STM NEWS | Term 3, Week 7, 2026

Our inaugural Winter Market Day was a tremendous success and a wonderful celebration of community spirit.

We were fortunate to enjoy the most glorious day of sunshine, creating the perfect backdrop for a vibrant and welcoming event filled with delicious food, beautiful handmade goods, amazing market stalls, and plenty of happy faces.

A special thank you goes to the many staff members who generously volunteered their time to help make the day such a success. We are especially grateful to Lisa W for her incredible organisation, dedication, and vision in bringing this event to life, ably supported by Nathan Crail, whose hard work and commitment were invaluable.

Most importantly, thank you to all the families, friends, and community members who came along to support the day. By shopping local, purchasing from our vendors, and enjoying everything the market had to offer, you helped create a warm and successful community celebration. We look forward to building on this year’s success and making the Winter Market Day a much-loved tradition at St Thomas More School.

Our Book Week celebrations were a wonderful success, highlighted by the amazing parade and a true symphony of costumes!

Students proudly showcased their creativity and love of reading, bringing favourite book characters to life. A huge thank you to our parents and families for the time, effort, and imagination invested in creating such fantastic costumes. Your support helped make the day a memorable community event, filled with joy, laughter, and a shared love of books. A very special thankyou to Ms Swann for all the work she does in our Library Hub but especially during Book Week and to Mastro and his helpers who lead the parade with gusto!

This Sunday we honour and celebrate all the incredible fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, mentors, and the many special men who play a vital role in the lives of our children.

Father’s Day is more than a date on the calendar, it’s a moment to pause and reflect on the quiet strength, unwavering support, and everyday acts of love that shape our families and communities. Your presence, your guidance, and your love help shape the next generation in ways that words can hardly capture. Whether you’re the one tying shoelaces, reading bedtime stories, cheering from the sidelines, or simply offering a quiet moment of support, your impact is immeasurable.

May this Father’s Day be filled with moments of connection, laughter, and the recognition you so richly deserve. Thank you for being role models, protectors, teachers, and friends. The world is better because of you.

Join us on Friday, September 18 to celebrate Mercy Day with a Colour Fun Run!

We are excited to partner with the team from Eyes and Vision to provide free vision screening for our Reception to Year 2 students during Week 9.

This is the first time our younger students will have access to this valuable service, which can help identify vision concerns that may impact learning, development, and overall wellbeing.

We strongly encourage families to take advantage of this opportunity. Early detection and treatment of vision issues can make a significant difference to a child’s confidence and success at school. Click here to register and complete the consent process before the screening. We look forward to working together to support the health and learning of our students.

This annual celebration of music and community showcases the incredible talent, dedication, and spirit of our Catholic school students.

We are getting excited for Week 10 when the combined choir from St Mary Magdalene’s and St Thomas More will be joining voices with hundreds of students from across South Australia at the Catholic Schools Music Festival, held at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Our choir will be part of a massed ensemble, performing in harmony with others to create a truly uplifting and memorable experience. It’s a wonderful opportunity for students to shine on a professional stage, build confidence, and share the joy of music with a wider audience. Our students will be performing on the Thursday night and are already sounding amazing!

Next week is Child Protection Week – the theme is “Every Conversation matters: Shifting conversation to action.”

This is a special week where we emphasize the importance of turning discussions about child safety into tangible actions. We value the importance of school life and home life working in partnership to keep our children safe. During Child Protection Week, we recognise the vital role we all play in safeguarding children. All school staff are mandated notifiers and are legally required to report concerns about a child’s safety and wellbeing, helping to protect and support every child in our care. Our Year 3-6 students will have the opportunity to engage in an online webinar about age related topics ranging from cyberbullying, navigating peer pressure and gamily safely online. For more information, please see your child’s teacher.

Bullying No Way Week provided an opportunity for students at St Thomas More to deepen their understanding of bullying and positive relationships. Throughout the week, teachers discussed what bullying is and how it differs from conflict, mean moments and teasing. Students learned that while disagreements and social challenges can occur, bullying is ongoing, repeated behaviour that seeks to cause harm to another person. Teachers also reinforced the importance of speaking with a trusted adult within a child’s identified support network when concerns arise. This year’s theme, “Small Acts, Big Impact,” aligns strongly with our Mercy values of respect, compassion and hospitality, as well as our recent Grow Your Mind Friendship unit. Through this learning, students explored healthy friendships, resolving conflict and setting personal boundaries when they feel uncomfortable.

