Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for Improved Student Learning

Celebrations of Learning - Harmony Day and Footsteps Dance Company!

Students have been very busy this week rehearsing their Harmony Day dance with Footsteps Dance Company for their presentation at Assembly on Friday 24 March.  We are also very much looking forward to celebrating our community diversity, encouraging students to wear their cultural dress or the colour orange for our Harmony Day celebrations on Thursday 23 March.  We will begin our Harmony Day celebrations on Thursday with a whole school liturgy at 9.00 am.  More information on Harmony Day celebrations on Thursday 23 and our Assembly on Friday 24 March is included below in the newsletter.

NAPLAN

Our warmest congratulations to our Year 3 and Year 5 students on their approach to NAPLAN Writing test held on Wednesday this week.  The NAPLAN Reading test will be held tomorrow (Friday 17 March) and Conventions of Language (Tuesday 21 March) and Numeracy (Wednesday 22 March) tests will be held next week.  The NAPLAN timetable is attached to the newsletter for your information.

In the newsletter this week, you will find news from our specialist learning areas - Music and Drama Club.  You will also find on display in the Admin foyer are Year 6 students’ samples of learning on 'Health &Wellbeing - Our Identity'.  A big thank you to all our students for their contributions to our displays - it is great to see our students’ voice and agency through work samples around our school..

2024 Foundation Enrolments

Attention current families! If you have a child starting school next year and have not yet returned their enrolment form to the office, please do so as a matter of urgency.  Enrolments for Foundation 2024 are now open to the wider community and are filling fast. 

If you would like a guided tour by our Year 6 Student Leaders, please call the office 8794 5777 to arrange a time.  Our open days are Tuesday 28 March and Thursday 30 March, 2023 - 9.30 am to 10.30 am and 5.00 pm to 6.00 pm.

Program Support Group (PSG) Meetings

PSG Meetings will be held over the next two weeks.  The PSG meeting focus is to review and monitor student plans such as a Personalised Learning Plan [PLP], Student Adjustment and Evaluation Plan [SAEP], Behaviour Support Plan [BSP] and/or Safety Plan.  The PSG also provides an opportunity to work in partnership with parents, the student and other professional agencies for improved student learning outcomes.  We look forward to our PSG meetings beginning next week.

A big thank you to those families who have so kindly donated to our Easter Raffle.  If you still wish to donate, please send donations to the office by next Monday morning 20th March.  Our thanks also to the group of volunteer parents who are collating raffle tickets, putting together the prize baskets and selling tickets.  Your help is most appreciated. 

Raffle tickets will be sent home with the eldest child next Thursday 23rd March ($2 per ticket) and are due back by Tuesday 4th April.  The raffle will be drawn on the last day of term, Thursday 6th April. 

FOOTSTEPS Dance Company has been visiting our school and is providing three dance sessions for all grade levels. Students will engage in a scheduled session once per week over the next 2 weeks and are being taught a variety of dance styles as an individual and in groups. The program is directly linked to the Dance, Creative Arts & HPE cur­riculum and students will establish skills in fundamental movement as well as appreciation for cul­tural dance. There is a focus on familiarising students with the elements of dance, choreography, characterisation and more. Students will strengthen their interactions with others and continue to establish good social skills with their peers.

The program will culminate with a School Presentation during Assembly on Friday 24th March concluding Harmony Week celebrations. Parents and friends are welcome to join us to celebrate the benefits and strength cultural diversity brings to our School, wider community, nation and Australian way of life.

Harmony Week Activities

On Thursday 23 March:

• Whole School Prayer Celebration  9.00am in Allen Hall – families and friends welcome to attend
• Students are invited to wear cultural dress or the colour orange
• Snack time will be shared with Buddy grades in the Allen Hall

On Friday 24 March:

• Whole School Assembly Dance Presentation during Assembly NB Assembly which will commence at 2.15pm – family and friends welcome to attend

Third Week of Lent 

We are now in the third week of Lent with the Project Compassion story of Priscilla, who lives in the Hwange district in Zimbabwe with her husband, Charles, and two of their grandchildren. Climate change continues to bring unprecedented challenges for people living in the most vulnerable and remote communities in Zimbabwe.

