Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for Improved Student Learning

Celebrations of Community - Easter Raffle

$3200!!

Thank you to everyone in our school community for their efforts with our Easter Raffle this year - what an amazing result - $3200 raised for our school community.

• To all our families for their contributions of Easter Eggs for the Raffle
• To our parent helpers - collating raffle books, selling tickets, bundling up the donated Easter Eggs into beautiful gift boxes
• To all families for their generous support in buying the tickets
• To our admin team, especially Marita and Terry for all their efforts

A Team effort by all - well done!  Raffle Tickets will be drawn at our Assembly today beginning at 2.30 pm

Celebrations of Learning

MMPS News

In this week’s MMPS News James and Tylane showcased our Student Voice and Agency in the Year 4 Level.  It was great to see the Year 4 students out and about at Mary MacKillop.  Sensei shared her Japanese challenge for the week with videos of parents saying good morning and goodbye in Japanese.  Well done to everyone for a great news segment showing how our students and parents are building their student voice and agency.  We look forward to our MMPS News next Term!

Student Learning Portfolios

The Term 1 Student Learning Portfolios were distributed to families on Monday 3 April.  We hope you cherish the time with your child to go through their Learning Portfolio and to celebrate their learning journey.  We invite you to provide feedback on the parent feedback sheet at the end of Term 1 student learning samples.  Thank you for working in partnership with us to support your child in their learning journey.

In this week’s newsletter we share learning from our Year 4 level, Japanese and Discovery Centre.  Happy reading . . .

Reminders

Last day of Term 1 - Thursday 6 April, 2023

Beginning of Term 2 - Thursday 27 April, 2023

Term 2 Learning Foci: Design and Technologies / Science

Please return your child’s Term 1 Student Learning Portfolio so they can continue to record their learning journey for Term 2

As we move through the days of Holy Week, we continue to reflect on the lives of people vulnerable to extreme poverty and injustice and how we can respond through supporting Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion appeal. 

Your generosity is the pebble that allows Caritas Australia to create the ripples that will improve the livelihoods of vulnerable communities, supporting them to flourish and create opportunities for future generations to live to their full potential. Thank you! 

Project Compassion Project Compassion donations has concluded this week. The boxes have been collected and all donations will be forwarded to Caritas Australia.  Your support is greatly appreciated.

Holy Thursday (today) marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum – the three days that follow the journey of Jesus from life to death to resurrection. The Stations of the Cross, also called Way of the Cross, portrays the events in the Passion of Christ. Each grade prayerfully commemorated Jesus’ journey during a whole school prayer ritual celebrated in Allen Hall today. Thankyou to those parents, families and friends who joined with us earlier today remembering the journey with Jesus, on his way of the cross and anticipation of his Resurrection on Easter. The events of Jesus’ Passion, death, and Resurrection are called the Paschal Mystery.

As Easter Sunday draws near, Catholics remember the Resurrection of Jesus Christ being the greatest feast in the Church Year. During the season of Easter, the Church asks us to reflect on Jesus' Resurrection and what it means for us as his disciples today.

May this Easter season bring you and your families Christ's peace, joy, and blessings.

Butterfly House

We have been very fortunate to be working with Andrew Chinn, a very well-known Christian singer and song writer entertaining many students, staff and families over many years.. Andrew has visited more than 1000 Catholic primary schools, performing in 3000 concerts across Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada sharing his music and his faith with children, teachers and parents. Andrew visited our school last week and is engaged in a very exciting artistic project with our School. Two groups of students from Foundation to Year 6,  contributions from students across levels and staff has given Andrew and his team, valuable insights about our school which will assist his team to produce a wall mural that will be installed on an outdoor space for all to enjoy. We look forward to continuing our work with Andrew and his team over the next few months as we collaborate to ultimately  bring this initiative to fruition. Watch this space as we share the project with you.

ANZAC APPEAL

The Anzac Appeal raises funds to support former and serving members of the Australian Defence Forces and dependents when in need. Most of the funds are raised through RSL Appeals with the sale of Anzac merchandise.  The Year 6 Student Leaders did a great job promoting and selling the merchandise. A few items are still available for purchase at the School Office. Thank you for your support.

Due to the School term holidays and school closure days parents, families and friends are invited to join us for an ANZAC Day service on Thursday 27th April at 2.30pm on the small oval near the Lone Pine tree (weather permitting).

Sunday, April 9, 2023

Next Sunday begins the Easter Season, the 50-day meditation on the mystery of Christ's Resurrection. The Gospel tells of the disciples' discovery of the empty tomb. It concludes by telling that the disciples did not yet understand that Jesus had risen from the dead. The details provided are not necessarily meant to offer proof of the Resurrection. The details invite Jesus’ followers to reflect upon a most amazing gift, that is faith in Jesus and his Resurrection.

OLHC Parish

Our Lady Help of Christians Parish Information - 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

SACRAMENT OF FIRST EUCHARIST  Parents are invited to book their children for the  Sacrament of First Eucharist. Your child should have received the Sacrament of Baptism and First Reconciliation before enrolling to receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist. The Enrolment Night will be held over two sessions: on Wednesday 3rd May and Thursday 11th May 2023 at 7pm. The Enrolment Night is for parents only. Parents are required to attend only one of the workshops. Attendance is mandatory if you wish to prepare your child for the Sacrament of First Eucharist. If for any reason you miss the enrolment night, or cannot make it to any other meeting/ workshop, we request you to wait until the following year, as the parish is unable to offer any catch-up workshops for those who are unable to attend. A pre-payment before the enrolment is required. This can be made via https://olhc.cdfpay.org.au.  CDF Payment opens on Monday 3rd April at 10am and closes on Friday 12th May at 10am.   For more information visit https:// www.olhc.org.au/parish-sacrament-program/

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/

Over this term, the Year 3’s have learned many new and exciting things. They have chosen some of the work they are proud of to share with the M.M.P.S. community. 

Religious Education 

I like this work because we got to draw what was happening in the scripture - Matthew 4:1-11. I am really proud of my drawings and showing Jesus saying ‘No!’ to the devil. (Ezra) 

I like this piece of work where we had to trace our hand and write a prayer of petition. I liked this because it was fun and I was proud of the prayer I wrote. (Jocelyne) 

English 

In writing we have been learning about persuasive texts. The structure of a persuasive text is a title, introduction, three reasons and a conclusion. (Naya)

I am proud of my persuasive writing because it was really fun to write and I got to write about my opinion and try to convince people to like my opinion as well. (Madeline) 

Maths

I enjoyed vertical addition because I was trying my best. When I was getting the hang of it, I was getting a lot of the answers correct.I learnt when there is a zero, it is a placeholder. (Raiya)

I was working on expanded notation and I had to expand them using place value. (Dharren) 

Inquiry

In our Inquiry topic, we have been learning about rules and laws. A law is something that everyone must follow, or else there will be a serious consequence, such as a fine or going to jail. A rule is something that we follow, but the consequences are not as serious, such as a verbal warning. Both rules and laws help keep us safe. (Jeremy)

Another Inquiry topic we did was about health and well-being. Well-being is about being healthy and happy. On my well-being worksheet, I wrote that nurtured means when you are being looked after and you feel safe and protected because someone is there for you (Lily)

こんにちは、

It was great to see members of our school community using Japanese greetings this week. Arigatou to all parents and carers who took part in the final week of our Japanese greetings challenge. 

Next term we will be challenge ourselves to ask ‘how are you?’ and respond in Japanese.

This week in the Discovery Centre, Grade 1 students created pixel images of what Easter means to them. They learnt to share documents using the share function on Google Sheets.

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