LENT - St Mary MacKillop Primary ...

Tuesday 23 February 2021

                         Staying Connected No. 3. 2021.
Dear Community,

LENT
It is the season of Lent. A period of 40 days whereby we prepare to remember the events of Holy
Week and then celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.
One of our great challenges and my personal sadness over the past 12 months, is that our churches
have largely been shut and when open, numbers are very restricted. It is difficult to receive the
Eucharist and celebrate the important events on the Church Calendar. Christmas and Ash
Wednesday are two such events that come straight to mind, not to forget Sunday Mass.
However, I do hope you were able to share with your children, the Ash Wednesday video that we
provided on Seesaw. We continue to provide such prayer opportunities so that your children and
your family continue to experience the richness of our faith. If you have not watched this video,
please contact Lucy Vassallo on:
lvassallo@mmkeilordowns.catholic.edu.au and she will be happy to forward it to you.
We are not permitted to gather in large numbers. Therefore, we cannot gather for Mass. Even our
Sacramental celebrations are limited in the number of persons who can attend.
However, despite these limitations, Monsignor Portelli and the school are still working with
determination to ensure we celebrate with reverence and with joy, because these celebrations of
the sacraments are major milestones in the children’s life and they are sacraments that you have
committed to bringing your children to.

This week, on Thursday, our Roman Catholic children in Year 4 are celebrating the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. We usually celebrate this sacrament in Year 3, however due to restrictions last
year, we are celebrating it this week.
Despite the COVID restrictions, we are still in great need of what the Church and our faith
provides for us. It is in this spirit of community that we strive to promote and it is our Catholic
identity that we look to, for sustenance, direction and hope.

I have to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to all members of our school
community for the support you have shown during this crazy start to our school year. You are
truly a very positive and supportive parent body. Thank you!
We now live in a COVID normal world, whereby we need to continue to do things differently.
However, I am optimistic to see that the vaccine is being rolled out. Let us all pray that there is a
light at the end of the tunnel.
Until we are relatively safe, I will continue to implement COVID safe practices at SMMPS. I know
that all schools do things differently and it’s easy to compare. It is important to remember though
that all schools are different; school population, the number of adults who drop off children or
arrive to collect their children, as opposed to say the children walking or riding home, parking on
or off site, school layout and the ability to practise social distancing and manage density limits are
just some of the factors that come immediately to mind when considering school differences.
As Principal of our school, I make my decisions, in consultation with SMMPS School Leadership
Team, based on the context of our school and what I consider is best practice to keep us safe. I
have an ethical obligation to protect your children, provide a safe environment for all persons
onsite at our school and under Occupational Health and Safety regulations, ensure I provide a safe
workplace for all of my staff.
As I have previously reported, I take great pride in the fact that when WorkSafe undertook a
random COVID audit, late last year, here at SMMPS, we scored a perfect score. I remain confident
we are heading in the right direction.
It is a fine balancing act; however, I will always strive to ensure all members of our community
are safe when on the school site.

This will end and we will resume a new normal. In many ways, we look forward to resuming many
of our old practices, but in saying that, I will talk with the community and rather than rushing back
to how things were, I might ask, ‘’What’s worth rushing back to?”
We have an opportunity here to create something new. In many ways we have an opportunity to
recreate our school. It is exciting times ahead.
I take great pleasure when on the yard with the kids and/or greeting or farewelling parents in
the morning or afternoon. The kids are happy and you, as a parent body could not be more
receptive or supportive. Thank you.
I am particularly enjoying the smile on the faces of the Prep children. They are settling in so
well.
Have a good week everybody.

Anthony McCluskey
Principal

____________________________________________________________________

                             Prep Enrolments 2022
Prep Enrolments for 2022 have now opened. If you have a prep child
starting next year, please either come to the front office to pick up an
                   enrolment form or email Kellie at
                    kdoherty@mmkeilordowns.catholic.edu.au

Year 4 Mad About Science Incursion
On Monday the 8th February, the Year Fours participated in a Natural Disasters incursion,
presented by Mad About Science. They were immersed in learning opportunities to
develop their knowledge and understanding of the formation of various natural disasters.

The students had the opportunity to utilise different materials to create their own tsunamis
and cyclones. They also watched a demonstration explaining how heat rises into the
atmosphere. Further to this students were exposed to other experiments relating to
climate and extreme weather. This involved creating snow, forming a cloud in a bottle and
creating convection currents using hot and cold water.

After the incursion the students were engaged in a reflection to determine their new
understandings, as well as, their further wonderings, which we will investigate further
throughout the term.

Swimming Carnival

  On Wednesday the 10th of February, Students from year 4, 5 and 6 tried out for the
 SMMPS swimming team. We took an adventurous trip to Sunshine leisure swimming
centre and during this trip we had a chance to try out for a variety of swimming events
     including, freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly. It was an amazing
 experience to bond with others and to test our swimming skills together. We were so
        blessed to have such a gorgeous day with the sun shining at 34 degrees.
We now have a school swimming team who will travel to Oak Park Leisure centre next
week to compete against other schools. Good luck to all our swimmers!

                                   GO MARY MAC!

UPCOMING EVENTS-TERM 1
               Thursday 25 February
                Year 4 Reconciliation
            (no parents/guests to attend)

       Tuesday 2 March & Thursday 4 March
               School Photos-see flyer

                 Tuesday 2 March
        Year 4 Eucharist Family Night @ 7pm

                  Monday 8 March
             Labour Day Public Holiday

                 Saturday 13 March
                 Year 4 Communion
              1.00pm 4B and half of 4R
              3.00pm 4Y and half of 4R

                 Tuesday 16 March
       Year 6 Confirmation Family Night @ 7pm

               Wednesday 31 March
                 Last day of term 1
Students finish at normal time A-K 3.00pm, L-Z 3.15pm

                  Thursday 1 April
       School Closure Day-more details to come

          Friday 2 April to Monday 5 April
                       Easter

UPCOMING EVENTS-TERM 2
                Monday 19 April
                 Start of Term 2

               Thursday 22 April
              Sibling School Photos

                Tuesday 27 April
 Prep 2022 Information Session and Tour @ 9.30am
     Prep 2022 Information Session @ 7.00pm

              Wednesday 28 April
          Prep 2022 School Tour @ 9.30am

                Saturday 1 May
               Year 6 Confirmation
            12.30pm 6B and half of 6R
            2.30pm 6Y and half of 6R

School Photos 2021 – Saint Mary MacKillop Primary School

Annual school photos will be taken at Saint Mary MacKillop Primary School by Arthur Reed Photos on
02 & 04 March, 2021. Sibling photos will be taken on 22 April, 2021.
There is no need to return any forms or money to school.
Unique image codes will be issued to all students on/after photo day so families can register online to
view images when they become available in the webshop.
Registration is simple, just follow the 3 simple steps on your child’s personalised flyer once you receive
it and remember to add the codes for all your children attending this school.
Even if you registered last year, it’s important that you do again this year using your child’s 2021
image code to link their images for the current year with your contact details.
When images are ready to view and in the webshop, all parents who have registered will be notified
by SMS and email.
Once registered, please wait for notification that 2021 images are online to view before making your
purchase.