Term 4

WEEK 1

Mon 8th – 14th Oct Thu Yr 6 Canberra

Trip Mini Mary’s Visit Fri Assembly Yr 2D

Mary Rosary Liturgy

Yr 6 Canberra Trip Mini Mary’s Visit

WEEK 2

Mon 15th – 21st Oct

Mon Parent Info

Session Bullying Luke Kennedy

6.30pm library Tue Board Meeting

7.00pm library Fri Assembly –

leader induction & Eisteddfod items

Indigenous

Morning

Newsletter No: 1 Wednesday, 10th October, 2018

Dear Parents and Friends, Welcome back everyone to Term 4. I hope you all had an enjoyable time over the holiday period spending some quality family time together. Term 4 is nine weeks long and will go very quickly with a number of events happening throughout including the Annual Mackay Eisteddfod. We wish all children competing in items the very best of luck. This year we have every class participating in the Eisteddfod. This is such a wonderful experience for the children and I commend the teachers and the students for their hard work in preparing for this event. We also have a number of classes attending camps this term. The Year 6 children are attending their camp to Canberra this week and in week 4, the Year 5 students will be attending their camp at Action Challenge Hay Point. There are a number of other events including our Carols Night and Prep Orientation Morning just to name a few to occur this term. In the busyness of this term the below reflection reminds us to take time to be calm. People comment a lot about how hectic their lives have become. There’s never any time to stop and ‘smell the roses’ or just relax. However, stopping and reflecting is a very important part of our lives and it takes great skill to be able to fit this in to a day which rarely sees your feet touch the ground. I found the following story which really highlights the importance of being the calm among the storm.

There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them. One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace. The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest - in perfect peace. Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why? "Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."

Author Unknown

ASSEMBLY ON FRIDAY

This Friday Year 2D will be leading a liturgy during assembly based on the Rosary. If students have rosary beads at home could they please bring them in on Friday for this liturgy?

WELCOME

This week we welcomed one new family to MacKillop - Abby Barr in Year 1 and her parents Travis and Chantel.

STAFF NEWS

Mrs Angela Russo is on long service leave for the first four weeks of this term. We welcome a number of teacher assistants to MacKillop this term. Mrs Kellie Van Damme who will be working every Tuesday and Friday during this time, Mrs Donna Shepherd who will be working every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and Ms Kerri Wease who will be working each Thursday and Friday. We also welcome our new school counsellor to MacKillop this week - Ms Collette Simpson. Collette will work here every Tuesday.

PUPIL FREE DAY Our teaching staff will be involved in a professional development day on Monday 22nd October. Parents please note that this is a pupil free day. Our school office will be open as normal.

STUDENT SUPERVISION

Please be aware that staff are on duty at MacKillop from 8.15am in the morning and until 3.30pm at the latest in the afternoon.

It is therefore expected that students be dropped off and picked up between these hours.

If parents are unable to drop off and pick up during these times the school offers before and after school care. Please contact Donna at OSHC on 0417291439 if you require further information.

We are aware that parents are occasionally delayed and ask that they contact the office on 49553600 to inform us. I have a great concern for children being dropped off at school before 8:15 each morning. Our OSHC staff and other staff have informed me that some children arrive as early as 7:30am. This is not acceptable. Teachers are not required to be on duty until 8:15am when the first bell goes, therefore, these children are at school with no supervision. My fear is twofold, even though children know they are supposed to sit down, they don’t – so should they be injured, there is no responsible person to look after them. Secondly, it is very easy for any adult to walk into our grounds at that time of the day and not be noticed – what if their intentions are not in the best interest of the children? You have two options available to you should you need to have your child at school before the official time.

Use the Outside School Hours Care facility run from our school and this is at a cost.

Remain on the school grounds with your child until 8:15am

All children who arrive at school early remain the responsibility of their parents, as the first bell of the day is when classrooms are open to the children and a teacher is on duty. Teachers who come to school early, prepare work and organise themselves for the day ahead are not required to supervise early arrivals.

Children who are here before 8:15am must be seated in the

assembly area until the bell goes. This is to help ensure no injuries occur. Please remember that we all want to keep our children safe. Thank you so much to those parents who already adhere to the regulations stated.

NORFAIR

Norfair will be held again this year on Friday 9th November at St Joseph’s school grounds from 5.00pm – 9.00pm. As part of the parish our school will be running the Chocolate Toss Stall at the fair. On Thursday 25th October we will be having a free dress day and asking the children to bring in a block of chocolate to be donated for our stall. Our school has always supported this event and it is a wonderful opportunity for our parish community to get together.

