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.

TERM FOUR

Friday 15 October - Junior Coding Club Y1-3 12:45pm

Friday 15 October - Soccer Clinics (all day)

Saturday 16/Sunday 17 - Dad's & Children's Camp Out Dwellingup

Monday 18 October - Music Assembly & CPAF Awards 1:30pm

Tuesday 19 October - Green Team

Tuesday 19 October - Y5 Camp - Perth Zoo 4:30 pm

Wednesday 20 October - Surfing Y6 commences 06:45am

Wednesday 20 October - Y3 Reconciliation Retreat 9 am

Wednesday 20 October - Library Day

Wednesday 20 October - Tiny Toms 9 - 10:15 am

Wednesday 20 October - School/Parish Mass Y2 @ 12:30pm

Wednesday 20 October - Mini Vinnies @ 12:45pm

Thursday 21 October - Scitech Challenge Day - eChallenge

Thursday 21 October - Coding Club Yrs 4-6 @ 3:15 - 4:15pm

Friday 22 October - Parent Kindy 2022 Information Morning 9 - 10am

Friday 22 October - Junior Coding Club Yrs 1-3

Monday 25 October - Y3 Reconciliation 3-4pm

Tuesday 26 October - Y3 Reconciliation 3-4pm

Tuesday 26 October - Drama Club 3:15 - 4:15pm

Wednesday 27 October - Surfing Y6 @ 06:45am

Wednesday 27 October - Library Day

Wednesday 27 October - Tiny Toms 9 - 10:15am

Wednesday 27 October - School/Parish Mass Y1 @ 12:45pm

Wednesday 27 October - Mini Vinnies 12:45pm

Thursday 28 October - Chess Club 12:40 - 1:20pm

Thursday 28 October - Coding Club Yrs 4-6 @ 3:15pm

Friday 29 October - World Teachers Day

Friday 29 October - Assembly Y1

Friday 29 October - Junior Coding Club Yrs 1-3 @ 12:45pm

Tuesday 2 November - P & F Meeting 7pm

Tuesday 9 November - Advisory Council Meeting 7pm

Tuesday 23 November - Annual Community Meeting 6pm - All parents welcome

Tuesday 7 December - Christmas Concert

Lord, as we prepare for the coming of a new term

make us ready, attentive and available to hear you.

Thank You for the gift of being able to rise each day

with the assurance that You walk through it with us.

Thank You for the gifts of creativity and uniqueness,

and the energy to put them to good use.

May all that we are today, all that we try to do today,

may all our encounters, reflections, be placed in your hands.

May the work we do and the way we do it, bring new hope, new life,

and courage to all we come in contact with this term.

We make this prayer through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

It was lovely to welcome our students back to school this week and listen to their amazing holidays stories. Term 4 is an exciting term and we look forward to celebrating the wonderful achievements of our students with you.

Staffing 2022

As the end of the year draws near, we are working to finalise staffing for the year ahead. There will be a few changes in our team for 2022. We farewell Mrs Leanne Hancock who has generously given her service to our school for 23 years as our school Finance Officer, and Mrs Ann Barry, who has also served our school in many teaching roles for the past 23 Years. Mrs Kelly Migliore will be taking maternity leave, to welcome her second child. Mrs Penny Billingham and Mr Steeve Lee have been amazing as caretakers in the Finance Team whilst Mrs Hancock was on leave. We wish them all the best for the future and thank them for their service to our school. In other staff changes, Mrs Nicky Sullivan and Mrs Lisa Keatch will be taking 12 months study leave and will return in 2023. Mrs Sam Valentine will be taking long service leave during Semester One and will return in Semester Two.

We welcome Mrs Nicola Hurst, Mr Brendan Evans and Miss Penny Mulholland to our teaching team next year, along with our new Finance Officer, Mrs Mary Courtney. Staffing positions for 2022 will be confirmed in the next few weeks and will be announced at the Annual Community Meeting on Tuesday 23 November at 6pm.