During times of intense drought and food shortages, Priscilla had to commute to the town centre and wait in long queues to collect food.  With the support of Caritas Hwange, Priscilla learnt conservation farming skills to grow drought-resistant crops and started poultry farming to support her family during the current food crisis. Priscilla was able to produce a bumper harvest in her first year of practising in conservation farming. Priscilla also used the funds from her harvest to start poultry farming, which enabled her to sell eggs to pay for her grandchildren’s school fees, books and stationery. The poultry farming provides a safety net for Priscilla and her family during times of hardship, like the current drought.

While the situation in Zimbabwe and across eastern Africa remains dire, the work of Caritas Hwange means that Priscilla can learn the techniques, tools and resources she needs to build resilience and support her family during this current food crisis.  

Watch a short film about Priscilla’s story here.

Please support Project Compassion: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

Project Compassion boxes are located in each classroom for student donations or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

Your support is greatly appreciated.

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

Sunday, March 19, 2023

John 9:1-41 (shorter form: John 9:1,6-9,13-17,34-38)

Jesus heals the man born blind and reveals himself to him as the Son of Man.

Next Sunday’s Gospel tells the story of how Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth. As we listen to this Gospel, imagine what life might have been like for this man. Think about how much he must have appreciated the gift that Jesus gave him. It was truly a great gift when Jesus healed the man’s blindness, but it was an even greater gift when Jesus revealed himself as the Son of Man, the Messiah. And the man received that second gift as willingly as he accepted the first one. He became a believer and worshiped Jesus. In Baptism, Jesus reveals himself to us, and we’re called to be like the man in the Gospel, accepting the gift from Jesus so that we may truly see Jesus as our Lord and worship him.

OLHC Parish

Mary MacKillop Primary School is one of the three Parish Primary Schools belonging to the Parish of Our Lady Help of Christians, Narre Warren within the Diocese of Sale. Fr Brendan Hogan is our Parish Priest and Fr Ajin Albarnas is our Assistant Priest. We are grateful for their ongoing prayers, involvement and support of the students, families and staff of Mary MacKillop School. 

PARISH SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2023

We keep in our prayers the students from our school who are preparing to receive the Sacrament of First Reconciliation. First Reconciliation celebrations are scheduled on the following dates:

Wednesday 15th March 2023 @ 7.00pm   

Saturday 18th March 2023 @ 11.00am  

Saturday 25th March 2023 @ 11.00am         

Wednesday 29th March 2023 @ 7.00pm 

• Ethan
• Milana
• Wendal
• Paul
• Natasha
• Remy
• Jocelyne
• Teebel
• Addison
• Eva
• Jovan
• Nathaniel
• Jeremy
• Awur
• Liam
• Caleb
• Chloe
• Chase
• Adrian
• Tyler

Click on the link to access a copy of the 2023 Sacrament Program Booklet https://www.olhc.org.au/parish-sacrament-program/

PARISH BULLETIN

Click on the link below to download the weekly newsletter. https://www.olhc.org.au/parish-bulletin/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064098005909

We regularly update our facebook page as another way to communicate with the school community

One of our Learning Leaders, Sienna B, decided to start a new lunch time club for students to attend, inspired by her peers’ love for performing! This is our first student run club where students can act, dance, sing, play instruments, laugh and just have fun! Years 3-6 have the opportunity to attend every other Tuesday at play time and next term, we are hoping to include all year levels. 

We look forward to seeing you there!

It has been a exciting and busy term as we have been learning several different musical skills such as aural (listening and repeating clapping and singing patterns), composing, singing and playing percussion instruments.  

Foundation students have learnt to sing and play two songs, Cows in the Kitchen and Frère Jacques using a variety of untuned percussion instruments including, tambourines, triangles and castanets. In recent weeks they have been introduced to chime bars, which are tuned instruments. Each week we have been focusing on a different musical concepts such as sound & silence, soft & loud and beat. Using this knowledge, students have begun to create and compose simple music sequences, sharing them with their peers. 

