Dear Parents and Carers,

This week we celebrate two very important feasts in the life of our Church: All Saints Day (1st November) and All Souls Day (2nd November). On All Saints Day the church celebrates all of the saints in God’s kingdom, the famous and the not so famous.  Some have been officially canonised by the Church and many others have lived saintly lives doing great things for others and for God.  

On All Souls Day we remember in a special way, all those who have died.   We believe that all who have died in Jesus will rise again with Him. May all souls rest in peace, especially those loved ones in our families who have gone before us.

A huge thank you to the parents of the Mother’s Club for the beautiful morning tea that was provided for the staff in celebration of World Teacher’s Day last Friday.  Thank you to Mrs Ellis-Donai and Mrs Labib for organising this for the staff on behalf of the parents.  

Congratulations to Ava Cowie (Year 5) and Sidney Norris (Year 6) for representing St Thomas More School in the annual Diocese of Wollongong CDF Inter-school Public Speaking competition.  They both performed very admirably against some very tough competition. Ava spoke for 4 minutes about “What makes an Australian” and Sidney spoke for 5 minutes about “Should graffiti be considered artwork”  Congratulations to Ava for winning the Macarthur Schools Year 5 competition.  Ava will now represent St Thomas More School in the final against other Wollongong Catholic Schools.  

Term 4 is the time when we complete the 2019 school year as well as prepare for 2020.  One of the major tasks this term is to prepare classes for 2020. Teachers and staff members utilise their professional expertise in making decisions, seeking to create equitable class groupings considering all students.  All classes/grades will be regrouped for 2020. If there is a particular issue regarding your child’s optium learning for 2020, please write to Mr Barrington, via email, stating your concerns and requests. You are invited to be proactive rather than reactive.  Please note that is not an opportunity to request individual teachers, but an opportunity to state a particular issue that might impact on your child’s learning in 2020. All requests will be considered but NOT NECESSARILY GUARANTEED.  Please send your email requests to info@stmdow.catholic.edu.au marked to the attention of Mr Barrington by Friday 8th November.  Further requests regarding class placement will not take place after this date.  Please note that because we are committed to the belief that each child begins each school year anew, we do not retain information regarding these requests from previous years.  

If your child is not returning to St Thomas More Catholic Parish Primary School Ruse in 2020, could you please notify the School Office as soon as possible.   There is a ‘School Leavers’ form that needs to be completed. 

All parents and carers of St Thomas More Catholic Parish Primary School are invited to the Annual General Meeting of the St Thomas More Parents and Friends Association for 2019.  All positions on the P&F Executive will be declared vacant and a voting process will occur. We are now calling for nominations for the election of Office Bearers. There is a nomination form as well as you may nominate at the AGM. Paper copies of the nomination form are available from the School Office. Self nominations are also being accepted. 

St Thomas More Parents And Friends Association

2019 AGM

Monday 11th November 2019

School Hall

7.00pm 

All parents and carers are welcome to attend

Parents are invited to attend an information session on Wednesday 6th November at 2.15pm in the school hall to hear about our school’s approach to the BYOD program (Bring Your Own Device) iPad program.  This session will be of particular interest to parents in Year 3 (Year 4 2020). A note has been sent home today to all Year 3 students regarding the BYOD program.  

A reminder to all families that supervision of students each morning does not commence until 8.00am.  There are a number of students being dropped off at school well before this time. We understand that on a rare occasion a child may need to be dropped at school early, but this should not become regular practice each day.  All children who arrive at school before 8.00am are reminded that the school rule is that they must sit on the seats outside the Learning Support Centre until a teacher arrives for supervision duty.  

A note has been sent home today to all families regarding the school’s new finance management system called Technology One.  This new system will result in more efficient electronic financial management for our school office. 

Best wishes for the coming week ,

Philip Barrington 

PRINCIPAL