Upcoming

Events

Thursday 1 November Headspace Presentation to

Year 6/7s

Friday 2 November Assembly hosted by 4/5s

Tuesday 6 November

Principal Tour

Wednesday 7 November Year 4 to 7 Excursion to the Shedley Theatre -

Shrek the Musical.

School Board meeting 7pm

Thursday 8 November Catholic Schools 4-7

Netball Carnival

Friday 9 November Elizabeth RSL visit to talk about Remembrance Day

ACE Graduations

Tuesday 12 November Parish Pastoral Visitation

Wednesday 13 November

Rec to Year 3 Mass 10.15am

St Thomas More School

Newsletter Term 4 Week 3 Thursday 1 November 2018 Website: www.sttmore.catholic.edu.au Email: info@sttmore.catholic.edu.au

St Thomas More School recognises and acknowledges that we are living on traditional Aboriginal lands and we offer our respect and appreciation to all Aboriginal people.

St Thomas More School

50 Yorktown Road

Elizabeth Park SA 5113

PO Box 2002

Elizabeth Park SA 5113

Telephone: 8255 1699

Fax: 8287 0241

OSHC: 8255 1626

0409551699

Principal

Mr Joe Blefari

Deputy Principal

Mr Shaun O’Leary

APRIM

Mrs Sonia Kilmister

Dear Families,

Last Friday we celebrated World Teachers Day. This was an opportunity to acknowledge the great

work that all of our teachers and education support officers do with our children. Our staff do a

tremendous job at St. Thomas More School and it is important that we express our gratitude for

the role they play in educating the students and also for providing such a happy, safe and

supportive environment for learning.

I was on Library duty last week and was chatting incidentally to some children in Years 1 & 2.

During this conversation one of the Year One boys shared that he has watched the movie It. For

those of you who are not aware, It is a horror film rated MA15+. I’m sure he’s not the only primary

school aged young person to have seen this movie and others with a similar rating. My own

children, aged 8 and 11 have asked me a number of times to watch this movie. Whether we like it

or not, as parents we are faced with decisions to make on a daily basis. The tough call is often the

most unpopular and can be met with discouraging behaviour. Childhood should be such an

innocent time for young people and as adults we know how fast this time in children’s lives goes. I

believe children have got the rest of their lives to be exposed to content in MA rated movies such

as ‘It’ or ‘13 Reasons Why’. The reason why such movies have adult ratings is because children’s

brains are developmentally not ready to comprehend these storylines. My other concern is that if

we allow our children to watch MA rated movies at such a young age, we are depriving them of

that sense of ‘looking forward to it’ or ‘anticipation’ as they grow and develop.

Last term we received formal recognition from the South Australian Catholic Education Office,

congratulating us on the learning growth demonstrated in our EAL students (students with English

as an additional language).

“We would like to acknowledge that a significant proportion of your EAL students have

progressed by 2 or more levels within 12 months, which is certainly worth celebrating.”

Chris Payne and Juliana Martino Leading Learning Consultants – EAL

This year Mrs Jenkins and Mrs Kennedy have worked closely with our EAL students providing them

with individualized targeted support to best meet their needs. As recognised by the Catholic

Education Office, we have seen tremendous growth in their learning, but just as important, in their

self-confidence and attitude to school life. I congratulate and thank all teachers and ESOs and in

particular, Mrs Jenkins and Mrs Kennedy for their wonderful efforts. This is fantastic news worth

celebrating!

Learning Achievements

Principal’s Report

According to the Australian government’s Cultural and Recreation portal, Remembrance Day, which was originally called Armistice Day, commemorated the end of the hostilities for the Great War (World War I), the signing of the armistice, which occurred on November 11, 1918 – the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. On the first anniversary of the armistice, in 1919, one minute's silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony. After the end of World War II in 1945, the Australian and British governments changed the name to Remembrance Day as an appropriate title for a day which would commemorate all war dead. Next Friday we will stop in silence as a whole school to remember all those brave men and women who have fallen and those who continue to serve our great country. Next Friday we will also welcome Joe Walker (member of the Elizabeth RSL) and Trevor Sloan (President of the Elizabeth RSL) who will talk to our Year 4-7 students about the meaning and importance of Remembrance Day.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary

them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the

morning, We will remember them.

