Dear Parents and Carers,

October is a month in our liturgical year where the Catholic Church has a special devotion to the Rosary.  For many, many centuries, the Church has taught that the Rosary is one of the greatest ways to pray.  The Rosary is a series of prayers that is recited with the aid of a string of beads or a knotted cord. The string of beads itself may be called a rosary or a chaplet. Many chaplets are very ornamental and incorporate jewels.

The word “Rosary” means a chain of roses and the roses are prayers. The Rosary Prayer tells us about the life of Jesus and his Mother, Mary.   A person who says a Rosary usually thinks about certain events from the Bible. Each day has a traditional list of these events, called "Mysteries of the Rosary."

• The Joyful Mysteries help us to think about happy times in Mary’s life. 
• The Sorrowful Mysteries help us to think about the difficult time in Jesus’s life, which made Mary sad. 
• The Luminous Mysteries or Mysteries of Light help us to think about the things Jesus did to help understand how much God loves them. 
• The Glorious Mysteries help us to think about the wonderful times in Jesus’ life and in Mary’s life after the Crucifixion.

Congratulations to Lenny in Year 2 in successfully representing the combined Catholic Schools MacKillop Athletics team at the NSW PSSA Championships (NSW State Athletics Championships).  Lenny achieved second place in the Under 8s 100 metres final. 

Parents and carers are invited to the Semester 2 Parent Coffee and Conversations session being held on Friday 4th November 2022.  Coffee and Conversations will occur after the Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 5 Liturgy which commences at 8.45am.  As part of the Coffee and Conversations there will be an opportunity for parents to ask any questions about parent engagement and the life of our school.  If you have a question please contact the school office by Thursday 3rd November so that it can be included in the agenda for Coffee and Conversations.  Alternatively, if you have a question please feel free to make an appointment through the school office so that your query can be answered.  

A date for your diary: 

St Thomas More Christmas Variety Concert
Tuesday 13th December 2022
7.00pm 
Mary Sheil Centre
St Patrick’s College Hall

It is suggested that you arrange an early dinner so as to have your children at St Patrick’s College by 6.30pm.

More details in the coming weeks will be communicated with you, particularly in regards to what the children will need to wear.  The last two years our Christmas Concert has been done virtually (online) and so we are excited to be able to ‘celebrate live’ with our community this year..  

A reminder to all parents and carers to check Compass regularly for important communications that are sent out to the community.  In recent days some important information has been shared with you regarding ‘Infectious Illnesses’ as we have a child in our school currently receiving medical treatment for Cancer.  If your child has chicken pox, shingles, measles, mumps or whooping cough or is suspected of having illnesses please contact the school immediately. This will allow the school to assess the probable contact and therefore minimise the exposure of our student to the disease.

In the last newsletter (Week 1 Term 4), the community was notified that ‘Little Green Frogs’ will be finishing up at the end of the year.  St Thomas More School is still currently working closely with the Catholic Education Office so as to employ another OOSH provider for before and after school care for 2023.

Classes 2023
Term 4 is the time when we complete the 2022 school year as well as prepare for 2023.  One of the major tasks this term is to prepare classes for 2023.  Teachers and staff members use their professional expertise in making decisions, seeking to create equitable class groupings considering all students.  All classes/grades will be regrouped for 2023.  

Optimising the learning environment is the prime focus when forming new class groups for 2023, not forming friendship groups.  The aim is to provide classes in which each child is able to continue to develop to their full potential.  

If there is a particular issue regarding your child’s optium learning for 2023, please write to Mr Barrington, via email, stating your concerns and requests.  You are invited to be proactive rather than reactive.  Please note that this 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 2023.  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 11th November 2022.  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.  

This is the time to raise any issues regarding your child’s optium learning for 2023.  After all requests have been considered the school will make the final decision regarding all placements.  

If your child is not returning to St Thomas More Catholic Parish Primary School Ruse in 2023, could you please notify the School Office as soon as possible.   There is a ‘School Leavers’ form that needs to be completed.

Best wishes for the coming week,

Philip Barrington 
PRINCIPAL