Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for improved student learning

Celebrating Student Learning and Achievements

Our warmest congratulations to Scarlett (1st place), Telina (5th place), Douie (8th place) and Annabelle (8th place) on their success in finishing in the top 10 in the Division Cross Country last Friday 3 June.  Students who participated braved the cold and high level of competition to achieve excellent results.  We are very impressed and proud of all students for their efforts.  We wish Scarlett, Telina, Douie and Annabelle all the very best as they compete in the next level of competition at Regional Cross Country on Wednesday 15 June in Hastings.  

Wet Weather

The ongoing rainy and cold weather has resulted in a lot of large puddles on the playground and small oval and a very soggy large oval. Our Extreme Weather Policy has been enacted on a number of occasions over the past week to ensure students stay dry and warm during this Wintery blast.

Mobile phones and Privacy laws

Just a reminder to parents using their mobile phones to photograph or videotape their child at assemblies or other school events.  We ask parents to respect the privacy of all students.  Photographs and video footage of other children cannot be taken without parental permission.  We thank you for working in partnership with us to respect the privacy of all our students.

Important Dates and events

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Cycle C

Sunday, June 12, 2022

John 16:12-15

Whatever the Father has is mine. The Spirit of truth will guide us.

In next Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus makes a promise to his disciples.  Jesus promised the disciples that after he died, he would send the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of truth) to guide them. We, too, receive the Holy Spirit. He fills us with God’s life at our Baptism. He helps and guides us.

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION: SAVE THE DATE Enrolment and Parent only workshops for Confirmation 2022 will be held next Wednesday, 15th June and Thursday 23rd June, please arrive by 6.45pm for a 7pm start. Parents have to attend only one of these information nights. Attendance is compulsory if your child is preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this year. Children should be baptised in the Catholic Church and should have received the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Eucharist prior to 2022.

A prepayment of $50.00 must be made via olhc.cdfpay.org.au and this will open on Wednesday, 8th June at 10am.

OLHC Parish

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 Ajin Albarnas 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 below to download the weekly newsletter.

Parish-Bulletin

Schools TV 

SPECIAL REPORT: Building Resilience Post Pandemic

Unfortunately, the mental health of young people has been significantly impacted by the pandemic. As many families settle back into pre-COVID routines, there seems to be a pervasive sense of optimism about what lies ahead.

Unfortunately children and teens are not immune to what is now being termed the “psychological pandemic”. Young people are at risk of not achieving the primary demands of developmental tasks such as procuring independence, identity formation, as well as obtaining and maintaining peer relationships. What kids need most in the current environment is support, understanding, empathy and encouragement from caring adults. They live up or down to the expectations we set for them.

If there is a panacea to the adversity caused by the pandemic, then it is the building of resilience. Resilience is the capacity to face, overcome, be strengthened and transformed by adversity. Never before, have parents needed the skills, the knowledge and the strategies to build resilience in their children as much as they do now. There are 7 integral and interrelated components that make up being resilient that can help young people thrive and develop healthy coping strategies.

This Special Report explores the “7 C’s of Resilience” and includes suggested strategies on how adult carers can best facilitate them. We hope you take a moment to reflect on the information offered, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If this raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report:

https://marymacnarre.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-building-resilience-post-pandemic

Parent Education 

Teaching kids to be kind

Teaching kindness is key in helping kids lead happy and fulfilled lives and helps offset the challenges of modern society. The article is attached below:

Our school has a membership with Parenting Ideas, one of Australia’s most trusted sources of parenting education and support. As part of this membership, all the parents in this school community can attend some fantastic webinars in 2022 at no cost. We’re pleased to let you know about an upcoming webinar.

Topic: Encouraging good behaviour

Discipline is one of the most confusing and challenging topics that parents grapple with. When you look up the word discipline in the dictionary the first definition is “punishment”. But this is a relatively new way of understanding the word. Until a couple of hundred years ago, to be disciplined meant to be shown a way to follow.

This webinar, presented by Dr Justin Coulson is for every parent who has ever been so desperate to get their kids to ‘behave’ that they’ve tried Triple P, Super-Nanny, 1-2-3 Magic, and pretty much everything else out there, and still found themselves stuck. It explores the concept of discipline and how parents can encourage good behaviour in children.

