We are very excited to say that we are now able to have classroom helpers back at STM!

In light of our most recent guidelines, we are now able to have people other than teachers in the classrooms. Whilst this is the case, however, there are a significant number of requirements that need to be met in order to be able to help in the classroom. Please know that we are aware that there are a lot of boxes to tick. This is beyond our control at this point, but once you have met the requirements, you are good to go for the future and will only need to resubmit the annual forms going forward.

Please see the following requirements for helping in the classrooms:

1. Classroom Helper Online Training Seminar (Complispace online training) *Only required once **Qualified teachers exempt from this online training

2. Child Safety Training (Complispace online module) *Completed annually

3. Working with Children Check (school needs a copy) *Checked annually

4. St Thomas More Volunteer Application Form (completed online) * Only required once

5. Signed Role Description & Confidentiality Agreement (Operoo) * Signed annually

6. Signed Code of Conduct (Operoo) *signed annually

7. Interview/ Declaration/ Induction *Only required once

8. Vaccination Certificate (as of March 2022 all classroom volunteers are required to be triple vaxxed) * As determined by government guidelines * Required for now

If you are interested and able to meet all requirements, please put your name on the form below and you will be sent the training courses. Please check your email for these two emails over the coming week.

The emails will be coming from 'St Thomas More's School Staff Learning System' and the title of the emails will be:

1) 'You have been assigned to Classroom Helper course'

2) 'You have been assigned to CECV Child Safety for Volunteers'

If you have not received any emails by Wednesday, please check your junk mail.

Semester 1 Reports

This semester you will receive your child's semester 1 report. This report will be available in the afternoon of Wednesday June 22 via the NOFMRA parent portal. I will be hosting an information session for our Prep parents to explain our reporting processes on Tuesday 14th June at 2.30pm via a Google meet.

At St Thomas More the semester reports are intended to go hand in hand with the ongoing reporting you have received across the year through your child’s individual SeeSaw posts. The reports are a summation of the learning growth across term 1 and 2 for various areas of the curriculum.

Seesaw update

We have recently reviewed our Seesaw posting procedures and can share some changes that will help parents to have clarity around learning progressions throughout the year. Each term, you will receive three assessment posts which will unpack learning intentions and feedback for learning. These will be posted throughout the term for:

• Reading

• Writing

• Listening and Speaking

• Mathematics

• Inquiry

• Religious Education

• Respectful Relationships

You may also receive other Seesaw posts throughout the term for general communication and the sharing of learning experiences. The assessment posts however are aimed at providing clear feedback about student achievement and areas of need.

Report Conferences

This term is a short one at only 9 weeks. Staff spend a great deal of time gathering a wide range of evidence for report writing and the short term means that reports will go home in the final week. This means that our parent / teacher report conferences will be held in week 2 term 3 - Monday July 18 (half day finish) and Tuesday 19 (after school). In light of the reports that you will receive in term 2, these meetings will form 'learning conversations' about areas of growth and need in order to plan for your child's needs in term 3 and 4. More information will be given later this term about dates and booking times.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me

Kate Korber

Learning & Teaching Leader

From our Student Action Team Leaders:

PBL day was honestly such an amazing day, we guided the preps and grade ones around the the entire Superhero Training Obstacle Course and more! Some of the obstacles included the lasers, zigzag fitness activity, rescue the cat, go through the tunnel, capture the flag, balance on logs, Superhero work out station. Even as a whole year level the grade sixes had such a great time creating Superhero masks, making a PBL Superhero game board and even going through the rope/lazer obstacle.To conclude, the day was great and a good experience!

Sharing your interests with your children

The family was a little shocked when dad Chris, bought his six and four-year-old daughters a motorbike. “You got them a what?” was the standard reply.

It turns out that getting his daughters a motorbike was a stroke of pure fathering genius, although Chris didn’t know it at the time.

Chris bought the motorbike for his daughters because he had fond memories of riding on his family’s farm when he was young. He wanted his kids to enjoy the same experience.

Close family members questioned Chris about introducing a motorbike to kids at such a young age, but he let it pass. He even received a comment or two about the suitability of such a pursuit for girls. “You and your brothers loved motorbikes, but that doesn’t mean that your daughters will,” was the attitude of some people.

Undeterred, Chris spent many weekends riding in a nearby property teaching his girls the finer points of motorbike riding. He began by riding with each daughter using trainer wheels, slowly progressing to two wheeled riding as they grew more confident.

The parenting genius in three parts

Helping them to face their fears

Firstly, after acknowledging his daughters’ fears, Chris encouraged them to face them, but in their own time. The girls set the developmental pace, so they felt they had full control over their experiences. He showed himself to be astute listener ready to work with his daughters. This is respectful relationships in action.

Lessons of self-worth

Secondly, through the experience Chris showed his daughters that what they do with their bodies is far more important than how they look. His daughters are young, and their attitudes may change when they become tweens or teens, but the lessons of self-worth they absorb during this stage of childhood are lasting. The fact that these messages come while sharing activities organised by their father adds to their potency.

Communicating and forming strong bonds

Thirdly, he’s using activity to communicate with and form strong bonds with his girls. Fathers generally express themselves best with their children when they are fully absorbed in an activity. Parenting author Steve Biddulph says ‘activity is the language of fathering’. Men are usually at their parenting best when they’re involved in games, having fun or being active with their kids. It is through activity that many dads teach kids lessons such as fairness, playing by the rules, trying their best and, of course, sharing stories from their own childhood.

Another side to this parenting genius is that Chris shared something of himself with his daughters when he bought that motorbike. Each time he rides with them he is sharing a part of who he is with his daughters – not the work persona, the parent persona or the friend persona – but something that is close to the essence of who is, which was forged during the joyous times of childhood.