Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for Improved Student Learning - key focus in Mathematics

Celebrations of Learning

Next Tuesday 25 June, your child will bring home their Student Learning Portfolio that documents their learning journey.  As part of our focus to build Student Voice and Agency, your child has selected samples of their learning to include in their Portfolio.  We ask parents to take the time to provide feedback on the sheet provided in your child’s Portfolio and to share in the joy of their learning journey with us.  

SIMON Semester One 2024 Student Reports - SIMON Student Reports will be uploaded to PAM for parents to access on Tuesday 25 June, 2024

Student Portfolios - Term 2, 2024 Student Learning Portfolios will be distributed to parents on Tuesday 25 June, 2024

Student Learning Conversations - Wednesday 26 June, 2024 3.40 - 6.20 pm & Thursday 27 June, 2024 3.40 - 6.20 pm

Celebrations of Inquiry and Specialist learning in The Arts

On Wednesday 26 June we invite students to dress up as their favourite occupation relating to this term’s inquiry foci - Design and Technology, Science and our specialist subject area of The Arts - Visual Arts.  We look forward to seeing construction workers, engineers, scientists and artists at school on Wednesday 26 June in celebration of our students learning for Term 2.  We will also be showcasing student learning for Term 2 in our Student Art Gallery.  The Art Gallery will be open for parents to browse during our student learning conversations on Wednesday 26 June and Thursday 27 June.  

We strongly encourage students to attend the Student Learning Conversations as part of their student voice and agency in their learning, to share their learning from Semester One with you and their learning goals for Term 3. 

Student feedback

This week’s feedback is a collection of photos of the amazing art works on display in our Students’ Art Gallery.  Parents can visit the Art Gallery during the Student Learning Conversations next Wednesday and Thursday.  Fantastic work to all our talented artists - well done

Curriculum

Our initial Whole School Curriculum Plan for 2024 was for students to alternate between The Arts - Visual Art (Semester One) and Auslan (Semester Two), in the absence of Sensei Claire Stapledon (on sabbatical leave in Japan in 2024).  Unfortunately we have not been able to source an Auslan teacher.  Therefore, our specialist subject The Arts - Visual Art will continue for the remainder of the school year for students in Foundation to Year 6.  Students have now completed their Semester One Discovery Centre learning and in Semester Two will be offered The Arts - Music with Mrs Adcock. Physical Education with Mr Timothy will continue as usual. The updated Layer 1 - BY SCHOOL visual whole year curriculum plan is attached for your reference.

Staffing

Mrs Claire Giles (The Arts - Visual Arts Specialist Teacher) will begin her maternity leave from the beginning of Term 3.  We wish Claire all the very best as her family prepares to welcome their new addition to their family.  We warmly welcome Mrs Bec Fletcher who will be taking Specialist Art in Semester Two for Students in Foundation to Year 4.   

2025 Foundation - Transition Program

School Dates and Events

Student free days - Friday 28 June & Monday 15 July

Term 2 finishes on Thursday 27 June at 3.10 pm

Students begin Term 3 on Tuesday 16 July at 8.45 am

Winter Appeal

During winter especially, material donations such as food is needed. This year students in the MacKillop Kids Group are organising this year’s Winter Appeal by collecting a variety of soup tins and packets. Take part in ‘Put the Warmth in Winter’ by gathering canned soup donations to help our local Narre Warren Conference to support those experiencing food insecurity this winter.

A few things to keep in mind: 

• To uphold the dignity of those receiving goods, please ensure that all food items are not due to expire for at least the next 6 months.
• All items must be non-perishable and undamaged.
• Your donations of tins/packets of soup can be placed in classroom collection boxes. Thank you for your support. We welcome your donations through to the end of this week.

Sacrament of Confirmation

Before enrolling in the Sacrament of Confirmation, children must have been baptised in the Catholic Church and have received the Sacraments Reconciliation and First Eucharist.

PARENT FORMATION NIGHT (Parents only) Thursday, July 25th and Wednesday, July 31st, 2024.   Arrive at 6.45pm for a 7pm start Our Lady Help of Christians Parish Centre A $50 levy is payable via CDF online at https://olhc.cdfpay.org.au. Making a payment through CDF confirms your participation in the Parent Formation Night. CDF Payment is open and will close on Monday, June 17, 2024, at 10:00am, and Friday, July 2, 2024, at 10:00am.  For all enquiries, please contact our Sacrament Coordinator, Vea, by phone (03) 9704 7935 or email sacrament@olhc.org.au

Parish 2024 Sacramental Booklet Link 

Sacramental Booklet Linkhttps://olhc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Sacrament-Program-Booklet-2024-A4.pdf

Parish Bulletin Link 

Parish Bulletin Linkhttps://olhc.org.au/parish-bulletin/

Parish Website Link

Our Lady Help of Christian Websitehttps://olhc.org.au/

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Sunday, June 23, 2024

Mark 4:35-41
Jesus calms the storm.

