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Our Explicit Improvement Agenda
Student Voice and Agency
Planning for Improved Student Learning
Celebrations of Learning
Every week, Year 6 students host MMPS News, a live program that covers news stories from our school and covers current events. Each Wednesday morning, parents, teachers, and students in the school gather in front of a classroom screen to watch and listen. Students gave the recently established Art Gallery great praise this week. Parents and families who came to visit on opening day also shared their stories with us. “It seems as though I am in a fancy gallery!” as one parent observed.
If you happen to be in the school on Wednesday mornings, come and join us during MMPS News!
ANZAC Day Service and Display
Our Welcome Garden will be transformed in preparation for our annual Poppy display in honour of ANZAC Day. A very big thank you to Avril – Grandmother of Fletcher and Darcy for her very generous contributions to our ANZAC Display. Each year our display continues to grow and reflect the significance of this very special event.
Our school will honour ANZAC Day on Wednesday 24 April at 2.30 pm in the Allen Hall.
We invite all members of our school community to join us to commemorate this very special event. Look our for your special invitation.
Celebrations of Community
Mother’s Day Stall (Wednesday 8 May) and Breakfast (Friday 10 May)
The Mother’s Day Stall will be held on Wednesday 8 May. Our Year 6 student leaders will run the Mother’s Day Stall and students can purchase their Mother’s Day gift for $5. Gifts for sale will be advertised in the classrooms in the coming week.
Our annual Mother’s Day Breakfast will be held on Friday 10th May from 8.00 am - 8.40 am, followed by time in the classrooms and then assembly at 9.00 am. We look forward to celebrating this very special event in appreciation of all the mums & grandmothers in our school community.
Catholic Education Week
Catholic Education Week 2024 will be celebrated in the Diocese of Sale from Friday May 17 - May 24. This year's theme is, 'I am making all things new' - Revelations 21:5.
Keep an eye out for the interesting events that are scheduled:
- Student Lead Fundraisers
- Open classroom afternoon
- Whole School Mass celebration
Welcome Letters
All families received a Welcome Letter to Term 2 earlier this week via PAM. Tomorrow, class teachers will email families their Level Welcome Letter. We ask that you kindly read these and be informed about all that is going on at Mary MacKillop School.
Walk to School Day - Active Kids are Healthy Kids
Now in its 25th year, National Walk Safely to School Day (WSTSD) is an annual campaign and event which encourages all primary school children, their parents and carers, to walk safely and regularly to school. WSTSD will be held on Friday 10 May 2024. Until they’re ten, children must always hold an adult’s hand when crossing the road. Get together - ride, walk, scooter, walk all they or if you must use the car, try leaving it a good distance from the school and walk the rest of the way.
School Dates and Events
ANZAC Day service will be held on Wednesday 24th April, 2.30pm in Allen Hall. Invitations have been sent to families to attend the event. All families and friends are welcome. The Year 6 students are selling ANZAC merchandise on behalf of Berwick RSL. Items range from $2.00-$5.00
Mass and Reconciliation Schedule Term 2
Parents, families and friends are invited to Mass and Reconciliation celebrations held during the term. Please find attached classes, times and dates for Term 2 below:
Sacrament of First Eucharist
Children should be baptised in the Catholic Church and should have received the Sacrament of Reconciliation last year or prior, before enrolling for the Sacrament of First Eucharist. A copy of your child’s Baptism and Reconciliation certificate needs to be attached to the enrolment forms if baptised/received Reconciliation outside of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish.
Parent Information Night
Date: Wednesday, 24th April 2024 or Thursday 2nd May 2024
Time: 6.45pm arrival for a 7pm start
Venue: Our Lady Help of Christians Parish
Levy: A levy of $50 is payable via CDF online.
Making a payment via CDF confirms your enrolment in the Parent Formation Night. - https://olhc.cdfpay.org.au
CDF Payment opens on Monday 1st April at 10am and closes on Tuesday 30th April at 10am
Project Compassion 2024
THANK YOU for supporting Project Compassion 2024. Your generosity will empower the world’s most vulnerable communities to grow stronger and lift themselves out of poverty. Classroom Project Compassion boxes across Foundation to Year 6 collected $484.75 Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow, for all future generations.
Student Led Fundraisers
Students who have indicated an interest in organising a fundraiser to raise money for their chosen charity met yesterday to sort groupings. A letter will be distributed to parents of these students to provide permission for their child/children to conduct the fundraiser. Signed permission returns are due within the week.
