Week 3, Term 3, 7th August
| Week 4 | ||
| Sunday 9th August | 19th Sunday of the Year | |
| Monday 10th August | Day 6 |
Year 11 Street Retreat continues until Wednesday Year 10 catch up immunisations |
| Thursday 13th August | Day 9 | HSC Dance Practical Exam |
| Friday 14th August | Day 10 | Year 11 Geography Fieldwork, Sea Acres Nature Reserve and Kooloonbung Creek 12.40pm - 3.15pm |
| Week 5 | ||
| Sunday 16th August | 20th Sunday of the Year | |
| Monday 17th August | Day 1 | HSC Trials |
| Tuesday 18th August | Day 2 | HSC Trials |
| Wednesday 19th August | Day 3 | HSC Trials |
| Thursday 20th August | Day 4 | HSC Trials |
| Friday 21st August | Day 5 |
HSC Trials School Photo Day Year 9 2021 Elective Forms due |
Feast of Mary MacKillop
Tomorrow we celebrate the Feast of our College Patron, Saint Mary MacKillop. This year is particularly special because it is the 10 year anniversary since Mary was canonised as Australia’s first Saint. Education was close to Mary’s heart and she knew its power to lift communities out of poverty and challenging times. With extremely challenging times in our world right now, I encourage families to participate in the live-streamed Mass tomorrow and pray for all those in need during this difficult period.
The Feast of St Mary MacKillop Mass in the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel North Sydney will be live streamed at 10.00am AEST on Saturday 8 August 2020.
Who was Mary MacKillop?
Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842. Her parents, Flora and Alexander MacKillop, were Catholic immigrants from Scotland. Mary, the eldest of eight children, was raised in the working-class Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.
At 16, Mary went out to work, to support her younger brothers and sisters. Two years later she took a job as a governess on her Uncle's farm in the small country town of Penola in South Australia. Here, Mary met the man who would change her life forever, Father Julian Tenison Woods.
Father Woods, a charming and eccentric priest, shared Mary's dream of educating the poor. He became her mentor and spiritual guide. Mary later wrote: "I heard the Pastor... speak of the neglected state of the children in the parish... and I had to go and offer myself to aid him". Together, Mary and Father Woods opened the first free Catholic school in Penola in 1866, at first in a converted stable and later in a more substantial stone building.
A year later the pair formed a new religious order of nuns - the Sisters of St Joseph - devoted to teaching the poor. Mary took her vows, becoming the order's first sister and its leader. She was just 25 years old. The Sisters of St Joseph was the first Catholic order founded by an Australian. They vowed to live in poverty, own no property and were committed to equality. These were central to the order's rule. As well as schools, Mary MacKillop and the sisters founded hospitals and orphanages, as well as providing shelters for the homeless, former prostitutes and unmarried mothers.
Read the Mary MacKillop Biography for more information
Student Success
MacKillop College Kids' Lit team is headed to the National Kids' Lit Quiz!
The winning team members were Adam Bryant, Miya Freeman, Tobey Pol, and Isabella Swanson.
The students' love of reading and storytelling was key to the team's success. This was especially true in the tiebreaker round where the first to answer a sudden death question decided the competition.
The other teams were formidable coming from Scone Grammar, Blue Mountains Grammar, Hunter Valley Grammar, Central Coast Adventist School, Kinross Wolaroi and Charlton Christian College. The students enjoyed the competition and are busy reading in preparation for the National Finals.
Thanks to Suzanne Penson, Lisa Egan, Jess Inglis and Liz Lees for volunteering their time for this wonderful event and who were a great help on the day.
Meet the Experts
This week's Meet the Expert is Mrs Leonie DiBona.
Name: Leonie DiBona
What subject(s) do you teach?
English and Ancient History.
What high school did you attend?
Parramatta High School.
What university did you attend and what course(s) did you do after finishing school?
Bachelor of Education at Catholic College of Education (Castle Hill) and Edith Cowan University (WA).
What or who inspired you to become a teacher?
