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from the Principal ..........
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You may have noticed the huge media campaign undertaken by Catholic Education this week for Catholic Schools Open Week 21st – 27th August. In conjunction with Ooh Media, our CESA schools are reflected across Adelaide. For St Thomas, we can be seen at bus stop shelters, on billboards and even on the back of a bus! We have taken up the opportunity to be involved in this and we have our students, Alfie from Year 1 and Miley from Year 5, on bus stops on Goodwood Road. This has been an excellent marketing campaign which we will undertake each year with refreshed images and text.
Congratulations to our Cheer Team who competed at the State Championships on Sunday! They represented our school with pride and gave a finely-tuned performance, scoring a very close 2nd place! Our gratitude is extended to Catherine Woods for her commitment and generosity as Coach to support this team.
I am also very pleased to acknowledge the exceptional achievement of three of our students who have been awarded first place in their category in the SAETA Young Writer's Awards. We congratulate Ruby Budimir, Alfie Jarvis and Mira Jeon. They were presented these awards at UniSA, Magill campus last Friday night.
For your calendars, be sure to highlight the student free day Friday 8th September, Week 7. Our Staff will be involved in an important day focused on enhancing our Catholic Identity with a particular theme of Jesus - the vine of life.
Book Week – Read Grow Inspire
Each year since 1945 the Children’s Book Council of Australia has dedicated a week to Book Week, with a different theme attached to it. More than ever, the Book Week Parade, has become such an anticipated event! Whilst the Parade is certainly a feature of our week, like all celebrations, I would hope that the real meaning is not lost in just one element. There are a couple of components in Book Week that I particularly relate to: firstly the annual theme; secondly the emphasis on the value of books, good old fashioned paper books and spending time reading for enjoyment. Our children had a great opportunity this week to reinvigorate their book collection with our inaugural Book Swap which was a great success. You may have also heard about the very exciting new-look Library which has been re-decorated to the theme of Read, Grow, Inspire. My thanks to our dedicated, creative and artistic staff for both of these new initiatives!
I don’t know about you, but I love my book collection! I always have at least three novels by my bedside. One that has stayed there for a while is Trent Dalton’s “Love Stories.” It’s a collection of short stories, that he compiled after spending two months walking the streets of Brisbane and asking random people to tell him their best love story from their life. How amazing! Dalton was bequeathed an old Olivetti typewriter from a friend’s mother and in honour of her life, he wanted to use it in a way to reflect all her love and light. So, he perched himself on a deck chair for two weeks in central Brisbane, interviewed passers-by about love and wrote this book. Now that’s a story in itself. Whilst I have not yet read all the stories, I have found it a refreshingly heart-warming and soulful read. This Book Week has inspired me to dive back into my reading, and I hope it has done the same for you. If you have any suggestions for new reads, I’m always glad to hear them!
In terms of our children and their reading, research tells us that a large impact on school success is reading ability. Your involvement in supporting reading at home can play a really big role in influencing this success. So how exactly is it linked? Here are just some examples of the impact of reading ability:
Academic benefits – reading has many cognitive benefits, like improving focus and concentration, memory retention, exposure to new vocabulary, promoting critical thinking, comprehension, and meaning making. Every time a child reads correctly, neural pathways are either newly created or reinforced, leading to greater capacity for thinking, and of course, more reading.
Health benefits – apart from the enjoyment it brings, reading is a great way to bring tranquility, calm and stillness to our daily life. This is why the bedtime routine that includes a book is perfect! The enhancement of sleep is so critical for our children’s wellbeing and development. A book before bedtime cannot be recommended highly enough.
Social benefits – books promote empathy and emotional intelligence. Through story, we learn more about people, emotions, relationships. Through story we enter into scenarios outside of our own perspective, giving us a window into the minds and feelings of others. For our young people, learning and growing into themselves as social beings, the power of story as a social learning tool is really valuable.
For all of these reasons, we urge you to always encourage your children to read for enjoyment whenever possible. Perhaps even replenish your own stack of books at the ready too! Sounds like a good excuse to visit the local book store or library!
