MacKillop Chronicles Term 1, Week 3

Thursday 22 February, 2024

A Message from our College Principal

Dear Families,

Following the release of Bishop Anthony’s Pastoral Letter of Discernment, Central Coast, I am delighted to inform you about the upcoming plans for our College.

Building Works

In 2023, the College was successful in receiving a government grant to upgrade the Kindergarten to Year 6 facilities. To this end, the College will commence construction in 2025 following council approval. The new construction will support a four-stream Primary School to cater up to 840 students in a state-of-the-art building. This structure will be a three-tiered building with spacious general-purpose classrooms to allow for agile learning and teaching. There will also be an extension to the current Kiss and Drop section and spaces for recreational play.  

Early Learning Centre

This proposed Early Learning Centre will encompass the Out of School Hours Care and include Vacation Care. We are excited about this addition because it will provide for our community a full continuum of learning from Preschool to Primary School to Secondary school and beyond. It will also likely that our students who have desires to seek a career pathway in Early Learning Childhood Studies will gain valuable insights and experiences, in our very own centre.

Trade Training Centre

Our College Strategic Plan is centred on providing our students with future-directed learning, and this facility will be doing just that very thing! The upgrade to the current Trade Training Centre will see greater opportunities for our young men and women to take trades that support the harmonious relationship between TAFE and the school.  This will include the innovation of offering a Year 13 at our College. The Year 13 Program will support a strong transition between school and the workplace and enable our trade graduates to be optimally prepared for flourishing careers.

The Development of a Senior Campus that supports a Year 13 Initiative

The purposeful development of a Year 13 Program will harness connections between both universities and TAFE. It will enable our students to engage in pre-university courses to support University pathways. So, in other words, offering our University focused students the opportunity to partake in first year university studies while still being at school.  It will also help students engage in TAFE and support the balance between trade training and school engagement.  I am reassured that MacKillop Year 13 students will become leading graduates, and the College will be a beacon for successful and work-ready young men and women.

Upgrade to Sport and Recreational Indoor and Outdoor Facilities

We are so pleased to announce that the College will be offering new recreational spaces that will enable College-based supports to grow in their capacity. It is hoped that local community groups will also share our facilities, making MacKillop a leading sporting and recreational hub on the Central Coast.

Day-Boarding

It is expected that a range of students will be taking advantage of the Year 13 experiences and/or the sports and recreational activities that will run after school into the early evening. To this end, the College is positioning the possibility of offering afternoon tea and dinner to these students as a ‘home-away-from-home’ opportunity.  

Size of Our College

It is projected that our College capacity will grow to 2,200 students, and we are preparing ourselves for this growth in more ways than one. As part of this, I am working with staff to design a school structure that will support this vision to harness a Baptism to Year 13 experience at the College. Some of the work completed thus far has involved engaging in consultation with staff on the development of a MacKillop Educational Model that will boldly take us into this amazing future that is being blue-printed for our Community.

Architectural Plans will be available for families to view at the upcoming Open Day, and I really hope to see you there.

I will continue to update you on our progress.

God Bless,

Tanya Appleby,

College Principal

Primary Matters

SUNDAY 2^nd Sunday of LENT

Gospel Acclamation: 

Matthew 17:5 “From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard: this is my beloved Son, hear him.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Message from the Principal

Another week has passed, filled with learning, goal setting, teddy bears and community celebration, as well as a lot of wet weather.

Enrolment 2025 and beyond!

Enrolment for siblings of current MCC students is now open! As the local community expands rapidly, we wish to ensure placement for 2025 and beyond. If you are seeking enrolment or are aware of others who are seeking enrolment, please direct their enquiry to our website.

Student Collection

As Kindergarten dismissal now joins the remainder of the Primary community it is timely to review the College expectations around student arrival and departure.  The first priority for all of us is the safety of our students as they make their way from our care into your care.

