Parent Information Night and Welcome BBQ

We look forward to welcoming our community to school on Tuesday evening for our Parent Information Night and Welcome BBQ. We are pleased to announce that staff will be available to supervise your children while you attend the meetings. The timetable of the evening will be as follows:

5:30 - 6:00pm - Gather in Holy Faith Hall to hear from the school leadership team and presentation from Catholic Education on Compass

6:00 - 6:15pm - 1^st presentation from teachers in classrooms

6:15 - 6:30pm - repeat presentation from teachers in classrooms

6:30pm - BBQ dinner served at the playground.

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Community Council

Our School Community Council will be having our first meeting on Tuesday 20 February at 6:00pm. Welcome to Keren Baker, Megan Hansford and Stephanie Dickson who will join existing members Michael Kelly, Skye Keatinge and Leah Hanley. As we move to the new Charter for Community Councils we would like to remind you that the second meeting of each term will be an open meeting for all members of our community.

Sacramental Program for 2024

Following a meeting with Fr Anthony, the decision has been made to review the advertised Sacramental Program for 2024 to ensure it is reflective of the needs of the Canberra Inner North Catholic Community. We would ask parents to disregard the advertised dates on out calendar and fridge magnet as they may change. We can confirm that the advertised registration for the Sacrament of Reconciliation will not proceed. A form will be sent out by Skye McPadden next week to determine numbers for each of the three sacraments in 2024. We thank you for your patience as we navigate these changes across the year. 

Classroom Refurbishments 

Have you noticed any changes to our classrooms this year? We are currently undergoing minor classroom refurbishments to modernise the classrooms and ensure they are learning environments reflective of the Science of Learning. The first stage of the refurbishment was the removal of bag boxes that were installed in front of windows. This has already dramatically improved the natural light in our classrooms. Our library has been painted from top to bottom and is now awaiting the installation of autex (pinboards). Over the coming weeks, our classrooms will have all of the green autex removed and painted white. We will then create display areas within the room using the new autex. This refurbishment will result in each classroom being updated to match the colour tones of our modular classroom. We are so pleased that Catholic Education has been able to prioritise this important improvement for our school learning environments. 

Mobile Phones and Smart Devices

A reminder that the school procedures for mobile phones and smart devices are that these items are dropped off at the front office in the morning and collected at the end of the day. Catholic Education is currently preparing a policy to ensure consistent practices across the system and alignment with updated policies in the ACT Directorate and local independent schools. 

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.

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. 

National Student Wellbeing Program - School Chaplain

We are pleased to announce that St Thomas More's has been successful in being chosen as a participant in the National Student Wellbeing Program for 2024-2027. This program is used to fund the employment of our school chaplain, Ariana Strmota. The chaplain program is a great opportunity to support the wellbeing of our students and we look forward to seeing it implemented over the next 4 years.

STM Forum Dinner