From the Principal

This week we farewelled our Year 12 students at their final school assembly and Graduation Mass. These girls have been wonderful examples of what it means to be a Mary MacKillop woman. The way they balanced their commitment to the faith life and activities of the College with their studies is a credit to them.

For those who have HSC exams, I pray that they may perform to the best of their ability and to all of Year 12 that their life is filled with happiness and success. Thank you Year 12!

Student Leadership 2019

Congratulations to our College Student Leadership Team for 2019.

College Captain: Jassamyn Reyes-Vega    Vice Captain:Summer Rosewall

Thank you to all the Year 10 and 11 students who applied for a leadership position.

A big thank you also to our 2018 Student Leadership Team:

Erin Zappia, Jassamyn Reyes-Vega, Krystina Sammour, Lauren Sleiman, Casey Martin, Krystal Ayyash, My My Tran, Stephanie Knafelc, Anja Yousif, Sohia Maia, Dana Odish, Melinda Markho, Isabella Di-Giandomenico, Liana Keo, Lauren Nguyen, Gabriella Perovic, Linh Nguyen, Noor Chirenian, Sally Nguyen, Mary Khousho, Elissa All, Kathy To, Alyssa Maree Mammoliti, Maya Tresvorg-Vega, Maria Ruiz Davila, Mary Yako, Lourd Balqa and Ranya Sutto.

2018 Leadership Team

Archbishop’s Award for Student Excellence

Congratulations to Istella al-Shorachi on being awarded the prestigious Archbishop’s Award for Student Excellence. This award is given to one Year 12 student from every Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Istella is a worthy recipient of the award and shared this special occasion with her parents, brothers and MMCC students Sandra Aboui, who read her citation and Massara Abdulwahid.

I wish all students and their families a safe and happy holiday.

God Bless,

Gilda Pussich

Principal

Catholic School Funding Update

From the Assistant Principal

Thank you for a Great Term 3

It has been an incredibly busy term, with many events that have given our students opportunities for growth. Our classrooms provide the greatest opportunities on a daily basis for our students who are challenged towards their personal best. 

There have been many great examples of this over the term and term 4 promises to continue to provide more opportunities for each one of our students. I thank our teachers, students and parents for the dedication they have shown in making this a great College.

First Day of Term 4 – Monday 15th October 2018

We look forward to the return of all student across Years 7 to 11 on Monday 15th October 2018.  Learning resumes on this day and CLC teachers will be contacting parents of any student who is absent on this day. 

Term 4 2018 Summer Uniform Reminder

Dear Parents/Carers;

As Term 3 draws to a close we firstly congratulate you on the respect your daughters have shown for our College uniform this term.  However, it is very important that we continue to remind our students and families of our summer uniform requirements.  

The summer uniform has the following Expectations:

–    Regulation College white ankle socks are to be worn at all times.

–    College Skirts, which must cover the bottom of the knee-cap (ie covering the whole knee).  We ask parents to ensure that over the holidays this is rectified before coming back on the first day of Term 4.

–    Pink/Blue Blouse.

–    Undershirts are to be neutral in colour and must not be showing otherwise these will have to be removed if they are brought to school.

–    The College jumper is NOT to be worn during the summer uniform period

–    The College Blazer can be worn in cooler weather and CAN be worn as the outer garment when coming to and leaving the College.

If any student is NOT in the correct summer uniform or incorrectly groomed on the first day of Term 4, she will be sent home to have the problem rectified.  Please ensure you refer to the College Dress Code in the College Diary.

A reminder regarding specific uniform regulations that all students must throughout the whole year:

Reminder regarding Road Safety in and around the College

Please read below some very important reminders regarding traffic safety to ensure your daughter and all members of our community are kept safe:

Speed Limit – A reminder that during the times listed on the school zone signs, 40km/h speed limits apply.

We ask all parents to ensure you are vigilant with your speed and stick to the speed limit within our school zone all times.

Safe drop off – Please observe the road and parking rules to ensure you are dropping off or picking up your daughter in the correctly marked zones.

Parents are not permitted to park or stop at any time in a No Stopping Zone.  Particularly in Carnarvon Street as this blocks buses from entering of an afternoon preventing our students from getting home at a reasonable time.

