Dear Parents

As a Catholic learning community,

all at Mother Teresa School are called

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

Our well-being day was a great success with the children and staff all having a wonderful day filled with fun with their friends, across the grades. A HUGE thank you to Karen Garrity and all the members of our Diverse Learning Team for their help with the coordination of the activities. Many thanks to KidsBiz for the use of their oversized games. A fabulous day of fun! Just what we all needed.

Interviews - optional 

Next Tuesday the teacher will be available to meet with those parents who have a particular concern regarding their child.  Please email your child's teacher if you would like to meet or would prefer a Teams meeting or phone call. Reports will not be issued until Week 10. Meetings will be coordinated by the Diverse Learning team, where a child has a specific personal plan. This forms part of our end-of-year transition program. 

Maria Radic - Family Prayers 

Please keep Maria Radic and her family in your prayers as Maria's mother who is also Sara McClusley's grandmother passed away peacefully last weekend. The funeral will be held next Thursday.

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord and may perpetual light shine over her.

Amen 

Staffing News

Congratulations to Gemma Francis who will be taking over from Karen Garrity in the role of Learning Diverse Team Coordinator in 2024. This is a wonderful appointment as Gemma has a wealth of knowledge about our families. She has a real passion and deep comment to support the learning and emotional needs of our children. This does mean Gemma will not be teaching in Year 1 and a reconsideration of the grades teachers will be teaching in 2024. We have had to advertise for a teacher in 2024.

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. 

 

Kinder Families 2024 moving from the ELC

A reminder that the last day of preschool for all students is Thursday the 14 December.  On Friday our preschool staff will participate in Professional Development. 

If you require care during the holidays, please contact Kids Biz. 

Phone 0439 927 053 (Administration) or 0450 722 173 (Mother Teresa Co-Ordinator)

Email: admin@kidsbizoshc.com.au

click here for the Kids Biz website

Office Hours: 8:30am – 6:00pm (Monday to Friday)

‘One Talk at a Time’

Information and resources are now available to schools and families, to help protect young people from sexual abuse. ‘One Talk at a Time’ is a national campaign against child sexual abuse, launched by the National Office for Child Safety. The campaign encourages adults to have ongoing, proactive, preventative conversations with children in their care.

Link: https://www.childsafety.gov.au/one-talk-time

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.  

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

Grandfriend photos were sent home with the children today.

Please check their school bag.

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.

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 28 November 

Please see below for live webinars from the e-safety Commissioner for this term. These live webinars give parents and carers the knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safe online experiences. To register for these webinars and other dates later in the year please go to https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars

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