Today is the The Feast of St Joseph.

St Joseph does not utter a word in the Gospels. He is a silent figure, and we are left to fill in a lot of gaps about him. He was a tekton, or carpenter/builder, and we are told he passed that vocation onto Jesus. We can assume that he was a man of trust and faith, as he married Mary knowing she was with child and that the child was not his. He is depicted as a protector and a guide, locating a safe place for the nativity and joining Mary in the search when Jesus was lost in the temple.

Spanish mystic St Teresa of Avila said this of him, “To other saints it seems that God has granted to help us in this or that need, while I have experienced that the glorious St. Joseph extends his patronage on all.” 

Pope Francis has a special affection for Joseph. During an apostolic visit to the Philippines in 2015, the pope explained why he kept an image of the saint on his desk. “I would also like to tell you something very personal,” he said. “I have great love for St. Joseph, because he is a man of silence and strength.” As a school inspired by the witness of the Sisters of St Joseph, we really should aspire to those attributes. For our young men in particular, it is so important that we model - all of the time - resilience, tolerance and a constant and authentic respect for women.

We see the spirit of support and care in so many of the activities our students are involved in. Our year 12 Praxis students in particular set a wonderful example - but another that is really compelling is the whole senior College effort in the World's Greatest Shave. Mini Vinnies are about to get active again as well which will provide another avenue of solidarity and service. It is a wonderful advertisement for the caring nature of our College - one that aspires to the example of trust, faith, protection and charity.
I want to thank you very much for the way you as parents and a wider community are supporting the College right now. In particular, thank you so much for the parents who engaged so fully with the Renewal Survey.

Mr Chris Gabbett
College Principal

1 in 10 Australians will experience epilepsy in their lives.  Many adults and young people live with it – including students in our junior and senior College.

Next week, we will be highlighting throughout the College via posters and PC information the good work that Epilepsy Queensland do, as well as attempting to raise some money for them.  There will be some purple themed items for sale in the College Café on Friday, and there will also be a Purple Fun Run for years 4-6 during the Cross Country event. 

More details will come out next week.   

Each year every school in the Toowoomba Diocese appoints staff to be the school Student Protection Contacts (SSPC).

In conjunction with the principal, SSPCs will:

• Assist students, parents/care providers and those working in the school when concerns or disclosures of abuse, harm or inappropriate behaviour towards students are brought to their notice. 
• Where required, this assistance may include a discussion of the concerns or disclosures, advice regarding appropriate resources and people to consult with, assistance to access relevant documents and forms, and assistance to complete forms. 
• Ensure that all persons working within the school know how to access the Student Protection Processes and Guidelines and Diocesan reporting requirements, including the specific forms and documentation to be completed. 
• Assist the Principal to ensure support is provided for all involved when abuse, harm or inappropriate behaviour towards students is alleged or disclosed. 
• Where appropriate, assist the Principal to deliver student protection annual refresher training and training during staff meetings.
• Attend training provided by the Student Protection Officer(s) and other professional development opportunities in the area of student protection as required. 
• Ensure that the school has sufficient School Student Protection posters displayed in prominent locations around the school, the posters are up to date, and that students are aware of the location of the posters. 
• Ensure that students, staff and parents are aware of the names of the SSPCs in the school and their role. 
• Support the principles of privacy and confidentiality, and high-quality record keeping. 

This year the SSPC for our College are:

• Ms Charmaine Cridland
• Mr Sean Albion 
• Mrs Paula O'Rourke 
• Ms Bridget Rillie 
• Mr Kris Naiker 
• Mr Chris Bracken 
• Mrs Khara Saunders 
• Dr Jasmin Slack-Smith

Parents and students are able to approach these staff members for support and information about student protection.

Please remind your child about the posters (that will be renewed with the photos once school photos have been returned) and see if they know where they can find them around the school.

Volunteers Pack

To be a volunteer at the College in any form, you will need to complete the online induction module provided by the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office.

Please read the Code of Conduct and Student Protection Fact Sheets, and complete the Declaration Form. All can be found via the link below.

Paula O'Rourke
Assistant Principal Religious Education

We are excited to announce our 2022 Scholarships will be open from Monday, 1 March 2021.

Our General Excellence & Sporting Excellence Scholarships are open to both internal and external applicants. In addition to this, we are also launching the Solidarity Scholarship for any new enrolments for 2022. 

The Solidarity Scholarship aims to encourage applicants who are currently educated outside of the Catholic tradition, who feel they can make a positive contribution to the social justice, outreach, and formation elements of the College. 

As members of our College community, we encourage you to share this information with any friends or family who you feel may benefit from these scholarships. 

Last Friday, 10 students and 5 staff members in the Senior College sacrificed the hair on their heads, legs and chins to raise funds for, and awareness of, blood-related cancers. 