Key learning and discussion points include:

• Why the centuries-old strategies we still cling to should be left in the past
• How we get discipline wrong and why
• Real world examples of discipline that are as imperfect as parents and their kids, but that still work
• Ideas for discipline that turn everything you thought you knew about the topic on its head
• Applicable to everyone

Click this link to view the video overview: https://vimeo.com/658442514

When: Wednesday 8 June 2022 at 8:00pm - 9:00pm AEST

Redeem your webinar now - it's easy

• Click this link: https://www.parentingideas.com.au/parent-resources/parent-webinars/webinar-encouraging-good- behaviour
• Click ‘Add to cart’
• Click ‘View cart’
• Enter the coupon code ENCOURAGE
• Click ‘Apply coupon’
• Click ‘Proceed to checkout’
• Enter our school’s name to verify your eligibility. The $39 discount will then be applied. Fill in your account details. These are the details you will use to login to your account and access your webinar and resources
• Click ‘Place Order’

This offer is valid until 8 September 2022. If you’re unable to make the broadcast time, just register anyway and you will get access to the recording.

Safer online gaming

Help your kids stay safe by learning about the benefits and risks of online gaming.

This webinar is designed for parents and carers of young people aged 8 to 13 years of age.

It will cover:

• the games young people are using and how they are engaging with them
• the benefits of gaming and how to mitigate the risks
• practical strategies to use at home and where to find help and support if things go wrong.

Term 2 dates (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

• Thursday 9 June 12.30 - 1.30 pm
• Friday 17 June 12.30 – 1.30 pm
• Tuesday 21 June 7.30 – 8.30 pm

Register your attendance at eSafety's parent guide to online gaming

 Social Justice Initiatives

A number of very enthusiastic students have organised fundraisers to support a special charity of their choice. The students have come up with the ideas and followed through with the organisation and running of the fundraiser. Please support their efforts by reading their stories and following their journey.

1.  Royal Children's Hospital Fundraiser - Valentina, Taysha & Angelina 

We are holding an art competition to raise money for the Royal Children's Hospital. We are having students draw their favorite character from a movie, TV show or cartoon. 

It's $2 for entry and we will then pick out the winners from each year level and provide prizes that we have bought to say thank you for participating in helping out the children that are currently suffering. We will then donate all the money that we have gathered to their hospital to help pay for some of their expenses. 

So we ask that your child bring $2 if they would like to join and a chance to win a bunch of art supplies. Entries close June 17th

Send your entries and entry fee to Valentina, Taysha and Angelina in 6PF.

2.  Variety Hearts - Hair with Heart Fundraiser - Annabelle

I would like to do a fundraiser to support the charity Variety Hearts, Hair with Heart. 

Variety Hearts is a children's charity that believes all Aussie kids deserve a fair go at life, so they support kids who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs by providing practical equipment, programs and experiences to help them overcome and live life to the fullest.

Hair with Heart is an organization within Variety Hearts. Hair donations are made into specialized wigs for those who have lost their hair due to a medical condition. Funds raised through the sale of the hair go to Variety's grants and programs to give Aussie kids in need a fair chance.

I will be cutting and donating my hair for this cause. You can give a donation towards this fundraiser on 17th June. Your support is appreciated.

3.  Smith Family Fundraiser - Olivia, Phoebe & Natalie

The Smith family is a non-profit charity helping disadvantaged Australian children who don’t get the best education. They are helping them get the best out of their education. Last year 179,760 disadvantaged children  received support through Smith Family programs. Also, from last year 58,016 students from Around Australia were sponsored and now have a brighter future. The Smith family is one of the top Australian charities helping Aussie kids.

The amount of kids who miss out is terrible and they don't deserve to miss out. We really believe that the Smith family is making a difference in helping Aussie kids who deserve a better education.

We will be doing a lucky dip on the 17th of June, to raise money, so remember to bring your gold coin to win fun prizes!! 

Learning about shapes! 

This Term the Foundation students have been learning about different two-dimensional shapes. The Foundies have learnt the difference between a two-dimensional shape and nonsense shapes. We created different shape pictures by cutting and pasting different two-dimensional shapes. See some of our pictures below!

Mrs Giles & Mrs Lane 

Last week the Year 1’s were given a special job at our whole school Catholic Education Week Mass. The Year 1’s were in charge of leading the actions to the hymn “Go Out”.  We had so much fun singing and dancing as we practiced our best moves! 

What have we been learning in Reading?

In Little Learners Love Literacy the Year 1’s have been learning about the digraph ee and ea, making the /e/ sound. They have also learnt the digraph ai and ay, making the /a/ sound. The students have learnt to read and spell some words with these digraphs and have done an amazing job at identifying different strategies to help them. For example, listening to the word and identifying where we hear the /a/ or /e/. This can help us to know if we should use the digraph ai or ay when spelling the word, snail. See below some examples of our work and the chants we are learning.

Miss Cahill & Mrs Rickard

こんにちは、

This week in Japanese, Grade 1 students read the folktale of ‘The very large turnip’. They made origami turnips to help retell the story. Grade 1 students also enjoyed Japanese club during indoor recess.