I am so happy to begin this newsletter announcing that Mrs Leyrizza Nyunt and her husband Khae Sae are the proud parents of a new baby girl, born on Tuesday this week. Her name is Annabella.  She was in a hurry to come into the world and arrived a few weeks ahead of schedule. (It just shows that babies have their own schedules). Leyrizza and Annabella are both doing well. I am sure you would join me in wishing the Nyunt family all the very best at this wonderful time in their lives.

Parent Teacher Interviews and Reports

These have gone very well this week with teachers expressing that the opportunity to sit and talk to parents about their students and how they are going is a positive and productive experience for all. I want to particularly thank the teachers for the time they have put into preparing for these meetings to give you a clear picture of how your child is progressing and to answer your questions. Together we educate the children academically, socially, emotionally, physically and of course, spiritually. It’s a team effort. The Semester One Reports will be available to access via Compass next Friday afternoon 23 June at 3:30pm.

Pie and Footy Night

We are holding an adults only ‘Pie and Footy Night’ for the second State of Origin Match – the decider or the equaliser. It’s on next Wednesday 21 June.  It would be excellent to see a big number of our dads and granddads come along. This is a great opportunity for the guys to get to know other men in our community. It’s sometimes hard for the dads to get together but here is a great chance! The Community Council will be supplying piping hot, homemade gourmet pies.  These will be made by our resident chef Victoria.  She is making at least 4 different flavours and there will be plenty for all.  BYO beer wine and / or soft drinks.  Please click the link below to register so we can make sure we cater adequately.

https://forms.office.com/r/m06829pPZp  

Winter Solstice

It is only one week to go before our Winter Solstice (almost Christmas in July) afternoon. It is on Saturday 24 June from 2- 5pm.  We have never celebrated this before as a community so we are hoping for a big roll up of people to come and enjoy a warm mulled wine around the fire pit or a delicious chip on a stick! There will be food, drinks, stalls, music and festivities.  We hope you can come along.  Victoria Town, our chief organiser is looking for helpers on the day. If you can help for even just an hour, please sign up by clicking on this link and registering your support.

https://forms.office.com/r/QWcK4CLUvi 

Teacher Relief / Day Away Routine

Along with the onset of winter and due to the nature of working with many children each day, our teachers are always exposed to a range of colds and bugs, the result of which can lead to absences through sickness. When teachers are sick every attempt is made to organise a relief teacher to cover the class for the day, or longer if necessary. At times, however, it can be quite difficult to get suitable relief and even more difficult to get the same relief teacher when there may be a number of days involved. At St Thomas the Apostle we have a Day Away system in place for if and when suitable relief is unavailable. In this system the students from the class are split across all classes and take with them their Day Away folders containing work and activities prepared by their class teacher. The older classes will have their work set out for them on MS TEAMS.  This work both compliments and reinforces the work already taking place in the classroom. Each class teacher and the front office have a copy of the split class list and are able to locate your child quickly if needed throughout one of these days. We also use this routine when a class teacher takes a group of children from across the school to sporting and cultural activities such as a football gala day or chess tournament. While this routine has only been implemented a few times so far this year I thank you in anticipation of your support should the need arise to do this more as the winter progresses.

Building Fund Levy

As the end of the financial year draws near I would like to remind parents about the Building Fund Levy component of the school fees. This Levy is a tax deductible contribution that benefits the school directly. These funds go toward the school's maintenance program. All Catholic schools are assisted via this fund which is just unfortunately named – it should probably be called the Maintenance Fund (not Building Fund). Without these funds, many basic services could not be maintained and our system relies heavily on this support as schools do not have the financial strength to pay for these things from their own budgets (ie broken and blocked toilets, leaking gutters, lighting or electrical issues). The funds are equitably distributed to schools in our system to ensure that the buildings are safe environments and conform to WH&S standards. Thank you to all those that continue to contribute to this fund via their school fees and please remember to claim this component of your fees in the donations section of your tax return each year.

Winter Uniform

We are well and truly into the colder weather now and all children should be in winter uniform. Scarves and beanies are allowed to be worn but we always ask that these be plain in colour of maroon or blue. We don’t have an official uniform coat so as along as it is navy, it will be considered school uniform.  We do have school beanies with the school name on the front. These can be purchased from the front office for $10. Finally, a reminder that long pants are the winter uniform. Sports shorts may be worn under the school tracksuit on sports days.  We want our children to wear their uniform with pride to show that they are part of the community of St Thomas the Apostle School.

MATES Lunches

Recently I was pleased to be able to host a group of children for our first MATES lunch this term, in recognition of them gaining their Blue Band through our School Wide Positive Behaviour Program (MATES). We all enjoyed our special winter MATES Menu of hot chips, hot chocolate and a fudge brownie (particularly as it was such a cold day). Our MATES lunch recipients were - Vin, Roddy, Sebastiano, Georgie, Eli, Ben, Oscar, Nate, Gabbi, Harry, Frankie, Winnie, and Charlie. Congratulations to these great MATES of St Thomas the Apostle.

Only two weeks of the term left before the winter break. Where does the time go?

Yours in partnership,

Ursula Jamieson
Principal

Information Session Monday 19 June 5-6pm

Our St Thomas the Apostle Fete is the major fundraiser for our school and parish. After a very successful fete in 2022, we are pleased to announce that planning has begun for 2023. This year the fete will be held on Saturday 11 November.

Thank you to all stallholders and volunteers from previous years, the time and energy you put into the fete is greatly appreciated. We can't stress enough how much we need and depend on the commitment and input of the whole school and parish community to run a successful fete. If you would like to know more about the fete and how you could be involved, please come along to an information session On Monday 19 June between 5-6:00pm. If you can’t make it to the meeting, please reach out to me and I can answer any questions you may have.

Susan Chant
School Liason

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