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Message - Religious Education Leader
Catholic Education Week
“Go out into the world and spread the Good News to all creation”
Next week is Catholic Education Week in the Sale Diocese. This is an opportunity to celebrate what Catholic Education can offer. Looking at our learning through a Catholic lens is both challenging and rich and rewarding at the same time. Many of our students are exploring ‘space’ and ‘creation’ right now and are embedding our Religious Education curriculum throughout the inquiry process. I love the quote that comes from Astronaut John Glenn – he said,
“To look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God, is to me, impossible.”
I’m guessing he said this as he gazed out of the cockpit of the orbiting craft at the magnificent and jaw-dropping view of the earth. Isn’t it interesting that people have this epiphany and sense of faith when they are able to see the beauty of creation?
What’s A Shepherd?
This is a question that one of our Foundation (prep) students asked in the middle of Mass yesterday. I thought it was a great question and for a couple of reasons…
How many shepherds do you know? Amongst your friends and family circles, how many are shepherds? It’s not really a profession that we see nowadays. We have sheep farmers that live on sheep stations and we have people who own sheep hobby farms but no shepherds. Sheep take care of themselves on a day-to-day basis, as long as you’ve got decent fencing, rotating paddocks and you can take care of the odd birth but we do not tend to have shepherds in Australia 2022.
Now back to that question. How would a Foundation student have any concept of a shepherd? It’s pretty unlikely. Yet, we have this bounty of scripture in the bible that refer to shepherds. That presents a challenge to teachers in much the same way as many other things in the curriculum. We need to build concepts from the ground up, without assuming any prior knowledge sometimes. Learning about scripture is a lot of fun but it’s a bit hit and miss unless we break open these concepts, especially the concept of a shepherd. Because Jesus was the Good Shepherd! How can we know he was a good shepherd if we don’t know what a shepherd is?? Ah, the joys of being a Catholic Educator in 2022!
Caritas – Project Compassion Update
The St Thomas the Apostle PS Community raised $2895.45 ! This doesn’t include any online donations that families may have made, so this is an awesome effort. Many sincere thanks for the generosity of our community – this amount will do a lot of good.
Winter Kicks Off
As the season officially transitions to Winter on Wednesday next week (1st June), we can mark the occasion by wearing some cozy slippers and/or dressing gowns on this day. It’s nice to mark these occasions sometimes with something light hearted and fun. Students can bring their slippers and/or dressing gowns to wear in the classrooms only. We wouldn’t want to dirty up these precious items by wearing them outside. Bring them in a suitable bag to transport them to and from school.
Dear Families,
To allow for sibling photos and the return of a significant number of children who were absent due to isolation, production of photopacks will be delayed and will be available at the end of Term 2.
Kind Regards
Tamsyn D'Souza
Administration Officer
2023 Enrolments
We are currently accepting enrolment applications for 2023. If you have a child that is 5 years old or turning 5 before 30th April 2023 you are encouraged to submit an application.
If you are an existing family at St Thomas and have not yet completed and submitted an application, please do so as soon as possible as I will be processing applications that have been submitted from new families wishing to enrol their child from 10th June. If you submit your application after this date, I can not guarantee a position for you.
Please contact the office if you would like an application to complete for 2023 enrolment. You can also email: enrolment@cranbourneeast.catholic.edu.au to request a form.
Kind regards
Rebekah Lucas
Administration Officer
Scholastic Book Club
Dear Families
We are very pleased to let families know that some small changes to our morning and afternoon pick up procedures can take place.
Morning Drop Off
Parents are welcome to come onto the school grounds between 8.25 and 8.43am to drop their child to school and move about the playground to the child’s line up area. As soon as the music begins at 8.43 am, please say your goodbyes and allow your child to independently enter the classroom.
During this time the car line drop off continues as normal.
Learning time starts promptly at 8.45
Afternoon Pick Up
The gates will reopen at 3.05pm when the pack up bell rings. Parents may move around the playground to a designated meeting place or on the basketball court. Choose a special spot where your child can find you, but remember to discuss this with them!
Please do not select a meeting point under the bridge where the four pillars of our Catholic School Identity are. The bridge is a high traffic area and a wet weather point for our car pick up children. Please do not wait under the grey pergola between the double story building and the Bethany learning community. The pergola is the meeting point for the Walking School Bus children.
The gates are locked at 3.30pm when supervision finishes. Parents and children must leave by this time as the Outside School Hours Care team use the school premises.
My name is Alona Naidoo and I have joined the Bethany Community teaching Year 4 students at St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Primary School.
A little about my personal story, my family and I left an apartheid South Africa to begin a better life in Australia. Coming to a multicultural Australia expanded my horizons and encouraged my family to travel extensively. I loved seeing the Pyramids in Egypt, Machu Pichu in Peru, The Eiffel Tower in Paris and Mt Fuji in Japan.
Living in Australia also meant that I was given the opportunity to complete tertiary education. Before I became a teacher, I worked as a Scientist in Pathology. I discovered later on my passion to teach and studied for a Master’s in Education. On completion of my degree I got married and had a beautiful baby girl. I put my teaching career on hold to raise my daughter and only resumed fulltime teaching when she began her first year in primary school. I was privileged to secure a position at St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Primary School in Term 2 and have been whole heartedly welcomed by all the staff and students.
I am thoroughly enjoying teaching the amazing Year 4 students and I look forward to engaging with the wider STAPS school community throughout the year.