Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to 2024 and what is sure to be an exciting year of learning and growth for our community. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our community through our school creed and ensuring that St Thomas More's is providing the best education for your children.

We hope all of our new families have felt the embrace of our community as you have prepared your child to commence school today. It was so rewarding to see our Kindergarten student bravely farewell their parents in the courtyard before heading into class and to then visit each classroom to see that they were already centred in learning. 

A special welcome to Skye McPadden who has taken on the role of Acting Religious Education Coordinator for 2024, and to Reuban West, Olivia O'Donnell and Benita Fagan who have joined our teaching staff. We also welcome Andrew Owen as our Grounds Maintenance Manager. Andrew has already made his presence felt with our thriving vegetable garden and tidied grounds. Finally, we welcome Fr Anthony Riosa who commenced as Parish Priest of our parish as part of the Canberra Inner North Catholic Community.

Over the past four days, the staff have engaged in key professional learning in the Science of Learning through the CECG System Day, training in The Writing Revolution and the development of our Annual Improvement Plan. In addition to this, Skye McPadden led our staff spirituality day supporting us in deepening our knowledge of St Thomas More and strengthening our connection to our creed through scripture, prayer and our connection to Ngunnawal country. A highlight of the spirituality day was sharing Mass with Fr Emil at the Jerrabomberra Wetlands. This was the final opportunity for the staff to spend time with Fr Emil who has now moved parishes.

Fr Emil Farewell - Save the Date

At the end of last year, we farewelled Fr Emil who has now taken up his position as Parish Priest of the South Woden Parish. Fr Emil will be returning to say his final mass at St Thomas More's on Sunday 25 February at 10:00 am. It would be wonderful to have members of our community at the Mass to farewell Fr Emil. There will be a morning tea following the Mass.

Parent Engagement Coordinator

We are pleased to announce that Ariana Strmota will be taking on the role of Parent Engagement Coordinator at St Thomas More's. Our Community Council affirmed the allocation of hours to Ariana this year so that she can spend time supporting our parent contacts, strengthening the engagement of our parents within the community and celebrating our community through social media and communication. Please reach out to Ariana if you would like to support her in any way.

Parent Information Night

Our Parent Information Night will be held on Tuesday 13 February from 5:30pm beginning in Holy Faith Hall. We will gather as a whole school community for the leadership team to present and then break into grade presentations. These presentations will be repeated twice for families of multiple children. We will then gather as a community for a BBQ picnic. This is sure to be a wonderful opportunity to engage in your child's learning and meet new people in our community.

Affirmations

In reviewing our practice at the end of last year the staff spent time discussing the structure of affirmations and the purpose behind them. We acknowledged the importance of affirming our students for being Centred in Faith and Learning but felt that the number of our affirmations was detracting from the value that was placed on them. With this in mind, we have decided to reduce the number of affirmations so that two children are selected from each class within the fortnight to be affirmed for being Centred in Faith or Learning. Principal Affirmations will continue as they were.

Working Bee - Save the Date

Our annual Working Bee will be held on Saturday 2 March from 10:00 am-12:00 pm. The Working Bee is always a highlight of the calendar year where we can come together to improve our school grounds, spend time meeting new faces and take pride in our school. An RSVP will be sent out in next week's newsletter. 

Changes to Eating and Playing

This year we will be switching the order in which the students eat and play at our breaks. The purpose of this change is to minimise transitions required for moving between eating and play which will maximise the time the students have for play with their friends. In addition to this, we believe there will be benefits for students eating before returning to the classroom for learning as they will be more settled and able to attend. Please discuss this change with your child and encourage them to eat a substantial amount of food during the first break where they have 15 minutes of eating as opposed to the second break where they are allocated 10 minutes for eating. The staff will be supporting our students through this change. 

School Counsellor

Our school counsellor is Anna Cater; Anna will work every Wednesday.

Supervision Hours

School hours are 8:50 am to 3:00 pm. Students are supervised each day from 8:20 am until 3:20 pm. I would like to remind parents of the importance of ensuring that children are not dropped off at school before 8:20 am. Before and After School Care is available through Team Kids.

Uniform  

Thank you to families for ensuring students are in the correct uniform. We understand there have been some challenges with the uniforms provided by Lowes and will be working with Lowes to ensure this doesn't happen again. Our uniform policy is on the website for anyone needed further clarification. 

Facebook

Did you know we have a Facebook page? Find us @stmcampbell