Over the past month, the Mary MacKillop World's Greatest Shave team have worked consistently to promote the team's fundraising page, as well as their individual links, to obtain donations. While we started with the goal of $1000, this was very quickly attained and the goal shifted to $2000. Before our World's Greatest Shave event last Friday, the total sat at $6800, excluding a generous $300 donation from our Actioning Mary MacKillop Advocacy (AMMA) group and the profits of a cupcake sale run by Mr Cavanough's senior Business class.

In total, over $7000 has been raised, with donations coming in from College staff, other students, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. Thank you to our community who dug deep to assist the Mary MacKillop team, whether this was through sponsorship or messages of support left on the fundraising page. 

The event itself was highly entertaining and—dare I say—liberating for some who lost beards, leg hairs or cut their hair short for the cause! We were joined by the dedicated team members from Styles hairdressers and Bou's For Men, both local Highfields businesses.

Well done to the following staff and students who participated on Friday:

Mr Gabbett, Mr Fowkes, Mr Griffiths, Mr Bracken, Mr Brunner, Lawson Smith, Kurtis Smith, Riley Smithard, Ryley Schmaling, Maclean Everist, Logan Rolph, Kaitlyn Greenhalgh, Keira Lucy, Caleb Mifsud and Reagan Pugsley.

While all of the team worked hard to procure funds for the cause, special mention needs to be given to the following students who raised significant amounts of money towards the team total. Brothers, Lawson and Kurtis Smith, fundraised approximately $2000 between them. Year 8 student, Keira Lucy, raised just over $700. Riley Smithard, who shaved his head, raised $528; and Kaitlyn Greenhalgh secured just shy of $500. 

We hope you saw all the shenanigans on Friday's local WIN news and 7 news. If not, these videos are available on our Facebook page. If you missed out on contributing to the cause, the link is still open and we welcome any last-minute donations.

Leisa Radley
Director of Formation and College Culture (7-12)

This week we celebrated two well known saints' Feast Days - St Patrick and St Joseph.

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born in Britain in the 4th Century, kidnapped at the age of 16 to be a slave in Ireland before escaping only to return to Ireland as a missionary. He went on later became a Bishop. St Patrick is credited as to having brought Christianity to parts of Ireland in the 5th Century. He is known only from two short works, the Confessio, a spiritual autobiography, and his Letter to Coroticus, a denunciation of British mistreatment of Irish Christians. 

Legend has it that St Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. What he is well-known for though is the teaching of the Holy Trinity using a Shamrock (national flower of Ireland) to teach the non believers about God. Three parts to the leaf show how the Trinity works as three persons in one God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Some traditions around St Patrick's Day include wearing green, wearing a shamrock, drinking and eating green beer and food as well as revelry and fun! Hope you were able to join in some traditions.

St Joseph is the patron saint of workers, earthly father to Jesus and husband to Mary, Jesus' mother. Many words could be used to describe Joseph - loyal, courageous, hard-worker, humble, patient, listener, caring, loving, respectful, obedient , selfless, protector as well as many others like refugee, father, husband, carpenter, descendent of the house of King David.

St Joseph is an important part of our Josephite Charism at the College and this year has been declared by the Pope Francis to be the Year of St Joseph, Universal father of the church. This week we are ensuring that everyone is participating in some prayer and reflection. On Tuesday, Leisa Radley lead our staff in a Visio Divina prayer using an image of St Joseph. I have shared that image with you as well. Students also were part of a liturgy about St Joseph which was prepared by a group of Year 12 Praxis students.

The Pope reiterates that Joseph helps us to see more clearly the importance of “ordinary” people who, though far from the limelight, exercise patience and offer hope every day. In this, they resemble Saint Joseph, “the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence,” who nonetheless played “an incomparable role in the history of salvation.”
Joseph listened to God's call and he was open to his word as told in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Joseph was obedient to God's words - taking Mary as his wife and naming their son Jesus, protecting Mary and Jesus by taking them to Egypt away from King Herod. Joseph was an ordinary man living an ordinary humble life where he trusted in God's providence.
Mary MacKillop choose St Joseph as one of the three people who influenced her daily life and prayer. Mary MacKillop embraced people especially children who were less fortunate, went unnoticed, or were poor and went out her way to protect those that were vulnerable like St Joseph. 

Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison-Woods were certainly all this as well in their own lives as well as their community. We, too, "are called to listen to and heed the voice of God speaking to the depths of our hearts, to be open to the signs of God’s presence each day and to be committed to God’s purpose for humankind and for creation. We are impelled to engage in inner listening as we nurture God’s gifts and God’s life in, among and around us." (Sisters of St Joseph)

I finish this week with some words from Fr Julian Tenison Woods, "Let us always be on the watch for [God’s] word and will. Always watching and waiting to obey immediately … let us be ever ready to follow His will, no matter how or where. Always watching and listening for his voice, ready to hasten to do all he will ask." Julian Tenison Woods, Explanation of the Rule, Chapter 6. (Sisters of St Joseph)

Happy St Joseph's Day.

