Dear Families,

This week marks the third of four weeks of our enrolment period. Thank you to the families who have already enrolled their children for 2023 and to those of you who have spread the word among the community. If you have a child who will begin kindergarten or preschool in 2023 it is important that you complete the online enrolment form before the end of next week. Children who are already in the ELC and in area for St Thomas Aquinas will still need to enrol for kindergarten.

Today we have our second open session for families. Prospective families who have already had a student tour, commented on what wonderful ambassadors our Year 6 leaders were and how excited they are about their child starting with us at St Thomas Aquinas in 2023. If you know of any families who would like to take a tour but who missed one of the open sessions, please let them know they can call the front office and book a tour with either me, Carmen, Lee or Steph.

A number of our Year 6 students are currently preparing for their Confirmation in a few weeks. We have recently been informed that Archbishop Christopher Prowse will be able to attend and Confirm the candidates which I am sure will be very special for all involved. We keep these students and their families in our prayers over the coming weeks.

NAPLAN is over for another year. I would like to thank the student’s involved, the teachers for preparing them and running the sessions and Mrs Myles for all of her work in the background to ensure these tests ran smoothly. We will have to wait a few months for results.

Thank you to those families who have already supported our cake stall fundraiser this coming Saturday. Many of you may know that St Thomas Aquinas is a polling place for Saturday’s election. We are once again able to use this as an opportunity to raise money for the school to use on resources for students. If you are able to help in any way, it would be very much appreciated.

Take care and God bless

Yours in Faith

Leah Taylor
Principal

The Scholastic Book Fair has been postponed and will now be held in September. Our regular Scholastic Book Club is still operating so you are welcome to continue to order through these catalogues.

The Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge for 2022 is well underway with students already recording a lot of books as they are finishing them – well done! The Chief Minister’s Challenge will continue through until August so there is plenty of time to continue to enjoy some fantastic books.

Next week we will be celebrating National Simultaneous Storytime – the book this year is Family Tree by Josh Pyke. This event is another great way to promote a love of reading, and enjoy a fantastic book.

Happy reading!

Our school is participating in the Active Streets for Schools program.

Active Streets delivers infrastructure improvements around schools to make it safer and easier to ride, walk, scooter or skate to and from school.

To support students who may be beginning to travel independently, we will distribute an Active Streets resource pack to students in years 4-6. The pack will include a map highlighting routes to our school.  

Parents are encouraged to talk to their children about how they can use these resources to support walking or riding to school. Starting small is often a good approach, so try using part way points a short distance from the school and accompany students to teach them safe habits.

The Active Streets program helps children to develop independence, while providing health and safety benefits for the school community, with increased physical activity and fewer cars on the road. 

The National Walk Safely to School Day is Friday 20th May. What a great day to start exploring the Active Streets surrounding our community and school. 

Catholic education election report card on major parties

Catholic education has released a federal election report card assessing the responses from the major political parties on education priorities.

The report card assess the Coalition, Labor and Green’s responses to the priorities of:

• Genuine school choice through fair funding and ensuring affordable contributions from families
• Enabling faith-based education through religious protections
• Improving capital funding
• Support for delivering national priorities such as quality teaching, early childhood education, mental health and wellbeing programs and Closing the gap initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Islander students

National Catholic Education executive director Jacinta Collins said the report card shows the Liberal National Coalition and Labor are on par in addressing Catholic education’s priorities, particularly on school choice.

“We are fortunate that both major parties continue to support genuine school choice in Australian education and are committed to families who choose a Catholic education for their children,” Ms Collins said.

Responses sought from key independent candidates are also being evaluated.

The full report card and major party responses is available via www.ncec.catholic.edu.au/federal-election-2022

Authorised by J Collins, National Catholic Education Commission, Level 3, 156 Gloucester Street, Sydney.

CANTEEN

The Canteen is open from Wednesdays to Fridays - for the first 10 minutes of each break.  We sell a limited selection of healthy canteen approved chips and ice blocks.

SUBWAY

Parents and staff are able to place Subway Orders Online.  Click on the link below to place an order and payment as well. 

Cut-off time is 9:15 AM for same day delivery.
Call on 02 6259 9101 to place your order after this time

Subway Lunch Orders can also be made, via Subway Envelope, at school.  Subway envelopes, including cash, need to be placed in the Lunch Order Subway box, located outside the Front Office,  by 9:30am on the day before the lunch is required.  For example, if you would like a lunch order on Wednesday, the lunch order needs to be manually submitted by Tuesday 9:30am.

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

May 2022
Congratulations to the following students who will be celebrating their birthday this month:

Jesse R, Cooper K, Rohan T, Lorelei M, Clarence G, Alice T, Nikola G, William S, Amelia M, Lewis T, Oliver H, Ariana R, Hunter B, Emily L-B, Brooklyn S, Ashan H, Jacie L, Scarlett F, Achiek A, Shaela S, Patrick S-P, Lyla M, Lachlan R, Mitchell R, Gabriel T, Chimaobi M, Nuer D