Edition 10,
12 November 2021

SACE Exams

SACE Exams are in full swing. Some of our students have four exams and some have none. Some Year 12 students have been busily finishing off their artwork and can now stand back and see their beautiful achievements. Reflecting on my own time at school doing exams many years ago (Scottish Highers), examinations were all or nothing affairs. Your final exam mark determined your pathway. It was a nerve-wracking experience. Continuous assignments from school did not count towards your final result. I remember thinking at the time that being an exam invigilator looked like a cool job because the invigilator was brought in a cup of tea on a tray with a small plate of biscuits. How times have changed!

Collage of Migration and Languages Week

Mary Lepore and her team provided many fun activities and opportunities for learning. The Collage of Migration is always delightful and insightful as we are able to listen to many Migrant stories. This year our own Martina O’Connell shared her story. Unfortunately, Martina was unwell on the day and Laura Abarno was able to step in (minus the Irish accent) and tell Martina’s story.

Year 12 Art Show

I was delighted to attend the Year 12 Art show last Friday. Prospective parents too had the opportunity to see the diverse range of student work when they attended our Principal’s Tour last Wednesday 3 November.

Year 7 and Year 8 Transition

Earlier this week, the 2022 Year 7 and Year 8 students attended their transition days. This was another opportunity to meet their new teachers, new classmates and enjoy many new experiences.

P&F and the Community Lottery

I encourage you all to buy tickets in the People’s Choice Community Lottery. The school stands to benefit from this great fundraiser. The last 2 years have been particularly challenging for Parent groups and our small group of P&F regulars have worked hard to ensure that they can contribute to many improvements around the College. With a new capital development project on the horizon, this fundraising opportunity will assist greatly. Please support this worthwhile cause!

Kath McGuigan
Principal

2022 Year 7 & 8 Transition Days

This week, the College welcomed Year 6 and Year 7 students who will join us in 2022 as our newest MacKillop Girls. Under the guidance of Kate Casciano and Ida Parente, the girls soon settled into their day at MacKillop, meeting new teachers and new best friends. The transition to high school is a significant time for young people and their families. For some, they are confident and ready for all that a secondary school has to offer, for others it takes a bit longer to find their feet. With this knowledge at the forefront of our minds, the transition program at Mary MacKillop College has been designed using current research, refined using feedback from students and families and has been tailored to suit the unique needs of each cohort who joins us. It is because of this level of thoroughness that the newest members of our MacKillop Family settle in quickly and thrive in their new environment.

For most of the Year 6 students who joined us, it was their third visit. They are familiar with the school, teachers and expectations. It is our hope that they go into their final weeks of primary school and the Christmas break without any worries of what high school might be like. Likewise, this is our goal for the 2022 Year 8 students. As they are a smaller group, the girls were able to join the current Year 7 Cohort. They met their soon to be peers and began developing connections before the new school year starts.

A corner stone of both days is student involvement. The 2022 Student Leadership Team were there to welcome the girls at the front gate as they will do again on the first day of next year. Current Year 7 students took on leadership roles, mentoring and acting as buddies for the new students. They offered a friendly face and support throughout the day.

We are confident that after having been able to visit our school, that each of our newest MacKillop Girls are well placed to start their year with excitement and confidence, ready to take on all that is offered in this wonderful place.

Lauren Sutton
Director of Students

People's Choice Community Lottery

This year, the College is taking part in the People's Choice Community Lottery to help reach our fundraising goals for a new capital development project.

Tickets are only $2 each. The lottery has 40 fantastic prizes worth over $300,000.

To buy tickets, head to https://bit.ly/3C8UEZh.

Feel free to share this link to family and friends as anyone can purchase tickets online. 100% of proceeds raised under our group name will be provided to the College. Be quick to get online before tickets sell out.

Thank you for your support.

Parents and Friends Association

Year 12 Art and Design Exhibition

The Year 12 Art and Design students have completed their year with a diverse and outstanding exhibition. Due to COVID restrictions, we were not able to invite the wider College community; however, the Year 12 Art and Design students' families enjoyed the creations their daughters worked towards throughout the year. The students produced resolved works throughout a Folio of development, expressing their thoughts and ideas about family, love, adolescence, fashion, advertisements, body image and the Australian Landscape.

The College community may view the work of these students via the video linked here.

Congratulations to the Year 12 Art and Design Students! We wish you every success in the future.

Year 7 Art

The Year 7 Art students worked on collaborative pieces while learning about colour theory and painting techniques. Two classes each worked on separate sea life creatures: the jellyfish and the octopus. Their creations came together in two beautiful pieces of sea life, capturing movement and colour from the ocean. They worked on this project with UniSA student Sarah, whose vision came to life in these beautiful creations. These pieces will be on display in the front office this term.

Twilight Concert

Thursday of Week 3 saw Middle School instrumental students take part in a Twilight Concert for family and friends. This was an opportunity to deliver a taste of what students have been working on, as well as interact with a live audience.

