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Welcome back to Term 2
Dear Parents & Students,
We warmly welcome you back to Term 2. We look forward to building our student’s voice and agency in their learning and continuing to target our student’s learning needs. Term 2 provides learning opportunities in Religious Education, English, Maths, Science, Design and Technologies, the Capabilities and our Specialist Subject Learning Areas. It is sure to be an exciting and busy term ahead.
ANZAC Day - Welcome Garden
As a school community we will be celebrating Anzac Day tomorrow on the Small Oval at 2.30 pm - weather permitting. Our Welcome Garden - at the student entry gate, has been filled with the poppies knitted by our school community (ESO Team, Staff, Parents, Grandparents, Great Aunties and friends of Mary MacKillop) during Remote Schooling and Lockdown last year. We are very proud of everyone’s efforts in creating the poppies and the legacy that will continue to live on in our community. Lest we forget . . .
Term 2 - Student Free Days
Monday 14 June – Queen’s Birthday Holiday
Friday 25 June – Staff Planning Day for Term 3
FOMM – Friends of Mary MacKillop – Fundraising Group
The FOMM Team met this morning to go through fundraising for Term 2 and to plan our upcoming Mother’s Day Stall. The Mother’s Day Stall will be held on Wednesday 5 May and students will be able to purchase a Mother’s Day gift for $5. More information on the Mother’s Day Stall will be sent home over the next few weeks.
Student Learning Portfolios
Thank you for completing your parent feedback on the page in your child’s Learning Portfolio. Please return the Student Learning Portfolio to school on Wednesday 21 April so your child can continue to document and celebrate their learning journey.
NAPLAN Online
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses students’ literacy and numeracy skills. The assessment provides parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are preforming at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance. In 2021 Mary MacKillop students will sit NAPLAN online with the exception of the Year 3 Writing Test.
Mother’s Day Breakfast and Assembly
As a school community we look forward to celebrating our Mother’s Day breakfast (bacon and egg rolls) on Friday 7 May from 7.30 am – 8.30 am. The Breakfast will be followed with prayer time in classrooms and then our Mother’s Day Assembly and Raffle at 9.00 am. We look forward to sharing this special morning with our mums as an active sign of our appreciation for everything they do. As part of our COVID-19 Safety Management Plan, all mums attending the breakfast will be asked to register via the QR code. Hand sanitiser and density ratios will also be in place.
Open Days
Enrolments for the 2022 school year are well underway. Families are welcome, at any time, to have a student led guided tour by our Year 6 student leaders and to take an enrolment information pack. Open Day Tours will be held on Tuesday 27 and Thursday 29 April from 9.30 am – 10.30 am and 5.00 – 6.00 pm on both days. We look forward to seeing you there.
Insight SRC Surveys
The Insight SRC Survey is due to be conducted over two weeks in Term 2 beginning Monday 26 April to Friday 7 May. The Insight SRC Survey data provides valuable evidence for the school leadership team in understanding the current culture of our school and assists in the development of necessary climate which support and sustain expert teacher practice and improved student learning outcomes. Staff, selected parents and students from both the Middle and Senior levels will be asked to complete the survey during the survey time period.
School Review – External Reviewers Report
In Term 1, 2021 we engaged in an external School Review with DOSCEL Staff, Mary MacKillop Staff, students and selected parents over 3 days. The process allowed us to review our strategic improvement plan, to identify where we are at in our improvement journey and to define the direction of ‘where to next’. We received the external Reviewer’s Report at the end of Term 1 and over the next few days with staff, we will unpack the feedback and information gathered through the review process to inform our strategic planning in our School Improvement Plan (SIP) and Annual Implementation Plan (AIP).
We look forward to an exciting term of learning and working in partnership with you.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Celebrating the Easter Season
As a School we began the Term with an Easter reflection via Google Meet allowing the Easter joy overflow into the 50-day season which extends from Easter to Pentecost.
