Edition 11,
18 November 2022

Mary MacKillop College acknowledges the Kaurna people, Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live, work and study. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

For Remembrance Day

O God of truth and justice, we hold before you those people who have been injured or died in active service.

As we honour their courage and cherish their memory, may we put our faith in your future; for you are the source of life, peace and hope, now and forever.

We also pray for countries in turmoil, where children live in fear because of wars and conflict. We ask for your help to make things better and bring them peace .

Amen

Remembrance Day

On Friday 11 November, the whole school community gathered in the College gymnasium for a Remembrance Day Service. We reflected and prayed for the men and women who have bravely laid down their lives for us and the future of our country. We also paid respect to the families of fallen soldiers who have felt the horrendous impacts of war. We held a minute silence and the last post and the rouse was played. While our student leaders distributed poppies, Flanders Fields was sung.

Social Justice

In Term 4, we are focussing our charity on Vinnies Christmas Appeal. Staff and students have been asked to help Australian families struggling this Christmas and donate food for hampers, as well as Christmas gifts for children, adults and families. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

The Year 10 Charity Run has been a Mary MacKillop College event since 2011, where the Year 10 Pastoral Care Classes compete to raise the highest sum of donations and the most laps on the day.

This event links both the Pastoral Care Program and the Religious Education curriculum, as it gives a different perspective to the cohort’s theme of compassion. As we continue to unpack the theme, we have taken the time to reflect and take a look through the lens of social justice. Together, we have visited and interacted with various homeless shelters, learning about the difficulties that people experience. This year the students raised money and awareness for The Adelaide Day Centre, who support homeless people, with shelter, food and medical support.

After our initial postponement from Term 3 due to weather, the much-anticipated event was able to go ahead in Week 3 this term. The classes came out ready to take the trophy for their class. They showed enthusiasm and support for their peers with a little healthy rivalry to keep the energy levels up and the laps coming.

Together as a cohort they completed 392 laps in the space of an hour and raised a total of $1957. An amazing achievement!

Congratulations to 10 Green, the overall winners for both categories.

It all began on Year 9 Retreat where the cohort engaged in making their own sockballs out of all things plastic and tying them together with long string.

During the retreat, Tony Johnson from Catholic Mission, exposed the girls to a broader understanding of how soccer is a game played by many in developing countries who love the game, as it brings them such joy and fun when played with friends. It is also the world’s most popular sport and it helps children to build a strong sense of community.

Children from developing countries sometimes don’t have access to the kinds of soccer balls we have here in Australia. They are talented and keen soccer players who will use what they have to make their own soccer ball.

On Friday 4 November, the Mary MacKillop College community celebrated Socktober with a Crazy Socks Day. Students wore their favourite pair of silly socks and donated a gold coin.

The Year 9s held a penalty shoot-out fundraiser in support of families in Ethiopia facing malnutrition and food insecurity and used the sockballs they made on their retreat. To date they have raised $796.

The competition was fierce, so much so that the winner of the day had to be decided by a soccer game. What a display of team work, determination and a lot of fun! The games ended with the sockball literally falling apart, a reality for children in developing countries.

Thank you to all the students for their outstanding participation, enthusiasm and support of this special and important event! Thank you to Mr Mott and Year 8 student, Melissa for being our star goal keepers.

Congratulations to the 2022 Year 12 Visual Arts students and thank you to the family and friends who attended the exhibition opening on Friday 11 November. It was a privilege to celebrate the commitment of the students who have dedicated so much time and effort to this subject. Stage 2 Visual Art is a labor of love with hours of research, experimentation, decision making and attention to detail taken to create refined art or design works.

Students recorded their ideas and processes in their 40-page Folio through abundant journalling, sketches, sculptures and photos exploring a variety of media. They studied the styles and techniques of inspiring artists related to their chosen themes, evaluating each problem faced to factor what improvements needed to be made or what new skills and approaches were needed to achieve their vision.

As Amelia stated, “I was always improving, trying and testing, becoming resilient and learning from my mistakes.”

Some students aimed to raise awareness about issues that concerned them and their peers such as anxiety and addiction, communicating their perspective on these matters visually, as Tania reflected, “so viewers can better understand the feelings of others who suffer.”

