MacKillop Bulletin - Term 1, Week 8, 2022

From the Principal

Building Project Update

Despite materials delays caused by COVID restrictions, VOS Construction are continuing to make significant progress towards the completion of the new building as part of the College’s preparation for the commencement of Year 11 classes in 2023.

As of Monday 30 May (week 5 of Term 2), staff and students will have access to the following teaching spaces on the ground floor the new build part of the Tenison project:

• The new build Commercial Kitchen, Domestic Kitchen, Materials Design Technology (MDT), MDT Machine Room, two new toilets,  a disabled toilet and Staff Office.

As of Monday 25 July (Week 1 of Term 3), staff and students will have access to the following teaching spaces on the first floor the new build part of the Tenison project:

• The new build Computing/Digital Media room (and store), Art Room 1 (including clay store, kiln and dry store), the internal stairs, Art Room 2 (and store), the new lift, two new toilets and a disabled toilet.
  

Staff and students will not be able to access any current Tenison ground floor rooms, corridors and/or other spaces in this area from Tuesday 26 July (Week 1 of Term 3). Adjustments to room timetabling will be necessary during this time to maintain continuity of learning and teaching.

VOS Construction expects that we will access to the refurbished section of Tenison by the end of 2022, ready day one of 2023 and our first Year 11 classes!

Stephen Hill
Principal

From the Deputy Principal

Key Reminders – Protocols for Students Leaving the College (Anticipated, Unanticipated and Extended Absences) 

Please take the time to read our College protocol around student absences from the College (anticipated, unanticipated and extended).    The following points are also important: 

• Families should contact our Front Office in the first instance, whenever it is necessary to get messages to your child/children during the school day;
• All students are expected to comply with our Mobile Phone Protocol: this means students should not have their phones on them during the day – i.e. they are not individually contactable unless there has been prior permission given;.  
• All students are expected to go to the Front Office whenever it becomes necessary for them to contact home.

ABSENCE FROM THE COLLEGE

Please notify College Reception on (03) 6245 00 99 or email  absentees@mackillop.tas.edu.au by 8:35 a.m. if your child will be late to school or absent. Our protocol is to send parents/guardians an SMS at 9:00. a.m. notifying of student absences. If your child arrives late, they are required to present to College Reception and sign-in before they move to their Pastoral Care Group (PCG) or scheduled class.

ANTICIPATED ABSENCE DURING THE DAY (i.e appointments):

Parents/guardians of students who are required to leave school during the day must provide written notice of this via absentees@mackillop.tas.edu.au. College reception staff will email the student’s Pastoral Care Teacher and House Leader to ensure they are notified. When it is time to leave, students should contact their Pastoral Care Teacher or House Leader to obtain signed permission to leave via their Student Planner. If they are unable to find their Pastoral Care Teacher or House Leader, they should obtain permission from another House Leader or the Director of Pastoral Care. The signed Student Planner should be shown to College Reception staff before signing out officially and leaving the premises with their parent/guardian.

UNANTICIPATED ABSENCES DURING THE DAY (i.e Student becomes unwell):

If a student becomes unwell or is injured* during the day, they must contact their Pastoral Care Teacher or House Leader to obtain signed permission via their Student Planner. If they are unable to find their Pastoral Care Teacher or House Leader, they should obtain permission to leave from another House Leader or the Director of Pastoral Care.  Designated staff are trained in First Aid and have access to the first aid kits. Our staff will also contact a parent/guardian on behalf of the student.

*If a student becomes injured and requires attention immediately, our First Aid protocols will come into effect, including contact with relevant emergency services and parents/guardians.

The signed Student Planner should be shown to College Reception staff before signing out officially and leaving the premises with their parents/guardians. Please follow these directives as staff cannot call students down during class time (except in the case of an emergency).

EXTENDED ABSENCES

Parents/guardians who are aware of extended pending absences should make a formal written request to the Principal well in advance of the anticipated extended absence.

Thank you to all families for your continued support.

