2026 T3W8- 09 SEPTEMBER

Prayer

Loving Creator

We thank You for the boundless creativity You’ve placed in the hearts of children. Bless their hands as they create art and their voices as they make music. May their creativity flourish, expressing joy, wonder, and the beauty of the world around them. Guide them to explore their talents with courage, to learn with curiosity, and to share their gifts with others. Let their art and music reflect Your love and light in the world.

Amen

Important Dates

Please remember dates of events can be subject to change

TERM THREE

Thu 10 Sep – Jumps & Throws Y3 – 6
Fri 11 Sep – Jumps & Throws Y3 – 6
Sat 12 Sep – Y3 Parish Mass @ 5:30 pm
Mon. 14 Sep – Y3 & 4 Excursion: Herdsman Lake Discovery Centre
Tue 15 Sep – Athletics Carnival
Thu 17 Sep – Y1 & 2 Excursion: Kings Park
Mon 21 Sep – Y4 Oracy
Tue 22 Sep – Y3 Oracy
Wed 23 Sep – Y5 & 6 Market Stalls
Thu 24 Sep – TERM 3 CONCLUDES FOR STUDENTS
Fri 25 Sep – Staff PD (Pupil free)
Mon 12 Oct – TERM 4 COMMENCES
Mon 12 – Fri 16 Oct – Y6 Canberra Tour

School Calendar

From the Principal

GRANDPARENTS DAY & ARTs SHOW 2026

Wednesday, 21 October promises to be a wonderful celebration at St Thomas’ Primary School as we come together to celebrate both Grandparents Day and our biennial ARTs Show.

We begin the day by honouring the special role grandparents play in the lives of our children. Grandparents and families are warmly invited to join us for a Grandparents Day Liturgy at 9.00am in St Thomas’ Church, followed by morning tea in the school hall.

Following the morning tea, students will have the opportunity to accompany their grandparents to visit the ARTs Show and their classrooms. To assist with catering for Grandparents Day, please complete the RSVP form HERE by Friday, 16 October.

The celebrations continue throughout the afternoon with our ARTs Show 2026, which will be open from 1.00pm to 4.00pm.

Students have spent the term preparing an impressive display of artworks, performances and creative projects. The Arts provide students with opportunities to develop creativity, confidence, critical thinking and self-expression, and this event is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate these important aspects of learning.

Please save these dates in your diary. Whether you are attending as a grandparent, parent, family member or friend of the school, we look forward to welcoming you to these special celebrations. Most importantly, our students will be incredibly proud to share their learning, creativity and talents with you.

Natalia Thomson

Principal

From the Assistant Principal

WHAT DOES EXCELLENCE LOOK LIKE?

Excellence is not always loud. Sometimes it looks like an outstanding achievement, a top performance or exceptional work. But often, ‘Excellence for Others’ happens in small moments that receive no applause. It is the student who notices someone sitting alone. The child who encourages a teammate after a mistake. The older student who patiently helps someone younger. The class member who listens to another person’s idea and helps make it better. These actions matter because excellence is not simply about what we achieve individually. At St Thomas’, we believe it is also about the impact we have on the people around us. As families, we can reinforce this by asking a different question at the end of the day. Instead of only asking, “What did you achieve today?”, we might also ask: “Whose day did you make better today?” “What is something you will do for someone else tomorrow?” That is Excellence for Others.

END OF TERM THREE
With just a few weeks left in Term Three, students are enjoying well-established class routines and participating in some amazing learning activities and excursions. Teachers are supporting revision and reflection at this time of the year, helping students consolidate their learning, and identifying ways extend student learning at individual student level. It is a valuable time for building confidence and celebrating achievements over what has been a very busy year so far. We still have two and half weeks of Term Three, so while it is not holidays quite yet, we continue to prompt students to stay strong through to the end of the term.

STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Behind the scenes, staff are preparing for a busy Term Four, including key events, liturgical celebrations, and curriculum planning. These preparations ensure a smooth and purposeful finish to the school year. We thank our dedicated team staff for their ongoing commitment to excellence and care. Recently, staff have been involved in professional development in English as an Additional Language/Dialect, Strategic Planning, viewing NAPLAN (another broader-staff session planned also), and CEWA wellbeing framework and understanding.

Heath Nankivell

Assistant Principal

Merit Awards

2027 Planning

As we begin planning for the 2027 school year, we ask that any families who anticipate leaving St Thomas’ at the end of this year please advise the School Office in writing.

As outlined in the Conditions of Enrolment, one term’s written notice is required. Failure to provide the required notice will result in a term’s fees being charged in lieu of notice.

Student Departure Forms are available from the School Office and can be emailed or collected at your convenience.

Thank you for your cooperation and support.

Advisory Council News

The St Thomas Advisory Council met for its Term 3 meeting on 27 August, with plenty to discuss as we move into the second half of the year. It was wonderful to hear about the many activities taking place across the school, including Book Week, NAIDOC celebrations, Catholic Performing Arts, Founders’ Day and the ongoing support of our P&F.

A particularly positive update came from the recent Quality Catholic School Review. The review panel highlighted St Thomas’ strong Catholic identity, welcoming and inclusive culture, quality relationships between staff, students and families, and the outstanding support of our parent community. Our students also made a wonderful impression on the panel, demonstrating the confidence, manners and pride that we know are such an important part of the St Thomas community.

