This Sunday is the first day of Advent. The term 'Advent' is from Latin; it means 'the coming'. It is the period where Christians wait for the celebration involved in the birth of Jesus Christ. 

As with most Catholic traditions, it emerges well after the death of Jesus and the first apostles, and its meaning has evolved considerably over time. It was traditionally when new converts to Christianity would wait, pray and prepare for their baptism. In more modern times, it is seldom acknowledged outside of the liturgy. There was a time though when it was a kind of 'mini-Lent' where whole communities would fast, pray and offer good works. 

One tradition that has been maintained from is the Advent Wreath containing Advent candles. There are 3 purple candles and 1 rose/pink one. The 3 purple candles represent hope, peace/prophecy and love. The rose coloured candle - lit on the third Sunday of Advent - symbolises joy. They are lit every Sunday during Advent, to remind our communities explicitly of these things. 

Even of you do not go near a church before Christmas, please try to make those four things a characteristic of your summer.
I dearly hope you have an Advent filled with Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.

Chris Gabbett
Principal

Next Friday, 4 December, will be the End of Year Mass with Rite of Passage for our Year 6 students as they journey from Junior School to Senior School. 

There will be a QR code that one family member for each student will need to complete before entering the MacKillop Centre. These codes will be available outside Junior Admin and MacKillop Centre. Please arrive with enough time to complete this with Mass starting at 9:00am.

Seating for the family member will follow Covid-19 social distance requirements, in an allocated area of the Centre. We would ask that these rules are followed by everyone.

After mass the Year 6 students will process to the Outdoor Chapel for a Rite of Passage ritual with senior students before cutting a cake and sharing your letter. If you haven't dropped your letter to office yet, we would like them by Wednesday, 2 December.

Students will be allowed to depart after this has concluded. Please refer to the email sent out today for further information.

We look forward to sharing this moment with our Year 6 cohort and family member.

Last week during our Year 12 Graduation Mass the new leaders of our community for 2021 were formally announced and had their leadership candles lit by the 2021 College Captains. These students will be inducted into their positions during the first College mass next year. Congratulations to the elected 2021 leaders:

The College Administration Office will be open from 9:00am to 3:00pm from Monday, 7 December until midday on Friday, 18 December, and will reopen on Monday, 4 January with the same opening hours. 

Please direct all phone and email enquiries to 4698 7777 and highfields@twb.catholic.edu.au as these messages and emails will be checked regularly over the school break. 

Direct debit and credit card forms are still being processed, so please complete these forms as soon as possible and send into the College Administration.

This Sunday the church's liturgical season of Advent starts. This is the start of a new year in terms of the church's liturgical year. Advent is four weeks long leading up to Christmas - the birth of our Lord Jesus. So Advent is a time of waiting and preparing for the coming of Christ to dwell among us and in us. But is also about hope. Hope for the future. What are you hopeful for this Advent?

Advent uses various symbols to tell a story. The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the Greek word parousia. 

Usually an evergreen wreath is used as the main symbol. The Advent wreath first appeared in Germany in 1839. A Lutheran minister working at a mission for children created a wreath out of the wheel of a cart. He placed twenty small red candles and four large white candles inside the ring. The red candles were lit on weekdays and the four white candles were lit on Sundays.

Eventually, the Advent wreath was created out of evergreens, symbolizing everlasting life in the midst of winter and death (Northern Hemisphere). The circle reminds us of God’s unending love and the eternal life He makes possible. Advent candles are often nestled in the evergreen wreath. Additional decorations, like holly and berries, are sometimes added. Their red colour points ahead to Jesus’ sacrifice and death. Pinecones can symbolize the new life that Jesus brings through His resurrection. Families begin lighting a candle on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and they light another candle each subsequent Sunday.

The most common Advent candle tradition, however, involves four candles. A new candle is lit on each of the four Sundays before Christmas. Each candle represents something different, although traditions vary. The four candles traditionally represent hope, faith, joy, and peace. Often, the first, second, and fourth candles are purple; the third candle is rose-coloured. Sometimes all the candles are red; in other traditions, all four candles are blue or white. Occasionally, a fifth white candle is placed in the middle and is lit on Christmas Day to celebrate Jesus’ birth. (www.Christianity.com)

The four candles represent four different themes across the weeks:

1. Hope (or promise)
2. Preparation (waiting or prophecy) 
3. Joy (peace) 
4. Love (adoration) 

So this Advent, why don't you create your own wreath to place in the middle of your family table in preparation for Christmas. The wreath can be made from any evergreen plant (or you can purchase one). The colours of purple on three candles and pink on one candle can be done is various ways ie ribbon, coloured candles or even cloth. You may like to add a white candle in the middle for Christmas Day

Enjoy your lead up to Christmas this year as it will be a great time to be able to come together as a family considering the year that has been.  

