Mother Teresa School Harrison eNewsletter

Dear parents,

Welcome back to what has been a chilly start to term two.

At the end of last term, I informed parents that we had undergone a whole school review by the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) using a measure called the National School Improvement Tool. This tool is used in many educational jurisdictions across Australia to measure the effectiveness of their schools, public and private.

MTS had its first review in 2015 and the findings from this review drove our improvement agenda for the last five years. We were due to have our second review last year, however, COVID restrictions meant our reviewers could not leave their home states.

The National School Improvement tool has nine domains against which a school is rated. These are:

An explicit improvement agenda
Analysis and discussion of data
A culture that promotes learning
Targeted use of school resources
An expert teaching team
Systematic curriculum delivery
Differentiated teaching and learning
Effective pedagogical practices
School-community partnerships

Each domain has the rating as well as comments specific to that domain. There are also Commendations, Affirmations and Recommendations at the end of the report. The recommendations will drive what we do for the next five years

For a Catholic school, it is essential that we have a domain that has our core business as a focus. The Catholic Education Office has added a tenth domain, ‘Catholic Identity and Faith Formation.’ We hope to have this assessed by consultants from CE in the near future.

Each week I will publish the ratings of one domain in the newsletter. If parents wish to see the report in its entirety, it is located on our website under the Our School tab, then Reports and Publications, and then School Review Reports. Parents who have been at our school for some time may recall the 2015 report being on our website for three years until we had our website rebuilt. It has also been re-published so parents can see the growth over the last five years.

As a staff, we are proud of our achievements. The report is a testament to the hard work and dedication of all staff at MTS. The support we receive from parents and students, and the high levels of trust across the school community help make MTS the school it is.

One of many positive comments shared with staff by the lead reviewer was that she considered MTS to be ‘a high performing school.’

I do hope you take time to read the report.

1. An explicit improvement agenda

The school leadership team and/or governing body have established and are driving a strong improvement agenda for the school, grounded in evidence from research and practice, and expressed in terms of improvements in measurable student outcomes. Explicit and clear school-wide targets for improvement have been set and communicated to parents and families, teachers, and students, with accompanying timelines.

Maths Problem

What do you think is the largest area that you can make using 36 lengths of fence? To support your answer you must support your answer with a diagram.

COVID Restrictions

There have been no changes to COVID restrictions this term. Social distancing requirements mean that parents will still be unable to attend whole school assemblies. These restrictions also mean that our Mother’s Day Breakfast which we held prior to the COVID outbreak has again been cancelled. During our enrolment period there will also be no open days or tours. When parents come to school for their enrolment interview they will be given a tour of the school at that time.

Some class and grade events may be able to have parents present as they can meet the social distancing requirements. Parents will be notified when these occur.

A reminder of the sign in/sign out procedures are as follows:-

Students MUST be signed in by a parent through the front desk if they are arriving at school any time after 9.15am. Parents are not permitted to drop students off to the class rooms or send them through the school gates if they are still open any time after 9.15am. Parents must sign out students at the front office if picking up early.
Parent helpers must sign in at the front office before entering the classroom. Please scan the Check in Canberra App and have your Working With Vulnerable People card on you whilst on school premises.
Parents are still required to follow the normal Covid protocols including sanitising their hands on entry through the front office.

We have a new digital sign in/sign out kiosk at the front desk which should streamline these processes.

Chess

A reminder to parents that Chess Club will resume on Monday of week 3. Fees for Term 2 will be $48.00 and can be paid to the front office.

God Bless

Peter Hughes

WHOLE SCHOOL FOCUS

The Whole school focus theme for this year is:

‘We Are Bee-Attitude Keepers”

Below is a little fable will help kids know and understand how to live each of the Beatitudes.

The Merciful Flowers

A daisy and a sunflower grew out from under a stairway. They both needed the sun to grow, but there was a lot of shade under the stairs. The sunflower flower was afraid of losing the sun so it moved in front of the other flower to get more of the sun's rays. The daisy was sad and pleaded for its companion to share the sun light so it, too, could grow. The sunflower was afraid of the shade, but felt bad for the daisy. It moved and shared the light equally so both flowers could grow. Weeks later the flowers grew to the height of the stairs. One young boy stomped on the sunflower while in a hurry up the stairs. This flower fell to the ground under the stairway. The daisy took pity on its companion remembering how it had shared the sunlight when they were young flowers. The daisy moved itself into the shade so the trampled sunflower could get the sun it needed to grow again. The sunflower survived and—thanks to the help of the merciful daisy—grew to become tall once more.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. (Matthew 5:7)

Confirmation 2021

Please keep our Year 6 students and their families in your prayers as they prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Spirit Day - Wednesday 28th April

On Wednesday 28th April, Year 6 students will participate in Spirit Day, a retreat to prepare the students for the Sacrament of Confirmation. All Year 6 students will participate and learn about the Holy Spirit through Scripture and prayer. There will be an opportunity for the students who are making their Confirmation to receive Reconciliation and practice the various rituals that will occur during the ceremony. We will be having a sausage sizzle lunch and all students will be encouraged to wear free uniform.