Dear Parents,

As a community please keep Mrs Maryanne Hawes and her family in your prayers. Maryanne's beautiful mum, Cathy Ffrench, died suddenly on Thursday, a very big shock to the family. At this stage, we are unsure when Maryanne will return to work this term. 

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

Mother Teresa Feast Day

Last Wednesday was a perfect day as we celebrated our school's Feast Day and honored the work of St Teresa of Calcutta. The children embraced our Mini Mission Day and Indigenous Book Swap in the spirit of our motto "Do small this with great love". The visiting sisters (nuns) shared their experiences of prayer and charitable works within the local and wider community. Thank you to Mrs Anne Leet for her organisation and the support of all the staff for making the day very special for the children.

Reconciliation Preparation 

Today the Year 3 children, who are making their First Reconciliation next week, took part in a special Holy Spirit Parish retreat day to reflect on the meaning of forgiveness and the love Jesus has for each of us. Please keep the children and their families in your prayers. 

Donuts for Dads

A big thank you to the team of volunteers - Kris, Kristy, Kaillin, Paul, Dave, Cirine, Mel, Janice, Adelle and Vicki.

Community Council Meeting

Our next Community Council meeting will be held on Tuesday 10 September commencing at 6.00pm in the MTS staffroom. Everyone is most welcome to attend. Agenda items include:

• KidsBiz and sharing facilities 
• New School Events Policy & Sports Policy 
  • School_Event_and_Activity_Policy.pdf
  • School_Sports_Policy_2_.pdf
• Hall update
• Community Grant - possible suggestions to build community
• Reaching out to our EAL/D communities initiative
• Books for JPC Donation
• BYOD conversation
• Social and fundraising -
  • Donut for Dads - reflections
  • Trivia night - planning
• A representative from MTS for Catholic Schools Parent Association (CSPA) open to all parents

Car park pickup area

Parents of children in K to Year 6 should not be using the front drive-through area in the afternoon for a quick pick-up zone. The front of the school is very busy with children waiting for buses and pedestrians making their way through the car park. Our pick-up zone is located on the basketball courts. I strongly recommend leaving pick-up until 3.10, especially for older children, to help with traffic flow. Parents are welcome to park in the car park at the front of the school, if a park is available, and leave their car to collect their child/ren.

Your help is gratefully appreciated to make the school a safe place. Parents need to follow the directions of the teacher on duty, should they be asked to move their car.

Review of BYOD Program

We are currently reviewing our BYOD program for Year 4, 2025, and will advise our decision by the end of the term. I am aware parents are looking at purchasing devices for use in 2025. 

Year 6 Transition to High School

Year 6 parents please look for the COMPASS notification regarding the sharing of information between schools as your child moves on to high school. A response will be due by Friday 13 September. 

Next week Ms Carmel Maguire will be returning to her Principal duties. This will be part-time until the end of the term. 

God Bless,

Craig Hart & Julie Douglas

Acting Principals

WHOLE SCHOOL FOCUS
The Whole school focus theme for this year is ‘COME HOLY SPIRIT’

This term at Mother Teresa School we will use the theme that:  We are called to Innovate.

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." Psalm 139:14

THANK YOU
Thank you, Mrs Radic and the amazing R.E. Team for a beautiful and moving Focus Assembly to celebrate the holy life of St Teresa of Calcutta, who opened her heart to receive the message of Christ’s love and light and to share this with those most in need. Just like Mother Teresa who served Jesus by caring for the poorest of the poor.

When Jesus talked about loving the least of these, He wanted us to help with needs we see around us. He wants us to love people everyone else doesn’t see as important. Maybe they aren’t popular, easy to love, or wear the right clothes. Maybe they don’t have as much money as you do. Jesus wants us to see someone in need and instead of ignoring them, do our best to help them.

MOTHER TERESA MINI MISSION FETE
This was a terrific way for the students to show, that like St Teresa of Calcutta we too can reach out to those less fortunate. The proceeds from the Mini Mission Fete will be going to Children’s Catholic Mission and Indigenous Literacy.  It was a wonderful day, and everyone was involved. Thank you to all the families who supported the day through their generous donations. A special thank you to all our MTS staff who provided great activities for a funfilled day.

RECONCILIATION 2024
Please pray for our Year 3 teachers and students who are currently preparing for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation next week.

Please contact anne.leet@cg.catholic.edu.au  or mel.unwin@cg.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions.

Something to Think About
Close your eyes and try to imagine you can hear nothing at all. What does it feel like? Now imagine not being able to speak or not being understood by others. What might this feel like?

