Dear Families,

This Thursday many of our students in Year 6 will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. As they take this step in their lives, we pray that they will be able to “hear” the Spirit speaking in their lives. Please keep all the Year 6 children in your prayers as they reflect and learn about the Holy Spirit.

Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide.
Give them a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of right judgement and courage,
the spirit of knowledge and reverence.
Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen 

Fencing
No doubt you will have noticed that some additional fencing has gone up around the school. This fencing is there as a temporary measure to prevent a small number of students from running onto the road. We noticed immediately that we needed to widen the gate closest to Ginninderra Drive and put a gate in it to allow walkers to use the pathway and reported this to CE. This should be fixed today. This fence will eventually be replaced with a permanent school fence similar to ones you would have seen around many schools in the area.

Survey
Thank you to all of those families who have completed the survey. As of this morning 58 families have responded. We would love to hear from the whole community, so if you have not had a chance to complete the survey, please use the link sent on 27th May via sZapp. This survey will help us to identify what is working well and areas for improvement. Students in the upper grades will also complete their own survey in class this week. We will use this information, along with other data to identify focus areas for our Three Year Strategic Plan, and 2022 Annual Plan.

Please find the link attached here:  Parent Survey Link

Moderation against Australian Curriculum
This year, teachers have been using work samples from the Australian Curriculum website to moderate student work for reporting. This type of moderation means that students’ work is being compared against an Australian Standard rather than just within the school. It is good for students, teachers and parents to be able to compare student work against samples from across the country and what level of work is expected for each subject area. Because of this, you may notice some difference between the grade your child receives and the grades they have received in the past. Many teachers have shown students these work samples, so students know the standard of work teachers are looking for when they assess each task. If you are interested in looking at these work samples, they can be found at:

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/resources/work-samples/

CEO Sleepout
In just over a weeks’ time I will be sleeping outside, with only a sheet of cardboard as my mattress, at the National Arboretum (17th June). I am sure it will be cold and uncomfortable - it will be a far cry from my comfortable, warm bedroom at home.

As adults we often have a hard time processing Australia’s confounding homelessness situation. But it is real, so how do we explain it to our kids, and what can I do about it? To help us discuss it with our children, the St Vincent de Paul Society has produced a short brochure to guide us. Please find it attached to this newsletter.

I thank those families who have already so generously donated money to this cause. If you have not had a chance to make a donation, but would like to do so, please follow this link:  https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/leahtaylor/canberra

We will be holding a hoodie and beanie day on Friday 18th June (the day following the sleepout) to raise money for this important cause. Students who are participating in this day are asked to bring in a gold coin donation.

Previously some students have joined in this venture by ‘sleeping rough’ either on a couch or in a cardboard box in their bedroom or living room, for part of the evening. I’ll be posting videos and photos on our facebook page throughout the night.

Enrolments
While the enrolment period has officially closed we still have some space available in kindergarten and preschool. If you know of families who are considering enrolling their child at St Thomas Aquinas next year, and would like a tour of our beautiful school, please let them know they can still contact the Front Office to book a tour.

Preschool enrolment:      https://staquinas.act.edu.au/elc-enrolment

Kindergarten enrolment: https://enrolments.staquinas.act.edu.au/act-primary-enrol

God Bless

 
Leah Taylor
Principal