Pope Francis said that, faced with the tragic reality of modern slavery, “no one can wash their hands of it, without being in some way, an accomplice to this crime against humanity”.

Thinking of buying Easter eggs? Use your money justly – please! 

Australians will purchase over $200 million in chocolate this Easter. A 2018 report by IBISWorld found that Australia’s chocolate spend had risen by $26 million over the previous five years (up to 2018). 

But some of this chocolate is tainted by slavery and comes at the cost of a child’s health, education and sometimes his or her freedom. Much of our chocolate is made using cocoa beans harvested by children, often in the West African region. Many of these children are forced into labour. 

We can help change this.
For information on Slavery-free Easter chocolate and resources, go to: https://acrath.org.au/take-act...

Last Monday, an information session was held to inform families about the Sacrament of Confirmation. At this meeting, the child's folder and booklet were distributed. Those who were unable to attend, your folder was sent home with your child on Tuesday. If you have missed out on this information and folder please contact Paula O'Rourke, APRE, Paula.Orourke@twb.catholic.edu.au

Sacrament of Confirmation will be held on 10 June, 2021, at 7:00pm in the MacKillop Centre.

Practice for the sacrament will be on Monday, 7 June at 3:15pm in the MacKillop Centre.

Could all families participating in this sacrament please return your enrolment form and money to the office (these are in the folder).

Thank you.

Paula O'Rourke

Assistant Principal Religious Education

This weekend we will celebrate our first College supported mass with our Parish, Mary of the Southern Cross.

Penola House students have been invited to attend and be involved in mass.

Everyone, though, is welcome to join us at 8 am on Sunday in the MacKillop Centre.

Please use this link to register your attendance.

As we head into the final weeks of Term 1, it is not uncommon to hear of students spending hours upon hours the night before an exam, cramming the information. In some cases, it seems like a badge of honour among the students as to who stayed up the longest.

While some may do well in their exam, cramming information is not effective for long term understanding. This is especially important as Year 11 and 12 exams now will assess a whole years learning in the external exams. Learning must go beyond just remembering content for the short term.

Spaced practice is a strategy which can be effective in making sure your child can learn and retrieve information long after the exam is finished. Spaced practice involves spreading the time spent studying for the exam. Seven hours spread out over two weeks is better than the same seven hours right before the exam. The diagram below provides some ideas on how this strategy can improve learning outcomes. This YouTube clip provides a quick overview of the strategy.

You can encourage your child to:

• Set aside a bit of time every day, just for studying, even if your exams are months away.
• Review information from each class, but not immediately after class. A good way to do this is to reserve some time one day after each of their scheduled classes.
• Use retrieval of information strategies during the study session (See last edition of newsletter) The Year 9 History teachers have been implementing similar ideas in their classroom. Within the last 8 weeks, we have seen significant growth in the work our students are producing.

The last few weeks of term can be stressful for our students. Please make contact with your child's PC teacher or classroom teacher if they need support with their assignments and exams.

Kris Naiker
Assistant Principal Teaching and Learning: Senior

Good thinkers are resilient. They don't give up easily. They are motivated to work hard and keep going when faced with challenges. They recognise that we all fail sometimes, and when this happens, they bounce back and try alternative approaches.

Here are some problems that may require some determination. If you warn your child that the solutions may not be immediately obvious, and encourage them to persevere, they may learn to appreciate that success can be sweeter after a struggle. Have a go at these tasks. They also support the development of other problem-solving skills and mathematical habits of mind.

Find the Difference | Age 5 to 7 Challenge Level

Place the numbers 1 to 6 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.

Example: 5−2=3

Nine-Pin Triangles | Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level

How many different triangles can you make on a circular pegboard that has nine pegs? Once you've had a go at this, why not investigate the number of different triangles you can create on circular pegboards with more or fewer pegs?

Reference: https://nrich.maths.org

Mrs Natalie Adler
Assistant Principal Teaching & Learning: Junior

Daily writes, also known as power writes, sustained writing or quick writes, are timed writing sessions where students are required to produce a written response to a question, probe or stimulus. Effective daily writes involve the students having time to think and discuss a question or probe, write without interruption, read back their work, identify errors and set goals. (Feran & Farnan 2001; Fisher, Frey & Hattie, 2017)

Daily writes are a powerful technique to build writing fluency. Fluency is the ability to perform the act of writing quickly. Just as we need to practise the act of reading to become better readers, we also need to practice writing to become better writers. Daily writes are proven to build fluency as they can eliminate the frustration that frequently accompanies traditional writing tasks or assessment methods by providing students more flexibility of response.

