Open Day was a wonderful opportunity to showcase our community spirit and for prospective families to meet our students and staff. Over 770 people visited the College on the day. We had activities in the classrooms, exciting science experiments, taste testing cookies in the Food Technology rooms, and bands and musical performances all over the College.
We were incredibly proud of the over 200 students who volunteered their time on a Sunday to give guided tours or act as classroom helpers. We were overwhelmed by the positive feedback from families. Below is a few examples:
"The guided tour by Year 9 representative Bridget was excellent. She provided a lot of information and was lovely."
"Lovely student tour guides, and getting a great sense of the school community. Left feeling like it's a place that inspires you to want to learn."
"The tour guides - Sarah and Kayla from Year 10 - were impressive and were wonderful ambassadors for the school."
"Lily and I enjoyed every moment from walking within the front gates. Our tour guides Jenny and Cassandra (Year 11) were amazing and very knowledgeable and could answer every question we had. Lily is so excited about your school and to think she is only in Grade 5 but wanting to come here now! Thank you for a wonderful experience."
A statement will be emailed to families prior to the Term 2 holidays.
For those families that do not have a regular, scheduled payment arrangement in place we would kindly remind you that your fees should be approximately 70% settled by the end of June (as we aim to have fees paid in full by September).
If you already have a payment plan in place, please retain the statement for your records.
Families paying by term instalments please note, your 3rd instalment is due 25th July 2022.
Your assistance in ensuring that your account is up to date is greatly appreciated.
Daniel O’Malley - Business Manager
For the Earth Team, 2022 has been great fun and we have also learnt so much. From our gardening and harvesting to our worm farm initiative we have been working hard! Worm farms at MSJ mean we now have a much more sustainable way of disposing of organic waste as well as loads of new wormy friends. There are 6 caddies in various locations around the school in which students and staff can put things like banana peels, apple cores, coffee grounds and green waste!
From our planting earlier this year, Earth Team harvested mint and kale and in order to show students how we can use our own produce, the group had the opportunity to taste test kale chips, kale and spinach pesto as well as mint and pineapple drinks - all which had been made from our school's garden. We are currently planning an MSJ farmers market which would entail selling our produce: flowers, cute pot plants, vegetables & fruit.
We are looking forward to our future endeavours and what the rest of 2022 holds for us! We always encourage students and staff to be involved! A special thank you to Mr Robinson and Ms Steward for their dedication and support in helping to bring Earth Team and their initiatives to life.
In Year 8, we had an exciting time at the Kooringal Golf Club. We have only had one session but already learnt so much thanks to the coaches at the club (Jodie and Heather). We learnt the right stance and grip for swinging and putting, how to control the speed of the golf ball when putting on angles and the hand eye coordination needed to swing. It was an engaging experience that we can definitely say everyone enjoyed. Big thanks to the MSJ teachers and Kooringal Golf Club for giving us this opportunity.
By Sophie Coram Year 8
Members of the senior VCAL class attended St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Williamstown to update the boys’ and girls’ bathrooms with inspiring messages after it was found that students would use the toilets as a safe space for alone time. Several designs were created that reflected the positive message for the spaces. Overall, the project took four sessions across four weeks. Firstly, the rooms needed to be clean, sanded and painted with an undercoat. Week two required painting the base colour onto the walls and doors. Week three and four required stencilling of designs using a projector to display the images on the doors and finally painting two coats of colour into the designs. We are proud to have been able to assist St Mary's in the project and are very pleased with the result. We would like to thank Ms Feore and Ms Louden for making the connection with the school and planning the project.
Amy Furlan, Courtney Von Wald, Kenya Pedler, Yasmin & Sara El Houli
Over the past two weeks, the Year 9 Outdoor Ed classes have been taking part in a first aid course run by AB first aid training. We developed many skills throughout our two classes with them, learning vital skills like basic CPR and what to do if someone is choking in our first lesson. In our second, we learned how to treat snake bites, and how to use pressure immobilisation bandages. At the end of the course, every student who participated and completed the given models received a first-aid certificate which can be used for future job applications. All the Year 9s enjoyed this course immensely, a highlight for Miss Fortmann's Outdoor Ed class was using the CPR dummies. Every student got the chance to practice their skills with both the adult CPR dummies and the baby ones. On behalf of the Year 9s who took part in the AB first aid training, we would like to thank them for coming to our school and teaching us valuable life skills.
Ava Denys, Rachel Currie, Kiani Howell