Remembrance Day

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Every two years St. Thomas More School holds an end of year concert involving the whole school, with 2018 being a

non-concert year. In its place, the children will be involved in a ‘Celebration of Christmas’ to be held on Tuesday 27

November (Week 7, Term 4). This mini performance will be held in Jubilee Hall from 2-3pm.

This Celebration of Christmas is titled ‘Twas the Night of Jesus’ Birth’ with all of the children being involved in some

small way. Mrs Pollard and teachers will be working with the classes and choirs in preparation for this celebration.

Some classes will sing a song whilst others will be involved in sharing a dance. The occasion will also provide an

opportunity for our school choirs and drama club to perform. This is not intended to be a large production, but

more an opportunity to come together in a less formal way and celebrate Christmas together. Mrs Pollard has sent

a note home to families with more details and an RSVP slip, so we know how many people may be attending. All

families and friends are most welcome to join us. I encourage you to place this date in your diaries.

Traditionally we have held Sports Day at the beginning of the year. This year we decided to wait until Term 4 in the

hope that our courtyard redevelopment would be completed by then. Although it’s looking unlikely that this will be

the case, we have scheduled Sports Day to be held on Friday 30th November (Term 4, Week 7). If the courtyard is

not finished by this time, we will still have enough room with our 2 ovals and the use of Jubilee Hall. Please place

this date in your diary as it promises to be another special event for our school community.

A coffee van will be here for part of the day and there will be a selection of food and drink available from the school

canteen. There will also be an opportunity for family and friends to challenge the staff in a ‘friendly’ tug-of-war

tussle.

A reminder that the Summer Uniform comes into play this term. This also means that hats are to be worn during

playtime and outside activities. If students are not wearing their school hats they will be asked to remain under

shelter/shade to ensure their personal safety.

This time of the year also marks the commencement of report writing. Teachers will begin the task of gathering

student data, test results, and other information, and use their knowledge of your child’s learning to write the end

of year report. If you haven’t been in communication with your child's teacher recently it would be appropriate to

do so now, similarly if teachers have any concerns they will be in contact with parents. This will hopefully ensure

that there will not be any surprises in the reports when they are distributed in Week 9.

Joe Blefari

Principal

‘Celebration of Christmas’ – Mini Whole School Performance – Tuesday 27 Nov at 2pm

Sports Day – Friday 30th November

Summer Uniforms and School Reports

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Deputy Report

Page 4

Parents with children on the Autism Spectrum Support Group

On Friday October 19 we held our first Parents with Children on the Autism Spectrum Support Group Meeting. The gathering provided an informal opportunity for parents with children on the ASD spectrum to network and share ideas and strategies which they use to support their children. The gathering also provid-ed an opportunity for parents to discuss accessing outside support such as NDIS (National Disability Insur-ance Scheme). As a school we are keen to continue to provide this opportunity for parents to meet with the hope of increasing attendance numbers. Our next Parents with Children on the Autism Spectrum Support Group Meeting will take place at 9:00am on Wednesday November 14 in the school staffroom. Feel free to come and chat to me if you would like further information about the support group.

On Wednesday May 9 Jill Gallio from the Office for Renewing Parishes joined our staff meeting to talk to teachers about

the Parish Renewal Initiative, an initiative of the Adelaide Archdiocese which commenced in 2016. The purpose of Jill’s

visit was to engage with our school to foster a deeper awareness and dialogue around the renewal initiative. The initia-

tive is based around the Renewing Parishes document which outlines eight Gospel characteristics of a healthy, vibrant

and renewing parish. In this instance, the word parish is used in its fullest sense, inclusive of schools, pastoral councils

and other catholic communities. In the last two newsletters of Term 2 I provided information around the first four Gos-

pel characteristics. Below is a breakdown of the seventh and eighth Gospel characteristics.

