Dear Families,

Firstly, I thank Carmen for acting as Principal while I was attending Catholic Leaders’ day and the Principal retreat late last week. The retreat day provoked a great deal of thinking about the human person and that we are all made in the image and likeness of God, male and female. We were all asked to consider how people in our community approach one another and whether it is always with love and openness.

NAPLAN
Tomorrow, students in Years 3 and 5 will commence NAPLAN testing. The Canberra Times will be running an article about NAPLAN in our school in tomorrow’s paper. NAPLAN, along with a number of other assessments we use across Catholic Education and within the school, provides us with one measure of students learning. It is a helpful measure because it allows us to assess the effectiveness of programs we are using at St Thomas Aquinas, to assess student’s learning and progress when compared with students across the country, and to triangulate other data we collect. We know that any assessment can make some students feel nervous and also know that the hype around NAPLAN can make students feel particularly nervous. While we want the students to take this test, along with all tests and learning seriously, NAPLAN is neither more of less important than anything we do here at St Thomas Aquinas. I wish our Year 3 and Year 5 students all the very best for the next three days.

Fete
The fete is approaching very fast. It is wonderful to be able to bring the community back together for this event after more than three years. While I have slowly been getting to know the community in the midst of lockdowns, this will be the first time I have been able to be a full part of this community event. I have been excited to hear about the various stalls, entertainment and events planned. Thank you for your support so far, our raffle books are almost completely sold, so if you wanted to buy a few more tickets, make sure you get in quick! This year, we will be looking to use money raised to improve our outdoor spaces including the basketball courts and other play spaces. If you would like to become involved, it is not too late to reach out to the fete committee.

Take care and God bless

Yours in Faith