Filter Content
- Message from the Principal
- What's on at STA
- News - 5 Green
- Class Party - 1 Green - Friday, 5 November 2021
- STA Mission Fete - 12 November
- Scholastic Book Club - 7 - Due 16 November
- Kinder 2022 Orientation Day - 22 November 2021
- Colour Run - 26 November 2021
- Parent Teacher Conferences - 29 Nov to 1 Dec
- School Photographs
- Students Leaving STA in 2021
- Dates for 2022
- Qkr Mobile Phone Payment App - Installation Notes
- Communication - Compass Parent Portal
- Compass PAY and SMS
- Lunch Boxes
- School Banking 2022
- Community News
- Parish News and Rosters
- School Bus Services and Revised Timetables - Monday, 25 October 2021
- Parenting Ideas
- November Birthdays
Dear Families,
It has been wonderful to finally be able to welcome back all of our year groups to face-to-face teaching. This lockdown was even longer than the last time, and with COVID-19 continuing to move through the community this time, I think it was a little more difficult on everyone. Yesterday was the first time in over ten weeks students got to see many of their classmates and teachers other than on the screen. Morning drop off was definitely a highlight with almost every teacher, not already on duty, coming out to welcome students back to school.
Teachers are now teaching at double speed and working on assessing students ready for reports. We know that this semester’s reports may not be a complete reflection of student’s capability, which is one reason why we will have parent-teacher conferences and three-way conferences before reports go home. During these meetings teachers will be able to discuss what they observed when teaching online, as well as their observations during face-to-face learning. These conferences will occur in Week 9 (29 November to 1 December) and bookings will open on Monday 22 November.
This week a number of our Year 4 students will be completing their first reconciliation on Wednesday night. I am probably showing my age now, but things have changed dramatically since I made my first reconciliation. Long gone are the dark confessional rooms where as an eight-year-old I nervously walked in having practiced my prayers and with my pre-prepared list of transgressions. Reconciliation today reflects the fact that that none of us is perfect and that God loves us regardless. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is an important part of our journey towards knowing God and understanding that He walks this life with us, supporting us, loving us and always welcoming us back to Him. I invite you to pray for our candidates as they prepare for this Sacrament.
Take care and God Bless
Leah Taylor
Principal
| WHAT's ON @ STA in TERM 4 |
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| WEEK | DATE | EVENT |
| 5 | Wed 3/11 | First Reconciliation |
| 5 | Fri 5/11 | 1 Green - Class Party |
| 6 | Thu 11/11 | Remembrance Day Prayer Celebration @ 10:30am |
| 6 | Fri 12/11 | STA Mission Fete |
| 7 | Tue 16/11 | First Holy Communion Retreat Day |
| 7 | Wed 17/11 | First Holy Communion Sacrament 1 - 6pm |
| 7 | Thu 18/11 | First Holy Communion Sacrament 2 - 6pm |
| 8 | Tue 23/11 | School Community Council @ 6pm |
| 8 | Thu 25/11 | Kinder Health Checks - ACT Health |
| 8 | Fri 26/11 | STA Colour Run |
| 9 | Thu 2/12 | TBC: STA Christmas Carols @ 5:30pm for 6pm start |
| 10 | Thu 9/12 | TBC: Yr 6 Graduation Mass @ 5:30pm TBC: Yr 6 Disco @ 6:00pm - 8:30pm |
| 10 | Fri 10/12 | TBC: White Token Lunch @ 11:00am |
| 10 | Fri 10/12 | TBC: Principal's Awards @ 2pm |
| 11 | Tue 14/12 | TBC: Kinder Nativity: Students @ 12noon Parents @ 2pm |
| 11 | Wed 15/12 | TBC: Yr 6 - Big Day Out @ CISAC |
| 11 | Fri 17/12 |
TBC: Yr 6 - Leadership Handover Ceremony @ 9:30am |
| 11 | Fri 17/12 | Last Day of Term 4 |
| 2022 | Mon 31/01 | Term 1 2022 Commences for Students |
| 2022 | Sat 2/4 | STA Fete |
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Class Party Year 1 Green |
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Congratulations, our class has earned 50 Black Tokens and a Class Party. We will be celebrating our 50th black token on Friday, 5 November 2021 Dress: Casual clothes and enclosed shoes Food: Individually wrapped party food to share Activities: Movie and games |
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SCHOOL EVENTS - FUNDRAISING - STA MISSION FETE
Qkr installation instructions are included in this Newsletter.
