Tomorrow afternoon we will be having a Colour Run followed by a Sundowner to celebrate Father’s Day. All dads/significant men/ grandads/uncles/older brothers/mums etc are encouraged to come along and run alongside the children and embrace the colour that is thrown upon them by the spectators. The children may change into light coloured clothes for this run, but I strongly encourage them to bring along a towel to use after so they can get changed back into their Sport’s uniform before going home, particularly those children catching busses. Children who remain in their school uniform will not be permitted to run. The Colour Run will commence at 2:15pm on the oval.

Our Year 5 students set off on their camp yesterday, where they will spend 3 days developing their leadership skills, experiencing new activities that may challenge them and learning about the local history of the Busselton/Margaret River area. They spent yesterday visiting the Busselton museum and visiting the Busselton Jetty and Underwater Observatory. A huge thank you to Mr McDonald for his organisation of this camp along with the assistance of the parent helpers, Mr Kris Innes, Mrs Rebecca Lutton, Mrs Natasha Schumann and Mrs Karen Twomey. We wish all our Year 5 students a wonderful time!

Today, our Year 4 students travelled to Augusta for a retreat to learn more about the Sacrament of Eucharist. They completed many different activities which helped strengthen their understanding of this special meal Jesus gave us, before they receive the Sacrament this Sunday 20th August at 10:00am. These children, with the help and support of their parents and teachers, have been preparing for some time now to make this commitment to Jesus and deepen their relationship and connection to Him.

On Tuesday morning, the school gathered to celebrate St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Feast Day. The Year 1 students led this liturgy and reminded the school about who St Mary MacKillop was and the important part she played in establishing Catholic education in Australia and the establishment of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (Josephites) – otherwise known as ‘The Brown Joeys’. The original Catholic school in Margaret River was established by the Josephites and was known as St Joseph Convent school. In 1993, it became what is now known as St Thomas More Catholic Primary School! St Mary MacKillop had a saying – ‘Never see a need without doing something about it’, which features in our school prayer. This certainly still stands true today, and something we continually try to reinforce with our students.

Well done to all the parents and students who helped lead this liturgy and to Miss Farano for her organization.

Yirra Yaakin Theatre company visited our school on Monday to perform a play for our Year 1-6 students. The play was set on Wadandi Boodja in the town of Woodichup Bilya (Margaret River) and followed the adventures of three friends who lost their language and had to learn about kindness, acceptance, friendship and communication. The play incorporated Noongar language – with our students already knowing many of the words! The students were really able to connect with this performance, with all the classes thoroughly enjoying it.

Welcome back to Term 3! Despite the weather, I hope everyone had a wonderful relaxing time during the school holidays, ready to come back refreshed and ready for a great term of learning. It was really lovely to see so many smiling faces on Tuesday as the children walked into the school grounds. We welcome two new families to our school – the Cowan family with Alice in Yr 4 and Lucy in Yr 2 and Jordan-Ucich family with Luna in PP. I am sure our school community will make you feel very welcome!

It was wonderful to see the way the children interacted in our Wellness Week and Feast Day celebrations last week. I hope this week was able to provide each child with an opportunity to reflect on their own wellness and take some steps to make improvements in this area or continue some great practices. A special thank you to the teachers for organising such fun and engaging activities for the children to participate in on Friday and to our Year 3 students for leading us in a reverent and reflective Mass to celebrate our Feast Day. I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating on this day.

Last Sunday 18th June, five of our Year 6 students received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Bishop Gerard reminded the parents and students of some of the important Gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they need to use them in their lives. He asked the parents and parish community to continue to support our youth in their spiritual development. I encourage each of these students to open the gifts they received from the Holy Spirit and to try and use them each day and pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide and protect each of these students throughout their lives. A special thank you to Mrs Pisano and Mrs Arthur, Fr Mat and the St Thomas More staff for their assistance in making this day so special for the Confirmands and their families. What a special day!

This Sunday 18th June, 5 of our Year 6 students will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation in the St Thomas More parish community.

Today our Year 5 and 6 students travelled up to Bunbury to participate in an Interschool Winter carnival with teams competing in both Netball and Football. Competing against 12 other schools, our teams performed exceptionally well! Congratulations to all those students who competed and represented our school so well.