After a drizzly early morning to start the day, it ended up being a glorious day for our Athletics Carnival. Thank you to Luke Mooney for his organisation of the carnival and to all the parent helpers who we could not have managed without.  We were also fortunate to have 15 students from St Mary MacKillop College help run the events and educators from TEAMKIDS ran novelty activities as well.  I am sure that all the children will sleep well tonight.

Reporting and Parent Teacher Interviews

In the coming weeks teachers will begin assessment for the end of semester reporting. To enable teachers and parents to have a solid opportunity to discuss Semester One learnings, we are holding Parent Teacher Interviews during Weeks 8 (the week beginning Tuesday 13 June). They will be 13 mins in length (this allows teachers a 2-minute turnaround between scheduled interviews). Dialogue is an important feature of reporting and the discussions that take place in these interviews give parents and carers a far better understanding of their child’s academic, social, spiritual and emotional progress than a written comment does. Reports from the classroom teacher will be available to access via the Compass Parent Portal from 3:30 pm on Friday 23 June (end of Week 9). An invitation for you to book a time to meet with your child/ren’s teacher face to face or over MS Teams will be sent out next week. We welcome parents and carers into the school for these meetings but we also know from feedback, that an online meeting can be more convenient for families where both parents work (or are away for work) and also for those with younger children. We believe that these meetings will give all our parents and carers a detailed understanding of their child’s learning for Semester 1.

Tell Them from Me Survey

In the coming weeks we will be inviting students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.

We would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community, we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Thomas the Apostle School.

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You are able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device by using the URL which was sent via Compass.

Hats off months

Next Wednesday is the beginning of winter and begins the time where the children don’t need to wear their school hats for the months of June and July. Being SunSmart is all about being “smart” when spending time outdoors in the sun, this includes having an understanding around the balance between UV exposure, sun protection and vitamin D.

During the summer period, maintaining vitamin D levels should be relatively easy for children who are active and spend time outdoors most days of the week, even with sensible sun protection.  In Canberra, we have already started to witness daily UV levels decrease to what is considered “low” levels (under 3) during the morning and afternoon periods. In Canberra UV levels drop and remain under 3, all day, around the June and July period.

The body should be able to store your summer vitamin D levels over the winter period, however by leaving your hat at home during this low UV period and getting some winter sun exposure to your skin you are more likely to maintain adequate vitamin D levels during this cold period of the year.

In winter, by exposing some skin most days of the week during the lunchtime period (the middle of the day is best because UVB will be present), students and teachers should be able to maintain the bulk of their summer vitamin D. Of course there will be groups in the population that are at higher risk of having vitamin D defi­ciency. To read more about vitamin D visit Cancer Council ACT’s website.

School Fees

A gentle reminder that these are now due. Please do not hesitate to contact our Finance Manager, Naomie Trussler, if you are having trouble with your payments. We are there to support you.

I am sure you are like me and looking forward to the long weekend ahead. If you are going away for the weekend, please have a safe trip and we will see you all back at school on Tuesday morning.

Kind regards,

Yours in partnership,

Ursula Jamieson
Principal

Happy Birthday
to the following student and teacher
who will celebrate a birthday this week