English teachers (Year 7 and 11/12).
What would be your proudest teaching moment in your career to date?
There is no one moment but many times when I feel that I've made a positive difference in someone's day.
What are you reading at the moment?
'The Obstacle is the Way' by Ryan Holiday.
What quote best describes your approach to teaching?
A famous Henry Ford quote: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right,” as it emphasises how much attitude determines success or failure.
Favourite non-work related hobbie?
Reading.
What do you love most about your work?
I get to work with many great people - teachers, students and support staff.
2020 Census
The Australian Government provides funding to Australian schools under the Australian Education Act 2013 (AE Act). The AE Act and the associated Australian Education Regulation 2013 (the AE Regulation) require that a school authority provides the Australian Government with certain information about the school, it’s staff, and student body to ensure the school’s funding is properly calculated and appropriately managed. This information is collected by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (the department) on behalf of the Australian Government.
We have published the 2020 Non-Government School Census collection notice on our website under the Policies section, and under Policy and Forms on the newsletter home page for further information.
Principal
The Gospel this coming Sunday is the story of Peter having faith, when Jesus tells him he can walk on water (Matt 14:13–21)
In this story, Jesus is telling his disciples that they need to trust in him and have faith that Jesus will get them through all that will happen. He wants us to remember that we cannot do the ‘impossible’, but he can, through us.
Even when it seems too big and beyond our capabilities, Jesus challenges us to step out anyway and to see what we can do, with faith that he is there for us.
During this last week, it was homelessness week, but it does not need to stop there. He wants us to continue to feed, clothe, and serve those who need us. Often we feel like we are not enough, and that we cannot really make a difference – but it is when every person does their little bit that we can make a huge difference in the lives of those who are struggling.
What can you do to make a difference in the life of someone who is struggling?
Gospel, prayer and reflection for Sunday, 9th August, 2020
MacKillop College Street Retreat in Daily Life 2020
In Weeks 3 and 4, 12 of our Year 11 students are participating in our first MacKillop Street Retreat in Daily Life, during National Homelessness Week.
Our focus for the retreat is taken from Peter 1:4-10 “Each of you should use whatever gifts you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s Grace in its various forms”.
Two Year 11 students from MacKillop College, Jadzia and Saoirse, share their reflections from Tuesday's ministry activities below;
"Today, four of us volunteered at the Ecumenical Soup Kitchen. It was definitely a new experience that gave us an insight on how services like these work, and its importance to the Port Macquarie-Hastings Community. The soup kitchen offers a three course meal with a beverage and as volunteers, we were able to interact with those who came in, remembering that the best thing you can do for those struggling in our community is to talk to them." - Jadzia
"Today, we gave up our lunchtime to sew toiletry bags as donations to people who are homeless in our area. I have loved sewing for a long time and being able to use my passion to help others makes me feel really happy (and all of the volunteers have had great fun!) The team picked up some great fabrics and the end result is gorgeous! We’re so happy that as a group we can assist our community even in these crazy times when people might really benefit from a little extra help." - Saoirse
We are very proud to be a part of something bigger than we are.
Surf @ Home Appeal
Some of our Street retreat students are sleeping on their couch during Homelessness week to raise funds and awareness of the difficulties of those in our area who are living without a home.
Please think about donating to this wonderful cause
GO FUND ME PAGE - Donations can be submitted here.
Please see last week's Newsletter article for more information.
Leader of Evangelisation
Engagement in the Music Classroom: a musical futures approach
The Pedagogy
What is musical futures?
Musical Futures is a learner-led approach to the teaching and learning of music that promotes innovation, creativity, inclusion, diversity and lots and lots of music-making. Visit Musical Futures Australia for more information.
At MacKillop College we are starting our journey to personalise music learning within our Stage 4 Music Curriculum. Through re-writing and re-structuring our Stage 4 programmes, we are shifting towards more non-formal and informal learning experiences in our classrooms. We are already seeing improved motivation and engagement within lessons and an exciting buzz in our classrooms. Our planning has also been informed by the research of Lucy Green, Keith Swanwick and George Odam.
