Dear Families,

Welcome to the 2024 Academic Year. I trust that you have had a wonderful celebration of family, good food, rest and excitement of summer and of the new year.  At Christmas we pause to find joy with one another as we share thanks for the year that has been. We bring hope for the future – with life in Jesus’ born in a manger during a time of peace in this land. Let 2024 be a special time for us all. 

I am delighted to be here in 2024 as the school Principal this year – having already spent nearly a month at the school in transition with Leah Taylor as she progressed into her new role in managing our 9 Early Learning Centres in the Canberra/Goulburn Diocese. 

I am excited to be a part of STA community and already feel very welcomed by students and families. I look forward to working with students, parents and carers throughout this year and I know that the next 12 months will be positive and enriching for all of us. Please do not hesitate to contact me via the front office should you ever need to discuss any concerns. Otherwise, I look forward to welcoming you every afternoon at car park duty and meeting many of you face to face at our Meet & Greet evening on Tuesday 6^th February 2024 from 5 – 7pm. Please see details for this below.

As always, schools start at a hectic pace – there is certainly no warm up – we are in class and learning from day one, tomorrow Wednesday 31st January. We already have quite a busy term ahead with school photos, our Swimming Carnival and of course our STA Fete in the first couples of weeks of the term. Please keep up to date with all the upcoming events within our weekly Newsletter.  

The Summer Reading Challenge is still on and there is time to get those Bingo cards filled!  Further information can be found in the following pages. Reading can bring such joy whether you are reading together or on your own and it is a fabulous way to increase your knowledge, improve language skills, improve imagination and creativity and support cognitive development. Thanks Mrs Hind for supporting our students in their reading.

One of our major fundraisers is the school Fete. I have heard that the STA Fete never disappoints and I am looking forward to experiencing this for myself on March 23^rd. A school Fete is a wonderful way to get involved in the school community and I would really enjoy seeing and meeting new families at the first Fete Meeting on Thursday 8^th February at 6pm in the Library.

This year we welcome new staff: 

Meaghan Younger – Religious Education Coordinator 

Christine Appel - Director of the ELC 

Shannon Hart – Early Career Teacher Release

Sally Wang – Chinese teacher 

Kathryn Olsen – Diverse Learning Coordinator

Tara Sippel – Year 5 Classroom teacher

Alex Broekhuyse – Year 2 Classroom teacher

Jeremey Finlayson – Year 4 Classroom teacher

Class teachers 2024 

Sport days 2024 (Sports uniform)

God bless

Tim Cleary
Principal