Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for improved student learning - key focus in Mathematics

Thank you

It is with my deepest gratitude to our Mary MacKillop School Community for the honour and privilege of being Principal for the past 6 years.  I started at Mary MacKillop in Term 4, 2018 and my first celebration in the school community was Grandparents’ day.  How fortunate and coincidental that my first and last celebrations were with this very special annual event in our school calendar that celebrates our families. It is hard to capture in words what our school community means to me so I will share some precious memories that will stay with me, and I hope with you, as we all continue on the next steps of our journey . . .

Welcome Garden

Doing duty every morning and afternoon - rain, hail or shine is the best part of my day.  Our Welcome Garden is a special place that is transformed for significant events such as the Olympics, Harmony Day, ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day!  Tomorrow will be my last time to set up our knitted poppies, and my hope is that this important ritual in our school community is continued for years to come in honour of all those who sacrificed their lives throughout history.  It is also poignant during this time with the unrest in parts of our world where peace, the dignity of the human person, solidarity and human connection have been lost.  We pray for peace and for all families in our school community who are impacted by War in the Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and the Middle East.  Thank you to my beautiful friend Avril, grandmother of Harvey (past MMPS student), Fletcher and Darcy for her generous contribution of knitted poppies over the past few years.  Avril’s efforts have transformed our Welcome Garden into a very scared and memorable space for ANZAC and Remembrance Days.

Families

It is with gratitude to the families of Mary MacKillop for choosing our school.  Our Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Grandparent’s Day celebrations are our gift of thanks to you in celebration for being with us on your child’s journey.  How amazing these morning are to come together, to celebrate and honour all members in our school community.  Thank you for your unending support and guidance you offer our students and for working in partnership with our school community to ensure our students have the best possible learning outcomes.  Thank you for the gift and memory of our MMPS families.

Students

Thank you to the students of MMPS for your inspiration, the way you enact our school values - respect, responsibility, courage, compassion and problem solving.  Thank you for sharing and celebrating in your learning growth, for continuing to build your student voice and agency in your learning, for your fundraising efforts and social outreach to those in need and for allowing me to bear witness to your growth, your progress and celebration of your achievements - these memories will forever be in my heart.

Our Staff

A very big thank you to MMPS Staff for their unending support and desire for improved student learning outcomes, for their solidarity, teamwork and ability to stand side by side in support of each other.  Thank you for being welcoming, student centred and faith filled so that our students experience a community modelled on Jesus’ teachings and Gospel messages.  It is with my deepest gratitude and respect for the tireless work our staff do day in and day out to ensure we are educating the whole child - spiritually, academically, socially and emotionally.

Celebrations

It is an absolute joy to witness our students’ participation in school concerts throughout the year - Footsteps & Harmony Day, Andrew Chinn and our annual Christmas Concert with residents from Bupa Aged Care for their extra special performance.  Other events such as Footy Day (go yellow and black), Kaboom Sports, our termly Student Art Gallery, displays of student learning - just to name a few of the many events held throughout the school year - thank you for these very special memories.

Our Community Spirit

The photo below is of Isabel and Tahlia at our Athletics day two weeks ago.  The photo captures two students, one who came first and the other second.  What is most important and significant about the photo is the spirit in which they embrace and celebrate each others’ achievements.  They are both winners and this photo beautifully captures the essence and spirit of what it means to belong to our school.  Our community spirit is both seen and felt on a daily basis in our school community.

Our Story - Mary MacKillop student created mural and into the future

Next year our school community will celebrate its 30 year anniversary.  As you can imaging lots of planning is already underway.  Our school community is shaped by the charism of St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop - I will always remember our student created mural that shares her story of service to others and the ways in which our students live out Mary MacKillop’s story in our school community through student led fundraisers.  Next year Andrew Chinn and his family will come back to work with all members of our school community to capture the essence of who we are, our sense of belonging and in celebration of our diversity.  While this memory is not yet formed, it captures the next steps in our school community that I look forward to hearing about. It is with my deepest gratitude that I thank you for allowing me the honour and privilege of being on this journey with you!

From Wednesday 6 November, Mrs Lize Privitera will be Acting Principal for the remainder of the 2024 school year as I move into a role in the Diocese of Sale.  I thank Lize for her unending support as my Deputy Principal, for her faith filled leadership, student centred focus, tireless efforts to ensure teacher replacements were filled during such critical teacher shortages and for her professional, dedicated approach.  Lize reflects the Mary MacKillop quote “never see a need without doing something about it”. 

Junior Swimming Program

Our Junior students attended their intensive Swimming program at Paul Sadler Swim School this week.  The intensive swimming lessons form part of our Foundation to Year 6 progression of learning in swimming towards the Victorian Water Safety Certificate (VWSC).  The VWSC is a Victorian Government initiative, which describes specific competencies that should be achieved by the time students reach the end of primary school.  The competencies include:

• Water Safety knowledge
• Swim (continuously for 50 metres)
• Under Water (surface dive, swim underwater and search to recover an object)
• Lifesaving (respond to an emergency by demonstrating DRSAB and the recovery position)
• Rescue Skills (rescue a person using non-swimming rescue techniques)
• Survival Sequence (perform a survival sequence wearing light clothing)

Middle and Senior students will be attending Paul Sadler Swim School later on this Term.  Dates are included in the Term 4 School Events and Dates section of the newsletter.    

Staffing updates

Thank you to all families for your well wishes on my appointment at DOSCEL.  From Wednesday 6 November, Lize Privitera will assume the role of Acting Principal for Term 4.  More information on staffing updates will be included in the coming weeks.

Student feedback

An integral part of our cycle of teaching and learning is student feedback.  Every week, staff record and acknowledge feedback to students and this is shared with them in class and  via the school newsletter, at Assembly and in MMPS News on Wednesday mornings. Read on for this week’s feedback to students.

Fantastic job to the Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 students for commencing their Swimming Program at Paul Sadler Swim School. Some students were keen to begin, while others were a little nervous. It was great to see students use courage to get in the pool, while other students displayed respect by encouraging them. All students were respectful to the swimming teachers and followed swimming expectations. Great job Foundies, Year 1 and Year 2! 

Amazing work by the Year 4 students who came into Art focused and ready to work on their creative masterpieces. You are all producing interesting and colourful art in your exploration of pattern and shape. They way you worked quietly and listened during group time created a positive art room environment. Well done from Mrs Fletcher

Fantastic work Year 3 students with your enthusiasm towards our Lucky Dip fundraiser! We love to see not only you donating money to an important cause, but also showing your compassionate heart and giving money to others so that they can join in on the Lucky Dip. We are so proud of you all! 

Year 2’s, you have created some clever and interesting puppets while exploring Textiles in art. The way you come into class ready to focus on your projects and take turns and share the materials  makes a great learning environment in Art, thank you for being a supportive Year 2 community of learners. ~ Mrs Fletcher

Well done to the Year 5’s in the way you respectfully participated in our level fundraiser scavenger hunt. It was fantastic hearing you linking your knowledge of the Catholic Social Teaching principles into our daily lives.

WHOLE SCHOOL COLOUR FUN RUN

What an amazing start to this fundraising event. We love students enthusiasm and efforts so far! Many students are looking forward to a fun filled school event and raising funds at the same time. Thank you to all sponsors and those making donations. Keep up the great effort!