Dear Families,

It’s only Week 2 and we are already into full swing with events and activities. This week we will have our Mission Fete to raise money for Caritas to support missions in Ethiopia. Thank you to those who have already sent in books, toys, lolly bags, etc. Children will be able to purchase a hand for $5 so they can choose something from each stall. Last year, we had a few families who generously purchased an extra hand or two for those children in our own community whose families could not afford one. This kind of generosity makes me feel so blessed to be a part of this community.  

Final day events 
You will be aware now that The Director of Caholic Education, Mr Ross Fox has made the final day of school a pupil free day. This means we will need to make some changes to the usual end of year events. Our leadership handover ceremony, farewell tunnel and traditional water fight will now take place on Thursday 15th December. All other activities will occur as planned.   

Welcome 
I would like to welcome Ms Chay Flannery to our school community. Chay is working in the ELC in the Front Office. I am sure everyone will help her to feel very welcome over the coming weeks.  

Class Allocations for 2023 
Thank you to those families who have already emailled me regarding 2023 class requests. 

During this term, we will be finalising our staffing arrangements for 2023. Below is a copy of the ‘Class Allocation Policy’ which aims to ensure there is a fair and just process in allocating students to classes for the upcoming school year. 

My firm belief is that teachers are in the best position to decide a child’s placement because they know all the children in their classes and have a view of the ‘big picture’. However, I invite parents to inform me of anything that you feel needs to be considered, for your own child’s well-being or development. 

When forming the class lists the following factors are taken into consideration: 

• Gender 
• Diverse Learners 
• Work habits 
• Cognitive ability 
• Friendships 
• Behaviour 
• Health considerations 
• Religion (to assist in achieving balance between classes, especially in Sacramental years) and 
• Common names

Ideally, we aim for an equal spread of both positive and challenging characteristics. Where practical, parental requests based on educational concerns may be considered. At St Thomas Aquinas, we follow these principles and guidelines when considering placement of students each year: 

• Every care will be taken to ensure that each child is placed in the best situation to enhance learning and social development 
• Parents who wish to raise particular concerns regarding the placement of their children in particular classes for the following year, should put the concern in writing and email it to me (Leah.Taylor@cg.catholic.edu.au) by Friday of Week 4 (Term 4- Friday 4 November). Parents cannot assume that requests from previous years will be taken into account. A new request will need to be made every year 
• Parent concerns will be considered during the process. It must be clearly understood, however, that no definite guarantees can be given regarding parental concerns 
• Where appropriate, advice will be sought from the Classroom Support Teacher School Counsellor, Chaplain and current class teacher during this process 
• Considering all the factors listed above, the current class teachers compile class lists from mid-term, Term 4. These are then handed to me to confirm 
• Children will be informed of their class placement for the following school year in December (usually the last week of school) and the opportunity will be provided for them to spend some time with their new class teacher. New students to the school for the following year are invited to attend 
• Throughout this process, after appropriate consultation, I reserve the right to make final professional decisions regarding the placement of children 

Take care and God bless

Yours in Faith

Dear Parents and Carers

If your child/ren is leaving St Thomas Aquinas at the end of 2022 please advise the school in writing.  This does not apply to students in Year 6 this year.

Attached here is the Student Transfer Notification form which needs to be returned to the school by 10 December 2022.

Thank you

October 2022

Sophie K, Logan M, Elizabeth H, Samantha T, Mia W, Marine T, Evie P, Anna B, Benjamin G, Ruhani P, Lara K, Kuir K, Lucas S, Sebastien M, Manyuon C, Lily G, Darcy N, Santiago A, Carrelle R, Jayden P, Heath L, Harrison B-S, Daniel N, Seth R

Thank you everyone for making me feel welcome at STA.  It was wonderful meeting all the classes last term and seeing which books, authors and series are popular with our students.

Could we please make an effort over the first few weeks of the term to return library books to school? We have lots of overdue books out at the moment that would be great to get back into circulation. Please have a good look under beds and on book shelves and even in the car. You'd be surprised where library books can hide. If students have too many books overdue it may prevent them from borrowing more books, which we definitely do not want to happen.

We will send out overdue notices later in the term.

Happy reading!