Online orders for Issue 7 due by 16 November 2021.
Scholastic Book Club Order Forms have been sent home today.
No cash orders will be accepted at the Front Office for Scholastic Book Club.
The school will still get credits and the books will still be delivered to school for us to distribute, unless parents have requested they be delivered to their home.
Please download the INLOOP App
on your device or order from the online website.
https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent/Login.aspx
Any questions please contact me via email ksligar@bigpond.net.au
Qkr installation instructions are included in this Newsletter.
Parent Teacher Conferences for 2021-Term 4 will be held from Monday, 29 November to Wednesday, 1 December 2021 via MS Teams.
Compass Bookings open on Monday, 22 November at 8:30am and will close on Friday, 26 November at 12 noon.
Bookings are strictly for 15 minutes. If you require further time, please organise a separate conference with your child's teacher.
School photos have been distributed to all students. If you have any queries regarding photos, please contact MSP Photography on (02) 6255 9208.
Dear Parents and Carers
If your child/ren is leaving St Thomas Aquinas at the end of 2021 please advise the school in writing. This does not apply to students in Year 6 this year.
Attached here is the Student Transfer Notification form which needs to be returned to the school by 10 December 2021.
School Terms
| 2022 | TERM BEGINS | TERM ENDS |
| Term 1 | Monday, 31 January 2022 | Friday, 8 April 2022 |
| Term 2 |
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 |
Friday, 1 July 2022 |
| Term 3 | Tuesday, 19 July 2022 Pupil Free Day - Monday 18 July |
Friday, 23 September 2022 |
| Term 4 | Monday, 10 October 2022 | Friday, 16 December 2022 |
Public Holidays
| Dates to be Observed | |
| New Year's Day | Saturday, 1 January 2022 and Monday, 3 January 2022 |
| Australia Day | Wednesday, 26 January 2022 |
| Canberra Day | Monday, 14 March 2022 |
| Good Friday | Friday, 15 April 2022 |
| Easter Saturday | Saturday, 16 April 2022 |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday, 17 April 2022 |
| Easter Monday | Monday, 18 April 2022 |
| ANZAC Day Public Holiday | Monday, 25 April 2022 |
| Reconciliation Day | Monday, 30 May 2022 |
| Queen's Birthday | Monday, 13 June 2022 |
| Labour Day | Monday, 3 October 2022 |
| Christmas Day | Sunday, 25 December and Tuesday, 27 December 2022 |
| Boxing Day | Monday, 26 December 2022 |
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 we will be introducing items to purchase via this system. Please find below Qkr Installation Notes and Parent Tips.
The following items can now be purchased: School Hats; Second hand Uniforms; Canteens; Camps; School Fees and Year 6 Shirts. Credit Card payments can still be made over the telephone and via the Front Office.
Compass is our preferred form of communication. Teachers may also use other forms of communication for their own class. If you are not receiving regular communication, please check with the Front Office and your child's teacher to ensure that we have the correct contact details.
The Compass Parent Portal (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 WEST BELCONNEN, 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:
Newsletters
Newsletters are sent out weekly. They can also be found on our website under Communication / Newsletter here.
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.
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LUNCH BOXES Thank you for your cooperation. |
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For 90 years, our School Banking program has helped children learn about money, reinforced the importance of regular savings and provided structure for parents to support their children to save. |
| CONTACT DETAILS | |
| Parish Priest | Father Tom Thornton |
| Parish Secretary | Debbie Hoffman |
| Telephone | 02 6258 1563 |
| charnwood@cg.org.au | |
| Address | 23 Lhotsky Street CHARNWOOD ACT 2615 |
MASS TO RESUME 16-17 OCTOBER 2021
Mass for a limited number of 75 people will begin on the weekend of the 16-17 October and in order to facilitate as many parishioners as possible getting to Mass I propose the following:
- Please indicate by email if you wish to be registered to come to mass charnwood@cg.org.au.
