Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for improved student learning

Student Learning Conversations (Parent Teacher Interviews)

Our Student Learning Conversations will be held in March in the Allen Hall with both face to face (fully vaccinated parents) and phone interviews on offer.  The new dates for the Student Learning Conversations are:

Wednesday 16 March, 2022 from 3.40 to 6.20 pm

Thursday 17 March, 2022 from 3.40 to 6.20 pm

Information on how to book your Student Learning Conversation has been sent home to families via PAM. If you have followed the instructions and are still having difficulties, please email the office frontdesk@marymacnarre.catholic.edu.au if you require any further assistance in booking your interview time.

Staff Professional Learning and Student Free Days

(Thursday 10 March and Friday 11 March)

First Aid, Child Safety Training

Staff participated in the following professional learning activities today (Thursday 10 March) - First Aid Refresher Training - CPR, Asthma and Anaphylaxis, Child Safety Modules, Mandatory Reporting eLearning Module, COVID-19 Marshall Training Infection Prevention and Control.  Our staff undergo this training on an annual basis to ensure your child’s safety and to ensure we are equipped with the most up-to-date information on how to respond in emergency situations.  

Religious Education, Staff Faith Formation

Tomorrow (Friday 11 March) our staff will participate in our Religious Education - Staff Faith Formation Day at the Mary MacKillop Centre and Mary Glowrey museum.  For the past two years, this event was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions and we are very much looking forward to having this time together.  

Thank you to our parents for working in partnership with us for these two student free days. We hope our families enjoy the extra long weekend break.  A reminder to families that Monday 14 March is the Labour Day holiday. 

Senior Student Interschool Sports - Wednesday 16 March

Our Senior Students (Years 5 & 6 students) will be participating in their first round of Interschool Sports on Wednesday 16 March from 9.00 - approximately 3.00 pm.  Students will be given the opportunity to play in a range of sporting events and different sporting venues. We are extremely excited for our students being able to participate in this event as our COVID-19 restrictions ease.  A big thank you to our Year 6 teachers, support staff and Mr Tim for organising this event.  We look forward to hearing about our students’ participation and achievements.  Please ensure that you have completed your child's PAM permission form by Tuesday 15th March.  Unfortunately students without PAM permission by this date will be unable to attend.

NAPLAN - Online

The online National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2022 for Year 3 and Year 5 students will be held during the test window on the following days:

Tuesday 10 May to Friday 20 May, 2022

Information on NAPLAN is attached to this newsletter.  If you have any questions, or concerns, regarding NAPLAN, please contact your child’s class teacher.

Vaccination Clinic - Narre Warren North Community

A vaccination clinic will be set up at school for students and anyone in the Narre Warren North community who would like to be vaccinated.  St. Mark’s Medical Centre will administer the COVID-19 vaccinations at school on Saturday 9 April, 2022 from 3.00 - 4.00 pm.  Bookings can be made via the link below.  Children must be accompanied by their parent.

https://www.hotdoc.com.au/medical-centres/cranbourne-north-VIC-3977/st-marks-medical-centre/doctors/mary-mackillop-primary-school-covid-19-vaccination

SACRAMENT OF FIRST RECONCILIATION PARENT AND CHILD WORKSHOPS

Parent/s and their child must attend one of these workshops.  Attendance at one of these workshops is a mandatory requirement as part of the preparation to receive the Sacrament.     

Final session TODAY!   Thursday 10th March 2022   5:00PM OR  7:00PM 

Second Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

Sunday, March 13, 2022

In next Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus takes three disciples with him to a quiet place to pray. Something very important happens. While Jesus was praying, Peter, John, and James fell asleep. They nearly missed something very important! When they woke up, they saw Jesus in glory and Moses and Elijah with him.

Lent is a time for us to stay awake and listen. We slow down and pay attention. We notice that Jesus loves us and is always with us. We can notice Jesus’ presence by praying in silence.

Can you think of some other ways we can notice Jesus is with us?

Parent Education

A WEBINAR FOR PARENTS

Dr Jodi Richardson -Anxiety and wellbeing speaker, author, educator presents:   Building lasting happiness in children.