At home, you can support your child with writing by using a quick write. The task should not be any longer than 10 minutes (maximum) uninterrupted time. All you need is a stimulus to start. A stimulus could be an artefact, a picture, a question, a reflection or an expression of what has been learnt. Ask your child to read aloud their writing, this supports them to 'hear' any changes that may need to be made to the writing. As a parent, give constructive feedback, such as: your writing was interesting to me you because you used a variety of sentence starters; or, there were some really long sentences in your writing, how can we make them more concise? Discussing writing together supports your child become more reflective and open to constructive feedback, thereby building resilience.

Mrs Natalie Adler
Assistant Principal Teaching & Learning: Junior

“A simple way to start changing to a growth mindset, is by the use of a little word, yet. In essence the word means a realization that some things are worth waiting for, and those things take work. It’s not always easy, but the power of this small word allows for success. Changing your words can help students begin to make the change from a fixed to a growth mindset.”

Saying ‘not yet’ instead of saying ‘you failed’ is a much better way to show children that even if they have difficulties overcoming something now, the time will come when they succeed if they continue tackling the obstacle from different angles. The use of ‘yet’ shows that there is a learning curve, and points to the process, not the outcome. This also tells the children that they aren’t being taught to learn simply for grades, but for their future and it encourages them to dream big and think about what they want to do with their lives, instead of on focusing only on what they are currently achieving at school. (Carol Dweck)

Dweck, a professor of Psychology at Stanford University, advocates that a growth mindset is developed through praise, but not the usual after-the -fact praise which focuses on outcomes, but the praise that focuses on the process of learning. We should praise students for the strategies they used and the entire process that leads to outcomes. In short, we praise the process, not the abilities. If we only focus on praising, children begin to believe that if they try hard enough, they will succeed no matter their strategies. In fact, this leads them to repeat the same ineffective strategies over and over again. When we praise the effort around the process or strategies used, it teaches the children the need to change their strategies in order to solve the problem.

Dweck also suggests that failure leads to learning. If something doesn’t work, we can ask, “What is this teaching us? What can we try instead?” This type of questioning encourages children to find an alternate way to achieve success. It tells children that we believe they can do better, supporting a shift in mindset.

What if instead of saying “I can’t do this”, you said “I can’t do this yet”?What if instead of saying “I’m not good at this”, you said “I’m not good at this yet”?What if instead of saying “I don’t understand this”, you said “I don’t understand this yet”?What if instead of saying “It doesn’t work”, you said “It doesn’t work yet”? What if instead of saying “this doesn’t make sense”, you said “this doesn’t make sense yet”?
At the end of the school day try asking your child some of the following growth mindset questions:

What did you do today that made you think hard?What new strategies did you try?What mistakes did you make that taught you something?What did you try today that was hard?

Some Practical Advice

• Recognize that we are all a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets.
• Use appropriate language to praise.
• I know you have the ability, so I have set the bar high.
• As you learn this, mistakes are expected. Your mistakes help me support you.
• When you feel math is hard, that’s your brain growing!
• What step can you try next?
• Of course it’s tough. If it were easy, would you be learning anything from it?
• You worked hard on that. Looks like that paid off!
• Allow students to reflect on their performance.
• Give 2 words that describe how you feel about your achievement on this assessment/project/assignment.
• Do you think your grade matches your effort level? Why/why not?
• If you are not challenged, you do not make mistakes. If you do not make mistakes, you do not grow.

(https://info.explorelearning.com/)

Below are a list of books which will support your discussions at home around developing a Growth Mindset:

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett

The main character in this story never makes mistakes, until one day she does! She learns that life is more fun when you learn to enjoy the process and learn from your mistakes.

What Do You Do With a Problem? By Kobi Yamada

The main character in this story avoids a persistent problem, however it only seems to get bigger. When he finally finds the courage to face the problem he learns that the problem is not what it first appeared, and discovers something amazing in the process.

Beautiful Oops! By Barney Saltzberg

Hooray for mistakes! Children who read this book will discover that a mistake is an opportunity for creativity, and sometimes the most beautiful things in life are unexpected. 

I Can’t Do That, YET By Esther Pia Cordova 

The main character in this story doesn’t believe in herself, and often says “I can’t do that”. When she learns to say “I can’t do that YET”, her whole world changes. 

Giraffes Can’t Dance By Giles Andreae

All of the animals tell Giraffe that he can’t possibly dance, until a small friend shows him how to find his own tune.

Developing a growth mindset early on will help children become more confident, resilient, empowered, and not afraid to fail. Confident children are willing to put forth more effort, and try hard to accomplish their goals. There is no time like today to start making changes in the way we talk, think, and feel about our abilities.

Mrs Natalie Adler
Assistant Principal Teaching & Learning: Junior

Ever wanted to know what it’s like to be a Medical Student for a day?

Well last week, two of our year 11 students were given the opportunity by The University of Queensland, Rural Clinical School (UQRCS) in Toowoomba to become medical students for the day.

