Principal
Feast Day of Mary of the Cross, MacKillop
This Tuesday is the Feast Day of Mary MacKillop, which is held every August 8th. On this day we honour Saint Mary of the Cross, MacKillop who is the Patron Saint of our College and therefore a role model to us all. The day marks her death on 8 August 1909. We will celebrate this day and recognise Saint Mary of the Cross, MacKillop’s enormous contribution to helping those in need with a whole school liturgy, followed by our Walkathon and then activities in the afternoon.
Mary was born to Scottish parents, Alexander MacKillop and Flora MacDonald in Fitzroy, Victoria on January 15, 1842, and is the first Saint of Australia. Her influence in Australia has spread far and wide. She is recognised for her commitment to the poor, helping those who needed it the most in any way she could.
With the encouragement of Fr Julian Tennison Woods, Mary worked in partnership with him to initially establish in 1866 the first Saint Joseph’s School in a disused stable in Penola. Soon, young women came to join Mary and this saw the commencement of the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, known many as the Josephites or the Brown Joeys (on account of colour of the habits they wore), in that year.
Since those humble beginnings, the work of the Sisters spread throughout not just Australia. Currently, there are 600 Sisters of St Josephs living in communities in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Ireland, Peru, Timor-Leste, and Brazil. The Sisters provide services in pastoral work as well as in professional roles which include teaching, administration, social services, law, psychology, nursing, aged care, community development, adult education, and support for new arrivals in Australia and New Zealand.
In June 1995 Mary MacKillop was beatified by Pope John Paul II. In February 2010, after evaluating the testimony of an Australian woman who claimed that her terminal cancer had disappeared after she called upon MacKillop in prayer, Pope Benedict XVI recognized MacKillop as a saint. She was canonized in October of that year.
Mary exhorted all her work with her to “never see a need without doing something about it” and there is no doubt that this desire has been achieved. Her work and life are an inspiration to who we are and what we do at Mary Mackillop Catholic Regional College.
Thank you to Nicole Dudman and her team, including our student leaders for the enormous amount of work they have done so far in preparation for what will be a great community experience, including our Walkathon which is a significant part of our fundraising efforts for the following worthy charities:
Disaster Aid (a project of Rotary)
Transform the Nations
Trinity Families
Mary MacKillop Today
I look forward to participating in the Feast Day on Tuesday.
Year 10 Camp
Last week we held our Year 10 Camp. It was a very worthwhile experience for our students and I thank David Robinson and all the staff who worked present and supporting our young people in this experience.
Yarram Eisteddfod
Congratulations to all our students for their outstanding achievements at the Yarram Eisteddfod this week. You can read more details in this Newsletter, but I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge Liam Egan for first place in the 18 Years and Under Popular Vocal Solo Section and our Choir which achieved first place in both the Open Choir and the Secondary School Choir sections. Thank you to Beth Winterhalter, David Robinson, and Meg Doherty for their generous and ongoing support of our students.
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day
Thank you to Laura Muranty for organising a meeting and lunch today with a number of our First Nations Students to recognise this day and to pay respect to their culture and inclusion in our school community with a focus on this year's theme Little Voices, Loud Futures.
I was able to be part of these discussions and I am grateful to the students present for sharing their experiences at school and offering very worthwhile ideas that will provide improvement as well as contribute to the development of a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
Sporting Achievements
We are once again this term involved in our SSV sporting competitions. Thank you to all staff involved in coaching teams.
Well done to Gemma Meadley in Year 9 on her selection to represent Victoria in the Under 15 Girls Netball team at the National Carnival in Perth starting on July 30th. An outstanding achievement.
Congratulations to Ada Hill in Year 12 who placed 10th at the All Schools Victorian State Cross Country. Ada has now qualified for the Nationals that will be held in Canberra in August.
Subject Selection Expo
Thank you to Jodie Connell and all of our Learning and Teaching Leaders and other colleagues for the preparation and launch of our subject selection process this week on Monday.
Both Year 9 and 10 students, as well as their parents in the afternoon, had the opportunity to speak with staff about subjects as well as external providers.
Additionally, thank you as well to Kate Dwyer and all in the careers team – Cassie Raschle and Melissa Fuller - for their work as well.
Deputy Principal Formative Appraisal
Thank you to all in the community who responded to the survey sent out as part of the Formative Appraisal of Jodie Connell, Deputy Principal of Learning and Teaching of Mary MacKillop Catholic Regional College. The next stage of the process will take place on Tuesday 15th August 2023 which will involve a three-person panel led by Cathy Mason, Manager – Leadership & Growth Culture at DOSCEL. She will be assisted by a nominee by Jodie and a nominee by the Principal. Julie Banda (Deputy Principal Head of Campus) from St Peter’s College is Jodie’s nominee and Claire Fabris (Assistant Principal – Staff Development and Wellbeing) at Lavalla Catholic College is my nominee. Both are experienced senior leaders in their schools.
Year 7 2024 Enrolments
On Tuesday and Thursday evenings this week, we have had the great pleasure of interviewing the students and their families who applied to be part of our community next year.
It has been wonderful to listen to the young people talk about themselves and their hopes for the future.
We still have more interviews to undertake, but I want to take this opportunity to thank the staff who assisted with the interviews and recognise the work of Carly Kitchingman and Claire Cassidy in regard to the organisation.
We are looking forward to welcoming the students, many of who are new families to our College, later this year at our orientation day.
Staff News
Congratulations to Scott Blencowe and Amy on the recent birth of their daughter Penelope.
Lyn Mills is currently on Long Service Leave and we welcome and thank Jayne Scott for her work whilst Lyn is away.
Sapientia Domini Docet Nos
John M Freeman