Filter Content
- Principal's Message Term 2 Week 4 - 2022
- 2022 Annual Survey - Student involvement
- Religious Education - Term 2 Week 4 - 2022
- Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability
- Seasons for Growth - Starts next week (Week 5)
- Maths Challenge Term 2 Week 4 - 2022
- Walk & Ride to School Winners
- MTS Community Council Update
- ACT Sport News
- Community Council Entertainment Book
- Community Service Announcements
Federal Election this weekend
In recent weeks, Catholic Education has reached out to candidates standing in the Federal Election for seats in the ACT.
Catholic Education has met candidates from the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Greens and an Independent in a series of stimulating conversations about education.
The priorities in the discussions were government funding for our schools to support parent choice, student wellbeing, and religious discrimination law reform. On the funding issue, our key message is that systemic Catholic schools offer low fee, quality education choice, and wanting to keep this affordable for all families.
Catholic Education explained to the candidates that our schools also support a significant number of families with fee relief, especially with the impact of Covid-19 and the rising cost of living.
We stretch ourselves to accommodate students with the highest needs because parents want their child to be in our school- and we are inclusive.
Unlike other Catholic school systems across Australia, in the ACT we have a projected funding reduction or shortfall compared to current funding. Catholic Education highlighted to candidates that if our current funding path is maintained, in the ACT the shortfall in 2023 is estimated in the vicinity of $400 per student per year, rising to around $1500 per student per year in 10 years’ time. We continue to seek fair and equitable government funding.
Attached is a ‘report card’ from the National Catholic Education Commission and a policy summary to understand more about the policy positions of the main political parties.
Please consider the report card when you enter the polling booth on Saturday.
Athletics Carnival Day - Changed to Thursday 2 June.
Due to the Protected Industrial Action occurring next week we have rescheduled the Athletic carnival to Thursday 2 June. The original permission note returned will remain valid to cover this new date. Any parent volunteer who is now not able to assist on Thursday should email justine.henshaw@cg.catholic.edu.au and advise you need to withdraw your offer to assist. All volunteers must hold a current WWVP card and provide the school with a copy of the card.
Working With Vulnerable People Cards
A reminder that any visitor or volunteer must carry a valid ACT Working With Vulnerable People Card to assist around the school. This is available from Access Canberra and is free for all volunteers. It is also a reminder for those who have a card to check the expiry date and action a renewal if needed. A copy of the card must be maintained at the front office. Both sides of the card must be provided.
Annual Improvement Plan
Each year schools prepare an Annual Improvement Plan to direct their focus to improving various aspects of the school including students learning and growth. This year Mother Teresa School has three key goals
- High Impact Teaching Practice is visible in every classroom
- Daily Review in Literacy and Numeracy developed by a Catalyst coach employed by CE
- Achieve growth in all aspects of Learning
- Development of Professional Learning Team Action plans with a focus on English, Maths, Religious Education and General Capabilities
- Equitable outcomes for all students
- Critical and Creative thinking
- Effective feedback to improve learning
Refer to the attached document for specific details on how the goals will be actioned throughout the year.
Considering Enrolment for 2023
Every effort has been made to follow children who were away during our formal NAPLAN testing session. Today was the last opportunity we had to provide time for catch-up tests. A big thank you to Brooke Jeffries for the coordination of our 2022 NAPLAN Assessment program.
Tennis News
At Mother Teresa School we are continually encouraging students to lead a healthy lifestyle. Late last year Mother Teresa School was recognised as the ACT Tennis School of the Year. Following this, we were nominated for the national prize of Australian School of the Year. Unfortunately, due to COVID our delegates were unable to attend the black-tie event in Melbourne, and despite not winning we have been recognised as a finalist and received an award, which arrived last week. A big congratulations to all involved in our tennis program at MTS.
COVID Reminders
Families still need to advise the school should a child be at home with COVID via our specific email address, covid.motherteresa@cg.catholic.edu.au then followed up with a Compass absentee notification through the Compass Parent Portal.
RAT kits are still available from the office should you require kits for regular testing, particularly if your child is a close contact.
