Dear parents,

Last Friday we conducted interviews for several part-time positions to fill gaps left by the shuffling of staff to cover the late departure of one of our Kinder teachers at the start of the year.  We would like to welcome our new staff who will all start next week.

• Mrs Claire Bobinskas who will work one day a week (Friday) with Mrs Van der Sanden in 4 Magenta.
• Mrs Allana Grant who will work 2 days a week (Thursday and Friday) in 5 Silver with Mrs O’Keefe.
• Mrs Serena Cramond will work two days per week (Thursday and Friday) in 3 Sapphire.

Staff Movements

We have a number of staff who are either leaving MTS or taking extended leave during the first half of the year.

Ms Amy Armour and Mrs Vanessa Robinson, who worked as assistants in the ELC, have taken positions in the public service.  Both ladies were long time employees at Mother Teresa and will be missed by all.  We send them our best wishes as they embark on their new career paths.

Mrs Hazel Hayden who leads our highly successful EALD program is moving to Queensland. She will finish her work at MTS at the end of week eight this term. Hazel has worked in the primary component of MTS for the last few years and prior to that was a highly regarded teacher in the ELC.  We wish Hazel and her husband all the best in their move.

Mrs Stacey Walters will be taking leave from MTS to move to the south coast to help care for her family.  Originally this was going to be term two only, however, she will now be on leave from MTS until the end of the school year.  We hope her move goes smoothly and the family settle into their new environment quickly.  We will advertise her position in the coming weeks.

Mrs Kelly Boyton will be taking Long Service Leave for all of term two.  Mrs Tanchevski will continue to work in 6 Ebony and Kelly’s position will be advertised.

Mrs Boyton’s role of literacy coordinator will be filled internally and this means a further change will be made to staffing once the successful candidate is selected.

Mrs Kari Turnbull has indicated she will take maternity leave from the beginning of week seven, term two. We will advertise her position in term two.

Literacy Mornings

Over the last few years we have run Mini Maths Mornings and these have been very popular.  This year our focus is on literacy and is aimed at parents with children in the younger years.

Our first Kindergarten session is next Tuesday from 8.00am to 8.30am in the library.  The date was chosen because Kindergarten students will soon begin taking home readers.

For more details of the other sessions please see the flyers in this newsletter.

Maths Problem

Congratulations to George Almond who was last week’s winner. This week’s problem is below.

Happy birthday!

Your class is celebrating birthdays with a square cake that measures 60cm on each side. If candles were placed 12cm apart, how many candles would you need to go around the perimeter of the cake? Illustrate you answer.

What if the candles were placed 6cm apart? Compare your answer to your solution when the candles were 12 cm apart. Explain the difference.