We have had a lovely two weeks back at school, the children have been working hard getting into their routines. 

New MTS Staff

I am delighted to announce we introduced Miss Heather Hall to the children today. Due to current staffing challenges Mrs Leanne Davison, due to her availability, will now be teaching in 2 Lime with Miss Hall. Leanne will teach on Mondays to Wednesdays and Heather will be in on Thursdays to Fridays. Leanne also dropped in to meet the class and the Year 2 Team. We are waiting for the paperwork to be approved before I can announce another new teacher to work with Mrs Alice O'Brien in Year 1, from next Thursday.

Car Parking

Please observe the no right turn sign when leaving the school grounds in the morning and the afternoon. It can cause a bottleneck that prevents the smooth flow of traffic on the main road. With the numbers increased in our ECL attending the before and after school program we are seeing more traffic at the front of the school. Please keep the slip lane free, next to the ELC, for our ECL families between 2.45pm and 3.15pm.

Meet the Teacher

It was really disappointing that it was a wet morning for our open classroom visits. With a number of teachers away today it made it very challenging. We will host another visit later in the term for people who missed out on meeting their teacher today. I know several of the children and parents were very disappointed. 

Awards

There are no awards this week; we will commence in Week 3. 

Kinder Health Check

On Monday the Kinder Health Check envelopes will be sent home to all Kinder families, the 2025 Kinder Health Check includes:

• A physical health check of vision, hearing and growth(height,weight and BMI)
• Two questionaires - the Parent Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) and the Strenghts and Difficulties Questionaire (SDQ)

The physical health check results and any parent concerns associated with the questionaires will be provided to the family's GP (if nominated and consent received)

Parents of children with high-risk scores in the PEDS and/or SDQ will be contacted by ACT Health to follow up if a GP is not nominated.

Parents will receive the results of the physical health check on their My Digital Health Record (MyDHR) if they are reqistered and have proxy access, otherwise they will receive the results by post.

The Child and Adolescent Immunisation Team will arrange the collection of the completed forms by the 3rd Feburary 2025. The health check will occur later in the year, we are waiting on dates.

Food Allergies

We have a young boy in Year 2 who has a serious anaphlyaxis reaction to cheese, cheese spores, and cheese-based products. As we are now eating in the classroom for 10 minutes at 10.50am we are trialling no cheese in just 2 Lime for this term. Please remember we do have lots of children with allergies to many types of nuts; avoid peanut butter and Nutella as a sandwich spread. 

Appointment of a New Counsellor 

I am happy to inform you that Lauren, our new school counsellor from Catholic Care Marymead, will be starting at Mother Teresa on Tuesday 25^th February. Lauren will be working from Tuesday to Friday each week. New referral forms will be available on request from the office.

Reminders 

Do not forget to complete the following

• Kinder to Year 6 - IT Agreement via Compass Events
• Kinder to Year 6 - Photo permissions via Compass Events
• SeeSaw - Kinder to Year 3
• PG Movies - Year 2 to 6
• NAPLAN Year 3 & 5
• Netball for Year 3 & 4
• Netball for Year 5 & 6

Class Overviews will be sent out via Compass so parents can review what is being taught this term. 

Kind regards 

Carmel Maguire  & Craig Hart

Principal & Assistant Principal

The Sports Spectacle 

This year is going to be jam packed with fun and excitement with sport participation. This Term we have a few events from Week 4. More details will come out via Compass in the coming weeks, so if you are interested in the sports below keep an eye out for the consent forms. 

We want to celebrate the sporting successes of our marvellous students at MTS. If your child represents at an ACT level please let us know.  You can email Kate O’Keefe directly with your news.

Upcoming Events

5/6 Netball Gala Day

3/4 Netball Gala Day

MTS Swimming Carnival

Please check the School Sport website for ACT School Sport representational opportunities. MTS will try to keep this listed in the newsletter, however as these do not directly relate to the school, so we may not always be able to answer all queries. Currently there are no trial dates for sports.

Thank you to our families who joined us for a casual welcome picnic last Sunday afternoon, the first of our social & community events for 2025.  A special thank you to our school Principal and Assistant Principal for welcoming our families and to our School Council executive and members for helping on the day. 

The weather held out and new connections were made with many fun games played. While the Irwin children won the scavenger hunt, the Alcott house was super well represented with their families earning the most tokens for the red house!

Information for upcoming events and activities will be posted here in weeks to come, watch this space.

In the meantime, if you would like to get involved in helping with our school community events please reach out to us at communitycouncil.mts@gmail.com.

Another casual, less formal way to communicate/connect with other families at MTS is through the year level Facebook pages – perfect for finding that lost jumper, trying to recall if it’s dress up/party day etc. Search for your relevant year level below: 

Family Technology agreements

With the possibility of new devices entering your home and an increase in screen time over the Christmas holiday break, it is an excellent time to create or revise your family's expectations around device use. This can include where devices are used and for how long, where devices go overnight and what to do when something goes wrong. It can include computers, TVs, gaming consoles and tablets.

There are several resources to support you in setting these boundaries.

The eSafety Commissioner has downloadable customisable family tech contract templates for pre-schoolers to primary-aged children. They include discussion points about how to be a responsible user of technology and develop digital intelligence. Click here for more information.

The ThinkUKnow and Carly Ryan Foundation family online safety contracts are suitable for older students and the whole family. Click here to see an example and a blank contract.

Education and Support

Further education and support around devices, apps, cyberbulling, gaming, deciding age-appropriate entertainment and reporting abuse is available at the following websites:

eSafety Commissioner resources

Family online safety in more languages

Guides to popular social medica and gaming apps and websites

Reporting Harm with eSafety Commissioner or

Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation

Setting up your child's device for safety and success

BYOD - Bring your own device - Chromebook for students in Years 4-6 in 2025

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), even 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.

MTS Second Hand Uniform Store

 Wednesday and Friday, 8:45-9:15 am

FREE winter sport jackets for the month of February or until stock runs out.

 We are becoming overwhelmed with poor quality donations – please check the clothes you are donating and if they are dirty, ripped, torn or broken, dispose of them yourself.

Also, do not donate clothing that is not the official school uniform as per the policy on the school website. Stockings, socks, bike shorts and underwear should not be donated.

 If you are interested in volunteering to join us in running the second hand uniform store, please come along, we would love to have you.

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.