Welcome to St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Primary School - Kambah

Update Tuesday 14/9

15 Sep 2021

Thank you for your support over the past five weeks as we have implemented Remote Learning as part of the ACT’s health response to COVID-19.
 
Following advice from the ACT Government and Chief Health Officer presented today, Remote Learning will continue for all Catholic Education primary school students during the first four weeks of Term 4 which begins on Tuesday 5 October.
 
Catholic Education will be working over the school holidays to develop further plans for a phased return to on-campus learning in Term 4 when it is safe to do so. Any plans will of course be completely subject to health advice, including in relation to case numbers and vaccination rates.
 
While I am sure this news will be disappointing to you all, the Chief Health Officer has made this decision based on what we know about the COVID-19 outbreak in our community.  The health and safety of students, staff and their families, is our number one priority.
 
During Remote Learning, our school will continue to remain open to students whose parents are required to work outside the family home and who have no suitable care arrangements in place. Those students will be supervised as they access the same Remote Learning program as their classmates. We will send out a survey for attendance during the last week of the holidays.
 
Please remember the most important thing you can do is support your child’s wellbeing, keeping in mind that children can express their feelings in many ways. I encourage you to speak openly with your children about how they are feeling.
 
If your child requires extra help and assistance, counselling is available through CatholicCare. To access the service, a booking request may be made by contacting (02) 6162 6100.
 
You can keep up to date with the latest health information and advice on the ACT’s COVID-19 website www.covid19.act.gov.au
 
Please contact us if you have concerns or need some support, we are there for you.
 
Kind regards, 
Ursula Jamieson
Principal

Update 1/9/21

02 Sep 2021

As announced on 31/8 the lockdown has been extended until l the end of the term. Although this is not ideal, and we really do miss having the children at school, we know that the children are getting the best possible remote experience that the teachers and support staff can deliver.

If your child is required to be at school over the next 2 weeks, we ask that you complete the survey via Compass notification.

To improve on the Remote Learning experience for everyone we will use the following schedule as of Week 9.

          9:00 am – Year 2 and Years 5/6
          9:30 am – Year 1 and Years 3 / 4
          10:00 am – Kindergarten

Optional:  2pm ‘touching base’ time (all classes are invited).

The plan is (and we are still working out the technical logistics of this) that students will have a TEAMs meeting not just with their class but the whole year level.  This will be a chance to connect with friends beyond their class. 

Friday 3/9 – Virtual Father’s Day 

All the students are invited to dress up like their dad or someone they admire and aspire to be like. We would also love to see those special people on the screen with their child on Friday morning. We know that this won’t be possible for some children, so having a photo to hold up is also an option.  

 
Wellbeing Wednesday 8/9

Activities for that day will have no requirement for on-screen engagement (besides their morning class activities and the ‘touching base’ time). Details will be sent shortly.

Until the next update, stay safe and stay healthy
Kind regards

Ursula Jamieson
Principal

Lockdown Dinner Service

24 Aug 2021

Our amazing Canteen Manager Victoria Town is at it again!

We have opened a dinner service for all the hardworking parents, carers, children and teachers. We know it is hard to be in lockdown and trying to manage working from home, remote learning and just the day to day stress of living in a COVID outbreak.

The canteen is offering family sized dinners for sale with contactless pick up (pre-arranged time for pick-up by contacting Victoria) from school during lockdown. Options are on Flexischools with payment details. Ordering cut off time is 12:00pm. Meal pick up time will be between 1:00-3:00pm Thursday and Friday. 

If you are in quarantine and unable to pickup your "Lockdown Dinner Service" someone from our school community will be able to deliver it to your doorstep.  If you need this please order your meals via Flexischools and email Ursula to organise delivery ursula.jamieson@cg.catholic.edu.au

If you have any questions please contact Victoria via email email link

What a Day Looks LIke

17 Aug 2021

Dear Parents and Carers

Well the number of active cases in the community has certainly jumped today and the lockdown extended until Sep 2^nd. This is worrying, but we are people of hope and optimism. We will get through this and we will do this together. Please reach out if you need any support or assistance, we are there for you. I have the information about student attendance of essential workers or vulnerable students for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I will send a new request form on Wednesday for registering children for this Friday and all the five days of next week. Thank you for your support with this.

We are ready to begin Remote Learning tomorrow. Teachers have sent out correspondence to each class with details of class procedure. You will notice that each year level has a different live check in time. This is so that parents and carers can assist their child /children if needed and they are not all on’ live’ at the same time.

Here are the check in times and a visual of what a day for Remote Learning looks like in each class. Teachers will have let you know when the first live check in will be as we especially do not want to overwhelm our younger students (and parents) new to Remote Learning and using MS teams.

Kindergarten is at 10:00   Kinder - What a day looks like

Year 1 is at 11:30 Yr 1 - What a day looks like

Year 2 is at 12:00 Yr 2 - What a day looks like

Year 3/4 is at 9:30 Yr3/4 - What a day looks like

Year 5/6 is at 9:00 Yr 5/6 - What a day looks like

These should be helpful when planning your child's learning for the day.

So as to help everyone be in the ‘headspace’ of school, we are suggesting that students wear their school shirt or jumper when live on screen. This is not something we will be enforcing, just suggesting to give us a sense of ‘being in the classroom’. Please no pyjamas while online.

Luke Mooney will be sending out  information directly, to ensure you have everything you need to know in regard to how to use Teams depending on the device your child will be using.

• iPads 
• Chrome Books 
• Desktops and Laptops  

If you have questions or are in need of support with technology, please email your child’s teacher and cc Luke Mooney who is our IT coordinator and is always happy to support where needed. luke.mooney@cg.catholic.edu.au 

I know this is a lot of information and there will be more to come as required. I will try not to bombard you but rather, will send out information in a timely way – as needed.

Stay safe and stay positive

Kind regards,
 
Ursula Jamieson
Principal