Principal's Report Week 8
Dear parents,
As school life slowly returns to normal, we hope term three will see the return of the many activities that make schools the vibrant places there are. We have been advised that from the beginning of term three students can undertake single day excursions. I know our year five and six students are keen to see if their Sydney camps in term four will be going ahead.
NSW schools have announced that school assemblies will be permitted and I hope the ACT Government will follow suit. This will allow us to plan for more than assemblies, with Grandparents Day, concerts and visiting shows scheduled which will no doubt be enjoyed by all.
Today most families will receive their child’s report. You will notice that due to the reduced time at school there is not as much information as usual in the reports. I ask parents to read the explanatory letter included in the report. The reports will be supported by parent-teacher interviews being conducted in weeks nine and ten of this term. Bookings have now closed. Please contact your class teacher via their email if you wish discuss arranging a time to meet before or after school hours if you have not booked a time to meet.
Staff Changes
Mrs Macarthur has commenced maternity leave and this has resulted in several changes across the school to cover her leave. These are;
- Mrs Katherine Morris has taken on the role of technology teacher three days a week. Students attend technology classes while their teacher has release to carry out administrative tasks.
- Miss Ceccato and Mrs Hegarty have jointly taken on the roles of ICT support which gives them one day a week out of class. On their release days their classes will be taken by Mrs Turner and Mrs Matchett respectively.
- This week our current school counsellor, Lisa Vithalis, left her position and it has been filled by Sharon Lynch. Sharon has worked at MTS previously. I thank Lisa for the support she gave to students and families at MTS. I also welcome Sharon back to our community.
- We have a new administration assistant commencing next week. Her name is Sharon Cobcroft and she will be based in the student office from Wednesday to Friday. I also welcome Sharon to MTS.
On a lighter Note
Parents may have heard the children talking about ‘Challenge the Teacher’. The idea is that a teacher nominates an activity and students nominate to challenge the teacher in their chosen activity. A barrel draw chooses who will compete against the teacher. There is great excitement and aniticipation as the week builds until the challenge takes place on Thursday at recess.
Last week saw Mr Hart compete in one of his favourite sports, table tennis, against Riley from year six. Mr Hart came away with the win but Riley did not go home empty handed, scoring himself an iceblock for his efforts. Well done Riley!
Yesterday a large number of students gathered in the hall to watch Mr Smith have a dance off against two students, Naomi from junior primary and Roy from upper primary. There were some fantastic moves, lots of cheering and lots of laughter. The session finished with both Mr Smith and Kag, our student welfare officer having a dance off.
It will be interesting to see what future challenges take place over the next few weeks.
Maths Problem
Congratulations to Brody Press who was the winner this week. Brody told me it was the eighth time he had be drawn out. This week’s problem is below.
Monopoly Mayhem
On your first Monopoly turn, you have $1500. You land on the income tax space, which means you have to pay $200 or 10% of your money.
- Which would you choose and why?
- What if you had $2200: which would you choose and why?
- What is the minimum amount of money you could have for which paying the $200 would be less than playing the 10%?
School/Public Transport Changes
As mentioned in my communication on Szapp yesterday, there will be some changes to the public transport services in the next few weeks. From Saturday 18 July 2020, Transport Canberra will be updating timetables for bus services.
As a new timetable is being introduced, there will be minor changes for all students travelling to and from school on public transport across Canberra from the first day of Term 3, 2020 (Monday 20 July 2020). In most cases, this will mean that students will catch the same service from the same stop, but the times that services arrive and leave may change.
All schools, parents and students can find out more about the specific changes by:
- checking the information packs for each school, which are online at transport.act.gov.au
- checking timetables for each route (including school specials), which are online at transport.act.gov.au
- calling 13 17 10.
Regards,
Peter Hughes
