From the Principal – Ms Pussich

A Prayer for Our Uncertain Times

May we who are merely inconvenienced remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors remember those most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working from home
remember those who must choose between preserving their health and making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel our trips remember those who have no safe place to go.
May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settle in for a quarantine at home remember those who have no home.
As fear grips our country, let us choose love.
And during this time when we may not be able to physically wrap our arms around each other,
let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbours.
Amen.

Thank you to the entire MMCC community for their work in remote learning. I appreciate the commitment of the students to engage in remote learning despite the challenges and the ongoing support of parents and carers to monitor their daughter’s learning and ensure that she has a space for learning at home. A huge thank you to all of the staff of MMCC for their dedication to our students. I admire their agility in adjusting at short notice and their ability to still provide quality teaching and learning as well as care for the wellbeing of our students.

Staff News

• We welcome Mrs Melissa Devine who joins our staff as Teacher (English) and Librarian.
• We farewell Mrs Regina Felipe who began her maternity leave in Week 3. We congratulate her on the birth of her baby girl, Audrey Eve Felipe on 5 August.
• At the end of Term 2, we farewelled our counsellor, Mrs Lorena Rodriguez-Paez as she began her maternity leave. We congratulate her on the birth of her baby boy, Alexander (Alex) Aldo Paez on 28 July.

Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

On Sunday 8th August, we celebrate the feast day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. As you sit quietly allowing the joy of God’s presence embrace you on this feast of St Mary MacKillop, I encourage you especially during this pandemic to reflect on her words: “A certain sense of God’s watchful love wonderfully strengthens me”. On Tuesday 10th August, we will mark her feast day with special remote liturgies for each year group.

Dear God, thank you for the life of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop
She showed us in the struggles and hard times of her life you were there loving and helping her.
Please be with us when times are hard or when we are afraid.
Please help us to love you just at St Mary loved you.

Remote Learning

Unfortunately with the high rate of infections in the Greater Sydney area, Year 12 will not be returning on Monday 16 August. Our students will undertake their HSC Trial Assessment Block in a remote environment commencing 18 August. We are currently modifying assessment for Year 7 to 11 students. Students are asked to monitor correspondence from Miss Israel and their CoL Year.

The College is open if you require supervision for your daughter at school. This should only be for students whose parents are deemed “authorised workers” by the NSW Government. Please contact the College prior so that we can ensure adequate supervision. If your daughter is experiencing difficulty with her home wifi, please call the College as we can assist.

Please contact the College via email info@mmcwakeley.catholic.edu.au or by phone on 97254322 if you or your family require any assistance or are experiencing any challenges or difficulties that you think we can help with. I encourage you to stay informed with the current COVID-19 advice from the NSW Health website: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/default.aspx.

COVID-19 NSW Government Updates

Everyday, usually at 11am, the NSW Premier gives a COVID-19 Update. I encourage you to stay informed with the current COVID-19 advice from the NSW Health website: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/default.aspx.

The daily 11am press conferences often have a lot of information and  changes on a daily basis– below are some links for real time translations through SBS:

• SBS Assyrian: https://fb.watch/71DowHSjl2/
• SBS Arabic24: https://www.facebook.com/sbsarabic24/
• SBS Vietnamese: https://www.facebook.com/SBSVietnamese/
• SBS Mandarin: https://www.sbs.com.au/chinese/

Other translated information about COVID 19

• https://www.facebook.com/mhcsnsw
• https://www.facebook.com/multiculturalnsw

From the Assistant Principal – Mrs Harding

Dear Parents and Carers

I would like to say thank you for working with the College as we continue to respond to the current issues around COVID-19. It is certainly a stressful time for our students as they have been forced once again to undertake remote learning and continue to experience the uncertainty of the pandemic.

As parents and carers, you may have already received a phone call from the College as a check in on how your daughter is coping with her learning. If you or your daughter require any further assistance, please contact the College on 9725 4322.

2021 is proving to be a challenging year with many obstacles that we need to overcome. In light of the huge changes that we are living through I thought I would share with families an article by Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas. Michael Grose is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators.

The current lockdown is having an unprecedented impact on our daily lives, and will probably do so for some time. While keeping ourselves and children healthy and safe is our main concern, it’s also essential to address the anxieties of young people during these changing times. Here are some ideas to help inform, reassure and keep children and young people safe.

Check your own thoughts and feelings – Check your own frame of mind and emotions about COVID-19 before talking to kids. Most children are astute mood detectives and they’ll gauge their safety by the way you communicate with them.