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B
Sunday, April 21, 2024
John 10:11-18
Jesus says that he is the good shepherd who knows his sheep.
The fourth Sunday of Easter is also called Good Shepherd Sunday. In each of the three lectionary cycles, our Gospel is taken from the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John. In next Sunday’s Gospel, we hear about Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and how he cares for his followers. A good shepherd knows and cares for his sheep, not because he has to but because he knows and loves them. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He knows us and loves us. He chose to sacrifice his life to save us from sin.
Jesus calls us to choose to help and care for others out of love. During the days leading to the Sunday Eucharist think of some ways that you can show others you want to care and help your family and friends because you love them, not because we have to.
YEAR 3-6 CROSS COUNTRY
This event will take place at school on Wednesday 1st May. This is a compulsory event for all year 3-6 students, where all students are expected to participate to the best of their ability . If your child cannot participate for any reason, please notify your child’s class teacher in writing before the date .
Distances
- Year 3 - 2 laps of course ( approx 1.4 km)
- Year 4 - 3 laps of course ( approx 2.1 km)
- Year 5 and 6 - 4 laps of course (approx 2.8 km)
Students who finish in the following positions will qualify for the school cross country team who will compete in the Berwick District Cross Country Carnival on Tuesday 21st May:
- Year 3 = Top 3
- Year 4-6 = Top 5
Students began training for this event in term 1 during PE lessons and will continue to do so at school. If students wish to train for this event under parental supervision out of school hours it would be beneficial.
HOCKEY CLINICS
On Monday 22nd April Years 3, 5 and 6 students will participate in a 45 minute clinic run by Hockey Victoria at our school. In June, Years 4, 5 and 6 students will have the opportunity to participate in a netball clinic as well.
- To all of our students, welcome back. Seeing all of your smiley and happy expressions as you arrived in your classes on Tuesday morning was really pleasing.
- It is a pleasure to be greeted by children with "Good morning" or "Hello" as they arrive on school grounds in the morning - such beautiful manners displayed by so many students.
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
Child Safe Policy
Child friendly version of Child Safe Policy (updated June 2022) Congratulations to our Year 6 Student Leaders on their creation of the student friendly version of the Child Safe Policy. This policy has been uploaded to our website. Child Safe page and can be found in the following link https://www.marymacnarre.catholic.edu.au/child-safety-standards
Parental Use of Mobile Phones (Privacy Laws)
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
Child Safe Resources to support Students, Parents/Carers
eSAFETY COMMISSIONER - https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents.
FOR FAMILIES - https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/parent-resources/online-safety-for-every-family
CCYP - Commission for Children and Young People https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/child-safe-standards/
SCHOOL TV - https://marymacnarre.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news
Today parents face a multitude of modern-day challenges in raising happy, well and resilient young people. Whilst there is a great deal of information available, this can often be confusing and overwhelming for parents looking for guidance. SchoolTV addresses this as a new online resource designed to empower you as parents with credible and sound information with realistic, practical ongoing support strategies. All SchoolTV topics are divided into series. The number of topics relating to a series will differ and over time new topics will be added. Every month from February to November, a new topic is published for you to review. Take the time to explore each series and topic and make sure you visit the resources section. Here you will find useful factsheets, apps, books, websites and other additional videos - all on one single topic!
BRAVEHEARTS - https://bravehearts.org.au/
WE ARE A HAPPY FAMILIES SCHOOL
Our school is subscribed to the Happy Families School Membership! Owned and run by Dr Justin Coulson, one of Australia’s leading parenting experts, the membership offers a wealth of parenting education and resources. We will regularly share resources available through our membership with you, including Insight Articles and Webinars. You can also access your resources at any time using the below URL (unique to our school) and password.
Unique URL - https://schools.happyfamilies.com.au/login/mmnwn Password - happymmnwn
We recommend bookmarking this link. You should only need to put the password in once and the site will remember you.
Insights Articles - A new Insights article is released weekly during the term, and we will include these with the school newsletter. Insights articles are written by Dr Justin Coulson and other leading experts and provide parenting education and support for a wide variety of traditional and contemporary parenting challenges. You can also access 300+ previous Insights articles on our school’s URL.
Parent Webinars
You have access to 4 live webinars a year (one per term). We will announce upcoming webinar details in the Insights articles. You’ll have access to the recording via our school’s URL but as the webinars are live, we recommend you watch them in real time so that you can ask Dr Justin and / or the guest presenter any questions you may have.
We hope you enjoy the Insights and webinars!