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

Please note that there is no supervision before 8:30am and after 15:15pm.  Students who need care outside these hours are able to use the services of OSH.

• School Fees for Term 1 will be sent home by the end of Week 2.
  
  
• School Fees include operational costs and will now incorporate the following expenses which were previously separate.
  • Book Pack Levy (including software licence fees) of $125 per student and are provided at cost price.
    This fee will be apportioned over the four terms instead of Term 1 only.
  • Specific excursions such as Years 5 and 6 Camps.
    
    
• STA is  moving towards being cashless.
  • Credit or Debit Card payments can be made over the phone or in person via our EFTPOS machine.
    
    
  • Payments can also be made via BPAY.
    
    
  • QKR
    Our school has introduced Qkr!™, a mobile phone payment app designed for Australian schools, delivering an online credit card payment solution for parents.
    
    Please install Qkr on your phones as over the next few weeks and next year we will be introducing items to purchase via this system.  Please find below Qkr Installation Notes and Parent Tips.
    
    
    

All parents, carers and visitors who visit STA during school hours, must enter the school via the front office and sign in.  Your cooperation is much appreciated.

Dear Parents and Carers

SZapp is our preferred form of communication for 2020.

Attached is information on SZapp Installation.

STA now sell school hats at the front office.  We have them in Small, Medium and Large and they cost $15 each.

OSH provide before and after school care in our school hall.  If you need to drop off your child before 8:30am and pick them up after 3:15pm, we advise that you use the services provided by OSH.

Attached here is information regarding their services.  

OSH will also be having a welcome breakfast this Friday at 8:30am.  Information can be found here.

School Banking occurs on Fridays.  Please hand in bank books to Front Office by the Thursday of each week.

Lunch orders are available through Subway Charnwood from Wednesdays to Fridays.  We also sell a limited selection of health canteen approved chips and ice blocks for sale in our Canteen from Wednesdays to Fridays - for the first 10 minutes of each break.

Lunch orders from Subway will need to be placed in the Lunch Order Subway box, located outside the Front Office,  by 9:30am on the day before the required lunch is required.  For example, if you would like a lunch order on Wednesday, the lunch order needs to be submitted by Tuesday 9:30am.

If you would like to place a lunch order on the day, you are able to drop off your lunch order at Subway Charnwood by 8:30am on the day.

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

Please note that Bus Route 40 is a public bus service and not a dedicated school bus service

Bus Route 40

Please note that Bus Route 1048 is a school bus service that departs from Melba Copland School

Bus Route 1048

The Music Bus are taking new student enrolments for Term 1. The program is open now and we ready to enrol your child. Running weekdays at School. The Music Bus have limited availability in Singing, Keyboard, Guitar, Drum and Ukulele and so it is advised to enrol asap. 

The Music Bus is a wonderful music program that many of our students are already enjoying – a brilliant and cost-effective way for students to get fun and specialist music lessons without parents having to travel all over the area after school. Cost of lessons is only $20 per week (Drums $22).
If you’re interested in your child having music lessons through The Music Bus, check out their website at www.themusicbus.com.au or call 1300 168 742 

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