Josephine McQueen and Sarah Carr spent the day learning the anatomy of the human body, how to suture a wound, CPR, basic first aid and plaster case a broken arm. UQRCS exists to train medical students in rural medicine in an authentic environment with the aim of retaining graduates in rural, regional and remote areas of Australia.

"The day was very informative, eye opening and enjoyable" Sarah Carr

This was a unique opportunity for students to be immersed in medical school with medical students and lectures. Allowing them to speak about career opportunities in medicine.

“It was incredibly insightful and inspired me to continue to follow the medical pathway” Josie McQueen

Thank you to UQ for including Mary MacKillop Catholic College students in this program. 2022 year 11's who are interested in a career in a medical field should be on the look out of information regarding this program next year.

Christie Richardson
My Pathway Team

Quality writing is fundamental to academic success. While it can be a challenge to learn something new, our senior students have dived straight into Write That Essay. Interestingly, staff have noticed a significant uptake in different sentence types in assessment pieces. Write That Essay--without a doubt--will improve the standard of students' work. Our students, who have engaged with the program in PC and classroom activities, are applauded for their enthusiasm. Write That Essay is working!

Sneakily, I have incorporated 5 of the sentence types we've explored this term into my first paragraph. I also included an extra one to begin the paragraph. They are--as you can see--named in a way that students will remember them.

1. Power sentence
2. W start
3. Adverb start
4. The Em-dash
5. Explore the subject
6. Very short sentence

In PC each week, students have had to time to explore a new sentence type and engage with it on the WTE online tool. To conclude the term, we've set up a writing challenge for all students, which they began this week. Students can access the challenge on the WTE online tool. The challenge is:

Write a response, in a genre of your choosing. You are to include the 5 sentence types we have learnt this term. Use each of the images to assist your in writing your response. 

Include each of the key words in your response.
The key words are: gorilla, attractive, cell phone, pineapple.

We encourage you, as parents and guardians, to ask your son or daughter about this challenge and begin conversations about their use of different sentence types. The more exposure students have to the program the more they will continue to engage with it. They might even show you the writing challenge and how it looks on the online tool!

Next Wednesday, each PC will nominate one student from each year level to progress to the Grand Final of the writing competition. A panel of judges will then select one winner from each year level. Each winner will be acknowledged on Assembly and their piece will be published in the College Newsletter.

This year the Defence Work Experience Program has recommenced and opportunities are added regularly. If your child is interested in the Defence force and is 15 at the time of placement this is a fantastic way to experience a career in the Australian Defence Force.

The Defence Work Experience Program provides young Australians interested in Defence as a future career, the opportunity to sample life in Defence and learn more about the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Please click on the link for more information. - Jobs List - Defence Work Experience (nga.net.au)

Due to the growing importance of technology, big data and economic efficiency in all kinds of businesses, mathematics, statistics and data science graduates continue to be in high demand.

Why study mathematical sciences? 

Whether you are intending to major in the mathematical sciencess and statistics, or another field such as music, neuroscience, commerce, or psychology, our degree programs will prepare you to deal with everything from solving practical problems to the most abstract of concepts. 

Mathematics and statistics courses are also increasingly digitally computation-based and interlinked with computer science, ensuring that graduates are well-equipped to use the latest technology platforms.
A mathematical sciences major or degree gives graduates a wide variety of job opportunities. Mathematics is involved in just about every job in some way, and it's particularly essential in the in-demand fields of science, finance and technology. The analytical and quantitative skills you learn will serve you well in any career you pursue.

What math job opportunities are there?

Graduates who have majored in mathematics and statistics are able to demonstrate strong analytical and problem-solving skills. They are skilled at data analysis, are able to use models to find meaning in complicated data, and can use quantitative data to build solutions.

The jobs available to maths graduates are very diverse. You could pursue careers in areas such as insurance, economics, research, IT and more. 

Many organisations look for high-calibre graduates, and a graduate’s ability to prove they can analyse problems, plan ahead, make decisions, demonstrate sound judgement, and communicate with others are all key skills.

Data Scientists look for patterns in large amounts of data and use it to identify trends and patterns that will help provide insights into, or solve, real-world problems. Average salary: $130,000*

Statisticians collect, analyse and interpret data to assist with decision-making and policy. Average salary: $100,000*

Business Intelligence Analysts process large amounts of data to inform and improve business strategies. Average salary: $110,000

Actuary: Identify, evaluate and minimise risk in a business setting. Average salary: $160,000*

*Salaries taken from Seek.com in October 2020 based on Australian salary data.

How can I study mathematics and statistics?

Specialist courses

• Bachelor of Science/Master of Mathematical Sciences  

Undergraduate courses

• Bachelor of Science 
• Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Advanced Studies 
• Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Science 

Programs and majors available in these courses:

• Data Science major 
• Financial Mathematics and Statistics major 
• Mathematics major Mathematical Sciences program (major in Data Science, Financial Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics or Statistics) 
• Quantitative Life Sciences major 
• Statistics major Most majors are also available as minors.