Solos were performed from a variety of genres from Bach and Leonard Cohen to pieces from The Greatest Showman and Hamilton by Year 7 students: Char (cello) and Amelia (piano), Year 8 students: Gracie (voice) and Orla (flute), and Year 9 students: Isla (violin), Imogen (voice) and Kahlea (flute).

The event was also the first outing of the Instrumental Trio (Kahlea, Char & Isla), after forming in Week 8 of Term 3.

After the outstanding performances at Arts Night, some students returned to join Analissa Benci (11) to present her final SACE Stage 2 Music Explorations composition “Don’t Forget”.

A wonderful night was had by all – a round of applause!

The Arts Learning Area Team

Languages Week

In Week 3 of this term, all students of Italian had an opportunity to immerse themselves in various activities related to the Italian language and culture.

Year 7 students had the opportunity to practise their understanding of numbers (numeri) through a year level game of Tombola and an interclass activity where both their recognition of numbers and mathematical skills were put to the test. Congratulations to 7 Blue on winning the activity.

The Year 8 students had a wonderful opportunity to immerse themselves in the language and culture through our excursion to East End Palace Nova Cinemas to view the film, 10 giorni con Babbo Natale (10 Days with Father Christmas). The film allowed students to contemplate the modern day Italian family and be made aware of issues affecting current society, including the the Italian identity. Another bonus of viewing the film was the breath-taking scenery!

There are many reasons why watching films in a foreign language are beneficial and foster an identity of a more global citizen, but here are two particular reasons:

• They show a different view of the world
• They are a great opportunity to pick up language skills

Thus, viewing 10 giorni con Babbo Natale provided our students with the opportunity for their growth in the understanding of a language and its culture.

Year 9 students were fortunate to view the must see film of 2021, Luca. Set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, the film’s narrative revolves around the beautiful friendship between two sea monsters from a world just below the water’s surface. These friends go in search of knowledge about humans and the universe, and along the way learn some valuable lessons.

The Year 10 students of Italian shared the stories of migrants with much pride at our annual Collage of Migration, which this year was presented in conjunction with the Year 10 students of Italian from Rostrevor College. It was a truly significant event, which was also attended by Year 7 and 8 students.

This year for the first time, the inaugural event, Lasciatemi Collegare…studio l’italiano (Let me connect…I study Italian) was launched and involved a day of activities with the senior students of Italian of both Mary MacKillop College and Rostrevor College. Students immersed themselves in the language and culture through activities such as briscola (a century old card game); singing a traditional song, Papaveri e Papere (Poppies and Ducklings); a Kahoot on the Italian language and culture; bocce and an activity based on guessing the Italian food whilst wearing a very creative eye mask made by Mrs Tatarelli. Students were, of course, then provided with Italian refreshments for both recess and lunch.

Here is what Year 10 student, Emily, thought about that day’s activities:

The Collage of Migration was a huge success. We all had the opportunity to learn about our family heritage, obstacles migrants had to overcome and the tremendous courage they had in starting a new life in Australia. 

Year 10 and 11 students of Italian from Mary MacKillop and Rostrevor Colleges also participated in a wide range of activities filled with lots of laughs, smiles, learning and most importantly, memories. These wonderful experiences and memories will be cherished forever.

The week ended with students given the opportunity to purchase delicious traditional cannoli for recess.

Many thanks to the dedicated Languages teachers, Ms Parente, Mrs Abarno and Mrs Tatarelli, who assisted in promoting and sharing their love of the Italian language and culture, along with Rostrevor College’s Italian teacher, Ms Trasente.

Mary Lepore
Languages Learning Area Leader

PE Week

Last week the College held PE Week to celebrate and highlight the importance of being physically active and healthy. Research from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 2 in 3 (70%) children aged 2-17 and more the half (55%) of adults do not meet the Australian Physical Activity guidelines.

Students were provided with opportunities to be more active during PE Week, which started off with the Year 9s participating in Wheelchair basketball on Monday. Students gained a greater awareness of the issues and challenges facing people living with disabilities as they participated in challenging wheelchair basketball sessions. The Year 8s worked up a sweat on Tuesday as they danced along to fitness choreography in a Zumba session. The Year 7s attended an excursion to AFL Max. Students soared to new heights on the trampolines, bounced around in the inflatable bump zone, tested their skills on the rock climbing walls and sharpened up on their kicking and passing AFL skills.

In addition to these activities, the 2022 Sport Captains ran the annual 2021 Interhouse Tournament. This year, the sport was Fast5 Netball. Students from Year 7-11 participated in their house teams at lunch times in a fun yet fierce competition. It was a close battle between Alexander and Tappeiner in the Grand Final. Congratulations to Alexander for being the 2021 Interhouse Sport Champions! I extend my thanks to our 2022 Sport Captains for showing admirable leadership so early on in their Student Leadership Team positions.

A number of students also took up the opportunity to start their morning in a more active way by participating in a before school walking challenge whereby students walked as many laps and steps as possible around the gym. Well done to those girls who participated and took positive steps to improving their active lifestyles.

Kate Marks
Health & Physical Education Learning Area Leader