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We hold in prayer Mr Mensforth’s Father-In-Law, his Papi, Cesar Gomez who passed away this week.
Please keep Mr Mensforth and his family in your thoughts and prayers. May they find some comfort in the knowledge that Papi is resting in God’s loving embrace and at peace.
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from the Principal ..........
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The power of reflection and gratitude
Reflection and gratitude can be powerful tools for maintaining good mental health and well-being, especially when managing the ups and downs that life throws at us. At St Thomas one of our learning dispositions is ‘Reflective.’ For our students, this word contains so much meaning. We talk regularly at school about how to be a reflective learner and practise daily variety of strategies that can be employed to encourage the development of this powerful skill. When we think about being reflective, we unpack components including: critical thinking, evaluation, analysis, stillness, brain space, judgement, review and improvement. All of these, of course in an age appropriate and accessible way.
Being reflective goes hand-in-hand with gratitude. In a Catholic school, we express our gratitude towards God, for the many blessings in our lives and world. When we are grateful, we are naturally being reflective. Sometimes we, both little people and big people, can get stuck in a negative reflective pattern, whereby when we reflect, we find the negative elements that compete for our focus. That is almost the opposite of gratitude. Whilst I am certainly not promoting idealism, I believe it is important to have a positive mindset, a hopeful and hope-filled mindset, and when we practise gratitude, we automatically look for the positive in our reflections. I encourage you in your own practice of gratitude and invite you to have a conversation with your own children to discuss their understanding of what it means to be reflective in gratitude.
As our Term three draws to a close I take this opportunity to share some reflections of this wonderful term with you and express my sincere gratitude for the blessings it has held for us.
Our P & F coordinated a most successful School disco and a fantastic time was enjoyed by all. The P & F Father’s Day Raffle and Stall were also a great highlight of this term.
Our Winter Sports concluded their competitions and we are very grateful for this opportunity to participate, thanks to the generosity of volunteer coaches and managers.
Mercy Day was a wonderful event with prayerful liturgy, stalls and a talent quest. Our efforts combined in raising $1272.10 for Mercy Work and Catherine House.
Our Catherine House Friendly Soccer Competition raised $732 and was a wonderful success. Thank you to all who supported and to Mr Priest for his generous coordination.
A number of our students participated in the SAETA Young Writers award! Winners included: Mira Jeon, Ruby Budimir and Alfie Jarvis. Congratulations to these students!
The Oliphant Science Awards were well supported again, with St Thomas School coming 2nd Place in the State for Primary School Division of entries. 2 of our students were Prize Winners: Callum Mwate and Max Vella. Highly Commended were: Samuel Jaksa, Faith Thien, Ruby Budimir, Michael O’Dea and Chelsea Tran. Congratulations to all for such a success! Gratitude to Mr Rampazis for his coordination.
Reception DH has had a wonderful transition to school life! The children have shown all our learning values by being brave, creative, gritty, connected, and reflective! Some highlights have been our first Mercy Day, Science Week and spending time with our big year 4 buddies in the library. Our children have shown great courage and resilience each day to transition from their loved ones and enjoy their day at school.
Our Reception children celebrating 100 days of school at the start of this term with a SIP AND PAINT celebration. Another highlight was Book Week with our costume parade. Our children loved dressing up as their favourite characters and talking all things books! One final highlight was our Road Safety school excursion.
Our Year 1 students had a fabulous excursion to the Adelaide Museum this week, with much awe, wonder and learning in this experience. This was a wonderful success, with great parent volunteer support.
The year 2 classes have been learning about Report Writing this term for English. We have co-constructed success criteria and tried each week to bump up our writing by including headings, descriptive sentences, interesting facts and illustrated diagrams. We are also researching different animals for our Inquiry Projects. These will be added to a big book to share with other classes and the Preschool.
This term Year 3 students got to develop our bike riding skills with an excursion to Ridgehaven. We got to explore our coding skills with deep dives into Sphero mini robot balls and Minecraft Education. We got to appreciate artists like Picasso with our classroom Art. We got to deepen our knowledge of Mary MacKillop through her practical service to others. We got to travel in our minds to our neighbouring countries to identify differences and similarities to Australia. It was a busy and non -stop term of investigation and growth.
Our Year 4 clases had huge success in regional cooking, with a big thanks to all parents who supported for their generosity and for helping us to complement our development of the Learner Disposition ‘Creative’ this term.
Our 5 Tournament of Minds Teams competed with great success at the State Competition. One of our STEM Teams won their division and now proceed to the International Final in Melbourne next term. Congratulations and good luck to our competitors! Thank you to Laura Donnellan, Nicole Rowlands & Katherine Wotherspoon.
We had 6 year 6 teams compete in the Debating SA competition with fantastic success. Over the season they developed team work, public speaking skills, problem solving skills, creative thinking skills and research skills. Well done to all teams but especially to St Thomas Green who made it into the semi finals.
The students in Year 5 Wotherspoon have been creating podcasts with the help of James Meston from Arch D Radio and Podcasting. They selected their own topics, planned interview questions and drafted responses to use in their podcast. Each team created an amazing 10 minute podcast that was published on Spotify and all music streaming services. Furthermore the students in both Year 5 classes have investigated the solar system in Science and made claims about how the earth, sun and moon relate to one another. In their studies of civics and citizenship they investigated Australia's democracy and researched the Australian Constitution and how the upcoming referendum
We welcome Mrs Johana Boutros to our Year 6 Team, replacing Mr Jeremy Fitzpatrick. Welcome Mrs B! Our Year 6 students had such an eventful term with learning and events including Market Monday stalls, Debating, Science Expo and a Vinnies Winter Sleepout raising over $4000.
A truly fabulous term of much learning and achievement! I wish all our families safe and happy holidays and pray that it is a relaxing and rejuvenating time for you all. We look forward to seeing you all at the beginning of Term Four.
Belinda Burford
Principal
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SEPTEMBER
Wednesday 27th
Catholic Schools Music Festival
Friday 29th - Last Day of Term
Sports Day - Dismissal 1.00pm from Orphanage Park
OCTOBER
Mon 16th - Fri 20th
Year 6 Canberra Trip
Thurs 19th - Sat 21st
Tournament of Minds International Final
Friday 27th
Italian Day
St Thomas TERM 3 FAMILY Calendar 2023.pdf
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Mercy day 2023
St Thomas school community celebrated Mercy Day on Friday, 15th September. This day is one of the most important events at the school and is a highlight of the year for many students.
Mercy Day is a community-building day, combining fun, a celebration of our heritage and providing support for those in needs through fundraising.
The day began with a celebration of the liturgy uniting us all in faith and reminding us of the reason for our existence as a Catholic school in the Mercy tradition.
Following the liturgy, students and staff shared in various activities and fun-raising initiatives in supporting the community.
“The poor need our help today, not next week.” — Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy
So all profits from the day will be donated to Mercy organisation to support people who are in need. In recent years we have supported Mercy Works, Catherine House and Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons. The organisations collaborate with communities to promote justice and self-reliance and to support displaced people.
Thank you to all parents, caregivers, friends, staff, students who made this day an unforgettable experience.
As we near end of this term and the spring holiday is coming soon, I would like to share a thanksgiving prayer with you.
End of Term Prayer
We thank you God, for this term.
For the challenges, the successes, and the mistakes from which we have learnt.
Be with us as we spend our time with family and friends.
Give us strength and courage to do what is right: to be witnesses of our faith.
Help us to be practical Christians these holidays, to appreciate what others do for us, to
Give time and effort to help others.
To be peacemakers in our family.
Keep us safe in our activities; give us good rest and good fun.
Bring us back refreshed and ready for a new term.
We thank you for our classmates, teachers, staff, parents
And community that cares for us.
May we always be conscious of you in our lives.
Amen
REC
Sebestyen Maglai
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from Chair of the School Board
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What is on your billboard?
If you were to be given one billboard in the middle of Piccadilly Circus or Times Square today, to put anything you could on it – what would the message you would put on it?
The billboard will be big. People will look at this billboard fleetingly. The message must be interesting to capture the attention, but also powerful to last.
What is your message you are putting on it?
I’ve thought about this for a while. What it would be. But mainly, what I would want my children to read and know that’s what their mum’s message was.
I think mine is – Do something that scares you. Don’t listen to the No.
Doing something that scares you and showing your children you are scared is important. It’s important to not know the answer and still try. It’s important to get things wrong, to learn for next time.
It’s important for our children to know they can try scary things and not know what is going to happen.
So that’s my billboard. I hope you see it one day in black and white on some big corner.
As we lead towards the much-needed holiday break, I hope you find something to try that scares you. That excites you. That you don’t know how it is going to finish.
And that your children see the role model that you are – trying this. So when the next opportunity for Athletics, Tournament of Minds, Basketball or the school disco rolls around, they know they can try something that scares them.
So that’s my billboard.
I wrote this after I picked up my bib for my first 56km ultra marathon race this weekend. Which I am without a doubt, scared of. The run, the hills and… the snakes.
Hopefully see you on the other side!
Trish Jarvis
Chair of St Thomas School Board
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Last week the school participated in some R U OK activities in an age-appropriate way. This included recipes of a good friend and recognising and displaying emotions. R U OK day is built around looking after someone. By genuinely asking “Are you OK”, you can provide a safe space for someone to respond “no” which helps a mate and destigmatises Mental Health. R U OK day is over now but that doesn’t mean the need for the conversation ceases. Asking someone if they are okay could be instrumental to someone, and most people just want somebody to listen. Before you ask “Are you OK?” ensure you are in an appropriate setting; this could be at home, or in the car. Truly listen to their answer, encourage action and check in with them later. You have the power to make a difference, not just on R U OK day, but every day and always remember that It’s OK to not be OK. For more information, you can visit ruok.org.au
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All bookings are now open for these school holidays at duckandturtlefitness.com
Qualified local teachers encouraging kids to be more active since 2015.
See you out there! 💪🏼🦆🐢
Find out more > |
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Dear Families,
Please find attached our October school holiday program flyers.
All of our workshops are designed with our common OT goals in mind and are a great opportunity to work on your child’s social competency skill development in a group setting, whilst also incorporating our important and commonly focused OT skills of fine / visual /gross motor, primitive reflexes, handwriting, activities of daily living, purposeful play, executive functioning skills and more. Morning tea is always provided.
As a summary we are offering the following dates, times and themes:
Wednesday 4th Oct 2023 9-12pm: Spring Time Fun: This fun-filled and engaging workshop will embed social competency skills, sensory and motor development with activities to engage the senses.
Friday 6th Oct 9-12pm: Sports Extravaganza: Come prepared to move and play at the LSG Sports Carnival, so many motor skills and development will be embedded in this workshop, with skills to support your child’s learning, cooperative play and social abilities.
Wednesday 11th Oct 2023 9-12pm: Carnival Fun: Come join in the fun with lots of games, crafts and activities to work on building motor, developmental and creativity skills.
Friday 13th October 9-12pm: Cooking: Engage all the senses and explore different textures making delicious treats. This is not only a culinary experience for the taste buds but also an integrated social experience, whilst working on our daily living skills and tantalising our senses.
We see so much value in these workshops and have fantastic feedback from families. We would love to see our young friends there!
To book a spot please click the following hyper link and complete the registration form School Holiday Workshops - October 2023
Kind Regards,
Kelly Kroeger
Director and Paediatric Occupational Therapist
And
Jaime Maiden
Business Manager
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Please see vacation care flyer attached from Camp Australia
Rocketeers Mission XI Flyer.pdf
