MacKillop Chronicles 2023 Term 3, Week 9

Thursday 14 September, 2023

First Holy Communion

Little Lighthouse Playgroup

Child Safety Handbook Winter Edition

Primary Matters

Dear Community,

This week we will hear a story in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus is discussing with Peter the limits of forgiveness. Peter is seeking an answer, he suggests 7 times.  Jesus responds with "seventy-seven times", which when translated means seven times seventy seven. Although a finite number, one might suggest that Jesus was suggesting that we need to forgive an infinite number of times. Forgiveness of each other should be offered generously and without limits, much like God forgives our sins. It's easy for Him, one might think, however, what about us? Do we have an infinite amount of forgiveness within us? Do we find the love within us, and in Jesus' words when we are struggling to forgive? Do we forgive even though we may have been wronged? And do we do it more than seven times? Not an easy task and yet we are challenged to follow the words of Jesus from the Gospels, as disciples of Jesus.

20^th Anniversary Celebration

As we enter into our 20^th year at MacKillop, everyone is invited to the official social event at Wyong Leagues Club on Saturday 18 November 2023. This will be a wonderful celebration for past and present members of our MacKillop family.  Come along and join the fun as we reconnect and reminisce! Please see COMPASS for more information.

COMPASS Permissions and Payments

From Term 4, the function to print paper permission forms will be no longer be available. All consent must be given via COMPASS and all payments for sporting events will also need to happen online.  This is a directive from CSBB. Should you require further support in doing this, please refer to the attached instructions.  If this is still not working for you, please call Finance for support.

NAPLAN Groups

Beginning in Week 2 of Term 4, we invite Year 2 and Year 4 students to our Early Morning NAPLAN groups.  These groups are run by Mrs Cathy Whitmore, Mrs Chris Shilling, Mr Frank Cohen and Ms Sherylyn Kenney. The opportunity exists for children to become familiar with NAPLAN style testing and practise their Literacy and Numeracy skills.  If your child is interested, we ask them to meet the teachers at the front door of the Library at 8am on the day of their group.  This is an optional extra. Please use this form to register your interest - Early Morning NAPLAN Group Form

Emergency Lunches

Please be aware that if your child forgets their lunch, they will be offered an emergency lunch of a cheese or vegemite sandwich.  That afternoon, you will receive a slip of paper stating the cost of this lunch.  Please return the cost of the lunch in an envelope with your child's name and class. 

Parenting Course

Next term at school, our school counsellor Jade Kremer will be co-facilitating Tuning in to Kids, which is an evidence-based parenting program that has been delivered worldwide. Read more at the official site here: https://tuningintokids.org.au/parents/.  The purpose of the program is to help us learn strategies for supporting (coaching) our children in managing their emotions. It is not too late register. The program will run on Tuesdays from 1-3pm, 5 weeks starting on Tuesday 17 October (week 2). Please register with Karen Fox on 02 4305 6200 or kfox@uniting.org

Public Speaking

On Monday evening, Dean W from Year 6 travelled down to Asquith to participate in the Diocesan Year 6 Public Speaking Competition. Dean presented a speech he had previously written and also prepared an impromtu speech on the night. Dean represented MCC very well; congratulations Dean!

Debating

On Tuesday this week, 4 students from our MCC Year 6 Debating Team, Ava F, Ella G, Dean W and Malek A, travelled to St Mary's at Toukley to debate the topic, 'Students should be allowed to have mobile phones in schools'. The team debated the negative position. The team were very successful, providing strong arguments and rebuttals and ultimately winning the debate - well done! Special thanks to Mrs Dacey for supporting the team. 

Maths in the classroom

5 Wattle Students have been working hard on their subtraction skills and looking at the inverse relationships with addition. They have also been looking multiplication and using the area model to multiply two and three digit numbers together.

Across Year 3 and Year 5 students are also completing times tables challenges daily to assist in  fluency of times tables and their application across maths.

First Holy Communion - Sunday 17th September 2023 - St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop

A special time in the life of a student is receiving the sacrament of First Holy Communion. 

Communion is also called the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper. It is a way of remembering and celebrating Jesus’ death and resurrection, and his promise to be with us always.

Students from our MacKillop Catholic College and surrounding areas will be receiving the Eucharist - the Body of Christ, this Sunday at our parish church, celebrating as a community with their families and friends together. Everyone is welcome to come and join in this beautiful and exciting celebration at 12pm in the Church. If your child is making their First Holy Communion on Sunday, can you please arrive no later than 11:40am and meet Mrs Whitmore, our acting Religious Education Coordinator, outside the church.

