As the 2019 school year draws to a close I would like to extend my thanks to Father
Sean for his support and guidance, the staff for their expertise and dedication, the
parents for their continued support and, most importantly, the students who are committed to giving their best each day. I would like to particularly congratulate all of the students for the settled way that they have finished the year, it has been very calm over the last few weeks. They were particularly outstanding at the end of year Mass (which did go for a while). Year 6 were a credit to their families and our school at their recent camp, the teachers were very impressed by the way they conducted themselves.

I would like to thank the parent body and other family and community members in general, for the support they give the school, particularly those people that we see regularly helping around the school.

The Year 6 leaders did an outstanding job this year. We wish them well as they move into the next phase of their educational journey.

Loving God, Help us remember the birth of Jesus,
that we may share in the song of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate
and open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings,
and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children,
and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts,
forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

-- Robert Louis Stevenson

The staff would like to wish everyone a happy, safe and holy Christmas.

Class Teachers for 2020

KG: Mrs Erin Cleary               

KB: Mrs Annette Syrros

1G: Mrs Kylie Archbold      

1B: Mrs Anna Smith

2G: Mrs Renee McFayden  

2B: Mrs Vicki Johnson & Ms Jacinta Rice (Tuesdays)

3G: Mrs Dona Connell         

3B: Mrs Lyn Shepherd & Ms Laura Wilson (Thursday, Friday)

4G: Mrs Rebecca Ryan & Mrs Sonia Weekes (Wednesday-Friday)

4B: Ms Kirsten Young

5G: Mr Mark Blake

5B: Mrs Vicki Menzies

6G: Mrs Jenny White

6B: Mr Liam Adams

Support Teachers: Ms Michele Crittenden, Mrs Chris Gough & Mrs Sue Eccleston

Teacher Librarian & Technology Support Teacher: Mrs Virginia Preddey

Music: Miss Keva Abotomey

School Support Officers - Classroom: Mrs Kim Hagan, Mrs Sharon Roberts, Mrs Maree Whitton, Mrs Kelly Gould, Mrs Rosemarie Van Den Haak & Mrs Suzanne King

Library: Mrs Carola Murnane

Reception: Mrs Eileen Norman

Senior School Support Officer: Mrs Shauna Broad

Acting Assistant Principal: Mrs Joanne Robinson

Acting Principal: Mrs Kayleen Petzer

We welcome back Miss Keva Abotomey to our staff for 2020. Miss Abotomey is an ex-student of St Thomas Aquinas and a very talented music teacher who has previously filled in for Mrs Hamilton while she was on leave.

ICAS Competitions

I would like to particularly congratulate the following students for their outstanding results in the English and Maths UNSW competitions this year. Each of these students received a distinction. We had a further 17 students receive a credit in Maths and 14 students in English.

English: Eryn Yr 3, Bridget Yr 4, Josie and Emily Yr 5 and William in Yr 6.

Maths: Connor Yr 6

Congratulations to each of these students, they are fantastic results!

Staff Awards

Congratulations to the following staff who were recently acknowledged by the Diocese for their service to Catholic education:

10 Years: Sharons Roberts

15 Years: Sonia Weekes & Kim Hagan

20 Years: Kylie Archbold & Vicki Menzies

25 Years: Erin Cleary

30 Years: Sue Eccleston

Uniform

Below is our current uniform requirements list in case you need to make purchases during the holidays. Please remember that school shoes must not have high heels or be the jogger style shoe that some shoe stores are selling as school shoes and that sports joggers must be predominantly white. If you are unsure if a style is correct please check before purchase as these items are quite expensive and I would hate to see you waste money buying something that can’t be worn at school.

Commencement Dates 2020

School concludes for all students today Wednesday 18 December and resumes for students in Year 1 to Year 6 on Wednesday 29 January 2020. Kindergarten 2020 students will attend their individual Best Start Assessment dates and then commence together on Thursday 6 February.

Fundraising Committee News

This year a new Fundraising group was formed.  It was dedicated to not only fundraising this year, but to involve as many people as possible, and to build up the STA school community. This committee joined at Easter time. Some parents joined together to organise an Easter raffle where parents donated Easter items and parents and carers bought tickets for the raffle, for the official first fundraising event for the year. A Mother’s and Father’s Day stall and raffle were also held this year, where parents helped wrap and distribute gifts and helped in cooking the BBQ at both events.

We also held a very successful and profitable pizza day which was supported by many parent and carer volunteers, who helped bag the pizza for the students.

Throughout Term 3 and 4, the second hand uniform shop was manned on a Monday afternoon by a parent volunteer to help support families needing access to this service. Although the fundraising committee makes no profit from this service, the committee felt that the needs for this to be accessible to parents on a regular basis and has been a great fundraiser for St Vincent De Paul.

Our largest fundraising event of the year was the Trivia Night. The committee was able to not only raise funds, it brought parents, carers and staff together to continue in the development of community spirit. It was a successful night thanks to the wonderful community who donated a variety of items, the parents, staff and carers who attended and the committee putting in many hours in coordinating it.

The net profit raised this year was $10582. It was agreed that all funds which were raised this year would go towards the new turf for the infants’ playground.

A successful year by the newly formed fundraising group who look forward to 2020 in raising more funds for the school. 

A new edition of this valuable safety resource is now available online. The current edition has been updated with digital/online safety, light rail safety, metro train safety, dental health, diabetes, etc. It is recommended that school principals bring this important information source to the attention of their school community.

The Child Safety Handbook App has also been produced by NSW Police Legacy and includes everything we need as a community to protect our most valuable and vulnerable resource – our children.  From preventative measures at home to safety outdoors, from cyber safety to dealing with peer pressures, this App is a resource for every family and school community. The app can be downloaded via the Apple store, Google Play or Amazon Kindle.

Link to the digital handbook - NSW Police Legacy Child Safety Handbook

Here is also a link to the childsafetyhub.com.au website with assets that can be used - http://nsw.childsafetyhub.com.au/downloads/

ALTAR SERVERS

IMPORTANT DATES

One of the highlights of the Christmas celebrations will be the
Children’s Mass at St Thomas Aquinas at 6 pm Christmas Eve.

We would love to see as many children dressed as angels and shepherds as possible in attendance. 

The STA Liturgy group will be providing the music for the Mass and will need to arrive by 5 pm to see Mrs Johnson. 

Congratulations to everyone a on very succesful sporting year and for your excellent example of sportsmanship.  Thank you to Mr Preddey and Mrs Norman for your organisation of the various sporting events.

We have been able to purchase lots of new sport equipment for next year thanks to the Australian Government sporting grants.