A happy New Year and a warm welcome to both old and new members and friends of Mary MacKillop Catholic College.

As Mrs Archer, our College principal, stated at the Opening Mass, and our first College assembly, 2017 is the year for “Growing Together”.

With these words being the theme for this year, I am very excited to share with you the following events and opportunities we have planned for both students and parents in these first weeks of Term 1.

The Helping Hand – Homework support group has recommenced for newly arrived to the country students from an Arabic-speaking background with classes running from 3.30 – 5.00pm every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. We are pleased to have Mrs Meslon Matti facilitate the support group again this year, thanks to the generosity of Cabra-Vale Diggers and ClubGRANTS.

Leonie Fernando and Emma Burton from the Strong Minds team have trained our Year 11 Vice Captains in Teen Mental Health First Aid. Last November they generously provided the training sessions to the Year 12 captains which means that all of our twenty-eight Senior Leaders have been taught the skills to recognize signs of stress and anxiety and ways in accessing support. Our Year 10 CLC leaders will be instrumental in ensuring that the Year 7 students settle in quickly and happily into our community. They will be trained to be the “Big Sisters” to the Year 7 students in the Peacemakers program which is run by our school counsellors, Carol and Christine from Psychlinx.

The transition from Primary school into High school can be a daunting experience even for the most confident student. Having a “big sister” to talk to in CLC every day, is one way of getting advice on sorting out issues that may concern the new students. What may seem like a big problem to a twelve year old, may not be as bad and can be easily solved by an older student who has had a similar experience. Talking to someone – a parent, an older sibling or others they trust, is very much encouraged in order to reach some problem-solving options to rectify the concern.

Raising teenagers is not easy. We have managed to secure a 6-week program for parents, “Tuning into Teens”, here at the College. Woodville Alliance and Catholic Care are delivering this informative, beneficial course, which was offered to our parents two years ago.

The flyer below contains all the information for those who are interested in attending. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to getting to know as many new parents as possible this year.

Natalie Gesson, Leader of Learning, Community Engagement