Mother Teresa School Community Council 

I wanted to share a message as we approach the end of the year. Congratulations to all students, teachers, parents and carers on another successful year and here is wishing you a lovely Christmas and summer break.

The CC provides a crucial point of connection between the school community and school leaders. It provides a framework for welcoming parents and other members of the school community to participate in school activities, to become actively involved in the life of the school and to support the mission of the school.

The CC was active throughout the year driving a growth in engagement amongst the school community. The success of the CC comes directly from the volunteers who contribute and I wanted to thank each and everyone who assisted this year.

Some of those events included hosting our Mother’s Day and Father’s Day events – ‘Muffins with Mum’ and ‘Donuts with Dad’ community breakfasts. We showed our appreciation, on behalf of parents and friends, to all of the wonderful work of the teaching staff for International Teachers’ Day. We also included other initiatives fruit breakfast for the children. The CC received such wonderful feedback on these events and we look forward to continuing these events next year. I’m grateful to Janice Van Zoomeran and Adelle de Zilva-Stewart

Some other successes and areas of focus of the Council over the last year were:

• We are very grateful to the volunteers who seamlessly deliver the second-hand uniform shop. Likewise, volunteers manage the Scholastic book club – with support from the purchases in turn providing a range of free reading resources for the school. I’d like to thank Kristy Mellor who works with a range of volunteers to provide these fantastic services.
• The wonderful yearbook is a product of many painstaking hours to Lindsay Hackett and Kahla Kruger, so thank you for your efforts into this fantastic document. Thanks also to everyone else who contributed to the preparation of the yearbook, from the wonderful teachers who pull together class-based pages to all people who donated pictures to form the wonderful memories in these pages.
• After being successful in obtaining a grant, we facilitated the recruitment of a parent liaison officer who assisted us with Council activities and developed some of our procedures and templates to be used in future years.
• We have two new notice boards on school grounds. We’ve been considering how we communicate with the school community and expect that this notice boards will assist to explore measures to effectively reach all people. Thanks to John Mikita for all of his help in procuring these items and more generally for his assistance as he concludes his time as the CC’s efficient and effective Secretary.
• The Council has endorsed the making of a significant contribution to a new a playground which will be installed following the completion of the hall extension.

The CC is well supported by teacher representatives, and we are very grateful for all of the guidance and support from Carmel, Craig and Danielle Cooper.

Looking to next year, if you would like to be involved in the Council some way, you are more than welcome! We are looking for volunteers and it’s a great way to connect with the school community. Keep an eye out for further communication in the new year.

Damien Kelly, Chair of the MTS Community Council