Dear Parents,

I welcome everybody, including myself, back to school.  Thank you to Mr Hart and the team who held the fort while I was overseas for a mixture of business and pleasure. On my travels I attended the Religious Education Congress in Los Angeles and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference in San Diego.

I particularly enjoyed the RE Congress which was attended by approximately 30,000 people with over 600 sessions. The congress showed what a broad church we are with a booth being run by women priests looking for more members to traditional orders such as the Franciscans in their traditional robes.  A wide range of nationalities were also present.  Some of the speakers I listened to are well known, and over the years I have read their work so it was good to see them in person.  I purchased recordings of their talks and, as there is no copyright, they have been uploaded on to the school website under the ‘Curriculum’ tab.

The maths conference in San Diego was a much smaller affair with 750 attendees. It was great to meet other educators from across the world.  Looking at what is happening with maths education in the US, MTS is certainly well placed and I believe what we are doing will make maths a more interesting, challenging and enjoyable subject which will in turn, make our students better mathematicians.

I know a lot happened while I was away with sports carnivals, chess competitions, singing festivals, Wakakirri practice, parent maths mornings, evenings for parents looking at raising great kids, Holy Week celebrations and 3 way conferences for our younger students.  I thank the teachers for their organisation, the students for their participation and parents for their support.

This week has seen the official opening of our new staffroom and administration facilities as well as our ANZAC Day ceremony. I thank all involved with these ceremonies.

A reminder to parents that enrolments for the 2020 school year are now being taken.  All details are on our website.

BYOD Program

Our Year 5 & 6 students have been part of our Bring Your Own Device program for a number of years.  This program sees every student bring their own Apple device to school for use in their classroom.  The device is a tool and is used across a range of subject areas.  In 2020 this program will be expanded to include our Year 4 students meaning students in Year 3 this year will need an iPad next year.

This decision has been made as our Year 4 students are increasingly using the banks of iPads we have at school but doing this has limitations.  As these are shared by other year levels students it makes it difficult for students to save their work so that they can work on it again at a later stage.

We know this decision has financial implications for families and if families find that they are not in a position financially at the start of 2020 to purchase an iPad they can contact Mr Hughes so that arrangements can be made for their child to use a school iPad.

An information night for parents of students in Year 3 & 4 looking at the BYOD program will be held on Tuesday 28^th May commencing at 6pm in the school library. Notes from the evening will be communicated to parents that are unable to attend.

Confirmation

Next Wednesday most of our Year Six students will be receiving the sacrament of Confirmation.  We keep these children and their families in our prayers on what is an important milestone on their faith journey.

School Counsellor

The school has a new student counsellor who has commenced this week.  Her name is Lisa Vithalis.  If you think your child may benefit from her services, you can obtain a referral form from the front office.  You can also contact her at lisa.vithalis@catholiccare.cg.org.au.

Mothers' Day Breakfast

A reminder that the Mother’s Day Breakfast will take place in the school hall next Friday morning at 7.30am.  Tea, coffee and a snack will be available and the coffee van will also be in action.  We would love to see our mums there.

Maths Problem

Andrew can ride his bike from his house to the park in 12 minutes. He can bike to April’s house in 24 minutes.  About how many blocks does he live from April’s house? How many blocks per minute would Andrew need to ride to get to April’s house in less than 20 minutes?

Answers can be either put in the class note bag and they will be taken to the front office or answers can be emailed to Mr Hughes.

ACT Swimming 

Good luck to our school's participants in the ACT swimming carnival in Monday 6th May. 

Sean Loney
Joel Gahan
Charlotte Power
Ryley Power
Cooper Power
Austin Johns
Milana Sadler-Pather
Owen McIntosh

God Bless

Peter Hughes