As we continue in Ordinary Time, our reading today is taken from the Gospel of Mark, the primary Gospel reading in Lectionary Cycle B. Mark's Gospel presents a vivid portrait of Jesus, whose words and deeds show that he is the Son of God. Today's Gospel describes the end of a day of teaching in Jesus' ministry. Jesus taught the crowd in parables and then offered explanations of these parables to his disciples. Jesus then led his disciples away from the crowds and into the boats that they will use to cross the Sea of Galilee. The sea and its surrounding area are the settings for Jesus' teachings and miracles in this part of Mark's Gospel. Today's reading describes how Jesus calmed a storm at sea. It is the first of four miracles that are presented in sequence at this point in Mark's Gospel.

Ask your family questions such as these: Why were the disciples worried about the storm? Why wasn't Jesus worried about the storm?

When we bring our worries to Jesus in prayer, Jesus can help us see things from God's perspective. Invite your family members to name a worry or concern and pray together that Jesus will help you and your family to have faith in God's love and protection.

YEAR 5 - INQUIRY - Earth and Space Science

Lyn Sharratt’s 5 critical questions

Wander into any classroom at Mary MacKillop and you will notice Lyn Sharratt’s 5 critical questions on display. These questions engage students in self-assessment and self-evaluation of their learning in order to improve it.   

The 5 critical questions help us realise where we are right now in our learning and help us get to the next step (Toby)

What are you learning?

We have been learning how the planets orbit the Sun, natural disasters and about animal adaptations.  (Dennish) 

How are you doing?

Space 

Planets - I learnt the order of the planets from the poem ‘My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos. The first letter of each word is for the name of the planet. (Casiana)

We have been learning about the planets in our solar system and the Sun. The Sun is actually a star and it’s white. (Hus)

We understand how Earth is on an angle and how all seasons occur. (Wuri)

Earth - Natural disasters 

I learnt that disasters can destroy habitats of animals and humans. (Lattika)

I learnt how fungi grows on food. Different temperatures change the time the mould takes to grow. The hotter the temperature, the faster the mould grows.  (Eleanor, Jaxon and Tilly)

I learnt how Australian animals can survive in different environments. For example, the koala has a strong digestive system that detoxifies the chemicals in eucalyptus leaves. (Amir and John)

How do you know?

I think we are all doing amazing in all of our science because before we start our lesson we read the learning intention and success criteria. (David)

The Earth and Space incursion helped me because they used physical representations of the moon and Earth and we used a torch and globe to learn about the seasons.  (Toby)

The Science excursion helped us learn because the lady showed us examples and how little we are compared to the sun. (Aaria)

We can understand and explain our new learning. We do experiments and predict what will happen. (Katya)

We used observations to learn how the food changed, for example what the food smelt like and looked like. (Tyler)

How do you improve?

We have to ask questions.We can research about Space to develop an understanding of Science. (Aaliyah and Emily)

We can do this by reading texts about astronomy and the planets. (Wuri)

We can make models to show our learning. (David)

Where can you go for help?

You can go to a teacher or a trusted adult. Even sometimes you can go to a friend. (Thomas)

3-AB Prayer Cloth

In 3-AB, our Mary MacKillop quote is ‘Let us be humble and grateful’. She said this quote in 1898.

As a class, we believe it is a very important statement. For us, being humble is about being respectful and kind towards others. Being grateful is about focusing on the things that we have and rather than focusing on what we don’t have.

We decided to trace our hands on the prayer cloth, because hands represent us, celebrating that we are all different and unique. Some of us decided to draw symbols like the cross and hearts for Jesus’ love. Some of us used rainbow colours to show happiness and to stay positive.

We drew the world with a cross in the centre to represent that it is up to us to show others in the world how to follow in Jesus’ footsteps.

The Indigenous artwork shows our respect and connection towards the Indigenous culture, understanding that they are the original owners of the land.

2-EM & 2-SE Joint Prayer Cloth

2EM and 2SE join together for prayer each morning and decided as a level that we would make a joint prayer cloth this year. The Mary MacKillop Quote we chose was ‘Let us be joyful and thank God’, (1874). We chose this quote because it reminds us that we should be happy and thank God for his creation. We chose to put a rainbow in the middle as seeing rainbows brings people joy and reminds us of God's love. All students got to colour in a flower. Flowers bring people joy and remind us of God’s beautiful creations. We have included an Indigenous border to represent the Indigenous Culture. It is a way of showing awareness of, and respect for, the Traditional Aboriginal Owners of the land.

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