Jen Stevenson & Christie Richardson
Your Pathway Team

A lot of people ask, what can we do for the community?

Well, Ghandi once said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

So, that is exactly what five Year 11 girls are aiming to do. Jessica Kibble, Cassie Lawson, Ashlyn Martin, Emma Brittain, and I are a small group of Year 11 students who are participating in ‘Walk for Autism’. 

Autism is a lifelong condition. An estimated 1 in every 70 people in Australia is on the Autism spectrum. Along with their family members, this means Autism is a part of daily life for over a million Australians.

Walk for Autism is a free, virtual walking event, which means you can do it at your own pace, in your own time. We will be trying our hardest to walk 10,000 steps or more from Sunday, 21 March to Sunday, 28 March to raise much-needed funds to support people on the Autism spectrum.

The more steps we achieve, the more money we hope to make.  Our goal is to reach a team total of $2,000. Can you help us?

If you can donate, please go to this link. 

Let’s spread the word and help us to raise awareness of Autism.

We would also like to welcome anyone in our Mary MacKillop community to join our team! Simply click on the link above.

Whether you are a couch potato who only walks to the fridge, or a running super star, any step helps to both raise money and awareness for this great cause. 

Walk for Autism is your chance to have fun, get fit and change lives one step at a time!

Breanna Langley
Year 11

We are excited to announce that MMCC Visual Arts work from both Junior and Senior will be displayed at The Hampton Art Exhibition. This year’s Festival is planned for Sunday 16th May and the exhibition will be open from 4pm to 6pm on Saturday 15th May. 

The Opening is a free event and all artists, their guests and the general public are welcome. 

See website www.hamptonfestival.com

Jessica Burke
Middle Leader- The Arts and Student Engagement

This year the Toowoomba Show along with Heritage Bank and Pohlmans' Seedlings, will be promoting school garden projects. The recent rain has been fantastic for our plants in Garden Club!

Keep an eye out for our garden being displayed in this virtual display at the Toowoomba Show next month!

International Read to Me Day, celebrated on the 19th March, promotes the importance of regularly reading to children in order to develop literacy. Sharing and discussing stories together builds mastery in vocabulary and comprehension as well as developing social skills and strengthening relationships.

Research has proven that reading to children is one of the most powerful ways that parents and caregivers can influence their child's literacy level and the effects can be long lasting.

Children of 4 or 5 years old who are read to 3-4 times a week have reading ages 6 months ahead of children read to once or twice a week. Reading to children nearly every day almost doubles their progress to one year ahead of the group."

Professor Guyonne Kalb, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research

Reading aloud does not need to stop once your children reach a certain age and unless your child objects, continue to read to them regularly. Reading aloud not only models all the skills associated with reading but also expands children's book experience, especially if they are beginning to develop a preference for specific books. It is a wonderful way to introduce children to new titles and authors.

MMCC will celebrate International Read to Me Day by encouraging staff and students to take the time to read a story aloud to others. A number of Mystery Readers (both staff and senior students) will also be visiting the P-2 classes and joining the Pop-Up Library, weather permitting.

Join the celebration and share a story today with the children in your life.

Happy Reading.

Angela Irvine
Teacher Librarian

On Tuesday all families from the College with students in Year 4 -12 should have received an invite from the family zone team. The subject of this email was: Welcome to Family Zone. Please check your junk email if you have not received this and if you are still unable to locate it please contact sean.albion@twb.catholic.edu.au

There is already a fantastic uptake of this opportunity and I encourage all parents to sign up. This will allow us to work collaboratively to support your child's cybersafety and digital development.

Sean Albion
Assistant Principal Wellbeing Senior

This Friday is the 'National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence'. As a P-12 focus for our College, the above slogan- BE KIND, BE BRAVE, BE COURAGEOUS, BE BETTER- is a very practical approach to the call to action of this day. The decisions we make as students, parents and educators on a day to day basis, and the way we choose to treat people, creates the culture we are all a part of. This Friday, students have been involved in activities that have enabled them to understand what bullying is and isn't, how to respond to it should it occur, how to be an upstander and not a by stander, and how to enact our College slogan.

High 5 Response to Bullying

It is important that our students know how to be proactive and respond to bullying. At our College, all students are taught the 'High 5 Response to Bullying'.

1. Ignore
2. Talk friendly
3. Walk away
4. Talk firmly
5. Report

I invite you to watch the follow cartoon with your child, to talk to them about their choices and responses to the High 5 Response.

Support for Parents

As parents, we are often at a loss as to how to support our own children when they are confronted with feeling unsafe, caused by the actions of another person, whether face to face or online. We can also be at a loss if we are concerned our child may be bullying others. Below are some links, and tips for parents, providing support and advice.

