Dear Parents,

The year has come to a close with so much to give thanks for, especially the friendships shared and the opportunities experienced. I am grateful to Craig Hart, members of the leadership team and all the members of the staff for their ongoing support and commitment to creating a school when the children are loved and provided with so many wonderful opportunities. I wish everyone a restful Christmas and staff travel. 

Staffing

Teaching staff leaving MTS or taking extended leave in 2025

• Kieran Russell and Rebecca Cartwright have taken up permanent teaching positions in local Canberra schools, commencing in 2025.
• Annabel McInnes has accepted a 12-month transfer to St Michael's Primary School, Kaleen.
• Emma Ryan is moving to Brisbane to be closer to family and has been successful in securing a position in a local school. 
• Maryanne Hawes has taken 12 months leave to explore the opportunities for the family on the Gold Coast.
• Janet Williams, who has been on two years leave, is now moving to Cairns and has resigned from MTS. 
• Jodie Tanchevski is taking 6 months LSL and will be available for relief in the second half of the year. 
• Louise Thomas is taking leave for 2025 to enjoy her young family. 
• Maria Radic is reducing her days to two days a week
• Samantha Burgess is reducing her days to three days a week. 

Long-term support staff leaving on Tuesday

• Sarah Stubbs after 12 years at MTS working in the Diverse Learning team and supporting Student well-being is off to St Francis Xavier College, Florey in 2025
• Jen Modun, who worked in the Diverse Learning team at MTS for 8 years, is now off to St Francis Xavier College in Florey in 2025
• Teri Rodda, after 13 years at MTS on the ELC and then our Diverse Learning team, has taken up a full-time position with the Public Service, with the flexibility of working at home for several days a week. 

Staff Appointments

• Alice O’Brien – Transfer for 12 months. to experience life in the Big School!
• Imogen Alexander – Coming for the ELC at St Anthon’s and has just completed her degree
• Catherine Beckett – Bringing her expertise from various education systems, will be great
• Kim Harris - Bringing her experience and passion working in school. Kim has been working almost daily as a refleif teacher so is know to all the children, one of the staff aready!
• Kylie Parson- Joining the DL team for three days a week as a CSA
• Rebecca Brown- CSA contract extended
• Maddie Greenwood – Youth Minister contract extended

School Staffing Overview and Class Colours 

School Reports

The reports were released via Compass on Friday, 13 December. Any issues after the end of the term you will need to email the school office.

Christmas Carols

Finalising Fees

God Bless and Merry Christmas

Carmel Maguire & Craig Hart

Principal & Acting Principal

WHOLE SCHOOL FOCUS
The Whole school focus theme for this year is ‘COME HOLY SPIRIT’

This term at Mother Teresa School we will use the theme that: We are called to inspire.

This Term as We are called to inspire.:

• we believe in and love Jesus.
• Live with honesty and integrity.
• Be patient with others and make peace.
• Give our unique talents, time, and money and
• Be consistently kind.

Something to Think About

If you see an Advent wreath, with three purple candles and one pink candle, this is the day on which the pink candle is lit. This Third Sunday of Advent brings with it a sense of great joy, because Jesus will soon be born. What makes you joyful?

The Story

In this gospel passage, the people ask John how they should live. John tells them, if you have plenty, share with the one who has none. Be happy with what you have and don’t complain. In other words, John is telling the people to help others and to be grateful.

Video

Click to watch the video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6OeD4sj9Pk

2024 CHRISTMAS GIVING APPEAL

At Mother Teresa School we are surely blessed to have such a generous and giving community. Alison from St Vincent de Paul sent a big thank you for the hampers that you delivered this week which will go towards helping needy families in the Gungahlin this Christmas. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU

Thank you to all those parents, who came along to the Thanksgiving Leadership Candle Ceremony on Tuesday. It was a wonderful celebration of another school year as we give thanks to our Year 6 leaders and those families and teachers who will be leaving Mother Teresa School. We wish them well on their journey!

Christmas Prayer

If I decorate my home with plaid bows, twinkling lights, and shiny ornaments, but fail to show love to my family, I am merely a decorator.

If I spend hours in the kitchen baking cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and setting a beautiful table, but do not show love to my family, I am just another cook.

If I volunteer at the soup kitchen, sing carols at the nursing home, and give to charity, but neglect to show love to my family, all my efforts profit me nothing.

If I trim the tree with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend countless holiday parties, and sing in the choir, but forget to center my heart on Christ, I have missed the true meaning of Christmas.

Love takes a moment to stop cooking and hug a child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss a spouse.

Love is patient and kind, even when tired and stressed.

