Dear Parents and Carers,

I would like to introduce you to our School Community Council for 2021:

I would like to thank the SCC for serving our community in this important capacity. 

Community Picnic

Please join us for our Welcoming Community Picnic tomorrow evening at 6pm. BYO picnic, picnic rug and chairs. We’ll have an inflatable for the kids (Active Play and a Climb and Slide). Bring along some gold coins - we’ll be raffling off some vouchers from local businesses. I hope you can make it.  

Centred in Faith and Centred in Learning Gatherings

Our gatherings will be on a Monday morning up in Holy Faith Hall, starting at 9am. The first will be next Monday where we present our Affirmation Awards to students who have been centred in their faith and their learning. In the newsletter today we have listed the students. I ask that only parents of those students listed attend on Monday morning. I do understand that many of you have work commitments that prevent you from attending, so your attendance is not compulsory.

Class Contacts

This is a call-out to consider being a class contact for your child’s class group. Being a class contact is a great way to get to know families in your child’s class and be involved in the school community. There are guidelines for you to follow if you’re not sure what the job entails. If you are interested in being a class contact or have any questions, please contact Julie Ogden at the front office. We have the email lists ready to go!  

Second-hand Clothing Pool

If you require access to the second-hand clothing pool please email or call the front office.

Pupil Free Day – For your diaries

April 19, 2021 is a Pupil Free Day for ALL Catholic schools in our Archdiocese. (It is the first day of Term 2). Team Kids will provide care on this day, but you will need to register beforehand.

Yours sincerely,

Julie Wiley

Principal.

School Counsellor ……and Important Information about how to access School Counselling.

Hello lovely St Thomas More’s families! My name is Sarah Foley and I have been part of the Catholiccare Student and Family Counselling team since 2006.

I am a registered psychologist with a passion for working with children, young people and their families. I have previously worked in marketing, community based aged care, crisis counselling and the homelessness sector.

In my school counselling work I provide short term client centred support to children and their families drawing from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Strengths based, Mindfulness and Trauma informed approaches in a developmental context. For more complex issues I also provide referrals and information/parent consultation. I am at St.Thomas More’s all day Thursdays during each school term.

2021 has seen some changes to accessing the school counselling service. The major change is how to make an appointment.

Referrals and requests can be made by completing the online referral form accessed via (https://catholiccare.force.com/housing/s/school-referral-form). If you feel unsure about the process please talk to Mrs Julie Wiley or Mrs Julie Ogden or myself for further help.

Parent consent for counselling continues to be required for all primary school students and will be sought and provided via email. Once the referral has been received by myself- School Counsellor- I will make contact with parents to further discuss the referral.

More about School counselling/how to access school counselling at St.Thomas More’s.

As part of the pastoral care program for students at St.Thomas More’s, students have access to a Student and Family Counselling service provided by CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn (CCG). CCG are contracted by the CEO to provide a counselling service to students and their families on site. There is no fee to access this service. The service offers short term counselling support (roughly up to six sessions per referral issue) to children and their families – the counsellor can also provide referrals for more complex issues requiring intensive or long term therapy/support.

The role of the counsellor is to focus on the emotional, social and educational well-being of the students. Counsellors welcome contact with students having difficulty with some part of their life,  the problem does not have to be a big one. It is better to seek help sooner rather than later. Some typical concerns that counsellors work with include: anger, anxiety, behavioural problems, low mood, family changes/separation, grief and loss, learning and educational challenges, parenting challenges, peer and other social relationships, school avoidance, stress and study skills. As well as individual sessions with students, counsellors can run groups, consult with parents and teachers and make referrals to other services and supports. 

Student and Family Counsellors subscribe to a set of professional ethics that include duty of care and respect for the individual rights to privacy and confidentiality. The counsellors’ obligation is to ensure the safety, wellbeing and confidentiality of the student they are working with. All counsellors are mandated to report any disclosure or sign of abuse (including self-harm) or neglect to Child Protection Services. Outside of our mandated requirements, all counselling sessions are confidential and the details will not be discussed with other parties unless written consent is given by the client.

Sarah Foley
Registered Psychologist
Ph:  02 6249 8869
Onsite all day -Thursdays.

Hi everyone, 

My name is Anh! I'm so excited to be your youth minister this year at the school. My favourite saints are St. Teresa of Calcutta, St Joseph and someone who's not yet a saint but almost is, Blessed Chiara Corbella Petrillo. I really enjoy going for walks and cooking and eating delicious food. 

My role as youth minister is to support the growth in faith of the school through such things as leading and supporting classroom prayer, running social justice initiatives like mini vinnies, helping at school liturgies and masses, running retreats like Journey with Jesus, running youth ministry meetings and hopefully forming a junior youth ministry team! 

I'm looking forward to this year, there is so much in store for all the students and hopefully your children will be able to bring some of what they experience back home. 

I am praying for each one of you and your families, please also pray for me and the youth ministers this year. 

If you have any questions or want to know more please reach out to me on my email anh.tran@cg.org.au. 

I'll see you all on Fridays! 

God bless, 

Anh

Soccer

f