2021 Review

This week from Wednesday 3rd to Friday 5th we have been engaged in School Review with DOSCEL Staff.  The aim of school review is to understand our impact of our school improvement strategies and to identify where we are in our improvement journey.  Over these three days, DOSCEL staff will interview students, parents, teachers and Mary MacKillop staff and as a result of the feedback we receive we will evaluate and plan our next steps forward.  This will be captured in our goals set out in our 4 year Strategic Improvement Plan and Annual Improvement Plan.  Thank you to everyone who participated in our school Review and for being a part of this very exciting journey of improvement.

Year 4 Camp – Waratah Bay

As mentioned in the newsletter last week, we are very excited to have DOSCEL approval for our Year 4 students to attend Waratah Bay Beach camp on Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 March, 2021 (last week of Term 1).  Information for the camp has been sent home via Operoo today and we look forward to the learning opportunities camp experiences provided for our students.  Please ensure that you complete the eform by the due date.  We wish all our Year 4 students the very best as they count down the weeks and days to camp.

FOMM – Friends of Mary MacKillop Parent Fundraising Group

We held our first FOMM meeting for the 2021 school year and, with the easing of restrictions, were able to plan some fundraising events for the 2021 school year.  Some of these events include:

Term 2             Mother’s Day Stall - Wednesday 5 May

Term 3             Mary MacKillop Feast Day – Thursday 5 August

                       Father’s Day Stall - Thursday 2 September

                       Footy Day lunch – Friday 17 September

Term 4             Student Disco – Friday 26 November

We look forward to a very exciting year ahead where we can celebrate within our community.

ONLINE NAPLAN – National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy

The online National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2021 for Year 3 and Year 5 students will be held on the following days:

NAPLAN assesses student knowledge and skills in Writing, Reading, Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy.  The results of NAPLAN provide information on student learning for students, parents, teachers and principals.

All students are expected to participate in the online NAPLAN tests. During test week, catch-up tests will be available for individual students who are absent on test days. These students may undertake catch-up tests on the days in the test week after the scheduled test, up to and including Friday 14 May, 2021 for Year 3 Writing and Friday 21 May for all other online NAPLAN areas.  Please note the Year 3 Writing test is a paper based test and all other NAPLAN tests for Year 3 and Year 5 are completed online.  Students will be provided with their allocated Chromebook and earphones for their online NAPLAN testing.

A more detailed letter regarding NAPLAN will been sent home to parents of our Year 3 and 5 students.  For more information about NAPLAN, please visit the VCAA website https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/f-10assessment/naplan/Pages/Index.aspx  or the National Assessment Program - NAP website https://www.nap.edu.au/  If you have any questions, or concerns, regarding NAPLAN, please contact your child’s class teacher.

LABOUR DAY HOLIDAY

Just a reminder to families that Monday 8 March is the Labour Day Public Holiday.  We hope all families have a relaxing long weekend.