Pickup and Drop Off Zones – A reminder that these zones can only be used for a quick pick up or drop off only.  The following applies:

• maximum stop time is two (2) minutes

• driver must remain in or within a vehicle

• vehicle must not be left unattended

• zone applies only during hours of operation

Morning Drop Off inside the College – We ask parents to move their car to the furthest point of the drop off zone to ensure as many cars as possible can come into the College ensuring traffic flow is not stopped or interrupted.  When parents park their cars nearest the gates this causes traffic jams on Hamilton and Bulls roads.  Please also check your mirrors when leaving to prevent any collisions and stick to the 10km/h speed limit within College grounds.

Police and Council Rangers regularly patrol the area around our College.  Please ensure you observe all road and parking rules.  These reminders are in place to ensure the safety of all members of our College community.  We thank all parents for your continued support and care of our students.  Please contact the College if you have any questions or concerns.

Office of the eSafety Commissioner – iParent Site

Where you can learn about the digital environment and how to help your child have safe and enjoyable online experiences

Please visit: https://www.esafety.gov.au/education-resources/iparent/

NSW Health – Year 7 Vaccination Program 2018

2nd Dose of HPV Vaccine – Friday 26th October 2018

 Dear Year 7 Parents

On Friday 26th October 2018, the NSW Health team of Nurses will again be visiting our College to continue this year’s Vaccination Program with the second dose of the HPV Vaccine.

A Record of Vaccination will be given to your daughter and it is important they provide this to your family doctor to ensure their records are up to date.

We thank you for your support of this very important public health program.  If you have any questions or concerns, please call your local Public Health Unit on 1300 066 055.

Inspirational Quote – The importance of Prayer

May we continue in our partnership of “Forming young women called to life to make a difference in the world.”

 Mr Pablo Grana, Assistant Principal

JJAMM Week

Each year, at Mary MacKillop Catholic College, we celebrate our Josephite charism and the legacy of Mary MacKillop through JJAMM week. During this week we learn more about what it means to be a Josephite community through understanding the works of the patron, St Joseph and the founders of the Sister of St Joseph, Fr Tenison Woods and Mary MacKillop. JJAMM is an acronym for St Joseph, Julian Tenison Woods and Mary MacKillop.

Below is an outline of the events and celebrations of the week:

Julian Day

Monday 20th August – Julian Tenison Woods

• Julian Tenison Woods co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph with Mary MacKillop. Julian’s influence is evidenced in the spirituality and the passion for the mission of the Sisters and theirongoing commitment to provide education for all children. Julian was a model of educational initiative that is always inclusive and open to new possibilities.
• During the day students were invited to contribute to the JJAMM Week Handprint painting. Placing a painted print of their on the poster for JJAMM Week to represent the inclusive nature of our community
• Throughout the week students wwere able to have JJAMM Week Photos taken in our Photo Booth.

Just Be Day

Tuesday 21st  August – St Joseph

• Joseph was a refugee and sought asylum in a foreign land when the life of Jesus was threatened. Joseph took upon himself to journey to a new land so that he and his family may have life and live in peace without violence. Our families, too, have made journeys to a foreign land for a better life.
• On Tuesday we celebrated with Just Dance in the hall. All students were invited to come to the hall, during lunchtime and take part in dancing, following videos from “Just Dance”
• Staff Dance Challenge. On this day we had the staff Just Dance Challenge. Nominated Staff were asked to dance a “Just Dance” song and raise funds for the College’s fundraising initiatives. Students nominated teachers to dance through donations, with each nominated teacher dancing when $40 has been donated for them to dance.

Admire – Meme Day

Wednesday 22nd August – Admirations

• Wednesday we focused on admiration of our wonderful community.
• Meme Day – Students dressed up representing their favourite meme. Gold coin donation was collected to assist local refugees in our community.
• At lunchtime we admired the students meme costumes in the central courtyard and engaged in some dancing.

School Fundraiser

Thursday 23rd August – Mary MacKillop

• Thursday we focused on at Mary MacKillop, someone who is often quoted through her confidence in God’s providence, living a life as a model for others in their own faith journey.
• On this day money was raised for Student Facilities upgrades like Cold Water Stations, Air-conditioning, Outdoor Furniture and student bathroom upgrades. Krispy Kreme donuts were sold before school (by the box) and at recess and lunch. Donuts were also sold in the front foyer, $2 per donut or $20 per box

Mary MacKillop Day

Friday 24th August – St Mary of the Cross MacKillop 

• Mary MacKillop Day brought the whole community together to reflect on our College Patron St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. As per our College tradition, we began the day celebrating the Eucharist. At the conclusion of Mass the Mary MacKillop Day awards were presented.
• Following Mass the talents of our community was showcased at the M Vision, showcasing acts representing the many cultures that make up our community.
• To end the day all students were invited to enjoy lunch on the oval with food and music.