Lauren’s artwork, Fantastic Beasts demonstrated how she merged the ideas from her vivid imagination with the endless possibilities and potential of 3D mediums and processes like modelling clay and felt. She wanted to create magic and wonder through the creation of 3D hybrid mythological creatures such as the ‘Tignx’ (Tiger and Lynx) or ‘Cassoingo’ (Cassowary and Dingo).

When creating her artwork Abigail felt she had a stronger connection to her family. She photographed portraits of her family with flowers painted over their faces entwining the Victorian era’s symbolism with the qualities and personalities of each family member.

Elisa painted the experience of her great grandfather’s life in a military internee camp during World War II. She recreated the story from anecdotes and photos passed down through generations, to commemorate and record it in a more permanent form.

“I have learnt that Art gives people the opportunity to tell important stories and that personal stories from people’s lives are just as important as those in museums or in movies. They are the living history that affect the lives of everyday people.” - Elisa, Year 12 Student

The Spring Poetry Anthology is an annual publication celebrating the beauty of poetry as a literary form. Produced by the South Australian English Teachers Association, this year 400 students from across 50 South Australian primary and secondary schools submitted original poems for possible inclusion.

Poetry is an integral part of the English curriculum, and so students in Years 7-11 wrote their own poems from haiku to elegies, for submission to the anthology. Since students were well versed (pardon the pun) in poetic techniques and imagery, and had enjoyed Poetry In Action’s live performance in Term 3, this year’s entries revealed an impressive and diverse array of subjects, perspectives, and observations.

Congratulations to all students who submitted entries to the Spring Poetry Anthology in 2022, and we particularly commend the 15 girls whose works were recognized for publication. They made Mary MacKillop College the most represented school in the anthology.

On Saturday 29 October, our excited poets attended the official SAETA Spring Poetry Anthology Launch at the University of South Australia, Magill Campus. Addressed by esteemed South Australian poets, Steve Brock and Jude Aquilina, and surrounded by SAETA representatives, family and friends, they were gifted with a copy of the Anthology as a memento and a certificate in recognition of their poem’s publication.

Mary MacKillop College students whose poems are now in print include:

Year 7
Mia, Life is a Ride
Ela, Mindset

Year 8
Zara, Daunting Dreamer
Josephine, If My Eyes Could Take Pictures

Year 9 
Allegra, perceptions
Erin, In my pointe shoes
Gurmannat, The Life Puzzle
Lotus, Anger
Eloise, A Just Place
Poppy, Little Things
Jenna, Green, White & Red

Year 10
Mahan, Regrets
Kahlea, Dancers in the Night

Year 11
Emily, Water Bottle
Gracy, Dear Future

Another coup for the College was the recognition of the poem, perceptions by Year 9 student, Allegra. Her free verse poem was awarded second place by Writers SA because, to quote Jude Aquilina, it had “so much heart and soul poured into [its] words.”

A sincere thank you to not only the English Learning Area teachers for keeping poetry alive and relevant, but to MacKillop students for their honest voices, diverse perspectives, and expressions of hope.

Week 3 of Term 4 saw the College celebrate Languages Week through a diverse range of activities for our students. For obvious reasons, the week could not be celebrated without food, which included tacos, pizza and bombolone.

Our Year 7 students had a wonderful opportunity to experience a workshop on Latin dancing run by Valeria from El Ritmo Productions. The students were able to learn about this dance style and then put it into practice.

Our Year 8 students went to Palace Nova at Prospect and were able to learn about the significance of a particular Italian tradition, La Befana (The Christmas Witch) through the film, La Befana Vien di Notte II (The Christmas Witch Comes at Night II).

Our Year 9 students were also able to practise some dance moves through the European Summer Dance Craze, Caramello. The students were able to quickly learn the moves to this very catchy song sung by Elettra Lamborghini, Lola Índigo, and Rocco Hunt.

Our Year 10 students of Italian were delighted this year that their migrants and families were able to attend our annual Collage of Migration. The posters produced by the students retold the stories of their migrants with sensitivity and reflected their views of migration. Our guest speaker was Roxanna Bianco, an old scholar of Mary MacKillop College who is a Creative Director and Art Director specialising in integrated communication in a range of diverse industries including fashion and lifestyle brands. She also speaks Italian and Spanish and is president of Associazione Nazionale Carabinieri – foreign section of South Australia. This is a not-for-profit association for Italian veterans offering support to those who served country and their orphans. The audience was also privileged to be entertained by old scholar, Renae Albuino, whose voice is a true gift.

