Term 4 - Week 9

From the Principal

As we approach the end of another remarkable year at St Thomas, I am filled with gratitude and pride as I reflect on the wonderful achievements and growth witnessed throughout our community. This year has been a beautiful blend of joyous moments, focused work, collaboration, and achievements, woven together by the contributions of our incredible students, our dedicated staff, supportive parents, and our constant partnership with our Emmaus Parish.

I would like to celebrate our incredible students. Their perseverance and growth throughout this year has been so inspiring. It has been a joy to see them exemplify the Visible Learning Dispositions of being gritty, reflective, connected, creative and brave. Whether in the classroom, yard or during extracurricular activities, their willingness to embrace challenges and learn from their experiences, has been outstanding. Through their unique personalities and gifts, each of our students have contributed to our vibrant school community, and we are eager to see how they will continue to grow and thrive in the years to come. To those students and families who are leaving us and moving onwards, we wish you every success in your future endeavours and we thank you for being such a valuable part of our community. To our graduating Year 6 students and families, I extend my sincere best wishes and gratitude. Take with you the spirit of Mercy, and many wonderful memories of your time here and may God bless you abundantly.

I also extend my heartfelt appreciation to our dedicated staff. Their tireless efforts and commitment to excellence have made a significant impact on our students' lives. Their passion for fostering an enriching learning environment does not go unnoticed, and it is their collective hard work that creates the nurturing atmosphere where our students flourish.

As we celebrate our achievements, we must also take a moment to recognise the transitions within our community. We say farewell to Mr Paul Chalubek, Mrs Nicole Rowlands and Mrs Lina Kontis. We extend our deepest gratitude for their years of service and we wish them all the best in their next ventures. We also say ‘goodbye for now’ to Mrs Susan Czabayski for 2025 and look forward to her return in 2026.
At the same time, we are excited to welcome new staff members who will be joining us in the coming year. We look forward to welcoming Mr Nathan Munro (Yr 3/4), Ms Sophie McLeod (Yr 3/4) and Mrs Michelle Cordon (Music).

As we conclude this year, I encourage everyone to take time to reflect and acknowledge the memories we have created together. May the season of Christmas bring you much love and peace, and the spirit of the newborn Jesus be in your hearts, bringing joy and hope. I look forward to seeing you all in the new year!

Merry Christmas to all!

Belinda Burford

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From the Deputy Principal

A TIME OF REFLECTION

We are currently in the season of Advent, the time in our Catholic Liturgical Calendar dedicated to preparing ourselves for the celebration of Christmas. It is a time when we are called to slow down and reflect. It is ironic that this time falls amidst such a busy time, as the year comes to a close and so much is asked of us. But it is a time when we are called to slow down and reflect. This reflection centres around the presence of Christ in the cosmic story, of which we are most certainly a part. Christ is the light of the world and draws all things to fullness. Your story is an expression of this shared story and the Catholic belief is that Christ is right at the centre; at the centre of every story.

So it doesn’t matter who we are, where we live or what we do, Christ is at our centre; loving us, knowing us and calling us to more. Christ, the light of the world, is with us always; every day in every moment.

So Advent is a time dedicated to becoming more aware of this light and presence of love in our lives. It is a time dedicated to listening to Christ’s call within; urging us to be the light in the world and be the very best version of who we are created to be. It is only through reflection and prayer that we can achieve this knowing and deeper understanding.

So as 2024 draws to a close, let’s take some time to be still and reflect, as we prepare ourselves to really celebrate the richness of Christmas.

A TIME OF REFLECTION

So as 2024 draws to a close, let’s take some time to be still and reflect, as we prepare ourselves to really celebrate the richness of Christmas.

Our Academic Reports are distributed this week and we are blessed to celebrate our Excellence Assembly, with over 120 students achieving awards. These included:

The Academic Excellence Awards; presented to students who achieved 8 or more A grades in their Semester Two subjects.
The Learner Disposition Excellence Awards; presented to one student in each class who, deemed by their class teacher, has most displayed the St Thomas Learner Dispositions across the semester.
The Outstanding Growth in Learning Awards; presented to two students in each class who, deemed by their class teacher, have made the greatest progress towards their learning goals.
And our Mercy Awards; presented to one student in each class who, deemed by their class teacher, has most displayed the Mercy Values throughout the semester.

As will be mentioned in our assembly, the students who have achieved these awards have worked extremely hard and put 100% effort into every learning task and every subject, even those subjects that are not their favourites. Every student has the potential and capacity to achieve these awards; and it is as simple and as challenging as putting their best effort into every learning opportunity and using the St Thomas Learner Dispositions every day.