Mrs Annette Flanagan, Leader of Learning: Catholic Life and Religious Education

Youth Employment Forum at NSW Parliament

On the 20 August, Summer Rosewall, Mr Hennessy and myself had the privilege of being able to represent our College amongst 50 other schools at the Youth Employment Forum at NSW parliament. Throughout the day we engaged in many talks by countless entrepreneurs who gave us many tips about entering the working field.

The day begun with a talk from Mr Chris Patterson, the Member for Camden, who welcomed us to the day and gave us insight for what we could expect to hear and see from the guest speakers and what we could expect in the future regarding job availability for the youth. Following Mr Patterson’s talk, we then had a brief chat with the Premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian, who spoke to us about the approximate 200,000 job opportunities that NSW Parliament are hoping to have by 2020. She gave us tips about the workplace such as, in a work environment “it is important to be yourself and take as many opportunities as you can, no matter what the company is or whether it interests you or not”.

Following Gladys Berejiklian’s speech, we then had a talk from Jane Huxley, Chief Executive of Spotify and she shared with us that the average person goes through 7-11 jobs throughout their lives, some of which may correlate with each other and others can differ and that 4-5 of these jobs haven’t been invented yet. She also stressed the importance of having a good work ethic when it comes to your job, as it will help a person to become recognised in the working field by employers. Following this statement she also stressed that the way that you behave during your working years trumps the skills that you may have in that particular department, again emphasising the importance of having a high work ethic. Lastly, she spoke about having high resilience, which appeared to be the theme of the day, and linked it to her favourite childhood toy, the ‘wibble wobble’, whose slogan was to wobble and always get back up.

Next, we then had a talk from Richard Deutch, the CEO of Deloitte, a company with 80,000+ employees of who stressed the idea that everyone has a choice as to whether they want to engage in a particular activity or not. He emphasised that, as youth, we should put our hands up if we want to do something and not just sit back and watch opportunities pass us by. He also encouraged us to follow a pathway that we love to make the working experience that little bit more enjoyable.

Throughout the day, we participated in activities by the company XVenture such as building a house from squares and a photo, knocking down dominoes and stacking soaps to see who can build the highest tower, where we worked on our team building skills with students from other schools. Throughout these activities, we listened to more talks from other entrepreneurs who had experienced hardship in the working field. For example, we had a talk from a young girl named Matilda who plays for Sydney F.C, and she told us her story where, by the age of 22, she has had to have 2 ACL reconstructions. When asked why she kept on pursuing her career as a soccer player, she told us that it was her passion and that even though it had lots of downs, it also had ups. We then heard a talk from Sean Barry from Channel 7, who grew up in Campbelltown and had no clue about what he wanted to do after school. He then fell into the reporting/journalism pathway where he constantly heard the word “no”. However, he still persisted and asked around on how he could follow his path until he got a “yes”. The day ended with a talk from the famous Aussie chef, Luke Mangan who told us of his hardships of how he wasn’t good at school and when applying for a job he only too heard the word “no” but through persistence and resilience, he was able to grow and succeed in his career.

Key ideas that Summer and I learnt from the day is that the word “no” doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. It just means that you have to try again and again until you get a “yes”, no matter how many attempts it takes. We also learnt that you get what you put in, if you put in no effort, you aren’t going to get anything back, and vice versa so you should always put in that little bit extra. Lastly, we learnt that it’s okay to wobble as long as you always get back up.

Maya Tvedsborg – Vega, Year 11

Year 9 English Excursion

On the 17th August, all of Year 9 excitedly gathered at the College to travel by bus to the Sydney Opera House. We had an early start to our day arriving to school at 7.50am to experience a play of Romeo and Juliet. Everyone was excited to watch the play as we had been studying it in class, so we all eagerly took our seats on the bus. After the long journey, we finally arrived to see the beautiful sight of the Opera House and Darling Harbour. We then proceeded to enter the theatre where we watched the intriguing play.

