Principal's Update

Welcome to Term 4

After finishing Term 3 on such a high note with the wonderful celebration of our Year 12 Class of 2022, Term 4 has commenced on a similar wonderful note. 

Wednesday, in our first Term 4 assembly, students led by new College Captains Fleur and Lenny, as well as Vice-Captains Tess and Elliot, showcased the amazing talents and commitment of MacKillop students and their very generous staff. 

It began with our students who attended the Youth Ministry festival ‘Ignite’ in Brisbane on the first weekend of the holidays, sharing the valuable faith and spiritual affirming experience they were able to have, as well as connecting with friends and other students across the Diocese and from across Australia. We prayed for all students, but especially our Year 12 students as they commenced their HSC Exams during assembly time.

Wakakirri Storytelling Dance students followed, sharing their video, experiences and success on the last night of term where they had the opportunity to perform on the stage of NIDA, the National Institute of Dramatic Arts. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the performance and could not have been more proud of the standard of performance and conduct in representing the College. In fact it was one of those moments where I say to myself ‘I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to share in young people’s joy and successes’. Their joy and gratitude on the evening was simply infectious.

Next up was our Year 8 textiles students who fashioned-paraded their recent pyjama pant creations. 

We then heard from Mandy Palin who shared with us the success of our 2022 Tournament of Minds (TOM) Team who, after finishing Regional winners, went on to receive State Honours at the highly contested State Finals held at UNSW. Mandy Palin and our TOM students continue to get outstanding results and have built a fine reputation as one of the top TOM schools in the country.

The assembly also saw the announcement of our 2022-2023 Year 8-12 Student Leadership Team. Congratulations to each of these students. I look forward to working with them and welcoming parents to the official Blessing and Induction in the coming weeks. The 2022-2023 Student Leaders are named below. Our College Captains also shared with us what leadership means, and how, as our Term 4 Character Strength, we can all be leaders and develop the qualities of leadership. 

And finally I spoke to students about the challenges of Term 4, setting goals for our End of Year report and working hard to do our best.

Congratulations!

Year 8 student, Sara Markovic has won a local competition with HEM Real Estate. Sara’s creative design (pictured below) was chosen by two local indigenous artists from Marramarra Creative and Cultural Industries as the Senior winner of our 2022 Design a SOLD Sticker competition.

Sara has WON for herself a $170 voucher pack full of vouchers that she can use at local businesses including; Settlers Inn, Pretty Rad, Centre of Gravity, Hydro Golf and Blue Cow.

Not only has Sarah won the above treats for herself, she has also won a $500 cash prize for the College for the Art Department.

Two of our very creative students were chosen as ‘Runners Up’ and have won themselves a Blue Cow Gelato Voucher.  Congratulations to Paige Clancy and Jessica Moore. Great job girls!

Tutoring 

Year 11 & 12 Advanced Mathematics and English student available for Monday or Tuesday afternoon tutoring in the College Homework Hub (College Library) 3:30pm - 4:30pm. 

COST: $25 per hour

For further details contact:  Tess McWilliams tmcwilliams.11@lism.catholic.edu.au 

"Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the people you can".

Please enjoy below, the speech our College Captain Kashia McGrath gave at our Celebration of Excellence. 

In school, I always struggled with being concise. I was even temporarily banned from handing in essays because I was writing too much! But luckily for you, I’ve tried my best to make my speech today short and sweet, with only a couple of key things that I’d like to share! 

And the first thing is - Hello MacKillop! 

An extra special hello and congratulations to Year 12, who we are celebrating today! But also a big hello to all the other students, to the teachers and staff, and to the family members and carers who have no doubt taken on the role of cheerleaders, counsellors, banks, taxi drivers and coaches throughout Year 12’s journey. 

I hope that you are all feeling marvellous, because I certainly am! I can actually vividly remember seeing the current Year 12’s as little Year 7’s on their first day of school. So I feel very privileged and excited to be seeing many of the same faces here on their last day! 

