Dear Parents

The children will be encouraged to buy a $5 golden ticket that gives them the opportunity to engage in a range of fun activities on offer during the day.  This $5 ticket cost will be a donation to support Global School Partners and Catholic Missions.

Golden Tickets to be distributed on the day.

Students please wear sports uniform for photo.

Students can purchase more than 1 ‘Golden Ticket’.

The more tickets purchased the more chances to win a lucky draw prize of $50 Visa card.

Tickets are available now through QKR! 

Congratulations to the following students who have recieved a class award this week.

MTS Community Council Proposal - BYOD Chromebooks

Proposal to transition from iPads to Chromebooks in the Mother Teresa School (MTS) Bring Your Own Device program in Years 4, 5 and 6 from 2023.

Why BYOD in the first place? Some history:

The purpose of the Bring Your Own Device program (BYOD) is about getting technology into the hands of all students and not relying on shared school devices. That all students in Years 4-6 would have access to a device that supports their learning and allows them to develop and apply Information Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge and skills, including digital citizenship, as per the ICT capability in the Australian Curriculum. The learning opportunities that technology promotes include:   

• communicating ideas in a variety of ways;
• problem solving and thinking critically;
• creativity and creating content;
• facilitating access to, management of, and sharing of information;
• collaboration among students and the global community.

When MTS began planning for and implementing a BYOD program in 2015/2016, iPads were chosen as the sole device due to their portability, functionality and features as a learning tool. The options for student appropriate devices were slim and iPads accomodated the purpose at the time. 

Since the inception of our BYOD program, a variety of devices have come onto the market and are better tailored to student learning needs. While these features and functions of iPads are still valuable and still have a place at Mother Teresa School, the feedback from teachers is that there are currently limitations on what can be achieved with iPads and more suitable devices should be explored and considered. 

The Years 3-6 teachers have noted the limitations of iPads: 

• Difficulty researching and switching between tabs.
• Recording information - while possible on an iPad, it’s not an ideal setup for students. 
• Not all websites and resources are compatible with iPads or best suited to iPad use, for example, Canva.
• Storage and accessibility of work.
• Students are not receiving the experience of typing on a full size keyboard which means students are going into high school without appropriate typing skills.

A set of 30 school laptops has been available to Years 4-6 for class use, but they are slow to load and log in. Chromebooks boot up in a matter of seconds, an attractive feature within the classroom setting, especially when compared to laptops.

Due to limited IT personnel to service and respond to technical issues and to streamline the classroom experience, MTS has restricted the number of device makes and types to one single device. Once the transition from iPad to Chromebook is complete, Chromebooks would be the only device for BYOD.

What are Chromebooks?

Chromebooks are light laptops that run Google-made software called ChromeOS. They do not have a hard drive, so everything is web-based, with a large amount of applications being available online. Student work is saved in Google Drive, in the cloud, which is accessible from home and school. 

Please note, we are not proposing to go with Chromebook tablets.

Chromebooks are currently being used in high schools as affordable BYOD devices. Students in ACT Government Schools are provided a Chromebook by the ACT Government for their high school years.

Most devices have a 3-5 year life span. Ideally these devices, if purchased new for Year 4, will see students through their primary school years and possibly into early high school.

The current Year 3 teachers will use a new set of school Chromebooks for classroom research and publishing purposes and thus will prepare students with Chromebook skills in preparation for Year 4.

Should the proposal to transition to Chromebooks be successful, Year 4, 5, 6 students would have access to shared banks of school iPads for tasks that require their features, for example, film making, animation, video recording, iMovies, Garage Band etc.

Comparison

How do Chromebooks compare to iPads?

Other Considerations - Local schools BYOD programs

Primary Schools

• Good Shepherd - BYOD iPad
• Holy Spirit - BYOD iPad

High schools

• JPC - BYOD iPad Years 7-9 then Mac or Windows laptop (not Chromebook)
• Daramalan - Mac or Windows laptop (not Chromebook)
• Merici - Mac or Windows laptop (not Chromebook) (BYOD or lease from school)
• ACT Government schools - Chromebook allocated to all students

So while our local Non-Government high schools are not currently utilising Chromebooks, the skills learnt by using a Chromebook are still valuable in preparation for using other laptops.

Moving Forward

We understand there will be a period of transition from iPads to Chromebooks. Families who currently have iPads available will still be able to use those in the BYOD program. We would ask if new devices were to be purchased, that it be a Chromebook.

School Student Support Referrals and Counselling

To direct our families to access the best support available through Mother Terese School, we are setting up the following process to assist with referrals and the most appropriate use of our resources.

1. Enquiry (teacher or parent) – Request a referral form from the office
2. The principal will talk with you and guide you to appropriate support

Support types:

• • • • Diverse Learning Teacher and team,
      • Student welfare officer (individual or small group guidance and/or mentoring support),
      • Defence School Mentor,
      • School counselling (individual or small group)
      • External agencies

If school counselling is recommended the School Counsellor will contact the parents and go through the online CatholicCare referral process if school counselling is suitable. Once the online referral has been submitted and consent is signed, the School Counsellor can begin working with the student.

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.

Scholastic Book Club

The Issue 6 catalogue is now available. The cut-off date for orders is Thursday 8^th September.

Please ensure your child’s profile includes their full name with surname rather than an initial to aid in sorting of books to correct children.

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.