Filter Content
- Principal's Message Term 4 Week 1 2024
- Kindergarten 2025 Orientation News Centre
- Religious Education News - Anne Leet
- 2024 Yearbook - Last Day Friday 18 October
- 2025 BYOD Years 4 - 6 Specification
- Community Council News
- Parking around schools
- Call for parent representatives for CSPACG Council
- Ronald McDonald House Tennis Charity Event
- Supporting Our Amazing Multicultural Community
- Extra Curricular Activities at MTS
- Community Service Announcements
Dear Parents,
Welcome to our final term for 2024. As this is only a nine-week term plus one day, it is going to be a busy term as we finalise all the end-of-year events.
Please keep Jake Rawlins, one of our CSAs, and his family in your prayers as his Grandmother passed away during the holidays. The family gathered in Brisbane this week to share special family memories.
- Emma Ryan is resigning to head to Brisbane with the family, to be closer to extended family.
- Geoff Howarth, our PE teacher, is moving overseas with his family as his wife take up a three year posting.
- Rebecca Cartwright, after seven great years at MTS, has decided to resign to explore another school and further develop her teaching skills.
- Teri Rodda, one of our wonderful CSAs, has decided to resign to take up a Public Service position. Teri has taken LSL for this term to visit family overseas.
- Kieran Russell has resigned to explore life teaching in the middle school setting from 2025. We will miss his contribution to our community.
- Liana White, who has been on LSL since February has formally resigned to enjoy her family and travel.
- Carly Snowdon, who is returning in 2025 has elected to take another 12 months leave and will be available to do casual relief.
- Janet Williams, who has been on leave for the last two years will not be returning as the family is moving to Cairns for the next two years.
- Maryanne Hawes and her family are moving to the Gold Coast. Maryanne is taking twelve months leave to explore teaching opportunities and enjoy the warmer weather.
- Alice O'Brien will be joining the MTS school staff for 2025 via a transfer systems offered by the CE. Ali who works in our ELC, was keen to experience life in the big school!
This term I will continue to work reduced hours to ensure I return to full health by the end of the year. Craig Hart will continue as Acting Principal when I am not in attendance. I intend to be at school most days, except when required to attend various Principal meetings throughout the term. This will enable me to meet with staff and parents as required and action planning for 2025.
Class Groups 2025 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. For the first two weeks of Term 4, the teachers will be observing friendships to assist with class groupings. Children will be asked to identify five learning friends. Every endeavour is made to link a child with a friend in their class, however, the staff will also consider the best learning placement.
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 Friday 25 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.
A teacher's grade allocation will not occur until there is certainty regarding staffing, which may not occur until Week 7 of this term.
Art Competition
Congratulations all our students who submitted entries. Entries are on display in the attached document.
Bring Your Own Device Program (BYOD - Chromebook) Year 4 - 6
Attention Year 3 Parents
Following a lengthy conversation with the Year 4 teachers, we will continue our BYOD program from Year 4. We weighed up all the pros and cons and how they are used in class and the access to a device is vital, particularly for publishing work, Essential Assessments, research, and coding strategies. We will also continue to increase our bank of devices, for school use only, across the school as the budget allows. The children will need to be ready with a device by Term 1 Week 5. This gives parents time to access sales in December and January.
Canteen Trial - 5 days a week
Commencing on Monday 21 October our school Canteen will offer their lunchtime service every day. Orders placed via the Flexischool app.
MTS Dance Club
Cassie is running her dance club on Wednesdays, commencing next week.
Register via the link below:
Boorowa - Friday 25 October
Next Friday, close to 150 children are heading to Boorowa for the annual Netball and Touch Carnival. All the best to our teams. Accompanying the teams will be the following staff: Kieran Russell, Craig Hart, Geoff Howarth, Catherine Blackwell, Kathleen McGuire, Jodie Tancheski, Lauren Maher, Michelle Young, and Alice O'Brien. For supervision purposes, we must have a student:teacher ratio of 20:1, not including parents.
Code Camp Term 4
Code Camp will commence on Monday 21 October. Parents are to meet their child in the Kinder courtyard areas, outside the library, at the end of the session.
God Bless,
Carmel Maguire & Craig Hart
Principal & Acting Principal
Part 2 - Literacy Ideas
Part 1 - Getting Ready
Welcome to the Mother Teresa School Kindergarten Orientation News Centre. We have set up this platform to reach out to all families, especially new families, with all the relevant information about our orientation process. We would love all members of the families to get involved in their child’s preparation for the first day of school. Over the coming weeks, there will be games and activities for the whole family to enjoy and information about the school, school readiness, and upcoming dates. Check the newsletter weekly via Compass or the school website.