The play was executed as an excellent tragedy and the actors engaged in their roles perfectly. It gave us an opportunity to witness the tale of love and rivalry that we had become so familiar with. After the show, we even had the chance to meet the actor who played Mercutio. We then proceeded to have lunch in the park before we started the long bus journey back home. The experience all together was a  memorable one.

The goal of this excursion was to deepen our understanding and engagement of Shakespeare’s play and I can say on behalf of all of Year 9 that the goal was accomplished. Year 9 would like to thank all the teachers for their dedication to make this excursion the best it could be.

Jane Awad, Year 9

Author Talk with Tristan Bancks

On Tuesday, July 31, Year 7 had the privilege of talking to Tristan Bancks via Skype from his home in Byron Bay. He is the well known author of The Fall, Two wolves, the Tom Weekly Series and many more interesting tales which are often inspired from real life experiences! Tristan talked about his writing schedule for each day and what he does as an author. We heard readings from some of his books and he explained some of the ideas behind the plots that he has created. Tristan told us how he gets his inspiration for his Tom Weekly books from true events that happened in is early childhood. It was interesting to find out that he then puts a funny twist on the these true events to create engaging and funny stories in his books.

We were all thrilled to see him and enjoyed his jokes along with his hilarious personality. We experienced some funny “would you rathers?” which were tough to decide. An example of one of these was “Would you rather put a thumb tack under your toe and kick a wall or have paper cuts all over your body and jump into a pool of lemon juice?”. We learnt that Tristan uses these ‘hypotheticals’ to inspire humorous ideas involving his characters.

We all learned how hard authors work to make an excellent and engaging book, writing and rewriting many times over. We were inspired by his motivation and positive attitude. Overall, it was a pleasure as well as an honour to talk with Tristan Bancks. This was an experience we will never forget.

Written by Daniella Louis & Emily Bathis, 7Na English

Watch an excerpt from the Interview with Tristan Bancks

Book Week 2018

Visit by author, J.C. Burke, to MMCC

On Thursday, 23rd August, MMCC was lucky enough to receive a visit from successful writer, J.C Burke who talked to Year 9 and Year 11. The visit by author J.C Burke, was both highly informative and interesting. The author spoke about her experiences as a writer and how various events in her life influenced the stories she has written. She writes novels for young adults and some of her most well known work include, The Red Cardigan and White Lies. J.C Burke spoke specifically to Year 11 about one of her novels, The Story of Tom Brennan, which is currently being studied by Year 11 Standard English. J. C.Burke went into detail about the characters, themes and unique structure explored throughout the story, which was highly beneficial and will assist us further in our studies.

On behalf of Year 11, I would like to thank J.C Burke for coming to MMCC, sharing her experiences and journey as a writer and providing us with new information on her novel, The Story of Tom Brennan.

Sophia Maia Year 11

Bookmark Competition Winners

This year the Irene McCormack Centre ran a competition for students to design a bookmark around this year’s Book Week Theme – Find Your Treasure. We were looking for creative and original designs that showed students’ love of reading or a particular book. We received many entries from students in Years 7 to 10 and are proud to announce the winners and share their creations with you! All students received a Book Prize and a Certificate of Achievement.

First Prize – Celine Palacio (Yr 10)

Second Prize – Salina Pham (Yr 7)

Third Prize – Eevet Arabo (CIEC)

Year 10 Picture Books

As part of the Year 10 English unit on Picture Books the class was given the informal task of creating a picture book.

To make the task more authentic the class was given a target audience, and the books had to be created for an 11 year old boy, Jeremiah Barker.  Students were given a list of the things Jeremiah liked which included soccer and the game ‘Fortnite’.

The girls then created the picture books using the visual techniques they had learnt in class.

Jeremiah happily chose the three books he liked the most and those girls chosen received an award. Everyone else received a merit.

Ms Donaldson, English Teacher

Cricket NSW and Sydney Thunder working with CIEC students

Over the course of Term 3, all students in our Catholic Intensive English Centre have been participating in a cricket program that has been developed by Cricket New South Wales and the Sydney Thunder. The program involves qualified coaches and players from these two organisations working with our CIEC students in developing their skills of cricket. The program focuses on the fundamental skills of cricket being ingrained in our nations culture and identity.

