• Tuesday 3 December, 9:15am - Thanksgiving Mass and Light Ceremony - Year 5 and 6 parents welcome to join this special occasion
• Tuesday 3 December MTS Community Council Executive Meeting, 6.00pm 
• Wednesday 4 December, 5pm - ELC Christmas Concert
• Friday 6 December, 1.00pm - Kinder Nativity 

• Monday 9 December, 12:30pm - Year 6 Certificate Presentation 
• Monday 9 December, 6.00pm - Year 6 Graduation and Farewell Dinner 
• Wednesday 11 December,  6.00pm - 7.00pm- School Christmas Carols, Picnic on the Oval, and a visit by someone special
• Thursday 12 December - Year 6 Fun Day Out
• Thursday 12 December - Reports released via Compass
• Friday 13 December - Meet the teacher for 2025 (students only)
• Friday 13 December, 12.45pm - Final Assembly and End of Term awards
• Friday 13 December, 2.40pm - Year 6 Final Walk-through

• Monday 16 December - Last day of school for students 

Dear Parents,

As we head into the final few weeks of the school year it is a time to reflect on all that we have achieved as a community, as well as bidding many staff and families a fond farewell. This week we said goodbye to Misty Griggs, our student receptionist, who has accepted a position in the public service. We wish her all the best in her future endeavours and we will remember her kind and caring nature at the front line of scraped knees and monkey bar incidents.

Leaving the School

A reminder that if you know that you are leaving MTS to please let the office know ASAP. This will allow us to fill any vacancies we have for 2025 with students who we have on our waiting list.

Thanksgiving Liturgy and Light Ceremony

Next Tuesday at 9:15am we will be a Thanksgiving Liturgy and Light Ceremony in the hall. Year 5 and 6 parents are invited to attend the event, where the current Year 6 leaders will pass the light to the future leaders of 2025.

Golden Girl's Parade

This week the community of MTS gathered together to celebrate our own world cup champion, Miss Carly Salmon. The courts were adorned with posters and streamers as we held a tickertape parade in her honour. We are so proud of her and thought it was important that we let her know.

Christmas Carols

As advertised, our annual Christmas Carols Concert will take place on Wednesday December 11 from 6pm. Bring a picnic dinner and enjoy the festivities or you can purchase dinner from the food vans at the event. A coffee van will also be on site. We look forward to a great evening of caroling! The children have all been learning carols to share. 

Last Community Gathering for the Year - Carols on the Oval - Save the Date

Community Council Nomination
Thank you to those parents who have submitted an expression of interest in joining our Community Council Executive Committee. The committee will be in touch soon with the outcome of the nominations. 

Finalising Fees

I am reaching out to all families who have not finaised their 2024 school fee accounts. Please do so as soon as possible so the school can finalise all our school invoices by the end of Week 9. Your help in settling outstanding fees is much appreciated.

2025 School Fees Increase

Catholic Education and Mother Teresa School are very conscious that cost of living pressures is ongoing and have worked hard to keep fee increases to a minimum. However, only 80% of our school income comes from ACT and Australian Government funding which will not keep pace with rising education costs next year.

To provide a reasonable level of resourcing for the coming year, and to ensure our school can continue to deliver excellent learning opportunities and quality facilities, an increase in fees is required. It is a policy of the archdiocese that no student should be refused enrolment, excluded or disadvantaged because their family is unable to afford fees.

The transition to a single fee structure for ACT primary schools will continue next year with the full transition to have occurred by 2027. 

Full 2025 fees information will follow next week.

If you have any concerns that the 2025 fees may cause hardship for you and your family, please contact the office to make an appointment for a confidential discussion.

 

Several Talented Guitar Players

Yearbook Cover Winner

Congratulations to Ewan T (1 Amber) on winning our Yearbook cover competition. We have many talented artists at MTS. Special thanks to our Raiders guests, Andrew Bishop, the manager, and players Morgan Smithies and Matty Nicholson who handed out the prizes.  

Have a lovely weekend and God Bless,

Carmel Maguire & Craig Hart

Principal & Acting Principal

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 inspire.

This Term as We are called to inspire.:

• we believe in and love Jesus.
• Live with honesty and integrity.
• Be patient with others and make peace.
• Give our unique talents, time, and money and
• Be consistently kind.