How can your family sustain this “Easter spirit” of celebration all the way to Pentecost? Here are a few ways to celebrate the fifty days! Just pick a few ideas that seem right for you.
- Use a special candle at family meals to recall the light of Christ
- Add an “alleluia” song—or three alleluias—to your grace before meals
- Make a poster of a life-giving cross. Add paper flowers and leaves to it throughout Easter
- Keep fresh flowers around
- Talk about baptism. Tell stories of family members’ baptisms
- Plant some seeds
- Read Acts 2, the Spirit’s coming at Pentecost. Read it in all the languages family members speak! (See the Bible translations at www.biblegateway.com/languages)
ANZAC 2021
Every year on the 25th of April, Australia remembers the service and sacrifice of our men and women who have served in conflicts around the world.
While there will be a significant change to the way Anzac Day ceremonies and events are delivered across the country, the nature of the commemorations will remain the same.
Our School will gather on the small oval near the Lone Pine tree for an ANZAC Day service on Friday 23rd April beginning at 2.30pm.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them
(L. Binyon, “For the fallen”, 1914)
To mark this day, the members of the MacKillop Kids group will be making commemorative products available for purchase. Please help us continue supporting veterans. Wearable lapel pins and wrist bands $2.00-$5.00 All sales go directly to Berwick RSL supplying the items.
School and Class Mass and Reconciliation Celebrations will resume this term. Parents and friends are welcome to join students during liturgical celebrations. Adherence to COVID safe plans applies when assembling. Current restrictions apply as per announcements by Victorian Government and guidelines directed by DOSCEL.
For the month of April and May the following celebrations are planned:
- 2EM & 3AM – 29/4/21
- Senior Level – 6/5/21
- FSL & 6RJ – 13/5/21
- Whole School Mass celebrating Catholic Education Week 27/5/21
The three Parish Schools celebrating together during Mass on Saturday 22nd May 2021, 6pm at OLHC Church. Please mark this event in your calendar. We would like to see many Mary MacKillop school families attend. More details to follow.
First Reconciliation
Celebrations begin this weekend. Please keep all students from across the Parish in your prayers.
Congratulations to the following children receiving the Sacrament of First Reconciliation during the next two weeks:
Tylane (4HF) Jonathan C(4HF) Amelia C(4HF) Xavier (3AS) Antonia (4HF) Jayden M(4HF) Taylor N (4HF) Keira J (3AS)
First Eucharist Enrolment and Parent only workshop
This will be held on Wednesday 28th April and Thursday 6th May at 7.00pm in the Church. Parents are required to attend only one enrolment workshop. Attendance is mandatory if you wish to prepare your child for the Sacrament of First Eucharist. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we request only one parent attend the workshop. This is a parent only workshop and children are not required to attend. If for any reason you miss the enrolment night, or cannot make it to any other meeting/workshop, we request you to wait until the following year, as the parish is unable to offer any catch up workshops for those who are unable to attend. An enrolment levy of $50 is payable via CDFPay www.olhc.cdfpay.org.au which will be available from 18th April 2021. Please bring your receipt number to the enrolment night. For more information please refer to the Sacrament Program Booklet 2021 on the parish website www.olhc.org.au.
Gospel Reading John 10:11-18
In next Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus says he is like a shepherd who wants to care for his sheep because he loves them. Because he loves the sheep, the Good Shepherd will do anything to keep them safe.
Jesus is really saying that he loves us so much that he did all he did while on earth—not because he had to, but because he wanted to. Everything he did, he did out of love for us.
In your prayers, ask God to help us want to serve others as Jesus did. As a family prayer the Lord’s Prayer.
OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS PARISH NEWS
Mary MacKillop Primary School is one of the three Parish Primary Schools belonging to the Parish of Our Lady Help of Christians, Narre Warren within the Diocese of Sale. Fr Brendan Hogan is our Parish Priest and Fr Isuru Weliwatte is our Assistant Priest. We are grateful for their ongoing prayers, involvement and support of the students, families and staff of Mary MacKillop School.