So in this season of reflection, when we are called to consider ways we can continue to grow to become the best version of ourselves, perhaps it is a perfect time to sit down together with your child to reflect on their learning journey and create their goals for 2025.

You could use our specially designed review proforma! Follow this link to access it here …

My Personal Learning Review for 2024.pdf

May the light of this season shine brightly for your family! Wish all our families a safe and merry Christmas!

Go gently,

Paul Mensforth

Deputy Principal

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From the REC

Dear Parents, Caregivers, and Friends

How quickly the days, weeks, and months of the 2024 school year have passed! As we prepare to close for the year and embrace the Christmas season and summer holidays, we have so much to reflect upon and give thanks for—our successes, how much we’ve learned, and how we’ve supported, cared for, and challenged each other to be the best we can be.

We thank God for the many blessings of the 2024 school year: the friendships we’ve developed and nurtured, the promises we’ve kept, and the kindnesses we’ve received.

A heartfelt thank you to all—students, staff, parents, families, and our parish community—for your unwavering support throughout the year. Together, we can take immense pride in who we are as a united and thriving community.

I also want to extend a huge thank you for your incredibly generous response to our local Vinnies Christmas Appeal. The staffroom has been overwhelmed by the abundance of Christmas hamper items donated to support those less fortunate in our communities.

Dear Parents, Caregivers, and Friends

We thank God for the many blessings of the 2024 school year: the friendships we’ve developed and nurtured, the promises we’ve kept, and the kindnesses we’ve received.

Additionally, this year we received thank-you certificates and letters from the many charities we supported: Caritas Australia, Catholic Charities, Catholic Mission, Sister Janet Mead’s Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons Inc., Catherine House, and Vinnies. Well done, St Thomas!

As we head into the summer holidays, I hope you enjoy the fun and relaxation this season brings. To all, I wish you a joyous and blessed Christmas and a safe, enjoyable holiday.

A PROMISE …..

A very long time ago God made a VERY BIG PROMISE to all of us and all of creation …

God would send someone very special to show us how to make a ‘broken world’ a

much safer and happier place for everyone to live in. God kept that promise and …..

sent Jesus.

Wishing all of our students, families, staff and parishioners a Christmas filled with

PEACE, HOPE, LOVE and JOY.

During the coming Christmas season
May you be blessed
With the spirit of the season,
which is peace,
The gladness of the season,
which is hope,
And the heart of the season,
which is love.

Upcoming Events

Student Free Day

Date: Friday 13 December

Venue: St Thomas School - Goodwood

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Save the date - Gala 2025

Date: Saturday 22 March

Time: 10:00am - 3:00pm

Venue: St Thomas School - Goodwood

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Library Book Returns

Please return all library books ASAP

School Office Closure

Season of Creation 2024

Please click here for more information.

Principals of the Day

At St Thomas we have Principals for a Day. These are creative and driven students that sent in an application and got chosen to be Principal because of their display of our 5 Learner Dispositions. Brave, Connected, Gritty, Reflective, and Creative. Our names are Georgia and Felicity, we are the Principals for a Day this year.

I’m Felicity, my application was an essay. I listed how my personality and work ethic fit into all of the values we have here at St Thomas. Not only did I list my character strengths, I also listed some of my ideas like reading out the roll backwards sometimes or having a short art session at the end of each day.

I’m Georgia and my application was a video. It was a P.O.V from the Learner Dispositions. They were arguing about who was the best and why they thought that they were the best. I also included my accomplishments such as ballet performances and awards or Tournament of Minds.

I’m Felicity, I really wanted to be Principal for a Day because it is my last year at St Thomas before high school, and I wanted to take every opportunity to go out of my comfort zone this year. It also seemed really fun to not go to class and be a Principal for a Day!

I’m Georgia, I think I wanted to Principal for a Day because it’s a chance to show some leadership. Especially because it’s so close to the end of the year and I’m going into Year Six next year. I also wanted to be picked so that I could show my creativity through my application; and I did get to do that.

We had a great time as Principals and we are so grateful for this opportunity. So we would like to encourage everyone to try and send in a application next year because it is an awesome time and also thank you so much to Ms Buford and Mr Mensforth for letting us steal their job!

Felicity Welch and Georgia Banytis

Congratulations Chelsea

Congratulations to Chelsea (Yr 5) for her successful entry into the national Young ICT Robotics Competition for 2024! Chelsea was awarded 1^st Prize for SA entries and 2^nd Prize for Australia-wide entries in Year 5-6 division. Chelsea was inspired by an idea from Gardening Australia and cleverly designed a prototype of an automatic mixing bin with a timer, voice recordings and motion sensor and robotic mixing stick. This project took Chelsea around 3-4 months to complete and we are so proud of her for this fine achievement!

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