Love does not envy another’s perfectly coordinated holiday decor.

Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way, but thanks God for their presence, even in the chaos.

Love does not give only to those who can return the favour but finds joy in giving to those who cannot.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. Video games may break, pearls may be lost, and golf clubs may rust, but the gift of love endures forever.

Peace and Best Wishes,

Anne Leet
Religious Education Co-ordinator

Henry Drake-Brockman   

Henry is a kind and caring student who demonstrates impeccable manners with his friends, teachers and other school staff. Henry is always mindful of the needs of those around him, showing consideration for their thoughts and feelings. He thinks deeply about the plight of others, reflecting with wisdom beyond his years on how the example of Jesus in the Bible teaches us how to live with compassion today. 

Henry shows courage in his learning and is determined to continually improve even when tasks are challenging. He applies this determination to class activities, MiniLit reading groups practicing the guitar or playing sport.  Henry models polite and thoughtful ways to behave in the classroom and is an example to his peers of determination, calmness and ways to speak up for yourself while displaying courtesy and respect. His happy demeanour, consistent adherence to school behaviour expectations and constant way of doing ‘small things with great love’ make him the ideal candidate for the Mother Teresa Award

Boston Shoemark

Boston demonstrates the humility of Mother Teresa in his servant leadership to his class, his cohort and the school community. One would never know the personal challenges that this young man is faced with, as he actively pursues all he does with a calm, courage. He sets an example to his peers in his social interactions, displaying a courteous attitude even in challenging situations. He considers others above himself and is the first to put his hand up for the most undesirable of tasks. Boston pursues knowledge and truth with an open spirit and enthusiastic approach, pulling in even the most reluctant to collaborative learning. Boston embodies our motto of doing “small things with great love,” demonstrating the essence of Mother Teresa: a compassionate spirit, a humble heart, and a fierce pursuit of righteousness.

TEACHER SPEECH TO YEAR 6 STUDENTS

Kelly

Today is a day filled with mixed emotions as we gather to celebrate and bid farewell to our wonderful Year 6 students.

To each and every one of you, we want you to know how incredibly proud we are of everything you have achieved during your time here at MTS. Watching you grow from curious young learners who’s definition of two straight lines was “creative,” into considerate, compassionate, and courageous individuals has been one of the greatest joys of our year.

Kieran

You’ve worked hard, overcome challenges, and shown resilience in ways that inspire us every day. Whether it was flying high on the giant swing at camp (even if you did scream), mastering tricky math problems (yes you actually have to read the whole question), conquering  sports carnivals (Go Irwin), or creating an Olympics day that will go down in  history, you have left a mark on this school that will not be forgotten.

Jodie

As you prepare to move on to the next chapter of your lives, remember that you carry with you all the skills, values, and friendships that you’ve built here. There will be new opportunities, new faces, and new adventures waiting for you. Embrace them with the same determination and curiosity that you’ve shown here.

Carly

Never be afraid to dream big and work hard to achieve your goals. Be kind to others, stand up for what is right, and always believe in yourselves. Each of you has the potential to do tremendous things, and we cannot wait to hear about the many paths you will take in the future.

Jess

We’ll miss your love for a chat (even at all the wrong times), your energy, and your good humour that made our days brighter. Although you are leaving our classrooms, you will forever hold a special place in our hearts and in the history of Mother Teresa School.

Congratulations on all you have accomplished, Year 6. Go forward with confidence, courage, and kindness. The world is waiting for you, and we know you’re ready to shine.

Last week over 30 students took part in the MTS Open Tennis Tournament. All of the children displayed outstanding sportsmanship and a high level of skill throughout the day. The final was an epic contest between two great up and coming athletes, with Oscar Ciampa coming out victorious over Colin Almond.

Congratulations to all of the students who participated this year, and we hope to see everyone back on court ant recess and lunch in 2025!

On Saturday Max Fenton (6 Ebony) was surrounded by family and friends at the Hall Village playground as he had his long locks shaved off for charity. Over the past couple of months Max has raised $5083 for the Children’s Cancer Institute, in memory of a close family friend. His hair is being sent to Kids with Cancer Foundation Australia for their Wigs 4 Kids campaign. Congratulations Max!

Family Technology agreements

With the possibility of new devices entering your home and an increase in screen time over the Christmas holiday break, it is an excellent time to create or revise your family's expectations around device use. This can include where devices are used and for how long, where devices go overnight and what to do when something goes wrong. It can include computers, TVs, gaming consoles and tablets.

There are several resources to support you in setting these boundaries.

