Dear Parents

As a Catholic learning community,

all at Mother Teresa School are called

to care, to dream, to innovate, to inspire!

We have had a wonderful week around the school with lots of exciting events. Several highlights to share.

Cuppa and Chat Morning 

This week we held our first Cuppa and Chat gathering at the Wildbark Cafe. While a small group to start we all had a great morning getting to know one another. A big shout out to Vicki Strickland, our Community Liaison Officer for her coordination.  Please add to your diary for next week.

Michelle Mitchell - Tweens Workshop

An inspirational presentation with lots of helpful tips provided to parents on how to manage the tween years. Thank you to those people who were able to attend and support our initiative to support parents to cope with raising children in our current challenging times. 

Chief Minister's Reading Challenge 

A big thank you to Fiona Matchett, our Librarian, for her effort to encourage the children to develop a love for reading. On Tuesday MTS students represented our school at the National Library. Our school was recognised as a winner in the Chief Minister's Reading Challenge! A huge round of applause to our dedicated readers for their achievement. 

OzTag Competition

Congratulations to all our students who travelled to Coffs Harbour for the Australian Oztag Championships. Many teams made it to the finals, with the under 9 girls making it to the grandfinal. 

12 Years	10 Years	9 Years
William P	Mill T	Bailey M
Brody P	Noah P	Aiden D
Charlotte P		Izzy C
Charlie S		Grace P
Ruby S		Zara F
		Lacey P

Year 2 Planetarium Incursion

On Thursday the Year 2 travelled far and wide. The Starr's Planetarium, a mobile planetarium visited MTS. The students enjoyed an amazing and fun way to learn about Space & Astronomy.

World Teachers Day (All school staff!)

Next Friday please take the opportunity to let all those who work with your child/ren just how important they are. We have an amazing staff!

Absentee notes

Catholic Education has asked schools to send out weekly reminders regarding unexplained absences. Concerns have been raised regarding the attendance levels of students. Please contact your child's teacher should you be struggling to get your child to school.  

Class Groups Concerns 

Much care and deliberation occurs when forming our class groups. Teachers are highly professional and have the main responsibility for placing their current students in the most appropriate class for next year. Over the next two weeks, the teachers will be observing friendships to assist with class groupings. Children will be asked to identify four learning friends. Every endeavour is made to ensure a child has at least one learning friend in their class. Please chat with your child so they know who they may like to nominate.

When forming class groups we aim for an equal spread of both positive and challenging characteristics. Every care will be taken to ensure that your child is placed in the best situation to enhance learning and social development.

Confidential concerns should be brought to my attention in writing, by Monday 23 October, even if you have raised concerns in previous years.  Please email directly to carmel.maguire@cg.catholic.edu.au. General concerns should be raised with your child's teacher. As Principal, I will make the final decision on all class placements. Late requests are very difficult to consider once groups are finalised.

Boorowa

Early this morning we had approximately 160 children, many parents and 12 staff members head off to the Boorowa Netball and Touch Football Carnival. We look forward to hearing how all our teams perform and the sharing of team spirit.

Chess

Registration for this term's chess session was sent out yesterday. The cost is $18 with 20 places available. Unfortunately, I missed a critical step when setting up the event and omitted the payment tab. I will follow up on the payment once registrations close.

MTS Clubs Term 4 

We are looking for donations

The MTS Yearbook is Back!

The Mother Teresa School Yearbook has been confirmed for 2023 and our committee would love your help to make sure it is the best it can be.

The committee is calling on parents, carers, teachers and students to provide photos they have taken throughout the year. The committee are looking for photos from sporting events and carnivals, school activities, awards, camp, excursions and any other photos you would care to share. 

The Yearbook has always been wonderfully received in the school community and is a great keepsake for your child/ren to reflect on their journey here.

The Yearbook is no easy task to produce. It is a costly exercise and takes long hours assembling pictures, words, stories, graphics etc, to compile into something that caters to all families and reflects the values of Mother Teresa School; so please help the committee in their mission to make sure everyone and everything is celebrated.

If you have attended school events (sporting, social etc) and you like taking photos, the committee would love for you to send a few photos for use in the yearbook (appropriate permissions will be sought).  

If you can help with the above, please reach out and contact the Yearbook team via the yearbook email mtsyearbook00@gmail.com

Car Park

We are working hard to keep our pick-up and drop-off zone available for our ELC families. We have added an additional teacher on supervision at our car park crossing to ensure the safety of the children each afternoon. 

