TERM 4 - WEEK 1
Front Cover - 1/2 Morrison
At St Thomas More School we are a Mercy School, displaying the Mercy Values of Respect, Justice, Hospitality, Service, Courage, and Compassion in our everyday lives. In 1/2CM, we created our own Mercy Crosses and created posters for the women of Catherine House. Mrs Musolino used our posters in the goodie bags we sent Catherine House with toiletries to support them in times of need. We continually show Mercy to those people in the community who are suffering and are very proud of putting a smile on their faces.
Leadership
Dear Parents, Caregivers, Students, and Friends of St Thomas More,
Welcome to Term 4! We trust that you have enjoyed a wonderful holiday break. It was a delight to see the student’s smiling faces as they returned to school this week eager to share holiday stories and experiences. We look forward to an exciting and eventful term to close the school year. Many of these events include Sports Day, Athletics Carnival, new Reception transition visits as well as a whole school transition session, Advent, end-of-year Thanksgiving Mass, Graduation events, Remembrance Day, and Volunteer’s Day.
Staffing News
This term, we extend a very warm welcome to our school community, Demmi Plew
(Co-educator) and Alex Merritt (Front Office Administration). We trust that their time with us is a rewarding and fruitful experience.
Front Office Administration
- Sara Hardy continues to work Monday to Friday
- Olivia Marshall will work Monday to Wednesday
- Alex Merritt will work Thursday and Friday
Last term we farewelled Genevieve Tyler (Co-educator) and we thank her for the contributions she has made to our school community during her time here.
Marie D’occhio is on Long Service Leave for the first two weeks of term and Rosealyse Trimboli is working in the 1/2MD class.
Catholic Schools Music Festival (CSMF)
The CSMF is a showcase of talent from students within upper primary and secondary Catholic schools involving approximately 2000 students who spend 7 months preparing for their moment on stage. Performances are held each September, with each evening featuring a massed choir, instrumental ensembles, vocal groups, and solo artists. The musical program consists of a 374-voice Combined Schools Upper Primary Choir formed by different schools each evening. All of the 65 schools involved in the massed choir have rehearsed weekly with their Choir Trainer in preparation for their special performance at the Adelaide Festival Centre. We thank the St Thomas More School Choir members, Muscline, Maddison, Indie Lee, Charlotte, Jordyn, Antoniette, and Ellie for their consistent efforts with rehearsals and for being our shining stars at their performance on Tuesday 26 September. We also thank Rosemarie Villano, our choir trainer, for her tireless efforts over the year in preparing the school choir for their culminating performance.
Pupil Free Day – Staff Reflection Day
We thank Melissa Musolino, our APRIM for her thorough planning and thought-provoking facilitation of our staff reflection day. The day provided many opportunities to reflect on self-compassion and compassion for others as well as providing provocations for how we might continue to inspire this within our students.
Sun Smart
In line with our Sun Smart school policy, all students are required to wear their hats next term. Please ensure that your child has a school hat, labelled with their name to wear. If students do not have a hat, they will need to remain under the shelter area during sports and play times. We thank you for your support with this.
Shaping our future together
Leadership Team
Religion
Mercy Day
At the end of last term, we celebrated Mercy Day with a whole school liturgy. Throughout the day students learnt about the sisters of Mercy and the role that Catherine House plays today in supporting women and children in need. With your generous support over the last few weeks of the term, we were able to collect many toiletry items for Catherine House. These items were gift-wrapped by staff as part of our staff reflection day and will be delivered to Catherine House next week.
A total of $121 raised through our end-of-term casual clothes day will also be given to Catherine House.
Our Year 5/6 students continued to raise money to support those in need when they ‘walked a mile’ to raise funds for the Hutt Street Centre, raising a total of $512.
The Hutt Street Centre supports people in the community experiencing homelessness by providing immediate support such as a warm shower and a hot meal as well as longer-term support, connecting people with housing, education, and employment opportunities to build the skills and confidence to change their circumstances for good.
Reflection Gallery
Staff Reflection Day
Our term began with a staff reflection day held at St. Thomas More School and focused on Living Mercy: head, heart, and hands through our mercy value, compassion. Staff engaged in a variety of activities across the day enabling them to focus on compassion for self as well as compassion for others. Looking at prayer in different ways including, praying in colour, and praying through song assisted staff with reflecting on Jesus’ view of compassion. Staff explored compassion for others by preparing items for Fred’s Van Elizabeth and helping to gift wrap the toiletry items collected by St. Thomas More families and staff during term 3, ready to be sent to Catherine House. Staff member Lesley Swann then finished off our day by leading staff through an enjoyable art activity where we created Vincent Van Gogh’s, Starry Night artwork with oil pastels.