Initiate positive action – One way to reduce anxiety and allay children’s fears is to involve them in planning and preparation for their personal and group safety. Positive activities such as maintenance of personal hygiene, greeting people with an elbow tap and getting plenty of sleep can help restore a sense of control, that is so important for their wellbeing.

Find refuge in rituals – Regular rituals such as mealtimes and regular one-on-one time provide both an anchor to normality and a sense of connection for kids in times of change. Consider reconstituting favoured family rituals at this time if they have lapsed due to lack of time, or lifestyle frenzy.

Look outwards – In difficult times there is a tendency to look inwards, which is a natural protective strategy. The alternative is to establish a sense of connection and community spirit by focusing on generosity and togetherness. Help children see past their own needs and look for ways to assist others whether it’s helping a younger sibling occupy themselves, or planning an indoor movie night for the whole family.

The influence of Tik Tok

ABC Four Corners program and Triple J’s Hack (26 July, 2021) featured an insight into Tik Tok and its influence on our girls. Many of our students are on the TikTok social media platform. It is important that parents are aware of how this program influences our girls and may take their data.  Here is a summary of the key aspects of the program as outlined in Pedestrian.TV:

1. TikTok’s algorithm can promote misinformation and dangerous content, including eating disorders. The app can expose users to dangerous content with real-life impacts through its algorithms, data harvesting, and censorship.
2. TikTok has a racial bias
3. TikTok scans your videos for facial data (and not just the ones that you upload) “The Four Corners report claimed that TikTok doesn’t just scan facial data from the videos uploaded onto the app, but also from videos users might record on the app and never upload, or any videos and photos in their camera rolls. The report alleges that the app analyses faces for personality and demographic traits, using that information to create a profile of the user and create a more accurate algorithm.”
4. There is a lawsuit claiming TikTok harvests children’s data illegally – “Anne Longfield, the former Children’s Commissioner for England, is leading a class-action lawsuit alleging that every child who has used TikTok since May 25, 2018, may have had private personal information illegally collected by ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) through the platform for the benefit of “unknown third parties”.
5. TikTok censors political content – The Four Corners x Hack report referenced an academic investigation by The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) which found that TikTok appears to use its algorithm to hide political speech that it thinks is controversial.

I encourage all parents and students to view this program show on ABC iView or read the online article accompanying the program.

Mrs Christine Harding, Assistant Principal

Staff Exercising and Staying Active during COVID -19

Religious Education Update – Mrs Flanagan

Message from Archbishop Anthony Fisher 25th July, 2021

The COVID-19- restrictions are preventing most people from receiving the Bread of Life. Fortunately people can still join the Mass through live-streaming and at least make a ‘spiritual communion’. Throughout this time of lockdown we must, in Paul’s words, “Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience” (Eph 4:1-6). But we hunger, hunger for that day when we can gather as a multitude once more, hunger for that day when we can sit together to hear our Eucharistic Lord, hunger for that day when we will again be fed by Him the Bread of Life.

As the spike in cases of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown continues to prevent us from gathering in person, I encourage you to pray: for an end to this pandemic, for those who have died of COVID and those grieving them, for the sick and those caring for them, for those testing and vaccinating us, for the isolated, lonely or anxious, for those leading us through these times, and for those places faring much worse than we are.

Live Stream Masses

The challenge during this time of lockdown is that Catholics need to find ways of maintaining their connection with God. You are welcome to attend live-streaming services offered by local parishes or may access Masses streamed by parishes in the Archdiocese of Sydney or The Catholic Network. Links provided below

St Gertrude’s, Smithfield – Sunday Mass and Weekday Masses, live streamed

https://www.stgertrude.org.au/

Sacred Heart, Cabramatta – Sunday Mass and Weekday Masses, live streamed

http://www.sacredheartcabramatta.org.au/

Our Lady of the Rosary, Fairfield – Parish Information https://www.olrfairfield.org.au/

Syriac Catholic Church – Parish Live Stream service https://www.syriac-catholic-church.org.au/

St Thomas the Apostle, Bossley park – Parish Live Stream service https://www.stthomaschaldean.org.au/

Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney – Sunday Mass and Daily Masses, live streamed https://www.sydneycatholic.org/live-masses/

The Catholic TV Network – Sunday Mass and Daily Masses, live streamed The Catholic TV Network

Daily Prayer

Prayer is an important part of daily life for Catholics and the Mary MacKillop Community. Each day a prayer for the day is provided to assist one in this daily devotion. Quotes from Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods are also included, as part of daily reflection, especially as Mary MacKillop’s feast day approaches. Also provided are Family Reflections that the whole family may engage in.