Something to Think About

Can you remember a time when you had to get ready for a special celebration? How did you prepare? How did it feel to wait for that special time?

The Story

Jesus predicts a time of destruction when some people may be frightened, but Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid. He encourages the disciples (and us!) to pray for strength. We may have difficult times in our lives, but when we pray we find comfort and courage.

Video

Click to watch the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di1IYki32vo 

 

CHRISTMAS GIVING APPEAL 

As part of the Holy Spirit Parish, we support SVDP Giving Appeal annually as an important link to help those in need in our local community.

The Christmas Appeal also provides a tangible way for our students to be involved in helping others; and to see that Christmas is not just a time for receiving, but a time for reaching out and giving too!

 Your child will be bringing hope a slip of paper this week informing you of the item they are to purchase. Please ensure that your items have not passed the used by date and are non-perishable.

We hope you can support this appeal in some way. Donations will need to be at school by Friday 6th December in readiness for the Christmas Giving Appeal.

SACRAMENTS 2025

Holy Communion, Reconciliation, and Confirmation Program for 2025 Sacrament Online registration for the Sacraments for 2025

Please follow this link:https://forms.gle/EfkV5q9ayunnS2EHA

Early registration is greatly appreciated.     

Peace and Best Wishes,

Anne Leet
Religious Education Co-ordinator

Oscar made it to Super 10s invite only event which is a position given to the best 8 boys 
and 8 girls in the ACT. He won Lyneham JDS u10s doubles. 
And finished this week in the heat bringing home runners up at North Woden u10s singles 
and doubles. 

Our recent school book fair was a tremendous success, made possible by the incredible support of our families and community! The event raised over $1,000 to purchase new books for our school library, and we also received generous book donations from families and grandfriends, further enriching our collection.  Thank you to all who visited our Book Fair last week. Students are excited to see their donated books on the shelves in the coming weeks.

Mother Teresa School Community Council 

I wanted to share a message as we approach the end of the year. Congratulations to all students, teachers, parents and carers on another successful year and here is wishing you a lovely Christmas and summer break.

The CC provides a crucial point of connection between the school community and school leaders. It provides a framework for welcoming parents and other members of the school community to participate in school activities, to become actively involved in the life of the school and to support the mission of the school.

The CC was active throughout the year driving a growth in engagement amongst the school community. The success of the CC comes directly from the volunteers who contribute and I wanted to thank each and everyone who assisted this year.

Some of those events included hosting our Mother’s Day and Father’s Day events – ‘Muffins with Mum’ and ‘Donuts with Dad’ community breakfasts. We showed our appreciation, on behalf of parents and friends, to all of the wonderful work of the teaching staff for International Teachers’ Day. We also included other initiatives fruit breakfast for the children. The CC received such wonderful feedback on these events and we look forward to continuing these events next year. I’m grateful to Janice Van Zoomeran and Adelle de Zilva-Stewart

Some other successes and areas of focus of the Council over the last year were:

• We are very grateful to the volunteers who seamlessly deliver the second-hand uniform shop. Likewise, volunteers manage the Scholastic book club – with support from the purchases in turn providing a range of free reading resources for the school. I’d like to thank Kristy Mellor who works with a range of volunteers to provide these fantastic services.
• The wonderful yearbook is a product of many painstaking hours to Lindsay Hackett and Kahla Kruger, so thank you for your efforts into this fantastic document. Thanks also to everyone else who contributed to the preparation of the yearbook, from the wonderful teachers who pull together class-based pages to all people who donated pictures to form the wonderful memories in these pages.
• After being successful in obtaining a grant, we facilitated the recruitment of a parent liaison officer who assisted us with Council activities and developed some of our procedures and templates to be used in future years.
• We have two new notice boards on school grounds. We’ve been considering how we communicate with the school community and expect that this notice boards will assist to explore measures to effectively reach all people. Thanks to John Mikita for all of his help in procuring these items and more generally for his assistance as he concludes his time as the CC’s efficient and effective Secretary.
• The Council has endorsed the making of a significant contribution to a new a playground which will be installed following the completion of the hall extension.

The CC is well supported by teacher representatives, and we are very grateful for all of the guidance and support from Carmel, Craig and Danielle Cooper.