- Could you please also advise people who are not on computers, but who attend Mass regularly, that this is open and they need to register by phoning the office during office hours on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday?
I will, for the few weekends where numbers are limited to 75, have extra masses on Saturday afternoon and evening and on Sunday morning. We will allocate a Mass to those who are registered, unfortunately we will be only able to accommodate those who register.
The proposed Mass times are:
Saturday: 5:00 pm, 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm
Sunday: 8:00 am, 9:00 am and 10:00 am
As stated you will be allocated a Mass time and I have no way of changing the time if it is not suitable, it is up to you if you wish to avail yourself of the opportunity.
Can I ask that if you are at your registered Mass and you are a reader that you nominate yourself to do the reading for that Mass? As there will only be 25 at Mass there is no need for an extra-ordinary minister of the Eucharist. There will be no music for any Masses just yet.
If you know of people who are unable to come to Mass, but who wish to receive communion at home, please nominate yourself to take communion to them.
It will be nice to have you back to celebrate Mass with, I have certainly missed you! Weekday Masses will also be capped at 75 so you will be asked, on the weekend of Mass starting, to register for weekday Mass.
| MASS TIMES | |
| Monday to Friday | TBA |
| Saturday | 5:00pm; 6:00pm; 7:00pm |
| Sunday | 08:00am; 9:00am; 10:00am |
| PARISH ROSTER | |||
| Weekend Dates | 6pm Saturday Servers |
9am Sunday Servers |
9am Sunday Children's Liturgy |
| 6-7 November | Vince, Sav, Patrick | Caitlyn, Evie | TBA |
| 13-14 November | Damyn, Andy | Gian, Annie, Grace | TBA |
| SCHOOL HOLIDAYS | |||
| We encourage anyone who wants to help with the Children's Liturgy to contact Helene Axelby on 0415 179 470 or Skye McPadden via skye.mcpadden@cg.catholic.edu.au | |||
Dedicated school buses and revised interim bus timetable
Effective Monday, 25 October 2021
Transport Canberra’s dedicated school bus services will recommence on Monday 25 October 2021. This includes ‘S’ trips that divert into schools.
Timings have changed for dedicated school services and the regular timetable. We are strongly encouraging families to check their school pack and plan ahead.
Special Needs Transport continues to run for those families that need this service.
A range of COVID Safe measures are in place to help keep students safe on public transport. Please remind families to familiarise themselves with these measures and talk to their children about them prior to the return to school.
From Monday 25 October 2021 buses will run to a revised interim timetable. This timetable is a similar frequency to the timetable that has been running over the past two months, but with some changes to timings to allow better connections for school students.
Light rail is continuing to run to its regular frequency but will see an increase in frequency from Monday 1 November 2021. This will assist with physical distancing on board. Customers will benefit from extended afternoon peak frequency on weekdays and increased frequency on Sunday mornings.
Consider walking or riding to school – or using a Part way point
Parents and carers may also consider alternative ways to get their children to school. If they live close by they can take advantage of the warmer spring weather and walk, ride or scoot to school!
Part way points are also a great way to get some exercise into children’s days for families that live a little further away and this also helps to ease congestion around schools. Parents or carers can simply drop their child at a point, or park and walk the rest of the way with them.
Park safely and legally
All 40km/h school zones are in place between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday. Speed limits in school zones are there to ensure the safety of children by allowing motorists extra time to stop in an unexpected situation.
Parking across pedestrian crossings, corners, verges and double parking can block kids seeing the road.
School packs and timetable information
The revised interim timetables and school packs are now available online.
For enquiries customers are encouraged to visit www.transport.act.gov.au or call 13 17 10.
NOVEMBER 2021
Congratulations to the following students who will be celebrating their birthday this month:
Andrew M; Amber B; Farrah A; Annabelle C; Rebecca J; David C; Jewel J; Leaniva M-H; Mia O; Ava G; Jadyn W; Aiden M; Archer W; Harpreet S; Ella T; Grace S; Carys S; Mikayla M; Faith M; Isabel P; Darcy A; Dante C; Spencer S; Obie I; Taigh R; Kuzivakwashe M; Amity W; Benjamin S; Samuel C.