When: Wednesday 23 March 2022  8:00pm - 9:00pm AEDT

Key learning and discussion points include:

• A new definition of happiness
• What stands in the way of happiness
• Why the science says “more stuff” doesn’t make us happier, and what to do instead
• The skills of happiness - quantifiable, helpful areas of output for parents to nurture in their children
• Evidence-based strategies to increase happiness

Through our membership with Parenting Ideas, our entire school community can attend this webinar at no charge. There's no limit to how many people at our school can attend,  just as long as you register by the listed expiry date. It's as easy as that! 

The webinar is valued at $39 per person. Refer to the PDF for further instructions on how to access the webinar:

There is a lot you can do to promote a sense of happiness in children. The FLOURISH acronym is a reminder of a powerful framework you can use to boost…

How do we explain to our children what our world is becoming? Natural disasters. Wars. Health pandemics. It’s a lot.

Child Safety and Wellbeing

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. 870.  We embed a culture of child safety and the matter is taken very seriously.

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

Bravehearts a leading education and training organisation in child protection facilitated a 2 hour online zoom workshop for teaching staff during yesterday’s meeting time. This annual professional learning activity ensures our staff are well informed of child safety and protection in accordance with our Child Protection and Safety Policy. A range of educational resources will be utilised during the year for the teaching of personal safety to our students.

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. 

Click on the link below to download the weekly newsletter:

PARISH BULLETIN

Child Safety

The Foundation level has been learning about child safety. Below are some statements the Foundation students made about being safe:

“Say stop I don’t like it if someone is doing something I don’t like” (Lucas)

“Tell your mum or dad or grandparents or a teacher if you don’t feel comfortable” (Eden)

“Ask for help if I don’t know something on my computer” (Logan)

“Asking before I go on my iPad” (Mia) 

Year 4 Prayer Cloths

The Year 4’s shared their prayer cloths last week at the assembly that included some thoughts and ideas behind why they chose the Mary MacKillop quote and the special images that they added. 

4CM - Students made the following comments:

This is 4CM’s prayer cloth. As you can see, this was a team effort! The quote for our prayer cloth is “Do your best and God will bless your efforts”

We chose this quote from Mary MacKillop because when we do our best God notices us and is thankful that we have tried our best. We also chose this quote because we should always try our best and have a growth mindset 

After we chose our quote, everyone in the class got a chance to design and colour a picture or symbol that helps them to think about God. 

When we use our prayer cloth for morning prayer, it can help us to pray to God by thinking about joy and peace.

4HF - Students made the following comments:

This is our 4-HF prayer cloth. The prayer cloth represents all of our designs and faith in Jesus in love.

We decided to choose our quote “Prayer is our great weapon” because we believe in God and we pray every day. The  cross  represents our love for Jesus and how he has scarfies he lives for us. The  heart's meaning is how big our love for God/Jesus is. The bible on the prayer cloth  means how we should be sharing the bible everyday.

Child Safety

Child Friendly Version of the Child Safety Policy

The Year 6 leaders have been having meetings with Mrs Privitera and Mrs Jones to upgrade the Child Friendly Version of the Child Safety Policy.

Cyber Safety

We have learned that being cyber smart is very important. You need to remember to keep your personal information private. This school has taught us to be courageous by telling staff, teachers or another adult that we TRUST if you have clicked on the wrong website or times when you are feeling unsafe online. 

Covid Safety

From the past 2 years we have learned to:

• Always sanitize or wash your hands after going to the bathroom and before eating
• To always wear a mask inside and to respect when people wear it more often
• Always stay 1.5 metres away from people.

Jasmine and Sharbel (Learning Leaders) 

こんにちは、

Middle and Senior students have been enjoying attending Japanese club. Last week, Grade 4 students made origami tigers to celebrate the Year of the Tiger. This week, Grade 5 students created Hina dolls to celebrate Hinamatsuri, or the Dolls festival.

Congratulations to the following students on their recent Learning Awards: