Term 1 Week 10 – 6th April 2022

From the Principal

Holy Week

Next week the Church celebrates Holy Week, which is the lead up to Good Friday and the Church’s highest solemnity, Easter Sunday, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, where the people of Jerusalem welcomed Jesus as their king, by waving palm branches (which was a symbol of royalty at that time) and exclaiming “hosanna in the highest”, which means ‘glory to God in the highest.’

One of the fascinating dimensions of the event of Palm Sunday, is that in less than a week, many of the same people who welcomed Jesus as their king, would then be involved on the following Friday with the crowd who demanded that Pontius Pilate crucify him. The Apostle Peter also demonstrated the fickleness of the human heart, when on the night before Jesus would enter his Passion, swore to Jesus that he would never betray him. Jesus made the prophecy to Peter, “Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows, you will deny me three times” (Matt 26:34) which of course came to fruition. Judas Iscariot also betrayed Jesus, selling him out for thirty silver pieces.

What the people of Jerusalem, Peter and Judas represent, is that all of us are sinners and are all are guilty of a betrayal of Jesus on some level, as Scripture says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) This is the bad news; however, we also have the ‘Good News’, that is Jesus, through his death has paid in full for all sin. In dying, Jesus has destroyed our spiritual death, and in rising he has restored our life, life eternal.

We all have choices. Judas could have returned to Jesus, and he would have forgiven him. Perhaps today if he had, we would be celebrating the feast of Judas the Repentant? Peter, however, chose to repent and returned to his Lord and went on to be the first leader of the Christian community, the first Pope as it were. I am also sure there were many subsequent followers of Jesus, who also turned back to him, having been guilty of contributing towards the mob’s lust for blood on Good Friday.

This Easter, we are invited to return to the Lord to receive his forgiveness. I invite you to attend your local parish on Good Friday for the 3pm service. At the service is the veneration of the Cross of Jesus. This is a beautiful opportunity for all who believe, to publicly venerate and acknowledge what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

Have a happy and joy filled Easter.

Lucas Hurley
Principal 

Catholic Identity News

Our School leaders represented our College and Palmerston College at the Mass of Chrism at the St Mary Star of the Sea Memorial Cathedral on Tuesday evening 5 April. It was a beautiful ceremony with all our Parish priests and nuns re-committing themselves to another year of service in our communities. The Oils blessed by our Bishop were collected by our leaders and will be used throughout the Church year at Baptisms, Confirmations, Ordinations and Anointing of the Sick. It was so plain to see four young men preparing to become priests in our parishes.
 
Holy Week commences on Palm Sunday 10h April and concludes in the Church’s great feast of the Resurrection on Sunday 17th April. Traditionally we acknowledge the Way of the Cross (Via Crucis) on Holy Thursday but this year it occurs in our short holiday break. Instead,  upon our return to our College for second term, we will be celebrating a beautiful ceremony called The Way of the Light  (Via Lucis) which encourages our College community to reflect on the many events of Jesus following his Resurrection.
 
I wish you God’s blessings during our Easter liturgies and remain safe over our Holiday break.

Mr Richard Milne
APRE

From Fr Tom

From the Youth Ministry Team

Middle Years News

Dear Families,

We have had a busy few weeks within the Middle School, which I am sure you have heard a lot about. Year 7s students completed Literacy, Numeracy and Science PAT tests. This data that we have collected is used to better differentiate the work we offer students to be able to suit their needs.

Year 7 and 9 students also participated in NAPLAN Practice tests ready for May. We were able to learn how the software works, when questions lock and what time management looks like. We are much more prepared to partake in NAPLAN this year now.

Year 7 students were also involved in the first integrated project of the year which culminated in the Welcome Dinner. During the evening, Year 7s showcased their musical, dance and language accomplishments. There were also SOSE and Art displays. Parents and students partook in the annual egg and spoon race in addition to MacKillop Trivia. It was a fun night for everyone. In Term 2, we are looking forward to a few more Integrated Projects in connection with the College Musical, the Water Project and Healthy Eating Week.