7. The parish is a community of diverse gifts and charisms, each recognised and nurtured in the community, and co-ordinated by the parish priest and leadership team. These small teams may involve lay leaders, religious, deacons and priests. Team members may take on a variety of roles such as coordinator of the community, manager of the par-ish, finance officer, youth worker, as well as pastoral associate and pastoral director. Leaders in Catholic schools will often be part of such teams. A priest, who may be a parish priest or priest moderator, will be appointed to a parish by the Archbishop. Other priests may be part of the team. There will be a need to plan for the teams of the future, identi-fying, supporting and providing learning experiences for lay leaders. Each parish will need to nurture the vocation of those called to lay ministries, religious life, as well as continuing to nurture vocations to ordained ministry. The pastoral team, along with the whole parish, will exhibit the values of openness and transparency. It is essential that the pastoral team be truly and visibly collegial, and so contribute to building up authentic communion in the parish. 8. Eucharistic communities that are viable will be enabled to continue. There will be times when there will be a need to discern whether particular communities remain viable. But smaller eucharistic communities can be closer to the peo-ple, and are to be maintained in our new and emerging pastoral structures, as long as they have the capacity, and the ministers, to be a genuine centre of Christian life, formation in discipleship, outreach to those in need, and life-giving eucharistic celebrations. It is important to recognize the value of other forms of prayer in such communities, including services of the Word, and liturgies of the Word with Holy Communion. There is value in keeping local communities in place, and we need to respect the identity, language and culture of such communities.

In this newsletter I have included two mathematical tasks which you might like to have a go at with your child/children.

Mathematics is one of our core learning areas here at St Thomas More School. Your support at home in Mathematics

helps to create a positive attitude towards this area of learning. If you would like ideas on how to help your child,

please come and see either myself or your child’s classroom teacher.

Catholic Identity: Parish Renewal Initiative

Curriculum

Deputy Report

Page 5

This week’s Mathematical tasks:

Reception to Year 3

You did a survey to find out who was happy and who was sad. What pictures could you use to represent these

feelings?

Some students did a survey and they recorded their results like this:

What might their survey have been about? Give more than one possibility.

What might the graph they drew look like? Be creative.

Years 4-7

The average of three numbers is 8.2. One of the numbers is 12.4. What might the other numbers be?

What might this graph be of?

Happy inquiry.

Reading is also a core learning area here at St Thomas More School. Children develop their reading skills,

knowledge and understanding by reading regularly. At St Thomas More School regular reading at home forms a

major part of homework set each evening. Why not create regular timeslots throughout the week whereby all

electronic devices in the home are turned off and members of the family spend 15 minutes reading together.

Happy reading.

Red 12

Yellow 7

Deputy Report

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Optimism is to have an expectation, belief or faith that things will turn out well, while acknowledging and paying

close attention to solving problems along the way. Optimism is a way of interpreting future events. When we in-

terpret negative experiences as external to ourselves, caused by specific and changing factors, we are more likely

to have an optimistic outlook. Optimism can be learnt through attending to how people think about events. Re-

search shows that optimistic people:

Live longer and have better overall health.

Cope with adverse stressors in more adaptive ways.

Persist longer on difficult tasks and perform better in school and work.

Are less likely to experience mental health problems such as anger issues, depression, anxiety and sub-

stance abuse.

Are less passive and fatalistic in their thinking.

In summary I would like to quote Lisa Hayes;

“Be careful how you are talking to yourself because you are listening.”

A friendly reminder to ensure that for safety reasons, you park outside of the yellow lines adjacent to the school

crossing and away from the school driveway at the front of the school when picking up/dropping off children.

