Dear Families,

Welcome to Term 4. Over the break, we received an update from the ACT Government and Catholic Education, regarding a return to face-to-face teaching.  A road map outlining when particular grades are returning, and an outline of the types of restrictions that remain in place is included with this newsletter, please take some time to familiarise yourself with this, especially the parts about visitors, checking-in and mask-wearing. Catholic Education is continuing to work with ACT Health to ensure that as students do return, we are able to keep them as safe as possible.

We will continue to offer supervision for the children of parents and carers who are essential workers, working outside of the home, and for vulnerable children. Knowing that over the coming weeks, many will be required to return to work and that rosters change, we are asking families to complete the supervision survey each week. If you have already completed the survey we only need to know the names of your children and the day’s they require supervision. This survey helps us to ensure we have enough supervision each day https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/STA_T4W2.

This term we have switched over to COMPASS and will be switching off all communication via Schooolzine. If you have not received a COMPASS login, please contact the Front Office as soon as possible. It is very important that all families are able to log onto COMPASS as reports will only be accessed through this portal.

Those of you who have driven past the school over the break, may have seen the framework for our new ELC. It is exciting to see this progress and to be able to see the outline of our two preschool classrooms and central kitchen. For those who have not had an opportunity to see the new framework there is a photo below.

Take care and God Bless

 
Leah Taylor
Principal

We will continue to offer supervision for the children of parents and carers who are essential workers, working outside of the home, and for vulnerable children. Knowing that over the coming weeks, many will be required to return to work and that rosters change, we are asking families to complete the supervision survey each week. If you have already completed the survey we only need to know the names of your children and the day’s they require supervision. This survey helps us to ensure we have enough supervision each day.

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Compass Parent Portal (CPP) has Arrived!!!

The Compass Parent Portal has arrived and parts of Schoolzine/SZapp will be turned off.  The CPP is an essential online portal that allows you to interact with your child’s school and access up-to-date information.

Please note that our school will not be using SMS and Compass PAY as we already have other payment options available for the payment of school fees, camps etc.  These options include EFTPOS, BPAY, Qkr and Direct Debits.

You should have received your log-in credentials via email and you will be able to log into the Parent Portal through the Compass App (Android & IOS0 or Desktop).  If you have not received your Compass log-in details, please contact the Front Office.  Only one email per parent/carer is used in Compass.  If you wish to change the email address used by Compass, please change your preferred email address via the Compass Portal or send an email to office.staquinas@cg.catholic.ed.au.

Please note that the Phone App has less functions than the Desktop App. To search for our school, please search for the Suburb, not the School as there are many St Thomas Aquinas schools around Australia.  If installing Compass on your phone, please scroll down when searching the school via the suburb to locate our school.

Below are some quick links for parents:

• Information Sheet for Parents
• Visual Guide for Parents
• Downloading the App
• Logging in to the Parent Portal
• Attendance Notes

Further information is available on our Website.  See link below:

Community News is located on our website.

People are invited to apply for the position Parish Secretary for South Belconnen Parish. This is a part-time permanent position 18 hours per week (Tuesday to Thursday).

Essential Requirements:

• Experience with financial & database packages.
• Strong communication and liaison skills
• Strong organisational skills
• Ability to work on your own, and as part of a wider team and take direction.
• Understanding and respect for the Catholic Church and its teaching
• Experience in an office environment.

Salary will be subject to Clerk Award Level 4/5 rates. Please email belconnensouth@cg.org.au for a copy of the duty statement. Applications addressing the Selection Criteria above to the Parish Priest, South Belconnen Parish must be received by 14 October 2021.

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

Neil McD; Maxwell W;  Grace W;  Albert K;  Liam P;  Sophie K;  Logan McD;  Elizabeth H;  Mia W;  Samantha T;  Evie P;  Benjamin G;  Alana B;  Lara K;  Jasmine K;  Kuir K;  Lucas S;  Athiang M;  Cooper M;  Keziah W;  Sebastien McC;  Ruhani P;  Manyuon C;  Lily G;  Darcy N;  Santiago A;  Carrelle R;  Jayden P;  Health L;  Savannah A;  Harrison BS;  Daniel N;  Seth R;  Nyantet C