PARISH BULLETIN - Click on the link to download the weekly newsletter Parish-Bulletin
WELLBEING
Webinar for parents of children and young people with anxiety (free 90-minute Webinar)
Saturday 24th April, 10:30am-12pm
Catholic School Parents Victoria (CSPV) is presenting a free webinar for parents of children in primary and secondary school.
Supporting parents of children with anxiety
Are you struggling to support your young child or teenager with anxiety?
CSPV provides this opportunity for you to learn from leading anxiety speaker and educator Dr Jodi Richardson.
Jodi is the best-selling co-author of Anxious Kids and a regular media commentator
on issues related to anxiety, wellbeing and parenting.
This free 90 minute Webinar will provide you with strategies to know how to respond,
how you can help, when to seek professional help and much more.
Congratulations to all the Year 6 Students who participated in the Online Bebras Challenge at the end of last term. It was wonderful to see the students using teamwork, problem solving and enthusiasm when working through the challenge. All certificates will be coming home this week. Well done to Christopher, Sean, Isaiah, Aiden and Declan who achieved our Best in School results for the challenge. Amazing effort!
Mid way through last term we started doing a MMPS News Segment on a Wednesday morning in the form of a whole school Google Meet. This segment is student run with the support of Mrs Fonti and Sensai Marshall. Year 6 students have been taking turns as News Reporters, responsible for collecting news content each week from a different year level, this content is then made into a short video presented to the whole school. Our school leaders have been taking turns as our News Presenters. It took some trial and error at first, but it’s been a great initiative encouraging Student Voice in our school and we look forward to continuing this initiative throughout Term 2.
The Discovery Centre Extension group have been preparing for a mini olympics which will take place this week. Events will include a Dance competition, running race, soccer match and shot put. Stay tuned for images in next week’s newsletter.
Mother’s Day Video - I am putting together a video of images of Mothers in our school community with their children. This will be played in the hall during our upcoming Mothers’ Day Breakfast. If you would like to be involved please email me a photo of you and your child/children by the 1st of May. Email lfonti@marymacnarre.catholic.edu.au
YEAR 3- 6 HOUSE CROSS COUNTRY TRIALS
The Year 3-6 House Cross Country will take place TOMORROW, April 23. This is a compulsory part of the Physical Education program for ALL year 3-6 students. The event will take place on the school grounds and children should wear their school sports uniform with a t shirt in their house colour (Penola - Green, Fitzroy - Red, Portland - Blue, Eden - Yellow)
Children will run the following distances:
- Year 3 - 1.4 km (2 laps of 700m course)
- Year 4 - 2.1 km (3 laps of 700m course)
- Year 5 & 6 - 2.8 km (4 laps of 700m course)
Year 4-6 children who finish in the top 8 in their race will qualify for the school Cross Country team and compete in the Berwick District Cross Country Carnival on May 4 at Sweeney Reserve. Generally Year 3’s do not compete at District level, but if any students show outstanding results, they may be invited to be part of the team as practice for next year.
If any students are unable to compete due to an injury or medical condition, please email your child’s class teacher before the event. Otherwise all children are expected to participate to the best of their ability.
If you have any questions please contact me ctimothy@marymacnarre.catholic.edu.au
Friday April 23 -Timetable (amended version)
(note all times are approximate and may start earlier or later than stated)
- 9:30 am - Year 3
- 10:00 am - Year 4
- 11:15 am - Year 5
- 11:45am - Year 6
Hello Mary Mackillop families
As you may remember, I did a fundraiser in term 1 for the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal which I called The Magical Appeal. With your help I have raised such an amazing amount. You might have even seen me on the television sharing how much money I have raised! Now to share with you the final total......a massive $2,157.40 was raised. As a Mary Mac community you have helped me raise $800.25 of that.
Thank you all so so much for supporting my fundraiser! I will be sharing this with all the kids at assembly on Friday. Together we will have made a difference. And as Mary Mackillop says, never see a need without doing something about it.
Alexia (5AB)