Congratulations

Congratulations to Year 1 teacher Mrs Julia Ryan on her final step in the RCIA program – receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation and Eucharist at the Parish mass last Sunday. Julia is now a member of the worldwide Catholic family. Congratulations Julia. 

End of Year Mass

Next Friday will be out last official liturgical celebration for the year. We will be finishing with an End of Year Mass with Rite of Passage for year 6 students. Please refer to the email sent this week for more information.

Final message

As this is the last newsletter for 2020, I would like to take this opportunity to say 'Thank you' to all those you have supported the liturgical celebrations either in person or online this year. I look forward to next year where we will hopefully celebrate as a whole College in person with you.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Come Lord Jesus!

Paula O'Rourke
Assistant Principal Religious Education

The Year That Has Been...

What a year 2020 has been! Despite its challenges, this year has also presented our students with a variety of opportunities to get involved. Whether they donned a mask for Carnevale, sacrificed their time to help others during 40 for 40, drank only water for the month of March, baked biscuits for Rosies, donated a blanket for Tony's Kitchen, cooked for Healing Hands, socked it to poverty, donated pre-loved picture books, advocated for the rights of others, gave a gift to the Vinnies Gift Appeal or represented AMMA, these students have contributed to the culture and spirit of Mary MacKillop Catholic College. I congratulate all students who have modelled the courage, humility, perseverance and compassion of our patron, Mary MacKillop, through service to others this year. 

I am truly excited to see what wonderful ideas our students bring to the table in 2021. 

May all families in our Mary MacKillop community have a restful, safe, joyful and faith-filled Christmas season. 

St Vincent De Paul Christmas Gift Hampers 

We invite families to contribute a gift to support the St Vincent De Paul Christmas Gift Hamper appeal. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Vinnies has asked that families do not contribute food items this year. Instead, we would like to support St Vincent De Paul by collecting gifts via your child/ren’s class (Junior) or PC group (Senior). Gifts must be wrapped and identify the age and gender of the child on the outside of the gift. 

Please see the attached flyer, which includes suggested gift ideas.

All gift donations are to be given to classroom/PC teachers by Monday, Week 9. Well done to the Year 5 students and Year 11 Praxis students for promoting the Appeal.

Thank you for helping to make another person’s Christmas joyful.

Year 11 Praxis Intensive Day #2 and Christmas Holiday Service Hours

Year 11 Praxis students are encouraged to use the Christmas break to commence their service learning hours within the Highfields and Toowoomba regions. We encourage students to aim to accrue these 40 hours by the end of Term 2, 2021. While Christmas is a time of joy, family and reflection for most of us, it is a difficult time for the marginalised in our community. There are many opportunities to serve those in need this Christmas. This week, parents of Year 11 Praxis students will receive relevant paperwork which will be necessary for students wishing to complete some service learning hours over the holidays.

On Friday, 5 February (Week 2, Term One), the Year 11 Praxis cohort will experience Intensive Day #2. Further details will be released at the beginning of the school year.

Year 9 “Be More Challenge”

This term in Year 9 Religious Education, Mrs Lynch has led her three classes through a project reflective of Caritas’ “Be More Challenge”. Over the term, students explored the work of Jesus Christ and considered ways in which believers may live their Christian vocation by participating in the work of Jesus. The experience of taking up the challenge for social action is aimed at promoting a change not only in the way that students view the world, but they way in which they live in it. Essentially, students have been called to reflect on how they can “be more” in their community. 

As Term 4 is brief, unfortunately, students will not have the time to enact their social justice project; however, the process of working in a group to plan an action has produced some fantastic ideas. Here's a selection of issues and reflections from Year 9 students:

• Our goal is to be able to create awareness around [cyber bullying] and remove the stigma, making it easier to address. 
• The problem we aim to solve with [our] advertisement is the obliviousness to the issues that social media creates concerning body image and mental health among younger people.
• [Domestic violence] is very common and can be seen in every culture and every country. Our action to help with the social justice issue of domestic violence is to design a sticker. This is similar to a cigarette packet with the warning.

