Welcome back to Term 4 for what is sure to be an exciting 10 weeks of learning and community celebrations. We are so excited to be commencing the term with our Dance Display today, Campbell Community Celebration next Friday and then our Colour Run later in the term.

We look forward to seeing you all at 5:30pm to celebrate our success in dance lessons from last term. It is sure to be a great night!

Staffing News

You would have read that Mrs Samantha Manca has been appointed to the position of Acting Assistant Principal at Sts Peter and Paul in Garran for next year. Whilst we are sad to see Samantha leave us, we know this is a wonderful opportunity for her to develop her leadership skills and will be ready to welcome her back to St Thomas More's in 2025.

Following a recruitment process we are pleased to announced the appointments of Mr Reuban West and Miss Olivia O'Donnell to St Thomas More's in 2024. Reuban comes to St Thomas More's as an experienced teacher from Holy Family in Gowrie and Olivia will be commencing her teacher career with us having graduated from ACU this year. 

Highly Accomplished Teacher Certification - Congratulations

Congratulations to Mrs Gwen Tarleton and Miss Karen Tozer who were both successful at the end of last term in achieving a module in their journey to be certified as Highly Accomplished teachers. This is a huge undertaking that has meant many hours of gathering evidence and annotating these towards the standards for teachers. Gwen achieved Module 2 and Karen achieved Module 1. Gwen will have one more module before she is fully certified and Karen has two modules to go. We are so blessed to have such experienced teachers at our school.

K-2 Swimming Safety Program

In Week 7 of this term our Kindergarten to Year 2 students will attend Queanbeyan Pool for their annual Swimming Safety Program. The K-2 Swimming Program has been unable to proceed in the last three years due to COVID-19 and staffing shortages so we are please to see this event returning to our school calendar. 

A letter has been sent out to K-2 families today with an important form to be filled in for the pool. We would ask these to be returned promptly.

Campbell Community Celebration

There is only a week and a half before we open our doors to the wider community and celebrate our school through the entertainment of the ADFA Band. There will be food trucks in the top carpark, kids activities courtesy of TeamKids and our Parishioners and the main event taking place in the courtyard.

Colour Run - Sponsors still needed

We are still looking for sponsors to donate prizes to our Colour Run. We will be launching the Colour Run with the students next week and sharing the exciting news that we will be raising funds for a new senior playground equipment to replace the outdated red rope equipment. If you know of a business who would be able to donate prizes or funds towards the event please encourage them to get in contact with the school of a member of our Community Council.

Christmas Eve Mass

We are thrilled to be celebrating the Christmas Eve Mass in our school courtyard once again and are looking for families who are interested in being involved in this important celebration. Please complete the RSVP below if your family will be attending the Christmas Eve Mass.

Luke Donnelly
Principal

Sister Brenda Kennedy

During our last week of Term 3 we were visited by Sister Brenda Kennedy from the Holy Faith Order. In 1961, The Holy Faith Sisters from Glasnevin in Ireland arrived in Australia. The first group of Holy Faith sisters to come to Australia came to Canberra.

The Holy Faith Sisters founded St Thomas More’s Primary School which at the time served the children of the parish, as well as the children of the nearby Royal Military College, Duntroon. Sister Brenda Kennedy did not actually teach at St Thomas More’s, as she has been based in Sydney during her time in Australia. However on her return to Ireland, to retire, she is planning to share some of the pictures she took of our school with some of the Sisters who founded the school.

Sacrament of Confirmation

Our Year 6 students have started preparing to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Sacrament will be celebrated on Sunday 29th of October at the 9:30 am Mass. For more information please contact Father Emil at: emil.milat@cg.org.au

Centred in Faith Gathering- Whole School Rosary

On Friday 20th of October 3/4W will support Father Emil in leading us in a Whole School Rosary. The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. The liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on October 7. 

Are you considering becoming a Catholic?

RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) starts in October. RCIA is an easy to understand course for those wishing to deepen their knowledge of the Catholic faith and for those preparing for adult Baptism.

It involves studying the Scripture and Catholic practices and discusses how you can apply these to living your everyday life. The course is free of charge and all are welcome to attend.

RCIA starts October 17 at 7.30pm at St Brigid’s. For more information contact Father Emil at: emil.milat@cg.org.au

Yours in Christ,

Samantha Mance
Religious Education Coordinator 

Saturday 28th October- St Joseph’s Parish Golden Jubilee Multicultural Celebration From 10am Save the date! Our 50th Year Celebration is here! Multicultural Day is a day of celebration with programs and performances as well as showcasing of food from different cultures and religious groups. Everybody is welcome. Let’s bring our families and friends as we reminisce the history of our beloved Parish and enjoy our friendship.

Congratulations to William Cowdroy. He competed at the Berry Interschool competition over the holidays and was awarded Champion Kindergarten. Well done, Will.

Congratulations to Elodie Morrison. She has been selected to play in the Australian Under 11 Futsul Team. Great effort Elodie...

We hope everyone had a very happy and safe spring holiday break. We ended last term with our defence club making origami frogs and racing them. It was wonderful to see some of our amazing Defence parents come along to Defence club and participate in the fun. At the end of each term we invite any parents to come along to our party week. Enjoy a BYO picnic lunch in the school grounds then come along and participate in our defence activity. This term Party week will be held at 1pm on 13th December. 

This term we are continuing the weekly Defence club on Wednesday at lunch as well as our new wellbeing drop in hub for year 5 and 6 students on Friday at lunch starting this week. If you haven't already come and check out our Defence display in the wellbeing room when you drop by the school next please have a look. Looking forward to more fun in term 4!