Dear Families,

Welcome back to another exciting school year at St. Thomas More! We extend a warm welcome to all our returning families and extend a special greeting to the new staff and families joining our community for the first time in 2024.

As we kick off the school year, we want to cover some essential housekeeping items and provide you with important information to ensure a smooth start to the academic year:

Sunsmart and Absences:

Term 1 is a Sun Safe term and all students are required to wear hats when outside in Terms 1 and 4. We also strongly encourage children to come to school with sunscreen on or carry some in their bag for self-application during the day. Additionally, we kindly remind parents to report any student absences by 9 am through our online form: Absence Reporting Form.

Before School Supervision:

Students will be supervised by staff from 8:30am. It is important that students are in the following areas before school begins. For safety reasons there are no ball games permitted during this time. 

Prep - 2 students need to be on the Junior Green 

Year 3 - 4 students need to be on the Senior Green 

Years 5 - 6 need to be on the Senior Green 

School commences at 8.50am. Anyone arriving after 9:00am will be required to go to the office to collect a late pass.

Riding Bikes To and From School:

It is encouraged for students to ride their bikes to and from school each day. Please ensure that your child is wearing a helmet when riding. It is also important that your child walks their bike whilst on the school premises as this ensures the safety of all. 

Staffing:

We are delighted to welcome back returning teachers Carly Lonergan and Emma Kelly. Congratulations also to Natalie Pring (now known to the children as Mrs Kelly), who recently got married in January. We also warmly welcome Adriana Bonacci who will be teaching (Italian ~ Languages) and Bianca Michienzi (Physical Education).  

Italian at STM ~ Teachers as Co-learners of Languages:

We would like to share with you our excitement about the implementation of an innovative approach to learning Italian which we will be commencing in this year. This approach is called Teachers As Co-learners of Languages (TCL).

This approach is being successfully implemented by over 60 Catholic Primary schools across Victoria already. It draws on brain research about the importance of frequent opportunities to learn if we want to successfully retain new language.  It also responds to student voice data which tells us that when learning a language, children want to be able to speak it. 

What will TCL look like for our students?

All students will have 15 minute sessions of learning and using Italian with their classroom teacher, in their classroom, every day. They will learn words and phrases that they can use together with their teacher and their classmates each day.

What will TCL look like for our teachers?

Teachers will be provided with resources that have been developed by the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) to support them to learn and use Italian with their students. Students will see their teachers demonstrating what good language learners do through classroom activities that encourage speaking and active use of the language. We also have an Italian-speaking teacher who will support our teachers and students.

What will TCL look like for our school community members?

Schools that are adopting the TCL approach have generated much growth and interest across the community in the use of the language being learnt. In many cases, students are enjoying teaching their parents some of the phrases they are learning too.

We recognise the significant benefits that learning an additional language provides our students including benefits relating to literacy development, brain development as well as intercultural understandings. 

School Advisory Council Expressions of Interest:

This week I sent out information to all families about joining the St Thomas More School Advisory Council. 

As you may know, our school – like all the Catholic parish and diocesan schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne – is now under the guidance of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS). Every school is required to have a School Advisory Council as a way of giving parents/guardians/carers a chance to be involved in the school.

It is hoped that this School Advisory Council will advise the principal on important matters, and provide support to the principal and school leadership team in their decision-making process.

In many ways, we have emphasised the importance of parents/guardians/carers being involved in partnering with the school and the way this helps your children in their education.

I am currently asking parents/guardians/carers to show their interest in being part of this School Advisory Council. As principal of the school, I will very much value the support and advice offered by members of the council on such matters as:

• strategic direction of the school

• Religious Education program

• curriculum

• enrolments and enrolment policy

• school resources

• improvements in the school

• Annual Report to the School Community

• family partnerships.

These are just some of the many areas in which a School Advisory Council can give advice to the principal and leaders in the school. Please refer to my email if you wish to apply. 

STM Visual Arts Festival:

Stay tuned for more details on our STM Visual Arts Festival which is scheduled for this year. We are currently working to secure a date as this event may be impacted by the STM refurbishment. 

Beginning of the Year Mass:

Thank you to all our families who were able to join us for our first Opening School Mass this morning in the Church. Your attendance was much appreciated. This was a special time to acknowledge our school leaders for 2024. I look forward to working with these beautiful children this year. 

