MacKillop Chronicles 2023 Term 2, Week 4

Thursday 18 May, 2023

EALD Survey

Second Step

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Primary Matters

Dear Community

Seventh Sunday of Easter Gospel

“Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.” John 17: 1 – 11a. It is at the time of Easter when we acknowledge the Ascension of the Lord to Heaven. The Gospel for the Ascension is read on Ascension Thursday, but this Sunday’s Gospel is also a time to honour the Ascension. The reading is confirmation from Jesus that the journey is almost complete and that his time on earth has come to an end. His Ascension into heaven is confirmation of the promise that to believe in him is to believe in eternal life. He will not abandon us if we believe.

Mother’s Day – A Beautiful Event

It was so wonderful to have so many people turn up for our Mother’s Day liturgy, breakfast and open rooms. We ran out of everything such was the response. The children loved having you here at school to see them in their rooms. I do hope last Sunday was a very special time for all families. I struggle at this time as my mum passed away last year and I really miss her! It was heartening to visit the cemetery to see so many people with flowers being present and never to forget the ones who brought us into this world. Love you Mum!

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Important Reminders

Collecting your child during school hours

If you are collecting your child for a medical appointment during school hours please do so outside of break times.  We cannot efficiently locate your child on the playgrounds or collect their bag from the classroom between the times of 10:50 am-11:20 am and 1:20 pm-2 pm.  

Uniform reminder:-  

Only one pair of earrings and one ring is allowed.

Bracelets, friendship bands, necklaces, chains or anklets are not part of our school uniform and must not be worn to school.

AFL Pedigree Strengthens

Our girls continue to prove they are the leaders in our local AFL competition winning the local event and will now move further into the Paul Kelly Cup. We also need to congratulate two of our own who represented NSWPSSA in Batemans Bay and lifted the trophy as state champs!

Thinking

We all do it. Some do it consistently and others sparingly. Why teaching students how to think is important and why we invest time in students breaking open content and concepts using thinking routines. At MacKillop, we believe there are a number of thinking categories that are part of a Thinking Toolbox from Harvard University. These include:

• Core thinking routines
• Introducing and exploring ideas
• Digging deeper into ideas
• Synthesising and organising ideas
• Investigating objects and systems
• Taking perspective
• Mulling over controversies, dilemmas and perspectives
• Generating possibilities and analogies
• Exploring art, images and objects
• Global thinking

Go to the link which has been shown previously at parent information meetings and watch the short video for an easy explanation of why we teach children how to think http://www.rcsthinkfromthemiddle.com/thinking-routines.html

In the coming weeks, we will display some work samples from the students using thinking routines based on the above categories.

EALD Survey

Thank- you to the many families who have completed the EALD Language survey. We really need all families to complete this so that we have a true snapshot of the language backgrounds of the families we serve. The main purpose is to capture all the backgrounds to ensure we adequately get government funding for our educational programs.

The enrolment window will close end of May

We have only a handful of spots left for kindergarten 2024. It really is the final call. If you already have a child in the school don’t assume a place is reserved for your next child if you have not returned your enrolment form. Interviews and offers have already been held.

Dyslexia Training for Staff

Recently a large number of teachers attended professional learning on how to best cater for students with learning challenges linked to dyslexia. It is estimated that 5 – 10% of people have dyslexia. We are certainly aware of many students in our school who have such challenges. Some common challenges are remembering steps in a process, completing a crowded maths problem sheet and solving complicated maths algorithms. Often the words on a page are like a wave in the ocean with words lumpy and moving on the page which makes reading a challenge. The best way to describe many students with dyslexia is that often a good reader will miss the forest for the trees, but a dyslexic reader will miss the trees for the forest. The forest is the most important part and it is why there are multiple examples of famous people who are dyslexic that have been great success. Richard Branson is a proud dyslexic!

The staff have learned new approaches to help the students we know we have in our classes. The professional learning at MacKillop is based on the needs of the students that we have. The next focus will be on specific challenges linked with ADHD/OCD/Tourette’s.

A Thought for the Week …

“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” Nelson Mandela

God Bless

Frank Cohen

Primary Principal

Lighthouse Playgroup @ MCC

2024 Enrolments

Secondary News

Prayer; Ascension Thursday, 18 May

The Ascension is the event, where Jesus arose into heaven, at the end of his time on earth.

Jesus' time on earth began with his birth. It was interrupted for three days by His death on the Cross. On the third day after his death and burial, Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, an event we call the Resurrection. He spent the next 40 days preaching and preparing His disciples to perform the work of preaching and baptising all people.

At the end of this 40-day period, Jesus ascended into heaven. We call this the Ascension.

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

AMEN

Learning:

• TheatreSports

Impro Australia (IA) facilitates shows & workshops for thousands of school students across NSW annually. For over 15 years, IA has produced one of the State’s premier inter-school competitions: The TheatreSports® Schools Challenge (TSC). The TSC brings primary & secondary students together from over 100 independent and government schools across Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and as far out as Bowral and Nowra to participate, perform together and share in the joyful spirit of improvisation. IA also creates tailored workshops for primary & high school students to suit classroom needs: including basic improvisation and teamwork skills, Theatresports® games training and specific projects such as the HSC Group Performance.