Donna Brown
Deputy Principal – Organisation, Student Development & Pastoral Care

From the Deputy Principal

Reporting of Student Learning

Continuous online assessment feedback

As we near the end of Term 1, we are in the midst of the Assessment season and our students are meeting their commitments to provide evidence of their learning to their teachers in the form of summative assessment.  After submission, teachers will mark the student assessment item and then provide feedback.  This feedback is available on SEQTA and forms part of the College's online continuous feedback.  Feedback practices can significantly improve student learning and the quality of teaching in classrooms (AITSL, 2018).    The provision of online continuous feedback via SEQTA supports students and parents/caregivers to engage with the learning process as it is happening.  Parental/caregiver engagement has a positive impact on many indicators of student achievement.  All parents/caregivers will have access to teacher feedback on each summative assessment item.

In addition to feedback on student learning, our teachers are regularly providing feedback on the learning and behaviour of students in SEQTA.   These are presented as one of the following:

Positive Academic
Academic (Minor)
Academic (Major)
Positive Behaviour
Negative Behaviour (Minor)
Negative Behaviour (Major)
Assessment Non-submission

This feedback enables the student and parent to be able to have a conversation reflecting on the teacher's feedback in a timely manner.

Report Cards

To support the continuous online feedback for students, MacKillop Catholic College provides twice-yearly summative report cards.  They are available for families at the end of each semester.

Yours in Christ
Lorraine Wolffe
Deputy Principal - Learning and Teaching; Staff Development

Catholic Identity and Mission

Hello MacKillop Catholic College Community, 

We have entered the midst of Lent with many activities and Lent related programs occurring throughout the school. Lent goes hand in hand with fund and awareness-raising for Caritas Australia through Project Compassion, an organisation that helps the less fortunate around the world.     Here is one of our focus stories…

Rosalie from the Democratic of Congo displays the almsgiving prospect of Lent throughout her life journey. Rosalie has had her fair share of struggles throughout life, from losing her father at a young age to pregnancy in a war zone, she had to take on many responsibilities to help her ill mother and maintain a stable income for them without ever receiving in return. Project Compassion has helped Rosalie obtain knowledge to start her own small shoe business which helps her community. 

This story communicates resilience and strength, key elements that help us stay dedicated during our Lenten challenges of Fasting, Praying and Giving.  This Lent, see the goodness in everyday life like Rosalie and know that your strength is present with you like the presence of Christ. 

“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it” - Maya Angelou.

What’s Been Happening…

St Patrick’s Free Dress Day

On the 18th of February, students arrived at school in casual cloths and were challenged to wear as much green as possible to celebrate St Patrick’s feast day. Students got into the spirit by connecting with their pastoral care groups and enjoying their Fridays not having to worry about uniforms. The school also raised an overall of $615 for Project Compassion, with Sion house taking the fundraising lead of $140. Below is a photo of our best dressed Pastoral Care group, Fitzroy 3.

St Patrick’s Pilgrimage

Over the weekend from the 19th to the 20th March, three Year 10 students participated in the St Patrick’s Pilgrimage organised by the Archdiocese of Hobart.  Layla Jones, Reuben Lang and Riley Waghorn walked 41 kilometres from St John's Church in Richmond to St Patrick’s Church in Colebrook over the two days. The students completed the walk with amazing effort, and enjoyed the experience of connecting with other young people.

Coming Up…

Vinnies Jam & Juice Drive

The Vinnies team put on free breakfast every Tuesday morning for students serving from the music room from 8:00am. Our breakfasts have been a hit so far but now we need your help. We are running low on spreads for toast and juice for your take-away, recyclable cups. We kindly ask for your donations of vegemite, jam variations, and juice so we can continue to produce breakfasts for you. We don’t need anything fancy, supermarket branded items can be dropped off at the tubs that are located in your house leader's office. Thank you in advance!

Project Compassion House Fundraisers

Keep an eye out these last weeks of Term 1 as your house captains and leaders will be putting on various pop-up fundraisers every Friday to help raise even more money for Project Compassion. Some different themed days will also be coming up, watch on your SEQTA notices.