Happy Reading!
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from the Deputy Principal ............
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Gratitude is the key to happiness.
Sounds simple – and it actually is!
But we seem to get caught up and distracted by what our ego wants and forget the simplicity of what makes us truly happy.
Our ego is that little voice within, which wants us to be the best, the most important; and wants us to be right and win every argument. At its best, our ego can play a positive role in helping us grow to be our greatest. But at its worst, our ego can cause us to be judgemental or disappointed with failure. At its worst, our ego can bring feelings of entitlement, which distract us from seeing the world through eyes of gratitude. To counteract our ego’s influence on our thinking, we just need to remember that ‘everyone you will ever meet has infinite worth- and so do you!’
There are even times on our journey we might find ourselves having increase ‘languishing’ feelings. Languishing is the feeling of not caring, not feeling excited, or sometimes described as ‘meh.’ It is an important psychological term; and experts say that if we ignore this pattern of thinking and being, it can lead to more serious negative patterns of thinking and being.
The experts go on to suggest that transforming our focus on gratitude, connecting with nature and making time for physical exercise are the most powerful ways of moving us out of these negative patterns of thinking and being. There is a lot of wisdom here.
So as a community let’s hold each other and shake off any languishing patterns of thinking and being, by taking some time to celebrate the things for which we are grateful!
And we have so much to be grateful for!
We are grateful for the warmth of our school community and the friendliness of our families, especially when welcoming others into this place we call home!
We are grateful for the dedicated professional teachers and staff who give so much of themselves in their role as educators!
We are grateful for the wonderful facilities and resources shared in this place!
We are grateful for the wealth of opportunities provided for our learners to grow to become the very best version of themselves!
We are grateful for mistakes; and moments of forgiveness and restoration.
We are grateful for Book Week book swaps, library decorations and dress-up parades. We are grateful for touch football, cheer competitions, cooking lessons, maths lessons, Tournament of Minds preparations, new friendships and the excitement in a ‘good morning.’
We are grateful for the food we have, the clean air we breathe and the safety of this place we live.
The truth is, we can be grateful for so many things. With such richness in our community, let’s continue to live lives of gratitude- defying those ‘languishing’ feelings and celebrating the wonderful gift of St Thomas.
Go gently…and gratefully!
Paul Mensforth
Deputy Principal
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August
Monday 28th
ICAS Mathematics
Tuesday 29th
RSG & RG Road Safety Excursion
P&F Father's Day Stall - Preschool ONLY
SEPTEMBER
Friday 1st
P & F Father's Day Stall
Monday 4th
Market Monday (after school)
Wednesday 6th
SACPSSA Touch Carnival (yr 4-6 optional)
Friday 8th
Pupil Free Day
St Thomas TERM 3 FAMILY Calendar 2023.pdf
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Let Justice and Peace Flow
In the Old Testament, Prophet Amos cries out: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5: 24) and so we are called to join the river of justice and peace, to take up climate and ecological justice, and to speak out with and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity.
As the people of God, we must work together on behalf of all Creation, as part of that mighty river of peace and justice.
The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to pray and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to listen and care for our common home, the Oikos of God.
Here at St Thomas School we started to celebrate the Season of Creation a couple of weeks earlier because September will be very busy.
Last Wednesday we started the celebration in the Church with the theme "and God saw that it was good..." the Year 4M and 2C-R classes organised the mass.
This Wednesday the Year 4C and Y2A-R classes prepared the Mass and the theme was "the birds" based on LEUNIG – WE GIVE THANKS FOR BIRDS PRAYER.
Dear God,
We give thanks for birds. All types of birds.
Small birds and large birds.
Domestic fowl, migratory birds and birds of prey,
hooting birds, whistling birds, shrikes,
coloured parrots and dark darting wrens.
Birds too numerous to mention.
We pray for them all.
We mourn the loss of certain species
and pray for the deliverance of endangered ones.
We pray, too, for farm birds,
that they may be released from cruelty and suffering.