Parent and Caregiver Survey (PaCS)

Thank you for your participation in the Parent and Caregiver Survey (PaCS). The participation rate of the survey was 56%. Although this is not high, there has been valuable insights which will inform ongoing school improvement. Your responses have provided feedback about a wide range of dimensions and a summary is provided below:

1. Catholic Identity in Action - The wider school community acknowledge that St Thomas’ consistently reflects its Catholic heritage through rituals, symbols, artwork and sacred spaces.

2. Staff support - There was an overwhelmingly positive response to staff caring for students at St Thomas’ and treating them respectfully.

3. Dealing with Student Behaviour - Parents acknowledge that the school environment is safe. More information, and communication on how student behaviour is addressed, was requested. As a response to feedback, the school has implemented the ‘Highway Heroes’ social emotional learning program for students from Kindergarten to Year 6 and the school Behaviour Management Policy is being reviewed. This updated policy will be provided to parents once completed.

4. Stimulating and Challenging Environment - Parent responses indicated that activities provided for students are stimulating.

5. Satisfaction with Child’s Progress - Parent responses indicated a high level of satisfaction with their children’s progress. More information on how individual needs are differentiated has been requested.

6. Welcoming School - Overwhelmingly, parents indicated that our school is welcoming in all aspects.

7. Affirming Diversity -Overwhelmingly, parents indicated strong positive results for affirming diversity. This is acknowledged in the wider school community.

8. Communication - Overwhelmingly, the responses indicate that staff are approachable to discuss concerns and grievances and communication between school and parents is good. Parents are comfortable approaching staff and engaging generally with teachers around the education and development of their children.

9. Satisfaction with the School - Overwhelmingly, parents are satisfied with our school. However, there has been a request for information to gain a greater understanding of student academic expectations, assessment and feedback. St Thomas’ has now introduced an Interim Report for Kindergarten to Year 6 students at the end of Terms One and Three and an extra parent/teacher interview at the end of Term 3. The school acknowledges that it is our responsibility to share information on assessment and feedback with you. Communication is key.

Royal Show Parking

A huge thank you to Mrs Gibbs and our Year 6 students and parents, who raised a substantial amount of money through show parking in the school holidays. It was lovely to see the maturity of our Year 6 students as they took on the role of welcoming and assisting members of our community with parking. I was very impressed!

Sacrament of Penance

Our Year Three students are preparing to receive their First Reconciliation on Monday 25 & Tuesday 26 October. This sacrament is one of love, forgiveness and healing, marking a significant step in the spiritual journey of our students. Thank you to our Year 3 Teachers Mrs Sullivan and Mrs Keatch for preparing our students. Students and their parents enjoyed an information workshop on Tuesday evening and students will participate in a Sacramental Retreat next Wednesday facilitated by one of our Presentation Sisters, Sister Catherine Warner. Please keep our year 3 students and their families in your prayers.

St Thomas’ 2021 School Campout

This weekend is the St Thomas’ School Campout in Dwellingup. A big thank you to Joep Vaessen and the wonderful team of organisers. We wish all our families a safe and enjoyable weekend.

God bless

Natalia Thomson

Principal

Co-Curricular Opportunities in Term 4

Continuing the Co-curricular offerings for students in Term Four is an important aspect of living out our ‘Educating the Whole Child’ mantra.

Term Four sees a continuing of opportunities for students to engage in areas of interest and passion for them. The co-curricular program allows students to mix with like-minded peers, across other year levels in a structured manner. Please see Term Planner for all the co-curricular programs available for students this term.

Thank you to the staff who take on the organisation of these programs, often in their own time before school, after school or during break times, to engage your children in exciting and novel ways that broaden their understanding of areas beyond the classroom curriculum.

Staff Technologies Professional Learning Day

On Monday 11 October, staff participated in a professional learning day designed to equip staff with high-level skills and understandings for teaching students the content in the Technologies learning area. Gabrielle Trinca, a consultant from the CEWA Digital Learning team facilitated the workshop. Of particular note was: a deep-dive into the Technologies learning area (covering the two subjects of Design and Digital Technologies); investigating best use of the updates in the SeeSaw resource; how we can align our new school vision with ICT integration; reviewing the ICT General Capabilities; and reviewing elements of Place, Space and Technology, one of the five teacher practices in our Vision for Learning.