Edmund Rice Camp with year 10 Outreach Students

On Friday the 1st of April, some students from our Year 10 Outreach Group will be participating in the first, of hopefully many, Edmund Rice Camp for 2022. Edmund Rice Camps produce disadvantaged, young children in our wider Hobart community with an opportunity to have fun.

“We have a vision for a world where all children, despite their circumstances and upbringing, can have access to fun recreational opportunities, which also provide them with the social connections and personal development to support them to contribute to society.” - ERC.

Our MacKillop Catholic College students will be acting as the leaders of this experience and pairing up with a younger buddy to offer them companionship and fun.

Thank you!

Charlotte Davies
Trainee Youth Minister

Pastoral Care and Student Wellbeing

Student Leadership

One of the key focuses for the 2022 Year 10 Leaders and 7-9 SRCs is to work on a Year 12-7 Leadership Model. They have investigated other models from other schools around Tasmania and are starting to progress with some ideas from Year 12 – 2024 and working backward.

Developing Student Leadership and Voice is a crucial goal for our College and constructing pathways for students who are interested in Leadership is crucial.

We look forward to empowering our students to create a structure that will be implemented starting next year, as part of a range of exciting things happening as part of our ongoing growth and development.

Special congratulations to Dean and Sophie who represented MacKillop at the GRIP Conference – winning loud noises competition and doing us proud.

Our Year 8 Student Representative Council nominees completed their speeches on Thursday 24^th March. The Year 7 students will have their opportunity soon.

Aaron Davey
Director of Pastoral Care

From the Directors of Schools

Welcome to Senior School Social

The Welcome to Senior School Social on March 8^th was a resounding success. All the students were dressed superbly, and they thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere. The staff at MacKillop were thrilled with the inclusive nature of all students on the evening. We had some excellent performances by our School Jazz Band, Jerome Pollard and our Dance Crew. After these performances, the dance floor was packed full of talent, energy and enthusiasm. We are so pleased the students go to have a night that they can remember to commemorate the start of their Senior School studies at MacKillop Catholic College, and we look forward to offering more of these events for the Years 10,11 and 12 in the future.

This week the students will be sent a link to all the digital photos from the evening. Below is a snapshot of the night.

International Women’s Day

A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable and inclusive. Together we all can forge women’s equality and break the bias. This was emphasised to all our students on March 8^th International Women’s Day (IWD). The theme for IWD this year was to break the bias and that’s what the MacKillop students discussed and in their Pastoral Care Groups made a #BreakTheBias statement. A huge congratulations to all the students who made these statements and continue to have ongoing discussions in regard to breaking the bias.

Jennifer Crowden
Director of Senior School

From the Rice Resource Centre

New to the Rice Resource Centre Online Collection: Comics Plus

MacKillop Catholic College students now have access to thousands of online comics, graphic novels and manga via Comics Plus.

Comics Plus can be accessed via the Online Library Resources SEQTA link or by bookmarking:

An app is also available to download for free via the App Store to enable reading on iPads and iPhones.

Tricia Scott
Teacher Librarian

Career News

A few weeks ago, I suggested that we embrace change, view it positively and begin to research the potential impacts upon career choices.

As explored on Job Outlook, Australian jobs are changing as new technologies are introduced, and businesses are finding new ways of working in response to things like climate change and a pandemic. It is predicted that around one-fifth of job sectors will probably shrink by 2030.

Whilst none of us have reliable crystal balls that will predict the future, some industries are forecast to experience significant growth such as:

• healthcare and aged services;
• science and technology;
• education; and
• renewable energy.

In future bulletins, I will be exploring these industries in greater depth. If, however, you are too impatient to wait, check out the information for yourselves here.

As part of the myriad of programs organised by Mr Pritchard during the modified Year 7 Camp Week, I spoke to students about the wealth of career and pathway advice that teachers and parents have to offer. To reinforce that we were also once young and unsure about our future choices, several staff members have generously shared some advice (as well as photos) that are on display in the Tenison stairwell for students to peruse.

So that families don’t miss out, these will also be published in future bulletins, with the first one being my own.

Community News