Grounds and facilities were again an important area of discussion. The Council reviewed potential future works across the school, with a particular focus on improvements to the Pre-Kindy and Pre-Primary areas, including toilets, external access and classroom facilities. The school will explore available CEWA funding opportunities and advocate for as much support as possible for these priority works. We also received an encouraging update on the Early Years playground, with a proposal now much closer to budget and the Early Years team working with the contractor to refine the final design.

As always, thank you to our staff, P&F, families and wider community for the enormous contribution you make to St Thomas. There is plenty to look forward to over the remainder of Term 3 and into Term 4.

Alex Deng

Finance Chair

Advisory Council

Year 6 Raffle

The Season of Djlba Wattle Painting in Kindy

Congratulations Vince

Vince in Year 3 had some excited news to share! He won 2 Gold Medals in the National Championships of Taekwon-Do!

Congratulations Vince.

Father's Day Celebrations

A big thank you to our P & F teams for organising amazing Father’s Day Stalls and a delicious breakfast for our families to celebrate Father’s Day. Congratulations to Isabella (Year 6) for winning the Father’s Day raffle.

E-Challenge news

This term has been a busy one for our E-Challenge students.

In week 2, Eva D., Maria K. and Eli P. participated in the Speak Up Competition, presenting their 4 minute speeches to a panel of judges and other competitors, their teachers and families. They all did extremely well under nerve-wracking circumstances and I was so proud of all of them. The judges commended all 3 for their speeches, Eli’s speech on the History of the FIFA World Cup for being so topical; Maria’s speech on Space and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski for having a personal connection and for her passion; and Eva’s speech on The Fascinating Life of a Peacock Mantis Shrimp for having well researched information and being entertaining. Both Eva and Maria made it through to the Preliminary finals which were held last week, they both received a book as a prize and did St. Thomas’s very proud.

Meanwhile, 21 students had been preparing for the annual Tournament of Minds Competition which was held on Saturday. The 3 teams had 6 weeks to put together a 10-minute presentation addressing one of the four challenges set. We had teams covering challenges from the domains of STEM, Language and Literature, and Social Sciences. All three teams worked hard throughout the 6 weeks to research their challenge, design and make props and costumes, write scripts, put their presentations together, rehearse them, and practise the Spontaneous Challenge component. The STEM team also had to make and film a miniature for their own Science Fiction film that had a moving component

Mrs Thomson, Mrs Lord and I were incredibly impressed with the way the teams presented all their hard work to the judges. And the judges were impressed too with the STEM team receiving a Merit Award and the Social Sciences team winning the Primary Spirit of TOM Award which is awarded to the team that demonstrated TOM’s core values of resilience, teamwork, and creative problem solving, even though all our teams showed these skills, this team demonstrated them to the judges above all other teams in the primary section of the competition.

All in all, an exciting term for E-Challenge and so many students to be proud of!

Arts Show Fundraiser

2027 Pre-Kindy & Kindy Enrolments Now Open

Enrolments are now open for Pre-Kindy and Kindergarten 2027 at St Thomas’ Primary School.
If you have a child who may be eligible, we encourage you to let us know as soon as possible:
· Pre-Kindy 2027: Children turning 3 years of age in 2027
· Kindergarten 2027: Children turning 4 years of age on or before 30 June 2027

As places can be limited, enrolment applications are considered in the following order of priority:
1. Catholic students from the Claremont Parish with a Parish Priest reference
2. Catholic students from outside the Parish with a Parish Priest reference
3. Other Catholic students
4. Siblings of non-Catholic students
5. Non-Catholic students from other Christian denominations
6. Other non-Catholic students

Families applying for enrolment are asked to support and abide by the policies and practices of Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA).
If your family has a younger child who is eligible, or if you know of other families who may be interested, please encourage them to visit our website to book a tour and access enrolment information: https://stthomas.wa.edu.au/our-school/enrolment/

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

Tiny Toms

· Free

· 0-3 children & parents/grandparents

· Every Wednesday 9 -10.30am

· Pre-kindy room at St Thomas’

· Entry through Melville Street entrance

· All welcome.

Student Assistant Payments

The West Australian Government have once again initiated the West Australian Student Assistant Payment (WASAP) for families with school-aged children.

The program commenced on Monday 20 July and will run until Friday 25 September 2026.

All eligible parents and caregivers can claim: • $150 for every child enrolled in kindergarten and primary school. • $250 for every child enrolled in secondary school.

It is expected that most families will submit their claim through the ServiceWA App, however paper-based forms will also be accessible from the Department of Education. Parents/ Caregivers may contact the ServiceWA Customer Care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for any assistance on 13 33 WA (13 33 92) or email support@digital.wa.gov.au during business hours.

If you require assistance with your child’s identity verification or locating your child’s West Australian Student Number (WASN) please contact our school office on 9286 9500 or email admin@stthomas.edu.au.

VacSwim Bookings Open

Edu-sing

2026 Term Dates

TERM DATES:

TERM 2 – Tuesday 21 Apr – Friday 3 Jul (11 week term)
TERM 3 – Tuesday 21 Jul – Thursday 24 Sep (10 week term)
TERM 4 – Monday 12 Oct – Friday 11 Dec (9 week term)