Students from our CIEC have thoroughly enjoyed the program. Feedback from both Cricket New South Wales and the Sydney Thunder have reiterated the politeness and overall respect shown by our students to these visitors of our College.

Over the coming weeks, we are hoping to organise a Sydney Thunder team bus to come out to the College. In addition to the games and skills that our students learn, this experience provided the invaluable opportunity for our CIEC students to speak to several professional female cricket players regarding the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

It has been gratifying to see the dedication which our students have demonstrated.  We are looking forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Cricket New South Wales and the Sydney Thunder in supporting our CIEC students.

Rhys Williams, CIEC Teacher

Study Skills Tip – Dealing with Distractions

Some students are naturally able to find a good balance between all the facets of their life: schoolwork, sports, activities, friends, family, technology and all of the other aspects of life that keep us busy from when we wake to when we sleep.

Other students struggle to fit their schoolwork in during the evenings and weekend. Some students come home after school and just sort of ‘wait’ until they feel like working. And what happens is that they never feel like it so they just don’t get started!

Some students start work not long after they get home, but they drag their work out over the whole night doing work in front of the TV, or the computer or their phone. It takes them the whole night, but they hardly get any work done and they don’t feel like they have had a break at all.

A much more effective way to approach home study each evening is to keep your school work and your personal life separate. Don’t do your work in front of the TV, don’t do it while on social network sites or while using messenger apps, instead work in 20-30 minute blocks of time and during this time make the conscious choice to actually remove or turn off things that are going to distract you. As it is only for a short block of time, it is bearable. Train yourself to have breaks from your distractions for the blocks of time when you do schoolwork.

By doing this you will learn to really focus and concentrate on what you are doing for a block of time. You will be amazed at how much work you get done and how productive you are during this time. Then at the end of that half hour period you have a proper break and really enjoy your free time.

You can find special software for blocking distractions on computers and phones in the Dealing with Distractions unit on www.studyskillshandbook.com.au

Our school’s subscription details to this online study skills website for high school students are – www.studyskillshandbook.com.au

School username: mmcwakeley

School password: 16success

Newman Symposium

Cabra-Vale Diggers Launch Community Project For Young Women

During this term, Mary MacKillop Catholic College, was invited to attend the launch of a new community initiative run by Cabra-Vale Diggers Club. Its focus was on developing young women into future leaders. We were fortunate to be successful for this program with three students being accepted to develop their skills.

Congratulations to Sozet Shaba, Kristy Nguyen and Theresa Bui. We wish them all the best as they pursue and develop their leadership talents. Our gratitude to Cabra-Vale Diggers Club for this exciting event.

Pina Gagliano, Coordinator of Learning Year 8

Article from the Fairfield Advance

Bursary Applications

هل ترغبوا في الحصول على تعليم عالي الجودة لطفلكم في مدرسة كاثوليكية؟

هل ما يمنعكم من ذلك هي تكلفة إرسال طفلكم إلى مدرسة كاثوليكية؟

نحن هنا لمساعدتك بقدر استطاعتنا.

هل تقيمون في مساكن حكومية؟ 

هل لديكم بطاقة رعاية طبية سارية المفعول؟ 

هل مصدر دخلكم الوحيد هو سنترلينك؟ 

قد تكونوا مؤهلون للحصول على تخفيضات كبيرة على الرسوم.

ولا داعي للانزعاج حتى إن لم تستوفوا شروط الأهلية أعلاه إذ يجوز أن تكونوا مؤهلين لتخفيضٍ على رسوم طفلكم الدراسية إذا كان دخلكم من العمل منخفضا.

وسوف نساعدكم أيضًا في إعداد خطط تسديد المبالغ الصغيرة التي قد يُطلب منكم دفعها كرسوم.

كل ما عليكم القيام به هو الطلب من موظفينا المدرسة الكاثوليكية المحلية في سيدني وهم على استعداد لمساعدتكم في هذه الإجراءات مع أقصى درجات الحفاظ على سرية الموضوع.

للاستفسارات:

يرجى الاتصال بمدارس سيدني الكاثوليكية – مكتب المنطقة الجنوبية:

السيد سيمون ويلسون

المسؤول المحترف – مساعد المدير الإقليمي

0000 9772 (02)

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Coming Events – Term 4

Mass Times