Term 4

Year 2 Assembly Video

07 Aug 2020

Dear Year 2 Parents and Carers,

The Year 2 assembly video is now available on the 2PT and 2V Class Teams in the General Channel Posts. To access go to teams.microsoft.com and use the login details provided earlier in the year during remote learning.

Update for families on COVID - 19.

03 Aug 2020

St Thomas the Apostle School and Catholic Education continue to take advice from health authorities in relation to COVID-19. The Catholic Education Office has a team that is actively monitoring the COVID-19 situation as it develops, paying particular attention to local hotspots and organising support for schools where required.

St Thomas' is practicing all safe hygiene practices in line with government advice. We understand that the situation is fairly fluid and we will communicate directly with you should there be any important changes in relation to our school operations in the coming weeks. We remind all families: 

·       If your child is unwell, they should not attend school.

·       Please ensure that anyone who presents with COVID-19 symptoms in your family is tested.

·       Parents should avoid routinely entering the school where possible but can attend meetings with teachers where required (physical distancing and hygiene measures still apply).

Should you have any questions in relation to our school and COVID-19, please feel free to contact Naomi or Lynette in the Front Office.

Kind  regards,
Ursula Jamieson
Principal

It's Christmas in July!

28 Jul 2020

This Friday, the last day of July, we are having CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

Students may dress as if they are coming to a’ Winter Wonderland’, with beanies and scarves and warm winter woollies.

During the day, classes will have some fun winter Christmas activities to do.eg making symmetrical snowflake decorations.  

The SRC have put together some fun ideas for the teachers to choose from. 

It will be a fun day with lots of learning happening as well.

Wet Weather Pick - up is ON!

27 Jul 2020

Wet Weather Pick - up is ON!

If it is raining at home time.

27 Jul 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

If it is raining today at home time, this will be the procedure for pick up. There will be no parking, it will be drive through only. We will update you at 2:55 as to whether it is normal pick-up or wet weather pick-up.Wet_Weather_Pick_up_for_parents.pdf

Welcome back for Term 3

19 Jul 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome back for Term 3. I hope you have had some down time over the last two weeks and that your children have had a restful break.

With advice changing every day, I have waited until now to give you an update on what restrictions will be in place for the return to school and what we will be doing to ensure we are COVID SAFE. While we are doing very well here in the ACT we feel for those in Melbourne and know that if could so easily be us if we become complacent. Some of the things that we had planned to resume from the beginning of term (eg morning assembly on the stage and Friday morning community coffee) will need to be on hold for a little while longer.

We have received information from Catholic Education regarding Term 3 restrictions.

• Anyone travelling to the ACT from Victoria or a Sydney hotspot location has to enter self-isolation for 14 days after leaving.
• Currently (as of 17 July), ACT Health considers the entire southern state of Victoria to be a hotspot and sites in south-west Sydney
• Anyone returning to Canberra from these three locations is asked to self-isolate for 14 days, even if they do not have any symptoms. The three locations and dates are:
• Crossroads Hotel, Casula– between Friday 3 July to Friday 10 July
• Planet Fitness, Casula– between Saturday 4 July and Friday 10 July
• Picton Hotel, Picton– on Saturday 4 July, Sunday 5 July, Thursday 9 July or Friday 10 July

Unless there is a change in advice from the NSW and ACT Governments the following will be in place from tomorrow, Monday 20 July.

• Morning drop off will remain as a 'Kiss and Drop' arrangement. New signs have been erected over the holidays so it is clear where this area is. If you need to get out of your car to help you children or to get bags out of the boot, please park in the nearby carpark to do this.
• Students will not assemble as a whole school but will go directly to classrooms when the bell goes at 8:55am
• Afternoon pick up will go back to 'normal’ and I encourage those of you who used to park and pick your child/children up from the playground, please return to doing that. For parents who are coming into the school grounds to meet their children at the stage, we ask you to please park behind the RED LINE (this has been repainted) in the carpark. At this stage, extra adults will not be permitted in the school building, so please do not walk into classrooms or breakout spaces.

• We ask that you socially distance in the playground and that you leave once you have collected your children.
• For those using the drive through pickup, all children will on the pavement on the school side.
• In the event of wet weather, we will use the drive through pickup plan we had for Term 2. We will update you on that if and when it is needed.
• Parents are welcome in the front office, remembering to maintain physical and using the hand sanitiser provided;
• Any adult needing to enter the school building, must sign in at the Front Office, for tracing purposes;

• Maintaining the regular hand washing and sanitising practices of students will continue;
• Monday Community Prayer will resume in the church but with only 1/3 of the school attending each week and rotating through a three week roster. Unfortunately until further notice, they will be without parents.
• Assemblies will resume but again, until further notice, they will be without parents in attendance. Performances will be recorded and parents given access to these;.
• Excursions may resume, however we will work with the benefits of this given that many places have limits and restrictions still in place. We will organise more incursions to occur at school this term to support and enhance student learning;
• Preparation for the Sacraments of Penance (Reconciliation) and First Eucharist will continue as previously communicated.