Some reflections...

• I enjoyed this challenge. I thought it was a nice way to end the year, doing a group assignment [that relates] to the real world and issues that are prominent within the world. 
• Unlike other boring assignments, this task relates to topical issues that are relevant to my generation. I found this task very interesting, looking into the issues of the world, and coming up with ways...to potentially fix them. 
• After completing the task, I believe we created an effective response to the stimulus – tackling key concepts of social media influence (body image and mental health) and brainstorming ways to prevent/mend the effects of it. 
• I think that I can speak for the group when I say that we have learnt a lot doing this task - from statistics, to knowing how to spot a potential victim.

Leisa Radley
Director of Formation

At this time of year, people are thinking about what they are buying for Christmas presents, what to take to Christmas parties or organising to go away for holidays. But there are some people who will be worrying about where there next meal is going to come from and can't afford presents.

This year we have been unable to volunteer for outreach programs like Rosies due to Covid 19 but we have been able to generously support them through our amazing cooking. So before we finish this year we would like give one last generous donation of biscuits to Rosies so that their patrons can enjoy the simple delights of a sweet biscuit. 

If you are able to bake some biscuits could you please package them into snaplock bags of 3 or 4, depending in the size of each biscuit, with the name and ingredients clearly labelled on the outside. Some students will be cooking at school during Food tech as well.

We would appreciate all biscuits bought into school on Monday, 30 November. Thank you so kindly if you are able to contribute to this donation to a worthy service.

Thank you in anticipation of your generous donation.

Sunday services

Over the holidays, all Sunday Masses from 13 December through to 10 January, will be at 8:00am at St Theresa's Parish Centre, on the corner of Campbell and Curzon St, Toowoomba. Bookings for these will continue using the College link or Parish Bulletin link. 

Please use this link to register your attendance

Christmas Celebrations

Mass times over Christmas will be 4:00pm on Christmas Eve and 8:30am on Christmas Day. Bookings will be by TryBooking and more details will be available on the Diocesan website.

In 2021, the Year 4 to 12 booklists will not have a bible listed and so we would like to create class sets of bibles that can be used in conjunction with the Bible Gateway app in the classrooms.

If you are willing to donate your child's bible to the school, could you please return them to the office at the end of term or early next year.

Thank you so much in anticipation of the donations we will receive.

"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do." - unknown

Last week we had the extreme honour of acknowledging student excellence in the fields of Academia, Sport and Culture.

We came together as a College community to acknowledge outstanding student achievement, growth, and contribution. We Celebrated God in All Things. 

Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions we were unable to have visitors on site to enjoy the live presentation. In order to overcome this and share the success of our students, we Premiered the event. This Premiere allowed all members of our College community to be part of such a special and memorable event.

Not only did we celebrate the academic, sporting and cultural achievements of our students, we were thoroughly entertained by the Performing Arts students.

We had guest speakers join us virtually and offer their congratulations. Thank you Dr Pat Coughlan, The Executive Director of Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office, Mr Jim Midgely, Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office, Director of Teaching and Learning, Dr Ken Avenell, Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office, Director of Formation and Identity, Mrs Leanne Andrews, Mary MacKillop Catholic College P & F President and Mr Shayne Cleary, President of the Mary MacKillop Catholic College Board. 

There were 220 Awards awarded this year! A sensational effort, given the year we have had to contend with. All students are congratulated for their resilience and willingness to overcome adversity and rise to success.

I wish you and your loved ones a restful, relaxing and safe break. I look forward to working in partnership with you in 2021.

Yours in Teaching & Learning,

Natalie Adler
Assistant Principal Teaching & Learning: Junior

It was a privilege to see the first ever Year 12 Mary MacKillop Catholic College graduation ceremony. I really believe as a community, we honoured Nadia, Caitlin, Grace, Holly, Daniel, Josh and Connor. Here is a quick overview of some of the key elements of the graduation ceremony.

The Year 12 students walked into the MacKillop Centre lead by stirring sound of the bagpipes. The Scottish bagpipe has become synonymous with strength, courage and perseverance. This was a fitting description for our students. Furthermore, the bagpipes were a nod to Mary MacKillop’s Scottish heritage.

During the graduation ceremony, the parents of the Year 12 students were asked to anoint their child with oil. This served to remind the community that the parents were, and always will be, the first educators of their child.

