St Thomas’ Primary School is part of a faith community centred on the life of Jesus, as expressed in our Motto, ‘Together in Christ’

Our Vision is to 'Educate the Whole Child' and empower learners as global citizens, to be curious, collaborative, creative and critical thinkers, inspired by Christ.

I thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to be

called a parent or caregiver.

Thank you for giving these children to me.

And I pray they see you in all they do today, and

forever, in Jesus’ name.

Amen

Mother’s Day Stall

It was lovely to see the children attend the Mother’s Day stall with their parents and friends during the week, and navigate their way through the process of purchasing a special gift. We hope all the mothers, grandmothers and mother figures in our community, were made to feel special last weekend. Special thanks to Bianca Della Vedova, Carin Penberthy and Melissa Di Latte for co-ordinating and organising the stall on behalf of the P & F., and to all our parent helpers on Thursday and Friday. The stall was a definite highlight for the children last week.

COVID Update

We have had several new positive COVID cases across a range of classes since the weekend. I ask everyone to remain vigilant with the symptoms and to keep children at home if they are unwell. Parents are also reminded to let us know via email and register any positive cases with WA Health and on the CEWA self-reporting link.

Household Close Contacts

If your child is a household close contact, they will need to have a negative RAT test result each day prior to coming to school. They will also be required to wear a mask for the next seven days whilst at school unless they have already had COVID. Thank you for keeping unwell children home, and in the case of children taken ill at school, thank you for collecting them so promptly.

NAPLAN

The NAPLAN assessments started earlier this week in Year 3 and 5. Several students in each class have been unwell and have not been able to sit the assessments. We will endeavour to ensure that as many of the children as possible, will complete their respective assessments within the fortnight window provided.

Tiny Toms

This week we re-commenced our Tiny Toms program for 0-3 years and their parents. It has been lovely to see the parents and children coming along for a play, a cuppa and a chat. Please spread the word, Tiny Toms is in the Pre-Kindy room from 9-10.15am every Wednesday morning.

School Cross Country

We are looking forward to our school Cross Country Carnival next Friday 20 May. We are hoping the weather will be kind to us. This event will be a good lead into the Interschool Cross Country carnival for Years 3-6 on the 30 May.

Homework Club for Years 3-6

Homework Club is commencing from 3.15pm -4.15pm every Thursday after school in the Year 6 classroom.Students in years 3 - 6 are welcome to attend.

Disco

Our school Disco is scheduled for Thursday 2 June, as the next day is a Pupil Free day that runs into the WA Day long weekend. The theme this year is 'Space'. Please save the date.

Uniform Reminders

A friendly reminder that students are required to wear black lace up school shoes for their winter uniform. Clarks black joggers are not a substitute for black school shoes. Please check when purchasing new shoes for your child that they are not Clarks black joggers. School rain jackets may be worn on top of the school burgundy jumpers during wet weather. However they are not a substitute for the school jumper and each child will require a burgundy school jumper for our school photos on Tuesday 14 June.

Thank you for your support

May God bless your week.

Natalia Thomson

PRINCIPAL

Traditionally, Catholics devote the whole month of May to celebrating and honouring Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Mary is honoured all over the world by Catholic Christians. We remember she is the mother of Jesus. She is the mother of the Church and our mother too.

Last week we were excited to hold our Annual Mother's Day Market, where all our St Thomas children were given the opportunity to independently purchase a gift for Mum, Grandma or someone special for Mother's Day. There was a fantastic energy in the Undercroft as many children attended the Market and left with big smiles on their faces.

A big thank you to Mel Di Latte and Carin Penberthy for the outstanding job you did organising this year's Market, especially ordering the fantastic range of gifts. A big thank you also to Sha Ragnauth, David Edwards, Matt Coniglio, Rini McGoldrick, Andrew Biggs, Paul Sutherland and Mel Di Latte, and your fantastic children, for your amazing smiles and service you provided to all the little shoppers at this year's Market. It was a delight to see your children jump in to lend a hand before school, serving their friends and gift wrapping presents. P&F initiatives only happen with parent volunteers - thank you for giving up your time to help our St Thomas children.

