Dear Families,

Thank you for your support and understanding regarding the strike day and pupil free day. Today, staff have had an opportunity to prepare documentation for school registration and to work with their team to create programs and learning content for students.

We are very excited to be able to welcome families back to prayer celebrations. The first celebration will be this Wednesday at 2pm. The families of 3 Blue are warmly invited to attend. At this stage, we are still limited to small groups of parents and visitors but hope that this will open up as the year progresses.

This week, you will receive an email via Compass inviting you to participate in our annual survey. These surveys help us to determine our direction for the coming year and highlight areas where we are doing well and areas for improvement. If you have not received this email by Friday, please contact the front office as it means we might need to update your details.

Last week, the Executive Director of Catholic Schools Tasmania, Dr Gerard Gaskin came to visit St Thomas Aquinas to have a look at teaching and learning in our school. He was very impressed with how welcoming our staff and students were, and also with the high quality teaching he saw in every single classroom. One of the two bold goals for Catholic Education is for High Impact Teaching Practices to be visible in every classroom and it was clear that as a school we are doing this with the support of our work with COGLearn and our in-school instructional coaches. It was wonderful to be able to affirm the hard work all staff have put into ensuring students have access to the best quality education we are able to deliver. Before Dr Gaskin left he said he would like for the principals from Tasmanian Catholic schools to visit and see the teaching at St Thomas Aquinas first-hand.

Patrick Ellis – Education Lead CECG, Anita Cunningham – Director Teaching and Learning Catholic Education Tasmania, Gerard Gaskin – Director of Catholic Education Tasmania, Leah Taylor - Principal St Thomas Aquinas, Michael Roberts – Director COGLearn (HITP Coach), Michele Bezuidenhout – Program Manager CECG (not pictured)

While the enrolment period has officially ended, we are still waiting for a few sibling enrolments. If your child is due to start kindergarten in 2023, please make sure you have completed your online enrolment application. Feel free to call the front office if you are struggling with this in any way.

Take care and God bless

Yours in Faith

Leah Taylor
Principal

Please note the following days are Pupil free days:

• Friday 1 July 2022 (Week 10) - Staff Planning
• Monday 18th July 2022 (Week 1, Term 3) - Staff Training 

We look forward to welcoming students back, ready for Term 3  on Tuesday 19th July 2022. 

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 have distributed 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.  

BRAINways Education, in conjunction with Australian Catholic University, is pleased to invite gifted
and talented students of Canberra to participate in

After its success in previous years, The Summer Camp program is back in 2023.
The Summer Camp has two components: an introductory section and an in-depth investigation.

The 2023 Topics are:

For Stream 1
Playground Mathematics
The Secret Language of Insects
The Science of Invisibility
A World in Multiple Dimensions

For Stream 2
The Psychology of Irrational Decisions
Is This a Dream? A Philosophical Investigation
The Science of Procrastination
Where Do Words Come From?

Based on the research suggesting that gifted students benefit from the availability of choice, the Summer Camp program allows the students to select from the two Streams available. In the first day of the program, each stream introduces the students to four different topics. The extended, uninterrupted engagement with a topic was also demonstrated to be of benefit to gifted students. Therefore, the second day of the program will give the students the opportunity to select one of the four topics introduced and explore it in depth. The Summer Camp program is developed and presented by BRAINways Education.

Program Dates: January 7th – 8th , 2023
Program Times: 9:30am – 2:30 pm (please arrive 15 minutes early for registration)
Place: Australian Catholic University - Canberra Campus
Cost: $88/day or $168/two days

For enrolment and payment please access the registration website at
https://registration.brainways.com.au/summer_camp_canberra/

What to bring: Drink (water only please), morning and afternoon tea, lunch, hat, pencil, the Nomination Letter

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.

June 2022

Millie A, Maeve J, Leilani MH, Lucinda B, Maddison J, Emily M, Blake S, Anna D, Zachary M, Ivy LH, Luke S, Liam M, Angok C, Mason S, Annabelle M, Tobenna M, Emma O, Alexander W, Aleisha MA, Leo W, Georgia R, Sam D, Nella W-S, Mackenzie C, Lachlan M, Lucas G, Xavier V, Chuol C