A SAINT MARY MACKILLOP Primary School Keilor Downs

22 July 2014

No 21

Email: office@mmkeilordowns.catholic.edu.au Tel: 9367 6199 www.mmkeilordowns.catholic.edu.au123

e-NEWS

From the Principal

Individual Highlights

Inside Story 2

Inside Story 3

Inside Story 4

Inside Story 5

Inside Story 6

Inside Story 7

Last Story 8

Trust in God

Dear Community,

Thank you for your support yesterday, as we worked on developing our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Framework. Our staff enthusiastically and positively engaged in developing the initial stages of a framework which all parents, children and staff will come to know as the ‘way we do things here at SMMPS’. As a school we are committed to:

Improving classroom, playground and school climate

Decreasing management

Maximising academic

Improving support for students with Emotional Behavioural Needs

Integrating academic and behaviour initiatives In short we are committed to school improvement. We are a good school; however we look to being a great school.

Developing a framework which sets out to achieve the above commitments will ensure we make children feel safe, happy and well cared for. It’s only then that children will be truly available for learning.

We began the day by asking each staff member to show a photo of a child that is significant in their life. Many staff had photos of their own children, some, as I did, had a photo of a grandchild. We were asked what are our hopes and dreams for this child. And then reminded that in the main we probably all share similar hopes and dreams. And we did! We shared our dreams for happiness, peace, success, love, safety, respect and the list goes on. I know and believe these would be the dreams you share with us for your children too.

As we develop our framework, we are asked to keep our significant child in mind. This activity helped us keep perspective on how special are all children.

I’ll be keeping you in the loop as we develop this framework and then I look to publically launching it to the parent community once we’ve put it all together.

I am very positive and excited about this project and I am definitely confident it will make a significant difference in the life of our school.

Continued on page 2

The wisdom of

St. Mary MacKillop

“Cling to the will of God.”

19.7.1870

IMPORTANT DATES

2014-Term 3

Thursday 24 July

Parent Teacher Meetings

3G & 4Y

Monday 4-8 August

Book Fair

Friday 8 August

Feast of St. Mary of

the Cross

9.30 am Whole School

Mass

Friday 15 August

Feast of the

Assumption

9.30 am Whole School

Mass

30th Anniversary of

SMMPS

10th Anniversary of St.

Mary MacKillop Church

Saturday 16 August

Dinner Dance

Monday 18 August

Wakakirri Heats Book Week ‘Book

Character Parade’

(9.10am-10.30am-in place

of assembly)

Monday 8-10 Sept

Yr.6 Canberra Experiernce

Thursday 18 Sept

Wakakiri Finals

Friday 19 September

Term 3 Concludes

@1.00pm

ST MARY MACKILLOP PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER NO 21 TUESDAY 22ND JULY 2014 PAGE 2

From The Principal Continued..

Last week our Year 6 class groups held an Earth Summit. It was absolutely brilliant and testified to the creative and innovate learning happening in our school. See the report below. And well done to all the students in Year 6 that did such a great job, designing, constructing and presenting their findings. Have a great week everybody.

Anthony McCluskey

Principal

Fes & Levies – Final Payment Due by 11

September.Families other than those who have a payment plan in place are reminded that payment of the balance of 2014 Fees & Levies should be made by 11 September 2014. Families can check the details of their account by logging onto the Parent Portal. NB: Please contact the school office if you have any queries regarding your account.

Book Character Dress Up

Monday 18th August

The 2014 Book Week theme is Connect to Reading - Reading to connect. This year’s theme is about enjoying the experience of exploring story and travelling to other worlds. It also has a broader social meaning, suggesting that reading assists in creating a bond with others. Book Week is an exciting time to celebrate outstanding Australian children’s authors. Therefore, we would like to invite the children to dress up as a favourite book character on Monday the 18th of August and we will be holding a parade in the hall at 9am instead of assembly. It is a time to promote and highlight the importance of reading and encourage a love of books. We would love to see you there.

Confirmation Photos-Left overs

Individual ‘anointing shots’ with Bishop Long are available from the office for those parents wishing to purchase them, at a cost of $20.00 (enclosed in an envelope). Please see the office staff to view the photos.

ST MARY MACKILLOP PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER NO 21 TUESDAY 22ND JULY PAGE 5

Out Of Hours School Care Assistants Required

The St Mary of the Assumption Out of School Hours Care Keilor Downs Program is seeking Child Care Assistants who currently hold or are training in a Diploma in Children's Services, or are a qualified Teacher with current VIT registration, for our OSHC Program at St Mary MacKillop Primary School. Hours of operation are 7:00am - 9:00am and 3:15pm - 6:15pm.

All applications should be submitted with a brief Curriculum Vitae including three Referees (it is important that these Referees have been notified that they will be asked to act in this capacity). A current Victoria Police Check, Working with Children Check & First Aid Certificate is also required.

Applications should be emailed to lmckean@stma.com.au and marked to the attention of:

Rev. Monsignor Charles Portelli, Parish Priest, St Mary of the Assumption Parish

Parent Association

ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS

A sample copy is available to view in the office foyer. We are selling Entertainment Books for $65 each. These books offer discounts at restaurants, cinemas, attractions, retail outlets, hotels and many more. You can order and pay online by clicking on the link below, and you can choose to purchase an APP version for your phone or a hard copy. This will be an ongoing fundraiser until the end of term three. If you are a Facebook user please share the link below and encourage your family/friends to make a purchase as profits from these sales will also go to the school. There are over $19000 of savings available by using the book so take advantage and order one today. https://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/orderbooks/9127y31 5 CENT AND 10 CENTS DRIVE 2014

Following the success of this in 2013, we would like to run this easy fundraiser again, where everyone can empty their wallets/purses of those small coins that seem to accumulate so easily. Please send these coins in with your kids. Once again, the class that raises the most at the end of this year will receive a reward (to be announced at a later date).

