Dear Parents

As a Catholic learning community,

all at Mother Teresa School are called

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

Grandfriends Day

Grandfriends Day was a huge success with our 600 family members attending the concert and then visiting the classrooms. We were blessed with the perfect day for this very special event. The last Grandparents Day was held in 2019. Thank you to the staff for their incredible help during the day and to Susan Cubishley for the coordination of the concert.

Staffing News

In case you missed the Compass Newsfeed there have been several staff changes announced this week. 

Karen Garrity - After 10 years working and establishing our amazing Diverse Learning Team and initiatives, Karen will be moving to St Francis Xavier College, Florey in 2024. She is taking up a new position in their Diverse Learning Team supporting students transitioning into high school, and sharing her extensive knowledge regarding inclusion.
Liana White - Liana, our very skilled Kinder teacher, has decided it is time to focus on her family and spend time travelling. Liana will take extended leave next year and then look to retire.  
Carly Snowdon - Carly is taking twelve months leave, to travel with her family and have a wonderful adventure exploring Australia in 2024.
Belinda Hicks - As Belinda will be moving to the USA toward the end of February 2024, she will not be assigned to a class for 2024. 
Sara McCluskey - Sara joined the Kinder term in Term 4. She is very excited to be moving to take up a Kinder position at St Bernard's in Batemans Bay in 2024.
Kathy Falaras - Kathy is a support staff member in our Diverse Learning Team. Kathy and her family are moving back to Melbourne to be closer to extended family.

Kinder Orientation

Last Wednesday we welcomed our new 2024 Kinder children and parents to their first orientation session. There was a real buzz in the air and the children all engaged in a fun afternoon of activities. I am looking forward to the children and their parents returning next Wednesday for their second visit. 

ELC Orientation Days

ELC is seeking a few parents from higher grades to come along to their orientation mornings to meet and greet new families and make them feel welcome at MTS. 

The orientation days are the 20-25 November from 9:00am to 10:30am. If you are interested in helping please email elc.motherteresa@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Kinder Health Checks 

If your child missed the kinder health checks earlier this year, Canberra Health Services is offering catch-up appointments. The catch-up appointments are available at City Health Centre, 1 Moore Street Canberra City on the second floor.

Appointments can be made by ringing Community Health Intake on 51249977.

If parents have any questions, they can ring the School Health Team office on 51241585.

Car Park Signage

Please observe the new signage around the school car park areas; especially the areas that are drop-off, 5 minute parking only or no parking. There are also several parks designated for parents, in the main car park, especially for use during the day. 

School Fees 2024

Conscious of the current cost of living pressures Catholic Education has worked hard to keep fees to a minimum. However, we are not immune from rising costs and unfortunately, there is a need to pass on some of these costs in the form of increases in school fees.

School fees for 2024 are shown in the table below. The school fee in 2024 will include the tuition fee and all previous school-based levies (except for camp fees and special lunchtime clubs). CE has also reviewed and updated the arrangements for family discounts, which are included in the school fee for 2024.

The Mother Teresa School fees are used to support the delivery of high-quality education and maintain and improve facilities, including the funding of all staff and the maintenance and improvement of facilities at the school.

Voluntary contributions to the Canberra Catholic Schools Build Fund (CCSBF) will be $210 per term for those families that opt-in to make a contribution to the CCSBF.

Our students continue to benefit from a high-quality educational experience and a wide range of learning and co-curricular opportunities. We continue to see improvement in academic achievement of students, particularly in literacy and numeracy. This commitment to learning combined with knowing each child continues to nurture the growth and development of every child.

CE is very mindful of the impact that any fee increase can have on families. They have carefully considered these impacts in setting 2024 school fees and have attempted to keep the increases to a minimum. If you have any concerns that fees in 2024 may cause hardship for you and your family, I encourage you to contact me for a confidential discussion to request a remission form.

I value your partnership and sincerely thank you for your continued support of Mother Teresa School. 

2024 School Fees: (For the year)
1 Child - $3,858     2 Children - $5,734     3 Children - $7,068    4 Children - $7,861

The Building Fund is not included as it is an opt-in contribution.

 

Illness Within the School

Please be aware that this week we have had a number of students unwell with vomiting and others unwell with COVID. Please keep an eye on your children and should they present with any symptoms please keep them home to rest and recover. Children who have vomited must be kept home for 24 hours.  

Baptismal Certificates

To maintain the accuracy of our records, families whose children are baptised or formally joined the Catholic faith after the initial enrolment process must provide a copy of the certificate to the office. This is required if a child wishes to be part of the parish sacramental celebrations in the parish.

Are You Leaving MTS

We are still 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

Our uniform shop volunteers have advised that they will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 8.30am - 9:00am. Access to the uniform shop is from the side sliding door (car park side) of the Hall. 

God bless and have a lovely weekend.

Carmel Maguire

Principal

The MTS Community Council Fundraising Committee are seeking donations of prizes for the upcoming Christmas Raffle.

Please deliver donations to the Front Office or contact communitycouncil.mts@gmail.com if you would like someone to collect from you.

Scholastic Book Club

The Issue 8 catalogue is now available. The cut-off date for orders is on Sunday 26 November.

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. 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.

HOW TO HELP CHILDREN DEVELOP A GROWTH MINDSET

What is a growth mindset?

A growth mindset is a belief or assumption that intelligence, personality, and abilities are learnable and capable of improvement through effort. On the other hand, a fixed mindset is a belief that these same traits are inherently stable and unchangeable over time (Dweck, 2006 as cited in Larberg & Sherlin, 2021).

 Why is it important?

When children have a growth mindset, they believe can gain knowledge and skills necessary to succeed, which makes every challenge a learning opportunity. They will become resilient and humble and take on new challenges in a positive way.

 How to help children develop a growth mindset: Praising children: Encourage your child to explore new things despite the fear of failing, embarrassment or being looked down by others. When they can, praise them. “I know you were worried about this assignment, but you gave it a go and did not give up!” Noticing the process of their journey: Children feel more motivated if their each process is appreciated and acknowledged. “I like how you listened to your coach’s feedback and tried a new way.” Whenever you see these character strength in your child, notice and celebrate.

• Effort to build new skills
• Motivation to challenge obstacles
• Ability to accept criticism
• Desires to learn
• Finding inspiration in other’s success

After each task, try to take a time to practice reflection. Reflection gives us insight on what happened, how it happened, how you felt, what you learnt, what you would do differently in future.

 You can model by changing your language.

Larberg, J. L., & Sherlin, L. H. (2021). Grit and Growth Mindset Contribution to School Counselling Services. SAGE Open, 11(2), 215824402110145–. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211014512

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 21 November