Dear Parents,

Congratulations to the Community Council Social Committee for the wonderful wine and cheese night last Friday. I estimate we had over one hundred parents in attendance along with Deepak-Raj Gupta, MLA who is a member of the ALP and Alistair Coe, MLA, leader of the Liberal party.

The catering, the entertainment and the company were outstanding with many families taking the opportunity to catch up with other parents of the school.

It was great to be able to use the new shade structure for the event and it has proved to be a very versatile facility with Year Six holding their grade mass there the previous week.

Coronavirus

I have had a few parents asking if next week’s swimming carnival, for the students (Years 2-6) and the Year Five camp in the following week are going ahead.

At this stage we are proceeding with both and will continue to heed the advice of both ACT Health and the Catholic Education Office. Parents will be advised as soon as there is any change.

Dickson pool is chlorinated and the staff at the pool ensure me that viruses will not survive in chlorinated water. The school’s expectation is that all children will participate. If you do not want your child to participate they will need to stay home as their class teacher will be at the pool and no alternate supervision will be provided at school.

As a consequence of the virus we have negotiated with the cleaners to extend the hours of the current workforce or employ extra staff to ensure all touch points are cleaned and sterilised every day. They will be using a product called e-Guard and will be using single use cleaning cloths.

We currently have hand sanitiser in most rooms however supply is running low and we have an order waiting to be filled. Given the demand we do not have a time frame for this. Across all classes students are being reminded about personal hygiene and the washing of hands. The message must be sinking in as our use of hand cleaning soap has increased dramatically.

The school is currently designing a response plan to the virus to plan for contingencies should we have large numbers of students or staff absent from school.

As suggested by health authorities we have set up a second sick bay for students that present with cold like symptoms. This is to isolate them from other students that may be in sick bay. If a child presents to school with flu like symptoms they will be sent home immediately.  Unfortunately, this means that a child cannot return to school until those symptoms have gone away completely.

Sporting News

Over the last two weeks we have had a large number of students participate in both rugby league and rugby union carnivals. The feedback from the teachers that supervised them on the day was that they participated in the right spirit and were co-operative.

All teams performed well and enjoyed the days. Special mention to our senior boy’s rugby union team who won the Northside competition and will now play the winners of the Southside competition in a curtain raiser for the Brumbies versus Sunwolves game at Bruce Stadium.

I thank the parents who attended and supported the teams on the day, those that assisted with coaching/managing the teams and those that washed the jumpers.

Maths Problem

Congratulations to Bella Sargeson who had the first correct answer drawn out for last week’s problem. This week’s problem is below.

Willem’s desk is fourth from the front and second from the back. There are three desks to his left and only one to his right. Given that the desks in his classroom are arranged into equal rows, how many desks are in the room?

God Bless

Peter Hughes

MTS Wine & Cheese Night

The MTS Wine and Cheese evening was quite a success last Friday with over 100 people coming along to the first social event in 2020. The Wiradjuri Echoes kicked off the evening with a fabulous welcome to country and families had the chance to mingle and have a chat with Mr Alistair Coe MLA and Mr Deepak Raj-Gupta MLA.  The wine barrels supplied by Barlens (platinum sponsor), the delicious grazing board & pizzas and the sounds of Ella Ryan’s harp set the scene for an enjoyable evening.  Thankfully the rain stayed away & there was a gorgeous sunset, so everyone could spread out and enjoy the night.

The MTS Social Committee members would like to thank everyone who came along and those who entered our raffle.  The raffle raised $516 which will go towards the MTS music program.  The lucky raffle ticket winners, drawn on the night were:

• First prize: Shilpa Mehta
  (1 Nights stay at the Naked Cubby Collective, a luxury tent hotel at Majura Vineyard)
• Second prize: Ryan (KidzBiz)
  (2 Dendy Premium tickets and $100 Via Dolce dining voucher)
• Third prize: Bec Fogliani
  ($100 The District (in Crace) dining voucher and 1 bottle of Nick O’Leary wine).

We look forward to seeing you at the next social event, our Trivia night on Saturday, 23 May 2020.  More information coming soon.