Looking forward to working with you all in Term 2. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about curriculum in the middle years.

Salam Hangat,

Ms Candice Slingerland
Middle Years Curriculum Coordinator

Year 7 Welcome Dinner

Eagle Group News

The Eagles – Gifted and Talented Program 2022.

Commencing the LogicMills program, the Eagles are engaging in sequential creative games and activities building C21 skills. Learning about and practicing heuristics, groups’ understand of goals via game-navigation and effective communication.  LogicMills challenges normative notions of teacher-centered learning. Staff find it interesting seeing students’ negotiation of processes and outcome of a game: even when the rules have been open to interpretation.

Online training through February with Singapore-based Mark Nowacki (LogicMills’ founder) built staff’s new skills. The most immediate and pleasant feature of LogicMills is distance from a digital screen – promoting experiential, social learning which scaffolds close, active listening, and enhances relational understandings.

Eagles staff are currently reviewing year seven’s results following detailed literacy and numeracy testing. Data derivation dovetails with social and emotional learning (SEL) skills observations to formulate The Eagles 2022 induction shortlist. Eagles’ enrolments will be finalised in April.

The term two program introduces a learning series centering on public speaking and debating. The aim is to develop students’ oratory skills, and supporting their academic, research, and leadership abilities. Whilst such learning sounds serious, implementing a fun, gamified approach will build resilience and self-efficacy. This supports learners’ creative risk-taking practice through critical and creative thinking, in a low-stakes environment.

As the program consolidates, Eagles members will be empowered with the confidence and the oratory skills necessary to undertake peer-coaching roles across school-wide public speaking and debating programs.  MacKillop students are fantastic bush-lawyers, ever-ready through the high stakes of playground and classroom banter. This program affords an outlet for such dialogical prowess, and good training, and focus, may empower students taking a stake, in their educations’, and life-worlds’ futures.

The Eagles’ blitz-chess tournament’s 2022 incarnation will continue in the grand tradition. Witnessing students’ reflections on winning strategies and post-battle evaluations though the theatre of chess is amazing to behold.

For staff and students alike, the Eagles’ LogicMills’ learning method challenges our communication skills and efficacies through diverse problem-solving investigations.

Mr Mitch Musulin
Eagle Group Coordinator

Arts News

Music Lesson Sign Up for Primary Students

Musical Fundraiser Bunnings BBQ

RTO News

Patricia Sweeney Fawcett
Managing Director – MacKillop RTO

Student Leadership News

Saints News

It has been a phenomenally successful term for the Saints. In the Rugby Union competition, our girls finished the season as undisputed champions, and our boys, for the first time in our club’s history in the sport, got through to the semi finals. Unfortunately they did not home the ultimate prize this year, but they well and truly cemented their reputation as a force to be reckoned with.

In Rugby League, both our boys and girls played incredibly well last week winning every game they played, and and now going on to play in their respective grand final games before the Cowboys-Parramatta clash in a month’s time.

The date and location for our 2021/2022 Presentation Evening will be announced soon. Thank you to all our players, parents, coaches, support staff and sponsors for the important part you have all played in making this season one of our most successful ever. Photos of recent events can be found on the MacKillop Saints facebook and instagram pages.

Harmony Day

The Languages Department organised some great activities to celebrate Harmony Day – the goal of which was to raise the students’ multicultural awareness and to gain a mutual respect for the cultural diversity of MacKillop Catholic College. It was fantastic to see people dressing up in traditional or orange clothes (orange being the dress code) and jumping in and having fun together. Amongst other things the Language teachers organised activities such as: Taiko drumming, conglak, diabolo, kendama, chalk painting and eating Chinese fortune cookies! These events play an incredibly important part in developing our students’ relationships with one another (as well as with the staff) and also opens their minds to different cultural perspectives and values. We look forward to providing more of these opportunities in the future!

Farewell Mr Levers

Community News