As the Year 12 students left the MacKillop Centre, a ‘Guard of Honour’ was formed by our students. The students clapped and cheered, acknowledging the significant moment we all were experiencing. This highlighted that we are a P-12 school, our learning journey is connected, and we belong to a community.

The Year 12 students gathered at the outdoor Chapel. At the Chapel, an art piece created in stained glass was placed. This will be an ongoing tradition where each year level graduating will place an art piece which represent their learning journey at the College.

At the Chapel, the students also rang the foundational bell of the College. As students join the College in Prep, they will ring the bell upon entering the College. At their graduation, as they leave the College, they will ring the foundational bell for the last time.

As the students headed to the College gate, a candle was lit by the Year 12 College Captains. This light was passed on to the College Captain Elect for 2021. This served as a reminder to the Year 11 students to continue to lead and serve their community with humility. To be a shining light and an example for others to follow. This was a fitting way to end their graduation.

As the students walked out of the College grounds as Year 12 students for the last time, there was a sense of gratitude that we belong to the Mary MacKillop Catholic College family.

The class of 2020 is encouraged to continue to dream of inspiring possibilities and serve humanity with their gifts and talents.

Kris Naiker
Assistant Principal Teaching & Learning Senior

What a productive week!

On Monday, students from year 9 and 10 participated in a resume workshop with Ashlee from Life After School. Students were taught what makes their resume eye catching to employers and how to use their strengths to stand them out from the crowd. Students were very engaged in the workshop and grateful for the information and templates imparted by Ashlee. Ashlee was kind enough to remain at the college until 5pm to work with students to flesh out their strengths and experience and complete their resume. This will be an invaluable tool when students begin applying for their first job. A huge thank you to the P and F for supporting the Your Pathways Team with this workshop.

Wednesday saw the Your Pathway Team tackle our first virtual presentation. This presentation targeted families of year 10 students of 2021 and was designed to make them aware of what 2021 will hold for them regarding work experience, the careers retreat and SET (senior education and training) plan. We hope that over the holidays students will start to think about where they would like to complete their work experience in week 10 term 1 and perhaps create a shortlist of these businesses. If you missed the virtual live it can be found on the link below.

YOUR SENIOR PATHWAY INFO

YEAR 10 ROADMAP

Thank you for your time this term and the Your Pathways Team is excited to work with students next year to build pathways to the future.

Christie Richardson
2021 Career Support Officer

Last Monday Year 2 participated in their Friendship Day. During the day the children watched Toy Story and examined the qualities that made some of the characters good friends. They were also given a challenge to find out as much as they could about another student they had never spoken too and to think about how they could be a good friend to that person. 

Students were visited by Khara and Jasmin and they encouraged the children to think about what qualities they had which they could use to be a good friend and then made wristbands to wear with their chosen quality on it. In the end the students decided that kindness was the most important quality. Students enjoyed the day and some were even lucky enough to find a new friend.

Last week, Year 2 students had an exciting visit to the Amaroo Environmental Education Centre. After a short bus ride to Amaroo and the Acknowledgement of Country, the students participated in several activities. These activities included creating Australian clay animals, a tree search, and a bushwalk. 

On the bushwalk, some fascinating items were discovered such as a snake skin, a wallaby skull, a termite nest, a possum tail, some echidna quills, a lion ant hole and a bull ant nest. There was also an interesting activity where students had to match a photo of an animal to the correct bones, feathers or skulls. At the end of the visit, the students were lucky enough to see a mother and baby possum have a snack on an apple. A big thank you to the leaders at Amaroo who made the day such a valuable learning experience.

In Religion this term, the Year 1 classes have been learning about Mary, Mother of Jesus. The have explored the life and times of Mary and learnt about ways Christians pray to Mary, either alone, or with others. Last week, Mr Gabbett and Mrs O’Rourke joined the Year 1 classes in the Outdoor Chapel to learn more about the Hail Mary prayer and how to use Rosary Beads to pray. 

Mr Gabbett brought along some of his extensive collection of Rosary Beads and shared the history of his beads. The students then prayed a Decade of the Rosary led by Mr Gabbett.

What a celebration last week was for our Year 12 students! After each of the events I was a part of last week, I reflected on how far the students had come as individuals and as a group. It was a pleasure to share the last few days with these young adults before they start building their futures outside of school. The smiles, tears, laughter and love on show at these events reminded me how important connection and shared experiences with friends are for everyone, particularly young people. 