NEXT MEETING: Thursday July 24th at 9:00am in Room 16A.

ST MARY MACKILLOP PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER NO 21 TUESDAY 22ND JULY 2014 PAGE 4

National Tree Day

Year 6 ‘Earth Summit’

The unit of work we investigated was about understanding how our choices impact The Natural World.We held a Year 6 Earth Summit on Wednesday July 18th and Thursday July 19th. The Year 6’s compiled their research and published it in a variety of forms. Each student developed an exhibit of their findings to educate others about a specific area of concern regarding environmental conservation. The students had to develop a major question along with five contributing questions based on a topic of their choice. Once they had their questions, they started to research and to answer their questions. They accessed many resources, including books and websites. The research was a fairly intense and involved process. Once the research was complete, the next challenge hit them head-on. They had to write an Information Report and represent their research in an exhibit, worthy of being seen at the Earth Summit.

The Earth Summit was an educating exhibition which was open to students from other year levels, parents and staff. It was filled with lots of informative exhibits. The Earth Summit was held in the Penola building. Some topics that were studied and presented were Global Warming, Deforestation, Ozone Layer, Energy, Animal Poaching,Threatened Species and many others. All of the students set up their stations with great excitement, hoping to teach everyone about their topics. each visitor was presented with factual information relating to the chosen focus. There was heaps of information to present to visitors who came to the exhibition.The days of the Earth Summit were truly educating, fun and impressive. The final presentations were dazzling and there was a huge variety in the way people displayed their information.

We are very proud of all of our hard work and achievements. Written by; Christian Rep, Jessica Grima, Melissa Elliot, George Mattar, Lauren Caccamo and Liam Selleck. (Year 6 students)

Reflections by other classes who visited the Earth Summit On the 17th of July 2014, I attended the year six’s Earth Summit. During the time I spent there I found that many different species of animals are becoming extinct due to humans preposterous requirements. I also found out many Animals are becoming extinct because they are being hunted mostly for their fur. Also there were many exhibitions that were showing the causes of global warming and what is soon to happen in the near future. The exhibition had other stations on deforestation that had a large mass of effort included within the presentation. The last of the different propositions I saw were Natural disasters and the Ozone layer. The Natural disasters display I thought was well researched and organised. The Ozone layer presentations were well explained and displayed. Maria Zboril 5 Red Today was the yr6’s earth summit. It is the 17th of July. It was their chance to show us and tell us about what they think about the earth’s conditions and the animals that are endangered. It was really cool and they were really nice. My favourite stand was the meerkat stand. It mentioned animal testing, deforestation, the ozone layer and mentioned the poor animals becoming extinct. There were cool activities and facts to do and collect and I can tell the yr6’s worked really hard. I have learnt a lot and hope there is a next time. This will help me in the future and I will be sure to help out. By Leila 5 Red I learnt so much! It was really interesting, but sad to see how we are ruining the world around us. It was so fascinating. I was surprised at what the yer 6's were able to create and how much they must have practiced to get their speeches so good. I didn't know, but now I do that make up is tested on different animals and it is really sad and cruel. I liked everything they had made and their paintings were really good. They are excited to think they might have the opportunity to do something similar in coming years. By 3 blue Overall, it was a fantastic experience. We'd like to thankyou for inviting us! It was certainly pleasing to see my ex-students thrive with this project! Well done. Here is some feedback from 4RED. STARS FROM YEAR 6: Anthony liked how some students said lots of information about their project. Aidan liked how they organised themselves, particularly when they were introducing their topic. Isabella liked how detailed their projects were, particularly the dioramas. Lauren A liked how they created their project that showed information in different ways- model, poster, video clip. Wasim liked how they used a nice loud voice. They were also very prepared. Jessica liked how some of students had a video to support their project. John liked the topics, particularly what is being done to save the endagered animals. Paityn liked the way their information was presented, especially their posters. Daniel liked how well the students knew their topics. They were able to answer any question I had with detail. Luke liked the way the students explained new information that he didn't know. Olivia enjoyed all of the slideshows that showed the information.

ST MARY MACKILLOP PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER NO 21 TUESDAY 22ND JULY PAGE 5

Year 1 Ceres Excursion

On Thursday 17th of July 2014, the Year One students went on an excursion to CERES Environmental Park, Brunswick. They investigated how to plant a seed, how bees make honey and the job of a worm in our gardens. We took a waste free lunch to encourage a sustainable lifestyle. The students thoroughly enjoyed the day and actively participated in a range of hands on experiences, including holding a wiggly worm! Despite the weather conditions, we all had lots of fun on our excursion. See Photos below.

Term 3 Excursions and Incursions

Tuesday 29th July Year 5- The children will be visiting the State Library to view the exhibition, ‘Changing Face of Victoria’. The students will then participate in a walking tour to visit various historic landmarks to investigate change, continuity and time our community.

Monday 28th July- Jump Rope for Heart Launch. Tuesday 5th,12th & 19th August Year 3/4- Melbourne Storm Clinics.

Wednesday 13th August- SDPSSA Athletics Carnival. Thursday 14th August Year 6- Incursion. Parliament Role Playing and Quest. Tuesday 2nd Sept Year 5 & 6-Melb Storm Gala Day Thursday 11th Sept- Jump Rope for Heart “Jump Off Day” Monday 8th to Wednesday 10th Sept Year 6- Canberra Experience.