My words today are not some untold sorcery about approaching the HSC exams or even life beyond school - I’m still working that part out! Instead, I’d like to remind you all of something that I think every human being should be constantly reminded of: treating people right is the true currency of life. I’m sure you’ve been reminded of this many times before, because this was definitely something I am grateful to have learnt at MacKillop. However, it’s only now that I am realising the extent to which people remember how you made them feel. 

This year I have met so many new people - people who have seen so much of the world, people who are amazingly passionate about sports or film or art or languages, people who are always happy to have a laugh. I have friends from all over the world, and I have friends travelling all over the world. I know people who have their life mapped out to the second, and I know so many others who have no idea at all what they are doing! 

I’ve also had a lot of ‘small world’ moments as I’ve met people with mutual connections or who I had previously come into contact with. You seriously never know who is going to be your future teammate, peer, colleague, roommate or employer. 

From these interactions, I have realised how many layers there are to each and every person. And hence, how everyone deserves to be treated with sincere kindness, no matter how they come across! 

When I chatted to other recent graduates about what they would say to high school students, I received endless advice: Say yes to everything you can! Send a thank you letter, right now! Get out of your comfort zone! Define your own personal best and do everything you can to work toward it! Appreciate the home-cooked food! But the one thing that came up again and again was the importance of making other people feel good. 

This kindness should be to everyone - to strangers, to your loved ones, and, importantly, to yourself. I hope that everyone can go out of their way to make another person’s day: whether that be a beaming morning smile, a note of gratitude or allowing yourself to feel proud of how far you’ve come! I could tell you endless stories about the good things that I’ve seen this year, but in my interest of being concise, I’m going to finish up now with a lovely sentence. These aren’t my own words, but I believe that we can all take this on board, no matter what our priorities in life are. 

Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the people you can. 

Thank you, and all the very best for everything to come!!

Cath Eichmann
Principal 

Year 7 Immunisations

Area Health Immunisations – Monday 17 November, 2022.

A reminder to all parents and carers of Year 7 students that North Coast Area Health Service will hold an Immunisation Clinic at MacKillop College on Monday, 17 October as follows: 

All Year 7 students -  HPV dose 2 – Prior consent has been given for immunisations.

Any Year 7 student who has returned their consent form and who missed their Boostrix and HPV dose 1 at the clinic in March, 2022 may attend for these immunisations. These students will then receive their HPV dose 2 at the Year 7, 2023 Immunisation Day.

Year 8 students who may have missed HPV Dose 2 in 2021.

Year 10 students who may have missed their Meningococcal vaccine in May, 2022.

PLEASE NOTE:  There is a minimum dosing interval of 7 days between any routine school vaccinations (HPV, dTpa and Meningococcal ACWY) and any dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

All students to receive immunisation are asked to wear their sport uniform for ease of administering the immunisation.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Kylie Wood at the Public Health Unit on 0429 046 229. A record of immunisation will be kept by the Area Health Service and a copy will be provided to the vaccinated student for their records on the day. No records in relation to immunisations are kept at MacKillop College.

#wethrive

Showcases

All are invited to attend the HSC Textiles Showcase Evening at 6:00pm on Tuesday, 25 October in the MacKillop Junior Library. The works on display will celebrate the talent and hard work of our HSC Textiles students in 2022.

Ignite Conference

On Friday, 23 September 27 enthusiastic students traveled with our Youth Ministry Officer’s and 5 teachers to Brisbane for the Ignite conference. The theme of the conference was The Moment, encouraging everyone to be “in the moment” as they explored their faith journey, while spending time with like minded students from the Lismore diocese and all over Australia.

There were a variety of activities each day with keynotes speakers, small groups and workshops as well as plenty of food and downtime breaks. The highlights of each day were our powerful prayer experiences, with Adoration, Mass and the Rallies lead by the Emmanuel Worship band and some incredibly inspirational speakers. 

We headed back home on Sunday evening with the challenge to take and use what we had experienced in the three incredible days, in our everyday lives.

