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- Principal's Message Term 3 Week 3 - 2022
- Religious Education - Term 3 Week 3 - 2022
- MTS Class Awards - Week 3
- Qkr! - New Payment Option - MTS
- Science Week @ MTS
- Tech Talk with Mrs Macarthur
- Book Week 2022 - Save the Date!
- School Board and Community Council Review
- CSPA - Parent Survey on Student Wellbeing and Learning
- Counsellor's Corner
- MTS Student News - Joel goes Go-Garting!
- Scholastic Book Club News - Closing on Sunday!
- Colgate Community Garden Challenge 2022
- Community Council Entertainment Book
- Community Service Announcements
Next week the Community Council will meet to discuss the following items
- Uniform Code
- BYOD plans for 2023
- Social events
- School Board and Community Council Review Issues Paper
- Annual Survey Overviews
- Building Project
Upcoming Events Term 4 - Boorowa Carnival
Earlier this week we added an event to Compass for Term 4. The Boorowa Netball and Touch Football Carnival is open to all students from years 2-6. If your child is interested in attending this excellent fun day out, please ensure you check the "Events" tab located under your student profile and complete the online form as soon as possible. The cost to enter is $10 per student and payments must be made via QKR!.
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.
Important COVID Information and Protocols
- Household Contacts – Staff and students are required to follow the Public Health (Diagnosed People and Household Contacts) Emergency Direction 2022 when they are deemed a household contact. It is strongly recommended that a household contact works or studies from home where it is practical to do so. A household contact must wear a face mask in any indoor setting that is not their own home, if they are aged 12 years and over. nly students in Years 7 to 12 will be required to wear a mask when attending school. Mask wearing for students in primary schools is at the discretion of the student and their parents/carers, and is not recommended for children in Pre School to Year 2. Where a student attends school they must undertake a COVID test in the 24 hours prior to returning to school and then every 48 hours if ongoing attendance is required and may only attend a school if they have no symptoms
- Physical distancing - Physical distancing should be maintained on school sites where possible
- Staying home when sick and hygiene requirements - Staff, students and visitors must not attend school or ELC sites if they are unwell and will be sent home if they have any symptoms of COVID-19. All staff, visitors and students should at all times maintain appropriate hand and respiratory hygiene.
Large Tables - Free!
We have 2 large tables in good condition 1.5m x 1.5m which are available for free. If you are interested please contact the front office on 62415604.
God Bless
Carmel Maguire
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 3 is John 15:12
"This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.”
FOCUS ASSEMBLY
Thank you Mrs Blackwell, Mrs Williams, 5 Pearl & 5 Ivory for presenting a beautiful Focus Assembly on ‘Having a loving and understanding heart’, our theme for this term. They explained that in the bible, the heart often refers to the whole person, not just how they feel, but everything about them: how they think, how they respond to people and how they feel too. This helps us understand the people around us and respond with love. They shared a fabulous song that all the students love, ‘If I was Jesus’.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Marking National Homelessness Week 1-7 August 2022
Social Justice is alive and strong at Mother Teresa School! Last Friday Matt Wilson from St Vincent de Paul attended our assembly to accept the wonderful donations the students brought in for Pyjama Day at the end of last term.
Matt returned on Wednesday to chat with our Mini Vinnies Team to mark National Homelessness Week and shared the work that the Night Patrol Van does to support those in need in the community. He also gave the students inspiration for their next project.
St Teresa of Calcutta, Feast Day 5 September, Mini Mission Fete.
Please pray for our Year 3 teachers and students who are currently preparing for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Eucharist.
Remember to bring along the Precious memory card to Mass on the weekend. During the Mass the children will be invited to bring their memories forward and will receive a blessing.
Mass Book - Don’t forget to bring along your Mass book at the weekend to follow along during the Mass. If you didn’t collect your book over the past two weekends, it will be available in the foyer of the Church.