In his book The Sounding Symbol, Music Education in Action (George Odam, 1995) Odam explores and outlines the need for students to be practically engaged in and with music making prior to learning about music notation.
“The more we rely upon symbol systems, the more important education processes become. Thinking in sound, imagining sound, constructing possible sounds in the head and improvising music all have to be established as skills before the symbols for these things are learnt. When we eventually use the symbols we have already to know how they will sound.” [1]
One of the fundamental ideas of the Musical Futures approach to learning and teaching is to personalise learning;
“If there has been a common theme in the lessons emerging from Musical Futures, so far, it has been this: that successful personalised music learning opportunities appear to favour less formal approaches in all aspects of provision. Some of the typical characteristics of the differing modes of learning are listed below;”[2]
Purposeful Engagement: learning by doing
In our experience as Music educators, we have experienced students that switch off or disengage from lessons when learning about notation or the theory of Music. Using the Musical Futures approach of structuring our programmes ‘by doing’ or ‘ learning on the job’, we have seen a big shift in purposeful engagement, and deep learning in our classrooms. Students are more comfortable with using subject specific language, writing and reading notation and aural analysis.
Supportive Technology: STILE
Alongside this programming redevelopment music staff have gathered and created a range of resources that support content delivery. In keeping with the Musical Futures model, our goal is to use engaging and accessible repertoire, instructional multimedia. These resources are compiled and delivered within the STILE digital platform. The use of STILE in this way has seamlessly supported the Musical Futures ethos and allowed music staff to focus on the practical instruction and engagement of our students.
Why is this important? Music education and the brain
MacKillop music staff are passionate about the importance of music education. The Musical Futures pedagogy is an effective educational tool that is supported by extensive research. Recent media attention has brought the wider community, particularly through the ABC documentary series Don’t Stop The Music. This program is founded on the work of Dr Anita Collins that has received worldwide acclaim. Dr Collins states in her now infamous TED talk…
Music education helps wire a child’s brain well and effectively and it does it permanently. And there’s 3 really big areas. There’s phonological skills, aural perception and language skills. These are the ones I love taking to principals because it’s like ‘You want better literacy scores, do some music, it’s absolutely vital’.
Dr Anita Collins - Music education and the brain
Further research on how playing an instrument benefits your brain is presented here How playing an instrument benefits your brain
As music educators our hope for your children is that they are provided with the opportunity to access quality music education in a supportive environment. We understand that some of our students will go on and use their musical knowledge to support their learning at HSC level whilst others will not. It is, however, clear to all that engaging and valuing music education is important.
The music staff at MacKillop College in 2020 include Samantha Adams, Cara Stewart, Rob Denham and music tutors Mark Spence, Natasha Jones, Ian Castle and Lynda Young.
[1] The Sounding Symbol, Music Education in Action, George Odam, 1995.
[2] Personalising Music Learning, David Price. Musical Futures Teachers Resource; Section 1. 2005
The beginning of the term has seen a range of learning, sporting and pastoral activities. Thanks to Mr Coelho, you can see some fun photos of sporting activities, with Year 7 students enjoying roller blading, building skills and staying fit.
This week in extended PC, students and teachers are engaging in a range of activities as they work and enjoy their time together. 7I1 enjoyed a hand ball competition, 7M1 continued with their tie dying activity, just to mention a couple of fun activities. I encourage parents and caregivers to chat to their students about pastoral care, classroom and sporting activities in which they are partaking.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Freycin Hostettler who has received a Silver Principal’s Award.
Congratulations to the following students who have received a Pastoral Coordinator’s Award: William Abell (x2), Emily Butt, Siena Crisafi, Oliver Dare, Annabelle Eakin, Braeden Fuller, Andrew Golder, Jett Hanson, Freycin Hostettler and Alexander Toth.
Year 7 Leader of Pastoral Care
Discovering God
“Help us to find God.”
