Dear Families,

On Saturday night, I had the pleasure of running the student component of the Confirmation formation evening. It has been some 16 years since I have had a Year 6 confirmation class, but the students engaged very well and it was clear that their teachers had already prepared them so well. We will keep the candidates in our prayers.

Survey
The parent survey will close this Friday. To date we only have 36 parents who have responded to the survey. I encourage as many of you as possible to respond to this survey. If you have lost the link, please do not hesitate to contact the front office.

Vinnies CEO Sleepout
Once again, I am taking part in the St Vincent de Paul CEO Sleepout, along with a number of my principal colleagues.  I will be sleeping outside, with only a sheet of cardboard as my mattress, at the National Museum in a few weeks from now. I am sure it will be cold and uncomfortable, and a far cry from my comfortable, warm bedroom at home.

Sleeping outside is a small inconvenience for me, but the money raised will go to help so many who sleep rough every single night of the year. This year, I aim to raise twice the amount of money I have raised in previous years. This money will go towards providing food, accommodation and other support for people and families in need. This may include some of our own families.

Once again, I am calling for donations to help support the wonderful work of Vinnies. If you would like to make a donation, please follow this link

https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/leahtaylor/canberra. 

We will be holding a hoodie and beanie day on Friday 23rd June (the day following the sleepout) to raise money for this important cause. Students who are participating in this day are asked to bring in a gold coin. If you follow our Facebook page I’ll be posting videos and photos throughout the night.

Enrolments
While the enrolment period has officially closed, we still have limited spaces available in kindergarten and preschool. If you know of families who are considering enrolling their child at St Thomas Aquinas next year and would like a tour of our beautiful school, please let them know they can still contact the front office to book a tour.

Take care and God bless

June Birthdays

Millie A, Maeve J, Flourish O, Leilani MH, Lucinda B, Maddison J, Samin M, Emily M, Samuel B, Phoebe S, Om B, Anna D, Zachary M, Ivy LH, Luke S, Liam M, Angok C, Mason S, Annabelle M, Violet W, Tobenna M, Emma O, Nash H, Aleisha MA, Leo W, Toi D, Georgia R, Jordan C, George B-C, Nella W-S, Mackenzie C, Lachlan M, Annabella L, Lucas G, Xavier V, Chuol C

School photo day is fast approaching! ELC photos will be taken on 13th & 15th June with the Primary School on Wednesday 14th June. Photo packages are ordered with MSP via the Compass app. If you do experience any difficulties, please do not heistate to contact the front office.

Sibling order forms are available from the Front Office. 

Please note that it is expected that all students are dressed in full Winter Uniform for school photos. 

Scholastic Book Club

Issue 4 came home last week.

All orders are online or via the Loop app: https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent.aspx

Orders are due 13^th June 2023.

Our school receives credits each time a student buys a book.  This helps with building our library collection.

Winners of National Simultaneous Storytime Colouring-in Competition

We all enjoyed reading and viewing The Speedy Sloth story on Wednesday for NSS.

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition. It was very hard to select the winners!

Congratulations to:

ELC: Mila D

Kinder: Rabik B

Year 1: Ebadat S & Isaac R

Year 2: Tori D

Year 3: Sophia H

Year 4: Layne M

Year 5: Natalia O

Year 6: Ethan M

Don't forget to keep returning your overdue library books - we want to keep our books circulating through all of our families.

Happy reading,

Mrs Hind

Over the next several weeks students will be introduced to Ngunnawal vocabulary. This week students will be learning "Yarradarang" meaning Dream. Thank you Miss Evans for continuing our learning of our Ngunnawal Country.

The Seasons for Growth program will be offered to students again this year, commencing later in Term 3. The program is designed to support students who are dealing with some aspect of change, separation, loss or grief through small group discussions and activities with a Seasons for Growth Companion. If you would like your child to participate in the program this year, please see the attached nomination form. It is recommended that students who participated last year take a break this year and complete the next level program in 2024.  For more information please contact Mrs Skye McPadden (skye.mcpadden@cg.catholic.edu.au)

Our Semester 1 reports will be available for families on Monday of Week 10 (26 June).  As a system our reports have continued to change. This Semester, the usual grading will happen for each of the learning areas, however there will again be no comments. This is in line with the majority of Primary and Secondary schools in our Archdiocese.   

We invite parents and carers to the Semester 1 - 3 Way Conference Interviews. The 3 Way Conference bookings will go live and will be available to you on COMPASS in Week 7, 5th June 2023.  It will remain open until Friday 16 June.  Please ensure that you access COMPASS to lock in a meeting time with your child’s teacher. Please note that bookings will close strictly at 3pm on Friday 16 June 2023.

Your child should also come along to this meeting. This is a great opportunity to discuss how your child is progressing in their learning and to have a real time conversation about growth and development.  

The Conferences will be held on Tuesday 21 June from 3-7 pm and Wednesday 22 June from 8:00am - 8:45am and from 3pm - 6pm. Each Conference will be for a maximum of 15 minutes.

In late term 3 the school’s finance system will be changing. As a result, the school will no longer be able to support Direct Debit as a way of paying school fees. All school fees will either need to be paid via BPay, EFTPOS or cash. All invoices for school fees will carry a unique BPay reference. While the rollover to the new system is still a few months away, we wanted to make families aware of this change so you can talk to your bank and/or the front office if you are not familiar with BPay and require support.

Please feel free to contact the front office if you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes.

Last week our ELC received Commendation for Naturescape in the 2023 LEAD Awards.

Visit the Education Today newsletter article here to view our mention of Commendation.