Dear Parents and Carers,

As we begin another school year our thoughts turn to those students and teachers who have not been able to start their year as expected, whether it be in a hastily erected temporary classroom, at another school or campus or even those who have not been able to attend school until it is safe to do so. In Canberra we have had our fair share of fire threat, smoke haze and holidays cut short or not even started. It is important to recognise that our children may be feeling the impact, even if they are not talking about it. If you feel your child may be struggling because of recent fires, I refer you to a wonderful resource we placed on our facebook page about ways to talk about the fires with children here.

All staff at St Thomas Aquinas actually began last week with CPR and two day’s training in the Berry Street Education Model. ‘Berry St’ is a trauma-informed education model that helps teachers, classroom support and office staff to help students to build resilience, stamina and character, by teaching them about emotional and physiological responses to stress, including the stress of learning. When students understand why they respond in particular ways, they can begin to moderate these responses. You may have seen some of this in action in your child’s classroom, where teachers took time to greet each child by name or through a morning welcome circle. For the next few weeks, teachers will focus on building a sense of team within their classroom and creating an environment where children feel that they are safe and they belong.

There were a number of new faces in our school this year, including two classes of Kindergarten students and two new Preschool classes. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you to the St Thomas Aquinas community and encourage you to become involved in any way you can.

I would like to thank everyone who is part of the St Thomas Aquinas community for making me feel so welcome. I have been able to pop into classrooms and meet many of your children, and it has been wonderful to catch up with a few of you in the mornings or at pick-up. Cameron Johns spoke so warmly of this school community and I can already see why he will miss it enormously. I would also like to thank Mrs Carmen Myles for her wonderful leadership last term. Term 4 is often one of the most challenging and certainly busiest terms and Carmen led the school skillfully and with ease.

For those who don’t know me, I have worked in and with Catholic schools for over 20 years. I am married to Chris and have three children, Genevieve (16), Aidan (16) and Gabrielle (13), and a mini fox-terrier, Rocko.

I have worked in a number of schools within the Archdiocese and the head office,  as well as at schools in Sydney and Gosford. I have been a long time advocate for STEM education and have served as a member of the board for the Australian Science Teachers’ Association for six years. However, I am most passionate about children being able to read, write, to think mathematically and be numerate, to have a good understanding of how the world 'works' and have the skills to inquire. I see learning as an integral part of our humanness and by understanding the world around us, we begin to develop a deep appreciation of God's Creation, including of ourselves.

I am looking forward to getting to know each of you throughout this year.

Yours in Faith

Leah Taylor
Principal