Our Explicit Improvement Agenda

Student Voice and Agency

Planning for improved student learning

Celebrating Student Learning

Foundation to Year 3 Camp Experience

The aim of the camp experience was to continue with our F-6 Camp structure model and to celebrate a year of learning through engaging with the company Taskworks.   Students had the opportunity to try new things and demonstrated such skills as persistence and adaptability to identify strategies when faced with unfamiliar or challenging situations. Students worked collaboratively with peers and demonstrated skills for effective participation in group tasks. A meal emulating an off campus venue was included in the camp experience. Thank you to Mrs Lane, and the Junior & Middle teaching teams for their organisation of an action packed, fun and exciting ‘camp’ yesterday at school. 

Victorian Water Safety Certificate - Intensive Swimming Program Year 4 students

This week the Year 4 students have been participating in intensive swimming lessons as part of the progression of learning towards the Victorian Water Safety Certificate.  These lessons are important as they focus on specific water safety skills and water safety knowledge.  

Victorian Water Safety Certificate - Rescue and Survival Year 5 & 6 students

The Year 5 & 6 students have been participating in learning how to be safe around all waterways and the essential skills of rescue and survival.  Rescue skills focus on rescuing a person using non-swimming rescue techniques, a non-rigid aid, weighted rope and a  buoyant objected.  Students are taught how to perform survival sequences wearing light clothing, entering the water safety, scull, float and to tread water for 2 minutes and signalling for help intermittently.  Your child’s learning of the Victorian Water Safety Certificate will be included in their Student Learning Portfolio.

End of school year activities and celebrations

Tuesday 13 December 9.15 - 10.30 am

• Next Tuesday, students will participate in Meet and Greet and have the opportunity to meet their 2023 Teacher and Grade.  
• SIMON Student Reports will be uploaded into PAM and Student Learning Portfolios will be distributed.
• Parents will also receive information on their child’s 2023 class.

Wednesday 14 December 

Year 6 Graduation at 5.00 pm (student only dinner), 5.45 am Graduation Mass & Presentation (parents and families welcome)

Our Year 6 Mass and Graduation ceremony will be held on Wednesday 14 December.  The format of the evening is as follows:

• 5.00 pm Student Dinner
• 5.45 pm Year 6 Graduation Mass Celebration with Families followed by Year 6 Graduation Presentation

Information has been communicated to all Year 6 students and their families VIA pam.  We look forward to a very special evening to celebrate our Year 6 students and to wish them all the very best on their educational journey.

Thursday 15 December

End of School Year Mass 9.00 am and Announcement of 2023 Year 6 Student Leaders

We look forward to announcing the following student leadership positions at our End of Year Mass on Thursday 15 December at 9.00 am:

• School Leaders (x 2)
• Faith Leaders (x2)
• Learning Leaders (x2)
• Environmental Leaders (x2)
• House Leaders (4 x 1 per House)

We are very proud of the leadership potential and development of our students and the school values they display in their interactions and leadership roles.

Students’ Christmas Concert - Footsteps Dance 1.00 - 2.30 pm (Families welcome)

Parents and families are welcome to join us for this very special Christmas Concert event.

Community Farewell to Year 6 students on the Small Oval at 3.05 pm

Parents and families are welcome to join us for this very special event.

2023 Grades and Teacher allocations

Junior Teaching Team:

• FSL - Mrs Sally Lane (Monday to Thursday) and Mrs Laura Fonti (Friday)
• FGD - Miss Gabby Di Biase
• 1ER - Mrs Emily Rickard
• 1BC - Miss Breanna Cahill
• 2EM - Mrs Emma Maddicks
• 2SE - Mrs Celeste Spiccia (Monday to Wednesday) and Mrs Leanne Edwards (Thursday and Friday)
• 3RJ - Mrs Reinette Joachim-Zamudio
• 3AB - Miss Aymie Brent
• 4HF - Mrs Helen Fourna (Monday to Thursday ½) and Mr Clint Timothy (½ Thursday and Friday)
• 4CM - Mr Chris McAleer
• 5SD - Miss Sarah De Koning (Monday to Thursday) and Mrs Kerry Wilson (Friday)
• 5JB - Mrs Jacqui Butler
• 6MV - Mrs Margaret Vlajankov
• 6PF - Mr Peter Fearnley-Sander
• Sport - Mr Clint Timothy
• Japanese - Sensei Stapledon
• Music - Mrs Amanda Hill and Mrs Emma Adcock
• Art - Mrs Amanda Hill and Mrs Emma Acdock
• Discovery Centre - Mrs Claire Stapledon and Mrs Emma Adcock

At the end of the 2022 school year we will be farewelling Mrs Durba Banerjee and Mrs Elaine Flanigan.  We wish Durba and Elaine all the very best in their new ventures and thank them for their contributions, team work, support and collegiality.  We are blessed to have had them on the journey with us.

**Term 4 for students will conclude on THURSDAY 15 DECEMBER, 2022 at 3.15pm**

2023 BACK TO SCHOOL DATES

Staff return on Friday 27 January 2023 (planning day)

Students commence school on Monday 30th January 2023 at 8.45 am (Years 1 - 6)

(Foundation students start at 9.15am on the first day of school)

Whole School Assembly will begin at 2.15pm tomorrow in Allen Hall

End of Year Whole School Mass and Christmas concert will be held on Thursday 15th December in Allen Hall. Parents and friends are most welcome to begin this final school day by attending Mass at 9.00am. The Christmas concert will be held at 1:00pm to 2.30pm followed by the Grade 6 Farewell on the small oval at about 3.00pm.

Mass and Reconciliation celebrations - All parents, families and friends are invited to celebrate Mass and Reconciliation during the term.  When attending a celebration please sign in at the School Office.We do ask that all parents and visitors in our school that your mobile phones are either switched off, on silent and put away during prayer and liturgical celebrations. Thank you.

St Vincent de Paul 2022 Christmas Appeal - FINAL DAY IS TOMORROW  Many thanks to those families who have given so generously to this year’s Christmas Appeal.  Representatives from St Vincent de Paul will join us at Assembly tomorrow to accept the donations. Please place last minute unwrapped gifts in classroom collection boxes tomorrow. Thankyou! 

Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle A

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Matthew 11:2-11

Jesus tells John the Baptist of the signs of the kingdom that are being worked through him and praises John as more than a prophet.

In this week's Gospel Reading John the Baptist asks Jesus a question. Jesus’ response tells us why we, as his followers, can rejoice. This Sunday is traditionally called “Gaudete Sunday.” Gaudete is the Latin word that means “Rejoice!” We call the third Sunday in Advent “Gaudete Sunday” because one of the prayers for Sunday’s Mass, taken from Paul's Letter to Philippians, is this: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice! The Lord is near.” We rejoice when we can find signs of God's work in our world.

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:

https://www.olhc.org.au/parish-bulletin/

A message from the Berwick Sub-Branch Returned and Services League of Australia Inc

On behalf of the President, the committee and members of the Berwick RSL Sub-Branch I extend our thanks to your staff and students for your supporting the recent Remembrance Day Appeal. It is pleasing to know that the past efforts and sacrifices of our veterans continue to be recognised by the younger members of our community. The monies raised go to support former and serving members of the Australian Defence Forces and dependant in need. Mary Mackillop School raised $217.00. Sue Clark, Appeals Officer

On August 25th, ten Year 6 students were selected to 'Write a Book in a Day'. The group wrote, published and illustrated a book in one day, spending 12 hours at school from 8am in the morning to 8pm. They named the book ‘Coco’s Curse’. Originally, the book got shortlisted but sadly it didn't get the best book award in our category. But recently, the group received some awesome news!

The book has won the award for the Best Illustrated Book out of Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. It was announced at assembly last week and the students all received a certificate and a ribbon for their efforts.