Feedback from Gabrielle was incredibly positive, noting the high standard of where our staff are positioned in teaching the Technologies learning area, as well as a more positive affirmation of our current school vision, which she shared amongst other CEWA consultants.

Heath Nankivell

Assistant Principal

INTERSCHOOL ATHLETIC RESULTS 2021

On Tuesday 21 September, 51 students represented our school at the Interschool Athletics Carnival at the WA State Athletics Centre.

St Thomas’ came 4th over all and all of the students performed exceptional well and all of the relay teams setting a goal and meeting those goals on the day. A big congratulations to Christian L (Year 6) who broke the Year 6 Interschool Long Jump record with a huge jump of 4.66m. Well done Christian 😊👏

The results are below:

Overall winning school

4th St Thomas’

Girls trophy

5th St Thomas’

Boys Trophy

3rd St Thomas’

Most Improved school

5th St Thomas’

NETBALL - Net, Set, Go – Term 4 Program

In Term 4, I will be offering a Net, set , Go program for students in PP – year 6, on Thursday afterschool, from 3.15- 4.00pm for 6 weeks. The cost will be $70 as there are administration fees which go to Netball Australia and each child receives a participation pack.

This will commence in Week 2 – Thursday 21st October and conclude on Thursday 25th November.

The registration link for St Thomas Primary School participants is: https://netball.resultsvault.com/common/pages/reg/welcome.aspx?type=6&id=96017&entityid=77486

Families will be invoiced directly via the school. Payment must be received by 31 October 2021.

SOCCER – 4 week Program

Also in Term 4, Soccer West will be running afterschool clinics on Thursday’s starting the 28 October until Thursday 18 Nov for 4 weeks and the cost is $45.

Parents/guardians can now directly register their child/ren for the program through the following URL www.kickitfootball.com.au/skills.

We would love your help to get all the overdue and lost library books back on our shelves. Please take a moment to search through bags, under beds and wherever else they may be hiding!

Books can be returned any day to the library. Please ensure they are deposited in the return chute. If uncertain they can be left with staff at the front desk.

The sooner they return, then more students get a chance to borrow them.

Thank you for your assistance, it is much appreciated.

With the close of the 2021 Catholic Performing Arts Festival at the end of Term 3 we celebrate the personal achievements of all our students who entered this year. We are excited to announce that the following students were awarded Certificates of Merit, Excellence and Outstanding for their performances. This certificates will be presented to the students at the Music Assembly on Monday 18 October in Week 2, commencing at 1:30 pm.

Bible Reading

Charlotte F- Certificate of Outstanding

Anthony C - Certificate of Excellence

Instrumental Solo

Vocal

Emily C - Certificate of Outstanding

Piano

Anthony C - Certificate of Excellence

Kian A - Certificate of Excellence

Erin M - Certificate of Merit

Jett E - Certificate of Merit

Hamish L - Certificate of Merit

Percussion

Jack D - Certificate of Excellence

Christian L - Certificate of Merit

Rory M - Certificate of Merit

Choir

Primary Sacred Choral Music- Certificate of Merit

Primary Choral Singing- Certificate of Merit

Drama

Plays

Year 5 Drama- Snow White & Aladdin- Certificate of Outstanding

Year 6 Drama- True Tale of the Big Bad Wolf- Certificate of Excellence

Duologues

Rory F and Chloe C - Certificate of Outstanding

Guy S and Rory M - Certificate of Excellence

Rhys H and Christian L - Certificate of Excellence

Bastian D and Julius E - Certificate of Merit

Wow!

Congratulations and many thanks to those who participated in our School Fun Read Readathon.

We raised $3000 which will be used to purchase new reading books.

Prizes will be sent out next week.

Facilitated by Mrs Brianna Kirkbride (Early Years Educator) the session for parents and their children between 0-3 years is held every Wednesday morning between 8.45 – 10.15am.

All welcome.

Keyed Up Music will be teaching drums and keyboard lessons in Term 4 during school. Individual lessons start at $23.10 for 20 minutes or $34.10 for 30 minutes per lesson. If you are interested in your son/daughter learning an instrument, contact Savanna on 6107 8841 or 0479 171 424 or enrol at www.keyedupmusic.com.au/enrolment-form

Please also contact the school office to complete a Music Application Form.