Orientation Dates
I look forward to meeting you, please look out for our next update in our next newsletter.
Carmel Maguire
WHOLE SCHOOL FOCUS
The Whole school focus theme for this year is ‘COME HOLY SPIRIT’
WELCOME TERM FOUR
This term at Mother Teresa School we will use the theme that:
We are called to inspire.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
Our value for the next week is: PEACE
We can show this the Mother Teresa School way by:
- Christian Meditation
- Positive relationships
- Managing conflict
- Effective communication
- Identifying peaceful practices
- Reflecting on our behaviour
THANK YOU
Thank you to our Year 6 leaders in 6 Ebony who helped lead the Prayer focus on this term’s whole school focus of ‘We are called to inspire others and be people of peace.’ Just like diamonds, let’s shine brightly and share God’s love with everyone we meet! Thank you to the choir and Mrs Davern who share the beautiful song ‘Diamonds’ Just like diamonds, let’s shine brightly and share God’s love with everyone we meet!
Something to Think About
Can you think of a story about people wanting to be great and important. Do you remember the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, where the Queen kept asking 'Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?' Maybe you can think of other examples too.
The Story
In today’s story, James and John want to be more important than the other disciples and to have special privileges given to them. Jesus says that the way to true greatness is not to be powerful or important, but rather to be a servant of others. Jesus says, 'If you want to be first, you must be everyone's slave'.
Video
Click to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQTkJS9hkus
Praying the rosary
The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. The word rosary comes from Latin and means a garland of roses, the rose being one of the flowers used to symbolise the Virgin Mary.
If you were to ask what object is most emblematic of Catholics, people would probably say, "The Rosary, of course." We’re familiar with the images: the silently moving lips of the old woman fingering her beads; the oversized rosary hanging from the waist of the wimpled nun; more recently, the merely decorative rosary hanging from the rear-view mirror.
We pray to Mary because she is the Mother of God and her prayers are very powerful (Jn.2: 1 -11). When we pray the Hail Mary, we combine worship of God and honor of Mary.
Peace and Best Wishes,
Anne Leet
Religious Education Co-ordinator
BYOD - Bring your own device - 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.
The preferred device is a Chromebook laptop. Unfortunately other makes like Samsung/Android tablets are not supported and do not reliably work with the Catholic Education systems.
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), event the January sales.
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 the device fits into their school bag
- 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)
- Please do NOT provide Samsung/Android tablets - these are not recommended and do not operate well on Catholic Education systems.
- 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.
The life of most hardware is three years. Please be realistic when purchasing a device, especially regarding cost.
Second Hand Uniform Shop
The Second Hand Uniform shop is run by the MTS Community Council in the school hall.
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.
For drop-offs and pick-ups, arrange a meeting spot, arrive after the rush, or park a little further away from the school and walk.
To support safety, police, mobile speed vans, licence plate recognition parking vehicles, and parking inspectors will be patrolling school zones.Catholic School Parents Archdiocese of Canberra Goulburn (CSPACG) Council will hold their AGM in Term 4 and are seeking representatives from all regions to fill vacancies.
Please discuss this with your school’s Community Council and consider nominating a representative from your school.
The Council meets four times a year with two meetings in-person and two online. This is a great way to learn more about advocacy, representation, engagement and support for our Catholic school parents and carers.
Nominees should complete the form below and return it to parents@cg.catholic.edu.au by 31 October.
For further information, contact CSPACG Executive Officer, Sarah Rose.
Link: Parent Representative Nomination Form 2025.pdf
Contact: sarah.rose@cg.catholic.edu.au or 0447 888 326 (Family Engagement Officer)
Service area leader: tim.elliott@cg.catholic.edu.au
To support our families there are two programs families may be interested in. The first is Vinnies Kids Club. See flier
The second initiative is a program to support our new-to-English parents and family members. We are hoping to run the program in 2025, if we receive enough interest. Please contact Sophie Dash, our EAL/D teacher, if you feel you may be interested and we can provide you with more information.
Please email sophie.dash@cg.catholic.edu.au or carmel.maguire@cg.catholic.edu.au
Build Your School Community program overview. A little more information
- Participants must be 18 years and over, the program is open to interested grandparents.
- The program would ideally be run in the school provided we can find a suitable space
- The lessons go for 1 hour and there is the possibility of multiple sessions each week, depending on the needs of families.
- We are looking a possible childcare for little ones.
- The class size can be anywhere between 8 and 25 participants.
More information coming
