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.

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 a practical Christian 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, parents and a community that cares for us.

May we always be conscious of you in our lives.

Amen

ARTS SHOW / OPEN MORNING / 'CHIN-CHIN'

A huge thank you to all members of our school community who contributed to our biennial Arts Show, the Open morning and our Parents and Friends 'Chin-Chin' with art auction. The creativity of the students was clearly on display with the many art pieces, as noted by the federal minister for Curtin, Kate Chaney, who officially opened the show. A massive congratulations and thank you to Mrs Kate Byrne and Mrs Corinna Herbert for their leadership of Arts at St Thomas', and in particular of this special day. There were a significant number of helpers for these three events, prior to and on the day - from staff, parents & friends. Thank you so very much for your contributions to making this day a fantastic celebration of all things art.

STAFFING

Mrs Corrina Herbert, Performing Arts teacher, has accepted the position of Head of Arts at The King's College, Wellard, commencing Term One, 2023. This is an exciting and well-deserved promotional opportunity for Corinna, although it is a great loss for our school community. In her two years at St Thomas', Corinna has transformed our Music and Drama programs and the overall offerings within the Performing Arts area. The introduction of Drama Club, as well as the school musical, have been particular highlights during Corinna's time here. Her collaborative, positive, 'can-do' attitude has been so very much appreciated by students, staff and parents. We wish Corinna well in her new position.

PARENT-TEACHER MEETINGS

Please note that these meetings have been moved to Wednesday 12 October (Kindy, Years 1, 5, 6) and Thursday 13 October (Pre-primary, Years 2, 3, 4). All existing bookings have been applied to the new dates. The PTO booking site will remain open until the day before the meetings. A reminder that these meetings will be conducted online through Microsoft Teams.

ATHLETICS CARNIVALS

Thank you to Mrs Sharon Seaman, staff and parent helpers who made our school Athletics Carnival and yesterday's Interschool Athletics carnival, two days of great competition and fun. The students exhibited outstanding behaviour and sportsmanship during these events. There is a considerable amount of organisation that occurs prior to, during as well as after the carnivals, and we thank Mrs Seaman for her organisation and hard work, inside and outside of school hours. A big congratulations to the students for their efforts and their pursuit of personal excellence, as discussed in the lead-up to these events.

VALUES

'Compassion' and 'Community' have been our values focus points over the past two weeks. It is great to witness students report to staff when they identify another student displaying these values - something that I am hearing is occurring more and more as we move through the year.

TERM FOUR

Please note that Monday 10 October, staff will be taking part in a professional development day regarding our whole-school social-emotional program, Highway Heroes. The staff look forward to continuing the development of this program in our school context. Students will return for the start of Term Four on Tuesday 11 October.

2023

A reminder that parents who intend for their child to not return to St Thomas' next year (except Year Six students) must complete a Student Departure Form and return it to the school by this Friday, 23 September. Please read the note below for more information.

Heath Nankivell

Acting Principal

A friendly reminder that if your child is not returning to St Thomas' Primary School for the 2023 school year, then a Student Departure Form must be completed giving one full terms notice (not applicable to Y6). This means we need to receive this form by the end of this current term (Friday 23 September). This will allow for planning in staffing and also in accepting new students who have applied and are currently on waitlist.

Should notice be received after this date a full term's tuition fee penalty will apply.

The form is available by emailing Julie: admin@stthomas.wa.edu.au.

Thank you.

ST THOMAS’ ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 2022

On Thursday 8th September we had perfect weather for our Athletics carnival held at UWA sports ground and it was great to have so many families supporting the event. We were proud of the high level of participation, sportsmanship and effort shown by all the students who participated in various athletics and novelty events. Thank you to all the staff, parents and community members for their assistance throughout the day, whether it was setting up, packing away, scoring, recording, announcing, handing out ribbons and collecting/returning gear to the school. Special thank you to ‘Crazy about Brew’ coffee van who served our community with hot and cold beverages as well as a selection of food throughout the whole carnival.

This year we aligned National Health and Physical Education (HPE) Day with our Athletics Carnival.

Please see below a message from Dr Sue Whatman ACHPER President:

Thank you for participating in National HPE Day 2022.

This year, over 45,000 students participated in the day from all over Australia. Whole school fun runs, carnivals, dance parties and obstacle courses were highly popular, as were healthy breakfast bars, meditation and active brain breaks in class. It was fantastic to see the emphasis on healthy minds and healthy bodies.

