Dear Families,

Welcome back to Term 3! I hope you had some opportunity to either have a break or at the very least, to have a change from the routine. Many of you may have seen the Canberra Times article highlighting the work we are doing in our school as part of the Archdiocesean Catalyst program. This article showcased the work of our teachers and support staff. As many of you are already aware, our system-wide Catalyst program encompasses a number of programs here at school, including Initialit, The Writing Revolution, Spelling Mastery, the Multilit intervention programs, coaching, Daily Review and Explicit Direct Instruction. There has been a great deal of interest from an increasing number of schools in how we are teaching at St Thomas Aquinas. If you have not yet seen the article, I encourage you to jump onto our facebook page and have a look at the post.

During the break, we appointed Mrs Sarah Irvin to the teaching position in the ELC. Sarah will start with us in Week 2. We also welcome back Mr Liam Unwin, Liam will return as a CSA three days per week. I am sure you will make them feel very welcome.

This week, I will accompany Years 5 and 6 on camp. This will be a great opportunity for students to step outside of their comfort zones and test their limits. It will also be great time for them to make connections with each other outside of school and create some wonderful memories.

As many of you are aware the COVID situation is impacting on all sectors, including education. With new variants as well as the standard flu circulating, staffing is becoming a challenge in many workplaces. We were very fortunate last term and were able to manage staffing so that we did not have to close year groups or the school due to staff illness. While we hope we will have the same luck this term, it may be necessary to close all or part of the school. If this does occur, we will notify families via COMPASS.

Increasing case numbers also mean that there will once again be changes to school’s operation and visitors onsite. A full roadmap of COVID-safe measures is included in this newsletter. Some of the most significant changes include:

• Only essential visitors are allowed onsite - at this stage this includes parent volunteers in class
• All parent meetings must be held remotely
• Students who are a close or household contact MUST stay home for 7 days or until the household is free of COVID (whichever is greater)

You may also notice that on this map, school camps are to be cancelled until Term 4. Fortunately, we were able to gain a special exemption given our 5 & 6 camp left today. However, it does mean that gala days and other sporting events will not be able to go ahead this term.

Due to the prevalence of COVID and other illnesses, and the impact this has on staffing, any child who presents as sick to school will be sent home regardless of RAT results. I ask you to support us with this so we can continue to keep the school operating as normal. Unfortunately, if too many teachers become sick, we will need to close year groups and possibly the school. I understand that this situation has been going on for a long time and it has been incredibly draining, but for the sake of the whole school community, I ask you to work with us and keep sick children at home until they are well.

Take care and God bless

Yours in Faith

Leah Taylor
Principal