Mrs Hind

Please see the below for installation help of our school payment app, Qkr!™.

STA Colour Run 2022
Friday 25^th November
Week 7, Term 4

Dear Parents and Carers,

Term 4 will see STA yet again take part in our annual Colour Run fundraiser! This will be our 3^rd year of running our Colour Run and obstacle course and it is a fantastic event each year and this year I’m sure will be no different! The date for this year’s Colour Run will be Friday 25th November in Week 7, Term 4.  The Colour Run gives all families a great opportunity to support the school by raising money to improve school facilities.  Relations, friends, neighbours or work colleagues are all great sources of donations! 

Proceeds of our past Colour Runs, have been used for some major improvements to our school and all of these will be of direct benefit to your children.  This year all donations raised from our Colour Run will be used for:

• The next stage of our shade structure on the courts – we need $15 000 for this job!

If we raise over $15 000, we will purchase:

• Decodable home readers
• Sports equipment for break times.

The Route
The route of our Obstacle Course and Colour Run will be around our school oval. We have again hired an obstacle course for the day and all children will be able to run the course and have coloured powder and water squirted on them by the teachers at set points along the course. Any students who do not wish to have powder on themselves or have asthma, will be able to run the course first.

We will be encouraging the children here at school with incentive prizes for raising money.  These will include highest fundraisers in ELC & Kinder, Year 1 & Year 2, Year 3 & Year 4, Year 5 & Year 6. There will also be a prize for the student who raises the most money overall, the family who raises the most money and the class who raises the most money. So, there are lots of reasons to get collecting and support our wonderful school!

The more money we raise, the better for our school.  We are not asking for children to wander around the streets unsupervised or to talk to strangers, but asking family members, relatives, friends, friendly neighbours, etc are all good ways to reach our goal of $20,000!!

Donation Pledge Card
Donation pledge cards have gone home with your children this week.  This card is used to record all donations. Spare cards are available from the Front Office.  We would like the money to be returned before the Colour Run as this allows us to tally final amounts and to present prizes at school as close to the Colour Run date as possible.

Thank you for your support

Did you know that applying for a Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) card is free when volunteering? All visitors volunteering within the school require a current WWVP card which must be recorded upon entry into the school.  

We encourage family involvement in your child’s education. This can be achieved in many ways such as class reading, attending excursions or sporting events, just to name a few. Please consider applying for your free WWVP card by visiting https://www.accesscanberra.act.gov.au/s/article/working-with-vulnerable-people-wwvp-registration-tab-overview

CANTEEN

The Canteen is open from Wednesdays to Fridays - for the first 10 minutes of each break.  We sell a limited selection of healthy canteen approved chips and ice blocks.

SUBWAY

Parents and staff are able to place Subway Orders Online.  Click on the link below to place an order and payment as well. 

Cut-off time is 9:15 AM for same day delivery.
Call on 02 6259 9101 to place your order after this time

Subway Lunch Orders can also be made, via Subway Envelope, at school.  Subway envelopes, including cash, need to be placed in the Lunch Order Subway box, located outside the Front Office,  by 9:30am on the day before the lunch is required.  For example, if you would like a lunch order on Wednesday, the lunch order needs to be manually submitted by Tuesday 9:30am.

Here is a sample of the Subway ordering envelope.  Envelopes are available from the Front Office or the classroom.

On behalf of Robogals Canberra, we would like to invite students at your school to attend our upcoming Robogals workshops hosted by our team.

We love to engage with students in a hands-on environment and believe the best place to inspire young women in STEM is through their schooling. Robogals Canberra offers in-school workshops and are interested in coming to your school to inspire your students. We were wondering if there was a specific STEM focus your school would be interested in to boost your students' learning? We can choose our workshops to align with what would benefit your students most.

We have two upcoming workshops which will be held on campus at the Australian National University:

- Saturday 15th October 9am - 2pm

- Saturday 22nd October 9am - 2pm

We have a variety of workshops, from learning coding languages, biology experiments, robotics and more! More information and a link for registration can be found via the QR code on the flyer attached.

If you are interested, we would love to discuss further either in-person or online.

 
Kind Regards,
Mady Hall
Robogals Canberra President | M: 0434497950

W: https://www.robogalscanberra.org/