The eSafety Commissioner has downloadable customisable family tech contract templates for pre-schoolers to primary-aged children. They include discussion points about how to be a responsible user of technology and develop digital intelligence. Click here for more information.

The ThinkUKnow and Carly Ryan Foundation family online safety contracts are suitable for older students and the whole family. Click here to see an example and a blank contract.

Education and Support

Further education and support around devices, apps, cyberbulling, gaming, deciding age-appropriate entertainment and reporting abuse is available at the following websites:

eSafety Commissioner resources

Family online safety in more languages

Guides to popular social medica and gaming apps and websites

Reporting Harm with eSafety Commissioner or

Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation

Setting up your child's device for safety and success

BYOD - Bring your own device - Chromebook for students in Years 4-6 in 2025

A Chromebook is a kind of laptop running Chrome OS, an operating system made by Google. Chromebooks are made by a range of known technology brands like Lenovo and ASUS. There often is not a lot of difference between brands. 

The preferred device is a Chromebook laptop. Unfortunately other makes like Samsung/Android tablets are not supported and do not reliably work with the Catholic Education systems.

You may like to shop around and see if there are student or education deals around or keep an eye out for upcoming shopping events like Black Friday (October/November), Cyber Monday (November), Boxing Day (December), even the January sales.

When purchasing, please be aware of the following specifications:

4GB Memory (RAM) minimum

• 32GB Storage for use in primary school is fine, many will have 64GB anyway
• 11-13 Inch screen minimum  
• personal preference
• please consider the size and weight of the device - your child is transporting the device to and from school each day - not too heavy or large
• consider if the device fits into their school bag 
• At least 8 hour battery life 
• Must have the ability to connect to headphones, whether it be via a port or bluetooth - whatever your student has access to
• Must have a camera
• A touchscreen can be useful for some students (but it's optional) 
• Please do NOT provide Samsung/Android tablets - these are not recommended and do not operate well on Catholic Education systems.
• In terms of price, don't spend too much on the Chromebook. A budget of up to $500 is reasonable. One of the deciding factors in moving from iPads to Chromebooks was the comparable/cheaper price.
• A protective case or cover for the Chromebook is required
• Headphones or earphones are required
• Some students have a mouse (optional)
• Warranty should be a consideration when purchasing a device
• We recommend that you consider adding the device to your insurance policy

Chromebooks do not require active firewalls, or anti-virus and anti-malware software. When the Chromebook is connected to the school network via specialised BYOD WiFi, it will utilise the online security settings set up by Catholic Education. 

The life of most hardware is three years. Please be realistic when purchasing a device, especially regarding cost.

2024 has been a wonderful year of community engagement and the MTS Community Council Social & Fundraising Working Group would like to thank our school community for the support and participation to our events this year.

These events can’t happen without the support of so many people! Thank you to our school executive, Carmel and Craig (and Lina) and to our school council members: Lindsay, John, Kristy, Kris, Danielle and our Chair, Damien for the support to our ideas and efforts. 

• Thank you to our front office staff and our school teachers who have helped with our events.
• A huge shout out to our wonderful parent volunteers who have helped with the running of all our activities (including but not limited to): the Easter Raffle, Mother’s Day and Father’s day mornings. 
• To our fabulous volunteers who manage the fundraising projects: Recycling/10c, Family Portraits, Environmental Collections, School Year Book, Entertainment Books, Scholastic Books and the Second Hand Uniform Shop, we appreciate all your hard work to keep these projects running throughout the year.
• Thank you to our committed parents who have volunteered their time with writing Grants and to our class contact volunteers who have worked with us so cooperatively as we have re-introduced this to our school social network.    

All the very best to our year 6 students starting their high school journey and to our families who are leaving the school community.

Enjoy the school holidays and please flag the weekend of the 8/9 Feb 2025 for a ‘Welcome Picnic’. This is to welcome our new families as well as reconnect after the Summer break. The date & time will be confirmed when we return to school Term 1. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, with much gratitude – Janice and Adelle from the Social and Fundraising Working Group

The enrolments for 2025 are now open at the Canberra Chinese School (CCS). The CCS is a non-profit community language school run by parent volunteers. We offer a comprehensive curriculum, dedicated teachers, and a supportive environment to the local students in Belconnen, Woden and Gungahlin. We welcome new and returning students to join our school to learn Chinese. To learn more about our programs and how to enroll, please visit our website or contact us at:

·         http://www.canberrachineseschool.net

·         https://www.canberrachineseschool.net/2025-student-registration-form

·         admin@canberrachineseschool.net

We look forward to welcoming your child to the Canberra Chinese School.