“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” - 1 Peter 1:3

Each year I’m amazed at how fast chocolate Easter eggs and even Hot Cross Buns start appearing almost as soon as Christmas ends and the new year begins. Within a few months there is a proliferation of eggs, and all types of chocolate confectionery in stores. By the time Easter arrives there is the expectation that the “Easter Bunny” will deliver eggs en masse. Complicating this are events such as the Royal Easter Show and even Easter fireworks which can cloud the true focus of Easter.

The ever-increasing commercialisation of Easter says much about our society. By no means should the joy of Easter Sunday be lost but many times the completeness of life that is given by Jesus is forgotten. The Easter Triduum reminds us that 2000 years ago Jesus changed history irrevocably.

“…just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” - Romans 6:4Within a week Jesus, fresh from the joy and expectation of Palm Sunday, suffered death and then by His resurrection allowed for new creation. A new creation which He shared and allowed us all to be a part of. Hence it is through sacrifice that we find faith. It is from death that we have life and it is in this that the true meaning of Easter can be deciphered.

I trust that the upcoming Easter vacation will be a restful and peaceful time and I hope everyone has the opportunity to reflect on the fact that Easter allows us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and live a life of both sacrifice and resurrection.

It is very easy to have hollow words, but our aim is for the students at Magdalene Catholic College to demonstrate a “lived faith” which is shown each day in their actions and dealings with their peers and the communities in which they live.

NEW DECAL ON THE COLLEGE LIBRARY

A brand-new decal has been placed on the library which outlines key features of our revised College Vision, Mission and Core Values.

It is very exciting to be able to instill critical life values in our students and, with recent changes in becoming a College, we see it as our role to ensure our students live meaningful lives and are “good people” in word and deed beyond school.

CROSS COUNTRY
I look forward in a future newsletter to sharing news and photos of yesterday’s College Cross Country.

Beginning of Term Two:

Term Two will begin for all students on Monday 29 April.

Mr Matthew McMahon

Principal

With the events of the Holy Triduum unfolding in the upcoming Holiday break, today’s prayer focuses on the Resurrection and the Good News which stems from this.

Resurrection Prayer

Dear God,
Thank you for making all things anew. Thank you for the victory and power in Your Name. Thank you for holding the keys over death, that by Your might, Jesus was raised from the grave, paving the way for us to have new life with You. Thank you for Your plan.

We ask that You renew our hearts, minds, and lives, for the days ahead.

Keep Your words of truth planted firm within us, help us to keep focused on what is pure and right, give us the power to be obedient to Your word. In times of need, we trust that Your voice speaks louder and stronger, reminding us we are safe with You and that Your purposes and plans will not fail. We ask that You will be our defence and rearguard, keeping our way clear, removing the obstacles, and covering the pitfalls.

Shine Your light in us, through us, over us. May we make a difference in this world, for Your glory and purposes. May we reflect Your peace and hope to a world that so desperately needs Your presence and healing.

Thank you for Your indescribable gift! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Multiple teachers presented effective teaching strategies in a workshop format and were invigorated by sharing their knowledge with one another.

Just as our students learn every day, our staff are focused on learning together to ensure a quality education for Magdalene students. 

Dear Parents/Carers

Yrs 7-11 Interim Reports will be available on the Sentral Parent Portal on Friday 12th April after 3pm. The Parent Portal can be accessed via the following link https://sent.mchsdow.catholic.edu.au/portal/login If you have not already registered please follow the instructions that have been previously emailed to you.

Regards,

Mr Anthony Moore

Curriculum Coordinator.

Students in Years 7 & 9 will be completing NAPLAN questions in short quizzes between now and the NAPLAN test in Week 3 next term. These questions are tailored to each student's previous achievement band and students will progress through these bands as they demonstrate success. Please support your child with their homework in these questions, such as comparing their answers to the correct solutions as well as accessing videos with “how-to” information for each question.

We wish all the students a refreshing break and look forward to working with them next term.

In Week 9, the Year 7 students and the volunteering teachers went on a 3 day camp at Teen Ranch in Cobbitty. We were placed into 8 groups, which gave us the opportunity to meet new students and experience our first camp with students we wouldn’t normally hang out with. This allowed all the Year 7 students to get to know each other, creating a lot of new friendships.

At Teen Ranch we received the opportunity to try new things by doing many activities including canoeing, horse riding, archery, high ropes, giant swing, crate climb and pool games. These activities pushed us outside our comfort zones, as they were very challenging. The activities helped us to work together as a team and it created a bond with other students. The activities required trust, teamwork, communication. It was great that everyone participated and gave it a go even if they didn’t want to at first. Lots of people also overcame their fears and pushed themselves to the limit which was great to see.   

At Teen Ranch there was plenty of delicious food. We could see the hard-working staff making our breakfast, morning tea, lunch, dinner, dessert and supper. Let's just say there was a lot to eat and my belly was full! Everyone loved it! Like who can’t forget the delicious pancakes or the yummy cheeseburgers! I know for sure seconds was an obvious choice for most students and teachers!

Teen Ranch was an amazing experience and we hope that all Year 7 students had a great time. On behalf of Year 7, we would like to thank the teachers who gave up their personal time to let us have these opportunities. We would also like to give Mrs Taccone a big thank you for organising the camp for us and dealing with us when we didn’t want to go to bed. Thank you, everyone, for making camp a great experience that we will all remember.

Written by Flynn Bradshaw, Charlie Wagus, Emilia Leopardi and Emma Burrows

In Week 9, Year 9 travelled to the Great Aussie Bush Camp, Tea Gardens. We started the day at the crack of dawn and we met at school by 6:45am, this was followed by the almost 3 and a half hour bus trip to the venue.

When we first arrived we were greeted by the lovely staff at the camp and we were settled down into our cabins and headed off for lunch. I started off camp with canoeing followed by high ropes. Canoeing was a blast and was topped off with a swim in the river. The high ropes were definitely the highlight of my camp journey. It pushed us out of our comfort zones but it was also heaps of fun. Climbing across some hard obstacles was made easier by the encouragement from my peers.

After the long day, we connected as a Year group with group challenges and everyone had a fun time. Finally, we ended the day around the campfire, then off it was to the cabins to hopefully get a few hours of sleep for the next day.

The second day at camp started nice and early. My first activity was ‘The Lost Island’ a multi-stage obstacle course in the mud. This was the highlight of the camp for me. Even though the mud was cold and was thrown at you any chance anyone could get, it was still a great experience. Everyone got involved including our teachers and it was a great bonding experience, pushing us out of our comfort zone and challenging us physically and mentally. It was a great activity.

My next activity was ‘Survivor Challenge,’ another mud activity which made students apply teamwork skills in order to make it from one side to the other before the other team could. This was great to see our Pastoral Class work together, although some of us did end up in the mud. Fortunately, we had some spare time to have some much-needed showers.

Another activity I participated in was the Giant Swing. This was probably the most challenging overall for our homeroom. Many students were pushed out of their comfort zones. No matter how scared they were the majority of people participated thanks to the encouragement from other students and teachers. It was a very funny and rewarding experience. The night activity was ‘Commando.’ Basically, you go out into the woods without any torches and you have to find some hidden hostages without getting caught by the teachers. Even though there were many scratches, bruises and mosquito bites from running into trees and anything else you could run into it was so fun. It was a great, but very exhausting day.

Day three started with a very early 6am start. One of my final activities was the crate climb which challenged your peers to work together to support your weight while you stack crates together, therefore putting your trust in them. The students would challenge themselves and others to reach as high as possible, with some students climbing to an astounding 13 crates. We then had some lunch and then set off on our trip home to be awaited by our parents who could of I'm sure done a bit longer without us.

On behalf of our cohort, I would like to give a massive thank you to our pastoral teachers for giving up three days of their family time to come and look after us, you are greatly appreciated. To Miss Cupillari, thank you for everything, not only at camp but in the weeks leading up to camp. Mr Bubb, thank you so much. To organise something like camp for us is extremely hard and stressful but you still managed to do it. I’m sure our year group is very grateful and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And last but certainly not least Year 9, you all are amazing. You made camp so much fun and I think we all had a great time. Camp has definitely brought us all closer as a cohort. Fears were conquered, friendships formed and a great time was had. Thank you to everyone who was involved in making our camp happen.

-Liam McClafferty, Jasmine McAllister, Isaiah Elias and Kirra-lee Timms.

Year 9 SRC

Firstly, I would like to show my appreciation to the Year 9 SRC for their reflections from camp. It was great to hear of the fun and rewarding experiences you had.

Year 9 Camp was very successful and I also want to thank all students and teachers who helped the camp to be as successful as it was.

I was very proud to see the way the Year 9 students interacted with each other and the Camp staff. They were very respectful and allowed for new connections to be developed. I was also very excited to see students trying new things and conquering their fears. It was also great to see students developing key skills for life, like communication, decision making and teamwork. I am honoured to be associated with this Year group. I also believe the cohort bonded as a whole and I look forward to the future to see what more amazing things can be achieved by this group.

Kind regards,

Mr Matthew Bubb

Year 9 Coordinator

Year 7 History students have been investigating the Ancient Past this term. On 21st March 2019 all year 7 students and their History teachers ventured into Sydney to undertake a site study at the Australian Museum. 

During the site study, we were fortunate to have the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Team share artefacts with us and discuss contemporary issues in Australian archaeology. 

We also had the opportunity to explore the vast collection the museum holds- including a skeleton of the seven-metre-long, plant-eating Muttaburrasaurus, material from an Aboriginal midden and over 400 taxidermied animals which show the diversity of Australian wildlife.

As an outcome of the site study, students were able to compare different sources from the past in determining their usefulness to our area of study, the adaptations of animals and humans.  All students were actively engaged throughout the day and we look forward to building upon our source analysis skills in our next unit- Ancient Egypt. 

Mrs Carolyn Said

H.S.I.E. Leader of Learning

This year Indoor Cricket has been integrated back into the MISA Sport competition. The first team to take this sport on in Term 1 was the 7-9 Girls team. This team was made up of girls from varying abilities but all the girls had a great attitude to grow individually and as a team.

On the 26/3 the Girls won the MISA East Zone in which they beat St Patricks in a close final. Player of the match was Amber English for her consistent straight shots which boosted the team total greatly. It was great to see how the girls had bonded over the competition and worked well as a team to get the win.

As the East Zone Champions, the girls progressed to the Inter-zone finals. On the 2/4 the Inter-zone final occurred, where the 3 Zone Champions played off for the overall Championship.

Firstly, we played Macarthur Anglican. We batted first and set a very strong total of 133 with outstanding skins (batting pairs) from Emma Clarke and Jorga Carroll and Sofija Todorovska and Amber English, losing minimal wickets in their skins and scoring 45 and 36 respectively. The girls were then off to the ultimate start when bowling, with Olivia Searle getting a hat-trick in the first over. With continued tight bowling and excellent fielding, the girls restricted Macarthur to 76. Placing the girls in a great position for the championship.

Our second game was against Thomas Hassell Anglican College. The Magdalene girls won the toss and opted to bat first again. This proved to be the right decision with another great score of 136. Brianna Tipping and Morgan Gascoigne led the scores with the bat with the highest skin of 43. Our bowling again proved to strong for our opponents and the girls restricted THAC to 37. Again, our fielding skills and game awareness made it very difficult for our opponents to score. Amber English consistently demonstrated her strong fielding ability to play a major role in various wickets.

Well done to all the girls. A real team effort. You did yourselves and your school proud.

Congratulations Inter-zone Champions.

Emma Clarke

Jorga Carroll

Amber English

Morgan Gascoigne

Olivia Searle

Tara Small

Brianna Tipping

Lara Davies

Sofija Todorovska

Kind regards,

Mr Matthew Bubb

Please be aware that supervision of students commences at 7.50am in the Top Quad. After school - students should be collected no later than 3.30pm from the student pick up area (with the exception of extra-curricular activities the student may be attending). Students should not be on the College grounds outside of these times.

COLLEGE FEES

2019 School Fee Accounts have now been emailed or posted to families. The annual invoice is a 30-day account and payment is required by Friday 22 March. However, families may continue to, or commence paying periodically, this can be done by completing the School Fee Agreement form and returning it to the College Office prior to Friday 22 March. All School Fee Agreements need to be updated on a yearly basis.

The Diocesan School Fee Management Policy and School Fee Agreements are available to download from the College Website:

http://www.mccdow.catholic.edu.au Ctrl + Click to follow the link

then go to the Enrolment Tab then click into Fees.

YEAR 12:  Please note that families of a Year 12 student who has their last child attending the College are required to have their fees finalised by Friday, 28 September.

Families who are experiencing financial hardship may apply for a Fee Concession by telephoning the College Finance Office to obtain an application.

Please return School Fee Agreement forms to finance@mchsdow.catholic.edu.au