Prayer
God of Life, in this season of Easter
We rejoice in the New Life your Son the Risen Jesus gives us.
You offer us hope. You offer us peace.
We thank you for these treasured lands of ours, Australia, and New Zealand.
Today, as we remember the ANZAC soldiers who fought to protect our country,
Help us to strive for peace in all we do.
We make our prayer in the name of the Risen Lord.
Amen
Important Dates
TERM 2
Thursday 25 April - ANZAC DAY - public holiday
Friday 26 April - Pupil Free Day (school closed)
Tuesday 30 April - Edu-Dance
Tuesday 30 April - Parent/Student Eucharist Information Session 6 pm
Wednesday 01 May - Parish Rosary 12 pm
Thursday 02 May - Parent/Student Confirmation Information Session 6 pm
Friday 03 May - STPS Cross Country Carnival (Y1 - Y6)
Friday 03 May - MOST - Quarterly Catch Up - Golf & Dinner
Saturday 04 May - Y4 Parish Mass 5:30 pm
Tuesday 07 May - Edu-Dance
Tuesday 07 May - Advisory Council 7 pm
Wednesday 08 May - Mothers' Day Stall 8:00 - 8:30 am
Wednesday 08 May - Parish Rosary 12 pm
Thursday 09 May - Mothers' Day Stall 8:00 - 8:30 am
Friday 10 May - Mothers' Day Mass 9 am followed by a morning tea
Sunday 12 May - Mother's Day
Tuesday 14 May - Edu-Dance
Wednesday 15 May - Yrs 1 & 5 Buddy Parish Mass @ 12.30 pm
Wednesday 15 May - Simultaneous Storytime
Friday 17 May - Walk Safely to School Day
Friday 17 May - Y5 Assembly 9 am
Monday 20 May - Interschool Cross Country - Lake Gwelup Reserve
Tuesday 21 May - Edu-Dance
Tuesday 21 May - National Reconciliation Week
Tuesday 21 May - School Dental Screening PP/1/3/4/6
Wednesday 22 May - Yrs 1 & 6 Buddy Parish Mass 12:30 pm
Wednesday 22 May - Parish Rosary 12 pm
Friday 24 May - Mary Help of Christians 9 am
Monday 27 May - Y6 Confirmation Retreat
Monday 27 May - P&F Meeting 6:30 pm
Tuesday 28 May - Edu-Dance
Wednesday 29 May - Yrs 4 & PP Parish Mass 12:30 pm
Wednesday 29 May - Parish Rosary 12 pm
Friday 31 May - Pupil Free Day
Saturday 01 June - dads & kids WAFL Event
Monday 03 June - WA DAY - Public Holiday
Tuesday 04 June - Edu-Dance
Tuesday 04 June - Y4 Eucharist Retreat
Wednesday 05 June - Lifelink Launch Y6 Leaders
Friday 07 June - Y2 Assembly 9 am
Saturday 08 June - Y5 Parish Mass 5:30 pm
Tuesday 11 June - Edu-Dance
Tuesday 11 June - Edu-Dance Concert 5:30 pm
Thursday 13 June - Winter Carnival Yrs 5 & 6 @ Wembley Oval, Henderson Park
Friday 14 June - Y3 Assembly 9 am
Tuesday 18 June - MJR Incursion K-Y6
Tuesday 18 June - Advisory Council 7 pm
Friday 21 June - STPS Disco - PP to Y3 @ 4:30 - 5:45 pm - Y4 to 6 @ 6 - 7:45 pm
Tuesday 25 June - Drama Production Matinee
Tuesday 25 June - Drama Production 6:30 pm
Wednesday 26 June - Founders Day Mass 9 am
Wednesday 26 June - St Thomas & Presentation Day
Wednesday 26 June - Drama Production 6:30 pm
Friday 28 June - Term 2 concludes
Friday 07 June - Sacrament of Eucharist Mass 6 pm
Please remember dates of events can be subject to change
(Full 2024 term dates at the end of this newsletter)
It was wonderful to return to St Thomas’ this term after three weeks on pilgrimage with Catholic Education Principals in Spain. Seeing the happy faces of our students and hearing about their enjoyable holidays with family warmed my heart. I am looking forward to the term ahead, as our students continue their educational path.
