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| Current Events |
MacKillop’s own Master Chef – Ryan Davidson
Award winning chef, and MacKillop Old Scholar, Ryan Davidson has been working with our Year 10 VET Hospitality students – showing them aspects of the trade.
Our students really enjoyed making yummy desserts plus having some fun as is evident in the photos!
Click the thumbnails to view full size
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Mackillop featured in City of Clarence entry in the national Sustainable Cities competition 2010
ABC Radio Interview (Tuesday 10/08/2010) Listen
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MacKillop students working with older Tasmanians during 2010
NAB Schools First –young people discover older Tasmanians still have stories to tell, a life to live and a strong desire to be connected to community
On Wednesday evening, 4 august 2010, residents, students, families and staff celebrated five months’ work recording and collating the oral histories
and photographic memoirs for eight residents of the Freemasons’ Homes by Year 10 students from MacKillop Catholic College.
MacKillop Catholic College, together with Mount Carmel College and Guilford Young College won funding, during 2009, through the NAB Schools First Seed
Funding Awards to undertake this project.
The partnership identified the creation of such memoirs as a very powerful mechanism for young people to engage with older Tasmanians in a way that is
meaningful, positive and highly valued.
Many of the intense and moving moments shared by residents, students, families and staff over the last five months were recounted during the
presentations led by the MacKillop students.
Sally Towns, Principal of MacKillop Catholic College noted late in 2009 that “our students will also have the opportunity to experience
inter-generational relationships and learn about related topics, including dementia and dying, in an experiential context”.
How insightful these comments were to become when George, a resident very highly regarded by the students, died during the latter stages of the project.
Since his death, George’s family has forged a close and ongoing connection with the students who were working with him. The students attended his
funeral at their own request; a very moving gesture and George’s family were deeply touched. George’s son has since been helping the students to
complete George’s story.
Christine Howard, Executive Officer at Freemasons’ Homes said “it has been wonderful seeing young people interacting with residents, developing
communication skills, empathy, compassion and commitment”.
She went on to say that “Elizabeth, a resident with a most interesting, but lonely life commented with tears streaming down her cheeks, that her students
were the loveliest visitors she had ever had!”
Background
Now in its second year, Schools First is an awards program designed to enhance and reward outstanding school and community partnerships open to all
primary and secondary schools across Australia.
Schools First is brought to life by NAB in partnership with The Australian Council of Educational Research and The Foundation for Young Australians.
It is based on research that indicates students prosper through school - community engagement.
The awards are granted to schools that take learning beyond the classroom, and establish outstanding partnerships with groups, organisations and/or
businesses in their community.
The three colleges were successful in obtaining one of the inaugural grants under the National Australia Bank’s Schools First Seed Funding Awards.
The grant of $25,000 has helped the Colleges establish a community partnership between each of the colleges and an aged care provider: MacKillop Catholic
College students working with residents of the Freemasons’ Homes, Mount Carmel College students have been working with residents from Guilford Young Grove
and GYC students have been working with residents from St Ann’s Home.
As the only Catholic colleges and the only Tasmanian schools selected from over 600 applicants across the country, this is a joint venture for which all
involved can feel justifiably proud.
For more information about Schools First please visit www.schoolsfirst.edu.au
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Bargain home up for grabs - all thanks to enterprising kids!
In a Tasmanian school first, a group of Year 10 students from MacKillop Catholic College are gearing up to begin construction of a modern re-locatable home.
And what’s more, when the house is finished this fully completed home will be sold to a lucky member of the public at a bargain basement price. Any proceeds will be donated to a
charity of the purchaser’s choice at an Open Home function on completion of the project.
To read furter details of the initiative, please download the full media release
ABC Radio interview (Thursday 20/05/2010) Listen
ABC Hobart web story & video (Monday 21/07/2010) View
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Sand in my tent, again – MacKillop’s famous Year 8 camp
“One of a number of top things I did at MacKillop.” This is often the comment made by MacKillop Old Scholars when asked about their Year 8 camp experience. The Year 8 camp is also one of the longest
standing traditions at MacKillop going back to the first Year 8 in 1995,
the second year in the life of the College. The camp is normally held at Lime Bay and Fortescue Bay during mid - March each year.
Over the years, many siblings share family stories of the fun, adventure, challenge and learning they faced at camp. The camp aims to provide
the opportunity for students to develop leadership, social and problem solving skills; to practise personal and group goal setting; to learn basic outdoor skills relevant to adventure-based activities in a safe environment; and to provide a setting to develop an awareness of the natural environment and sustainable camping skills. The Year 8 camp
is directly related to the College’s approach to pastoral care by
enabling students and staff to work and learn together through activities facilitated by experienced outdoor educators.
The camp is part of a sequential MacKillop Outdoor Education program through Years 7 to 10 that presents students with a range of outdoor activities and challenges designed to promote personal and social development. In Years 9 and 10 the College offers elective Outdoor Education courses that build on these basic skills.
All the adventure-based activities involve a challenge and, therefore, some degree of risk. Each Year 8 student had a chance to go beyond their personal comfort zone and try something new. The activities included: a kayak skills session; a mountain bike lesson followed by a ride on gravel roads and 4WD tracks; an abseil, supervised by experienced instructors, on a small cliff face suitable for beginners; a surfing session and an environmental awareness session facilitated by Parks and Wildlife “Discovery Rangers”. During the activities students worked in small groups of 14, usually with a least one friend or buddy for mutual support.
Click the thumbnails to view full size
In addition to participating in the adventure activities, the students had to look after themselves in terms of camping, preparing and cooking their meals for the four days and three nights they were away. As there are no facilities for refrigeration this meant Mum or Dad could not prepare meals for them. And, they had to do their own washing up!
The last evening includes fun drama performances where students put on skits sending up any small “camp catastrophes” that occurred. Winning teams had their results included in the overall scoring for all teams in either the Fortescue Bay Cup or Lime Bay Cup.
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Animal Studies at MacKillop Catholic College – Not just the cute and cuddly
Animal Studies at MacKillop Catholic College gives Year 10 students access to a wide range of different animals (not just the cute and cuddly) for the students to study.
Pat Graham, a senior science teacher at MacKillop said “the students are really enjoying working with the more unusual animals.”
Alex, who is getting a real buzz from the Animal Studies course, said “we get to learn about animal physiology, habitat, behaviour, breeding and eating habits. Currently we are keeping some stick insects (which we are hoping to breed) and rhinoceros beetle larvae. We are also hoping to get some fertile chicken eggs and put them in an incubator and raise the chickens.”
As you can see from the lizards in the photos, students are encouraged to bring in their weird and wonderful creatures from home. These are some lizards belonging to, and cared for, by Alex.
As Alex highlighted “subjects like this are really fun and a bit different. I would recommend to anyone wondering about animal studies at their school to give it a go.”
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