This special occasion marks the beginning of a year filled with learning, growth, and community spirit. During the Mass, we also had the honor of presenting badges to our School Captains and members of the Student Representative Council (SRC). 

We look forward to sharing future Masses with you and strengthening the bonds that make St Thomas More a wonderful school.

Upcoming Curriculum Day:

Please mark your calendars for the upcoming Curriculum Day on Monday February 19, where our dedicated staff will enhance their professional knowledge in the area of Spelling. 

Operoo Updates:

If you need to update details in Operoo, please be aware that Operoo and our School Administration System work independently. For any changes made in Operoo, such as email addresses or contact phone numbers, please send an email to Mary in the office at manastasopoulos@stmhadfield.catholic.edu.au.

Building Works at North Street:

After years of negotiations, the whole Convent building area has been leased by Catholic Office Melbourne and work will soon be underway for the construction of a Child Care Centre, which will benefit both the Parish and the greater community. Please be mindful of the works in progress and drive Carefully as there are children making their way out of the car park.

Please be aware that commencement of demolition works to the back of Site will take place on Monday the 12 February with mobilisation of machinery to be landed and works on removal of the back fencing and clubhouses to occur. Works have been planned around school drop off and pick up times. 

2025 Prep Enrolments:

2025 prep enrolments are open. If you have a sibling commencing next year please submit an enrolment form. 

Meet and Greet: 

We invite you to make an appointment to meet your child's teacher in person or online on either:

• Tuesday 13th February or

• Wednesday 14th February. 

The purpose of this time is an opportunity for you to share any information about your child that will assist their teacher in understanding your child better in order to build a positive working relationship. If you choose to chat face to face, meetings will take place in your child's classroom. It is optional for your child to be at the meet and greet.

Bookings are now open. An email was sent to families this week for more instructions on how to make an appointment.  

School Uniform:
The wearing of school uniform encourages a sense of equity, school identity and pride in appearance. The school uniform has been designed to allow all students to participate in all aspects of school life.

Girls Summer:  School dress or Navy Skort & Light blue short sleeve school shirt, maroon jumper, navy socks & black school shoes. Girls may wear navy blue short-shorts under their dresses.
Boys Summer: Stubby grey shorts, blue school shirt, maroon jumper, grey socks, black school shoes.
Sport: STM school tracksuit/shorts, white socks, blue polo top and runners
Other: STM navy spray jacket, STM School bag, STM Library bag, navy wide brim school hat
Year 6: Class zip up jacket may be worn in place of maroon jumper

School uniforms are available for order or purchase from Academy Uniforms.

 
I look forward to working with our community this year.
Regards,
David Hurn
Principal 

Curriculum  Overviews:
At the beginning of each term, we are delighted to let you know that you will be emailed a Curriculum Overview for your child. This information will let you know what your child will be learning across all areas of the curriculum for the remainder of the term, instead of finding out retrospectively in June reports. We hope you find this useful to have discussions with your child about learning at school, and to support any learning you may do with them at home.

At the bottom of this Curriculum Overview will be IMPORTANT DATES.  Every event you need to know about for your child for the term, will be listed here e.g Learning Showcase, Photo Date, Camps, Closure Day, Masses etc. 

We strongly recommend you print this and save it, so you can continue to refer to it.. You will no longer receive emails and reminders from the classroom teacher leading up to events in your child's class or whole school. 

We ask that you refer to the Curriculum Overview and/or the school public event calendar. This will be the way we communicate events and key dates for each term.

Camps for Year 4, 5 and 6.
We are very excited about our upcoming first camp of the year for Year 4. They will have one overnight stay at Camp Sunnystones in Baccchus Marsh. 

Save these dates:
Year 5 will attend Camp Oasis in Mount Evelyn May 22nd - 24th.
Year 6 will attend Phillip Island Adventure Camp June 5th - 7th. 

More information will follow to families closer to these events.

SeeSaw 

The Seesaw platform supports our school's Reporting and Assessment and Reporting process. It allows teachers and students to share posts about their learning in real time, across the curriculum areas of Religion, Writing, Reading, Maths and Inquiry.

Educators are engaged in the core business of learning and teaching. Each Year level team will post two areas of learning per week for you to view and comment. 

Specialists will make at least one per term. Due to the nature of their learning and teaching, and their classroom loading, their learning posts will be sporadic over the term.

