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 so 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.

Last weekend we enjoyed some sunny days; a hint of nice weather to come in Spring. I love this time of the year when Winter ends and the days become warmer and longer.

Celebrating Learning

Over the past few weeks we have had the opportunity to celebrate learning through Science Week, Book Week and this week, MADD Week.

National Science Week

National Science Week is held in August and is a celebration of science and technology. It is an opportunity for ‘everyone to talk science, see science and do science’. The school theme for National Science Week in 2022 is Glass: More than meets the eye, based on the UN International Year of Glass. It will celebrate the many roles that glass plays in our lives – from phone screens to optical fibre to glassware in labs – plus investigating glass as a part of our sustainable future. 

The uses for and intrinsic nature of glass in science make it a suitable topic for investigation across all strands of science education’. 

(Source https://www.scienceweek.net.au/event/glass-a-window-into-quantum-physics/) 

Many thanks to Mr Hogan, our Curriculum Leader for Science and the amazing team of science teachers for running various activities throughout the week.

2022 Book Week

Last week we celebrated Book Week. Reading is an important skill in many aspects of our lives. Much enjoyment can be found in reading a book. Last week I saw pictures of my two nieces dressed in their costumes for Book Week. When I visit Adelaide, I get to experience the joy of watching their literacy skills develop as I read stories to them. They have access to many books at home and school, which is valuable as they develop their literacy skills. I am also reminded that it takes a long time to develop these skills, from understanding the alphabet to reading and spelling words correctly. We are all lifelong learners and when students’ progress to secondary school, their literacy skills continue to develop.

This year’s theme for Book Week is “Dreaming with eyes open…’. Many thanks to Ms Alderuccio, our leader of the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) and the amazing team in the LRC for organising various activities to celebrate Book Week. 

Last Friday, our daily prayer in the Student Bulletin focused on the gift of reading:

Lord, We thank you for the gift of learning and relaxing with books. In them we find the story of the human spirit. In books we see the patterns of your life and world and come to know ourselves a little better. May we treasure books for the truth and the experience that they offer and find in their pages a mirror of your wisdom living in people. Lord, help us to write the story of your love in our lives every day.Amen

This year we have had a team of teachers from Mathematics, Humanities and Science participate in the Improving Literacy in the Secondary Years (ILSY) program, an initiative from Catholic Education Ballarat. We look forward to the team sharing their learning from this program with our staff. 

MADD Week

In the last edition of the newsletter, I wrote about our school musical for 2022, ‘School of Rock’. Now the musical is over, we have moved into MADD Week, a celebration of music, art, dance and drama. We are truly blessed to have many talented music, art, dance and drama students at St Mary MacKillop College. Our wonderful team of passionate teachers in the Arts Learning Area nurture the creative talents of our students. Many thanks to Mr Wood, our Curriculum Leader for the Arts and the team in the Arts Learning Area for organising the different activities we got to enjoy during this year’s MADD Week.

Year 11 and 12 Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews – Wednesday 24th August

On Wednesday 24th August, we held progress interviews for VCE and VCAL students. Many thanks to our Year 11 and 12 teachers for their support of these interviews. These interviews provide an opportunity for teachers to meet with families and discuss learning and strategies to maximise progress. We know that parent engagement in student learning has a positive impact on student achievement. If you were unable to attend these interviews, we encourage you to contact your child’s teachers to discuss the progress they are making in their learning. If you have any feedback on the interviews, please let me know. We wish our VCE and VCAL students all the best with their studies.