We all see how busy others are and know the challenge of maintaining the many spinning plates we keep in the air everyday in our own lives, trying to strike a balance between work, school, hobbies, self-care and more. Often, our social connections are the first thing to go or the first thing we encourage our students to reduce. While it is important to prioritise and manage our time well, connecting with others is incredibly important and needs to be a priority. Social connection can lower anxiety and depression, help us regulate our emotions, lead to higher self-esteem and empathy and provide us with a connection and sense of belonging.

While connection is often voiced as a priority, the reality is that we’re living in a time where so many of us are disconnected. While technology allows us to be connected at all times, this constant connection is disconnecting us from what is around us: the people, the environment and the experiences. A great opportunity for our students to focus on connection is the last week of school and the upcoming holidays. With less pressure of study and homework, students have more time to engage with their peers and build strong connections with others. Next week will be a different timetable, where students will be able to participate in different activities lead by the senior staff. There will also be a number of staff vs student challenges and a Mary Mac's Got Talent session that each PC will work towards over the week and present to the other groups on Thursday. 

Thank you for the support you have given me this year when working with your children. Have a safe and happy holiday, we have all earned it. Enjoy your break and take the time to connect with the people, places and experiences offered to your family.

Sean Albion
Assistant Principal Wellbeing Senior

Congratulations to the students and families, for the resilience and courage you have all displayed throughout 2020. Next Friday, we will all be able to reflect upon the year that has been. Although 2020 has posed challenges we could never have anticipated, it also saw us all develop our capacity to manage and cope with challenge and change.

As we move into the holiday period, I often here people speak of screen time and how they are going to keep their children 'off devices'. Managing screen time has become a parenting challenge and one that can intensify during holidays. As both a parent of 3 teenagers and an educator, I am an avid reader of parenting articles and research. I would like to share some recommendations from Dr Justin Coulston with you, to aide you in having positive conversation around screen use in your homes. When we manage screen use in a positive way, the positive wellbeing of everyone in the home environment is greatly increased. As screen time increases, we know that wellbeing goes down. However, there is also research supporting effective use of screen time and how to manage this positively in your home. 

1. Talk about positive screen experiences your family enjoys: There is a strong argument that screens can support relationships, learning, entertainment and opportunities to help others (depending on how you use them). Begin any conversation about screens with a discussion of how they are making life better.
2. Talk about what type - not how much: National psychological and psychiatric organisations from most countries have decided that screen time limits should be encouraged. Dr Coulston suggests rather than talking about how long they are "staring at pixels", talk about what they are doing on their screen. They type of screen time they are having matters much more than how much.
3. Talk about context: Screens are taking up the space that we could be allocated to other things. Our devices can be very distracting and there could be something your child could be doing that would have a more positive impact in their life. Dr Coulstons suggests that if they have played with someone, done chores, read a book and made other positive choices, then screen time is not displacing other important opportunites. It is important then, to talk to them about managing screen distractions in different environemnts, rather than responding to them all the time. We can help them to put their own boundaries in place when they need to manage online distractions to give them a feeling of autonomy. However there are times to still insist on screen free time - family meal time and bed is highly recommended.
4. Talk about relationships: Screens can degrade the quality of our relationships. Research has shown how important family relationships are for resilience and wellbeing. He suggests we talk to our kids about how much we value time spent with them- without devices- and how good it is for everyone's happiness!
5. Talk about safety: 
   1. Privacy - the internet is not private.
   2. Permanency- once something is online it can stay there for a very long time.
   3. Identity- anyone can be anyone online and people are not always who they say they are.
   4. Trolling- teaching our kids to be critical about somewhat's online motivations. 

I do hope these tips from Dr Coulston provide some food for thought, as you approach this school holiday period.

On a personal note, I would like to wish everyone a very safe and happy Christmas. Many of us will now be able to see loved ones as the Queensland border opens up to much of Australia. I know I am looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends. I hope the holidays are also a time of family, friendship and reconnection for you all also. Merry Christmas and God bless.

Bridget Rillie
Assistant Principal Wellbeing: Junior

Triple M are hosting a virtual Christmas carols this year as a replacement for the Carols by Candlelight event. They have auditioned and professionally recorded artists from around the Darling Downs to perform Christmas songs and carols to play on the radio on the day the event was supposed to be on.