Classroom Learning
Made in the Image of God (MITIOG) - Human Sexuality Curriculum
The Made in the Image of God (MITIOG), Human Sexuality Curriculum is the official program for sexuality education in South Australian Catholic Schools, for Years R-12. Each year our students engage with age-appropriate curriculum content regarding sexuality through MITIOG.
Catholic understanding is that all humans are made in the image of God and therefore deserving of the utmost dignity and honor and that our sexuality is a fundamental dimension of the human person. We acknowledge that the beliefs, values, and insights of the Christian Tradition and Catholic moral teaching enrich our lives. This year the Human Sexuality Curriculum will be taught during Term 4.
We acknowledge that families are the first educators of their child’s sexuality and that it is the role of the school to support families in this area. We are committed to supporting and enriching these partnerships.
If you have any further questions, please contact your child’s class teacher.
Signs and Symbols of Our Catholic Faith
During daily prayer in the classroom, students are involved in preparing a prayer space with symbols from the Catholic faith tradition. We follow the liturgical calendar which highlights colours for each liturgical season.
A calendar year incorporates the seasons in twelve months or fifty-two weeks which include holidays, commemorative days, and days that we could term as ordinary. The Liturgical Year is similar in the way it is organised. It provides occasions and whole seasons to ritualize the significant movements in our Christian life. It is through this cyclical process that the Church renews itself again and again. In the Liturgical Year, every season or feast day has its own unique symbols and colour which help us to explore and be involved in the mystery of the incarnation, birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We begin the Liturgical Year on the First Sunday of Advent then move to Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time again, finishing with the feast of Christ the King.
Advent - Purple
Christmas – Gold / White
Ordinary Time – Green
Lent – Purple
Easter – Gold / White
Pentecost - Red
Ordinary Time - Green
I wonder if your child/ren can tell you which liturgical season we are currently in?
Liturgical Calendar Information
Special celebrations that we focus on during classroom and whole school prayer throughout term 3 and those that come up in our liturgical calendar include:
1/11 All Saints Day
2/11 All Souls Day
11/11 Remembrance Day
11/11 Catherine McAuley Day
13/11 World Kindness Day
20/11 Universal Children’s Day
26/11 Feast of Christ the King
3/12 1st Sunday of Advent
10/12 2nd Sunday of Advent
Elizabeth Catholic Parish News
Sacramental Program
We have now come to the end of our Sacramental Program for 2023. If your child would like to be involved in the Sacramental Program for 2024 or you would like to find out more about the program, please see Melissa Musolino.
Parish Bulletin Link
https://elizabethcatholicparish.com.au/bulletin/
The Lion King Excursion
On the last week of term 3, Rec/6 classes were invited to attend the Lion King production performed by St Columba College at Shedley Theatre, Playford Civic Centre, 10 Playford Blvd, Elizabeth SA 5112. . We walked to this excursion as a group – the approximate duration of the walk was 20 – 25 minutes, departing from and returning to school. We walked to this excursion as a group – the approximate duration of the walk was 20 – 25 minutes, departing from and returning to school.
What an amazing performance it was! The costumes, sets, the wonderful singing and a terrific surprise to fnd Brigette Niyongere as Rafiki. Bridgette is curently a year 11 students, an ex student of St thomas More and an oustanding performer.
I thought the acting was really good! - Zoraya
The singers were talented - Jacob
I loved the costumes and the sets - Chloe
I like the hyenas and I wanted a copy of the program to show my family - Mercedes
The Dad lion died. I liked all the animals - Lincoln
Pupil Free Days
Out-of-School Hours Care
2023 OSHC runs daily: 6:30am to 8:30am and 3:00pm to 6:00pm
Cricket Blast
School Access
8:30am to 8:45am
Access via the main front courtyard gate at the school crossing.
8:45am to 2:45pm
Access via green front pool gate in front of the administration building. You will need to lift the pool gate lock at the top of the gate to open and please ensure the gate is closed securely.
2:45pm to 3:15pm
Access via the main front courtyard gate at the school crossing.
Children dropped off before 8:30am and not collected by 3:15pm will be sent to OSHC and caregivers will be invoiced for the service.
Advance Notice
Principal's Tour - By appointment only
October 1-31
The Big Draw Month - Visual Literacy
International School Library Month
October 24
United Nations Day
October 27
Australian World Teacher's Day
October 29
Grandparent's Day
November 1 - 30
World Novel Writing Month
November 6 - 12
National Recycling Month
Raising Hearts and Minds
