Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for improved student learning

Prayer for Peace

Pope Francis is inviting people to join him in prayer tomorrow to pray for world peace. “I invite every community and every one of the faithful to join with me next Friday, March 25, the solemnity of the Annunciation, in making this solemn act of consecration of humanity, and especially of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that she, the Queen of Peace, may obtain peace for the world.”  As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to bring abhorrent atrocities to our daily news, we pray for all Ukrainian people and live in hope that the call for world peace brings an end to the Russian invasion.

Celebrating our cultural diversity - Harmony Day

Our students will be celebrating our cultural diversity tomorrow by wearing something orange and/or their cultural dress and participating in dance routines from their Footsteps dance incursion.  A very big thank you to our students for their enthusiasm and participation in the dances and to Mrs Privitera for her organisation of this fun event.  Students will have the opportunity to present their class dance routines during assembly time on Friday.  Unfortunately, we are required to abide by COVID-19 restrictions of 1.5m social distancing and are therefore unable to have parents on-site in the Hall.  We thank you for your understanding and hope to book Footsteps later on in the year so our students can perform their dance routines to parents and family members when restrictions have eased.

School Advisory Committee (SAC) Meeting

Our first School Advisory Committee Meeting for the 2022 school year will be meeting next Tuesday 29 March at 7.00 pm. The School Advisory Committee is represented by the following members of our school community:

• Chairperson - Liz Jones
• Parish Priest - Fr. Brendan Hogan
• Parent Representatives - Julie G, Danielle D, Stephanie M and Marina V.
• Staff Representative - Helen Fourna and Lize Privitera

The SAC operates as the principal consultative and advisory body in the school and advises on strategic planning, school improvement and development, policy and general leadership. The sole purpose is ultimately to serve and work towards the mission and vision of our school.

Our Vision

In the spirit of St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop - we are a Catholic community Inspiring Hearts and Minds

Our Mission

Our school gives witness to our Christian story by living and celebrating our Catholic faith and through the animation of the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching

Our Values

At Mary MacKillop Primary school we value - respect, responsibility, courage, compassion and problem solving

Parent Support Group (PSG) Meetings

Our PSG Meetings for Term 1 will be held over the next two weeks.  PSG Meetings are for students with Personalised Learning Plans (PLP) OR Student Adjustment Evaluation Plans (SAEP).  The PSG Meetings is designed to review your child’s learning goals, progress and achievements set out in their PLP/SAEP and to set new learning goals for Term 2. If you require any clarification regarding this process, please contact the office on 8794 5777.

NAPLAN

Practice Tests - NAPLAN practice tests for students in Year 3 and Year 5 were held today.  The purpose of the NAPLAN practice test is to provide students with an opportunity to view the NAPLAN online process as well as to ‘test’ our IT infrastructure to ensure our lockdown browser is working effectively and students have uninterrupted connectivity.  This process will help to ensure a smooth transition to NAPLAN during the testing window in May next Term (see below for more information).

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 from Tuesday 10 May to Friday 20 May, 2022  Information on NAPLAN was attached to last week's 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

Harmony Week

Harmony Week has commenced! It’s all about celebrating multiculturalism, diversity, inclusiveness and a sense of belonging for all Australians.  Educating through movement FOOTSTEPS dance company facilitated the first of the 2-week dance course last Friday with a presentation at Assembly on 25/3. Students will get a taste of different cultural dances plus learn a full Footsteps routine! Students are invited to wear their traditional/cultural dress or the colour orange eg t-shirt top, shorts, hair ties, appropriate footwear tomorrow Friday 25th March.

STUDENT FUNDRAISERS

Summer:

Summer, one of our Year 6 School Leaders, has initiated a fundraiser for those who have been affected by the recent floods. A gold coin donation would be appreciated. Collection takes place in the classrooms. Your support is greatly appreciated. Please read the above flier produced by Summer.

Alexia:

Hello everyone, My name is Alexia from 6PF.  You may remember me from my Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal last year when I sold badges. I have decided to do my fundraiser a little bit differently this year by doing it together with my mum. 

My mum and I have both put our love of art to good use and have done a painting that we enjoyed doing. We both used acrylic paint on stretched canvas and they have both been sealed with varnish. My mum and I want to do this for the same reason as last year and that is to help the kids get better and get out of the hospital and to raise money for research and equipment to help them do so. It is also our family tradition to give back to the hospital for the help they gave mum when she was younger.  The paintings have been professionally framed and donated by Framing to a T in Hallam.