STAFFING
We're delighted to introduce Mrs. Claire Hutchison as the newest addition to the St. Thomas' team, serving as our Kindergarten teacher. With extensive experience as an Early Childhood Teacher across schools in Perth, Sydney, and London, Mrs. Hutchison brings valuable expertise to our community. Additionally, Mrs. Hutchison will be leading our Tiny Toms program, inviting parents and their children aged 0-3 years to come together every Wednesday morning at 9 am in the Pre-kindy room.
ANZAC DAY
As we think about Anzac Day, it's important for our students to understand why we remember and honour those who served our country. Anzac Day reminds us of the bravery and sacrifice of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in World War I, and it also teaches us about courage, friendship, and giving. At St Thomas’, we're dedicated to teaching our students about the significance of this day and helping them learn to respect, understand, and appreciate it. Through discussion, activities, and time to think, we aim to help them truly understand Anzac Day and why it matters to our community.
INTERSCHOOL SWIMMING CARNIVAL
Congratulations to our St. Thomas' Interschool Swim Team for achieving first place in the recent Interschool Swimming Carnival. It was truly inspiring to witness our students give their all and exhibit excellent sportsmanship towards all competitors. A heartfelt thank you goes to Mrs. Seaman, our dedicated Physical Education specialist, for her outstanding efforts in preparing and training our students for this success.
ARTs SHOW
On Thursday, September 13th, our students will be presenting their talents in Visual Arts, Drama, and Music at our bi-annual ARTs Show. The theme this year is "Around the World." We invite parents to join us and offer their assistance for this event. Please save the date with more detailed information to follow.
STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
This Friday, April 26th, is a pupil-free day. Our staff will be engaging in the first of four days dedicated to completing training and learning in the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM). This model equips schools with practical, classroom-based strategies to enhance the engagement of all students, including those with complex, unmet learning needs. By focusing on self-regulation, relationships, and overall well-being, BSEM aims to boost student engagement and significantly enhance academic achievement. Our staff will travel to St. Helena’s Primary School in Ellensbrook, to collaborate with educators from other Catholic schools in this evidence-based professional development opportunity.
MOTHER’S DAY
The Parents and Friends (P&F) have been hard at work arranging stalls where students can purchase gifts for their mothers. These stalls will be available on Wednesday, May 8th, and Thursday, May 9th. Additionally, on Friday, May 10th, all mothers are warmly invited to attend a Mass in the Church, followed by a morning tea in the hall. For more details, please refer to the newsletter provided by the P&F.
COMMUNICATION
At our recent Parents and Friends meeting, we had a productive discussion about communication. If you have any thoughts or concerns about school matters, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I'm always here to listen and discuss. Your input is valued and appreciated, and together, we can continue to strengthen our school community.
Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.
God bless
Natalia Thomson
Principal
From the Assistant Principal
VALUES
Our values at St Thomas' are an essential part of the holistic education we provide for our students. Each week we draw attention to one of our values or elements of our vision statement. Last week we refocused on our annual focus value of Compassion, specifically Compassion for Others. Last Monday we spoke about the model of Jesus, Nano Nagle and St Mary MacKillop, specifically 'Never see a need without doing something about it". I look forward to witnessing the compassion our students show for others in our day to day activities.
CLUBS
Please click here for the Term 2 Clubs information. Thankyou to our dedicated and talented staff for offering these extra activities and opportunities for our students.
EDUDANCE
Edudance has started at St Thomas' on Tuesdays. This is a much loved activity at the school, culminating in the concert to be held at St Thomas' on Tuesday 11 June at 5:30pm. The concert will be structured in two parts, with more information, including costumes, to be distributed over the next few weeks.
UNIFORM
Thank you to parents who have ensured their children adhere to the St Thomas' Primary School uniform requirements. A reminder that ties are required for Year One to Year Six students. In addition, sport socks with the school navy and maroon stripes are to be worn with the sport uniform (no black, grey or plain white socks are to be worn). For online purchases, please click here.
WASN NUMBER INFORMATION
The state government's "Student Assistance Payment" provides parents and carers with a $250 payment for each secondary student, and $150 for each primary school student including kindergarten. Parents are required to claim this payment through the ServiceWA app. More information can be found at https://www.education.wa.edu.au/wasap/. As part of the claim process, parents are required to enter their child's individual "Western Australian Student Number". We have placed a document showing your child's WASN in the "Seqta Engage" portal > "Reports", for parents to access and enter in their claim. If you need assistance with accessing your child's WASN, please contact the school.
WALK SAFELY TO SCHOOL
Friday, 10 May we encourage families to take the opportunity to walk safely to school. Although we understand it is not always possible for families that live some distance away from St Thomas', there are opportunities such as parking a short distance from school and walking the remainder of the way. The following website offers some more ideas that may be of interest for parents to start planning: https://www.walk.com.au/WSTSD/
YEAR SIX - CIVICS & CITIZENSHIP
Our school has been requested to participate in the 2024 National Assessment Program - Civics and Citizenship main study. This study is to be held in schools across Australia in second term, and only effects Year Six students. Students will be randomly selected by the study administrators. The assessment will take place on Thursday 16 May. Due to the nature of the assessment being a study, results of the assessments are not made available to schools, parents or students.
Heath Nankivell
Assistant Principal
Religious Education
Dear School Community,
As a Catholic school, St Thomas’ Primary aims to nurture and enrich our students' religious and spiritual development through daily prayer, the celebration of liturgy and sacraments, faith formation, and social justice activities.
Students at our school are actively involved in the sacramental program. In Year 3, students are offered the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, while in Year 4, they can receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist. This year, His Grace Archbishop Costelloe will join our Year 6 students to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Religious Education is an expression of a faith-filled partnership with parents, teachers, students and the Church community. It is also a curriculum area that all students undertake, as it helps develop deep knowledge, understanding and specific skills.
The prayerful times are essential to building our community and celebrating that we are all part of God's family. Therefore, always know that all families are invited to join us in the church (St Thomas the Apostle) for our Whole School Liturgies and the Wednesday Parish Masses at 12.30 pm.
Help your child to learn the prayers that we teach in our classroom.
Pre-primary The Sign of the Cross School Prayer Simple prayers of thanks, Hail Mary
Year 1 The Sign of the Cross School Prayer Hail Mary Glory Be to the Father (Gloria Patri)
Year 2 The Lord’s Prayer (Our Father), Hail Mary, Morning Prayer & Blessing before and after meals
Year 3 The Angelus (The angel’s prayer to Mary and her response) Prayer of Sorrow
Year 4 Rosary
Year 5 Four prayers of intentions. Recall prayers taught in Years 1 to 4.
Year 6 Apostles Creed & Come Holy Spirit.
Lila Gibbs
Religious Education Co-ordinator
Through the St Thomas' Science Lens
We had an exciting start to the year in Science, starting off with Chemical Sciences.
Pre-Primary learnt all about picking the right material for the job. We looked at clothing around the world and how that was suited to a country’s climate. We read The 3 Little Pigs and learnt that because bricks were strong and hard they were the best material to build the pigs’ houses from. We also did an experiment to test which materials were waterproof.
Year 1 learnt how we can change materials physically through bending, twisting, stretching, dissolving, heating and cooling, we got to do these things to all different materials but our favourite lesson was making popcorn and toast to see what changes occur when we heat things. We did an experiment to see which materials dissolved in water, we thought it was magic when the sugar dissolved into the water and we couldn’t see it anymore. Mrs Cloud showed us what happens when we mix Diet Coke with Mentos – it was very exciting because it made a big fountain of Coke!
Year 2 learnt how we combine different materials to make different things, we learnt that materials’ properties make them good for making different parts of all sorts of things such as aeroplanes, buildings, we even saw how pencils were made. Mrs Cloud gave us a choice of materials and we had to come up with an object using only two materials and our knowledge about the properties of those materials, we were very creative and made lots of different things including balls, bats, cups, spoons, and a variety of toys.
Year 3 studied liquids and solids, we learnt about how the molecules are tightly packed and only slightly vibrating in solids but as we heat them they ‘loosen up’ and move around faster and more freely as a liquid, which is why a liquid flows. We did lots of experiments testing melting and freezing points of different things, we were very good at predicting as well as drawing graphs to show our results.
Year 4 learnt about Functioning, Manufacturing and Economic properties of materials; we did an analysis to find the best materials to build a house for a client that was on a budget but wanted to be as environmentally friendly as possible. At the end of the unit we needed to make a safe landing for an egg that had been kicked out of a nest using our new knowledge of the properties of materials, the best part was that the egg was an Easter egg and we got to keep it in the end, luckily all of our protective devices worked and we had no casualties!
Year 5 learnt about the Periodic Table and matter compounds and mixtures. We studied solids, liquids and gases and their molecular structure. We performed an experiment testing the physical properties of different materials and watched how different liquids created distinct layers because of their varying densities.
Year 6 looked at Chemical & Physical, and reversible & irreversible changes. We did lots of experiments to show the difference between these types of changes, we were particularly amazed at what nail polish remover (acetone) could do to a polystyrene cup when the two compounds mixed. We investigated the physical properties of many materials and used our knowledge of physical changes and chemical reactions to find out the identity of a mystery material. We looked at chemical reaction equations and noted that when a chemical change takes place the same number of atoms are in the product and the reactants, proving the Law of Conservation of Mass being that mass is neither created nor destroyed.
Natalie Cloud
Science Specialist
Advisory Council
The Advisory Council’s second meeting for the year started off with a P&F report, presented by Rachel. It was exciting to hear about the upcoming Art Show and some of the planning that is currently underway. There was also some interesting discussion around attendance at the P&F meetings and what might be helpful in raising attendance numbers so that there is good representation from each year group and so that the meetings can be as fruitful as possible.
The bulk of the meeting focused on reviewing the progress of the school’s Strategic Plan. The Advisory Council discussed each area of the strategic plan against the four strategic pillars: Inspiring Christ Centred Leaders, Catholic Schools of Excellence, Catholic Pastoral Communities and Accessible, Affordable and Sustainable System of Schools. There are many positive achievements that the school is already meeting and continuing to work towards. The Strategic Plan is available for viewing on the St Thomas’ website.
A Principal’s report was provided by Heath Nankivell whilst Natalia was on leave.
Finally the Grounds and Maintenance Sub-Committee presented an update on the lower primary play space. Quotes and design plans are currently being reviewed and revised to optimise the use of this space.
Trish Coniglio
Chair of Grounds and Maintenance Sub- Committee
Advisory Council Member
Mothers Day Morning Tea & Mass
Sports News
2024 Interschool Swimming Carnival results
St Thomas’…Champions for 2024!
Congratulations to all the swimmers who represented St Thomas’ at the Catholic Primary Schools Interschool Swimming Carnival on Tuesday 16 April 2024. It was a day to remember with St Thomas
winning for the fourth year in a row overall . We also were victorious taking home the Boys trophy as well for a 7th consecutive year and narrowly missing out on the girls trophy by 17 points which is amazing achievement by all of the swimmers.
All the students swum extremely well with 47 individual and 6 relay team first placings which is an outstanding achievement. Those early morning swimming trainings paid off and thank you to the staff who assisted me at training and the parents taking the children down to Claremont Pools.
Special mention to these girls who swam in the year group above or two year groups above on the day so we had a swimmer in each event on the day: Billie B (10 events), Alice F (9 events), Ruby R and Maddy G.
I was extremely proud of all the students who participated as it was a day of camaraderie, sportsmanship, and athletic achievement. The team's hard work and dedication paid off, and we at St Thomas are incredibly proud of their achievement. It was a fantastic day of competition and camaraderie, and our team truly shone in the pool. Well done to all the swimmers.
Below are the results for St Thomas’ from the day:
Overall – 1st
Boys Trophy – 1st
Girls Trophy – 2nd
UPCOMING EVENTS TERM 2
St Thomas Cross Country Carnival – Friday 3 May – please
Running Club – Every Thursday (new day) please see the starting dates below:
Interschool Cross Country Team – Thursday 9 and 16 May
Years 1-6 students from Thursday 23 May. If it is not your day of sport, please wear joggers and change into your school shoes when you return to school.
Interschool Cross Country Carnival – Monday 20 May
Year 5 and 6 Winter Carnival – Thursday 13 June
Sharon Seaman
Physical Education Specialist Teacher
St Thomas' Primary School
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
