Principal's News

Dear SMCM Community, Wominjeka!

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Feast Day Celebrations

What a wonderful day we had celebrating our Patron Saint last Friday! St Mary of the Cross blessed us with blue sky and sunshine as we celebrated Mass together and ended our week with a whole school dance performace. 

I am so grateful that our children have a model such as St Mary of the Cross MacKillop whose values of kindness, hope and love set the way for how we learn and play together at SMCM. Mary was a woman of faith and in choosing Catholic Education that is the gift you give to your child. Every day our children are reminded of this legacy and encouraged to approach their learning and interactions with other with this same kindness, generousity and resilience. 

Thank you for joining us in providing this model and approach in our school community and for coming along to watch our dance spectatular. I was incredibly proud of our stduents enthusiasm and pizzaz on the dance floor!

Outstanding NAPLAN Results at SMCM

We are incredibly proud to celebrate the outstanding achievements and growth of our Year 3 and Year 5 students in the 2026 NAPLAN assessments. 

These results reflect much more than a moment in time. They demonstrate the impact of high-quality, explicit instruction, high expectations and a commitment to knowing our students as learners and responding to their individual needs.

Our Year 3 students have achieved outstanding NAPLAN results, performing above both the State and National averages in every assessment area. We are particularly proud of our Year 3 Writing results, with an exceptional 96% of students achieving in the Strong or Exceeding proficiency levels.

For our Year 5 students, NAPLAN also provides an important opportunity to look beyond achievement at a single point in time and examine student growth. By comparing their Year 3 NAPLAN results from 2024 with their Year 5 results in 2026, we can see how much progress students have made over the past two years. Across every NAPLAN assessment area, our Year 5 students achieved average growth above both State and National average growth. This is an achievement we are incredibly proud of. It demonstrates that our students are not simply progressing in their learning - they are progressing at a greater average rate than their peers across Victoria and Australia.

We are enormously proud of our students for their effort, persistence and growth. We are equally proud of our staff, whose expertise, dedication and commitment to meeting the needs of every learner make results like these possible.

Term 3 Fee Statements

Thank you to families who continue to meet their school fee commitments through regular direct debit payments. Your regular payments allow us to plan our budgets for the learning and teaching programs for the remainder of the year.  A reminder to families not paying by direct debit that Term 3 accounts are now due. If you have questions regarding your school fee statement please contact myself or Erwin at reception.

Term 3 Weeks 7-10

As we head into the second half of Term 3, we still have an exciting list of community events and celebrations to look forward to!

With so much happening, it is important to stay up to date through our school communication platforms. Our fortnightly newsletter, published on Compass, includes important dates for the term and information about upcoming events. Each week, we also publish our Weekly What's On through Compass, along with reminders and updates about what families need to know for each event.

Following our Instagram account is another great way to keep up with highlights of what is coming up and to see what is happening around the school.

Please keep an eye on these communication platforms as we head into a busy few weeks, including Year 6 Camp, Book Week, Father's Day and Spirit Week. We look forward to sharing these special moments with our school community!

Congratulations to Renee, Mike, Zara (Respect Homegroup) and Cleo (Creeds Homegroup) on the birth of their beautiful new baby brother Tommy!

Thank you for your continued support of our school and community.

Claire

Principal

claire.pitcher@smcmeppingnth.catholic.edu.au