Each year we enter a junior, intermediate and senior team into this competition. Last night we were lucky enough to hold the competition at MacKillop. All the results and pictures will be in next week’s newsletter.

The Mini Vinnies:

Late in Term 1, a group of our Mini Vinnies applied for leadership positions for 2023/24. We had some outstanding applications from students in Years 7 through to Year 10. These students completed an application process that included; short speeches presented to their peers and a panel of questions. In Week 2 of this term, students were invited to a special meeting where successful candidates were announced. A big congratulations to Keisha S, Year 7, Charlize SP, Ruby Mc and Mikayla HR, Year 9, as well as Olivia W, Year 10, who received leadership roles. Each has been allocated a portfolio to look after: Mission, Charity, Social Justice, Community and Fundraising. Once again, we congratulate these students and look forward to the Commissioning Ceremony in Week 7.

Evacuation Drill:

Originally scheduled for last Term and cancelled  as a consequence of rain, on Tuesday 16 May, we held an Evacuation drill from the classrooms with all students and staff K-12 participating. 

The students learnt a great deal about what they have to do, where to go and how to ensure everyone is safe in the event of a fire or other emergency. Later this term we will have another drill when the students are in the playground on a break, to allow them to see how this type of evacuation would occur.

P&F Formation Meeting:

Last Wednesday night approximately 30 parents met in the College Library to re-imagine how a P&F might work in our K-12 school. 

Mr Cohen introduced the charter for P&F groups and a bit of a history of how they have worked in our college since we began.

Parents engaged in the naming of the new P&F and discussed what they believed a quality P&F would look like for our K-12 community.

We will now collate that information and bring it back at our next Parent Meeting. Keep an eye out for the date and all parents will be very welcome.

New Phone System:

At the end of this week, we will no longer have phone lines with our provider and will be moving to using our Microsoft Teams Lines where all calls come through our server. This has been the decision of the Catholic Schools Broken Bay Head Office for all the schools within our diocese.

Our phone numbers will change, and we will send you all the information for this by the end of Week 4. We expect there may be some teething problems, so we ask for your patience when all this occurs.  Our new number is 7256 2116.

Important Dates for Term 2 Week 5:

Mon – Year 10 Science excursion / Year 12 Student Leaders Meeting / CSBB Open Basketball

Tues – P6 Years 7-10 Leadership talk / Red Earth Immersion Reflection Night

Wed –  Our Lady Help of Christians Feast Day / Years 8-12 Student Parliament Meeting / Year 9 Art Excursion / U/14s Rugby League 

Thurs – Biggest Morning tea in the Library- all welcome

Fri – National Sorry Day /Year 11 Leadership Forms due / Year 11 Art excursion

Sat – Reconciliation Week commences

Sun – Pentecost Sunday

Heads Up for Events this term:

• Biggest Morning Tea:

Next Thursday we will once again hold the Biggest Morning Tea. Australia's Biggest Morning Tea is Cancer Council Australia's most popular fundraising event and the largest, most successful event of its kind in Australia. This year they’re hoping to get more people involved and raise over $12 million, to fund research, prevention and support services for those affected by cancer. Hosting a tea is a fun and rewarding way to support the event and help save lives, with more than a million people will sipping their way through morning teas at work, school, home and in the community. Please drop in next week and support this and if you would like to donate some cakes, this would be very welcome.

• Parent-Teacher Meetings:

Just a heads up that Semester 1 Reports will be sent later this term and then Parent Teacher Meetings will be held on Thursday, 22 June, from 1.30 pm to 8 pm and all-day Friday, 23 June, from 8.45 am to 3.30 pm. Information will come out shortly about how to make bookings on COMPASS as we did last year.

• Staff Training in June

All staff in our Diocese have to undergo Safeguarding Training this year. For the Secondary Staff, this has been organised by Catholic Schools Broken Bay on Thursday, 8 June from 1 pm -3 pm. Therefore, there will be no Sport on that Thursday. All students in Years 7-12 will be able to go home at 1 pm. There will be supervision for those students who cannot arrange to leave at this time.

Final Word

If you have any questions or concerns always, please contact the College.

Remember to check COMPASS, our website and, our Facebook pages for information.

God bless.

Debra Ferguson

Secondary Principal

Who is Br Shayne

Sr JiJi visits St Joseph's

World Youth Day Formation Night

CPSARA Connect Multisport Social Day

2023 Religious Art Competition

National Families Week

National Families Week 2023 is just around the corner! Held each year from the 15th-21st May, and to coincide with the United Nations International Day of Families, the Week is a time to celebrate and reflect on the strengths and significance of families, make contact with extended family and friends, and share in the enjoyment of family activities within the wider community. It is a time to celebrate the meaning of family and to make the most of family life – no matter what form your family takes. For tore information please visit the website National Families Week – Families Australia

Mary Star of the Sea Vigil Mass

Biggest Morning Tea

Family Reading and Pizza Night

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