Signs of Bullying

Each individual student who has been bullied or is bullying others will respond and act differently. A student's behaviours and moods can also change for a variety of reasons. However, the following are some signs that may indicate a student is experiencing bullying.

• becomes aggressive and unreasonable
• starts getting into fights
• refuses to talk about what is wrong
• school grades begin to fall.
• doesn't want to go to school
• changes their method or route to school or are frightened of walking to school
• changes in sleep patterns
• changes in eating patterns
• frequent tears, anger, mood swings
• unexplained bruises, cuts, scratches
• missing or damaged belongings or clothes
• arriving home hungry

SIGNS YOUR CHILD MAY BE A BULLY

A child who bullies others may show the following signs:

• repeatedly teasing, imitating or making fun of the same children/people (at home, school or in social settings)
• feeling the need to dominate or control others
• showing no compassion for someone who is experiencing bullying
• whispering behind others backs on a frequent basis

Students who frequently bully others are more likely to:

• feel disconnected from school and dislike school
• demonstrate good leadership skills
• demonstrate good verbal skills and ability to talk themselves out of trouble.

If you have concerns for your child, please make time to talk to their classroom teacher in order to work together to ascertain what may be occurring for your child and identify what support can be provided.

CYBERBULLYING

According to the Office of the e safety Commissioner:

• 1 in 5 Australian young people reported being socially excluded, threatened or abused online.
• 55% sought help from their parents, 28% from their friends; 38% blocked the offending social media account; 12% reported it to the website or platform
• 1 in 5 Australian young people (15% of kids, 24% of teens) admitted behaving in a negative way to a peer online — such as calling them names, deliberately excluding them, or spreading lies or rumours. Of these, more than 90% had had a negative online experience themselves.

The e safety Commission webpage has advice for young people and parents around cyberbullying, being an upstander, and starting good habits at a young age. You will find this at https://www.esafety.gov.au/key...

This informative site also provides parents with signs to look for, which may indicate cyberbullying occurring. These include:

• being upset after using the internet or their mobile phone
• changes in personality, becoming more withdrawn, anxious, sad or angry
• appearing more lonely or distressed
• unexpected changes in friendship groups
• a decline in their school work
• changes in their sleep patterns
• avoidance of school or clubs
• a decline in their physical health
• becoming secretive about their online activities and mobile phone use

I invite you to have a conversation with your child about the key messages they learnt at school today. What we do know, is that when we are proactive and building a culture of trust and open conversations with our children, they are more likely to speak to us if they have a concern. Remember to encourage your child to 'Be kind, be brave, be courageous and be better!'.

Bridget Rillie
Assistant Principal Wellbeing: Junior

As we continue to collaborate with all elements of our student’s system to educate the whole child, we would like to discuss the concepts of inclusivity and tolerance.

Bullying No Way day is today; a national day of action against bullying and violence. At Mary MacKillop however, instead of purely focusing on what NOT to do, we are working to empower children to Be Kind, Be Brave, Be Courageous, Be Better! To demonstrate prosocial behaviours and an attitude of respect and acceptance. 

To support our children to embrace and benefit from diversity, we need to first encourage an attitude of tolerance and acceptance - an openness and respect for difference. From this stance, we can appreciate others and what they contribute, irrespective of their difference from us, or what we consider the ‘norm’. We can learn from one another and as a result, challenge the assumptions and stereotypes we know undermine an inclusive and tolerant culture. 

Learning to think this way and to treat others with tolerance and acceptance begins with us! This is not about accepting poor behaviour or tolerating disrespect in the context of difference. This is encouraging curiosity and an openness to understanding others and their differences, without categorising them due to such. We want to encourage children to value the differences others offer, to empathise with them, seeing this as an opportunity to learn and develop.

This fact sheet has some suggestions and general tips to help you talk to your children with the aim of fostering tolerance and acceptance.

Jasmin Slack-Smith & Khara Saunders
Clinical Psychologists

Learning Support Teacher's play a vital role in school communities. We support all staff members throughout the college to provide an inclusive environment for every student, every ability and celebrate every success. We assist teacher's with implementing a personalised plan for learning for every student at the college and we work collaboratively with parents to ensure all relevant information is provided to the class teacher.

If your child currently accesses external professional providers - Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists, Psychologists, etc can you please provide this information to the class teacher along with any relevant up to date reports. With this information we will be able to provide appropriate adjustments with in the classroom and playground environment.

Charden Ruge
Junior Learning Support Teacher

Athletics - A number of MMCC athletes competed over the weekend at the Queensland Athletics State Championships at the Queensland State Athletics Centre in Brisbane.

Brendan Williams competed in the Men's 400m (U17) running a national qualifying time (and personal best time) of 52.04sec in the preliminary heat progressing to the final in which he placed 6th in the State. Brendan will now represent QLD at the 2021 Australian Track and Field Championships in Sydney in April. 