Marg Gobius
Leader of Evangelisation

St Agnes' Parish Invitation

Busways Notice

Music Contest

Sport Update

MacKillop College Representative Sport & Upcoming Events

All registrations for MacKillop College sport teams will be completed by students via logging into the school Moodle page. Go to the Student Links tab on the left hand side and click on the Representative Sports Registrations link. Click on the relevant sport and fill out the google form.

Students will be notified through the morning notices of when to sign up, and when trials will occur.

Click on this link to register.

Lismore Diocesan Events & Registration

Please note that the following sports are currently open for students to be able to sign up to or register their interest to trial. These sports have been advertised to students through morning notices over the past week.

Please click on this link below to register for the sports.

NSWCCC Events & Registration

Students MUST be registered for the event with parent and Principal approval (or Principal delegate).

Registration is through the CSNSW Sport portal. Details on how to register.

Registrations are via the CSNSW.sport portal. For instructions on how to register go to:  Guide For Parents – Sport Registrations >>

Please note that the NSWCCC Sport registrations for individual nominations for 2022 selections are open for the following trials:

For further information, go to the CSNSW Sport website Sport pages. https://csnsw.sport/

NSW All Schools – Events

The selection for these events are a result of the NSWCCC events.

Commuinty Sport

White Water

Congratulations to Hamish Teasdell who won a silver medal in the K1 Slalom at the 2022 CHS and All School Canoeing Championships last term.

As well as achieving a medal in the K1 Slalom race, he also competed in the following speed races:

• whitewater sprint in a kayak class (SK1)
• wildwater (about 3km down river) in a kayak class (SK1)
• wildwater in a two person canoe class (C2)

Well done Hamish.

Rugby League

Congratulations to Hudson Harmer and Joshua Power who have been selected in the Canterbury Bulldogs SG Ball Cup Summer Squad.

Congratulations to Tess McWilliams on receiving her official NSWCCC Rugby League jersey. Tess will be representing the NSWCCC team at the NSW All Schools Girls Open Rugby League Trials on 21 October.

Basketball

Congratulations to Caleb Prior and Logan Myers who were recently selected to represent the North Coast at the USA Exposure Tour in April 2023.

If your child has achieved outstanding sporting results in their community sport, we would love to hear about it. Please email myself, or your child’s respective Leader of Pastoral Care, so we can acknowledge these achievements. 

If you have any questions regarding sport at MacKillop College, please do not hesitate to contact me either by email or phone at the College.

Erin Denham
Leader of Sport

Canteen Update

Monday 17 October
Chris Pees, Amanda Lorger & Trish Carr

Tuesday 18 October
Vanessa Wilson, Sandy Green & Louise Moore

Wednesday 19 October
Judy Ryan, Bec Eakin & Sarah Dahlenburg

Thursday 20 October
Hannah Temple & Verena Grandy

Friday 21 October
Jane Keegan, Sam Harrison & HELP PLEASE

Due to significant price increases from suppliers over the last six months, we have had to increase our prices on some items. Please see the price list attached below for current pricing.

To order from the canteen:

1. Orders can be written out at the canteen (bags supplied free of charge).

2. Orders can be written out at home and handed in at the canteen.

3. Download the Qkr! app and order on line.

All orders to be in by 8:00am please.

Please remind your child/children if you have ordered for them, and what their order is. 

If your child is sick and you have ordered, please phone the canteen (6583 2632) to arrange a credit. 

Please note to change your child's year group when using the QKR! app to order lunch for 2022.

Now available: Gluten free pies $5.00 and gluten free sausage rolls $4.00; these items must be ordered.

Canteen Help Needed

We are in need of some parent assistance for canteen. For more information and requirements on volunteering in the Canteen, or if you are able to volunteer, please follow this link. 

Homework Hubs

Maths Tutorials

Tuesday 7.45am-8.30am and  Friday 7.45am-8.30am

Room 12 Main College with Elizabeth Robertson