COMMUNITY NEWS
It has been a most fabulous couple of weeks in the life of Mary MacKillop School and I
certainly feel that I am beginning my short period of leave at a time of great celebration
and excitement in the life of our school. Last Friday I began a period of 11 weeks leave
from school. Ms Kerry Weber will be Acting Principal for this period. For the next five
weeks I will be seconded to a position of Area Supervisor South with Brisbane Catholic
Education, supporting schools from Mt Gravatt through to Beaudesert. After the
September vacation I then begin a period of four weeks renewal leave.
In the past fortnight we have held a tremendous reenergizing P&F meeting, a great Year
3 & 4 parent night, a period of meaningful and successful celebrations of our feast day
including our own Olympics and a truly wonderful sports carnival. I begin my leave mindful
that this is a wonderful spirited and energetic community. I certainly enjoy the daily
challenge of being our school leader and celebrate what a special community we have
here.
Whilst I will certainly miss the enjoyment of my daily connections with students, staff and
parents I look forward to an opportunity to reflect on my leadership and renew and refresh
as a school leader. I am very confident that Ms Weber, Ms Hall and Ms Buckley can very
ably and capably look after this special place in my absence. They are talented and
committed leaders and supported by an extraordinarily professional staff.
I ask all school parents, staff and students to support the school leadership team as they
work with you all, over the coming few months. I return to Mary MacKillop School on
November 4th (Melbourne Cup Day) for what will be a very busy 5 weeks leading up to the
end of the year.
I wish all within our community God’s blessing and whilst looking forward to my break, do
acknowledge that I will certainly miss this great community. I look forward to being back
with you all from November 4.
Michael Kearney, Principal
Mary MacKillop Feast Day Celebrations
Wow it seems like ages ago that we
celebrated our school’s feast day. The students entered into the
celebratory liturgy very respectfully, even managing to perform a MMK
wave around the Church! The choir led us wonderfully, especially with
our presentation of the symbols and Mary MacKillop’s story. I need to
especially congratulate those students that were part of this symbolic
storytelling. I was so proud of their efforts in preparing for this. Niamh,
Molly, Georgie, Kye and Ella and all the children who carried the
symbols were absolutely fabulous. The Church was decorated
beautifully with all the wonderful pictures of Mary MacKillop and
significant places and of course our school and Church. Standing in the
Church being part of that liturgy and the celebration of our school
community reminded me of Mary’s words “There where you are you will
find God”.
After an iceblock morning tea, we cut the cake
then it was time for the MACLYMPICS. All the teams were excited and
raring to go. The next hour was full on competition with events such as
the tug of war, egg and golf ball races, dodge ball, target toss and three
legged racing. After the events we shared a pizza lunch, organised by
the wonderful Cheryl Thompson and her tuckshop helpers. Medal
presentations then took place with the top points scorers from most
events presented with their medals. The team that was awarded the
most gold medal scores for the day was GREECE proudly led by their
Greek Goddess Ms Dunne. Congratulations also to the Japanese team
for their sporting uniform! The efficiency of wearing a kimono whilst
competing in the various events should be looked at by the Australian
Olympic Committee. Many thanks to all those “Olympic officials”(parents)
that helped out on the day! Year 7 leaders and teachers need to be
commended for the huge amount of planning and organising that goes
into an event like this. It certainly provided a fond school memory for all
those involved.
The celebrations continued with the Parish
Mass and opening and blessing of the new Parish Centre. Once again it
was pretty special to see the way the students and families involved
themselves in this special occasion. Once again the choir sang, the
group of “wonderkids” shared the story of MM with the wider community
and students read the prayers of the faithful and offertory procession. It
was also a wonderful experience to walk down the path way of light
made by our students to the parish centre. Thank you to all the families
and staff that were able to support and, more importantly, be involved in
this parish Mass.
Sports Day
Team spirit and noisy support of house members made our school
sports day an enjoyable day for competitor and spectators alike. It was
the children’s participation that made the day a success, not the
number of ribbons they received. Congratulations to all our children who
participated in our sports day, and many thanks to all the staff and
parents who volunteered their time either on the field or in the tuckshop,
some more examples of that great Mary MacKillop spirit.
NEITA Awards... Great Teachers at Mary MacKillop
We have had two teachers on our staff nominated for National
Excellence in Teaching Awards. Our school has been congratulated by
the NEITA Foundation on having teachers nominated for an ASG
Inspirational Teacher Award. Miss Nicole Russo and Ms Yasmin Relja
were nominated by members of our community and have been
presented with a NEITA Certificate of Nomination. The purpose of these
prestigious awards is to honour and recognise inspirational teachers,
highlight the work. Not only of individual teachers throughout Australia
and New Zealand, but also the team contribution of all teachers in every
school. Miss Russo and Ms Relja are now eligible for consideration for
a National ASG Inspirational Teacher Award and grant. I congratulate
these talented, dedicated and professional educators and thank the
nominator(s) who forward class teacher names to the NEITA
Foundation. Congratulations Nicole and Yasmin.