Year 1 students have learnt the song Kye Kye Kule. They sang and used untuned and tuned percussion instruments including triangles, shakers, chime bars and boomwhackers rotating between each part to perform as a class. Students have begun to compose a piece of  music using different musical instruments to represent different animals, and used their own forms of notation such as zig zag lines or ascending dots. 

In Year 2, students have been learning Charlie Over the Ocean, a silly song that can be sung while playing a game very similar to Duck Duck Goose. The students have enjoyed taking turns being the leader and leading the chant while their classmates echo back the lyrics. Once they learned the words to the song, they had the opportunity to learn different instruments to played along with the song, including chime bars, boomwhackers, triangles, xylophones and shakers. Every lesson, we practise listening to different elements of music, especially pitch and rhythm. After listening carefully to a piece of music, we try to echo back what we have heard using either our voices or body percussion.  

The Year 3s have learned to play untuned and tuned percussion instruments to accompany the song A Ram Sam Sam. They used their understanding of pitch to identify which notes were higher and lower and the correct notes to play on the chime bars when learning the music for both the xylophone and glockenspiel parts. Students thoroughly enjoy developing their skills in Aural lessons as they take turns being the teacher and singing or clapping a melody or rhythm for their peers to echo back.

In Year 4, the students have been expanding their knowledge of pitch, rhythm and tempo through singing, body percussion and instruments. We have been learning the song Tafta Hindi, which the students were surprised to learn is an Arabic folk song about the marketplace. Using scenes from Aladdin as inspiration, students worked in groups to choreograph dance moves to be performed alongside the song. They then learned untuned percussion instruments and worked together to create a whole class ensemble. 

The Year 5s and 6s have been learning about the different elements of music. They shared their common understandings of elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tempo and timbre at the beginning of the term and each week, we have further developed this knowledge through both our ‘Aural’ and ‘Sing and Play lessons’. Students have learned to sing different songs familiarising themselves with the lyrics and melody, then adding accompaniments of both tuned and untuned instruments to create an ensemble piece. Students are also learning to make connections with music in our world, listening to different genres and artists. They learned about the role of a conductor and different instrument families within a symphony orchestra as they watched a performance of The March from Star Wars. Students described how it made them feel and had the opportunity to move around the space in a way that suited different parts of the piece eg fierce marching, smooth movements, calm, energetic. We discussed that music is used to create a mood and evoke emotions and particular instruments help to contribute to this. 

Child Safe Standards

Our school is safe, student centred and animated by our school values.  

We aim to Inspire Hearts and Minds.

"Children are the future of the human family: all of us are expected to promote their growth, health and tranquillity." Pope Francis 2021

At Mary MacKillop Primary School, we believe that ensuring the safety of the students in our care is an integral part of who we are as a Catholic faith community. We adhere to Victorian Child Safe Standards and Ministerial Order No. 1359.  We embed a culture of child safety and the matter is taken very seriously.

MMPS Child Safe Standards

Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV)

The updated CECV Statement of Commitment to Child Safety - A safe, nurturing and empowering culture for all children and young people in Catholic schools, is attached to this newsletter.  This statement has been updated in light of the revised Child Safe Standards coming into effect from 1 July 2022 and the supporting Ministerial Order No. 1359

How do you currently engage with Council?

We know that belonging to a community is important and being able to share your thoughts and provide input into local decision-making processes should be a relatively simple process.  Over the last few years, we have heard that as a community, Casey residents would like us to share more information about issues that affect them and be provided with greater opportunities to provide input into Council decision-making processes.  The City of Casey would now like to hear from you on how we can improve the way we reach out to you and seek your opinion on a range of important issues and decisions.

 We have developed a short survey below to help understand what is important to you and how we can best share information with you in the future. We hope you will take a few minutes of your time to share your views with us.  By completing the survey you will go in the draw to win one of two $250 EFTPOS vouchers.

 The survey will be open from Friday, 10 February to Monday 27, March 2023.

City of Casey Community Engagement Survey | Casey Conversations