The Story
A man who is deaf and cannot speak is brought to Jesus. Jesus takes him to one side to heal him. He puts his fingers in the man's ears and puts spittle on the man's tongue. This seems a strange action to us but in those days the spittle of an important person was considered to have powers that could cure. All the people were amazed at the wonderful things Jesus did.

Video
Click to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQtIesAAWZA

Peace and Best Wishes,

Anne Leet
Religious Education Co-ordinator

Dear Parents and Teachers

Holy Spirit Parish, your parish, needs your frank and fearless advice!

We want to do everything we can to support you and our whole community on our journey of faith.

What do you like about your parish experience? What don’t you like about it?  How could we do better? What can we do to support you?

We are running a survey to find out and we would dearly love you to fill it in.

It is completely anonymous - so you can be comfortable to share your opinions and honestly tell us what would work for you and your family.

 You can complete the survey via this link:  https://forms.gle/pXBzFdAQiinn48NG9

Thank you very much for taking the time and you can be sure that we will share the results with you as soon as we can. 

Fr Troy

Parish Priest

By allowing your child to walk, ride or scoot to school, you’re doing your bit to reduce traffic congestion around school gates, making it safer for everyone and helping reduce risk of injury.

Part way is ok! Is your child ready to walk, ride or scoot to school but it is too far; or there are major road crossings to be negotiated? Have you considered drop-off points away from the school gate which provide safe, convenient footpath access to the school grounds? Your school has a map which shows where your local part way drop off points are. This can prevent your frustration with the traffic chaos at the school gate and allow your child to start the day the right way – with some moderate-level exercise, arriving at school energised and attentive. You will save time by avoiding the crawling school-zone traffic. A calmer start to your day and a benefit for your child. Who can say no to that!

On what was a glorious day at the AIS Track, the MTS Track and Field team competed against the very best athletes from primary schools based throughout Gungahlin and North Canberra. The students represented Mother Teresa with distinction and gave it their all. 

Congratulations to these students who achieved a top four finish and will go on to represent North Canberra/Gungahlin at the ACT Primary Schools Track and Field Championships on Tuesday, September 17 at the Woden Park Athletics Field. Further information regarding this event will be communicated in Week 8.

Zoe Linardakis - 4^th 70m

Eva Booth - 4^th 800m

Eli Cannell - 4^th 800m

William Minns - 1^st Discus

Lachlan Rodda - 1^st 800m

Dash Meagher - 3^rd Discus

Reegan Jenkins - 4^th 200m

Colin Almond - 3^rd 200m

Luciana Ruberto - 3^rd 100m & 4^th Long Jump

Emily Evans - 1^st Shot Put, 2^nd Discus & 2^nd 200m

This term the shop will be operating Wednesday and Friday from 8:45am to 9:15am, with payment by QKR! app and cash. The QKR! by Mastercard app can be dowloaded via Apple or Google store.

Please ensure your car is off the basketball court by 8.50am as we must close and lock the gates for safety. 

Donations of uniforms that have no rips or stains and are freshly washed are always welcome to be dropped off at the front office.

To support our families there are two programs families may be interested in. The first is Vinnies Kids Club. See flier 

Please email sophie.dash@cg.catholic.edu.au or carmel.maguire@cg.catholic.edu.au 

This term our school will be teaching Protective Behaviours to students using current resources from the Daniel Morcombe Curriculum and Education 2 Empower Publishing. We understand the content of Protective Behaviours can be confronting for some students and we are therefore keen to ensure there is an opportunity for families to engage with the contact before lessons are taught. To achieve this an overview of the program is attached and weekly updates will be provided.

The Council of Catholic School Parents Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn (CSPACG) in collaboration with Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn (CECG) are offering a free Family Event with guest presenter Joe Brumm.  The event is being hosted at Merici College, Dickson, on Wednesday 11th September.  There is also an option for live streaming the event for those that are unable to attend in-person.

The event aims to bring together parents and carers from schools across the Archdiocese, to hear Joe Brumm, the creator of Bluey, discuss his success with the children's show Bluey, and his perspective on developing and maintaining positive relationships with our children (and their school) and the important role parents play in their child's learning and development.

Registrations can be done at https://events.humanitix.com/a-bluey-perspective

Water Polo ACT have started up a schools competition.

The competition runs on a Friday night from 6-8:30pm. Students from years 3-6 are eligible to play. Please see the attached flyer for details.

If you are interested please contact kieran.russell@cg.catholic.edu.au