Dear Parents,

As part of our reporting process, Mother Teresa School offers a variety of ways parents can gain an understanding of how their child is progressing, both academically and socially. We have written reports that go home at the end of Terms Two and Four, parent teacher or 3 way conferences at the end of Term One and optional interviews in the last week of Term Two when reports go home.

In Week Nine of this term there is again an opportunity for parents to visit their child’s classroom to gain an understanding of the work they have been doing. The format differs for the upper grades and the students in Kindergarten and Year One.

Families with children in Year Two to Year Six will be led on a learning journey by their child where they will share their successes and challenges as well as outlining how they spend their days. The classroom teachers will be present to talk with parents but the focus is on children sharing their work, of which they are very proud. Should you wish to have a formal interview you are asked to make an appointment for another time. The learning journeys for students in Year Two to Year Six will be held on Tuesday 17^th September from 3.30 – 5pm.

Parents with children in Kindergarten and Year One will have the opportunity to have a brief 10 minute three way conference with their child’s teacher and then have their child take them on a learning journey. The dates for the three way conferences and learning journeys for Kindergarten and Year One will be on Tuesday 17^th and Wednesday 18^th September.

Parents of students in Kindergarten and Year One will receive a Szapp notification next week that will advise them on how to book their ten minute 3 way conference session via our on-line booking system. There are a few parents in Year One who meet with their child’s teacher on a regular basis. These parents may opt not to book a session however the teachers of Year One would still like you to undertake a learning journey. All other parents from Kindergarten and Year One are invited to attend.

BBQ

As you will be aware from the note that went home recently, we will be holding a BBQ lunch on Mother Teresa Feast Day on Thursday 5 September. If your child requires a chicken sausage could you please let the front office or your child’s teacher know?

Year Five Camp

Next week I will accompany the Year Five students and teachers on their camp to the Sport and Recreation Centre at Narrabeen. We pray for wonderful weather and hope they all have a wonderful time.

Future of ACT Catholic School Soccer and Netball Carnivals

Regretfully, this year is the final year for the ACT Catholic School Soccer and Netball Carnivals.

This decision was carefully considered and was made unanimously at the recent ACT Catholic Primary Principal’s Meeting.

Although these are great community days and have been going for many years, the huge workload on staff, increasing costs, complexity of indemnity and insurance and a lack of volunteers to assist has necessitated the decision to no longer host these events.

Schools are rostered on to coordinate and run these events and they are run entirely by the host school, irrespective of the school size. Parents volunteer on the day and staff work all weekend on these events. In the past few years, some executive staff have worked nearly fulltime in the lead-up to pull off these carnivals, along with many staff who commit their time to support the planning and preparation, all of which is impacting on the teaching and learning agenda of the host school. 

ACT Principals acknowledge that there may be some parents and students disappointed by this decision, however, we have agreed that the future of hosting and leading events such as these is untenable.

This year, Holy Rosary Watson will host the final ACT Catholic School’s Netball Carnival.

Maths Problem

Congratulation to Willem van Galen (Kinder Rose) who was the only student to answer last week’s problem and was, again, the winner. Let’s see if we can get a few more entries, particularly for our third introductory questions from the four problems from the Australian Maths Challenge.

Zsuzsi’s Car

Zsuzsi’s car has an odometer and a trip meter.

The odometer displays the total distance in whole kilometres that the car has travelled since it was new. It cannot be reset. The odometer reading only changes at the end of the next whole kilometre travelled.

The trip meter changes every 100 metre or 0.1 km and changes to 000.0 after it reaches 999.9. It always shows four digits. The trip meter can be reset to 000.0 at any time. Zsuzsi did that once but never does now.

Zsuzsi noticed that the exact moment the trip meter changed to 386.2, the odometer changed to 3862. She was surprised to see the same four digits in the same order for both readings.

1.      What will the odometer and trip meter readings be after the car has travelled another 2.9 kilometres?

2.      What will the odometer reading be when the trip meter shows 000.0?

God Bless

Peter Hughes

Front Office Reminders 

• Absentee Notes—If your child is absent from school due to sickness, holiday or other reason, please ensure a note is submitted via Szapp, our website or provided to your child’s classroom teacher on their return.
  
  
• Sickness—If your child has been sick and has been vomiting or had diarrhoea then they must be excluded from school for at least 24 hours after the symptoms have ceased.
  
  
• School Start & Finish times
  
  
  • School supervision starts at 8.15am with classes beginning at 8.45am
  • Lunch break is from 11.00am to 11.55am
  • Recess break is from 1.25pm-1.55pm
  • School finishes at 3.00pm with supervision at car line finishing at 3.30pm.
  • Parents who cannot collect their child/children by this time should arrange for after school care with Kidsbiz. In the case of any
    emergency which prevents you from collecting on time, please contact us so that we can make arrangements to ensure the safety/supervision of your child/children.
    
    
• Late to school procedure:-
  
  • If you are dropping off your child to school late please remember to sign in at the front office (any time after 9:15am). 
    Every student needs to have their late slip with them to hand on to their class teacher upon arrival at their classroom.
    
    
• Early Pickup procedure:-
  
  
  • If you are planning to collect your child early please try to let the class teacher know beforehand so that your child/children are at the front office waiting for you.
  • If you have an unplanned early pickup please contact the front office and let us know what time you will be arriving so that we can have your child/children ready. 
  • Please remember if this happens, we will do our best to locate your child but this is not always possible especially if they are out of class or on lunch or recess breaks.
  • In addition, if you are collecting your child early and you have requested they arrive at the office at a specific time, please ensure that you arrive at that time to collect them.  It is not appropriate that children be removed from class to be collected and then sit at the office and wait for extended periods of time for you to arrive.
  • A sign out slip will need to be completed for each child leaving the school prior to the end of the school day.