Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for improved student learning - key focus in Mathematics

Celebrations of Community

Andrew Chinn Concert 

We had a fantastic day today with Andrew Chinn providing students with workshops in music and the school concert in the afternoon.  Thank you to the families who joined us for this very special event and a big thank you to Lize Privitera for organising Andrew to work with our students.  Andrew is in high demand and is booked years in advance, so to finally have him here with us is a blessing!  Thank you for an amazing day.

Father’s Day Celebrations

Father’s Day Stall was held yesterday.  Children wishing to purchase a second gift can bring $5.00 to the office tomorrow (while stocks last).

Father’s Day Breakfast – Friday 30 August 

• Gold Coin donation supporting Trinity Families (Trinity Families is a charitable fund which operates to serve other charities supporting families in the Greater Gippsland area).
• Father’s Day Breakfast - serving bacon and egg rolls from 8.00 am - 8.40 am (please note starting time)
• Time in classrooms with your child - prayer, Father’s Day activity from 8.40 am - 9.05 am
• Father’s Day Special Assembly - in the Allen Hall from (including Father’s Day School Community Raffle) 9.05 am - 10.00 am approximately 

We look forward to this special event tomorrow and wish our dads, grandads, uncles and special people in our school community a very happy Father’s Day.

The weather is not looking good, therefore the event will be held in the Allen Hall.  Unfortunately we will not be able to set up our usual sports equipment for students and their dads to enjoy due to the weather forecast.  

Celebrations of Learning

Book Week Dress Up

Last Friday was loads of fun for our Book Week dress up.  The day began with the students parade in assembly and engaging activities throughout the day.  Please see a selection of photos below capturing our Book Week characters . . .

Write a Book in a Day Competition

Congratulations to our Year 6 students who participated in our annual Write a Book in a Day Competition - Alyra, Demi, Dior, Jovan, Zara, Raf, Eliza, Emily, Jeremy & Layla.  Last Thursday these students had the opportunity to compete in a timed competition that required them to complete a book with illustrations in one day (from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm).  On our path of continuous improvement, we are very much looking forward to unleashing this Years 6 students’ creativity, innovative thinking, writing and artistic skills.  We look forward to sharing this year’s story with the wider community over the coming weeks.

Year 4 Polly Woodside Excursion

Year 4 students travelled to Melbourne yesterday to visit Polly Woodside as part of their history inquiry learning.  More information and photos will be shared in next week’s newsletter.  

Student feedback

An integral part of our cycle of teaching and learning is student feedback.  Every week, staff record and acknowledge feedback to students and this is shared with them in class and  via the school newsletter, at Assembly and in MMPS News on Wednesday mornings. Read on for this week’s feedback to students.

Thank you to students who helped assist someone who had a heavy fall onto the concrete. It was great to see so much empathy and care shown. Lots of students were willing to help in many ways, and our school values were shown in many ways. 

Fantastic work Year 3 and 4 students with your listening skills and participation during our Kids ROAR Child Safety sessions. We were very proud to hear you list the body clues when feeling unsafe, such as sweaty palms and butterflies in the tummy. Great work!

Fantastic work Year 6 students who participated in the Write A Book In A Day Event. You did an amazing job brainstorming, planning, writing, illustrating and publishing a book in 12 hours! Your story titled, ‘The Switch’ was an interesting and creative mix of engaging characters, plot and pictures. Excellent Job!

Well Done to all the Year 6 students who helped with the Father’s Day Stall. Great work behind the tables selling the special Father’s Day Gifts. You were all very helpful and enthusiastic stall holders!

Planning for 2025 School Year

2025 Student Class Placements

Teachers will begin planning for our 2025 classes in the coming weeks.  We respect and value parent input and ask that you email me – ejones@marymacnarre.catholic.edu.au, or put in writing and leave at the Administration Office, if you have information about your child that could impact on their placement for 2025.  Please ensure your request is received tomorrow - Friday 30 August, 2024.  