“No one can help you there.”
“Why not?”
“For the same reason that no one can help the fish find the ocean.”
One Minute Wisdom
Anthony de Mello
Students are introduced to a variety of prayer forms in their time at the College. A very old definition describes it as raising the heart and mind to God.
It is possible, though not entirely accurate to separate approaches to prayer into two divisions; prayer of the mind and prayer of the heart. Indeed, much of our prayer involves talking to God, thinking about God, and asking God for our needs. This is prayer of the mind; it includes formal prayer, praise and thanks, petitionary and intercessory prayer, the Examen, charismatic prayer, devotions, the Rosary, Lectio Divina etc.
The other form of prayer is prayer of the heart. This is essentially contemplative prayer or meditation. This involves finding stillness and openness in order to hear God’s whisperings, and to experience more fully God’s loving presence in our lives.
No prayer is just of the mind or of the heart. They are not mutually exclusive, but rather intertwined. What is true, however, is that some forms of prayer emphasise use of mind, whilst others focus more on the heart. All forms of Christian prayer are centred on Jesus, the Spirit and God the Father.
Different approaches to prayer appeal to different personalities, at different ages and in different life circumstances. It is our hope that, through experiencing a variety of prayer forms, our youth will have a variety of approaches to prayer that will help to connect them with God at various points in their life.
Uniform
I will take the opportunity over the next few weeks to remind families of the College expectations regarding uniform. My focus this week is jewellery and make up.
Since returning from the period of blended learning, many students are regularly wearing jewellery at a level beyond that outlined by the College. The expectations are as follows:
Jewellery
Girls may wear a pair of sleepers (not larger than a five cent piece), or a pair of plain studs on the lower lobe. Boys and girls, no ear cuffs, rings, bracelets or neck chains. No other form of body piercing is permitted. Clear studs are not permitted.
Make Up
Make up and nail polish are not permitted.
I request that parents review these expectations with their child.
God bless.
Year 8 Leader of Pastoral Care
Student Assistance
There are some wonderful programs that the College runs to assist students in various ways:
- Homework Club Monday - Thursday 3.15pm - 4.30pm in the Main College Library.
- Maths tutorials Tuesday - Friday 7.45am - 8.30am in Room 12 of the Main College.
- The Project UP Work for boys and girls.
Below is one of the projects our Project UP Work group has completed at the College. The group of students should be very proud of themselves as it has improved our College and will be there for many students and staff to appreciate in the years to come. Great work Samuel Atkins, Archi Devine, Riley McGuinness and Braidyn McKinnon.
On the above note of students doing amazing things, I thought it interesting to point out 20 Australian inventions that have changed the world. Some students may not be aware of this and may not think that these things are possible, but with a little dedication, curiosity, resilience and courage these things can be achieved by our students.
To find out more please visit this link.
- Black box flight recorder
- Spray-on skin
- Electronic pacemaker
- Google Maps
- Medical application of Penicillin
- Polymer bank notes
- Cochlear implant (bionic ear)
- Electric drill
- Winged keel
- Permaculture
- Wi-Fi technology
- Ultrasound scanner
- Plastic spectacle lenses
- Inflatable escape slide and raft
- Permanent-crease clothing
- Gardasil and Cervarix cancer vaccines
- Frazier lens
- Triton Workcentre
- RaceCam
- Tank-bred tuna system
Year 9 Leader of Pastoral Care
Year 10 Immunisation Catchup – Monday, 10th August
Area Health was not able to complete immunisations for all Year 10 students on Immunisation Day, 27th July. Those students who have returned signed consent forms and were not immunised at the clinic will receive their immunisation on Monday, 10th August.
Year 10 Leader of Pastoral Care
HSC Trial Examinations
HSC English students are striving for excellence as the Trial exams approach.
They are taking full advantage of regular English revision workshops at 8.00am Wednesdays and Fridays this term.