Students who wish to participate must remember to wear clothing with sleeves, closed in shoes and school hat.

We will also require helpers on the afternoon/evening. Could you please return the slip below if you are able to assist. All help will be greatly appreciated. We thank you for your support for St Joseph’s Parish.

NORFAIR REPLY FORM - FRIDAY 9th NOVEMBER 2018

Name: __________________________________

Phone Number: ____________________________

I am able to help from: 5.00pm – 6.00pm 6.00pm – 7.00pm 7.00pm – 8.00pm 8.00pm – 9.00pm

SIGNING CHILDREN IN LATE

A reminder please that if students are arriving to school late (after 8.40am) then they must be signed in at the office by a parent/guardian. There are a number of children coming into the

office to sign themselves in which is not acceptable.

TERM FOUR CALENDAR Attached to today’s newsletter is a calendar for Term Four which outlines some dates to remember. You might like to place this on your fridge as a reminder of upcoming events and happenings.

NEW SCHOOL LEADERS

Our School Leaders for Term 4 are: Harper Ford and Ellee Bourke. Congratulations to both children, we are sure they will make a very worthwhile contribution to our school this term. Our new leaders will be inducted next week. Also can I take this opportunity to sincerely thank our outgoing leaders: Andre Rosales and Matilda Richards who have served us well and shown great leadership skills.

CLASSES FOR 2019

This term staff will be arranging classes for the 2019 school year. This is a very thorough and time consuming process, and is very important in creating balanced classes throughout the school. In making decisions for classes a number of principles are taken into consideration.

1. We always aim to create classes that are balanced in need. We consider the academic, social, emotional and behavioural needs of the children when placing them in a

class. This is never straight forward and often needs considerable thought.

2. We consider the gender balance within the group, the body

of knowledge that we have gathered on each child and any parent input that may assist. Each year parents are given an opportunity to provide written information that may assist the staff in placing their child. Please note: requesting certain teachers and/or arguing placement based on the children’s current friendships can and do change and therefore are of a lower priority when considering what is in the best interests of the children. The information you may wish to share will be considered fairly, but does not guarantee that your request can be acted upon.

3. We always endeavour to be just, fair and compassionate to

the needs of each child.

I would also like to stress that our staff know their students very well and will do their very best throughout this process. I urge parents to trust us in making informed decisions that we consider will be the best for each child. Included with today’s newsletter is a note about class placements for 2019 that you may wish to use. We would ask that these responses be returned to the office no later than Tuesday 23rd October, so your insights can inform our decision making process. I may also arrange a meeting time to speak to parents about these requests where required.

EISTEDDFOD

Our teachers and students have been busily preparing for the Eisteddfod. A reminder about when year levels are scheduled:

Tuesday 23rd October 2018 - 8.30am

- Session 78 No: 481A - Year 1 Choral Speaking (1st section

on)

- Session 78 No: 486 - Year 6 Choral Speaking (3rd section on)

Wednesday 24th October 2018 – 8.30 a.m.

- Session 84 no: 480A - Prep Choral Speaking

- Session 84 No: 482B - Year 2 Choral Speaking

- Session 84 No: 485B - Year 5 Choral Speaking (4th Section

- 8.30am section, but possibly not on stage until

9.30/10.00am. This is always dependent on the adjudicator

and how quickly they get through their adjudication)

Thursday 25th October 2018 – 8.30 a.m.

- Session 90 No: 483 - Year 3 Choral Speaking (3rd section

on)

- Session 90 No: 484B - Year 4 Choral Speaking (4th section

on)

An information note will be sent home with the children this week with further information. Please understand that we can only make predictions on performance times based on the schedule given and rough estimates on how much time sections will take. Also, it is difficult to judge the amount of time the adjudicator will take to give their feedback etc at the end of each performance. The link below provides the whole eisteddfod schedule: https://mackayeisteddfod.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/MKY-EISTEDDFOD-program-2018-V2.pdf

FAMILIES LEAVING As our total enrolment drives many aspects of our school (staffing, budget, class sizes and structure) it is important that we try to be as accurate as possible in predicting the school enrolment for 2019. If you know that you will be leaving at the end of the year could you please notify the office as soon as possible? Your assistance with this matter is greatly appreciated.

PRAYERS Please remember in your prayers anyone who is sick within our community, we pray for God’s healing and restoration.

Monday 22nd Oct - Pupil Free Day

Keep Smiling

Allison Blakey

Principal

MACKILLOP DRESS FOR A FARMER DAY……we raised over

$600!! Well done MacKillop!