Luke 18
This parish group is aimed at youth in Years 6 - 9. Meetings are held in the parish hall from 7-9pm on the
1st, 2nd, and 4th Friday of every month. There is music, games and
spiritual development. Everyone is welcome. For more information call
Jason & Shelly 3822 3861, Brad 3823 1781 or Trevor & Joc
3822 5408.
Year 3 Trip to Kindilan
Last Thursday Year 3 went on a big adventure. We hopped on a bus
early in the morning and headed off to Kindilan for a day of fun and
adventure. When we got there we had to go to our first activity straight
away.
Our first activity was the low ropes course. It was challenging getting
across the wire but our friends helped us to get across. Luckily we had
lunch next because we were really hungry. After lunch we went fishing
in the creek and found all sorts of tiny critters. Then it was off to
orienteering which is not as easy as it looks, we think they tried to trick
us! We saved the best until last…canoeing…it was awesome. We had
a big water fight and everyone got wet.
We were so tired when we finished, it was time to go home. We got
back to school late but it was the best day ever. We can’t wait for the
next excursion!!
Nihongo Notes
Minasan, Kon-nichi-wa! The Olympics are a perfect
example of the value of languages and intercultural
understanding. Our word (phrase) for the week in
Japanese is the Motto of this year’s Olympics – Yori hayaku! (Faster) Yori
takaku! (higher) Yori tsuyoku! (stronger). Let’s try to incorporate some of this
spirit into our Japanese and other studies! Have a tanoshii (fun) week
everyone!
P&F News Corner
FATHERS DAY STALL
The
P & F are holding a Father’s Day Stall
on Monday 25th August and Tuesday 26th August. All gifts are $5.00 and
under. This is a great chance for your child/ren to purchase their very
own special gift for their dad. Held in Holland Place on Monday 8.30am – 2.00pm and Tuesday 8.30am – 10.30am. Children will go with their
class to purchase their gifts.
YEARS 1, 3 & 5 FATHERS GOLF DAY
6th September at 12.00, at Howeston Golf Course, Creek Rd, Birkdale.
Cost $18.50 for 18 hole game (Hiring of golf bags extra). A get together
for fathers to celebrate Fathers Day. Please call Tracey Di Felice on
3245 3697 by Friday 22nd August at the latest so we can confirm
numbers. To be followed by a family BBQ at the club. (BYO everything)
BBQ’s available. |
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CASSEROLE CLUB NEWS
As the saying goes 'no news is
good news'. The casserole club has done a wonderful job so far this
year, as always. With a strong and reliable cohort of volunteers we are
delivering meals to our community when needed (eg. illness,
bereavement or birth just to name a few examples). And if only we could
put into words just how appreciative the people who receive the meals
are! We are proud of the 'service' we provide to our community here at
Mary Mackillop. Thank you to our volunteers, and those who let us know
when a member of our community could use a meal, and to the school
office staff who help co-ordinate meals.
If you know of anyone who would benefit from a meal, if you would like
to join this wonderful club, or if you have any questions at all, please
contact us. Sally macsally1@hotmail.com or Stephanie
grantcollins2@bigpond.com
Thanks again for your support.
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Career Awareness Day 2008 – September 17
The theme for this year’s Career Awareness Day is KEYS: Unlock your
future, based on the Keys to Success from Program Achieve. On this
special day of our school year we invite members of the school
community to speak with our students about their careers, and to involve
them in experiences that are related to that career.
Research suggests that children as young as eight have already
developed constraints on their own success and possible career
achievements. At Mary MacKillop School we raise our students’
awareness of the world of work, and their own possibilities within the
world of work, through our annual career day and other integrated
learning. This day takes the form of a Conference Day with four
sessions which students attend in mixed Year 3 – 7 groups. As much as
possible students are given the opportunity to attend the presentations
that most interest them. Years 1 and 2 classes have shorter careerrelated
presentations whilst Prep students experience careers through
play.
This day is only made possible through the generous involvement of
parents within our school community. We need a lot of presenters to
make this day really successful, and would love you to consider
volunteering to be one of our presenters. In the past we have been
delighted to hear presenters comment that they really enjoyed the
experience and gained a new perspective of education and their own
career by spending time with students in this way.
As I am not working at the school this year my involvement in the
organisation of the day is somewhat by “remote control”. If you would
like to volunteer to be part of our KEYS: Unlock your future career
awareness day, or to ask questions about it, please contact Anita
Langenberg in the Library on 38229288 or
alangenberg@bne.catholic.edu.au
I look forward to seeing many of you at our Careers Day 2008. Jenni Proctor