Year 6 Catholic Mission Ambassadors

Six of our Year 6 students were given the opportunity to listen to Luke Tobin from Catholic Mission where they discussed ‘what is dignity?’, how can we show dignity?, and how we can show dignity to others and themselves. The students learnt about areas of the world and poverty.
The students have been asked to help with the Catholic Mission of letting people know about poverty around the world and how we can all help show dignity. Catholic Mission Mass will be held during the last week of October.

God Bless

Sherylyn Kenney
Acting Primary Principal

Vacation Care - CatholicCare

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Secondary News

From the Secondary Principal

Prayer: Year 12 Graduation

Next Week is the final week of formal education for all our Year 12 students.

Bless their lives from this day on, with goodness and success - to use their gifts wisely and in service of others.

Empower them to walk into the future with faith, hope, and great love guided by your light so that they may use their talents to, in the words of St. Ignatius Loyola, "Go forth and set the world on fire."

Amen

Learning:

Year 11 Preliminary Exams:

Year 11 complete their Preliminary final exams this week. We have been very impressed with their preparation for these exams. They now commence their HSC year in Term 4. We thank all their teachers for guiding Year 11 through their preliminary year and all their hard work now in marking exams, writing reports and, most importantly, giving meaningful feedback to each Year 11 student on their results.

Stage 4 Spelling Bee:

Last week, all Year 7 and 8 students competed in a Spelling Bee consisting of words compiled from each of their subject areas. Thus, the students improve their spelling but also learn the words and definitions of language that will be used in their classrooms in Stage 4.

The following students are the spelling bee champions from each House, and they will compete in the Final in term 4.

Well done to each of these students.

Hunter Region Future Skills Conference

Selected students from Year 11 Entertainment were lucky enough to gain some industry experience on Wednesday, 6 September, as videographers for the Hunter Region NSW Future Skills Conference. Lucus McIntyre-Guy, Jacob Keenan and Rhiannon Power worked with Mike McCarthy from Skilled Creative to capture the events’ proceedings for a later editing session, which will be available online. The students enjoyed their allocated responsibilities and celebrated with a loud rendition of “Jessie’s Girl” on the way home. We thank the students for their professional representation of the College at this event.

Year 12 Graduation Week

Our Year 12 students will continue preparation lessons for their HSC until Thursday, 14 September. On the Friday, many of the classes will have thank you, farewell and good luck celebrations in class to celebrate their two years together with their teachers in preparing for their HSC.

On Friday, the students have traditionally selected a theme to dress to; this year, they are dressing as Aussie icons.

On Monday, 18 September, during periods 1 - 3, all Year 12 will meet to prepare and rehearse for their Graduation Mass, Awards Night and Formal, and complete some items. Then, in P4 and 5, there are usually more classroom celebrations. They also tend to dress up on this day, with the students dressing in the college uniform of the opposite gender.

Tuesday, 19 September, is their Charity Day. Muck Up days disappeared many years ago, and our students have opted to do something very positive on the day by raising money for charity whilst still having a great deal of fun. This runs from 7-9 am. The students collect a gold coin from every student, and all donations from staff and parents are genuinely appreciated. It does mean traffic is held up, and there is a lot of noise and excitement, so we recommend you take this into account if dropping students at school that morning. The flyer is below.

Wednesday, 20 September, we will celebrate our Year 12 Graduation Mass at 10 am in the Hall, and all parents are invited to attend. Following the Mass is our moving Guard of Honour. At 6 pm, we gather again with just Year 12 and their families for the Awards Night.

Week 10:

Term 3 ends on Friday, 22 September, at 3.20 pm and all Year 7-11 students are expected to be at school till that time. Teachers will be teaching classes right up till the last lesson on Friday.

Important Dates for T3 Week 10:

Mon – Year 12 Mass, Awards and Formal preparation Periods 1-3

Tues – Year 12 Charity Day

Wed – Thurs – YMCC Leadership Camp

Wed – Year 12 Graduation Mass at 10 am and all parents welcome / Year 12 awards 6 pm

Thurs – Fri – Year 11 SLR activities

Fri – Normal school day with 5 lessons /Last Day

A Heads Up:

From the beginning of Term 4, parents will not be able to download and print a hardcopy consent form from COMPASS.  Instead, all parents will have to use COMPASS to both give digital permission and make any payment(s). Please refer to the Notice on COMPASS that has this information and an attachment that instructs you on how to complete these forms digitally.

Staff Spirituality Day:

The first day back for students in Term 4 will be Tuesday, 10 October. On Monday, 9 October, all staff K-12 are attending a Spirituality Day. This day is mandated for all staff in the Diocese to attend each year. Each school organises their own, and we are looking forward to exploring aspects of our faith on this day.

New Phone System:

Our new number is 72562116. We do expect issues and problems may arise for the next few weeks, so please be patient whilst we work through any hiccups with the new system.

Final Word

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

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

God bless.

Debra Ferguson
Secondary Principal

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COMPASS Sign-in Update

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