Whole School News
- Mar 6
- 4 min read
T1, Week 6
Musical - MIDNIGHT
Please be reminded that all details for auditions and involvement opportunities for the 2026 MCS Musical can be found in Music News.
Auditions close in ONE Week... Read all about it and register your interest now!
Staffing Changes
Mrs Kim Kamper, our loved and valued School Counsellor has concluded her time at MCS this week. Mrs Kamper has served MCS faithfully since 2022 as she met and cared for many of our Primary and Secondary students as well as Staff throughout her time in the Counsellor role. With the support of Mrs Kamper, MCS has grown the Wellbeing Team who have all benefitted from her wisdom and kind, patient approach to ensuring our students are well loved. We are grateful for her service to us and want to wish her well as she takes some time to rest and reflect on God’s plans ahead in this next season.
The Mark Drama
The Mark Drama is a simple, yet powerful, performance of the story of Jesus. It engages theatre-in-the-round to create a joyful yet hard-hitting performance of the Gospel. In The Mark Drama you will watch every incident and hear nearly every word spoken by Jesus as recorded in Mark’s Gospel. All in the space of 90 minutes.
This year The Mark Drama will be performed at Medowie Christian School on Sunday 29th March at 2:30pm. More details can be found below. Scan the QR codes to secure your tickets or use the Ticket Link provided.
Click to expand:
Bus Update
The latest communication we have received from Transport for NSW (TfNSW) regarding the Stroud Bus Run now states that from the 16th of March there will be a larger bus operating this service in the afternoon. From this date the run will be operated by Hunter Valley Buses. The increased capacity is expected to ensure all students can access this service to ensure they arrive home safely.
At this stage there has been no change to the morning service from what was communicated to us last week, however they have indicated they are planning to put a larger bus on this service as well. As a school we have expressed the need for this to be a priority to which they have agreed without providing a specific timeframe.
At this time we would particularly like to thank the parents, carers and families that have taken the time to ensure that the challenges associated with these changes have been clearly communicated with the operators and service providers of this bus route. We have no doubt that this has accurately highlighted the personal impact of these changes and the importance of this particular bus run to our community. Without this awareness we do not believe that the true immediacy and need for action would have been appreciated by the operators and service providers of the Stroud Bus Run, however we will be continuing to work toward ensuring both morning and afternoon runs are appropriately serviced as soon as possible.
For your reference we have once again attached the communication from last week detailing the current plans regarding the morning run:
Due to on-going capacity issues with Route S852, Transport for NSW have implemented the following changes: (These changes are only an interim solution until a permanent solution has been arranged by TfNSW)
Primary School Students
Route S852 will now be dedicated to Primary School students only.
All current stops and the existing timetable will continue to operate as normal.
High School Students – Morning Travel (these services will be operated by Busways – for all enquiries, please contact them on 02 4983 1560)
Please note that TfNSW has implemented this arrangement to manage capacity. At this stage, timetables will not be updated publicly, and we are continuing to work towards a longer-term afternoon solution.
While we have significant concerns and have sought greater clarity, especially around the challenges associated with Afternoon Travel which have not been addressed in this communication, we have not currently been provided with any further detail. Please be assured that as a school we are advocating on behalf of our students to see this service operate in a manner appropriate for students.
NAPLAN
This week students have been completing NAPLAN readiness assessments. These assessments are intended to ensure that students are familiar with the format of these tests and the tools that are available to them. A significant component of these tests is the ability to use headphones which allows many of the instructions to be read aloud. As such, students will need to ensure they have headphones at school, during these tests.
NAPLAN Testing will begin on Wednesday, 11th March and run through to Monday, 23rd March. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. There will be opportunities to complete catch-up tests after this window, however there is a very specific sequence that these assessments are mandated to be completed in. As such, students who are absent will primarily be provided the opportunity to make these tests up by completing a second assessment on one of these existing days to ensure they stay as close to the prescribed sequence as possible.
On NAPLAN days students will need to ensure
They have a fully charged device.
They have headphones and any required adaptors.
If they are using wireless headphones, these are also fully charged.
Further information is available by reading this brochure or visiting the NSW Education Standards Authority website.
Students and parents can access the public demonstration site to familiarise themselves with NAPLAN and the types of questions and tools available. Excessive preparation for NAPLAN is not required nor recommended.
If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact Mr Mark Walter.