We give thanks for eggs and feathers,
for brave, cheerful songs in the morning
and the wonderful haunting, night prayers of owls,
mopokes, frogmouths and all nocturnal fowl.
Next Wednesday, the Year 6 classes and the Year 1E classes will lead us to celebrate "All Kinds of Animal Life," and finally on Wednesday Week 7 the Year 3R and the RG classes will close this year's Season of Creation with the, “God Delights in Me” theme.
If you have time, you can join us for the Mass on Wednesday mornings 9.30am in the church.
Sebestyen Maglai
REC
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from Chair of the School Board
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Busiest or best?
We only leave behind one story. Just one. So, make it the best one.
There is this idea that the best off in society are the busiest. We live in a world of too much. There are always more incoming emails, more meetings, more things to read, more ideas to follow up. Our new technological world of our tiny computer in hands, that fits in our pocket, means that even when you are on holiday, at the gym or on a run, you can easily crank through a few more to-do list items.
The result, being busy. All the time. And your story soon becomes, the busiest.
Is the story that you want to leave You are happy as you had the busiest life. You did everything, you fit it all in, you constantly heard “I don’t know how you do it.”
Or do you want your story to be You had the best life. You slowed down, took a breath, said no.
Doing those unfashionable things of slowing down, resting, getting enough sleep, and saying no, are radical acts these days - but they are essential. By slowing down, extending your spare time – you find space for gratitude and can start to make it the best story.
This realisation is only new to me – and daily, I certainly know I am not achieving it!
But I feel a little win – that I have realised I wanted the best story. Not the busiest.
Trish Jarvis
Chair - School Board
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School Fees Reminder
Term 3 Fees – due date Friday 11th August
Term 4 Fees – due date Friday 3rd November
If you have any queries regarding payment please contact me on 8177 8112 or email accounts@stg.catholic.edu.au
Regards
Jodi Jansons
Business Manager
accounts@stg.catholic.edu.au
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Fees for 2024
We are pleased to inform our school families that there will be no increase in school fees for the 2024 school year!
Catholic Education SA has announced it will freeze tuition fees at its 84 Diocesan schools for the 2024 school year.
“We recognise that cost-of-living increases are putting significant pressure on families,” says Dr Neil McGoran, Executive Director, Catholic Education SA.
“Growth in enrolments across the State in our 101 Catholic Schools, together with prudent financial management, puts us in a position where we are able to hold tuition fees at this year’s level.”
Dr McGoran said the fee-freeze will not impact the quality of education.
“We’re committed to keeping school fees as low as possible and ensuring a Catholic education is affordable and accessible to all.”
Since 2019, Catholic Education SA has been implementing the Making Catholic Education More Affordable Initiative to ensure Catholic schools are accessible to any family who wants their child to have a Catholic education.
In addition to the fee-freeze, further fee remissions are available to any family who is struggling to pay school fees due to financial difficulties. Families should contact Jodi Jansons for more information. (jansons@stg.catholic.edu.au)
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Catholic Schools Parents SA - Event
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Event for Parents – Helping children and teenagers respond to friendship difficulties and bullying – Wednesday September 20, 6.00pm at St Mary’s College, Adelaide (online and in-person)
Hosted by Catholic Schools Parents SA, this workshop presented by Madhavi Nawana Parker, Director of Positive Minds Australia, will help parents and carers identify the difference between bullying and social clumsiness, whilst also providing practical and constructive ways for young people to cope with confidence and resilience. Register via the CESA Registration Centre.
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WESTBOURNE PARK NETBALL CLUB
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Westbourne Park Netball club are currently preparing for the upcoming Summer 23/24 Netball season, which commences in October 2023.
Looking for players in the 8&u (players with year of birth 2015, 2016 or 2017), 9&u (players with year of birth 2014), 11&u (players with year of birth 2012, 2013) age groups and 13&u (players with year of birth 2010, 2011).
 wpucnc2023_24 flyer.pdf
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Please see flyers attached from Camp Australia