Fr Mark Question of the week – Please bring along your answer to Fr Mark’s question of the week. Answers should be placed in the tin in the foyer upon arrival. Winners will be drawn after communion. If you missed the question during the service, it is printed in the Bulletin. Please head to our website: holyspiritgungahlin.org.au and download the PocketParish App.
Remember to bring along Food donations for the Vinnies Pantry. These donations help feed the most vulnerable and needy in our local area. Suggestions of what to bring can be found in the back of your handbook.
Please bring your child forward for a blessing at Communion time. Ensure the child has their arms crossed on the chest so as the Priest/Eucharistic minister knows they are receiving a blessing.
Family Games Night - Saturday 20 August. Come join us for a night of fun and trivia. Family friendly event with sausage sizzle and lots of prizes for both adults and children. See the poster attached for more details.
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
7 August 2022 - Year C
“Be prepared.”
Something to Think About
If Jesus was to come into your house today, what would you say?
How would you be ready to welcome him?
The Story
There is a sense of urgency portrayed in today's gospel passage. Jesus tells the disciples to 'Be ready' and 'Keep your lamps burning'. The story tells of servants waiting for and being ready for their master's return from a wedding banquet, but then the master serves the servants which is a complete reversal of roles. This is an image of the 'hospitality of God'. The message is that we should be welcoming to others as we get ready for Jesus.
The Scriptures
A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke 12:35-40
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Be ready and keep your lamps burning just like those servants who wait up for their master to return from a wedding feast.
As soon as he comes and knocks, they open the door for him.
"Servants are fortunate if their master finds them awake and ready when he comes!
I promise you that he will get ready and have his servants sit down so he can serve them. Those servants are really fortunate if their master finds them ready, even though he comes late at night or early in the morning.
"You would surely not let a thief break into your home, if you knew when the thief was coming.
So always be ready!
You don't know when the Son of Man will come."
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Something to Think About
Jesus tells us to watch out and be ready. We need to constantly think about our relationships with others and be sure to treat other people with friendliness and welcome. Building up God’s kingdom in this way means we will be ready for Jesus. How can we be welcoming, friendly or helpful to people this week?
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop
8th August is of particular note as she is celebrated as our first home-grown saint. The eldest of eight children, Mary was born in Melbourne to parents who had emigrated from Scotland. At seventeen she became the family breadwinner when she was employed by a paper merchant. She understood all too well the meaning of charity beginning at home as she helped raise her younger siblings and dreamed of becoming a teacher.
This dream coincided with her desire to work for God. Her faith was fierce and unambiguous, and she believed that Australia needed a group of religious women who understood the tyranny of distance. She founded, together with Father Julian Tennison Woods, an Australian order for Australian conditions, the sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. She believed that where you are is exactly where God is to be found. This is a reminder that in all we do we are working for God, even if it does not always look like it. The opportunity is right in front of us. As a teacher she would have looked at her young charges in the make-do school in a barn in Penola and done her best by them. This is what you are called to do.
Mary was a wise woman who responded to the toughness of life in this land. She walked with the drover’s wife and the unmarried mother; she knew the cries of the hungry urchins without shoes and the lifelong sorrow of the disheveled man sleeping in a park; she knew about the people on the fringes of society, the downtrodden or voiceless, the ones who are invisible or ashamed, estranged, or disturbed. Like Jesus, she was not afraid to minister to the poor and in her gentleness and grace and the largesse of her sainted heart she was beloved by men and women of all colours and creeds.
Doing God’s work was not just about being good to those in the group - the baptised Catholics - but about loving every person who came her way. That is the charge of every teacher in the Catholic school - to include with love each child in front of them and to make the Good News real for their unfolding young lives.
One of Mary’s most famous quotes is: ‘Never see a need without doing something about it’. She is an Australian of which to be truly proud. She was tough and true, resourceful, and resilient, prayerful and persistent; all qualities to which others should aspire. On her tomb in Sydney are engraved the words ‘We are all but travellers here’. This reminds us that we have a lot of good to do in this life before we travel to the next!
