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Our Explicit Improvement Agenda
Student Voice and Agency
Planning for improved student learning
Celebrations of Learning
Congratulations - Year 6 Student Leaders
Our warmest congratulations to our Year 6 Student Leaders on their outstanding leadership. They have carried out their leadership duties in an exemplary fashion this week for our Open Day Tours and in running the Mother’s Day Stall. Families visiting our school were so impressed with the pride they demonstrated in our school, their ability to articulate their learning, growth and all we offer as a school to ensure our students have voice and agency in their learning.
Student Learning Portfolios
The Term 1 Student Learning Portfolios were distributed to families last week for your child to share their learning journey so far. We encourage all parents to complete the feedback sheet and to return your child’s Portfolio so they can continue recording their growth and achievements during Term 2. We thank you for working in partnership with us to support your child.
Mother’s Day Breakfast
Thank you to all the families who joined us for the Mother’s Day Breakfast this morning. There were activities to enjoy outside as well as prayer time in classrooms followed by a special Mother's Day Assembly at 9.00 am. A special thank you to all the staff for volunteering their time to prepare and cook 800 rashes of bacon and 33 dozen eggs - a very early start to the day! We have attached some photos of the morning for you to enjoy.
Wishing our mums a very happy Mother’s Day on Sunday
Open Day Tours
On Tuesday 3 May and Thursday 5 May, we held our Open Day Tours. It was wonderful to see so many families interested in our school and coming to ‘see’ what learning is like at Mary MacKillop. As mentioned earlier in the newsletter, our Year 6 Student Leaders are to be commended on the way they shared their learning journey and pride in our school.
If you know of any families interested in enrolling for 2023, please encourage them to submit an enrolment application as soon as possible as positions have filled very quickly this year.
Emergency Management Plan - Evacuation Drill
As part of our VRQA requirements and our commitment to student safety, we held a practice Evacuation Drill yesterday afternoon. Students participated in the drill where we practiced an evacuation to the small oval. Students are to be congratulated on a successful evacuation drill and the safe way they followed instructions to a designated ‘safe’ place.
Religious Education
Catholic Care - Each year schools in the Diocese of Sale support the ongoing service offered through CatholicCare Victoria by raising funds. We thank all those families who made a donation this morning as apart of our Mother’s Day celebrations. We raised $161.70
Sacrament of First Eucharist (also known as First Holy Communion) - Children should be baptised in the Catholic Church and 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.
ENROLMENT AND PARENT-ONLY WORKSHOP
Date: Thursday 12th May 2022
(This is subject to change as per government regulations)
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 - olhc.cdfpay.org.au
Caritas Project Compassion Boxes - During Lent earlier in Term 1, students and families generously donated to the class Caritas Project Compassion boxes. Your kindness raised $660.00. Your support of Project Compassion is a way of saying you care about creating a fairer world, now and ‘for all future generations’. Opportunities for future generations to live to their full potential and thrive. THANK YOU!
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle C
Sunday, May 8, 2022
John 10:27-30 Jesus describes his care for his sheep.
The fourth Sunday of Easter is also called Good Shepherd Sunday. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He loves us and guides us, just as shepherd guides and cares for his sheep. We are Jesus' followers; we are the sheep he is talking about in next Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus knows us as well as our family and our best friends. Throughout our life, we hope and pray that we will grow ever closer to God as we learn to follow Jesus more fully.
Parent Education
A Mother’s Day message for Dads - This is for the partners who want Mum to receive the love she deserves on Mother’s Day. View the attached article below:
Upcoming Webinar with Dr Justin Coulson - Bestselling author and professional speaker, presenting 'Encouraging good behaviour' on Wednesday 8 June 2022 8:00pm - 9:00pm
Key learning and discussion points include:
- Why the centuries-old strategies we still cling to should be left in the past
- How we get discipline wrong and why
- Real world examples of discipline that are as imperfect as parents and their kids, but that still work
- Ideas for discipline that turn everything you thought you knew about the topic on its head
- Applicable strategies for everyone
See the flyer below for further registration details:
SchoolTV Launch - Our School is now offering a valuable resource called SchoolTV to parents. Parenting our children is a complex, challenging and rewarding experience. However, the demands on parents to remain current with technology, drug and alcohol advice and safe practices in a virtual and social media world, as well as dealing with anxiety and wellbeing, add to our busy and diverse family lives.
