning opportunities beyond pen and paper, as well as to differentiate student learning to best suit individual children. Links with information from the meeting will be sent out this week.

REPORTS

A reminder to parents that your child will receive a Semester Two report via the parent Seqta Engage site. The report will detail your child’s achievement in a similar way to the Semester One reports. Comments will be made in Religious Education, English, Mathematics and a general comment regarding social and interpersonal skills. Academic subjects will be reported on using A-E grading indicators, and an effort indicator also. I encourage you to read with your child their report, celebrate their achievements, and plan some goals for 2022. If you have any questions, please contact Mr Heath Nankivell.

If you would like to receive your child's uniform orders before the end of this school year please order before 03 December. All orders are made online through the school website: https://stthomasprimaryschool.permapleat.com.au/shop/

All children going into Pre Primary need to order the sports uniform to wear daily, those entering Year One will start wearing the full school uniform.

The St Thomas’ School Advisory Council had its final face to face meeting for 2021 on Tuesday 9th November.

Some exciting news was our recent success in the Smiling Mind Spaces competition to facilitate the creation of a dedicated mindful space for our school. The prize pack is valued at approximately $5000 and we look forward to implementing this package.

The school’s draft Strategic Plan 2022-2026 was also discussed. Much work has gone into preparing this collaborative document. It includes feedback from staff, students and parents, and provides guidance for the strategic direction of the school in line with CECWA’s strategic direction.

The Grounds and Maintenance Committee confirmed the commencement of the work to repair the sliding doors in the hall. Another priority area is the drainage in the lower primary space considering the recent volume of rain.

We were delighted to welcome Mary Courtney to our meeting in the role of Finance Officer. The final budget was a key item for discussion in the meeting and this information will be presented at the Annual Community Meeting on Tuesday 26th November.

It has been a busy and rewarding year for the Advisory Council. We are grateful for the work of each member of the Advisory Council and we look forward to supporting Mrs Thomson and the leadership team in 2022.

Outdoor Family Movie Night

Lights, camera, action! The St Thomas Outdoor Family Movie Night is here! A night for the whole family, please feel free to invite your extended family, friends and neigbours too.

Please obtain your tickets via this link: https://www.trybooking.com/BUXHU

This is a family friendly, alcohol free event brought to you by the Dad's of St Thomas Group and your P&F. Many thanks to Joep Vaessen for all your efforts and energy in organising this event!

Please note this is not a Dad's Event, even though it is kindly being organised by the Dad's of St Thomas Group. So grab Mum, Dad, Grandma and Grandad and come on down!

Sound system investment approved

We had a successful final P&F meeting for the year last week. Thank you to those who came along. We are delighted to inform our community that the P&F has approved the purchase of a new, more advanced sound system for our School that will be suitable for carnivals, performing arts, assemblies, community events etc. It will be greatly beneficial for all our students and our School community at large. At this meeting we will vote on allocating P&F funds to an advanced sound system for our School which can be used for concerts, productions and events, and forward planning for 2022. All welcome, we value your input.

Officeholder positions for 2022

The P&F is seeking parent volunteers to fulfil the role of Treasurer and Vice President in 2022.

The primary role of the Vice President is to attend P&F meetings, support the P&F Executive and to chair meetings in the President's absence.

The primary role of the Treasurer is to maintain the financial accounts of the P&F, prepare budgets for P&F activities/events, arrange reimbursements and provide a financial update at P&F meetings. The Treasurer role for 2022 has been simplified. While financial/accounting experience is helpful, it is not essential.

There are 2 P&F meetings held per term and officeholders are required to attend these meetings.

If you would like to nominate for one of the above roles or require some more information or have any questions, we'd love to hear from you.

Please email stthomas.rsvp2021@gmail.com to express your interest.

Kind regards

Bianca Della Vedova

P&F President

Running Club 2021

Back in 2018, I started the running club where students had the opportunity to run a few laps around Rowe Park to improve their fitness and wellbeing before starting the school day. In 2019 I organised a system to count how many laps using an app and every child in the school now has their own card which has a QR code that is assigned to them. Once they run one lap it is recorded into the app, where I then tally up how many kilometres students have run over a period of time. In the students time at St Thomas’, they may run a half marathon or even a marathon! Running Club is also used for training prior to the Cross Country carnival and those who represent the school at the Interschool Cross Country carnival in term 2.

Last week a number of students were awarded a 5km or a 10km certificate for the amount of kilometres they ran in 2021. Even if students ran more than 5 0r 10km it all goes towards the overall tally.

Special mention to Bastian D for running a Half marathon during his time at St Thomas’.

Rugby Clinics’ PP – Year 6

Last Friday students in PP to year 6 were all involved in a Rugby clinics provided by Rugby WA.

If your child is interested in playing please follow the link below to find your closest club: https://wa.rugby/participate/play/find-my-club

Programs

Running Afterschool – Term 4

JUDO – Tuesday Afterschool 3.20 – 4.20pm

For further enquiries, if you would like to attend the trial class or enrol your child, please email info@judouwa.com.au

NETBALL – Thursday afterschool 3.15pm - 4.00pm

The registration link for St Thomas Primary School participants is: https://netball.resultsvault.com/common/pages/reg/welcome.aspx?type=6&id=96017&entityid=77486

SOCCER - Thursday afterschool 3.15pm - 4.00pm

The registration link for St Thomas Primary School participants is: Kick it Football - www.kickitfootball.com.au/skills

Sharon Seaman

Physical Education Specialist Teacher

On Monday we went to Scitech with our friends and the Year Two class. We went to Scitech on a bus and it took a long time to get there. When we arrived we were very excited. First we sat down and had recess. It was delicious. Next we went to Discover Land where we talked about machines and the different parts of a machine like a screw, pulley and chute. Then we got to play with the different machines. They were very cool. Our favourite thing to play with was the giant ball maze. We had to work together to get the ball moving in the machine. Then the instructor rang the bell so we sat back down and listened to a story about machines. After that we got to watch a puppet show called Adventure. It was very funny and we learned about the ocean and the sky. Finally we got to explore the rest of Scitech and we got to go into a Top Secret Spy room. It had real lasers and we had to crawl on the ground to get through. Some of us managed to crack the code. Scitech was very amazing and interesting. We learned lots and had fun.

Written by Eva & Hugh – Year 1

Monday was a very exciting day for Year One and Two because we went on an excursion to Scitech to learn about space. It was so exciting because for some people it was there first time at Scitech. When we got to school we got our recess and lunch to put in the esky. We were put in groups with our friends and each group had a backpack. At 9 o’clock the bus came to take us to Scitech. We drove with the Year Ones and it was very loud in the bus. Eventually we arrived at Scitech and had recess. After recess we headed off to the planetarium. We watched Tilt which was all about the four seasons of the earth. We watched the movie on an enormous round dome that goes on the top of Scitech. We saw three planets and a lot of constellations. Then we went to the orange carpet and the instructor told us we could explore the games in Scitech. There were lots of fun things and our favourite was the shape air hockey. After playing with the different activities we had our lunch. After our lunch we went to watch a show called The Perfect Fire Storm. We learned all about the Aboriginal seasons and Ruby got to help the instructor make a cloud in a bottle! It was very cool. Once the show was over we headed to the bus and drove back to school. Scitech was the best! It was a great day and we wish we could go back again.

Written by Ruby & Eva – Year 2

In the event of injury, insect bites etc the school supplies icepacks to students throughout the day.

We ask students to return them after use, but unfortunately our supplies are dwindling. We only ordered new ones at the end of last term and already some of these have gone missing. Our new icepacks come in a variety of colours - blue, green and pink. Our original ones are pictured.

We ask for your assistance in looking for any which may have found their way home or are living in your child/rens bags and request they are returned to the school.

Many thanks for your support.

Facilitated by Mrs Brianna Kirkbride (Early Years Educator) the session for parents and their children between 0-3 years is held every Wednesday morning between 8.45 – 10.15am.

All welcome.

• TERM 4

Friday 10 December - Last day for students 2021

• TERM 1
• Monday 31 January - Friday 8 April
• TERM 2
• Wednesday 27 April – Friday 1 July
• TERM 3
• Tuesday 19 July – Thursday 22 September
• TERM 4
• Tuesday 11 October – Friday 9 December

Pupil free days:

Tuesday 26 April

Friday 3 June

Monday 18 July

Friday 23 September

Monday 10 October

Public Holidays

Monday 7 March (Labor Day)

Monday 25 April (ANZAC Day)

Monday 6 June (WA Day)

Email: admin@stthomas.wa.edu.au
Website: stthomas.wa.edu.au
Location: 8 Warden Street Claremont WA 6010
Phone: (08 9286 9500
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stthomasprimaryschoolclaremont
Twitter: @StThomasCPS