Term 2 Week 11 St Thomas' Newsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Girai Wurrung people of the land on which we live and learn. We recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay respects to elders, past, present and emerging.

Prayer

From the Principal

The last week is upon us. We still have lots happening this week. It has been an action packed term.

Firstly I want to thank our amazing staff for their hard work and dedication to providing the best possible environment for your children. To our students, I hope you have a great break and come back refreshed for the second half of the year. Finally to our families, thank you for your ongoing support, we hope your holiday break is rewarding and full of fun. 

Enjoy the remainder of the week and the holiday period.

Matt Uzkuraitis 

News

ASSEMBLY: There will be no Assembly this week. 

HOT DOG AND JUICE FORMS: Hot Dog and Juice forms were due in last week, please if you are yet to brign them can you do so as soon as possible.

REPORT RELEASE: On the last day of Term (Friday 4th July) we will release your child's report via PAM in the afternoon. Your child will also bring home their LearningPortfolio on this day as well. 

MILO MONKEYS BIRTHDAY: Our Prep students will celebrate Milo Monkey's birthday this Thursday at 11:30am. Milo is one of the characters from the Little Learners Love Literacy program we run in F-2. The preps are invited to dress up as one of the characters from the letters and sounds they have been learning from this phonics program. The Kinder and Buckle children will also come an join in the celebrations. 

St Thomas Feast Day - 3rd July

This Thursday 3rd July is the Feast Day of St Thomas. We will be having a Mass with Fr George on Thursday at 9:30am. Most classes will be attending. Our preps will be getting organised for their Milo Monkey birthday celebration.  This feast day is generally occurs in the holiday period.  

We invite any parents and friends to attend. 

Last Day of Term 2

This Friday is the Last Day of Term 2. We will be finishing at 2:30pm on this day.

Following on from the Junior School Council meeting this term, the school captains in partnership with Miss Cole will be organising a 'Big Freeze' day this Friday. Students will have the chance to vote, as will families, who they would like to see to take on the ice bucket challenge from our staff along with some of our senior students. 

Students will be able to wear casual clothes on this day. Instead of a gold coin donation, we will share a link to the Fight MND fund where, if you are in a position to do so, you can donate directly to this cause. 

The ice bucket participants will be announced later in the week once voting has finished. We will hold this on the basketball court at 2pm this Friday. Parents are friends are more than welcome to come in.

New Maths Curriculum - changes to reporting

Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 Curriculum Updates 2025

The Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 gives Victoria's students the best opportunity to thrive in a world of increasing change and rapid technological advancement. It reflects the expertise and feedback of Victorian teachers, making it easier for them to plan, assess and report on student learning.

The overarching structure of the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 has not changed from Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 1.0. The names and purpose of the learning areas, capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities remain the same. This recognises the continuing importance of a discipline-based approach to learning, where learning areas are regarded as both enduring and dynamic, supported by clearly articulated capabilities and cross-curriculum perspectives. When teachers report on your child’s progress, you will see some revisions to the reporting interface for some subjects.

Benefits for students

• Access to the essential knowledge and skills to be successful lifelong learners
• A better learning transition from the early years to primary school
• The necessary knowledge and skills to follow chosen senior secondary pathways
• A streamlined curriculum and higher-quality teaching and learning provisions

Reporting

What you see as a parent on your child’s report for most subjects, cross-curriculum priorities and capabilities will remain unchanged from previous years.

For Mathematics, a significant change in the interface that you will see as a parent will occur.

Previously the teacher reported against the 3 strands of the achievement standard for Mathematics.

• Number and Algebra
• Measurement and Geometry, and 
• Statistics and Probability

Under the Mathematics curriculum 2.0, your child’s teacher will report against the achievement standard, providing a single, aggregated score.

The VCAA made these changes to: 

• Help teachers plan their teaching and learning programs in mathematics, giving them more flexibility to support students to link ideas within mathematics and with other curriculum areas.
• Give parents a genuine comparison of their child’s progress in Mathematics from semester to semester.

