Dear Parents and Carers,

Spring has sprung!  We have been blessed with some beautiful sunny days for these first few days of the new Spring season.  Although we continue to pray for some much needed rain in many areas of our country, we can still be thankful for the beautiful weather that we are currently experiencing.  On Monday we acknowledged the World Day of Prayer for the Care of all Creation. This world day of prayer was instigated a few years ago by Pope Francis. Pope Francis is asking us to remember the importance of caring for creation and every person living on our planet is challenged to take care of our common home.  We are all asked to take up this challenge in our homes, schools and communities. How are you caring for the environment?   

Last Wednesday evening was a proud moment for St Thomas More School.  Our school performed exceptionally well in the Wakakirri competition. Through song and dance, our students told the biographical story of the life of the famous Australian - Steve Irwin.  Congratulations again to all of the students, parents and staff involved in this event. We have been notified that our school has been invited to perform again in the Performance and Awards Show for the Sydney Region Primary School Challenge in two weeks.  Thank you in anticipation to all parents for their support in allowing the children to perform on the stage again this year. Thanks to our hard working staff team who have organised our school’s 2019 Wakakirri experience - Mrs MacFetters, Mrs Augustine, Mrs Cornett, Miss McKenzie, Miss Figueiras, Miss Clapson, Mrs Ross and Miss Swallow.  Details will soon be provided regarding our school’s performance and the purchase of tickets for the Performance and Awards Show. 

In past months our school has been using a new online portal called COMPASS in communicating with parents.  The newest change to occur this week in COMPASS is that all Major and Minor Behaviour letters that are sent home will now be sent directly to parents’ email addresses via COMPASS.  As you are aware the Major and Minor Behaviour letters are an important form of communication with parents in relation to our PB4L processes (formerly known as SPB4L).

Thank you Mrs Ellis-Donai and Mrs Labib for their organisation and coordination of the recent Father’s Day Stall.  Thanks also to the mums who came along and assisted on the stall. The children truly appreciate the opportunity to purchase something for their father.  I am sure the dads, granddads, stepdads and male carers loved the gifts chosen for them.

A reminder that our next P&F meeting occurs next Monday evening, 9th September at 7.30pm in the Library.

Our school is participating in Mufti/Jersey/Footy Colours Day on Friday 13 September 2019 to raise awareness for Organ and Tissue donation.  This is an extraordinary mufti day, not to raise money donations but to raise our awareness of this worthy cause.  This cause is close to the St Thomas More community as it affects some families in our school.   All children are asked to wear their favourite mufti/jersey/footy colours so that we can raise awareness about the importance of organ donation.

Best wishes for the coming week,

Philip Barrington 
PRINCIPAL

Lateness to School
Over the past few weeks it has become more and more alarming as to the number of students who are arriving at school after the rest of the school is in class. When a child arrives late to a classroom, there are many disruptions that this causes. Firstly, they need to unpack their bag while the rest of the class are trying to learn. Then they have to take their lunch order or messages to the office, disrupting a second student ,who they have to take with them. When they are finally ready to commence their day of learning, they have no idea what they are up to and then need to wait for the teacher to be able to explain it to them or the rest of the class has to wait while the teacher does this. As you can see, lateness effects the whole class, not just the late student. We are therefore asking parent assistance to ensure that all students are on their lines at 8.30 ready to start the day.

Swimming Program
Last week each child took home a note regarding the swimming program that is being conducted for the entire school next term. This program is compulsory for all students. If you have any problems with your child participating in this program, you need to make an appointment to speak to Mr Barrington. We need to give information to the swimming centre by the end of this week and ask parent assistance by completing the form and returning it to school tomorrow. Another copy of the form has been attached to the newsletter.

Behaviour Letters
When a child breaks one of the school rules, they receive a minor or major behaviour letter. From today, these letter will be emailed to parents through the new platform the Diocese is using called Compass.

If you have changed your email address or have not been receiving the Newsletter, please contact the office and update your email address. This will ensure you receive all correspondence.

Wakakirri
The Wakakirri Squad had some very exciting news yesterday, that we had been successful in attaining a spot in the Award Show held at Sydney Olympic Park on Tuesday 17^th September, commencing at 7pm. A Wakakirri Newsletter has been sent to Wakakirri parents today. Please make sure you look out for this. Some parents, who are not part of the Wakakirri squad have expressed an interest in seeing the performance. Any family who would like to attend the Awards Night, to cheer the squad on, please contact the office to register your interest. Tickets are $37 each. You do not need to send any money, as we will let you know when the tickets are available and you purchase them online. We just need to let Wakakirri know, by Friday, how many tickets we require. Also, once the DVD arrives, we will have a viewing, which the rest of the community will be invited to.

A reminder regarding any outstanding school fees. As a condition of your child’s enrolment, you have agreed to section 18 of your child’s enrolment which states that you are joint and severally liable for the payment of all school fees and levies. Parents & Carers unable to pay school fees due to genuine financial hardship are urged to contact Mr Barrington who will respond to your situation with care and sensitivity. Early communication with the school regarding a family’s financial situation is essential. Please make sure you are making payments to the account and it will be settled in full by December 2019.

Fee statements are issued monthly (via email). Please ensure you review your statement each month to ensure your payments are up to date. Should you be paying regular instalments, please ensure the payment is enough to cover the fees by mid December 2019. Thank you to the families for having settled the account in full or making regular instalments.

As Parents & Carers are aware, we have changed our student data platform to COMPASS. Majority of Parents & Carers have logged on for the first time. SKOOLBAG will no longer be used during term 4, all communications including newsletters, attendance notifications, general notification/reminders, parent/Teacher interview, permission notes and reports will only be accessible from COMPASS and paper copies will not be sent home commencing term 4.

If you haven’t logged in or downloaded the COMPASS app as yet, please do so before term 4. Should you need your logon details, please contact the office.

Please don’t send any ringpull cans for your child’s lunch. Please ensure you open the can at home and place into a container to send to school. Students struggle with opening the cans and the canteen or teachers will not be held responsible to open these cans especially after the can ringpull has been broken and the cans have cut students.

Please also make sure you send plastic fork or spoon with your child’s lunch should they need it otherwise, cutlery needs to be purchased for $0.10 from the canteen.

Remember our canteen is open 5 days per week and offers fresh daily specials each lunch time.

From the art room to the playground, the school grounds to the library, there has been plenty happening to mark NAIDOC Week 2019 as our schools have come together to celebrate the invaluable contributions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have made - and continue to make - to our communities, our families, our rich history and to our nation.

Please see the below link to read more about our school celebrating NAIDOC:

https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/about-us/aboriginal-education/yarning-circle/naidoc-week-cedow-schools-working-together-for-a-shared-future/