Weekly Rosary & Divine Mercy Chaplet

Students with their families may also engage in joining the Mary MacKillop Community for Rosary, Wednesday mornings at 8:30am and Divine Mercy Chaplet, Friday mornings at 8:30am. Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet will be conducted via zoom.

Zoom links will be provided to students via email or Youth Ministry Google classroom.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – YEAR B – 2nd August 2021

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry; whoever believes in me will never thirst.

John 6:24-35

When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

you are not looking for me

because you have seen the signs

but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.

Do not work for food that cannot last,

but work for food that endures to eternal life,

the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,

for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’

Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’ So they said, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven,

it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven,

the true bread; for the bread of God

is that which comes down from heaven

and gives life to the world.’

‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:

‘I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will never be hungry;

he who believes in me will never thirst.’

REFLECTION by Diane Bergant CSA

In many ways the Exodus story of the bread from heaven is very similar to last Sunday’s accounts. However, the focus today is not divine prodigality shown through the overabundance of food, but total dependence on God. The bread comes from heaven, not merely because the food seems to come down from the sky, but because it comes from God. The restriction about collecting it was meant to emphasise this point. Our survival is in God’s hands, not ours.

Jesus insists that he is the true bread from heaven; he is the real basis of our survival. The people followed him because they saw him as a source of bread; they did not realise that he is really the source of life. If we fill ourselves with all that the world provides as nourishment we will still hunger. Only faith in Jesus can satisfy our deepest hungers, and we will not be able to survive apart from him.

Acceptance of Jesus as the source of our life and the very nourishment of our spirits effects a total transformation in us. We will no longer be content to live with full bellies but empty minds. We will put aside our old selves steeped in ignorance and self-interest and put on a new self, created in his image. Having fed on the bread from heaven, we will be mysteriously transformed into it. The spirit of our minds will be renewed by his teaching. As a result, we will be able to launch out into a way of living that gives witness to our new understanding, our new life.

Liturgy Help © 2021

© The scriptural quotations are taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday & Co Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. The English translation of the Psalm Responses, the Alleluia and Gospel Verses, and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, and the Titles, Summaries, and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass © 1997, 1981, 1968, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. The prayers are from the English Translation of the Roman Missal © 2010 International Committee on English in the Liturgy Inc. (ICEL). All rights reserved.

Curriculum Update – Miss Israel

Remote Learning

I hope this finds you staying safe in these difficult times. As a community, we are all pulling together for the best Teaching/Learning experiences possible for the students of MMCC.

Please be aware that staff are leaving classwork on Compass and you can see exactly the school work that your daughter is expected to be completing. If there are any issues around technology, internet access etc, please reach out so that we can assist. Everything is electronic at the moment and I am aware that this may create difficulties.

Assessments are a constantly changing entity at the moment with Year 7 to 11 not returning to school until Week 8. Leaders of Key Learning Areas are working at making assessment tasks viable for our students and equitable and as a result, the dates are constantly changing.

The best way to be across all the upcoming tasks is to use the calendar on Compass to assist you.

1. Select the calendar icon

    2. Under the Month, is a list of calendars you can see (you will not see all of these)

     3. If it is a lighter shade of colouring such as:

Then you need to click on that calendar for it to appear on your visible options.

If you select all of the Year groups relevant to your daughter, then the following should show up

I would also recommend including the MMCC Public Calendar.

As dates and types of assessment tasks change, staff should also notify your daughter via an email with the Assessment Notification attached. A reminder that the illness/misadventure process as outlined in the Assessment Handbooks (listed under favourites on Compass) still applies. If there is a need to indicate Illness or Misadventure for an assessment task, the online form is located here.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out on michelle.israel@syd.catholic.edu.au. Please stay safe, and stay in communication with us.

Yours sincerely

Miss Michelle Israel, Leader of Curriculum

Remote Tips for Parents – Ms Genovese

Wellbeing Week 2021 – Mrs Lowe

In Week 8 we celebrated our first Wellbeing Week at Mary Mackillop Catholic College. Students participated in a range of activities focussing on different aspects of wellbeing – physical, emotional, cognitive, social and spiritual health. 

This included a mindfulness session directed by the school counsellor, Lorena, as well as a wide range of activities and games in the hall for students to engage with throughout the week… 

Ruahine Apaola, Tina Nguyen & Mrs Lowe

Wellbeing Portfolio Captain, Vice Wellbeing Portfolio Captain & Leader of Wellbeing

Whiz-ards of Wakeley

Welcome back to Term 3 and I am sure all our gifted students are excited and ready to tackle the remote learning setting they now find themselves in.

