Last Friday’s Assembly was co-ordinated by Mr Thomson’s Year 3 class, who have been looking at our College value of Inclusion. They have been listening to ‘dreamtime’ stories as they learn about Aboriginal culture in their recent History lessons. Students showed some of their own versions of traditional dot paintings by various Indigenous artists.
For more than ten years, MacKillop has offered its Year 11 students a unique four-session unit developed by the College and especially targeted for this age group, as part of our structured Pastoral Care Program. The College counsellor and male and female teachers facilitate separate gender group sessions for students across four PCP timeslots during term 3.
Sixteen Pre Primary students have graduated from the ELK Room’s MiniLit Program for Semester One. The students have thoroughly enjoyed fun based daily literacy sessions to enhance their knowledge, and have taken the time to share their experiences with their class peers.
On Thursday our Primary Cross Country stars travelled to Bunbury to compete in the SWSPA Cross Country Carnival at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School. The students had been attending before school training sessions for five weeks leading up to the day, with many continuing through the holiday break.
Our primary students will be taking part in a 'Read to Rio' Book Challenge, to coincide with the Olympic Games.
The challenge is to read as many books as you can from the school library over the two weeks beginning Monday 8 August (weeks 4 and 5). The library is open before and after school (8:00am – 3:45pm) and during lunchtimes for students to swap books, and a tally will be kept of the number of books that each student reads.
Soa Palelei, a Mixed Martial Arts expert, visited the College on Friday, 22 July, to talk with the Year 10 boys about his life. Soa has just released a book entitled Face Your Fears. The presentation included a talk about his life and the challenges Soa has faced, and more importantly, overcome. He also held a Q&A session with the boys.
At the end of last term the College welcomed five students from Italy, who are staying with Year 11 host families until the end of August as part of an exchange program with the WA Association of Teachers of Italian (WAATI). Their aim is to live an ‘in-home experience’ and get a feel for Australian life at the very heart of it.
Meet our new Head of Primary, Mrs Joanne Paini.
Jo comes to our community from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Bunbury, where she was Assistant Principal for two and a half years after working as a local School Support Consultant for the CEO. She has lived in Dalyellup for seven years, regularly spending time on their Kojonup farm with her husband Tony. They have two children, Dominic 23 and Nicholas 21, as well as working dogs and a pet Groodle called Zeb “who is the size of a small horse.”
St Mary MacKillop College has unveiled a new sculpture of Mary MacKillop this week in front of their new gymnasium joining primary and secondary campuses. Sculptor Linda Klarfeld came over from Sydney to supervise installation of her artwork, which depicts Mary MacKillop as a young woman reading a letter as she walks.
Our new Primary School singing tutor, Charmaine Clements, will begin private and small group lessons in voice on the Primary campus from Term 3. An experienced teacher and WAAPA graduate, Charmaine brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise and specialises in Musical Theatre.