The learning post will also indicate if your child completed the task independently or with support. The support may indicate that your child needed an adult to encourage, explain and affirm your child in their learning. Please remember, this is a snapshot of the learning, at that time. If your child needed support at that time, they may progress along the learning continuum to complete it independently, when they have fully understood and grasped the skill or knowledge. 

If you have not already done so, we encourage you to activate your alerts so you can see the posts. We also encourage you to make positive comments about your child’s learning. 

Comments could include:

I like the way you used different strategies to solve that addition problem. Maybe you can teach me at home.

Wow! Your reading is getting better every day.

I am proud of you for practising your times tables. Look how many you know! I will continue to help you with them at home. 

I loved reading your writing! It is so infomative. 

Your writing is so engaging to read - it has a real voice.

Teachers will also make posts from events such as incursions/excursions, Athletics day, Book Week, Liturgical events to name a few.

Dear STM Families,

Welcome back to 2024 - an exciting year with new initiatives in our English learning and teaching.

As a whole school we will be continuing our independent reading routines  building sustained time in reading as well as buddy reading in the Prep - Year 2 classrooms. We have also set up designated shelving in our library to publish student writing pieces and we will continue to publish in the author's corner section in the newsletter. Our first Author's Corner will commence in Week 4 - looking forward to showcasing our amazing STM authors!

The teaching of spelling will change this year in line with current research as to the most effective way to teach spelling to our students. We have been fortunate to organise Dr Misty Adoniou to lead our staff in professional learning in the teaching of spelling, Monday 19th February. Misty will lead us in exploring how words work, particularly through our work on the use of mentor texts which were introduced last year and exploring the new vocabulary in these texts. Our hope, through exploration of words, is that spelling will become the lesson that our students will love! More details will follow, which will also include an invitation for parents to attend an information session about this new approach.  

Michelle Rinaldi
Acting Literacy Leader

Welcome back to all parents and students. We are so excited for another year of learning. Just a few quick updates around maths. 

MOPS and Maths Explorer will run again this year for maths extension. In 2024 we have used PAT Maths assessment data to select students for the competitions. Those who have received the top scores will be invited to join and they will be notified via Operoo. 

Maths Talent Quest will be open to any student to participate in. More information will come for this will be coming soon. 

Some top tips for our new Preps beginning this year are; practise counting while you are travelling in the car, look for patterns around our world, cook and garden with you children, talk about the date, measure things around your home. 

We are also welcoming a new Mathematics Victorian Curriculum 2.0 which teachers are using to plan sessions for your children. 

Aleisha Lewis 

Mathematics Leader

Buongiorno e buon anno!

We are so excited to be learning Italiano together with the students and teachers this year. In our first week, both students and teachers have dived right in and there is a buzz in the air as we walk past and hear “buongiorno” and “ciao”. 

Each level has included the termly overview for Languages, however, the fortnightly newsletter items will specify the language we are using each week so that you can practise along at home. Please see the table below for the language focus for the next 2 weeks.

Arrivederci from the TCL team

Adriana Bonacci and Maria Vainieri

FEBRUARY

• Wednesday 14th - Preps have Wednesdays off in February - (scheduled testing by appointment only)

• Wednesday 14th - ASH Wednesday Mass at 12.00pm

• Monday 19th - Curriculum Day - Student Free day

• Wednesday 21st - Preps have Wednesdays off in February  - (scheduled testing by appointment only)

• Wednesday 28th - Preps have Wednesdays off in February  - (scheduled testing by appointment only)

MARCH

• Tuesday 05th - School Photos

• Tuesday 05th - 2024 Prep Family Faith Night 6pm-7pm (in classroom)

• Monday 11th - Labour Day Public Holiday

• Tuesday 12th - 2025 Enrolment Tours at 9.30am

• Tuesday 19th - 2025 Enrolment Tours at 9.30am & 6.30pm

• Monday 25th - 2025 Prep enrolments due

• Thursday 28th - Last day term 1 2024 - 12.00pm finish; Canteen closed; gold coin donation to chosen charity TBC

• Friday 29th - Good Friday

**'Public Events' are listed on our website under 'News and Events', the link being; https://www.stmhadfield.catholic.edu.au/news-events 

On the bottom right hand side there is a blue box with a + symbol. If you have a google account, you can link the 'Public Events' calendar to your own personal Google calendar and keep up to date with the most current events and times.

Please don't hesitate to contact the office if you have any questions.

Awards will be presented at our next assembly, Friday 16th February and then published the following newsletter.