Levi Logan competed in the Men's 100m (U18) running a personal best time of 11.32sec in the preliminary heats progressing to the State final before tying for 6th place and only missing a national qualifying time by 0.08sec.
Bella Stenzel placed 10th in the Women's 100m (U16) 13.46sec, Dayna Bailey placed 12th place in Women's 200m (U16) 27.67sec (running a PB) and Elijah Logan placed 13th place in the Men's 200m (U20) with a personal best time of 22.84.

All of the athletes are coached by Senior College teacher Mr Logan and they work hard for their results. Congratulations to all athletes and their coach. 

Futsal - our futsal team both wrapped up their seasons with victories over the last week. Thank you to all of those students, parents, and teachers who have contributed to this Term 1 activity. We will look to expand our involvement with Futsal as the year progresses.

DD Hockey - a huge congratulations to Mai Connor (Year 12) and Jessica Kibble (Year 11) who both gained selection in the 13-19 Years Girls Hockey team last week. The girls will contest the State Championships to be played in Toowoomba in June.

P-12 Cross Country - a schedule has been sent home to parents regarding this wonderful community event. Parents will be welcome as spectators which will add to the excitement of the day. A reminder that races will commence with the Prep races at 10 am after the MJR assembly and will continue with Year 1, Year 2, etc. Year 3 students who turn 8 in 2021 will have the opportunity to run in the Year 3-6 fun run and those that turn 9 can choose the fun run option or the 9 years race to be considered for Inner Downs selection. Please contact me if you have any questions. Further updates will be sent next week.

Keep up to date with all our sporting and extra curricular stories at our Mary Mac Sport instagram page - @marymacsport.

Brad Griffiths
Middle Leader: Sport and Student Engagement

Brendan is a Year 10 student at the College who is developing into a fine 400m runner. Last weekend, Brendan joined other College athletes in competition at the Queensland Athletics State Championships at QSAC in Brisbane. As mentioned in the sport update this week, Brendan managed to run a national Qualifying time and will don the Maroon to represent Queensland at the 2021 Australian Track and Field Championships in Sydney in April. Brendan qualified for nationals last year as well, but was unable to compete as the event was cancelled due to covid.

Brendan has shown a keen interest to represent the College and in a few short years is developing into a great touch footy player. He was a member of the 15 years All-Schools team last year and was recognised as one of the players of the tournament by his teammates. Brendan's speed is an asset in this sport, but his sense of the game is now starting to catch up to his speed!

When the College Athletics Carnival rolls around later in the year, do yourself a favour and come and watch Brendan and the other Mary Mac athletes run...but don't blink, or you'll miss them!

On Sunday, 10 Year 7 – 9 girls participated in the annual Laura Geitz Netball Carnival. Throughout the day, the girls played 5 round games, winning 3. At the conclusion of the round games, they were in 3rd position. The team then played another 3 games, winning 2. At the conclusion of the carnival, the girls took away the bronze medal in Division 2.

Congratulations to Lucy Williams, Chelsea Mifsud, Keeley McQueen, Neve Knapman, Kirra Dalziell, Emily Greenhalgh, Maddy Doole, Erin O’Rourke, Layla Bradford and Ruby Crawford on representing the College with great sportsmanship. Also a massive thanks to Kyra Bartlett-Horne for umpiring throughout the day. Thank you to the parents for their continued support of Netball at MMCC.

Peta Kingsford and Kate Carrol
Netball Coaches

On Monday we were again lucky enough to have Ms Jodie Davis from Brisbane workshop with our Drumline and Marching Band in preparation for our upcoming events. Ms Davis is the Percussion director at Nudgee College and performed in the Olympic Games marching band as lead snare. The ensembles will be participating in:

• Toowoomba Show as roaming entertainment
• Anzac Day Commemorative March at Highfields
• Crows Nest show grand parade

We hope to see and hear you cheer at these events as the first external performances for MMCC this year.

The year 8 Music Classes have completed their Performance dimension of assessment this week. Students learned how to play and perform on the keyboard and guitars to present to their peers. Both Mrs Rawle and myself were impressed at the resilience and musicality of this year level- well done year 8 Music students!

Jess Burke
Middle Leader- The Arts and Student Engagement

Toowoomba Catholic Kindergartens and Care (TCKC) will be operating the Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) service at your school from Monday 19th April.  Families wanting to enrol their children must visit our website www.tckc.qld.edu.au, click on OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE tab and complete an enrolment form relevant to your school. Our website also provides you with operating hours, fee schedules and other relevant information.  Our services offer Before School Care, After School Care and Vacation Care options. The services offer flexible arrangements to suit the needs of your family.

Families needing care for the Easter holidays will must contact the current provider at the school. We will be operating vacation care from the June/July holidays.

Please contact us if you have any queries. Email enquiries@tckc.qld.edu.au or Ph: 0436 381 304.