This year our students were once again joined by the senior students of Italian of Rostrevor College at our Collage of Migration. Senior students of Italian of both Colleges spent the day together after The Collage participating in a range of cultural activities including the card game, briscola, bocce, scategories, Family Feud and guess the food.

The week ended on Sunday with the attendance of three Year 10 students of Italian at the inauguration of the monument, “Unity”, honouring the Italians who served and later immigrated to Australia. The unveiling of this monument was held at The Payneham Cemetery at the annual prayer service with wreath laying organised by the Associations of the Italian Armed Forces, led by Roxanna Bianco, to commemorate the Fallen. The students represented the College with pride and many in attendance commented on the way in which they read the prayers in Italian.

An enriching cultural experience was had by all our students in celebrating and promoting the appreciation of languages.

Bellow are some comments from our students:

"We were all proud to see our posters on display after a term of hard work and received an overwhelmingly positive reaction from our migrants. We spent the afternoon with the Senior Italian students from Rostrevor College, where we bonded over Italian cultural activities. We played some tense rounds of Briscola and Bocce, which everyone enjoyed and brought out our competitive sides! Scategories and an impromptu soccer match were also highlights of the day. Overall, this was a highlight of our learning this year, and we all enjoyed Languages Week." - Year 10 Italian students

"During their Italian classes, the Year 9 cohort learnt the lively, joyful line dance that goes with the song, Caramello.. The group as a whole loved the simple, repetitive dance learnt during Languages Week." - Chelsea and Olivia, Year 9 Students

"It was a great way to go on an excursion for Languages Week as the Year 8 cohort to watch La Befana Vien Di Notte II: Le Origini, an entertaining Italian heartfelt movie about La Befana, the well known Christmas witch." - Kristal, Year 8 student

"I enjoyed watching La Befana Vien Di Notte 2: Le Origini, as it was an opportunity to expand my Italian language knowledge and vocabulary with some laughs and fun." - Year 8 student, Simona

"The Year 7 students had the opportunity to attend a Latin dance workshop run by Valeria from El Ritmo Productions who kindly came to teach us the Salsa, Cumbia and Merengue. Valeria also shared with us her journey from Argentina to Australia and explained how she built her dance company so she could teach children the Latin American dance style and their culture. We enjoyed having so much fun with our partners during the salsa as well as learning all the dances, and the meanings of all the songs." Ava and Benithi, Year 7 students

On Wednesday 26 October, a group of Year 10 and 11 students attended the Women in Space - Impacting the World and Beyond event organised by the Australia Day Council of South Australia in association with the Andy Thomas Space Foundation.

Female leaders from the space industry came together to share their experiences and career pathways which led them to their current employment within the growing South Australian Space Industry.

Our students learnt that the space industry employs people from a wide range of backgrounds – doctors, accountants, lawyers, engineers, agricultural scientists, experts in cyber security and meteorology.

They were given tips on how to successfully navigate their way through school and university to achieve their career goals. Common tips that were mentioned included “take opportunities, be the best you can be, be patient, be resilient, be ambitious and plan, be humble and do not be afraid to ask questions even if you think they may be silly questions.”

Most importantly, our students were inspired by these women to work towards achieving their dreams no matter what future they were planning.

The reports below from some of the students give some insight into what they learnt and what they personally gained from this experience.