To support this important learning, information brochures were shared with families at the school gates, outlining our school commitment to fostering a safe, respectful and inclusive school community. Families are encouraged to talk openly with their children about any concerns, to gently explore their child’s understanding of events and to remain open to the possibility that there may be different perspectives to consider. By working together with empathy and understanding, we can help children develop the skills they need to navigate friendships and challenges successfully. If concerns do arise, we encourage parents and caregivers to contact their child’s teacher as the first point of contact so that we can work in partnership to gain a clear understanding of the situation and provide the best support for everyone involved

Term 3 has certainly been a very busy and exciting term for PE at St Thomas More!

Our students have had many opportunities to participate in sporting carnivals, challenge themselves, develop their skills and demonstrate excellent teamwork and sportsmanship.

SACPSSA Northern Areas Catholic Schools Australian Football Carnival | Ridley Reserve

Our Year 4–6 students competed in a round-robin competition, with separate boys’ and girls’ sections. Despite the warm conditions and wet ovals, our students showed great enthusiasm, discipline, teamwork and a high level of skill. The girls demonstrated excellent teamwork and leadership, while the boys were extremely competitive and moved the ball quickly to create some great goals. A big thank you to Ms Bush, Mr Arthur and Ms Trimboli for their help and support throughout the day. It was also wonderful to see so many parents supporting our students.

SACPSSA Catholic Schools Cross Country Carnival | East Parklands

A massive 36 students from years 3 to 6 participated in the challenging 2 km course on a cold and wet winter’s day! Our students showed tremendous determination and successfully completed their races, with many students achieving excellent results, with a number finishing between 20th and 100th place in races containing more than 100 competitors. I was extremely proud of all our runners and the effort they put into completing the course. Thank you to Ms Jassop, Matthew, Taylah and Ms Bush for their assistance and support on the day.

SACPSSA Touch Football Carnival | Touch SA Headquarters

On Monday 31 August our year participating students from years 3 to 6 enjoyed a fantastic day of competition in the beautiful sunshine. Throughout the carnival, they developed and demonstrated their passing, catching, running, evading, ball-handling, attacking and defensive skills. As the day progressed, the teams showed increasing cohesion, communication and confidence. The mixture of wins and losses provided valuable opportunities for students to learn, challenge themselves and demonstrate resilience. Our students displayed fantastic sportsmanship, encouraging their teammates and showing respect towards their opponents throughout the day. We would like to acknowledge Mr Arthur, Ms Trimboli, Ms Theodosi and Reece for their assistance in organising and managing the teams. We would also like to extend a special thank you to our Leadership Team and the team at the front desk for their ongoing support in helping organise and facilitate the carnival. Your support and encouragement are greatly appreciated.

One More Carnival to Finish Term 3!

We still have one more exciting carnival to look forward to this term. On Wednesday 16 September (Week 9), our Year 3–5 students will participate in the Tee-Ball Carnival at Kalara Reserve. This will be another wonderful opportunity for our students to put their skills into practice, work together as a team, challenge themselves and enjoy being active. We wish all our Year 3–5 students the very best as they represent our school.

It has been a fantastic term for spot! Well, done to all our students for their enthusiasm, effort, teamwork and outstanding sportsmanship.

As we begin to look toward the 2027 school year, now is the perfect time to start planning ahead.

As we do every year, families will soon be sent vis Edsmart the “Class Preparation 2027” Form to be completed.

If you have a child starting Reception in 2027, and have not yet enrolled them, we encourage you to contact the school as soon as possible. Early enrolment helps us plan staffing, resources, and classroom placements to best support every student.

Transitioning away from our school community? If your family is planning to transition away from our school community in 2027, we kindly ask that you inform the front office as early as possible. This helps us manage enrolments and support your child’s next steps with care and clarity.

Do you know a family who might be interested in joining our school?

Please encourage them to make an enquiry or come for a tour. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways to build a strong, connected community. We welcome all new families with open arms and are happy to provide tours or answer any questions.

Please be aware that our final day of term is a Pupil Free Day for our students while our staff undergo Professional Development. The final day for Term 3 is Thursday 24^th September.

We encourage everyone to take time to enjoy these last few weeks: celebrate the milestones, savour the small moments, and embrace the transition in the season.

WEEK 8

• RUOk? Day | Thursday, 10 September
• Liturgy Year 3-6 | Friday, 11 September 9am in the Hub All Welcome!

WEEK 9

• Learning Conversation Catch Up | Monday, 14 September
• T-Ball Carnival | Wednesday, 16 September
• Assembly 1/2M | Thursday, 17 September at 9am (All Welcome!)
• Mercy Day and Colour Fun Run | Friday, 18 September

WEEK 10

• Liturgy R-2 | Tuesday, 22 September at 12pm in the Hub (All Welcome!)
• Catholic School’s Music Festival | Tuesday, 15 September (Buy Tickets)
• Final Day of Term 3 | Thursday, 24 September
• Pupil Free Day (Staff Berry Street Training) | Friday, 25 September