Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for improved student learning - key focus in Mathematics

Celebrations of Learning

Once again we get to celebrate our students Art on display in the Student Art Gallery.  This term the students created Artworks based on an olympic theme - we warmly welcomed parents and family members to view the amazing pieces in the gallery this week.  Congratulations to all students on their efforts, creativity and talents.  A big thank you to Mrs Fletcher and Mrs Hill for facilitating our students’ learning and creating the conditions for their artistic talents to flourish - well done to all.

Celebrations of Community

We had an amazing Footy Day and sausage sizzle today to celebrate the end of Term 3.  A big thank you to Mr Timothy and all staff for their efforts in preparing for this special day in our school’s calendar.  We also thank the parents who assisted with the sausage sizzle lunch - a great way to finish off a busy and productive term!!

Term 3 Student Learning Portfolios

Term 3 Student Learning Portfolios were sent home yesterday.  The Term 3 Student Learning Portfolios includes the Parent Feedback sheet.  We respectfully ask parents to take the time to complete the Feedback sheet with their child after going through the portfolio samples of student learning. We are very proud of our students efforts to document their learning journey and hope families take up this opportunity to acknowledge their child’s efforts.  Term 3 Student Learning Portfolios are due back at the beginning of Term 4.

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:

Congratulations to all students at MMPS for the amazing effort you put into creating this term’s art gallery. I have been so impressed by your creativity. Many students worked collaboratively and were supportive and encouraging to their classmates. Well done - from Mrs Fletcher and Mrs Hill

Thank you especially to Year 3’s who acted as our art critics and wrote feedback ‘spots’ which are now on display in the art gallery. And to Foundation for also providing feedback ‘spots’ to our art gallery by showing us which artworks made a lasting impression on you. Every artwork in the gallery is one to be proud of and a good reminder that we are created by a God who made us in His image, to also create! 

Well done to the Foundation students for the respectful and responsible way you participated in all Term 3 activities. You all move into the library each week quietly, you took part in the Emergency Evacuation seriously, you showed excellent listening behaviours in class and you all play fairly and solve minor problems in the playground. The Foundation teachers are very proud of you all!   

Excellent Work to all the Senior students on your fantastic work on your Home Study Projects. You did an amazing job creating, presenting and meeting the Success Criteria. Your final artifact showed great enthusiasm and dedication to your learning. 

Congratulations to all students for the way they have participated in music lessons. You have listened and responded to a wide variety of music and have been able to explain why you liked listening to it. You have achieved so much in one term. Well done!

Important dates and events

Whole School Athletics Day - Wednesday 16 October at Casey Fields

(Please ensure that you have completed the PAM permission form by today, if you have not already done so)

Last day of term -  Thursday 19th September at 3.10pm

Friday 20 September - Staff Professional Learning Day (student free day)

Term 4 begins Monday 7 October at 8.45 am

INVITATION FROM FR MICHAEL, Parish Priest OLHC Narre Warren

Pope Francis has dedicated 2024 as the Year of Prayer, in anticipation of the Jubilee Year of 2025. To celebrate the Year of Prayer, I would like to invite all families from Mary MacKillop School Primary school to pray the Rosary together with your Parish family on the 23rd of October 2024 from 7pm to 7:30pm.

The Parish Rosary is prayed every Wednesday night online via Zoom and you are invited to join in from the comfort of your own homes. My hope is that this will encourage many of our school families to pray together in the month of the Rosary in a way that could lead to regular family prayer, which always bears much fruit in those relationships.

If anyone participating has a particular intention that they would like to be prayed for, please feel free to put them in the chat room once logged in.  Families interested in participating are asked to send an email to Lize Privitera at lprivitera@marymacnarre.catholic.edu.au

In compliance with safeguarding procedures, a reply email will contain the Parish Zoom link. Families are requested not to share the link with others.  Thank-you for considering this request.

 Fr Michael

Emily D’Sylva (OLHC Parish Pastoral Associate)

As John Paul II explained, the repeated prayers in the Rosary help us get more in touch with the deepest desires in our souls for God. The Rosary provides us with a time and place to connect with our inner self. The Rosary is a meditative prayer. This simple prayer, in fact, helps us to contemplate all that God in his love has done for us and allows us to understand that our life is united to that of Christ. In prayer, we bring everything to God, our struggles, our wounds, our fears, but also our joys, our gifts, our loved ones … all to God. By praying, we allow God to enter our time, to welcome and transfigure all that we experience.

Think of the Rosary as being like the ocean: there’s something in it for everyone. The deep- sea explorer and the child making sandcastles on the beach can fully enjoy the same ocean while playing at different levels. And this is true with the Rosary… just a two-and-a-half- minute break and you can pull out your Rosary beads and pray a decade in order to regroup with the Lord and be nourished spiritually. That’s all a decade takes: one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and one Glory Be.

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Mark 9:30-37
Jesus teaches his disciples that the greatest are those who serve all.

In next Sunday's Gospel, we learn that some of Jesus’ first disciples argued about which of them was the greatest or the most important. Even they wanted to be famous! Jesus teaches them something surprising about what it means to be great in God’s eyes. Jesus doesn’t want us to compare ourselves to one another. Instead, he says that we should be focused on one thing only. To be great in God’s Kingdom is to be the servant of all.

Thursday 24th October 11.30am Grandparent’s Mass   

Parents, friends and families can save the date to celebrate grandparents. Morning tea and mass will be celebrated.  More information in early Term 4. Watch this space!                 

Photos of grandparents and families can be sent to lprivitera@marymacnarre.catholic.edu.au A PowerPoint presentation will be created and presented during the mass.

Term 4 Mass and Reconciliation timetable

Term 3 has been an exciting time in the Art room as we used our student’s interest in the Olympics as a springboard for Art inspiration.   The students collaboratively planned an art installation which represents the city of Paris, the Olympic hosts for 2024. The majority of art is created as 3D sculptures using found materials and upcycled items. All the artworks are on display in the Art Gallery this week. 

Foundation and Year 1 students created the spectators who are traveling into Paris to watch the sporting events.

Year 2’s created the city of Paris, with hotels, cafes, parks, houses and even a duck house and pond! Look out for the abandoned building that was hit by a big tree and then swing by the “Down Town Burger Dash” for a snack before you head off to the sporting events.

The Year 3s and 4’s created the sporting arenas and stadiums. See if you can find your favourite sport, we have a huge array represented including swimming, basketball, gymnastics, shooting, water polo, archery, golf, soccer and even a few winter sports snuck in, like ice skating.

In addition to the city of Paris students have created Olympic paintings, Paris pastel drawings and designs for future Olympic torches.

Year 5 and 6s have created wonderful art works of Paris featuring the Eiffel Tower inspired by Van Gogh, as well as brilliant 3D pictures of athletes using the style of Keith Haring. The students explored Paris as the city of Light (because it was the first city in Europe to install gas street lighting) and have made unique sculptures on the theme of light using, light bulbs, lamp shades and other materials.

The focus for our projects this term has been to allow student agency and choice in what the students create, driven by their interests with guidance from the teacher. 

Congratulations to all our amazing Art students for the way you have thought outside the box, worked collaboratively and accessed materials and support from teachers thoughtfully to create a fantastic Art Gallery this term.

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