Are You Leaving MTS

We are receiving lots of enquiries for enrolment in all grades across the school. If you are aware of a possible move, please advise as soon as possible. This will help with our planning for 2024.  

Student Behaviour Expectations

Uniform Shop Opening 2023

Principal

People are invited to apply for the position Parish Office Manager, Inner North Parishes (encompassing Campbell, Canberra Central, O’Connor & Watson). This is a full-time position (subject to review in 12 months)

Essential Requirements:

An understanding of and support for the Catholic Church and its teachings

Excellent verbal and written, interpersonal and communication skills

Computer literacy in MS Suite and database skills, (in particular PACS database)

Act with tact & discretion, maintaining high levels of confidentiality, honesty, integrity, reliability and punctuality

Please email Deborah.foote@cg.org.au for a detailed copy of the duty statement and selection criteria.  Applications addressing the Selection Criteria with attached resume to Fr Anthony Riosa, SSS, anthony.riosa@cam.org.au  must be received by Friday 3 November 2023.

This information is for parents of students currently enrolled in Year 3 and new students going into Years 4, 5, 6 in 2024.

At Mother Teresa School teaching and learning in Years 4, 5 and 6 involves a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program. Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 bring their home-owned device to and from school each day and use their device to support some of their learning throughout the school day. The devices are used to complement the curriculum, and are used purposefully. Technology provides different opportunities for collaboration, creativity and independence. Technology does not take the place of good teaching.

Our BYOD program is currently in transition from iPads to Chromebooks, with the vast majority of Year 4 students bringing Chromebooks in 2023. If you are purchasing a new device, we ask that it be a Chromebook.

Teachers have reported that Chromebooks are much better suited to the research, publishing and typing needs of student learning compared to iPads.

BYOD devices other than Chromebooks and iPads are not supported at Mother Teresa School. 

Devices do not have to be brand new. Please contact the office if sourcing a device is difficult.

Please see below for device requirements.

Further information about the BYOD program, policies and setup instructions will follow later in the year but we know parents are keen to find out about specifications now.

BYOD Chromebook specifications - Years 4 - 6

The transition of BYOD (Bring your Own Device) to Chromebooks continues in 2023. If purchasing a new device, we ask that it is a Chromebook. A Chromebook is a kind of laptop running Chrome OS, an operating system made by Google. Chromebooks are made by a range of known technology brands like Lenovo and ASUS. There often is not a lot of difference between brands. 

You may like to shop around and see if there are student or education deals around or keep an eye out for upcoming shopping events like Black Friday (October/November), Cyber Monday (November), Boxing Day (December).

When purchasing, please be aware of the following specifications: 

• 4GB Memory (RAM) minimum
• 32GB Storage for use in primary school is fine, many will have 64GB anyway
• 11-13 Inch screen minimum 
• personal preference
• please consider the size and weight of the device - your child is transporting the device to and from school each day - not too heavy or large
• consider if it fits into their school bag (this was an issue we discovered in 2023)
• At least 8 hour battery life 
• Must have the ability to connect to headphones, whether it be via a port or bluetooth - whatever your student has access to
• Must have a camera
• A touchscreen can be useful for some students (but it's optional) 
• Stay away from Chromebook tablets without keyboards - these are not recommended
• In terms of price, don't spend too much on the Chromebook. A budget of up to $500 is reasonable. One of the deciding factors in moving from iPads to Chromebooks was the comparable/cheaper price.
• A protective case or cover for the Chromebook is required
• Headphones or earphones are required
• Some students have a mouse (optional)
• Warranty should be a consideration when purchasing a device
• We recommend that you consider adding the device to your insurance policy

Chromebooks do not require active firewalls, or anti-virus and anti-malware software. When the Chromebook is connected to the school network via specialised BYOD WiFi, it will utilise the online security settings set up by Catholic Education.

With the help of Vicki, our Community Liasion Officer, we have planned several events to help connect families in our community. 

Small steps that we hope will grow.

Cuppa and Chat - Tuesday 24 October 

Weekend Picnic in the Park

After our last Paint & Sip night was so much fun and such a successful night, the MTS Community Council have organised to run another amazing evening. Save the Date- Saturday the 18th November and we will have booking details available when we return from the holidays.