Below is an example of what it might look like on your child's report

Optional Parent/Teacher Interviews

Early next term we will be holding some optional parent/teacher interviews. This optional interviews are designed for parents to clarify anything on your child's semester report or in their learning portfolio or even just to touch base with the classroom teacher. 

There will be two dates, the are as follows:

Wednesday 23rd July 

Monday 28th July 

We will release the timetable on PAM tomorrow. 

For families with students in Grade 4/5B and 5/6C there will also be an 'online option' when you select an interview on PAM where a Google Meet will be able to be set up rather than coming in and meeting face to face. We are trailing this option in these classes to see if it the technology works with the plan to roll it out next year for all our Parent/Teacher Interviews across all year levels. 

Mental Health in Primary Schools

This year St Thomas Primary School has been among several other schools in the area to take part in a program called Mental Health in Primary Schools or MHIPS.

As part of the program the school has to have a Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader or MHWL.

As the MHWL I have been undertaking training in the first 2 terms to understand what my role is and the steps I need to take in order to get our school started on this journey.

If anyone has any wellbeing or mental health concerns about your child please contact myself or their class teacher and there are processes we can go through so that they can have access, if needed, to services and extra support in school. On the other side we will also keep the communications open with you if we are noticing any wellbeing or mental health concerns at school.

Please note that my role is not to work with any children one-on-one. My role is more about whole school structures and building staff capacity.

I have used my first half of the year by starting to create structures for the staff when identifying wellbeing and mental health concerns and we have clear care pathways that we can utilise in and outside of school to help any students in need.

Another part of my role will be leading the review of our School Wide Positive Behaviour matrix. This will include leading staff in this process along with getting feedback from students and families.

The jigsaw on the below gives a picture of what the MHWL is responsible for.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader

Anna Patterson

Term 3 Dates

Term 3 - Important Dates

JULY

Monday 21st July - First Day of classes for Term 3

Wednesday 23rd July - Optional Parent/Teacher Interviews

Monday 28th July - Optional Parent/Teacher Interviews

Wednesday 30th July - Sacrament Parent Meeting at 7pm at the St Thomas' Church - for those families in Gr 3 participating in this.

AUGUST

Friday 8th August - Grade 5/6 All-Star Basketball Competition

Friday 15th August - Grade 5/6 Rookie Basketball Competition

Friday 22nd August - Grade 3/4 All-Star Basketball Competition

Friday 29th August - Grade 3/4 Rookie Basketball Competition

Sunday 31st August - Sacrament of Eucharist and Confirmation

SEPTEMBER

Monday 1st September - 'Taster Day' (transition day) for Gr 6 students MRC

Friday 5th September - Grandparents Day

Thursday 18th and Friday 19th September - Grade 3/4 Camp to Ballarat

Friday 19th September - Last day of Term 3 

Classroom Awards

Birthdays

We say happy birthday to the following students who celebrate a birthday this week. We hope you have a terrific birthday.

Fletcher Gleeson 

Daisy Dillon 

And we wish these students a very happy birthday as they celebrate theirs over the holiday period:

Ryker Yankos-Rawlings

Ellie Sloane

School TV

Celebrating NAIDOC Week: 6th -13th July 

NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced back to the Aboriginal rights movement, and on Australia Day 1938, protestors marched through the streets of Sydney to highlight the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

This protest was one of the first major civil rights gatherings in the world and was known as the 'Day of Mourning'. This later became 'Aborigines Day', and in 1955, it was decided that it should become a positive celebration of Aboriginal culture, heritage and achievement, rather than a protest.

Today, celebrations consist of range of traditional and contemporary activities. There are many gatherings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people coming together to celebrate and share with non-Aboriginal people the strengths of its First Nations People. This important event helps build positive relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, enabling a deeper understanding of our differences and similarities. NAIDOC week is an opportunity for all Australians to eliminate bias and discrimination by reflecting and reconciling the wrongs of the past to facilitate hope and build a fairer future.

It is important for children and teens to have an understanding that we do not need to assimilate into one culture in preference over others. Difference is a great thing and our society can only benefit from a range of world views and experiences. This Special Report offers caregivers suggestions on how to celebrate ‘NAIDOC Week’.

Find out more on the link below:

Community News

Child Safety Officer