Looking to next year, if you would like to be involved in the Council some way, you are more than welcome! We are looking for volunteers and it’s a great way to connect with the school community. Keep an eye out for further communication in the new year.

Damien Kelly, Chair of the MTS Community Council

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.

Part 5 - The Reading Room

My name is Carly Flemington,

I am the Defence School Mentor (DSM) here at Mother Teresa.

With my husband in the ADF and a mother of 2, I know first hand the challenges and impacts the ADF life can have on our families, from postings, changing schools, deployments, living away from loved ones and making new connections.

As DSM, my role is to advocate for you and your family within the school environment. I am here to assist your children and family with any issues that may arise during your time at Mother Teresa School, by providing assistance and guidance to your children as they settle in to our school and support them during challenging times such as deployment, changes in family circumstances, friendship issues and any other situation where they just need a friendly ear and someone to chat to. 

I am also here to support the family, so if there is something I can help you with please reach out.

I run a Defence Kids Club once a week during at lunch time, after eating time. This is open to all the Defence students, from Kinder to Yr 6.  It’s an opportunity to meet and mix with the other Defence children and gain support from our community. We do art / craft activities, play board games and active games. Most weeks the Defence children can bring along a non-Defence friend if they wish. This club is not compulsory. 

It is a pleasure to welcome you to our school and I look forward to meeting you and your family very soon.

About The Defence School Mentor (DSM) Program

The DSM program provides funding to schools to minimise the impact of the mobile lifestyle on Defence students' education. This funding provided by the Defence Forces allows for the employment of a DSM to work within the school to raise awareness of the Defence lifestyle and to support students of Defence families.

The program, administered by Defence Member and Family Support (DMFS) (formerly known as Defence Community Organisation), reflects the commitment by Defence to support its members and their families and recognises the partnership between education authorities, Defence and schools.

Mother Teresa School is a proud participant of the Defence School Mentor Program and our DSM provides support in the following key areas:

• Welcoming
• Integrating
• Support during absence
• Farewelling

The Defence School Mentor may provide support in the following areas: 

• Assisting new children and their families to integrate into the school and local community,
• Monitoring the social and emotional wellbeing of Defence students,
• Assisting students develop self-confidence, self-reliance and resilience,
• Supporting teachers to monitor Defence student's transition and any personal challenges they may face (such as friendship, peer group or classroom difficulties)
• Referring students to services, or school and community programs that meet their needs,
• Enhancing awareness and appreciation of the unique Defence lifestyle in schools and communities, and
• ​Providing support to children during times of parental absence.

Part 3 - Maths

At Mother Teresa School we use the Australian Curriculum and current research to ensure children grasp and apply concepts that are required by the end of the year. We use a hands-on approach with concrete materials to help embed these concepts as well as daily reviews.

How you can help – activities and games

Numeral recognition and counting

• point out numbers on letter boxes and houses.
• Play card or board games that involve numbers such as snakes and ladders.
• Counting races – forwards and backwards.
• Practise counting to 10 on your own portable number line your hands. Face your palms towards you with the left thumb always being number 1 and count all the way to the right thumb which is 10.

Subitizing

The capacity to visually recognise the size of a small set of objects without counting – dominoes and dice games.

Measurement

Kitchen work – which is heavier or lighter, which container holds more? How can we work this out?

Outside work – which stick is longer? Which tree is taller?

Who can build the tallest tower?

Patterns

Play with beads, blocks, and stamps. Create patterns with craft work. Look for patterns in nature.

Position

Play games using positional language such as Simon Says put your hands on top.

Part 2 - Literacy Ideas

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. 

Carmel Maguire 

The enrolments for 2025 are now open at the Canberra Chinese School (CCS). The CCS is a non-profit community language school run by parent volunteers. We offer a comprehensive curriculum, dedicated teachers, and a supportive environment to the local students in Belconnen, Woden and Gungahlin. We welcome new and returning students to join our school to learn Chinese. To learn more about our programs and how to enroll, please visit our website or contact us at:

·         http://www.canberrachineseschool.net

·         https://www.canberrachineseschool.net/2025-student-registration-form

·         admin@canberrachineseschool.net

We look forward to welcoming your child to the Canberra Chinese School.

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.