SchoolTV is a new ongoing resource that is now available to all Mary MacKillop School parents. Each online edition will address a major topic with expert interviews, fact sheets, a parent quiz, recommended apps, books and more. SchoolTV combines information from a host of reliable resources, including BeyondBlue and ReachOut. It provides a single stream of independent factual information that saves parents time and the confusion of searching across multiple online sites for information. You can access the SchoolTV via the Parent Portal on the School website and on the Parent Access Module (PAM).
During the School year we will publish various topics for you to access. The topics covered may be pertinent to your immediate situation, or the resource may be useful for you at a later date. We hope that you find SchoolTV to be informative and a useful source of current well-researched information.
A SPECIAL REPORT: Managing Overwhelm - Due to the pandemic, the world we now live in is a very different place. The hyperconnected nature of our current environment means that we are constantly being reminded of the challenges we face via numerous media and social media channels. Our connectivity to the digital world exposes us to a barrage of messages that can leave us feeling overwhelmed. As a result, many children and their parents are reporting higher levels of stress and anxiety.
Our brains have not evolved fast enough to adapt to this digital landscape. The combination of constant access to information and having little control over the situations presented, can be stressful and overwhelming. It is therefore important for adult carers to check in with their children and be aware of what information they may have been exposed to. It may not necessarily be the information itself that is harmful, but more their inability to process and make sense of it. Providing children with the skills and strategies to cope will enable them to flourish and thrive, socially, emotionally and academically.
The blueprint for parenting, based on our own experiences, is no longer fit for purpose in raising kids as citizens of tomorrow. This can be inherently stressful and overwhelming, not only for parents and carers, but children alike. If left untreated or unmanaged, constant stress and anxiety can lead to a number of behavioural issues or health consequences.
This Special Report suggests a number of strategies to help manage any feelings of overwhelm that you or your child may be experiencing. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.
If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to your special report:
https://marymacnarre.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-managing-overwhelm
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
Resources to support parents and carers - Parent and Carer Webinars:
E-Safety free parent and carer webinars are on again in term 2.
- Parental controls is designed for parents and carers of young people aged 4-13.
- Learn how to set up parental controls on devices and apps to keep your children safe online. The webinar explores the benefits and limitations of parental controls and covers how to safely set up devices and popular games and apps like Roblox and Youtube.
See the attached poster for registration details:
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 Bulletin Click on the link below to download the weekly newsletter.
Foundation Inquiry - Design and Technology
For the first few weeks of term two the Foundation students are investigating different materials and their properties. They are manipulating a range of materials to understand how experimenting is an essential part of the design process. Students are developing knowledge of how the properties of paper, wood and plastic are used for different purposes. The materials we have investigated so far include paper and wood. Here are some reports from what has been discovered.
- “The paper can bend and scrunch.” (Mia, F-CG)
- “It all ripped when it was wet.” (Alex, F-SL)
- “Wood is hard and can hold heavy things.” (Anastasia, F-CG)
- “We can’t bend wood.” (Sunny, F-SL)
- “Lots of things are made out of wood. I saw a spoon, chopping board, rolling pin and a box.” (Gabriel, F-CG)
It will be interesting to establish what the Foundation students think about plastic, once it has been investigated.
We are very excited to see how much the garden has changed and developed over the holidays. Make sure to stay tuned for our next MacKillop Market.
Ayda & Indie - Environmental Leaders