We look forward to welcoming you back next year.

Kind regards,

Dr Sue Whatman ACHPER President

Congratulations to Gittens who were our overall winners and to Sheridan winning the ‘spirit award’ for 2022.

Please see below for all of the results and records broken on the day;

OVERALL CHAMPION FACTION

1st Gittens 2720 points

2nd Forrest 2556 points

3rd Sheridan 2218 points

Spirit Award – Sheridan

Champions and Runner Up Champion

Year 6 Champion Girl Amelie T

Year 6 Runner Up Champion Girl Alice R

Year 6 Champion Boy Lux E

Year 6 Runner Up Champion Boy Jack H

Year 5 Champion Girl Lily G

Year 5 Runner Up Champion Girl Amelie G

Year 5 Champion Boy Hamish L

Year 5 Runner Up Champion Boy Charlie D

Year 4 Champion Girl Maxine S

Year 4 Runner Up Champion Girl Arielle P

Year 4 Champion Boy Harrison C

Year 4 Runner Up Champion Boy Inderpal S

Year 3 Champion Girl Ha D

Year 3 Runner Up Champion Girl Ivy C

Year 3 Champion Boy Charlie J

Year 3 Runner Up Champion Boy Luke F

Year 2 Champion Girl Maddy G

Year 2 Runner Up Champion Girl Beatrice B

Year 2 Champion Boy Cruz L

Year 2 Runner Up Champion Boy Thomas V

Year 1 Champion Girl Maggie G

Year 1 Runner Up Champion Girl Elisabeth C

Year 1 Champion Boy Hudson W

Year 1 Runner Up Champion Boy Samuel J

800m

Girls Open: Gold Lily G Silver Amelie T Bronze Caoimhe P

Boys Open: Gold Charlie D Silver Tom B Bronze Jude K

There were a number of records broken this year. Congratulations to the following students:

Yr 1 Girls Standing Long Jump Maggie D

Yr 1 Boys Standing Long Jump Hudson W

Yr 1 Boys Vortex Throw Hudson W

Yr 1 Girls 50m Maggie D

Yr 1 Boys 50m Hudson W

Yr 1 Girls 100m Maggie D

Yr 1 Boys 100m Hudson W

Yr 2 Girls Standing Long Jump Javiera D

Yr 2 Girls Vortex Throw Madeline G

Yr 2 Girls 50m Madeline G

Yr 2 Girls 100m Madeline G

Yr 3 Boys Teeball Throw Luke F

Yr 3 Boys 200m Charlie J

Yr 5 Girls Turbo Javelin Emily C

Thank you for a wonderful day!

Return it WA - Containers for Change

On Monday 5th September, David from Return it WA spoke to the children about the importance of how we can do our bit for the environment. Now we have a large purple bin where the children can place their empty drink bottles in and the money raised will go towards purchasing more classroom equipment. Only empty drink containers are to go into this bin not food, containers must be empty, lids must be off and straws taken out. Please remind your children as this teaches them the importance of recycling and respectfulness towards the staff who count them and Mrs Seaman who takes them from school to be recycled.

So far this term we have raised $35.50 a tremendous effort by everyone.

INTERSCHOOL ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

On Tuesday 20th September, 47 students represented our school at the Interschool Athletics carnival at the WA state Athletics centre.

Overall St Thomas came 5th overall, with 10 points separating 4th and 5th, the boys were 4th over all and the top four schools were between 20 points of one another which was so close! The girls finished 8th overall.

Well done to those students who run up a division or two and filled in events for those students who were unable to attend. Once again, the student’s behaviour was immaculate and admired their sportsmanship way of supporting one another all day. A huge credit to everyone for finishing their races and preforming at the jump and throws stations. Well done St Thomas’.

Upcoming Events:

Swimming Training – Years 3-6 students who are in the Interschool Swimming team only.

Thursday and Friday mornings - Week 1 and 2 of Term 4, 7.30am Claremont Pool.

Interschool Swimming Carnival – Years 3-6 selected students. This was postponed in Term 1 due to covid.

HBF Stadium - Monday 24th October 2022

Sharon Seaman

Physical Education Specialist Teacher

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

Instrumental music lessons are available at St Thomas' Primary. Children can learn voice, keyboard, piano, violin, drums, guitar and flute. Please contact the school office for a music form if your child is interested.