Dear Parents and Carers,

I am so pleased to share with you that it has been a smooth and cheerful back to school experience for all our students and staff. We welcomed 45 bright eyed Kindergarten students on Monday, along with 10 new students from Years 1 to 6. We hope that the year ahead is an energising and engaging one for all. We also welcomed our new Assistant Principal, Mrs Susan Chant. Susan has settled in very well and shared with me on the first day that St Thomas the Apostle is such a beautiful school and that she had been made to feel very welcome by everyone. Fr Praveen has taken over from Fr Peter and we look forward to having Fr Praveen say our Opening of the School Year Mass next Friday. This will be outside under the big gum tree and parents and carers are welcome to attend.

Meet and Greet

We are looking forward to having a ‘Meet and Greet’ evening next Tuesday evening 9 February. Normally we would hold information sessions in the classrooms. We cannot do this due to restrictions on the number of people we can have in the school building. We are, however, able to have a community gathering with social distancing. From 6:00pm we will have a sausage sizzle for all our families and at 6:30pm all teachers will be on the stage and will say a few short words of introduction. It will be an informal evening where you will get a chance to meet your child/ren’s teacher and also a chance to meet with other parents and carers. The evening will conclude at 7:00pm.  All information about what is happening in each class for Term 1 will be sent home in the class term letter via SZapp. It will also be on the school website.

Catalyst

The staff spent three days of Professional Development last week where Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn (CECG) launched a 3 year focus for Teaching and Learning, called ‘Catalyst’.  We listened to world renowned speakers in the field of education and engaged in discussions and planning for how ‘Catalyst’ will look at St Thomas the Apostle. Over the next few weeks I will share with you some of the aspects we will be working on. I will start with the two Bold Goals that we will aspire to achieve for all of our students:

• Every student is a competent reader;
• High Impact Teacher Practice is visible in every classroom.

If you would like to know more about ‘Catalyst’, it is explained in depth on the CECG website. Click on this link to reach it

SZapp

This is our most used and central form of communication. We ask that each family have this app. Here are the instructions on how to get the SZapp:

• Push Notifications are ON
• Default Subscription is ON 
• All areas which apply to you and your family are switched on eg: your child’s class

Newsletter

Please ensure that the Front Office has your most up to date email address and contact phone numbers. The weekly newsletter will be available via the SZapp app, email and on the school website. Everything you need to know will be in this weekly publication. The odd weeks of term will be a longer newsletter and the even weeks will be reminders, awards and current announcements.

School Uniform

Thank you to the many parents who have made that extra effort to send their children to school in the correct school uniform.  We love to see our students wearing the right uniform and wearing it with pride.

Birthdays

Don’t forget that we are giving our children a special treat on their birthday when they are welcome to have a uniform free day. If their birthday is on the weekend, they can choose either the Friday or Monday to wear play clothes. If their birthday is in the school holidays, they can come and talk to me and tell me the day they would like to choose for their uniform free day. I do ask that uniform free is understood as appropriate clothing, including no thongs or bare shoulders.

School Community Council

As at the beginning of this year, the terms of office for our current School Community Council (SCC) expire. Many of our current SCC members are keen to remain on the Council however we have vacancies for new members.  In order to facilitate a smooth transition we are looking to fill these positions in the next two weeks. The School Community Council provides the opportunity for parents of the school to support the mission of Catholic Education in the school and provide leadership to the wider school community. The School Community Council does this by having an advisory role in areas such as Catholic Identity and Character, Academic Programs, Physical Resources, Enrolment and Growth and School. The term for being on the school council is for two years. If you are interested in serving on the School Community Council or would just like to know more about the role in the first instance, please contact either myself at the school or Mr Carl Jenkins, our current Community Council Chair at cfjenkins@live.com. A nomination form is below:

The school day begins at 8:50am and finishes at 3:10pm. Our recess break is at 11:00am and our lunch break at 1:00pm. Supervision on the playground commences at 8.30am each morning and students should not arrive or be at school earlier than this. Students arriving late will need to be signed in at the front office by a parent or guardian.

At the end of each school day the children being picked up or going to TEAM KIDS after school care will be taken to the stage. Children being picked up though drive through will be escorted to this area. The children are supervised in the drive through until 3:30pm so to ease congestion, I suggest that you don’t rush to be there at 3:10pm.

It is essential that all children are picked up from the school by 3:30pm as teachers have meetings and planning commitments in the afternoon. I ask that you respect this by ensuring your child/children have been collected by this time. Of course, there are the odd occasions when you are late and I ask that you call the office to let us know, and also so we can let your child that you are on your way. If it is going to be a regular occurrence, I ask that you use TEAM KIDS for after school care for your child.

It is so good to have many parents and carers at Morning Assembly or picking up children from the stage in the afternoon. After a year of not having you at our school, this is a welcome return to some sort of normal. This is an integral part of our community, the gathering together. We have missed you.

Yours in partnership,

Ursula Jamieson
Principal