Earlier in the year students in our Newman Religious Education classes participated in the Australian Catholics Young Voices Award. This was an opportunity for students in Catholic schools to have a voice – to use the media to make a difference in the world. They were encouraged to be creative and build their writing skills whilst researching a topic they were passionate about.

We have received wonderful news recently from the Australian Catholics Young Voices Award with Marielena Hawell (Year 8) receiving a Highly Commended in the Intermediate Section of the competition for her entry, ‘Prayer is medicine for the incurable’.

Marielena’s name will be printed with other winners in the upcoming spring Australian Catholics edition. Michele Frankeni, Associate Editor – Madonna said, ‘The time and effort that every entrant spent was obvious, and though that made it particularly hard for the judges, it was rewarding and heartwarming as well’.

Marielena’s article is featured below. Congratulations Marielena!

Miss Brown, Gifted Education/Newman Coordinator

Prayer is a medicine for the incurable

‘Faiz! Faiz!’ yelled my aunty Samira, trying to get her husband to come downstairs for breakfast. Unlike any other regular day, he was not responding. She walked up stairs to find him not breathing. Trembling with fear she gathered her 5 year old daughter to call the ambulance. Whilst the ambulance was on their way she desperately tried to wake up her husband, but he just laid there, as if he were dead. As the hospital crew buckled him up into the back of the ambulance, Samira carried her 3 year old and 5 year old daughters into the car. At the emergency room, the whole family sat there as tears ran down their faces. ‘I’m sorry to tell you, but your husband’s brain has failed and he is currently in a coma’ , said the nurse. As the family gathered to comfort Samira, they sat in the hospital and prayed the rosary. As the stressful and devastating night ended Samira called a priest from Saint Thomas Chaldean Cathedral to visit her husband in the hospital. Faiz is known to be the Choir leader at the Saint Thomas Catholic Chaldean Cathedral and especially known for his generosity by serving the church, without hesitation the priest notified Samira that he will be there for Faiz.

The sun slowly lit up the next morning and the whole family gathered in the hospital to pray with the priest. Watching Faiz lay on the hospital bed with his eyes shut, allowed weeps to flood the room. But, his family did not give up, for 3 days straight Samira and her daughters sat in the hospital praying desperately for God to give them back Faiz. ‘It’s been 4 days, for 4 days I have been watching my husband die’, Samira yelled as if she did not have faith anymore. ‘He will never wake up, my Faiz is gone!’.

As she finally walked through the hospital doors to kiss her husband goodbye, The hospital crew comforted her and directed her to her husband’s room. As she was slowly giving up, she looked up to see an empty bed. ‘What , but how? What did you do to my husband? “ she yelled, which gathered all the nurses. Suddenly a voice of joy comforted her, “ Don’t worry, I’m fine”. As the nurses giggled with joy, Samira took a deep breath and turned around to see her husband standing in good condition. ‘There is no scientific explanation for this’ ‘, the nurse said in a confused tone. ‘However, we believe that it was your strong faith that cured him!’. Samira smiled so hard that she broke into joyful tears.

Never doubt the power of God and the strength of prayer. To have witnessed this event empowers faith and a strong relationship with God. Open up to God with your struggles and believe that faith expressed through prayer is a medicine for the incurable! Do you Believe in prayer?

Littlescribe! 2021 Mini-Writing Festival

In Week 3, 10 students from Year 7 – 9 Newman Gifted Selective Education classes participated in the Littlescribe 2021 Mini-Writing Festival. Given the quick transition to remote learning, the festival was agile enough to become virtual to ensure students were still able to learn and connect with prominent Australian authors.

Each day over 300 students from primary and secondary schools across Australia came together to learn from these authors and illustrators in order to improve their writing skills and take their stories to the next level.

On Monday 26 July, students heard from Kirli Saunders who spoke about connecting to Country through writing including poetry. We were challenged to paint a picture with our words to allow audiences to easily travel to the worlds we are creating in our stories. She also encouraged us to collaborate with other writers and incorporate techniques like imagery to improve our writing. Author James Foley also attended and created live illustrations based on what Kirli was speaking about. It was great to see how an illustrator can quickly turn words into drawings on the spot!

Tuesday saw a workshop led by Andrew Daddo who highlighted the best techniques to create vivid worlds in our writing. He showed how drawing out your ideas can help a writer add more detail and see the story from the audience’s perspective.

On Wednesday Nat Amoore spoke to students about dialogue and script writing. Script writing is obviously important in plays and movies but it is also crucial to fiction writing as well.

