Dear Families,

Thank you for your support and understanding regarding the strike day and pupil free day. Today, staff have had an opportunity to prepare documentation for school registration and to work with their team to create programs and learning content for students.

We are very excited to be able to welcome families back to prayer celebrations. The first celebration will be this Wednesday at 2pm. The families of 3 Blue are warmly invited to attend. At this stage, we are still limited to small groups of parents and visitors but hope that this will open up as the year progresses.

This week, you will receive an email via Compass inviting you to participate in our annual survey. These surveys help us to determine our direction for the coming year and highlight areas where we are doing well and areas for improvement. If you have not received this email by Friday, please contact the front office as it means we might need to update your details.

Last week, the Executive Director of Catholic Schools Tasmania, Dr Gerard Gaskin came to visit St Thomas Aquinas to have a look at teaching and learning in our school. He was very impressed with how welcoming our staff and students were, and also with the high quality teaching he saw in every single classroom. One of the two bold goals for Catholic Education is for High Impact Teaching Practices to be visible in every classroom and it was clear that as a school we are doing this with the support of our work with COGLearn and our in-school instructional coaches. It was wonderful to be able to affirm the hard work all staff have put into ensuring students have access to the best quality education we are able to deliver. Before Dr Gaskin left he said he would like for the principals from Tasmanian Catholic schools to visit and see the teaching at St Thomas Aquinas first-hand.

Patrick Ellis – Education Lead CECG, Anita Cunningham – Director Teaching and Learning Catholic Education Tasmania, Gerard Gaskin – Director of Catholic Education Tasmania, Leah Taylor - Principal St Thomas Aquinas, Michael Roberts – Director COGLearn (HITP Coach), Michele Bezuidenhout – Program Manager CECG (not pictured)

While the enrolment period has officially ended, we are still waiting for a few sibling enrolments. If your child is due to start kindergarten in 2023, please make sure you have completed your online enrolment application. Feel free to call the front office if you are struggling with this in any way.

Take care and God bless

Yours in Faith

Leah Taylor
Principal