Dear Parents and Carers

This week we enter Lent. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday where we come together to remind ourselves that we don’t always follow God’s ways and need to ask God for His mercy and forgiveness. Like God’s people in the time of the prophets, we wear ashes to show that we want to turn away from whatever keeps us from God, and to have a change of heart, so that we can live in right relationship with God and each other. For Catholics, Ash Wednesday is also a day of fasting and abstaining from meat. Fasting reminds us that food alone cannot make us happy. We must also be fed with prayer, with God’s Word and by meeting Jesus in the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation and Eucharist. The small sacrifices we make during Lent, fasting and almsgiving in conjunction with prayer make room in our hearts to welcome the risen Jesus at Easter. Teachers will be talking with children about the meaning of Lent and discuss what commitments they might make throughout Lent.  You might also like to discuss this with your child/ren.

Community Council meeting
The School Community Council had its first meeting for the year last Wednesday. Amongst the reports was one from the fete committee who managed to raise over $21 000.  I would like to thank not only the fete committee who organised such a wonderful community event but also the whole community for supporting the fete. This money will go towards much needed resources for children to use at school. 

Building Fund Contribution
A question about the building fund was raised by members of the School Community Council, wondering what this was and where the money went. The building fund is collected by Catholic Education to fund not only new building works like the new ELC we will be building soon, but also to fund the ongoing maintenance of the school. This contribution is fully tax deductible whether you only pay one term, or you pay for the whole year. You will be provided with a statement at the end of each financial year to use at tax-time.

Fees
Fees are due by Friday 13 March unless you have arranged to make regular payments. If you wish to apply for fee remission you will need to have this application into the front office by Friday 6th March. Please talk to Lee Black, Finance Secretary if you have any questions.

School Uniform
I have noticed that many students are beginning to wear a variety of non-uniform items to school. Here is the link to our school uniform requirements for your reference. Students should wear the correct uniform, including the correct shoes on the correct day. Sports uniform, including sports shoes, should only be worn on sports days and for carnivals. We understand that children grow very quickly, so if you have found yourself short a uniform or two we have a second hand uniform pool with all sizes available for $2 per item.

St Thomas Aquinas Day
Please join us to celebrate St Thomas Aquinas Day on Thursday March 12. We will begin with Mass at 9:30 am followed by rotational activities. You are welcome to bring a picnic and join your child for lunch in the courtyard. Lunch break starts at 11.00am.

Online Survey Newsletter Article / Website
Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn (Catholic Education), will shortly release an online survey to better understand your opinion of the value Catholic schools like ours provide and what that means for you and your children. The findings of this research will be used by Catholic Education to improve the offering of Catholic schools.

The survey will be sent out to parents via email in the coming week and should take less than 15 minutes to complete.

Privacy and Confidentiality
Please note that Catholic Education has engaged JWS Research to host the survey, collect the data and analyse the results. JWS Research is an independent, fully accredited, Australian research agency (see www.jwsresearch.com for further information). Survey results will be reported in the aggregate with individual responses remaining completely confidential and treated in accordance with the relevant privacy laws, including the Market and Social Research Privacy Principles and the industry’s code of professional behaviour.

I encourage all parents to respond to the survey.

Yours in Faith

Leah Taylor
Principal

Ash Wednesday Mass will be at 9:30am tomorrow, Wednesday, 26 February 2020.  Please note that there will be no school Mass on Thursday this week.

School banking has recommenced on Fridays.

SZapp is our preferred form of communication for 2020.

Attached is information on SZapp Installation.  Please contact the school to obtain password.

Please note that if you already receive the school newsletter via SZapp, you do not have to subscribe to the newsletter.

From Term 1 of 2020, we will not be taking cash orders  through the Front Office for Scholastic Book Club. 

This will mean that if you haven't already you will need to either download the INLOOP App on your device or order from the online website.

https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent/Login.aspx

Orders will still be delivered to school for collection and STA will still receive credits. As you can see from our beautiful growing library each time you make a purchase it helps put more books back into our school.

Thankyou 

Kristie 

Any questions please contact me via email ksligar@bigpond.net.au

Community News is now located on our website.

Jesuit led Canberra First Spiritual Exercises Retreat. 20 April – 16 May 2020. This retreat in daily life is an excellent retreat for busy people. It follows last year’s very well-regarded retreat in Canberra. The retreat links with our experiences. There is one small group session each week to suit your diary. You pray and meditate when and where you like. It’s a retreat for ordinary people leading ordinary lives. For more details and/or to express interest in attending email CLCinCanberra@gmail.com or phone 0407147540.

FEBRUARY 2020
Congratulations to the following students who will be celebrating their birthday this month:

Seneca B;  Skylar W;  Zahara A;  Savanna H;  Jack B;  Lola H;  Lucia M;  August S; Nevaeh M;  Aditya P;  Bradley L-B;  Jessica R;  Jaana C;  Eloise W;  Abbey T; Jasmin P;  Anthony M;  Annie W-S;  Violet P;  Jacob C;  Matthew R;  Evelyn G; Lu'isa T;  Lachlan W;  Mia P;  Abigail S;  Mikayla Mc; Payton C;  Annabelle L; Zachary J;  Maddison G;  Oliver T;  Mitchell K;  Paige C.