Kiss and Drop:
1. Please ensure your child exits and enters the car on the left side (closest to the curb).
2. In the mornings, please drop your child off in the five bays provided. In the afternoon, your child will only be permitted to enter your car when you are parked in Bays 1-5.
3. Please ensure that your child’s bag is safely secured. Often, random items fall from bags and roll onto the driveway, causing a dangerous situation.
4. Kiss and Drop is active until 3.30pm. If you are running late you will need to collect your child from the Front Office – a phone call to inform us will provide certainty for all.

Parking to Pick up: Last week, a local resident informed me that cars were parked on his grass as people park to pick up children from school. We, please ask that you consider the needs of our neighbours when you are parking.

Walking home, catching a bus, and riding a bike are some of the other ways our students arrive and depart the College each day. As your child grows and gains increased independence, you will review and reassess whether the chosen method works for you and your family.

Thank you in advance!

Positive Behaviour for Learning

As we focus on our personal and communal responsibility to care for our Common Home, we reflect on our continued focus for the week.

Respecting our environment is one of our school rules at MacKillop! As a community, we are called to:

• Keep our school clean.
• Use equipment responsibly.
• Care for our surroundings.

Welcome Mass 2024

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Blessings for a wonderful weekend,

Kerry Power

Acting Primary Principal

Primary Events

Little Lighthouse Playgroup

Secondary News

Dear Community,

Dear Families

I have spent a long time getting to know our students in the last two weeks. I have found them very friendly and approachable. I will meet with more students in the coming weeks to discuss the difference between voice and agency. In the meantime,  I wanted to take this time to shed light on some of the rich discussions that have been taking place across the College.

Student Voice

Recently, I began working with the student Cabinet group, and they have impressed me with their dedication and strong communication skills. Seeing these students stepping up and leading the student body across the College has been very rewarding. During this first meeting, we discussed the skills and dispositions that they would like to have by the time they leave the College.   Some of the skills for future-readiness include:

Resilience – The students said they wanted to be agile to cope with the changes in their lives and the world. One of the students recounted her experiences in her part-time job and spoke about having to show initiative.

Communication- The students also spoke about the importance of being able to communicate in different ways and knowing and appreciating different social settings.

Employability- They wanted career paths that would lead to secure employment, and I was surprised to learn that so many of them had already secured part-time jobs.

Kindness- They thought that people should always be kind and respectful of others. They address the matter of social diversity and being inclusive of difference.

Literacy & Numeracy- They agreed that it was important that all students should be able to read and write effectively. Many spoke about the importance of this in relation to their future studies, and this also included public speaking as a life skill. They could clearly see the value of having a strong foundation in both literacy and numeracy that included opportunities for public speaking.

Student Agency

Student agency is different to student's voice in that it involves giving students responsibility and ownership of their learning. It helps students to have the capacity to set goals, reflect on them and act on those goals in an independent manner. When students become agents of their own learning, they begin learning how to learn. This itself becomes a self-motivational factor that can help students grow throughout their entire lives.

The College Leadership Team and I have started to discuss how we could develop further opportunities to our students to develop both their voice and agency. We look forward to communicating on our progress with students.

Senior Luncheon and Inspirational People

The College Senior Luncheon, held this week,  was an excellent opportunity for students from Years 11 and 12 to see and hear from HSC students and College Dux from 2023 and Mrs Ferguson, previous Secondary Principal and Mrs Appleby, current College Principal.    The guest speaker, Ms Banfield, an alumnus of the College, recounted her journey at MacKillop, which was filled with hardship following an accident that left her in a great deal of pain. She spoke candidly to students about having a passion to sustain them through adversity. Ms Banfield's presentation was inspirational, and we congratulate her on achieving her goal and becoming a Registered Nurse.

It is critical that young people learn that success has many pathways. Not all pathways are direct and there are many ways to achieve a dream job or career.

I look forward to getting to know more students in the weeks to come.

God bless,

Paul Lynch 

Acting Secondary Principal

Senior's Luncheon

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A Word from the Front Office

Enrolments for 2025 - Siblings enrol now!

Open Day 6 March 2024

Kinder Connect

Mary's Faithful Wardrobe and Mary's Formal Closet

Positive Partnerships

Term 1 Dates

COMPASS Sign-in Update

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