Special thanks also to Daniel Walsh for his very generous donations for our Mother's Day Raffle

Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 1 June at 7pm. We hope to see you there, or feel free to dial in!

Have a wonderful week.

Bianca Della Vedova

PRESIDENT

The St Thomas Dad's Camp Out is back!

All St Thomas dads and father figures are warmly invited to this year's Camp Out. An overnight adventure full of fun, mateship and trying new things with your kids in the great outdoors!

When: Saturday 29 October - Sunday 30 October 2022

Where: The Jarrahfall Bush Camp & Dare Adventures Team, Dwellingup

Please secure your tickets via https://www.trybooking.com/BYDSF

Running Club

If the weather is poor on Friday, I will send a cancellation email via SEQTA out in the morning.

On Friday 27th May, running club will only be for students in the Interschool Team.

Running club for all Yr. 1-6 students, will resume on Friday 10th June.

St Thomas’ Cross Country Carnival – Friday 20th May

Information has been sent out to all parents via Seqta on Wednesday evening.

Cross Country Programme:

Please find attached the programme of events with approximate times for each event, but please be aware that races may begin 10 minutes earlier or later.

Parent helpers:

Volunteers are a very important part of the smooth running of our carnival and we will require assistance of 4 parents per timeslot to help with marshalling around the course. No experience is necessary, you just need to encourage the children as they run around the course. If you can indicate which group you can marshal, for example year 6 race (your child is in year 5) so you can watch that race. If you can help on the day, please let me know as soon as possible Sharon.seaman@cewa.edu.au as races will not start until we have adults on the course. Also if you are available to assist setting up from 8.30am at Rowe Park and packing equipment away at the conclusion of the Year 3 and 4 races please let me know.

Presentations:

At the conclusion of two year groups at a time, presentations will be made at Rowe Park. Final presentations of the overall faction winner and spirit award will be held at St Thomas at 2.45pm on Friday 20th May 2022.

Time Class Distance

9.00am Yr 6 2000m – 4 laps

9.20am Yr 5 1750m – 3 ½ laps

Presentations - Years 5 and 6

9.45am Yr 2 750m – 1 ½ laps

9.55am Yr 1 500m – 1 lap

Presentations - Years 1 and 2

10.15am Yr 3 1000m – 2 laps

10.30am Yr 4 1250m – 2 ½ laps

Presentations - Years 3 and 4

Upcoming Events:

Interschool Cross Country Carnival selected Years 3-6 – Monday 30th May

Year 5 & 6 – Winter Lightning Carnival – Thursday 23rd June

Sharon Seaman

PHYSICAL EDUCATION SPECIALIST

Please ensure you send any updates to: admin@stthomas.wa.edu.au

Thank you

The WA Government has provided a supply of Rapid Antigen Tests to be made available to you for use by your child if they become symptomatic or if they are close household contacts. WA Health has stated that primary age students must have the student allocation issued to parents/caregivers. These RAT Tests have now arrived at our school and will be issued to each family. We are expected to keep records of distribution.

Distribution

From today:

· Pre-kindy, Kindergarten and Pre-primary parents may pick up one pack of RAT tests for each of your children from their classroom when picking or dropping off your child.

· Year 1-6 parents may pick up one pack of RAT tests for each of your children from the admin office between 8.30 - 9.30am or between 2.30 - 3.30pm.

Each family will also receive a box of children’s face masks generously donated by one of our St Thomas’ families. Please be mindful that while these RATs are safe for use by children, they should only be administered under the supervision of an appropriate adult. Any positive COVID-19 result should be reported on the school’s COVID-19 Self-Reporting Portal and positive COVID-19 RAT results must also be reported on the WA Health RAT Register as is required by the WA Government.

It is vitally important that parents and caregivers inform the school if your child tests positive for COVID-19. Parents and caregivers can inform the school of their child’s positive or negative COVID result via this LINK.

A friendly reminder to also register your positive RAT result to the WA Health RAT Register on this LINK

Thank you