Peace and Best Wishes.
Anne Leet
(Religious Education Co-ordinator)
Congratulations to the following children who have received a class award from their teacher this week.
To make it easier for payments to be made at Mother Teresa School, we have introduced the use of Qkr! by Mastercard, a secure and easy way to order and pay for school items from your phone at a time and place that suits you.
Please refer to the attached document for instructions on how to download the app to your phone. I have also included several screenshots from my phone so you will know what it looks like once registered.
This will become our preferred option for many school payments in the future. Additional payment options will be added as required eg, sporting events.
Each year at Mother Teresa School we celebrate Science Week with a friendly competition. This was originally bottle rockets, followed by boats and an egg drop challenge last year. In 2022 we are once again encouraging our students to wow us with their skills and ingenuity to make balloon powered cars. Year levels will hold their heats at some stage during Week 5 with the cars that roll the furthest being entered in our final’s day on Friday August 19.
Attached is the poster, promoting the event that was sent out earlier this week.
We look forward to seeing some incredible designs!
Last month, the popular messaging app Snapchat rolled out changes to their features. The updates are cause for parents to carefully check the privacy settings if their children have access to this app.
Among the changes is the ability for others to use the Snapmap to see a user’s precise location. The Snapmap has been a feature of Snapchat for years but the feature to “enable precise location” is new. The app used to share an approximate location, but now with the update the location is accurate down to less than a metre.
This is concerning for the privacy of any user, but particularly for young people who may not be aware of features like this or how to switch them off. There is no need for strangers to see your child’s address or have the ability to interact with your child on this platform. These changes are a useful stimulus to having a conversation with your child around the risks to their identity, privacy and safety.
Safe on Social have created a free comprehensive parent guide to Snapchat for details on how to put the account on ‘Ghost Mode’, other settings to be aware of and further information. The guide is available to download here.
Safe on Social are a valuable resource for up-to-date education around digital citizenship and safety. You can follow them on social media or subscribe to their updates via email here.
School Boards and Community Councils have an important role in the life of our schools. We value the knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm that parents and carers bring to these forums.
School governance is generating much discussion in Catholic school systems across Australia. This discussion stems in part from the changing expectations of parents, regulators and governments about the role that parents, carers and members of school communities can and should play in the context of our schools, and the increasingly complex regulatory environment in which schools operate.
The Catholic Education Commission endorsed the creation of a Working Group to review the role of school boards and community councils in systemic schools within the Archdiocese, and to make recommendations about potential opportunities for further development and/or refinement of the school board and community council model.
The Working Group has undertaken some preliminary consultation and has identified some of the issues to consider in framing its recommendations to the Catholic Education Commission. These issues are set out in this Issues Paper. The Working Group is seeking to draw on the experiences, expertise, and perspectives of key stakeholders in formulating their recommendations, and would greatly appreciate any comments that members of school boards and community councils, parents and carers, clergy, school staff and other members of school communities may provide about the topics raised and the questions posed in this Issues Paper.
We would encourage you to discuss the role of your school board or community council (both now and in the future) with your peers, colleagues and community members and send your thoughts, comments and perspectives to the Working Group via governance@cg.catholic.edu.au prior to 2 September 2022. You can also submit answers to the Discussion Questions in this paper through the Review webpage: https://cg.catholic.edu.au/school-board-and-community-council-review/ . The webpage also links to resources that may be referred to in the Final Report, including documents that reflect models in place in other Catholic Dioceses.
The Working Group is very much looking forward to working with you in the weeks ahead on this important issue and appreciates your assistance with this important piece of work.
Yours sincerely
Supporting Children with Stress
Stress is the body’s reaction to a physical, environmental or emotional change. It can effect anyone of any age and can be acute, episodic or chronic.
Acute stress is felt quite intensely and is the body’s reaction to a sudden perceived threat. For children, some common examples of things that might cause acute stress are the first day at a new school, giving a speech or doing a performance.