SCHOOL READINESS TESTING – NAPLAN ONLINE

NAPLAN is moving online. This means moving NAPLAN from the current paper-based tests to computer-based assessments. The transition to NAPLAN online will commence from 2018.

Some of the main benefits of students taking part in NAPLAN Online include:

Better assessment – and more precise results. NAPLAN Online uses a tailored test or adaptive

design, where the test automatically adapts to a student's performance and asks questions that match the student achievement level, allowing the student to demonstrate their knowledge. This provides teachers and schools with more targeted and detailed information on students’ performance on the tests. Tailored testing also provides an opportunity to broaden the scope of the assessments.

Faster turnaround of results. Delivery of assessments

online significantly reduces the time it takes to provide feedback to schools, students and parents, so teachers can respond more quickly to learning needs.

More engaging. ACARA (The Australian Curriculum,

Assessment and Reporting Authority) research into online assessment has shown that students have engaged well with electronic tests.

As technology develops, ACARA aims to further refine the delivery of the tests to best use the available technology to provide increasingly sophisticated assessments and valuable feedback to teachers, parents and education authorities.

Next week, MacKillop will be participating in a School Readiness Test. The School Readiness Test is a ‘practice run’ for schools to participate in a trial NAPLAN Online. The SRT is not an assessment of student ability but will allow schools to:

become familiar with the NAPLAN online test format and processes;

check they have the technical capacity, rooms and devices to administer NAPLAN Online;

provide students with the opportunity to experience the online test question types and format by completing a practice NAPLAN online test.

As our Years 2, 4 and 6 students will be engaging with NAPLAN online in 2019, these classes will be participating in the online trial next week. Please remember SRT is not about assessing students

and it is not a NAPLAN test.

Should you require more information about NAPLAN Online, please visit:http://www.nap.edu.au/ Similarly, should you have any questions or concerns about the SRT, please see your child’s class teacher or Mrs Cundell (APC).

(Information sourced from https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/FAQs)

Oct 08 Joseph Dlask 13 Jaxson Bovey 13 Blake Defend 14 Harper Ford 14 Xavier Hopton 14 Harley Jewell

Issue 7 Book Club order forms were handed out to students today. Closing date for Issue 7 is Wednesday 24th October, 2018.

With every purchase from the Scholastic Book Club Catalogues our school receives 20% in Scholastic Rewards of all book club sales. We then can use the rewards to purchase books and resources throughout the year for all the students of MacKillop. I hope you all enjoy browsing through the new Scholastic Book Club Catalogue and thank you once again for your support. Many thanks, Marie Schembri Library Coordinator

Recently, Rory Franklin who is a student from the ‘Kerry Harold School Of Music’ received a High Distinction when he sat for his AMEB grade 3 Classic Piano exam. Rory has been taking lessons from Kerry Harold at MacKillop for several years. Rory is now preparing for the Eisteddfod in both piano (Modern & Classical) and singing with Ms Harold. We wish Rory all the best.

NETBALL GALA DAY Well done to those students who participated in the Netball Gala Day last term.

OCTOBER SPECIAL OF THE MONTH

SPAGHETTI – price TBA

Please ensure tuckshop orders are written on brown paper bags with your child’s name and class on it.

TUCKSHOP ROSTER Fri 12/10 Rebecca Jackson Treeney Giles Wed 17/10 Kim Hill

Jo Reid

Tuckshop helpers – please wear closed in shoes

If you are unable to work your rostered day could you please contact Jo Oliver by phone or text 0413 672 920

PARENT THANK YOU DINNER

The P&F Association invites all parents, grandparents, uncle or

aunts that have contributed this school year to join us at Sorbello’s

Italian Restaurant on Saturday 27th October. Contributions can be

big or small, such as tuckshop help, reading groups, maths groups,

fete etc. Please return the RSVP slip attached by Friday 19th

October for catering purposes. We would love to see you there!

If you have any suggestions for the P&F, please fill out a

suggestion form available in the office and pop it into the red

box. Remember to check out the MacKillop P&F page on the

website where you can find our contact details and the latest

meeting minutes.

http://www.mnmrok.catholic.edu.au/parentsfriends.htm

Mel, Paula, Kristy & Penny

DATE CLAIMERS

Monday 17th October – Luke Kennedy Parent Night

Saturday 27th October – Parent Thank You Dinner

SPECIAL INFORMATION FROM PARENTS

REGARDING STUDENT CLASS PLACEMENT for 2019

NAME OF STUDENT: …………………………………………… CURRENT CLASS: ……………………..

