Dear Families, 

It is hard to believe that the end of the year is finally here. We have had a wonderful year getting back into the swing of school. While we have had a few more staff absences than a usual year, as everyone re-builds their immune systems, we have still been able to hold so many of the events that are a usual part of the school’s activities. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it does give an idea of how much has happened.

• Sacraments
• Whole school masses
• Camp
• Carnivals
• School visits
• Fete
• Disco
• Graduations
• Assemblies
• Musical
• Implementation of a new curriculum
• Meet and greet, goals chats, 3-way Conferences, learning journeys
• Reports with comments!
• Author visits
• Carols back at Parliament house

It was wonderful to see so many members of our community, both new and old at so many of these events. I understand a number of families who have enrolled their children recently came to our fete and were so impressed by the community atmosphere it really helped them to confirm their decision to come to St Thomas Aquinas.

I congratulate the Year 6 students for their graduation on Friday. They have all grown up so much. It was such an amazing privilege to be able to play a part in this over the last four years and I wish them all the very best. To our leaving families, thank you for your contribution over the years. Whether you were here for less than a year or 13 years, you are a part of the St Thomas Aquinas community and you always will be. Please visit, we would love to continue to hear about your children and family.

Today, students would have had an opportunity to meet their teachers for next year. It is always an exciting time, but it can also cause a little bit of anxiety for others. The teachers do their very best to match students up with at least one friend. This may not always be the friend the student was thinking they would be with, and there can sometimes be a need for some readjustment. Please know that every teacher will build a sense of team with their class and work hard to ensure that children are happy, safe and learning.

The class teachers are as follows:

Arts - Naomi Wicks                          Library/Digital Technologies - Rachael Hind

Chinese - Sally Wang                     Kathryn Olsen - Diverse Learning

AP - Carmen Myles                         Principal - Tim Cleary

Alisha Barrett was successful in gaining a position at St Monica’s for 2024. Alisha has filled many roles within the school over her years here at St Thomas Aquinas, including teaching across a number of year levels, maths coordinator, curriculum coordinator and most recently sport teacher. We wish Alisha all the very best. We have advertised for a teacher for next year.

I would like to thank each and everyone one of you for your support over the last four years. It was a very difficult decision to take up the General Manager Early Learning with Catholic Education because I have felt so much a part of this wonderful community. Thank you for trusting me to lead the school through a few very challenging years, as well as through a wholesale change to teaching and learning. While we have already seen the learning of so many students improve dramatically over the last few years, the results of this change will probably not be fully appreciated for a few more years and I look forward to seeing this continued improvement. I have had the chance to speak with a few of you either at pickup, after assemblies or when you pop into the office. Thank you for taking the time to wish me well. I hope not to be a stranger and to be able to catch up on all things St Thomas Aquinas when I am visiting the ELC.

I wish all of you a blessed and holy Christmas. May you receive hope, peace, joy and be filled with love this Christmas (and a good rest).

Thank you once again.

Take care and God bless