Welcome back everyone!

It's been wonderful to see all of our students this morning with smiles on their faces, happy to see each other.

Thank you to the beautiful staff and the many families who have dropped by in recent weeks and made me feel very welcome. I'm very excited about joining the St Thomas Aquinas school community.

Welcome to our new students and families! Thank you for choosing to be part of the St Thomas Aquinas story and for allowing us to be a part of your family story. We look forward to walking alongside your children as they learn and grow.

Welcome to our new staff members, Ms Nat Zarb (1 Green) and Ms Jess Coghlan (2 Green). Ms Zarb and Ms Coghlan are both teachers who will bring a lot of experience to share with everyone and their students.

Thank you to our volunteer parents who opened up the clothing pool last week to help families prepare for school. Your generosity of time was very much appreciated.

Professional Learning

The staff have gathered together since Thursday to prepare for the year ahead (though all of our teachers and office staff have been preparing well before that). They are an impressively dedicated group of people. The opportunity to get together before children return is crucial to ensuring that your child has a positive start to the year.

Last Thursday we spent the day working through administrative information, curriculum organisation and updating our First Aid credentials. Every staff member is trained in First Aid, helping to create a safe school environment.

On Friday we joined all Catholic schools in our system to listen to two key note speakers who shared more of the latest research in the Science of Learning. Following these presentations staff were engaged in enthusiastic discussions about the how they can utilise this information in 2025 to benefit their students.

Yesterday our Religious Education Coordinator, Mrs Megan Smith (formerly Thomas), guided us through a reflection day based on the theme of this year: Pilgrims of Hope. We looked at the writings from Pope Francis, artwork about hope and scripture by St Paul. 

We came to a much deeper understanding about hope. More specifically that:

• hope is much more than simple positivity and optimism
• hope is based on a deep, immovable understanding that we are all loved by God and good
• hope is strengthened and sustained through patience and a commitment to living out the love God created us to share, in small, incidental ways every day
• hope is to be shared; we plant seeds of hope in others

It is our intention this year to share and nourish the hope within each and every student as well as in our community.

Meet and Greet

I'm looking forward to meeting as many people as possible at our Meet and Greet next Tuesday, 11 February, from 5.00pm. More details will follow. Please lock it in your diary. It is an excellent opportunity to connect with your child's teacher and make a positive start early in the school year.

Hot weather

It is very hot this week. We will strategically utilise our school cooling and encourage students to wear sunscreen, hats and drink plenty of water. We will consider staying out of the sun when appropriate. By assisting your child with the above items you will help them resiliently and sensibly manage the warmth.

I plan to be wandering around the school morning and afternoons to meet people. Please do say hello whenever you can.

Happy first day of school!

Matthew Garton

Principal