OPEN DAY: Tomorrow (Tuesday 11th March) we have our opening morning for prospective families looking to enrol their child/ren from K-6 in 2026. If you know anyone interested in sending their child to an AWESOME school, where the focus is on the faith, learning and wellbeing of the whole child please direct them to the St Thomas More open morning or straight to our application at https://www.stmdow.catholic.edu.au/enrol/

COMMUNICATION: The School's main communication will always be via Compass. We are however looking to expand our social media presence. Please search (and LIKE/FOLLOW) us on Facebook and Instagram - St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, Ruse. Alternatively please visit our website and scroll down to the bottom where you’ll find direct links to both our Facebook and Instagram pages: https://www.stmdow.catholic.edu.au/ Be sure to share these pages with your family and friends!

COMMUNITY HELPER INDUCTION: There will be one final session for anyone wishing to assist/volunteer in the school in 2025. This session will be held on Tuesday 8th April at 7pm via Zoom. Please save the date and more details will follow soon.

BUILDING UPDATE: We are very pleased to advise that all is on-track in relation to our building project. The Year 5 & 6 building is now demolished and rubble removal has started.

We are also almost finished clearing and cleaning out of the swales both internally and along the perimeter of the side of the school, and WOW what a difference this has made. Once this project is finished we will provide further information about the specifics of the side gate being opened for arrival and dismissal each day.

LENT

Lent is the period of forty days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. For many Christians, Lent is traditionally a period of fasting and saying sorry for the times that we haven’t lived the values of the gospels. It is a time of prayer, reflection and penance, during which we are encouraged to think carefully about how we are living and how God wants us to live. 

The ashes of Ash Wednesday mark us as people who are sorry for the choices we have made that have cut us off from God, our true self, others in our community and our earth. Each year we use them to form the Cross of Jesus, a Cross that reminds of the need to become less self-centered and more focused on the needs of others. It is a sign that we are called to make the most of the gift that is our life and be followers of Christ who work for truth and justice in our world. 

As we begin the journey of Lent, let us pray that we will be the face of Christ for one another and especially for those most in need of our care. 

Loving God,

as we begin our Lenten journey 

we pray that the mists that can cloud our vision may lift, 

so that we may see the road that lies before us

 and so come with open hearts to you, the source of living water. 

Melt what is frozen within us, warm our hearts, 

and lift our spirits that we do not lose heart in our capacity to grow, 

or in your desire to lead us safely home. 

Amen.

Mrs Melissa Vella

Principal

MONTYS COLOUR FUN RUN! -  Thursday 3 April 

We are super excited to have the Colour Fun Run returning. This is the major fundraiser for our school for 2025 and will be held on the School Oval. It plans to be a great event with Cross Country, BBQ lunch (run by P&F)  and the Colour Run. 

Students will receive incentive prizes for each amount they raise. Raise $10 to receive your first incentive prize, there are 15 unique prizes on offer!

Simply go to www.myprofilepage.com.au and click onto the register button to create a cybersafe, online profile page. Then start collecting! The more you raise the more prizes you get and money for our school. 

You can even earn free bonus donations!

The St Thomas More community has a great tradition in supporting the Project Compassion campaign. This year we began raising money for Project Compassion with a Pancake Breakfast. Thank you to all our families who supported this fundraiser. The money raised during this event, as well as money collected in class boxes, will go towards Caritas’ work in less fortunate countries around the wall. Mrs Vella has challenged the students that if we can raise $500 as a school, we will have a mufti day at the end of the term!

With Naplan fast approaching in a matter of days, please see below the amended Naplan Assessment Timetable. These changes were made in the best interest of the students, and provide a more balanced format, encompassing rest days as well as time for students to do make-up assessments should they miss any of the scheduled days. 

iPad Training
Year 4 has been engaging in lots of learning activities across these past few weeks! We started our year off by receiving our iPads and we have just participated in our Apple Bootcamp, which taught us lots of skills on how to use our iPads effectively and creatively. We learned about researching, how to use Keynote (including creating animations) as well as using Garage Band. Year 4 is now going to be putting these skills into action in our classroom learning! 