In making allocations to classes we try to consider a wide range of criteria when placing children for the following academic year. These include:

academic performance and attitude;

student’s approach to learning and style;

personality characteristics;

social, emotional and behavioural needs

(where applicable) special learning needs. In arranging allocations our goal is quality education for every child according to the staffing allocation made by the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Rockhampton. We seek to have each child achieving to the best of his or her ability, irrespective of actual attainment. We regard any comments from parents as very important to this process. Obviously, MacKillop can only accommodate genuine issues (in attempting to make decisions regarding the overall good of students throughout the school). This letter is to invite you to place in writing, aspects of your child’s placement that you wish us to consider. For example, you may like to advise if there is a conflict between students, you may like to outline particular academic, family or emotional needs of your child. However, it must be made very clear, this invitation does not involve requesting which teacher you or your child would like, but rather an opportunity to advise the principal of any concerns regarding placement. Please keep in mind as we become a one stream school in many year levels, separating students into different classes is not a consideration we can fulfil. Parents could expect to be contacted personally to explain their request. While we cannot guarantee that your request will be acted upon, we can assure you that each request will receive genuine and open consideration in informing our decisions. If you have written a letter in previous years and still have the same concern you will need to put your request in writing again. Yours In Christ, Allison Blakey Principal

SPECIAL INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY PARENTS (Please continue over page if further space is required) Signed: ………………………………….. Date: ………………… Parent(s)

If you intend to return this sheet, it is important that it is returned by Tuesday 23rd October (at the latest): so that

arrangements can be finalised.

2018 Student Residential Address and Other Information collection notice This notice is from the Australian Government Department of Education and Training (the department), to advise you that the department has requested that your child’s school provide a statement of addresses, in accordance with the Australian Education Regulation 2013 (Cth) (the Regulation). A statement of addresses contains the following information about each student at the school:

Student residential address (not student names)

Student level of education (i.e. whether the student is a primary or secondary student)

Student boarding school status (i.e. whether the student is boarding or a day student)

Names and residential addresses of the student’s parent(s) and/or guardian(s) Schools generate a record number for each student for the purposes of this collection, which is also provided to the department. Purpose of the collection This collection is routinely used to inform Commonwealth school education policy, and to help ensure that Commonwealth funding arrangements for non-government schools are based on need, and are fair and transparent. The National School Resourcing Board recently completed a review of the socio-economic status (SES) score methodology used in the calculation of the Commonwealth’s needs-based funding arrangements for non-government schools. The information collected in the statement of addresses will be used to progress the Board’s recommendations, which have been accepted by the Government. Further information on this review and the Government’s response can be found here: https://www.education.gov.au/review-socio-economic-status-ses-score-methodology. Use and disclosure of personal information Your personal information is protected by law, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Any use and disclosure of your personal information relating to the statement of addresses will occur in accordance with the Regulation. Your personal information may be used by the department, or disclosed to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (the ABS), for the purposes of SES score policy development, reviewing SES score methodology, calculating SES scores, Commonwealth school education policy development (including school funding), or where it is otherwise required or authorised by law. For example, your personal information may be provided to the ABS for statistical and research purposes, which includes data integration projects such as the Multi-Agency Data Integration Project (MADIP). Further information on the MADIP can be found here: http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/home/Statistical+Data+Integration+-+MADIP. The department may, from time to time, carry out audits of school submissions. In the event of an audit, contracted auditors may seek to compare a school’s statement of addresses with student enrolment information held by the school. These contractors will not use the information for any other purpose. The department may also be required to disclose your personal information to contracted providers for the purposes of the provision of ICT support services to the department. The department does not intend to disclose personal information to overseas recipients. What do you need to do? You are not required to do anything. Your school is responsible for providing the requested details to the department, however, please ensure that your school has the most up-to-date and correct details for your family. Contacts for further information Your school can provide additional information about the process for the statement of addresses collection. If you have any further questions regarding the collection, you can contact the department by:

Email: seshelpdesk@education.gov.au

Phone (free call): SES helpdesk on 1800 677 027 (Option 4) The department’s privacy policy is available on the department’s website at www.education.gov.au. The privacy policy contains information about:

how individuals can access and seek correction of the personal information held by the department;

how complaints about breaches of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) can be made; and

how the department will deal with these complaints. If you wish to contact the department about privacy-related matters, please email the department at EducationPrivacy@education.gov.au or write to: Privacy Contact Officer Schools, Childcare and Corporate Legal Branch Department of Education and Training GPO Box 9880 Canberra ACT 2601.