DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - TEACHING & LEARNING REPORT 

Vision for Teaching and Learning at St Mary MacKillop College - a statement that drives the development of a high performance learning culture at SMMC

At St Mary MacKillop College we have high expectations of our students as we equip them with the knowledge, skills and dispositions for lifelong learning. We pursue excellence through a teaching and learning environment that is inclusive, engaging and encourages growth. We value collaboration, innovation and building strong relationships.

2023 National Science Week

This week we have celebrated National Science Week, Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. The 2023 school theme for National Science Week is 'Innovation: Powering Future Industries'. I thank our amazing team of Science teachers, led by Mr Jim Hogan, Science Curriculum Leader, for organising different activities to engage our students throughout this week. Science is all around us. From the medicines we take when we are sick, to the planes we fly in when we travel. Science is an important Learning Area in our curriculum. It enables students to ask questions about the world around them, to hypothesise and to find answers through experiments. When I wander around our school I always enjoy seeing the exciting learning taking place in our Science classrooms.

2023 College Production – We Will Rock You

On Wednesday night our staff had the privilege of watching a preview of this year’s musical ‘We Will Rock You’ on the stage of the JC. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and had to resist the urge to sing along to the iconic Queen songs! Every year I am truly blown away by the talents of our students on stage. To remember lines, movement, blocking, entrances and exits are important in the world of theatre. Theatre is a discipline in itself and teaches students so many skills. Of course, the actors are a very important part of any musical production, but there is another team of people working behind the scenes to ensure what is seen on the stage is delivered seamlessly during every performance. A school musical production really does bring our community together. We have people working front of house, backstage crew, wardrobe, makeup, sound and lighting, scenery design and props, and of course the amazing band. I congratulate everyone involved in this year’s school production. You should be very proud of the final product, which our community will get to experience and enjoy this week. Many thanks to Mrs Henderson for her incredible vision as Director of the production, and for her amazing and inspirational work in organising the entire production from the performance rights to the auditions and rehearsals. A huge thank you to the team of staff who have supported Talia throughout the year. As they say in the theatre, ‘break a leg’!

Parent Access Module (PAM)

We find ourselves already past the halfway mark for Term 3. I would like to encourage all parents and guardians to take the time to log on to the Parent Access Module (PAM) and review their child’s progress and workload as communicated in their Teacher Advisor reports, class tasks, assessment task grades and teacher feedback. We encourage conversations at home around learning and the following questions may assist in these conversations:

• What progress have you made?
• What learning do you still need to do in order to improve your performance?
• What learning goals have you set for yourself?

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact the relevant teacher directly.

I encourage parents of students completing Year 11 and 12 subjects to book an interview time to meet with their child’s teachers during next Wednesday’s interviews. Further information about the interviews has been included in this newsletter.

2023 ACER Global Academic Challenge Results

In May, a small group of high achieving students at Year 8 completed the Global Academic Challenge. Students completed either one or all of the Challenges in Mathematics, Reading and Science. Recently we received the results and we congratulate the following students who achieved a High Distinction for the Challenge(s) they completed. These students achieved results within the top 10%.

Reesha Khosa - Mathematics and Science

Patrick Eade - Reading

Calyssa Baber - Science