Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for Improved Student Learning

Celebrations of Learning

Cross Country

Our warmest congratulations to the students who participated in our School Cross Country Team last Tuesday.  Mr Tim has listed student achievements and more photos in the PE section of the newsletter - congratulations and best wishes to Annabelle, Telina, Katya, Noah, Tyler, Leonardo, Leeya, Lily, Archer and Zac P.  

MMPS News

A new section has been added to our weekly news segment called ‘Three Good Things’.  Congratulations to Antonia and Bridie on being amazing news readers and sharing student voice and agency in action.  This week Foundation students shared their learning from their Design and Technology Inquiry unit  - Stay tuned for next week’s news!

In this week’s newsletter we share learning from Year 6 Level - Design and Technologies Unit constructing electrical circuits, Cross Country, Japanese News and information about the Australian Mathematics Competition - Happy reading . . .

Celebrations of Catholic Education Week

Catholic Education Weeks begins tomorrow - Friday 19 May.  The theme for Catholic Education Week is “Catholic Schools - Places of Encounter”.  Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for our school to acknowledge and celebrate the diversity and richness in our school community and we look forward to the celebrations outlined in the RE section of the newsletter.

“Let the words you speak always be full of Grace” (Colossians 4:6)

Celebrations of Community

Mother’s Day Breakfast and Assembly

Thank you to all the mums and grandmothers who attended our Mother’s Day Breakfast and Assembly last Friday.  We were blessed with a beautiful autumn morning, a great turn out and the Allen Hall was alive with our community spirit.  A big thank you to Pat (dad of Antonia), Tom (dad of Sophie) and David (dad of Emilia) for their assistance in cooking bacon and eggs, and to our MMPS staff for all their efforts, preparation and planning to make this event a sign of our appreciation for everything our mums do.

Federal Government Funding for School Facilities

We are pleased to announce that our school will receive $25,000 for upgrading or improving existing outdoor learning spaces as part of the Schools Upgrade Fund.  Our plan is to further develop the area under the newly installed shade sails for all our student to enjoy.  Our school is one of more than 1,300 schools that will benefit from a share of $32 million in grants to upgrade school infrastructure and equipment.

The funding will improve facilities for our students and contribute to a happy, safe learning environment.  The funding was a commitment by the Labor government, and the local member for Bruce, Julian Hill MP came and visited our school to officially announce the funding and meet students, teachers, and staff.  Funding will be received in June 2023, and our school will have until the end of the year to use the funding.

COVID-19

Our school community is being impacted significantly by a rise in COVID-19 infections over the past week. If your child is unwell or suffering from a high temperature, please do not send them to school and undertake a RAT test as a precautionary measure. Students and their learning are central to everything we do and every effort is being made to ensure learning continuity and covering classes with staff who are familiar to our students.  This is a very difficult task with significant teacher shortages - a very big thank you to Lize Privitera for all her work, daily organisation and commitment to our students and their learning.

School Dates and Events

Catholic Education Week will be launched tomorrow Friday 19th May 2023. Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Sale will celebrate Catholic Education Week from 19 May to 26 May, 2023. Catholic Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate the wonderful achievements of Catholic schools and highlight the inspiring life of Catholic schools today.

On Thursday 25th May a whole school mass celebration is planned followed by the afternoon of student led fundraiser stalls. All students from the school will have an opportunity to support the fundraiser stalls, led by some very committed Year 4 - 6 students. Items range from 50c to $5.00. The accompanying flyers promote the amount of stalls and fantastic fundraising opportunities available. We encourage all students to bring a few coins to help support the activities.

Please be advised that a separate letter has been sent home today via PAM that lists all the activities taking place during Catholic Education Week.  This eform includes a permission section for children to have a special cookie.  

The fundraising groups will share and promote their stall at Assembly tomorrow, therefore Assembly will begin at 2.15pm promptly.

CatholicCare donations from the Mother’s Day breakfast totalled $136.55    Thank you to those who donated. 

Parents, families and friends are invited to Mass and Reconciliation celebrations held during the term. Please find attached an updated schedule:

The Ascension of the Lord, Cycle A

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Matthew 28:16-20
Jesus charges his disciples to make disciples of all nations and promises to be with them forever.

In next week’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. The words in this reading are the last words that Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus sent his disciples to make disciples, our family, the domestic Church, is called to bear witness to the life of discipleship. That act of witnessing can take many forms. First and foremost our family should call people to discipleship by the example of our love for one another. That example is only the beginning; our love must extend beyond the family, reaching out to others and to the world.

National Walk Safely to School Day (WSTSD) is tomorrow Friday 19 May 2023. The event seeks to promote better health, road safety, public transport and the environment.  Not only is walking a wonderful way to get you where you want to be, but it also gets your health – and your child’s health on the right track too.  You can teach your child the healthy habit of walking more by:

• Walking with them the whole way to school
• If you have to drive, park the car a few blocks away from the school and walk the rest of the way.

For those students who do walk to school tomorrow they will receive a sticker to take home.  Remember, Active Kids are Healthy Kids so get planning your own Walk Safely to School Day journey tomorrow Friday 19 May 2023!  For more information, visit www.walk.com.au

The Australian Maths Competition is taking place on Thursday 3rd August 2023. Notifications were sent to parents via PAM for consent with a closing date TODAY - Thursday 19th May. 

We have had a large response so far and that is fantastic!. If you would like your child to participate in this years competition, please submit the permission TODAY. Unfortunately no late submissions can be considered.

A user interface refers to how people interact with a computer, electronic device, or software.  Our Year 5 & 6 students have been discovering the elements and features that allow users to communicate with and control the device, such as buttons, menus and icons. Students were tasked to design their own App ensuring it was user-friendly, enabling users to efficiently perform tasks and access the desired functionalities. They developed various applications including games, travel, fast food ordering and shopping. They looked very effective as they used elements and principles of design. 

