Dear Families,

I would like to start with an expression of thanks for your continued patience, courage and flexibility as we continue with remote learning in a challenging environment. The positive attitude and manner you bring to supporting your child/ren in their learning is a big part of how well our students have adapted to online learning. I have enjoyed the opportunities of seeing the students through online sessions and witnessing their sense of achievement when being able to successfully log on and navigate through the MSTeams platform.

I understand that unprecedented circumstances have led us to think very differently about the way we teach and how our children learn. For many of our students and families, this may have caused anxiety and will challenge the way we teach and deliver content.

As always, please be assured that I am in regular contact with Catholic Education who provide me with up to date information from ACT Health and Government. At this stage, in order to minimise further risk and spread of infection, students are to continue remote learning from home whilst we are in lockdown. I appreciate that some students of essential workers, where no adult will be at home to care for children, will need to access remote learning at school. The ACT government has been very clear that this time is quite different to last time.  If there is an adult working from home, or at home, the children must also work from home.

Teachers will continue to connect with their students, parents and colleagues via MSTeams, email, Google Classroom and Seesaw. The work your child’s teacher sets is important, but your family’s wellbeing is more so. Try to keep a routine and a dedicated space for school work, but don’t forget that much valuable and memorable learning takes place in “real world” situations.

Students are encouraged to work with you doing some particular hands-on activities eg: cooking, exploring outside or playing board games or cards together. The weather is stunning today and I would hope the children are outdoors as much as possible. This time away from screens is so important.

This Thursday is R U OK? Day. As one way of supporting student wellbeing, we will focus on wellbeing activities this Friday. Teachers will still hold their class check-ins and there still may be a little work to complete, but the bulk of the activities will be focused on students looking after their own physical and mental health. We hope that this may also give you a little reprieve from having to balance supporting your children at home while also completing your own work.

Thank you again for all that you are doing. Be comforted in knowing that we will pick up where each student is at when we are able to return to school. Our children will get through this and be OK. Each of you are doing a wonderful job in supporting our students to do this.

We all miss our students, their energy, humour and joy and look forward to when we are able to have students return to face to face learning at school.

Take care and God bless

 
Leah Taylor
Principal

Please find below Qkr Installation Notes

The experience of lockdown is quite varied, and each family faces their own unique challenges as the demands of lockdown emerge. New challenges and new stresses impact how we perceive the needs of our children (and of ourselves as parents). What does my child really need from me? Is it OK if I feel like we’re just surviving and not really thriving? How will I know if I’m starting to ‘lose it’ (and how can I get it back again?). 

Parent and child wellbeing is foundational to surviving or thriving through a lockdown, and foundational to other valuable outcomes – including educational outcomes, family relationships, and a sense of hope for the future. Whilst there is no one neat answer to the question of wellbeing, there certainly are needs that can be interpreted from behaviour, approaches of managing an environment that are known to be effective, and aspects of self-care that make a significant difference. 

The therapeutic process of sharing our thoughts and concerns means that, instead of our thoughts circling in a loop inside our own head, our thoughts benefit from the light of day and can be engaged by others who can create a safe space and a fresh perspective. My role is exactly that – to generate a safe environment to explore concerns, explore an alternative focus, and help change the course of thoughts and actions into the future. This reflective practice forms a different kind of loop, one that helps parents out of stuck spaces and into greater wellbeing for their children and themselves. 

My experience has included the home education of my own kids (all grown up now), helping hundreds of parents interpret their child’s needs by considering the child’s behaviour, and generating environments of reflective practice that make a difference to daily living. 

I am offering online sessions for groups of up to four parents – to discuss the challenges of lockdown, explore the needs of your situation, and encourage new ways of being or engaging with others at home. I will respond to requests for support on a needs basis and as time permits. This invitation is initially set for the period of Friday 3^rd September to Thursday 16^th September, and will then be re-visited as a possible continuing support option for St Thomas parents during lockdown. Sessions will be offered at various times throughout the work week, with the hope that parents can also be supportive of one another in the group space and learn through each other’s experiences.

To book in for a session, please email me at al.robinson@marymead.org.au

Your email must include:

• Your name and the names of your children that attend at St Thomas;
• Your contact details
• The basic nature of the focus you would like to have in the session (such as rising conflicts in family relationships, school work refusal, boredom, anxiety);
• An indication of your availability (such as “Mon-Thu up until 12:00 noon, or Tue/Wed afternoon after 2:00pm”)

Kind regards

Al Robinson
School Counsellor
St Thomas Aquinas Primary School

Community News is located on our website.

SEPTEMBER 2021
Congratulations to the following students who will be celebrating their birthday this month:

Evelyn W; Alexandra B;  Lewis B;  Ebada KS;  Jackson C;  Linuki M;  Benjamin Q;  Louie D;  Harriet P;  Arianna D;  Jade J;  Hannah M;  William B;  Matilda H;  Edison B;  Luella B;  Elodie A;  Jacob P;  Holly B;  Harper G;  Zocrates CC;  Ty R;  Charli C;  Sebastian GR;  Sisikula L;  Sebastian D; Fostina T;  Aden G;  Jessica B;  Lincoln D;  Emma S;  Sarah H;  Marie W;  Timothy R;  Natalia R;  Felicity W;  Eleanor S;  Chloe W;  Harper E;  Harrison G;  Aleu D;  Maxx S;  Ethan L;  Gabriel S-P;  Ruben D