Drivers are also reminded that the disabled parking spaces at the front of the school are reserved for those with a

disability. Alternative parking before and after school (along with school access) is available along Shillabeer

Road. As a school community we are seeking your support in following the parking regulations in place outside of

the school.

Working in partnership with you to keep our

children safe.

Shaun O’Leary

Deputy Principal

Safety in and around School Pick Up/Drop Off Points

Positive Education and Optimism

APRIM Dear Families

Year 5 Leaders: Just Leadership Program

On Tuesday 30th October, (Week 3) all Year 5 students from

our Mercy Cluster schools, St Mary Magdalene’s, Catherine

McAuley and St Thomas More participated in a ‘Just

Leadership Day’, which was facilitated by Suzy Penberthy

from Caritas. The program for the day focused on poverty

awareness and just leadership. The day had three sessions,

with breaks for recess and lunch.

Session 1 – The big picture (a look at global poverty)

Session 2 – Just Leadership and a close up look at the work of

Caritas

Session 3 – Planning for action at school

I am sure the Year 5 students will enjoy this day and learn a

great deal about responding to global poverty at a local level,

whilst developing their leadership skills to be ‘just’ leaders.

Source of image and information in text box: Caritas website

Photo: Richard Wainwright

Religious Literacy Assessment Tool (ReLAT)

Parents/caregivers of Year 4 students would have received their children’s ReLAT results last week. This test is administered to all

South Australian students at Catholic schools and measures their knowledge of content contained within the Religious Education

Curriculum. The test was administered over one session at school and the results of this test will help us to plan our Religious

Education curriculum at St Thomas More School for 2019.

Parish Pastoral Visitation

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, part of the ‘Renewing Parishes’ Program, there will be several members from the

Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide visiting St Thomas More School on Tuesday 13th November at 2.15pm, to view our school as

part of the Elizabeth Parish community. This visit is part of a larger vision for the region with the purpose of reviewing and

renewing our Parish communities. During the time of this visit, the classes will be participating in Religious Education lessons.

Year 4/5 Class Masses

Last Wednesday, Father Pat came to our school for 4/5CK’s Mass, which was based on the theme of ‘Giving Thanks for Our

Education’. Yesterday, 4/5G also had the privilege of Father Pat celebrating Mass with them on the theme of ‘All Saints’. Our

next class Mass, Wednesday 14th November, will be on the theme of ‘Giving Thanks’ organised by the year 2/3 classes and

attended by R/1 classes. Please feel free to join us.

Kind Regards

Sonia Kilmister

APRIM

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Andrea White ~ Together We Make a Difference

Peaceful Kids program

‘Peaceful Kids’ is a Mindfulness and Positive Psychology based program to lessen anxiety and stress

and increase resilience in children. The program gives children the skills, practice and support to utilize

coping strategies that lessen the symptoms of anxiety and stress. The program also involves parental

involvement and commitment to supporting the strategies at home.

More information on the Peaceful Kids program: www.peacefulkidsclasses.com

Free Parent Information Session to be held at:

Gawler & District College Children’s Centre 69 Barnet Road, Evanston SA 5116

Monday November 12 2018 5.30pm till 6.30pm

To secure your booking contact:

Andrea White – Peaceful Kids Facilitator andreawhitepeacefulkids@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/andreawhitepeacefulkids

Outcomes of the Peaceful Kids pro-gram:

Lessen symptoms of anxiety and stress in chil-dren

Teaches children to self-calm

Empowers children to manage their own anxie-ty

Develops emotional intelligence skills

Teaches children life-long skills to manage stress and prevent stress build up

Supports children so they know that they are not alone with suffering from anxiety

Program structure:

Peaceful Kids is a 8 week program for children

Sessions are for approximately 1 hour each week. (40-50 minutes for Rec and Year 1’s)

Sessions include learning a range of mindful-ness strategies and meditations and posi-tive psychology exercises.

Students are guided through meditations daily online via the Peaceful Kids website: peacefulkids.com.au

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