The group would like to thank everyone for their donations and their support throughout the multiple weeks of the fundraiser. They would particularly want to thank all the staff and office ladies for their help during the day and especially Mrs Vlajankov for all her help, support, organisation and leadership. This was a complete team effort and they couldn’t have done this without everyone in the Write a Book in a Day team.

The Write a Book in a Day team are very proud of themselves.

Thank You!!

On Wednesday 7th December, all Foundation-Year 3 students  participated in a fun filled camp experience held in the school grounds, which involved a Taskworks incursion and Subway dining experience. 

Students were encouraged to utilise:

• social skills and independence
• decision making skills
• collaboration and teamwork
• leadership skills 
• critical thinking skills and creativity.

The fun camp experience allowed students to celebrate a year of learning and strengthen personal and social capabilities listed above via a Taskworks incursion with interactive activities. Students were prepared to try new things through persistence and adaptability, and identify strategies when faced with unfamiliar or challenging situations. Students practise basic skills required to work collaboratively with peers and demonstrated skills for effective participation in group tasks. A Subway meal emulating an off campus venue was included in the camp experience. The Mary MacKillop Social Values are incorporated throughout all activities. It was fantastic to see all students relishing in this camp experience and we hope they shared and recounted the experience with you at home. Please refer to the photos to see the interesting tasks all students rotated around and accomplished on the day.

Foundation students have been exploring data as numbers and pictures. They transferred data to make a car and created Christmas images.

A huge thank you to our Mary Mac community for supporting the 2022 book fair.  It was a huge success!  It was wonderful to see the excitement coming from the students with their extensive wish lists!  

The love of reading was certainly evident with a whopping $2,474.05, worth of sales.  Congratulations!  As a result, the school has earnt rewards to the value of $742.22 to spend on books!!  

A special mention goes to Terry De Reus and Julie Huntington for helping with the onsite sales.  We could not have done this without you!!! And thank you to Liz Jones and Lize Privetera for supporting the book fair idea and for helping promote the love of reading and books.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy and safe break.

Trish Papanastasiou - Book Club Coordinator.

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

Child Safety Alert - Australian Federal Police

The Australian Federal Police (AFP), through the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation is seeing a concerning global trend of teenage males being targeted by sexual extortion offenders. This crime can have serious wellbeing and psychological impacts.  Please find attached a letter outlining the concerning trend in sexual extortion which includes measures parents can take to ensure their child’s safety when online.

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 Policies

Child friendly version of Child Safe Policy (updated June 2022)

Congratulations to our Year 6 Student Leaders on their creation of the student friendly version of the Child Safe Policy.  This policy has been uploaded to our website  Child Safe page and can be found in the following link https://www.marymacnarre.catholic.edu.au/child-safety-standards

Child Safe Standards and Parent use of Mobile Phones, Privacy Laws

We ask all parents to be mindful of their mobile phone usage, child safety and privacy laws when visiting our school.  During such times as morning Prayer time, Mass, Assemblies and school events/gatherings, we ask parents to turn off or put away their mobile phones and to respect the privacy of all students.  Photographs and video footage cannot be taken of students without parental permission.  Reminders of safe mobile phone usage will be shared with the school community at morning prayer times and assemblies.  On special occasions such as student awards at assemblies or student graduations, space will be made available for parents to photograph their child in a child safe way.  We thank you for working in partnership with us to respect the privacy of all our students.

Child Safe Resources to support Students, Parents/Carers

• eSafety Commissioner https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents.
  • NEW online safety for every family - The ‘Online safety for every family’ resources will give parents and carers the confidence to talk with their children about online safety. The resources also have important links and information to help if something bad does happen online. 
  • The videos and advice sheets cover:
  • Helping your family stay safe online
  • Getting started with social media 
  • Safer online gaming 
  • Getting help when your child is being bullied online
  • Downloadable resources to help you start the chat about online safety issues and strategies with your child.
• 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/
• Daniel Morcombe Foundation
• Parenting Ideas