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- Principal's Report
- RE Week 10 - Be still and know that I am God
- St Thomas Apostle Day - Friday 3 July
- Library News
- Partners: Parenting Ideas
- ICAS Assessments
- Virtual Cross Country Event
- July Birthdays
- Awards Week 10
- Keep in your prayers - Sr Maureen Hummerston rsm
- Year 2 Willy Wonka Day
- Year 1 - "I am special" artwork
- Kinder - Sculpture art using boxes
- Student Achievement
Dear Parents/Carers,
I’m sure you would agree with me that as we draw to the end of Term 2, we can look back at this time as one of the most unusual and challenging terms we have ever encountered. I wanted to once again say thank you for your continued support over these past months. It has presented us with many challenges but also with opportunities to cement our strong relationships between school and home. I firmly believe that we have supported each other and have become stronger as a school community. I have encouraged staff to take a well-earned break these holidays. It is important for us all to take some down time, relax and spend time on those things in our lives that will replenish us and have us ready to start Term 3 refreshed. For many of us, we continued to work through the last holidays organising Remote Learning. It feels like we have been going for 22 weeks straight without a proper break.
What we have to look forward to in Term 3
Now that restrictions are easing, we have a plan for moving forward. Of course, physical distancing, hand washing and sanitising and a solid regime of constant cleaning will continue.
Morning assemblies
Our morning assemblies will resume. I am looking forward to seeing all the children gathered for morning prayer under the canopy of our glorious old gum tree – our gathering place. Parents, Carers, friends and extended family will be welcome back into the school.
Community Prayer
Monday Community Prayer in the church will begin again, but as we are restricted to only 100 in the church at one time, it will be on a rotation of 3 weeks for each class to attend. We will change this as numbers increase for those allowed in the church.
Friday morning Community Prayer will welcome our families back to join the class groups. We will also begin our coffee and chat mornings after Friday prayer. This will be in the library and younger siblings will be welcome. This will be a precursor to Playgroup resuming.
Assemblies
We are still working out how we can resume our fortnightly assemblies. The children are very keen to get back to being able to do their assembly performances. We certainly will be having these but the audience size will depend on the number of people we are permitted to have in the hall. We may only be allowed to have a small audience, but we will film them and give parents and carers access to viewing them.
Afternoon pick-ups will return to normal. The end of the school day will go back to being 3:10 pm. This will also mean that parents and carers will once again be allowed to pick the children up from the stage area and we look forward to having you back for afternoon catch ups. The carpark can be used again and drive through pick up will be on the school side for all children – the church pick up area will not be needed anymore.
We appreciate your patience and supporting us with the easing of restrictions and we hope that they continue to move in a positive direction during the second half of the year, as we get back to some normal routines and practices.
Parent Commitment Agreement
From 2020 onwards offers of enrolment for schools in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Catholic (CECG) School System will be conditional on parents of prospective students agreeing to be bound by the Parent Declarations and Commitments that are made in the Parent Commitment Agreement (PCA).
The purpose of the PCA is to clearly set out at the commencement of each child’s educational journey with Archdiocesan Catholic schools and the expectations that CECG has of parents within Catholic schools. It is designed to help us to keep students, Principals, teachers, support staff, and parents within our schools, safe as well as assist the operation of our schools.
We rely on parents supporting our schools, our teachers, our support staff and principals. Co-operative working relationships with parents and students are an important part of delivering our educational programs in an environment that is both physically and psychologically safe.
Semester Reports will be sent home today
These reports will look different this semester due to the change in the way teaching and learning has been conducted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Catholic system has modified the format for the Student Reports from Kindergarten to Year 6 to provide parents with specific information about their child’s achievement and progress which I have detailed below:
- The report covers work completed in both Term 1 and Term 2.
- Student achievement will be reported as an A-E grade for the three main core areas: Religious Education, English and Mathematics.
- Other subjects will show, ‘Not assessed’. This means that, although the learning throughout the semester has been rigorous, it is not possible to make an overall judgement about the student’s achievement in relation to the reporting Outcomes or Achievement Standards against the Grade Descriptors.
- A new section ‘Engagement with Learning’ has been developed to replace the ‘Personal and Social Capabilities’. The new statements are based on the Australian Curriculum: General Capabilities, and target four key areas of learning engagement: Thinking, Communication, Responsibility, and Collaboration.
- The inclusion of the ‘Engagement with Learning’ statements means that the General Comment section of the report is no longer required; the statements give detailed information on your child’s approach to learning.
I look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Monday July 20th – not only the children but parents, carers and friends. In the meantime, stay safe, stay well and look after the health and wellbeing of you and your family. Term 3 is promising to be a good one.
May God bless you and your families
Ursula Jamieson
Principal
RE Week 10 - Be still and know that I am God
Tomorrow we will celebrate the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle. We look forward to a wonderful celebration as well as some time to reflect on the gracious love of our Lord.
Thank you for the generous way you have contributed to our Winter Appeal. This will be much appreciated by members of our community who are sleeping rough.
May you enjoy a restful break. Stay safe and may God bless you richly.
St Thomas Apostle Day - Friday 3 July
St Thomas Day
Friday 3 July
Because of the restrictions with COVID 19, we will not be having the usual Cross Country Carnival this year. However, all is not lost as we know that many of our students love running the Cross Country. Therefore, St Thomas the Apostle School is hosting a Virtual Cross Country. Please see the attached link for all the details.
Could you please send photos of students running the Cross Country to lynette.wilson@cg.catholic.edu.au. We would like to include them in the newsletter and Yearbook.
Happy Birthday to the following students who are celebrating a birthday this week,
in the holidays and at the start of Term 3
this week in their classrooms.
Photos will be included in the next newsletter.
Kinder | Austin Borekar, Daniel Housler Eliana De Vries, Lilah Rosette Aidan Burston |
Year 1 |
Vincent McInerney, Harry Cameron |
Year 2 |
Sarah Bryan, Emily Odd |
Year 3/4 |
Emelia Cacciotti, Griffin Moule |
Year 5/6 |
Kristina Koulouris-Swan, |
Cultural Awards |
Sienna Devow, Logan Berry |
Principal's Special Award |
Claire van der Linden |
Blue Mates Band Awards
James McGoldrick
Destiny Costanzo
Laila Dunley
Noah Anrath
Daiva Alagappan
Clyde Lipton
Mikayla Giacomin
Rufus McNally
Geofferey Booth
Jared Earl
Priya Waters
Ashleigh Fuller
Matilda Keefe
Sophie Ackhurst-Smith
Leo Dylewski
Mikayla decided to chop off her beautiful long hair so that it could be used for someone that is unwell and requires a wig. Her hair has been sent to Hair with Heart.