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Dear Families
There is a real vibrancy around Thomas More College at the moment for a variety of reasons.
Last week, our Year 7 Leader Ms Lacey Hutter hosted visiting students from Holy Family who will be starting with us next year. As I walked through the yard I was pleasantly surprised about the number of our current students, acting as tour guides and buddies, who were very proud to seek out me and other staff from the other side of the yard, to say hello and introduce us to our future students. These are students with whom I have not spoken a lot, but who were almost beaming in introducing our new young people to our culture. I saw happiness, pride and a sense of gratitude for our school, and an almost excitedness to share it amongst others with a want for them to have the same feelings and experiences. It is small moments like this which remind me of the positive impact small and everyday words and actions can have on our community, and in turn the positivity that our community can create in people.
Similarly, over the last two weeks some of our Executive and Leadership staff have been involved in interviewing and recruiting staff for next year. Some of these positions have come about because of the continued growth in the school, and some due to staff retirements, replacement and temporary roles. Having seen and read all the applications that have been submitted for the roles for 2021, it is clear that we are attracting multiple talented applicants across the board. TMC is a destination school for staff and this tone continues to be set by all of our Community’s work.
This is on the back of our current positive enrolment trends which have us looking to reevaluate our College Master Plan in light of what our Community may need. Without going into detail there are positive discussions with both CESA and the Salisbury Council; I will report more specifics when I can, but it is a good time to be at TMC.
We continue to be mindful of the time of year, particularly for our Year 12s, who have just finished Week 1 of their Exams, as well as those finishing final assessment tasks. It has been great to engage with Middle School students this week too; I have heard about some real-life connections with Ms Glasson’s Year 8 HASS/Business Class, who have been working with ‘First Things First Coffee’ on a project based-learning opportunity. I am looking forward to hearing from the students next week about what they have taken from this type of learning. I also spent time with Mrs Sinapius’ Year 9 Environment Studies class, where she shared in some food (in a COVID-safe way) sustainably sourced from insects. It sounds interesting and it was! It is great to have authentic learning across the breadth of our 7-12 school.
Take Care
Corey Tavella
Principal
Today, 7P took Maths to the streets. Well, the service road!
We used the skills of collaboration and flexible thinking to substitute equations into a table of values. We then used the coordinated to plot onto a Cartesian Plane on the road. We made lots of mistakes but enjoyed the task and being able to work together and correct each other, working in pairs and small teams. We started to notice how the coefficient of x changes how steep the graph is and the constant term tells us where the line goes through the y intercept.
7 Purple Maths Teacher
The Year 9 Camp this year was held at two locations, Douglas Scrub Campsite, Blewett Springs and Chookarloo Campground, Kuitpo Forest.
The students and staff spent three days involved in a variety of activities which involved an overnight bushwalk to Kuitpo Forest using the Heysen Trail, giving them an opportunity to experience camping and cooking for themselves. Students were also involved with a number of camp based activities at Douglas Scrub which had them attempting Abseiling and Rock Climbing in the picturesque and rugged Onkaparinga Gorge, building and racing Billy Carts in a team focused challenge and a multi-task dilemma of trying to “Save the Pilot” which focused on team collaboration.
From a staff point of view, it was great to witness students overcome their fears and personal challenges throughout the camp activities and to develop a real appreciation for the natural environment they were immersed into for the three days.
Group 1
Year 9 Coordinator
Welcome
Welcome to the Thomas More College #Librarylife newsletter.
Book Week 2020 - Competition Winners
Thank you to everyone for supporting the Resource Centre’s Book Week celebrations this year, especially as the event was rescheduled due to COVID-19 earlier this year.
The Resource Centre staff were pleased with how many students participated in our fun competitions. The winners of each competition are listed below:
Winner of the ‘Find the teacher wearing the Book Week sticker competition’: Madeline Pailthorpe 7P
Winner of the ‘Can you name the book from the snippet of the book cover competition’: Taniya Trec 7R
Winner of the ‘Can you name the ‘Mad Scientist behind the Book competition’: Ebony Frith 11W and Bonnie Dodds 11G
Winner of the ‘Get caught reading competition’: This photo is on display in the Resource Centre and will be displayed until the end of Week 6.
Thank you to Ms Brown and Mr Ackan for bringing Cadbury the College snake out of his enclosure to visit students during lunch on Tuesday, 20 October. He was quite a popular guest with several students giving him a pat hello while he was outside enjoying the Spring weather and sunshine.
Here is Mrs Loveder enjoying her favourite book: ‘The Guardian’ by John Grisham.
Describe this book in 6 words: Intriguing, pacey, thoughtful, engaging, logical, challenging.
Display Cabinet
The Library’s latest display cabinet celebrates Picture Book Month 2020. Picture Book Month is celebrated each year in November to highlight the importance of picture books in learning and development.
Inspirational Quote of the Week | # the harder you work …
Uniform Shop Opening Hours
Mondays: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Thursdays: 8:00am - 10:00am
Fridays: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
First Saturday of Every Month: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Healthy Eating... Healthy Lifestyles
Thomas More College supports the Rite Bite Strategies introduced for South Australian Schools as well as an overall healthy approach to living and lifestyle. This is an initiative we encourage all of our community to take up, not just our students. The College would like to invite staff, students and parents to contribute recipes which meet these guidelines, as displayed on our website, for our newsletter so that we can all benefit from our collective knowledge and resources. Please enjoy the following recipe.
Creole Prawn Salad with Black Beans
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 4
INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes
500g peeled green prawns, deveined, tails intact
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 baby cos lettuces, chopped
200g grape tomatoes, halved
150g roasted red capsicums (not in oil), sliced
400g can black beans, rinsed, drained
Lime wedges
METHOD
Process parsley, coriander, shallot, garlic, chilli, cumin, juice, oil and salt and pepper in a food processor until smooth. Reserve 2 tablespoons chimichurri in a large bowl. Set aside.
Place remaining chimichurri in a shallow dish. Add beef and turn to coat. Cover and place in fridge for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, boil, steam or microwave potatoes until just tender. Drain. Refresh under cold water. Drain. Halve potatoes. Place potatoes and yoghurt in bowl with reserved chimichurri and toss to combine.
Lightly spray a chargrill or barbecue with oil and preheat over medium-high heat. Cook beef for 3-4 minutes each side or until cooked to your liking. Cover beef with foil and set aside to rest for 5 minutes before thinly slicing.
Lightly spray capsicum and zucchini with oil. Cook, turning, for 5–7 minutes or until charred and tender. Serve beef with vegetables and potato salad.