Dear St. Thomas' Community,
Last Sunday was Child Protection Sunday. Child Protection Sunday calls us to ensure that children in our churches and schools can grow, talk, learn and play safely. At St Thomas', we are committed to being a child safe organisation. The students have the right to be safe and feel safe to be able to grow in their learning and development. The St Thomas' School Code of Conduct provides the minimum standards of conduct in behaviour and decision making to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the students. The twelve Conduct Statements are listed below:
1. You act safely and competently.
2. You give priority to students’ safety and well-being in all your behaviour and decision making.
3. You act in accordance with the values of the Gospel as defined in the Code of Ethical Conduct.
4. You conduct yourself in accordance with laws, agreements, policies and standards relevant to your relationship with the school community.
5. You respect the dignity, culture, values and beliefs of each member of the school community.
6. You treat personal information about members of the school community as private and confidential.
7. You give impartial, honest and accurate information about the education, safety and well-being of students.
8. You support all members of the school community in making informed decisions about students.
9. You promote and preserve the trust and privilege inherent in your relationship with all members of the school community.
10. You maintain and build on the community’s trust and confidence in Catholic schools and the Church.
11. You act reflectively and ethically.
12. You allow students to have a voice in their education, safety and well-being.
These Conduct Statements have been unpacked with the staff on numerous occasions, with
the parent community at P&F and Board level and in school newsletters. A full copy of the Code of Conduct can be found on the School Website.
Confirmation: Congratulations to the Year Six students who undertook the final Sacrament of Initiation into the Catholic Church (Confirmation) last Friday evening. The students were reverent, respectful and were extremely well prepared by Mr. von Bergheim. The school choir led the congregation in hymn singing beautifully. Thanks also to Fr. Wayne for his input prior to the Mass but also for his inspirational words during the service. Thanks also to all staff members for their input into the children’s faith journey over the years. It was a truly wonderful night!
Oracy: It has been very pleasing to see the students in Year Three complete their Oracy Presentations today. They were extremely well prepared for their presentations and enthusiastically responded to questions asked of them. Thanks to Mr. O’Mara and all parents and carers for their positive input into this event.
BRAND NEW, RE-DESIGNED SCHOOL WEBSITE!
Each child has brought home today a 'Website Treasure Hunt' as a way to explore the new website. Place completed entries in the box in the front office by 9am on Friday 21st September (next week). One entry will be randomly drawn and the winner will receive tickets for their family to attend the 2018 Royal Show - a fantastic prize! We'd love to hear your feedback on the new website too...
Not returning next year?
Caritas - Project Compassion - Thank you!
"Caritas Australia would like to thank you all for your generous support of Project Compassion 2018. Your generosity has made it possible for Caritas Australia to empower individuals and communities through education and training, and transform their future.
School/Parish Mass
The next Parish/School Mass will take place on Saturday, 15 September, at 5.30pm. The Year Three class and Mr. O’Mara are organising the Mass and sausage sizzle. Even though it is the Year Three class organising this event, it would be wonderful to see the Church full with St Thomas’ families for our last school mass of Term Three.
Lost & Found
We would like to also encourage everyone to redo their name tags on all their uniforms, lunch boxes and water bottles, in particular jumpers and hats! We can't return lost items to their owners when they are not properly labelled.
St Thomas' Junk Band
In Term 4 all music classes will be creating a “Junk Band”. The instruments will be created by upcycling your junk and rubbish around the home. Some of the instruments will be displayed at the Art Show.
So please help your child to start collecting some interesting bits of junk and rubbish that can be turned into a musical instrument. Please keep your junk at home until next term, because there is no room at school!
You are welcome to create the instruments at home, then when it gets to school it’s ready to play. There’s lots of ideas on the internet. Get creative!
Catholic Performing Arts Festival
Congratulations to all students who have been involved in the 2018 Performing Arts Festival, both as individuals and as members of the School Choir or School Choral Speaking group.
I have had the privilege of being able to attend the St. Thomas’ Choral Speaking and School Choir performances recently and have been tremendously impressed with their preparation and performance. We have some very talented students at St Thomas’. Sincere thanks to Mrs. Newman and Mrs. Cotton for giving so much of their time coordinating these extra-curricular activities.
Last Tuesday, Mrs. Cotton coordinated an assembly for these talented students to share their gifts with the rest of the school. What an awesome showcase it was! Thanks to all concerned.
Guitar Teacher
Surf Online Safe Parent Presentation
The Surf Online Safe Parent Presentation was held last night, and though numbers were unfortunately relatively small, it was certainly an informative, eye-opening and engaging presentation from Paul Litherland, who was an outstanding and very knowledgeable presenter. St Thomas' is committed to providing students and parents with up-to-date knowledge and skills to deal with the ever-expanding and complex world of the internet.
The Year 5 & 6 students were very engaged in Paul's student presentation during the afternoon and had several take-aways from their session. I encourage all Year 5 and 6 parents to discuss the session with their children over the coming days. Thank you to the St Thomas' P&F for supporting this initiative.
For more information on understanding your children's use of the online world, please visit Paul's various online channels:
Website - http://www.surfonlinesafe.com.au/
Facebook - www.facebook.com/SurfOnlineSafe/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqVMRiBzQcOW-9AcQWSoJHg/featured
Ryan von Bergheim
Assistant Principal
St Thomas’ – Making a difference!