Episodic acute stress occurs when someone has frequent bouts of acute stress
Chronic stress may be felt more subtly but will build up over time if factors contributing to a person’s stress continue.
What causes stress?
Major life events. These can be exciting and positive life events, as well as more difficult ones.
An unpredictable event. An example of this is Covid-19 and the lack of control we have all experienced as we have adapted to life during a pandemic.
Family responsibilities
Social pressure. For children this may include friendships, peer pressure and navigating family relationships and dynamics.
Work/school pressure
How do I recognise if my child is stressed?
Some signs of stress may include:
- Seeming withdrawn, indecisive or irritable
- Seeming more emotional than usual including more anxious, fearful, angry, sad or frustrated
- Headaches, appetite changes, stomach aches, nausea and difficulty sleeping can also be physical signs of stress
Supporting a Child with Stress
- Support your child in recognising the signs that they are stressed (both emotional and physical)
- Talk with your child about stress being a natural reaction and share some strategies with them that you yourself use to reduce stress
- Support your child to find time to relax and do things they enjoy
- Encourage your child to find a form of exercise they enjoy. Exercise is a great stress-reliever
- Reassess commitments and look at whether there is any way to cut back
- Spend time as a family doing something you all enjoy
- Seek support from your GP, the school counsellor or other professional if you are concerned
For more information, please visit the Kids Help Line website or contact your School Counsellors Bron and Ryoko if you feel that your child could benefit from any further support.
Joel competed in the Wollongong Kart Club Races at Eastern Creek over the weekend and took 2nd place overall.
Having only been there once before, and competing against a number of drivers that drive the track all the time, Joel qualified 3rd on race day for the heats. He was quite competitive in the first couple of heats
Finishing 4th and 5th respectively, before being bumped off the track in the 3rd heat resulting in a DNF. The finishes combined, resulted in a 7th place start position for the final. He gained 3 positions on the start before working his way up to 2nd with a number of laps to go. First place was just out of his reach this time.
Well done Joel!
Scholastic Book Club
The Issue 5 catalogue is now available. The cut-off date for orders is Sunday 7th August.
Issue 5 has a free book offer – spend over $30 to receive one free book, over $50 to receive two free books or over $70 to receive 3 free books!
Parents can order online via the LOOP parent portal on the Scholastic website, no orders or cash will be accepted by the school. Late orders are charged a flat rate for home postage.
Books will be delivered to children in their classroom once they arrive at the school. A reminder that missing or damaged orders can be reported to Scholastic using their online contact information, and that out of stock items already paid for are usually credited to the LOOP account. Parents concerned about missing, misplaced or damaged orders are advised to wait until the catalogue is closed and use the home postage option. MTS Community Council parent volunteers will be running the Book Club, so please ensure any inquiries are directed to them via the office email, rather than to school staff, teachers or librarians.
TerraCycle has partnered with Colgate® and Chemist Warehouse to give seven schools the chance to win a community garden kit for their school grounds. Between 24 February - 31 October, Australian schools are invited to join the Terracycle recycling program for oral care waste. Each unit of oral care waste (toothpaste tubes and caps, manual plastic toothbrushes, electric toothbrush heads, toothbrush plastic packaging, floss containers) equals 10 garden points, the more units of oral care waste recycled the better chance of winning. There are seven grand prizes to be won and each is valued at $4780.
The grand prize pack contains:
* Two garden beds made from TerraCycle recycled materials
* Bench with planter boxes made from TerraCycle recycled materials
* Bug Hotel
* $100 Bunnings Warehouse gift voucher
* $100 Australian Seeds Voucher
* Plantastic! A to Z of Australian Plants Book
A collection point for parents has been placed out the front of the hall which has already collected over 200 pieces of oral care waste. Children are also encouraged to bring their waste to school as a collection point will be located near the student reception desk. Toothpaste tubes don't need to be empty but please ensure everything is dry.
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