Exploring Place Value in Mathematics
In Mathematics this term, we have been learning about time, multiplication and area. We have been learning multiplication strategies, such as doubling and arrays to help us calculate multiplication sums. We have also been able to apply some of these skills to help us with our times tables. Currently we are learning about representing numbers, looking closely at place value. We have learnt about place value houses, and what place value means - each digit having its own value based upon its position in a number. We’ve been able to use hands-on materials as well as interactive tools on our iPads to help us represent numbers in different ways.

Exploring Narrative and Characterisation in English
This term, Year 4 students are diving deep into the world of narrative texts through an exciting exploration of ‘The Thing About Oliver’ by Deborah Kelly. As we analyse this engaging novel, we are investigating how authors develop characters, build settings, and structure plots to create compelling stories. We are looking closely at descriptive language and dialogue as well as how authors bring characters to life within texts.

After reading our class text and learning about narrative features and structure, we are going to apply our learning to create our own engaging narrative stories. We are going to learn about the writing cycle, which includes planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing while remembering to include correct sentence structure and grammar throughout our writing.

We look forward to seeing Year 4 develop confidence in their writing as they create their own engaging stories! Thank you for your continued support at home as we encourage our young authors on this journey.

Mrs Payne and Mr Murphy

Year 4 Teachers

A number of students have recently attended Diocesan Sports Trials to compete for a position in Representative Wollongong teams.

Congratulations to Ivy C (Year 6) and Lenny H (Year 5) who were both selected for the Wollongong Touch Football Teams.  Best of luck for the Mackillop Touch Football Trials.

Well done to the following swimmers who represented St Thomas More at the Western Region Swimming Carnival; From Year 3 - Elliot S, Toby D, Year 4 - Zac W,  Alexei O, Juliette S, Year 5 - Georgia H,  Annyalse R,  Fletcher D,  Johnas S,  Year 6 - Matilda H, Indianna N, Peyton O, Audrey L, Roman O, Blake W.

On the day, Elliot S broke the regional 50m Freestyle Record for the 8 years boys.  Zac W won the Junior Boys Age Champion. Excellent achievements from both swimmers.

Congratulations to Fletcher D, Georgia H, Elliot S, Zac W and the Junior Boys Relay team who will now represent Western Region at the Wollongong Carnival in Corrimal.  Good Luck.

Mrs Marion Augustine

        

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Do you feel like you need some more support with parenting?

CatholicCare Wollongong offers professional counselling services to support you through life's challenges. Their counsellors provide a listening and independent ear and will equip you with strategies and tools for coping with stress and major life changes.

Counselling is available in-person in Nowra, Wollongong and Campbelltown or via phone or online.

Visit our website to learn more: https://catholiccare.dow.org.au/services-and-programs/family/family-care/counselling/

Playgroup will be held at St Thomas More Church Hall, in Ruse on Tuesdays during school terms from 9.30 - 11.30am.

Plenty of parking available on site. Everyone is welcome.

Playgroup is for children 0-5 years. There are plenty of activities to do. Bring morning tea to share. Tea and coffee available for parents/carers. 

To cover insurance everyone is asked to try playgroup for two weeks and then if happy there is a need to join Playgroup NSW. It’s free and very easy. Donations of $2-$5 are recommended to cover costs.

Really small group at the moment who would love to welcome new families. So tell family and friends with little ones about us and come give us a try.

  

This year marks the 209th Anniversary of the Appin Massacre. The memorial service will be held on Sunday 13 April 2025 at Cataract Dam from 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, with a free sausage sizzle.

We encourage staff, students, and their parents, to attend the Appin Memorial as a sign of respect for the Dharawal people who were killed in the Massacre at Appin on 17 April 1816.