Thank you to English teachers: Patrick Byrnes, Linda Frankham, Nikki Gray and Clare Hayes for organising, writing and facilitating these additional lessons before school.
Year 12 Leader of Pastoral Care
“Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul;
it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.”
- Martin Luther
Rehearsal Schedule Term 3
Upcoming Events
Percussion Fever Lunch Concert
- Week 4: Tuesday, 11th August, 1.10pm – 1.40pm, Senior & Junior Percussion Ensembles, junior campus outdoor amphitheatre.
Strike a Chord (Musica Viva Ensemble Competition)
- Week 6: Thursday, 27th August, Senior & Junior Percussion Ensembles.
The Collective Lunch Concert
- Week 6: Friday, 28th August, 1.00pm – 1.30pm, junior campus outdoor amphitheatre.
HSC Lunch Concert
- Week 7: Friday, 4th September, 1.00pm – 1.30pm, Senior Campus, HSC soloists.
Junior Instrumental Lunch Concert
- Week 8: Wednesday, 9th September, lunch, theatre, junior percussion ensemble, junior band, flute, clarinet, saxophone, brass, string ensembles and selected junior soloists.
Year 12 Graduation Mass
- Week 10: Wednesday, 23rd September, 9.45am – 10.45am, St Agnes Parish Church, Collective Praise Band & STAGE 6 music students.
Year 12 Celebration of Excellence
- Week 10: Wednesday, 23rd September, 11.45am – 1.15pm, college hall, choir and concert band.
Please contact Mr Denham with any questions relating to the co-curricular music program at MacKillop College or visit the college website and click on the Creative Arts tab.
Leader of Co-Curricular Music
Artist in Residence: Samuel Welsh
The college welcomed Samuel Welsh to take part in an Artist in Residence program during Week 2 with our Dance and Drama students. Sam is an ex-student of MacKillop College (2012) and has since undertaken further training in all disciplines of the performing arts at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Sam is currently contracted to play the character Andy in the ’91-Storey Treehouse’ show.
Our Year 9 Dance students worked with Sam to explore Laban’s effort actions, to communicate meaning through movement. As a class, students experimented with using animals as stimuli to create purposeful movement, and were later given a creative task to bring images to life using Laban’s effort actions. Students were required to use a visual stimulus of a soccer match to assist in composing their own phrase.
Year 10 Dance students engaged in discussions with Sam about the key attributes of a stage performer, drawing on his performance experience in musical theatre productions. The students learnt an excerpt from a past production he has been part of, Bring It On: The Musical, focusing on the skills of performance quality to engage with their audience.
Sam created a fun space for Year 8 Drama students this week. Engaging all with fun warm ups; students worked in small groups to learn the difference between spontaneous and prepared improvisation. Students finished the week off by using a common piece of music as a stimulus to generate a scene in small groups, without dialogue and performing it to the class. Sam showed students the importance of accepting and not blocking offers and to run with all creative ideas when playbuilding.
Years 9 and 11 Drama students are currently working on playbuilding a Group Performance and Sam facilitated workshops that provided opportunities for skill development and concept consideration. Lots of fun was had in these practical workshops.
Sam sat in on a rehearsal of our Year 10 Drama production of Jasper Jones. He offered some feedback and advice for students about how to make the most of their production experience. Sam also talked about theatre and employment possibilities in the industry. The current restrictions on the industry because of COVID 19 also featured in our discussion with Sam.
In regards to Year 12 Drama Sam was able to offer feedback, advice and suggestions on each students’ HSC Individual Performance. Year 12 certainly benefited from having a professional actor in the Drama space for the week!
Our Dance and Drama students were extremely privileged to be given the opportunity to work with Samuel and will continue to explore and apply these skills throughout their upcoming units.
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Leader of Creative Arts
Term 3 Update
Please note that there have been some changes to our performance events this term. Students will now be competing in two online eisteddfods; Everybody Sing and Dance Now and the Dance + Schools event. An information note has been distributed to parents/guardians and students via email this week.