If any student has any kind of illness, even if it is simply a light cold or flu like symptoms, (cough, runny nose, temperature etc) they are required to stay home and must not attend school. If a student is showing any signs of illness, their parents and carers will be asked to collect them as soon as possible

Please ensure your children arrive at school between 8:30 am and 8.55 and note that the end of the school day will resume to being 3.10 pm.

Physical distancing and using hand sanitiser are still a requirement for adults. 

I appreciate your patience and supporting us with the easing of restrictions.  I know that it continues to be a difficult time for families, with many still dealing with significant challenges. We look forward to moving ahead over the next term to get back to some more normal routines and practices. I again thank you for your cooperation and support over the year so far and I look forward to welcoming all of our beautiful students back for Term 3 tomorrow.

Kind regards 

Ursula Jamieson
Principal

End of term thank you.

03 Jul 2020

Dear Parents & Carers

Well we made it! – the end of a semester of schooling, the likes of which we hope we will not experience again.

I know I expressed this in the newsletter yesterday, but I wanted to make sure that you really do know how much the whole staff have appreciated your care and support over this time. We have heard many stories of learning under adversity and triumph over challenges, amidst the experience of Remote learning and the return to face to face teaching. I cannot thank you enough for the trust you have in our school.

I would also like to express my thanks to our incredible staff. They have dug deep in recent months to do all they can to support our students and families. Whilst they are tired and ready for a holiday, they have had many messages from you to thank them for their dedication and care. As the principal of this great school I am grateful for how inspiring they have been and how fortunate we are to have such a wonderful team.

Our students have also been tremendous. Their resilience and willingness to grow and adapt in these challenging times has been inspirational. We love our beautiful children.

I hope everyone can take some time this next fortnight to breath, rest, relax and spend some fun quality time with their family and friends. I sign off for the term more certain now than ever, that the St Thomas the Apostle community and all we stand for and live out, has been experienced fully this semester. Thank you!

Best wishes for a safe and restful school break.

Ursula Jamieson

Principal

Virtual Cross Country Event

22 Jun 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

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. 2020_Virtual_Cross_Country.pdf

Kind Regards
Matt Lowe
Sports Coordinator

Parent Teacher Interviews and Reports

20 May 2020

Parent Teacher Interviews and Reports for Students

Kindergarten to Year 6

Semester 1 2020

In response to the changed learning circumstances in Term 1 and Term 2, Semester 1 2020 reporting processes have been modified to provide parents with specific information about their child’s achievement and progress. 

As part of the process, there will be an opportunity for a parent /teacher conference over the coming weeks, as a 10 minutes meeting.  This will provide an opportunity for parents and teachers to share of experiences and observations of the students learning.

This year, due to social distancing requirements, we will be conducting our parent-teacher interviews via Zoom.

 To book an interview with your child’s teacher, please visit  www.schoolinterviews.com.au and use the booking code: evhmn. As your interview approaches, your child’s teacher will email you with a Zoom link and password.

 Bookings are open now will close on Sunday 24 May, 8pm.

 In regard to what the reports will consist of:

• The report will cover work completed in both Term 1 and Term 2.
• Student achievement will only be reported for the three main core areas: Religious Education, English, and Mathematics.
• Other subjects will have ‘Not assessed’ displayed. 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, Collaboration. 
• There will be no General Comment. 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.
• Semester 1 Reports will be sent home on the Thursday July 2^nd (Week 10). This will give teachers the maximum time possible for teaching, learning and assessment for the term.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like any further clarification on either of these matters.

Kind regards

Ursula Jamieson
Principal

Afternoon Pick-up.

18 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

We had such a great day today and there were smiles all around from not only the students but the staff as well. This is how schools are supposed to be, full of happy children.

Thank you all so much for your patience with the drop-off this morning and the pick-up this afternoon. This morning went well, though the afternoon had a few problems. It will take a little bit of getting used to, but there are a few things that will make it better.

• Please don’t come early. We know you want to have your children with you as soon as possible but we had traffic backed up onto Boddington Cres today, well before the bell went at 3:10.
• To help alleviate this, we are going to bring the children out 10 minutes earlier, so that we can spread the time of cars coming through over a longer time. So please to make this work, don’t arrive at school until 3pm. If you are earlier, you can park in the nearly sports field / Kambah playgroup carpark until coming into school at 3pm.
• We will have the students in the pickup areas by 3 pm, so that we can keep cars flowing right from the start of cars coming through.
• Tomorrow, the oldest in each family will be given two laminated family signs. These can be placed on your dashboard or sun visor (flipped down when coming through drive through). Teachers will be able to see the names on cars as they are approaching the pickup area and can call the children to come up ready to get in the car.
• Please don’t rush to be at school at 3pm. We will run the pickup zones from 3 - 3:30 so if we can spread arrivals over that time, we shouldn’t have a bank up of traffic on Boddington.
• Please be courteous and when entering the carpark,  take turns and alternate entry between cars coming from different directions on Boddington.
• If your child needs assistance with their seatbelt, you will need to come as close to 3:30 as possible. This will allow you time to assist your child in to the car.

We know it will take a few days to get this working well, so hopefully with the above taken into consideration, it will work better tomorrow.

Kind regards
Ursula Jamieson
Principal