We are very proud to have Mary MacKillop College represented with our very talented Voll sisters (Isabelle, Gabrielle and Charlotte) who sang and self accompanied "Go Tell it On the Mountain" which will feature on the radio. 

STUDENT ACHIEVMENT

Congratulations to the following piano students who sat their external Australian Music Examination Board exams. Huge achievement.

Celine Samin, Liam Samin (Grade 2 AMEB) and Jarrah Sunatwanitkul (Grade 1 AMEB)

RETURNING OF INSTRUMENTS

All instruments need to be returned to the Music room by Friday, 4 December. All hired or borrowed instruments need a complete clean and maintenance check. 

LESSON ENROLEMENTS FOR 2021

We are finalising the Instrumental Music Handbook 2021 which includes enrolment information for lessons and ensembles. This document will be available on the website soon but if you have questions or interest in these, please don't hesitate to email jessica.burke@twb.catholic.edu.au.

Jessica Burke
2021 Middle Leader - The Arts and Student Engagement

Please return Library Loans

As we approach the end of the term, we request that all library loans be returned. This allows staff to prepare the library for 2021 and complete tasks such as necessary repairs.

In the Junior School, teachers are regularly provided with overdue lists to remind students of books that are yet to be returned. Senior Students receive email reminders of overdue loans. Thank you for supporting your students to return their loans. Invoices for unreturned loans will be issued at the end of the term.

Holiday Reading

Reading is like just about everything else in life, the more you do it the better you get.

If your children stop reading for extended periods of time, they often take a few steps backwards in their reading improvement. For this reason, it is important to encourage children to keep reading during the holidays. Remember that joining a library is free, and it also costs nothing to borrow a book to read.

One of the best ways to keep your child interested in reading during the holidays is to create holiday traditions of reading fun books during these special times. By picking interesting books with holiday themes and making it a family experience, they develop positive thoughts about holiday family reading traditions. Making sure that they get at least one book as a holiday gift is another way of providing a natural opportunity to read.

For older readers, holidays provide the time to enjoy longer or more complex books, with new titles in popular series often being released during this time.
So, consider spending some time during the holidays sharing stories, asking your children what they are interested in reading and maybe introducing them to some of your old favourites. 

Happy Reading!

Angela Irvine
Teacher Librarian

Australia’s summer game is alive and well in our College. Cricketers from our junior and senior years have been chosen and have excelled in representative cricket, in the Downs.

Josh Cranston was selected in the QSS 12 years Darling Downs boys team. He top scored in game 1 and showed great skill and sportsmanship throughout the carnival. Josh’s efforts were noticed by many during all games and he was a fine advertisement of the personal attributes we value at our College and cricket being played the way it should be!

Lucy Williams and Ava Winter have both been selected in the QSS 12 years Darling Downs girls team. Ava is clearly delighted with her selection and is keen to learn about the game and carnival life. Lucy has enjoyed an excellent season and has been rewarded for her efforts in being named captain.

In other cricket news, Inner Downs selections were well deserved by senior cricketers Riley Smithard and Connor Cranston, both players being selected earlier in the season.

These representative selections are a wonderful reflection of the efforts and application of our young cricketers and clearly demonstrate the joy that can be experienced by anyone who is willing to participate in the great game of cricket!

Mr Tim Connolly
Senior Teacher & Cricket Coach

Congratulations to Lane Richardson and Jorja Warry who have been awarded QATSIF (Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation) scholarships for 2021 and 2022. These scholarships are designed to help with the costs associated with gaining a QCE.

The Mary MacKillop P&F body are giving you a chance to go into the draw to win a Thermomix valued at $2269.

To be in with a chance to win this amazing machine, grab your ticket for price of only $25 (a limit of 300 tickets sold).

You do not have to be a part of the school community to purchase tickets or WIN Thermomix.
You do not have to be a local, the Thermomix can be shipped all over Australia.
Please join us in fundraising for the benefit of the students of Mary MacKillop Catholic College to raise funds to help fit out a new Hospitality Hub.

The College has identified the need to expand the traditional Food Technology curriculum into Hospitality qualifications. The vision is that the students have a pathway to year 12 that enables them to complete qualifications in food preparation, beverage service and hospitality. 

This hub would introduce other opportunities for MMCC students, including Barista and Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) courses and further development of a Food Garden linking the concepts of ‘Paddock to Plate”, sustainability, Junior Garden Club and Agriculture.