There are 3 key parts of dialogue:

1. Vocabulary – this can tell the audience a lot about the character and where they are from by the words they use.
2. The things they say – it is important to consider what words a character would use. What words would a knight use, what words would a spy use or what words would a teenager use. The right words can make the character more authentic and realistic.
3. The way they say them – Dialogue can show how characters interact and relate to each other. They way a character talks to their friend is different to how they would speak to their parent

Thursday’s workshop with John Heffernan developed our skills in building suspense in writing. By adding suspense to a story, you are able to hook the audience and get them to keep reading as they are intrigued by the story. Suspense gives the audience chances to keep guessing and creating their own ideas about the characters and allows the author to change direction and shock the reader!

After watching James Foley illustrate for the other authors all week, on Friday 30 July we finally had the chance to hear from James and learn about his writing experience. We completed an activity where we had to work out the difference between personification and anthropomorphism. He talked about anthropomorphism as an opportunity to widen the scope of characters in a story as well as having stories without human characters at all. This allows our creativity to be explored beyond the normal human experience found in written work.

Overall, it was a great week of learning from different Australian authors and hearing about their experiences and their writing process. It was exciting to still participate in workshops in a virtual domain and a wonderful opportunity for our gifted students to keep developing their skills even when remote learning.

Miss Brown, Newman Selective Gifted Coordinator

Newman Selective Gifted Education Program

Mary MacKillop Catholic College is an accredited Newman Selective Gifted Education Program school. We offer selective classes in Years 7 – 10 for gifted and talented students.

Frequently Asked Questions

Newman FAQs in Vietnamese

Newman FAQ’s in Arabic

Newman FAQs in Chinese

IMC Library Update – Mrs Devine

While current Covid restrictions and stay at home health orders may mean we can’t welcome you back into the library just yet… we would like to remind you all of the wonderful online library features that you can access at home during remote learning.

Connecting to our school library is easy through Compass and it will provide you with a range of helpful options whether you are researching a specific topic or just reading for pleasure.

Through the FIND option on the library homepage, you can access research tools such as Britannica School and explore amazing audio visual material through Clickview.

To help beat the boredom during lockdown, why not look through the many titles on offer through the SORA online reading platform?  It is easy to access and the books are delivered straight to your device.

Just go to the READ option on the library homepage and find the link to ebooks. Don’t worry if you have forgotten how to borrow online, there is a helpful video tutorial that will show you what to do.

Also, a reminder to those students completing the Premier’s Reading Challenge, the competition closes on the 20th August so make sure you are getting through those titles. The books for the PRC can also be accessed through SORA.

For everyone else completing the Winter Reading Challenge, it is still running until Week 10. So make sure you are aiming to reach your reading goal. Don’t worry that you don’t have your booklets with you, just make a note of what you have read in your diary and we can adjust your booklets when you return to school.

Remember, don’t worry if you have an overdue library book. All overdue books can be returned once we are back at school. We want you to stay home and stay safe!

Study Skills Tips – Mrs Devine

Evaluating Areas to Improve

Over the mid-year break it is easy to put all thoughts of school out of your mind. This is not a bad thing, it is important to have a good break and clear your mind. When you return to school, it is important to take some time and evaluate your approach in these key areas, writing down the changes you will make this semester so you can really focus on them.

Review of Last Semester:

Use of Remote Class Time

How well did you use your time in class? Who did you sit next to? Did you work well together? Did you listen to teachers and fellow students when they were speaking? Did you participate and contribute in your lessons?
What are the main changes you need to make in this area?

Asking For Help

If you didn’t understand something in class did you ask a question about it? If you were unsure about an assignment or assessment did you check in with your teacher? If you were struggling with a topic did you ask for help?
What are the main changes you need to make in this area?

Time Management

Did you do enough schoolwork each afternoon? Did you plan out a timeline to do the work for your assessments? When you were working at home did you remove all distractions so you could focus?
What are the main changes you need to make in this area?

Preparing For Tests

Did you ensure that you were always clear on what you were being tested on? Did you make study notes along the way so you had them ready for test time? Did you test yourself on the content as you were learning it to see if it was in your memory? Did you do lots of questions to practice the skills of the subject?
What are the main changes you need to make in this area?

Study Skills Handbook

You and your parents can learn more about how to achieve your personal best at www.studyskillshandbook.com.au by logging in with the details below and working through some of the units.

Username: mmcwakeley

Password: 16success

Managing Your Wellbeing During Remote Learning

Online & Phone Support during Remote Learning

Headspace Free Mental Health Education Sessions for Parents & Carers

For more information on session times in your area:

South West Flyer

Western Sydney Flyer