It is essential that students attend all rehearsals in the lead up to their filming session as we prepare the routine for the online eisteddfods.
Upcoming Events
Week 6 filming sessions
- Ensemble 1: Tuesday, 25th August 3.15pm - 4.00pm
- Ensemble 2: Thursday, 27th August 3.15pm - 4.00pm
- Company: Friday, 28th August 3.15pm - 4.00pm
Dance Project
- Some students from the program have recently chosen to take part in a Dance Project for the upcoming MacKillop College Dance and Music Showcase (digital edition). Students are encouraged to check google classroom regularly regarding information and rehearsals.
Please contact Miss Skea with any questions relating to the Co-Curricular Dance Program via email or phone at the College.
Leader of Creative Arts
Term 3 Sport
Representative Sport
NSW Olympics Unleashed Motivational Talk
MacKillop College has partnered with the NSW Olympics Unleashed Program. The Australian Olympic Committee’s (AOC) Olympics Unleashed program, presented by Optus, has moved into the digital classroom, with more than 70 New South Wales schools signing-up to connect students with Olympians sharing lessons in resilience and goal-setting.
We are fortunate to have Rohan Browning a 100m Sprinter presenting to our students on Wednesday, 12th August at 9.00am in the Theatre. Students in Years 9 and 10 were invited to attend this session in the morning notices and via email.
If this motivational talk by a professional athlete on goal setting and resilience appeals to you please email Mrs Denham no later than Monday, 10th August.
The Lismore Diocese has cancelled the Diocesan Volleyball Championships that was due to take place in Term 4.
To stay up to date with the latest changes in the school representative sport pathway click on the following links.
Diocese of Lismore Sport https://sport.lism.catholic.edu.au/
Catholic Schools NSW Sport https://csnsw.sport/
Community Sport
If your child has achieved outstanding sporting results in their community sport, we would love to hear about it. Please email myself, or your child’s respective Leader of Pastoral Care, so we can acknowledge these achievements.
If you have any questions regarding sport at MacKillop College, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at the College.
Remember to stay active and healthy.
Leader of Sport
MacKillop College advances to National Finals
The Kids' Lit Quiz is an annual literature quiz for students aged 10 - 13 years.
Quizzes are held in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and the USA.
The winning team from each heat competes in a National Final. National champions compete in the World Final. MacKillop College entered 3 teams.
Team 1 – Annabelle Eakin, Darcy Hallen, Liam Poppleton, Erin Rapley
Team 2 – William Abell, Sophie Bryant, Jackson Bucci, Lincoln Saunders,
And the winning team
Team 3 – Adam Bryant, Miya Freeman, Tobey Pol, Isabella Swanson
Our students are asked to answer 100 questions on children’s literature divided into ten categories, which vary each year.
Examples of categories set previously include poetry, authors, titles, settings, characters, and nursery rhymes.
Our students from Team 3 were the winners of the Newcastle heat. This was decided after two nerve wracking tiebreakers. The atmosphere in the library was electric during the showdown.
MacKillop College’s winning team are very excited to progress to the National Finals later this year.
I was extremely proud of all our Kids’ Lit Quiz participants for their enthusiasm, team building, collaboration, communication and exemplary manners.
Teacher/Librarian
Maths Tutorials with Mrs Robertson
Tuesday - Friday
7.45am - 8.30am
Room 12 Main College
Our College offers two homework clubs for any extra time our students may need during the week.
Years 7 - 10 Homework Club is located in the Main College Library on Monday - Thursday: 3.15pm - 4.30pm
Years 11 - 12 Homework Club is located in the John Mullin Centre on Monday - Thursday: 3.15pm - 5.00pm
Canteen Helpers
In the current climate, Canteen volunteers will not be required until further notice.
Thank you for your understanding and take care.
Uniform Pool
Keeping with Covid regulations, if you wish to access the Uniform Pool, please phone the college canteen (via the college office) to check on the availability of the items you may require.
School ties
School ties are available for purchase at the Canteen for $20.00 each.