I would love it if you could please place a bid and not only own the original artwork but know that you are supporting a worthy cause at the same time.  For more information and to start bidding please click on this link

 https://shoutforgood.com/auctions/alexiasmagicalappeal

Donations are also welcome.

Thank you - Alexia and Trish

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Luke 15:1-3,11-32

Jesus teaches about forgiveness in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

The parable Jesus tells in next Sunday’s Gospel is unique to the Gospel of Luke. Jesus has been teaching the crowds as he journeys to Jerusalem. As he teaches, the Pharisees and scribes complain and challenge Jesus because he is welcoming sinners at his table. Today we hear the third of three parables that Jesus tells in response to his critics. These three familiar parables—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and today's parable of the prodigal son—invite us to consider the depth of God's mercy and love. During Lent, we remember this story and we seek to be reconciled with God and others, especially through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

As the end of the school term comes to a close we begin reflecting on the significant days during Lent which lead into Easter. As a School we will remember what happens on the days of Holy Week. A wonderful time of encouraging our students to understand the significance of the days before Christ’s crucifixion and the resurrection. Holy Week, also known as Passion Week, is the week before Easter, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending on Easter.

Parent Education

A parenting style for the ages - Effective parents move between two communication styles when they interact with their kids. With awareness and practice this approach can become automatic.  View the attached article below:

OLHC Parish - 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 BULLETIN Click on the link to download the weekly newsletter Parish-Bulletin

Year One - Emily Rickard & Breanna Cahill

This year students in Year 1 started a new and exciting reading program called Little Learners Love Literacy. This week we have been busy learning about what syllables are and how we can break longer words into syllables to help us when we are reading. Did you know that the word fantastic has 3 syllables? Fan-tas-tic!  

We have also been listening really carefully to the sounds that make up words to help us when we read and spell. We can change one sound in a word to make a new word. 

Here are some thoughts about Little Learners from the Year 1’s: 

• “Little Learners makes me a better reader” - Alex T 
• “I like the activities we get to do like cutting and pasting” - Geoffrey 
• “I like reading about what the characters Pip and Tim are doing” - Ethan C 
• “My favourite part is Tim’s Quiz because we can solve funny questions” - Mason 

Year Two - Jacqui Butler & Emma Maddicks

It was wonderful to meet with parents last week during our Student Learning Conversations and listen to students sharing their learning with parents and discussing their learning goals. 

Learning to Learn - Our focus this term is on students learning the different roles at school, specifically what the job of the teacher/student is and is not. This empowers students to understand their role within the school. 

Skill and Drill - Students participate in different activities daily to learn to read and write the high frequency words. One of their favourite activities is called Read and Grab. This is a  fun way to learn their words.

• “I am learning to read words. It is definitely fun.” (Ezra)
• “I am can learn different sounds in the word, like ea and ee” (Elodie)

Harmony Day - Last Friday, we had Footsteps, a dance company, visit our school and teach our students some cultural dances.   The Juniors learnt a Maori inspired dance and will have another opportunity to practise the dance before they perform it at the Whole School Assembly this week. 

• “I like dancing. It was fun learning a new dance.” (Madeline)
• 'I liked learning the different moves and stretching my body.” (Tahlia)

Mathematic - Place Value  Students are enjoying our place value focus,  through which they are required to represent a given number in multiple ways. This could be writing the number in its worded form, placing the digits in the correct place value columns, identifying what number is one more/less, ten more/less and expanding the number. 

This week, teachers were fortunate to participate in further learning in this area to support students' growth and understanding. 

Lighting Premiership

The Senior level went to Lightning Premiership on Wednesday the 16th of March and had LOADS of fun! The sports consisted of Basketball, T-ball and Tennis. The Seniors had an amazing day. They were very supportive of other teams, showed great sportsmanship and played their best! We competed against seven other schools, Maramba, Fountain Gate, St. Margaret’s, St. Michael’s, Timbarra, Don Bosco and Berwick Primary School. 

In basketball division A the boys came in 2nd Place and the girls came in 3rd place, In division B the girls came 3rd and the boys came 2nd place. Everyone who played basketball had so much fun and did very well!  In T-ball the girls came 2nd, the girls for tennis came 3rd and the boys for tennis came 1st!  We were very happy with where we all placed!