By improving our knowledge of what can be recycled, how valuable resources are recovered and returned back into the economy and making changes to our purchasing decisions, we can all contribute to a more positive environmental future.
Paper and Cardboard
Australian households and businesses use millions of tonnes of paper every year. Australia has one of the highest recycling rates of paper and cardboard in the world. Each tonne of recycled paper saves 13 trees.
St Thomas’ endeavours to use less paper by air-playing, airdropping and submitting work via OneNote. Our apple TV’s and Microsoft Office apps are used to share information with others in a more sustainable way. We also recycle both paper and cardboard.
Plastic
Every day, Australian’s buy and use products made of plastic. It is estimated that marine waste, mostly plastic, is killing more than a million sea birds and 100,000 mammals every year.
St Thomas’s implemented Waste Free Wednesdays where it is encouraged to have a lunch where no rubbish goes in the bin. This initiate promotes awareness of how much plastic we are actually using. We have even made a pot plant out of recycled jeans rather than plastic.
Organics
Organic waste is organic material such as food, garden and lawn clippings.The recycling of garden and food organics reduces greenhouse gases as well as water consumption, and protects our soil resources.
St Thomas’ Year Fours have been composting school food scraps, using the compost in the sustainable garden and educating all classes about how to reduce landfill.
St Thomas’ – Serious about our environmental responsibilities!
Fortnightly Recap
Hello friends and families!
Term Three is almost over and we are enjoying looking back over all of our fun and fantastic activities from before and after school care. We are feeling thankful to have spent another wonderful term at Extend St. Thomas’, including making some new friends. We feel we have learnt so much from our friends in Extend this term, we have been all amazing in doing our leadership roles each day such as: Educator’s Assistant of the day, Mat Session Assistant, Afternoon Tea Assistant, Art Manager, Homework Monitor, Sports Monitor, Bags Monitor, Toy Supervisor, Floor Supervisor and Officer Of the Day. We have learnt how to be responsible and respectful of our special task and have shown reciprocal respect towards each other.
We have enjoyed lots of craft, science and cooking activities during the past two weeks. Some of the top activities we all loved are Silly Hair Sticky Sticks Puppets, Craft Stick Harmonica, DIY- Frisbee, Flower making, Dinosaur Project and Transportation craft out of recycled materials. We also have had a lovely Music Sesh with Jo, everybody enjoyed singing and learning how to play guitar!. The Science activity about friction, “Pick Up Thousands of rice grains with a pencil” was fun! One of the highlights of the week was learning the Basic Gymnastics Movements by Aurelia from Year 4. Thank you Aurelia for sharing your talent with us all. You are truly an inspiration for everyone, we are so proud having you here in Extend. Well-done! And best wishes to your upcoming competition in Singapore!
Announcement: Spring Extend Squad - Fantabulous school holiday experiences
Extend's school holiday programs are a fantastic opportunity for your child to do fun and engaging activities with friends. Bookings now open at extend.com.au
Our Extend Superstars are:
Amelie Goodall for being kind, polite and having a friendly nature. Her high level of interest in arts and crafts that inspire others.
Aurelia Barbaro for a fantastic effort in sharing her Gymnastics talent with her friends and for being such a great contributor in the Extend program.
Keep it up Amelie and Aurelia!
JB SUMMER 6 A-SIDE IS BACK!
We are pleased to announce that JB 6 aside summer soccer league is back for the 2018/19 season so it’s time to get your St Thomas teams ready for another action filled soccer season. JB 6 A-side is a wonderful fun way to keep kids and adult teams active and playing soccer through the summer.The competition commences in the week of the 23th of October and continues until February 6th for thirteen weeks including finals and gala day with a Christmas holiday break. The competition will be conducted during afternoon/evenings on weekdays at Rosalie Park, Subiaco. Registration fees include new Jersey, referees, and fantastic facilities. All male and female players are invited to register. There will be a division to cater for each age group from 6 to 15 years, plus a women’s opens, men’s all age and over 35 Masters, so St Thomas dads we are ready for you! Make a team or join as an individual and we will make a team for you.
Looking forward to seeing you there! Registrations will commence on the 1st of September 2018 at www.jb6asidesoccer.com.au For more info please contact Cecilia Burns at jb6asidesoccer@yahoo.com or call 0401075759
Win the War on Waste - Earth Carers Course
Recycle bin overflowing? Got too much stuff? Then join us at our bi-annual Earth Carers Course where we show you how to reduce waste in your household and how to correctly dispose of it.
Starting from the 3rd of October and hosted by the Western Metropolitan Regional Council’s waste education team, the course runs over five sessions and includes topics such as recycling food scraps, decluttering, green cleaning and a tour of a waste recovery facility plus handy tips on how you can reduce, reuse and recycle.
The course is open to western suburbs residents located in the council areas of Mosman Park, Peppermint Grove, Cottesloe, Subiaco and Claremont.
When: Course runs over three consecutive weeks with three Wednesday evenings and two Saturday sessions.
Wednesday evenings: 3rd, 10th and 17th October: 6:30 – 9pm
Saturday session: 6th October: 9am – 2pm, 13th October 1:30pm – 3:30pm
Where: Claremont Park, 218 Stirling Highway, Claremont. Plus tours to Tamala Park and Earthwise.
Cost: $25 + booking fee
Registrations are essential, please book online at www.earthcarers.org.au or phone 9384 4003.
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