Year 4 students have been learning about algorithms, which are a set of step-by-step instructions or rules to solve a problem or accomplish a specific task in a particular sequence. They have solved a variety of different algorithms, including using the Dash robots where they followed specific instructions to control the robot, debugging issues if they did not follow the steps correctly. Last week we paid particular focus on effectively creating sets of instructions using directional and symbolic cards. Students worked in groups to write, read and act out the different algorithms. 

The Year 6 students have been enthusiastically engaged in the Design and Technology Inquiry unit where they have been exploring and experimenting with electrical circuits and how they can use them to create light, movement and sound. 

Here are some of their  thoughts and reflections about their learning in this Inquiry Unit:

I really like the Inquiry topic because we can interact with electrical circuits. Sometimes it was easy and sometimes it was challenging to get it right but it is really interesting to learn how it works. Jayden - 6MV

Understanding electrical circuits and trying them out to see how they work was a lot of fun for me. I tried to test making a fan move for my electrical circuit. It took me a while to see which batteries were working. But eventually, I got the hang of it and started to try and improve. David - 6MV

I am really enjoying learning about how electricity works, and making things work like light bulbs and motors and fans. It is fun to work through the problems with your friends, and making things work when sometimes they don’t, and you think to work out why not, like fans and lights. It’s amazing how you can learn about electricity and see how far things can go, and it’s fun to explore how far things can go and solve the problem to make them work. It’s fun. Aria – 6PF

I am enjoying how making the electrical circuit work, and how you are in a group that works together to make things work because of electricity. It is fun connecting the circuit and making a motor connect to a battery and making the fan fly into the air, that’s fun as we can try to catch the fan when it flies into the air. I like making the light globe light up as well. And working in a group is fun too, we solve the problems together. Jorge – 6PF

I feel like I’m learning a lot about electrical circuits, switches, and things like insulators, where the rubber goes around the wire in wires, the rubber is an insulator so we don’t get electrocuted, and how conductors make the electricity work, like in metals like copper, gold, silver, steel and others. It’s great to explore and make the bulbs and motors work, and I have learnt how electrons move through materials make electricity work. It’s been fun to learn. Jonathan – 6PF

I think that learning about circuits is a very exciting thing to do because it is something we haven't been taught about in our other years. I like the way we get to interact with the circuits and have fun activities and experiments in Inquiry including circuits. I enjoy the fact that we get to link the topic 'Electrical Circuits' to our reading as well because it lets us become more familiar with the topic. Overall I enjoy - and I am sure others do as well- learning about Electrical Circuits. - Annabelle - 6MV

Year 3 - 6 Cross Country

On Thursday May 4th, all students in Years 3 - 6 participated in our House Cross Country Carnival.  Congratulations to the following students who qualified for our School Cross Country Team:

• 12/13 boys - Gold- Leonardo, Silver - Zac, Bronze - Karim, Marco, Jayden, Ruben, James, Harvey, Ethan
• 12/13 girls - Gold - Annabelle, Silver - Bridie, Bronze - Aiesha, Daria, Sienna B, Mia, Sienna S, Taylor
• 11 Boys - Gold- Tyler, Silver - Archer, Bronze - Cruz, Adrian Pe., Jovan, Kairos, Andrew, Lucas
• 11 Girls- Gold- Telina, Silver - Kate, Bronze - Dior, Angelina, Alyra, Clara, Amelia, Rita
• 10 Boys - Gold - Noah C, Silver- Toby, Bronze - Ashton , Kade, Abyei
• 10 Girls- Gold - Katya, Silver - Cassiana, Bronze - Leeya,   Matilda, Tilly
• Year 3 boys - Gold- D’Angelo, Silver - Caleb, Bronze - Salim, Lucas
• Year 3 Girls - Gold - Liana, Silver Teebel, Bronze - Natasha,  Esther 

HOUSE POINTS 

This year we had our first ever tie in any house carnival in the history of the school ! (after a recount!)

Equal 1st - Fitzroy, Eden

2nd - Portland

3rd- Penola

DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY 

The students listed above represented the school in the Berwick District Cross Country Carnival on Tuesday at Sweeney Reserve, competing against 6 other schools . All students did an outstanding job. It was most pleasing to see our girls win all 3 age groups!   These were the students that qualified for the Casey North Division Cross Country Carnival on May 31st:

• Annabelle  (1st)
• Telina  (1st)
• Katya  (1st)
• Noah C - (3rd)
• Tyler S - (3rd)
• Leonardo M (6th)
• Leeya (7th)
• Lily C (8th)
• Archer (8th)
• Zac P (9th)

AFL CLINICS

All students will be participating in a 45 min footy clinic in their P.E lesson next week run by AFL Victoria . Photos to follow in next week’s newsletter!

こんにちは、

Last week, Grade 1 students made origami tulips to celebrate Mother’s Day. They enjoyed learning a basic Japanese origami fold - the mountain fold.

Child Safe Standards

Our school is safe, student centred and animated by our school values.  

We aim to Inspire Hearts and Minds.

"Children are the future of the human family: all of us are expected to promote their growth, health and tranquillity." Pope Francis 2021

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. 1359.  We embed a culture of child safety and the matter is taken very seriously.

MMPS Child Safe Standards

Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV)

The updated CECV Statement of Commitment to Child Safety - A safe, nurturing and empowering culture for all children and young people in Catholic schools, is attached to this newsletter.  This statement has been updated in light of the revised Child Safe Standards coming into effect from 1 July 2022 and the supporting Ministerial Order No. 1359

Just a reminder that the canteen is closed on the following dates:

• Friday 19 May
• MonDay 22 May
• Friday 26 May
• Monday 29 May