St Mary MacKillop School, Wallaroo had the week of all weeks!
Catholic Education Week – an initiative of Pt Pirie Director Brenda Keenan – began on Friday the 15th May with a ‘Breakfast for the Stars’ – the students. OPAL kindly donated all the ingredients and the School Spirit Student Leadership group served all of our students and parents a fresh, healthy breakfast. That afternoon the school took part in a ‘Colour Run’ involving obstacle courses, fun activities and games to celebrate the beginning of a special week and raise money for the Caritas appeal for the people in Nepal.
The following week, as well as celebrating the local Cornish festival – Kernewek Lowender – Catholic Education Week festivities ramped up. The students listened to a number of guest speakers who spoke about ‘Life back in their day in Catholic Education’. In classes they spent time in all curriculum areas thinking about Catholic Education here in Australia and around the world.
The Wednesday night was a particularly significant night for the school with an Open night and the launch of the schools new Vision, Mission and Values Statements. The community response was overwhelmingly positive.
On Thursday the school joined all the other schools in the Pirie Diocese in ‘Switching off heaters and putting on blankets’. Students were unable to access any form of electricity and families donated a blanket which went to the local Vinnies store for their Winter appeal. That afternoon the community held an ‘Open Air Prayer’ thanksgiving liturgy for Catholic Education then, now and future (pictured).
And finally, today, Friday we celebrated ‘Catholic Education in the community’ by having half the school at the Moonta Kernewek Lowender street parade where students danced the Furry dance and Maypole dance with grace and poise.
It was quite a week and a very special and significant for St Mary MacKillop School
Four Catholic schools across South Australia have been awarded $6.34 million in grants for capital works to improve learning spaces, increase opportunities for disadvantaged students and cater for more diverse learning needs.
The State Government grants — $6.34 million for Catholic schools and $6.38 million for independent schools — are for building projects to commence over the next year.
Introduced in 2018 to ensure all students have access to a first-class education, the latest funding under the scheme has been approved for four projects at Catholic schools and 103 smaller projects at independent schools.
