Dear Families,
We thank the staff of the Catholic Education Office for their dedication and support to the continued growth of Mother Teresa. It has been wonderful to have had so many experienced, calm and knowledgeable members of our home office guiding us through the early stages of our school life.
2019 has been an amazing year, we have much to celebrate, and much to be proud of. At the start of the year we took a giant leap forward as we moved into the second phase of the school’s life welcoming students from Transition to Year 6. Our 2018 students must have been overwhelmed and excited by the opening of the whole school and a sudden influx of a further 120+ students.
We all arrived at the start of the year nervous, but thrilled to be here. We made adjustments throughout the year, understanding when changes needed to be made to the way we did things. We were able to do this successfully because of the people that make up our Mother Teresa school community.
Our Parish Priest, Father Tom has been a constant presence at our school, bringing the Catholic story, traditions and celebrations to our community. Father Tom works with our students every week without fail, sharing the good news of the Gospel and bringing the stories of Jesus to life. Father Tom always comes with a smile and a laugh. He shares his experiences and involves our students in the ritual of reconciliation, liturgy and mass. He enthusiastically immerses those students and staff familiar and unfamiliar with the Catholic Church to give them insight into how and why we celebrate the life of Jesus. We thank you for dedicating so much time to our school Father Tom and we look forward to seeing you again soon.
Our parents have been patient and supportive, volunteering their time, attending our celebrations and offering their feedback. We listened and we grew as a result.
Our students have been amazing. You all came from different schools to be here and you have all adapted to our school life and represented Mother Teresa incredibly well. Without you, there is no school and it is you who bring life to the school. You heard about something called the Mother Teresa Way, you talk about it and show it every day and hopefully our values of hope, joy, love, community and compassion, our motto of doing small things with great love and always using kind words, kind thoughts and kind actions will stay with you for the rest of your days.
You were introduced to the Mother Teresa Way by our foundational Principal, Mrs Jo Martorella, who has done an amazing job of establishing the school, of filling it with students, hiring our teachers, ISAs, our ELC and OSHC staff. Jo worked with everyone required to open this school, including builders, representatives from the Catholic Education Office, from Government and elsewhere. Jo helped to build a vision of teaching and learning excellence that will grow and evolve and help make this school a shining light for education in the Northern Territory. While it is sad that Mrs Martorella is leaving, she will always have a presence at our school and we will remember her and honour the work that she has done. We wish her and Mr Martorella all the very best as they continue their journey.
This leaves me to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of the Mother Teresa staff. They have been stoic and determined, supportive and caring, brave and professional. They have worked and given their all this year with the students of Mother Teresa foremost in their mind. They have delivered an excellent standard of education which is why we will see the majority of you again in 2020. We will also welcome new students growing from 55 at the start of 2018, to 170 this year, to over 200 in 2020, just within the school. Our ELC continues to grow, full to the brim with a waiting list of hopeful families. Our Out of Hours School Care also expands next year due, in no small part to the ongoing hard work of our OSHC staff. Some of our staff will leave and we will honour the contribution of both our departing students and our departing staff in the days to come.
We thank everyone present today for the contribution they have made to Mother Teresa and we look forward to an exciting 2020 with our acting principal Mr Graham. I pray you have a relaxing Christmas break, where you spend time with your families and come back ready to learn and grow next year.
Thank you
