Welcome to 2025 at Mother Teresa School! It has been great to see so many smiling faces (both parents and students) walking through our doors, ready for another school year. We would particularly like to extend a warm welcome to any new families who have joined us for the first time. We know that you will feel the spirit that is alive and well at MTS where everyone lives by the motto to "Do Small Things With Great Love". 

New MTS Staff

This year we welcome a number of new staff to our ranks. Some you might recognise from last year, as they completed their practicums or held temporary or casual contracts. The new staff are: Monica Cougar, Alice O'Brien, Leanne Davison, Imogan Alexander, Kim Harris, Paris Morris, Catherine Beckett, Rosie Stubbs, Kylie Parsons and Clare Waters.

Welcome Picnic

Families are invited to come and join the MTS community for a relaxed afternoon ‘welcome’ byo (bring your own) picnic. This coming Sunday 9th February between 2pm - 4pm at the MTS grassed oval area.
Bring a rug, a hat and sunscreen, a ball, nibbles and lots of water! (No alcohol please)
All the family are welcome.
We would like to welcome back to the school our ongoing families and especially welcome the new families joining our community. 

Firstly, thank you to all the parents and grandparents who have shown great consideration and calmness during pick up times in the afternoon. We are a big school community with limited parking and a one-way exit. With all of these factors combined with new parents learning how pick up time works, it is a credit to all that we have the carpark cleared by 3:15pm most days.

Unfortunately, there have been some examples during this first week back, where parents or carers have parked in no parking zones. Can everyone please be mindful that these have been identified in the interest of student safety and are not to be used for parking at any time. Also, a reminder that speeding through our carpark is a potential risk for our students, so please slow down, remain calm and show consideration at all times.

Please do not park over the 'No Parking' sign in the morning or afternoon, located on the basketball courts. We need a clear a clear walkway for families and children.

Meet the Teacher

Next Friday, February 14, from 8am to 8:45am, parents and students are invited to attend a "meet and greet" in their child's classroom. This is simply an informal opportunity for parents to meet the classroom teacher and for the child to show them around their classroom. We look forward to seeing many of our families next week.

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.

Medic Alert

I am aware that chickenpox and shingles have been identified in our community. Please observe the requirements for isolation.

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

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend and hope you can drop in on Sunday afternoon

Carmel Maguire  & Craig Hart

Principal & Assistant Principal

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 Issue 1 catalogue for 2025 is now available. The cut-off date for orders is next week on Friday 14^th February.

Parents can order online via the LOOP parent portal on the Scholastic website, no orders or cash will be accepted by the school. Late orders are charged a flat rate for home postage.

Books will be delivered to children in their classroom once they arrive at the school. MTS Community Council parent volunteers are running the Book Club, so please ensure any inquiries are directed to them via the office email, rather than to teachers. A reminder that missing or damaged orders may need to be reported to Scholastic using their online contact information, and that out of stock items already paid for are usually credited to the LOOP account. Parents concerned about missing, misplaced or damaged orders are advised to wait until the catalogue is closed and use the home postage option.

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.

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.