Parents please be mindful of the following:

• Staff use their professional judgement and a range of information when placing students into classes.  This information includes student learning progress, learning strengths, learning needs, NCCD Data, gender balance within classes and across the level to provide an optimal learning environment for ALL students. 
• Parent requests are forwarded onto staff when placing students into their 2025 classes. Please note, the 2024 class teacher places students from their 2024 grade into the 2025 class groupings.
• Please be aware that your letters of request are not a guarantee of your child’s placement. 
• Please note that requests made in previous years are not necessarily considered in the process.  Historical information provided by parents regarding their child’s placement will need to be re-submitted if the concerns expressed in previous years are still relevant for consideration in 2025.

Requests received after the cut off date of Friday 30 August are very difficult to take into consideration.  We ask parents to be mindful of our teachers’ preparation and time that goes into student/class placements which is not an easy task taking into account all the areas mentioned above.

Tomorrow's Father's Day Breakfast gold coin donations will be gratefully accepted for the Diocese of Sale Trinity Family Charitable Fund, which supports families in the greater Gippsland area.

On this special day we pray for fathers, grandfathers, and all those who play a fatherly role

A PRAYER FOR FATHERS
Heavenly Father,
you entrusted your Son Jesus,
the child of Mary,
to the care of Joseph, an earthly father.
Bless all fathers
as they care for their families.
Give them strength and wisdom,
tenderness and patience;
support them in the work they have to do,
protecting those who look to them,
as we look to you for love and salvation,
through Jesus Christ our rock and defender.
Amen
(Author unknown)

Sacrament of Confirmation Masses will be celebrated tomorrow night, Friday 30/8 and Saturday 31/8.

We keep in our prayers those students preparing to actively participate in the sacramental life of the Church and deepen their connection with God.

Thank you to all families and friends who came to the Andrew Chinn Concert this afternoon. Throughout the day, the students took part in workshops, and the students in the choir had a special group session.  We are grateful to Andrew for working with our staff and students today and sharing some of his new and classic tunes. We had a wonderful, creative, joyful day showcasing our singing talents through song and action. Early in 2025, Andrew will make a comeback to help us celebrate the school’s 30-year milestone. Keep checking back for additional updates!

Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Sunday, September 1, 2024

In next Sunday’s Gospel, the Pharisees challenge the practice of Jesus’ disciples that went against a rule that the Pharisees taught about washing hands and food utensils. The Pharisees and some Jewish people engaged in a practice of washing their hands and purified food utensils to make them clean. They thought that by doing this they were making themselves holy. Jesus taught that the Pharisees had forgotten the meaning behind their rules. They thought that they were making themselves holy by following the rules about making things clean. But Jesus taught that there was something more important than these actions. Jesus taught that our words and deeds toward others are what show us to be holy people. God wants us to do good things with our lives, such as share our possessions, think kind thoughts even about those who hurt us, and be truthful.

Last Thursday on the  22nd August, the Year 6 Write a Book in a Day team spent the day creating a book from 8:00am to 8:00pm. It was a long day but a rewarding one. 

We produced an exciting story called ‘The Switch’. We had to include certain parameters and words in the story which inspired us to come up with some great ideas! There were many discussions throughout the day, drafting and editing but finally at approximately 7:50 pm, our book was submitted!

A HUGE THANK YOU to the Mary MacKillop community, staff, students and parents for supporting our Lucky Dip fundraiser. We raised the massive amount of $1485.10 which will all go towards the Kids Cancer Project. 

We were all amazed at everyone’s support and enthusiasm for this great cause!

Here are some of the team’s thoughts about the day:

• Demi - I really enjoyed writing a book in a day because I got to work with my friends and we all got to create a book together. Overall it was a  fun experience and getting a chance to do it was amazing.
• Eliza - I  thought WABIAD was fun and exciting because I got to work with some of my friends. The challenge for me was that I’m not very used to drawing animals so it was challenging to draw the echidna . It was quite tiring but I loved the end result.
• Emily - Hi my name is Emily and I was apart of the WABIAD Group. My experience was super fun, we started at 8:00 am at school and ended around 8:00 pm. My favourite part of the day was definitely dinner. The pizza was delicious, but one challenge I think we all came across was managing our time at the end. Besides that I found the day fun and I enjoyed it.
• Alyra - My name is Alyra and I was a part of the Write a book in a day group. Last Thursday we came to school at 8am - 8pm to write a book in a day. It was really fun and I really enjoyed writing and also helping out in the drawings. It was definitely a new experience and really interesting. I'm very happy I got to be a part of it!
• Jeremy - Write A Book In A Day was a really fun experience and I am very happy I was picked for it. On the day me and 9 others had to brainstorm ideas and create that idea into a story. It was a very fun experience and I am very thankful for Mrs Vlajankov for feeding us dinner and fruit. I am very proud of our book and very happy I got to experience it. It was very fun writing the book.
• Raffael - On Thursday the 22nd of August 2024, a group of students from across the year six classes got together to write a book from 8am until 8pm. Personally, I really enjoyed it. Writing and drawing was a challenge at first, but with help from everyone we managed to publish, what in my opinion, was an excellent story. At the end of the day, after 12 hours of hard work it was clear to see that everyone was exhausted but happy of a well deserved success.
• Zara - On Thursday morning I was bubbling with excitement to start writing this book. I was assigned chapter three and I think it was easy as we brainstormed what should happen in each chapter. I found it a bit challenging to start the paragraph as it needed to link to the previous chapter. A pleasant surprise was that we got to go to the staff room, where I had never been and I think it was spacious and beautiful. I enjoyed how we stayed till late as it was pitch black outside and to go in and out of the music room was a bit spooky also it was way past my sleeping time!
• Layla - Hi my name is Layla and I was in the WABIAD team and my favorite part about it was having dinner at school. The food was really good and we had pizza. It was also really enjoyable to stay at school until 8pm.
• Dior - Last Thursday 10 children from year 6 participated in Write A Book In A Day. My favourite part was writing a couple of chapters and knowing that with this book we are helping kids with cancer. It was really nice to experience this.
• Jovan - Write a Book in a Day was a very fun and interesting experience and I was very grateful for this lovely opportunity. On the day, we all brainstormed and wrote good ideas for our story which would be read by families. We are all thankful for the lovely fruit given as well as popcorn, lollies and pizza too. I am very thankful and proud of this book, as well as the experience and I hope we can raise lots of money for the Kids Cancer Council.

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

Child Safe Resources to support Students, Parents/Carers

eSAFETY COMMISSIONER -  https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents.

FOR FAMILIES -  https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/parent-resources/online-safety-for-every-family

CCYP - Commission for Children and Young People  https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/child-safe-standards/

BRAVEHEARTS -  https://bravehearts.org.au

• Bravehearts Day is Australia’s longest-running child protection campaign dedicated to raising awareness and funds for the prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse.
• Funds raised for Bravehearts Day go directly to supporting Bravehearts’prevention programs and child sexual abuse support services.

NATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION WEEK 

(1-7 September)

In 2024, the National Child Protection Week message that ‘Every child in every community needs a fair go’ will be complemented with the theme ‘Every conversation matters’.  Conversations are powerful tools to keep children and young people safe and well.

Conversations can help us understand issues, craft solutions, value community knowledge, and build the brains and social connections of children and young people.

Conversations between
…children and their caregivers matter (from the very earliest days)
…children and their peers matter
…families with teachers, doctors, and other professionals matter
…friends or neighbours matter

…decision-makers and the communities they serve matter.

And, of course, conversations in the public realm and media matter…

So this National Child Protection Week you are invited to  speak up – and speak together – about what needs to change for every child in every community to have a fair go.

This theme provides a platform to:

• engage in important conversations,
• promote the value of conversations, and
• equip us to have conversations that keep kids safe.

NAPCAN Brochures for Parents and Carers https://www.napcan.org.au/napcan-brochures/

We are a Happy Families School!                                                           Our school is subscribed to the Happy Families School Membership! Owned and run by Dr Justin Coulson, one of Australia’s leading parenting experts, the membership offers a wealth of parenting education and resources. We will regularly share resources available through our membership with you, including Insight Articles and Webinars. You can also access your resources at any time using the below URL (unique to our school) and password.

Unique URL - https://schools.happyfamilies.com.au/login/mmnwn

Password - happymmnwn

We recommend bookmarking this link. You should only need to put the password in once and the site will remember you.  The latest weekly Insight Article: The Quest for Independence and Identity (see attachment)

School TV 

https://marymacnarre.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news