We are considering a return to the original morning tea and lunch timetable from Week 6 with some level of cohorting to restrict the transmission of infections. This change will depend on the number of cases reported across the school in the next few weeks. For our new families, I will communicate what the "old normal" will look like when we are ready to change over. Like you, I am still to find out.
Mother Teresa School Dates for Additional Pupil Free Days
Following consultation with the other Catholic Primary Schools in the Gungahlin area, we have nominated the following dates for our additional Pupil Free days granted to schools by the CE Director.
- Tuesday 31 May & Friday 24 June
During these days the teachers will be engaged in additional PL to support our Catalyst program and provide time for class preparation and student assessment. KidsBiz will be open on these days.
Following discussion with our canteen provider they will only be open on Wednesday to Friday for online lunch orders Please note that students from Years 4 to 6 will collect their lunch orders at 10:20am, while Kindergarten to Year 3 will collect theirs from 11:00am.
God Bless
Carmel Maguire
As part of our focus on school effectiveness, Mother Teresa School will be participating in an online survey for students From Me ® (TTFM ® ’ s school Tell Them ). The survey will provide us with valuable feedback on what our students think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have used the Tell Them From Me survey to help them improve.
From next week all students will be given the opportunity and time to participate in this survey during regular school hours. Students who agree to complete the survey will be given a random username and password to access and complete the survey online. Students’ names cannot be linked to their responses which allows it to be completely anonymous. Results will show all student scores combined together - it is not possible to single out individual students in the results.
The survey takes approximately 15 - 20 minutes to complete. The survey measures include such topics as emotional and social well-being, physical health, and behaviours and attitudes linked to student success. The survey also allows students to give their thoughts and feedback in open-ended question responses.
Participation in the survey is entirely voluntary. Your child will not take part if either you or your child do not wish to. If during the survey, your child is uncomfortable answering any question, he/she should leave it blank and move on to the next one. Your child can stop the survey at any time.
If you do not want your child to take part in the survey, please contact me via email carmel.maguire@cg.catholic.edu.au by Tuesday 24 May.
WHOLE SCHOOL FOCUS
The Whole school focus theme for this year is ‘Do small Things with Great Love’ and the Bible reference that supports our theme for Term 2 is Ephesians 5:8, in which St Paul says:
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light,
For the effects of light are seen in complete goodness and right living and truth.”
Focus Assembly
Thank you, Mrs Corcoran Mrs White and Kinder Rose, for presenting an amazing Focus Assembly on Co-operation. They shared some beautiful drawings and insights on how they can be co-operative at home and at Mother Teresa School. Their choice of song ‘Together We Can Do Great Things’ was spot on! The Scripture of Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says: Two are better than one….
Sixth Sunday of Easter
22 May 2022 - Year C
“The Holy Spirit will teach you
everything and remind you of
all I have said to you.”
The Story
In today’s gospel story, we hear Jesus telling the disciples that he is going to be with God in heaven. But Jesus doesn’t want them to worry, and he tells them that he won’t just abandon them. He tells them that that he will send the Holy Spirit to help them and to remind them of all the things Jesus had taught.
The Scriptures
A reading from the holy gospel according to John 14:23-26
Jesus said:
"If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them. But anyone who doesn't love me, won't obey me.
What they have heard me say doesn't really come from me, but from the Father who sent me.
"I have told you these things while I am still with you.
But the Holy Spirit will come and help you, because the Father will send the Spirit to take my place.
The Spirit will teach you everything and will remind you of what I said while I was with you."
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Video
Watch the video together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiWYtwFt9Jc&list=RDT4eW2HvizuI&index=11
Something to Think About
In today’s story, Jesus is getting his disciples ready for his death and resurrection.
In our families, we also spend time getting ready for important events. Talk about some of the events that you have prepared for together – maybe a holiday, a birthday party, or the first day of school.
Peace and Best Wishes.
Anne Leet (Religious Education Co-ordinator)
REMINDER Seasons for Growth Starts Next Week and if you haven’t handed in your completed permission form please do so as soon as possible. We require these before the children start the program.
Thank you,
Christina and Ryoko
Last week’s challenge was for Year 3 and 4 students, however a big shout out to Emma in 2 Emerald who also submitted an entry! The winner for the week was William in 3 Cobalt.
