What a celebration we had as a school last Thursday evening. Thank you to all the families who visited classrooms, completed the Treasure Hunt, watched as our ribbon was cut for the 30 year anniversary mural and then attended our Andrew Chinn concert. Every student had the opportunity to shine during the concert. It was a wonderful way to celebrate our 30 year anniversary.

Time Capsule

Last Saturday morning I attended the Time Capsule ceremony at Narre Warren North Hall in order to collect the Mary MacKillop time capsule that was buried (along with many other community group capsules) in 2000. Also in attendance was the Hastings family (Ethan 1BC) as Ethan’s mum Gillian was at Mary MacKillop in 2000. We excitedly waited for our capsule to appear however this did not occur. After opening many capsules that were not named we found Mary MacKillop’s capsule. Unfortunately, the lid had been broken during the last 25 years and nothing was intact (it was all water damaged). We were able to work out there was a Pokemon card, some coins, some photos, some samples of writing and some uniform pieces.

We handed over another time capsule and tried to make sure this one will be in its original condition in 25 years time.

Harmony Day Liturgy and Harmony Day

We held our Harmony Day Liturgy today and tomorrow, Friday 21 March, we have our Harmony Day concert at 2.30pm. Children are invited to wear their traditional cultural dress or the colour orange to show support for Harmony Day.

Easter Raffle tickets were sent home via the eldest child last week.  $2 each.  Raffle drawn last day of term Thursday 3 April.

We are still looking for donations for the raffle from our school families.  Any donation, no matter how small, will be gratefully accepted at the office.  We have extended the acceptance of donations date to next Monday 24 March.

School Review

We continue to work with staff and as a leadership Team to collate our Review Self Reflection report for the Reviewers who will be on site next term (May). Student data is analysed by staff to inform teaching and learning as well as Behaviour data. Our aim is to provide safe, supportive learning environments with students engaged in their learning and receiving an accelerated rate of growth in their learning.

Staffing News

Congratulations to Emily Rickard and her husband on the arrival of Baby 'Goldie' on Friday 7 March at 3.39pm weighing 2.5kg and 45 cm in length. Joyous news!

This week we farewell Terri Dickson, one of our hard working Education Support Officers. Terri has been at Mary MacKillop for more than 19 years and we thank her for all the dedication, energy and passion she has brought to her position. She will have worked with many students over this time. Thank you Terri and we wish you happiness and joy in your next steps.

We have been screening and interviewing applicants for the last six weeks to try and find the most suitable candidates for FKC and for Year 5 CM (2 days per week). Families will be updated as soon as possible.

Car Park Safety

Please continue to use the full drop off lane in the mornings. Cars need to drive as far as possible into the lane to drop students off as traffic backs up very quickly at peak times. If cars drive all the way down to the end of the drop off lane this prevents a build up of cars and students being late. Please remember that cars should only be travelling as WALKING PACE at all times.

Staff Collective Feedback to Students

• Well done to our Year 6 student Leaders who attended our School Tours and did an excellent job guiding families around our school and telling them all about Mary MacKillop.
• Well done to our Year 3 and 5 students on having a growth mindset towards NAPLAN. You guys have done such a great job! It was so nice to see all students being mindful of each other during the tests by making sure they followed the set test conditions - we are proud of you all.
• Amazing work to the Year 1’s who have participated respectfully and enthusiastically in their workshops with Andrew Chinn and Footsteps! We love watching you singing, dancing and having fun! 
• Well done Foundation students on the way you are actively participating in our morning prayer time. We love hearing the specials prayers that you bravely share each morning.
• Well done to the Year 4s and the way they have carefully handled “Luce” during our classroom visits. It was a special moment for us all to have her visit us.
• Thank you 5-LT on the way you have taken on senior learning, making sure you make a quick start to learning activities and even completing spelling tasks before prayer each morning. You are all being accountable for your learning behaviours and have made a significant improvement in your specialists lessons too, making sure you are engaged and productive. When your specialists teachers are giving positive feedback it makes your classroom teachers soooooooo proud! Keep up the consistent efforts and great work!