"Attending the Women in Space Conference was an extraordinary event which increased our awareness of the huge variety of career pathways for aspiring young female STEM leaders.  The night began with an opportunity to mingle with other attendees sharing similar interests in maths and science as us MacKillop girls, allowing us to effectively network with our peers. Shortly after, the official presentation, hosted by Ali Clarke, commenced. A group of five confident and inspirational women scientists and keynote speaker – Flavia Tata Nardini (co-founder and CEO of Fleet Space Technologies) – each playing a leading role within the new and emerging Australian Space Agency were introduced to the audience. Each scientist shared her thoughts and stories about the challenges, hardships they had to overcome in order to achieve their current position.  They also discussed their opinions, positives, and successes around their field of work. The aspect most widely highlighted by all the speakers was the immense support and encouragement for females in STEM industries. The women acted as role models for young girls like us as they vocalised the importance of dreaming and working hard towards achieving our goals. They expressed that women do not have to give up their families to pursue their interests and careers, however, they did state that we must always remain resilient. Through this presentation, we were able to grasp an understanding of the uniqueness, economic value and huge the potential of the growing South Australian Space Industry to both the state and Australia as a whole.  The Space Industry offers job opportunities related to all types of career fields, from engineering to the arts. The excitement amongst these women scientists as they enthusiastically discussed their accomplishments and their future goals inspired us to: aim high, strive for excellence, and keep dreaming." - Naaz and Samira, Year 11 students

"Five Year 10 students were lucky enough to receive the opportunity to attend the “Women in Space – Impacting the World and Beyond” function. We all found the presenters interesting and learnt a lot of new information. From inspirational personal stories shared by the presenters to the science behind “bacon flavoured duckweed”, it was a wonderful and a thoroughly informative evening. The presenters broadened our perspectives and opened our eyes to many new career pathways, whilst also making us feel more comfortable in feeling unsure about our lives after high school. At the end of the presentations, we were encouraged to interact and network with the speakers. Many questions were answered, as well as some much-loved, and needed, advice was received. Moreover, we were advised to take opportunities, create connections, and be brave, as everything in the space industry, especially in Australia, is closely connected together. Throughout the event, we were continuously reassured about our uncertainty surrounding our futures, including university courses and careers. The knowledgeable presenters told us to simply start somewhere. To study something we truly enjoy, and to focus on expanding our skillsets, as these can easily be transferred across professions.  Most importantly, a point that was regularly highlighted was that our initial career choice will not necessarily be our final destination, hence, constantly experimenting with new careers is important. Overall, we left the presentation with smiles on our faces, and a new outlook on not only the space industry in Australia, but our future careers as well." - Alex, Jaymie, Madeline, Reet and Zoe, Year 10 students

On Monday 31 October, a select group of students travelled to the University of Adelaide to participate in a series of workshops focusing on Criminology and the study of crime.

Students started the day by exploring crime, looking at the environmental and social factors that cause people to commit a crime. We learnt through targeted crime prevention techniques, such as diversion or community-based programs, and technology based techniques, such as social media or educational campaigns, crime rates have the ability to decrease, providing at-risk groups with a sense of belonging or understanding of consequences, in relation to crime.

Along with students from Mary MacKillop College, students from Adelaide Botanic High School, the Avenues and Seymour College participated in a series of workshops that required what they had learnt earlier in the day, to be applied to real life case studies. In collaboration with students from Adelaide Botanic High School, our students worked on “Operation Tango”, sharing ideas on how to effectively reduce crime rates, namely violence, in and around Adelaide CBD nightclubs.

Students came up with some excellent strategies, including placing undercover police officers in high risk environments, to diffuse a situation before becoming violent; provide educational and marketing material around the consequences of violent behavior from a young age, with the possibility of working it into the curriculum; improve environmental factors, such as better lighting, security cameras, improved streetscaping, closed roads between peak periods and safe space rooms located either at the venue or nearby, where at risk individuals could use to ensure their safety, before help arrives. A consistent suggestion for improvement, across various themes, was to increase tougher penalties for violent behaviour, in order to deter reoffending.

The day was well-balanced, spending the first part understanding Criminology, and the latter used to apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios. Following the completion of the workshops, students were taken on a tour of the University of Adelaide, exploring the Dental Simulation Clinic, Barr Smith Library, various laboratories, the brand new Allied Health facilities for Occupational Therapy, Hub Central, where they found all the foodie-goodness, and Student Union Services.

The day offered an excellent insight into the Bachelor of Criminology at the University of Adelaide. Thank you to all students for their willingness to participate. We hope you found this opportunity most beneficial.

Principal's Tours are a great opportunity for prospective MacKillop girls and families to visit the College and to meet our Principal. You will meet senior staff and students on an intimate tour of the school.

Term 4 Dates
Wednesday 23 November

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To enrol your daughter or for more information, please contact us via phone 08 8333 6300 or email admin@marymackillop.sa.edu.au.

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