Learning Highlights

Senior Visual Arts

Recently, our Senior Visual Arts students from Year 10, 11 and 12 enjoyed their annual pilgrimage to the Hadley's Art Prize, at Hadley's Orient Hotel in the city. The prize is the richest landscape prize in Australia, and winners receive a $100,000 first prize along with significant marketing and career progression opportunities.

Students appreciated a guided education tour from the Hadleys' Art Curator, learning about the importance of site, artists' practice, and different approaches to responding to place.

Hawks Cup 2025!

A big congratulations to our Year 9/10 Boys AFL Team for their efforts in the RSAC Tassie Hawks Cup at UTAS Stadium recently.

Despite the tough draw of playing two games back-to-back, the team secured their place in the Grand Final before placing runner-up to St Patrick’s College, 33-12.

Well done to Benji (Year 10) for taking out the Most Valuable Player Award for MacKillop.

Footy fever at MacKillop!

 Students enjoyed the chance to dress up in their favourite sporting teams' colours and celebrate the final day of Term 3.

The annual longest kick competition added to the fun with plenty of students giving it their all and cheering each other on. Congratulations to Asthon (Year 10) and Phoebe (Year 9) for their winning kicks of 70m and 44.5m respectively.

 Object and Design Exhibition

As part of the Year 11/12 Object Design course, students had the opportunity to present their work in a group exhibition at the UTAS Art School, Hunter Street Campus. This exhibition formed part of their major assessment and will be a pivotal part of their school experience and educational achievement.

A big congratulations to Fergus, Jesse (Year 12), Finn and James (Year 11) for showcasing their work.

2026 Student Leaders

Recently, we gathered as a whole College to celebrate our Leaders Commissioning Ceremony. 

We congratulate all of our 2026 Leaders on their newly appointed roles and we look forward to seeing them thrive in their titles next year. Your commitment, courage, and willingness to step up and serve your peers and College Community are truly inspiring.

Visual Art

Year 8 Visual Art students are being challenged this semester to develop their observational drawing skills. Students have practiced and refined their understanding of line, shape, colour and tone through a series of warm up and skill building activities. Students, faced with a beautiful arrangement of local flora they carefully interpreted the Still-Life's into some absolutely amazing visual responses.

The standard and potential of these works is extremely high and has simply blown away the Creative Art staff, who were in awe of the sophistication, creativity and overall standard. We look forward to seeing these amazing drawings developed into resolved artworks later this term.

Recently, a group of Year 7 students attended the Hurricanes School Smash Cricket Gala Day. They played two games and were victorious in both. 

Well done to the team, you represented not only yourselves, but MacKillop College with pride and positivity. We look forward to supporting this next generation of jnr cricketers!

UTAS ICT Showcase

MacKillop students explored the future of tech at the UTAS ICT Showcase on Tuesday! From VR and AI to game design and debates on digital ethics and education, it was a hands-on dive into innovation and ideas. 

Thanks to the  UTAS ICT department for the inspiration! 

Timor Tales: A Trip to Remember. 

During the Term 3 holidays, another successful Timor Immersion took place. The trip saw 11 students and 3 staff embark on a 10-day trip that would leave life-time memories.

Highlights of the trip included: spending four days engaging with a community on the tropical island of Atauro. Students visited a remote school where they spent time teach some English to local kids, attended Sunday Mass in the village, played games for hours with local children, had a snorkel around a coral reef, saw first hand the problems of plastic on the beaches and shopped at a weekly market. During the time in the capital city of Dili the group visited museums, historic sites and a high school.

The photos give a snapshot of what experiences were had on this trip.

All participants increased their understanding of what it means to be a global citizen. They came away with an awareness of the struggles people in a Third World face, they came away with an understanding of how lucky we are to live in Australia.     

Three students have shared their highlights from the trip.

A highlight for me was knowing that as a group we made an effort to make a difference in some people's lives, even if it was a small gesture. Eva

My highlight from the trip was the people we got to meet. Everyone there is so friendly, and we were welcomed like locals, with them treating us like their own. Fynn

Some of my highlights from the trip was bonding with the people we met and the people I went with. I loved experiencing such a different way of life but also seeing the similarities and how important family and friends are to everyone everywhere. I also loved being squirted unexpectedly by a water gun and mucking around with the kids at the beach. Pearl

For more information on the 2026 Timor-Leste Immersion Program, please attend the Parent Information Session on Wednesday 5 November in the Rice Resource Centre from 5:30pm.

Phil Stanley

Mackillop Students Shine in the Tasmanian Science Talent Search

The annual Tasmanian Science Talent Search is an initiative of the Science Teachers Association of Tasmania, with a rich history, operating for the last 60 years, involving over 60,000 students across the State, and inspiring a lifelong interest in science. The National Science Week 2025 Schools Theme was ‘Decoding the Universe: Exploring the Unknown with Nature’s Hidden Language’, highlighting the fascinating intersection of mathematics, science, and understanding our natural world. This highlights the role of science in gathering clues and piecing them together to solve the big questions. 

Students were able to enter in 10 categories, judged across 6 divisions. Statewide, hundreds of entries were submitted, and the standard of work was high.  On October 22nd, The Friend’s School hosted the annual Tasmanian Science Talent Search awards ceremony, hosted by the Science Teachers Association of Tasmania. Amongst this year’s participants were several bright minds from Mackillop Catholic College, whose innovative projects earned top honours, commendations and highly praised participation.

Students from the Year 10 Biology class and the Year 9 Science Extended program proudly represented Mackillop, showcasing their research and creativity across a range of scientific disciplines. Leading the accolades was Julia Philips, whose visually striking and informative infographic on Electroreception earned her the prestigious statewide award for Best Infographic. Her work captivated judges with its clarity, scientific depth, and design excellence.

Equally impressive was Holly Wagner, who took home the award for Best Scientific Essay in Tasmania. Her essay, which explored the critical role of climate data in predicting future sea level rise, demonstrated rigorous analysis and a strong grasp of environmental science. Fellow student Archie Pyke also excelled in the same category, earning second place for his compelling contribution.

Rounding out Mackillop’s achievements, Sam Tracey received a Commendable Award for his environmental science project investigating the sustainability of Hobart’s waste management systems. His thoughtful approach and practical insights highlighted the importance of local solutions to global challenges.

These awards reflect the tip of the iceberg in terms of the quality of work of all participating students. The competition is well known as a predictor of future success in science.   Congratulations to all participants, especially to Julia, Holly, Archie, and Sam, for their outstanding achievements and contributions to in Tasmania.