Let’s see if we can get a few more students to challenge themselves this week and send in an entry!
This week the challenge is for Year 5 and 6 students .
Send your entries via email to Mrs Blackwell catherine.blackwell@cg.catholic.edu.au or complete them on paper and put it in your notebag to send to the office by Thursday morning of Week 5. The winner will be drawn on Friday.
My Year 6 helpers and I were so busy writing names out for those who walked or rode to school today that we didn’t even have time to take photos! Well done to all those who participated today and an extra big congratulations to those who regularly travel to school by any active means – you are helping yourself, our school and our environment.
The lucky winners of our 5 prizes were drawn out by Ms Maguire and they were:
Catherine from 6 Ink
Raeland from 4 Amethyst
Gerden from 5 Pearl
Tiara from 1 Ochre
Mikael from Kinder Ruby
A very big thanks again to Bike Culture at Gungahlin for there generous support of our prizes for today. Congratulations to all our winners.
MTS Community Council Update
An MTS Community Council meeting took place earlier this week. This is an update on some key items of discussion, it outlines future plans and welcomes volunteers who would like to assist going forward.
The Council agreed to contribute funding along with equal contribution from the school for netball posts and lego for use in STEM activities.
The Council agreed to the strategic plan for 2022. This plan includes the following areas of focus:
- With the relaxation of COVID-19 prevention measures, a key area of focus will be social events, looking to re-connect the school community. Planning has commenced for events, starting this term and will include a bingo night and a trivia night over the coming weeks. So watch this space for more details!
- Work is underway to take forward the yearbook, building on the great success of last year.
- We will explore options to rejuvenate the internal garden space. Its an exciting time with a blank slate, it could involve bees, perhaps it may be chickens and lots of fresh ideas to entertain and engage the students.
- We will consider how we communicate with the school community and explore where improvements can be made. Being keenly aware that we are a diverse community, we want to ensure that we have measures in place to effectively reach all people. This sub-committee will consider our messaging within the school and consider possible outputs such as a notice board and digital sign out the front of the school.
Other work being undertaken by the Community Council includes: the rollout of the book club trial; consideration of the school uniform policy; continued reflection on traffic and parking issues; and contributing to the expected DA process for a new mobile phone tower adjacent to the school grounds.
If you would like to assist with any of these focus areas, or otherwise wish to become involved, please feel free to get in touch at: damienakelly@yahoo.com
Best regards
Damien Kelly
MTS CC Chair
Please see the list of State Teams that are currently open for selection trial registrations open to interested students.
Points to note;
- Please promote the SSACT Scholarship Fund ($500) open to all travelling teams, information and application form within Resources on the website.
- ACT School Sport currently have 29 teams open – please check in with your School Approver regularly to ensure your students can move through the selection process. The School Approver email notification of a student registering is our school administration email.
Sports Open
16&U Boys Football (Soccer)
18&U Girls Football (Soccer - this opened last week)
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/football-soccer/
18&U Girls Basketball
18&U Boys Basketball
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/basketball/
15&U Girls Volleyball
15&U Boys Volleyball
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/volleyball/
17&U Girls Softball (12&U Team information to come shortly)
17&U Boys Softball
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/softball/
12&U Girls Hockey
12&U Boys Hockey
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/hockey/
Sports closing very soon
12&U Boys Australian Football
12&U Girls Australian Football - brand new team for 2022
15&U Boys Australian Football
15&U Girls Australian Football
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/australian-football/
18&U Baseball
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/baseball/
18&U Girls Football
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/football-soccer/
16&U Girls Hockey
16&U Boys Hockey
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/hockey/
15&U Netball
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/netball/
12&U Rugby League
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/rugby-league/
12&U Girls Basketball
12&U Boys Basketball
https://schoolsportact.org.au/sports/basketball/
12&U Boys Touch Football (15&U Boys info to come shortly)
12&U Girls Tough Football
15&U Girls Touch Football
Support Mother Teresa School in ACT and purchase your Entertainment Membership from us today!!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Mother Teresa School in ACT
Adelle DeZilva
mtscommunitycouncil@mail.com
