MRC Newsletter - Issue 13 - 2 September 2021

Prayer

Principal's Message

Then the delight, when your courage kindled, 
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

 – John O’ Donoghue

Our College theme for 2021 is New Beginnings.  With yesterday the first day of Spring and with the sun shining, the promise and energy of new beginnings surround us.  It is a wonderful opportunity to get outside and enjoy some fresh air and some exercise - all within 5kms for now of course!

The Premier’s announcement today asks us to remain in lock down a little longer. For Regional Victoria, restrictions may be eased later next week.  In the meantime we will continue with Remote Learning v7.0 in its current format.  An updated letter will be shared with families today.  The GAT has also been rescheduled to Tuesday, 5 October.  Premier Andrews also highlighted increased opportunity for young people aged 16 years and above and school staff to access vaccinations as soon as possible.  This is of particular importance to our final year students sitting VCE exams at the end of the year.  We thank South West Health for working with us to arrange dedicated vaccination days for our senior students.  The first of these is taking place on Friday, 3 September, with additional days being added as more vaccines become available.  I will update students and families with additional dates as soon as possible. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also announced that bookings for 12 to 15 year olds will open on Monday, 13 September.

I congratulate and thank all students, teachers, families and staff for their continued focus, persistence and resilience during this most recent lock down and return to Remote Learning when many of us may be feeling very tired and disconnected.  I know that we are all experiencing our own challenges and hope that you are strengthened by your faith and the support of family and friends. Our daily check-ins for Homeroom are our Mercy way of staying connected to each other. “Camera on” makes it possible to see each other's faces with the power of a smile and a wave and someone addressing you by name is often underestimated.  At Mercy, we chose to continue with check-ins each lesson for a similar reason.  Every opportunity we can find to connect we know is most important for our wellbeing.  At Mercy we care, and staying connected is an important way of caring for each other.  RUOK Day is on Thursday, 9 September.  The theme for this year is “Staying Connected”.  Please reach out to each other to stay connected on this day and throughout these difficult times.  Wear yellow on September 9 to show your support of RUOK Day.

Wellbeing is an important focus for everyone at the moment with positive wellbeing connected to resilience, optimism and hope.  Wellbeing also helps us to remain focused and demonstrate persistence.  We encourage our students to maintain their daily class routine for learning but to also ensure that they remain active and have some time away from their screens, whilst also keeping connected, albeit virtually, to friends.  Physical and mental wellbeing can be maintained by focussing on good nutrition, hydration, daily activity, quality sleep, time in the sunshine, connection to nature and time for relaxation.  We thank our Sport Coordinator, Mr Darren Cheeseman, for his initiative in creating the MRC September Challenge for us all over these next few weeks.  What a great way to be active!

We have some warm weather this week for those participating in our Mercy Winter Sleepout this evening in support of St Vincent de Paul.  Thank you to our student Faith and Spirituality Leaders, Maggie Conheady and Amelia Barry, and Leader of Catholic Identity, Mission and Ethos, Mrs Kellie Wilson, for their work in organising the evening’s awareness raising activities.  If you would like to find out more or donate to this worthy cause please use this link - Mercy Vinnies Winter Sleep Out 2021.  Enjoy a night out (in the backyard) or on the couch, in support of a great cause.

We are asked to pause to unite in prayer for our Afghan brothers and sisters (in particular the Hazara people, a religious minority brutally targeted by the Taliban).  This visual reflection titled ‘Wait for me’ has been shared to all Catholic schools throughout Victoria.  The original poem by Konstantin Simonov acknowledges those who continue to wait and hope – even when others give up hope.  As members of the wider Catholic Education community may we never stop hoping, through Christ, that the Afghan people will once again know freedom, safety and peace. 

In closing this week, Mercy Regional College wishes the fathers, grandfathers, father figures and men in our College community who provide love and support for the children and young people in their lives a wonderful celebratory Father’s Day on Sunday.  In the midst of all the current uncertainties may you feel valued and appreciated for the care you give your families.

With kindness

Sharon Gillett
Principal

Learning at Mercy

NAPLAN

Parents of Years 7 and 9 students will receive their child’s confidential Student Report from NAPLAN (National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy) sometime this week. 

The first page of this report outlines and introduces the NAPLAN and explains how to read your child’s results; the middle two pages plots your child’s results in English (Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar & Punctuation) and Numeracy; and the fourth page gives a computer generated general comment which identifies the skills that students working at this level are generally able to accomplish. 

Testing has taken place nationally and involved Mercy students in Years 7 and 9.  The NAPLAN test is just one of many tools that teachers use to evaluate the progress and achievement of their students. This form of assessment suits some students, while for others it may be challenging.  If you have any concerns please feel free to contact Lydia Darcy - Learning Leader Years 7 to 10.

Remote Learning - Assessment Task

As the end of Term 3 approaches, students will be finalising Assessment Tasks in several of their subject areas.  Teachers are working with students to ensure that while these Assessment Tasks remain rigorous they are also flexible and achievable for all students in our current remote learning environment.  Please continue the discussions with your child/ren about which tasks are upcoming and their due dates, which are also visible on PAM.  Our focus is always to work with students and families to enable successful and positive learning, achieving attainable goals and timely submission of work.  We strongly encourage students and families to touch base with subject teachers if there are any concerns around meeting deadlines.  All of the usual support structures such as LSO and tutoring are also till available to students while remote learning. 

New Subjects for 2022 - VET Sport and Recreation & VET Information, Digital Media and Technology

Mercy Regional College is currently exploring the possibility of offering two new VET subjects for incoming Year 10 and 11 students.  VET Sport and Recreation is for students who are interested in pursuing a career in the health sector - coaching, fitness and teaching.  VET Information, Digital and Media Technology is suited to students who are interested in pursuing a career or further training in various sectors of the information and communications technology industries.

VET Sport and Recreation and VET IT are two-year courses.  These fabulous hands-on classes will ensure students leave Mercy with not only a TAFE certificate, but subject scores  can also contribute to an ATAR if students are wishing to complete further studies.  Below are some links with additional information. If you have any further questions please contact me at school to discuss.

Subject Selection

Subject selections for 2022  are almost finalised.  Unfortunately, due to our current climate, follow up conversations with students are taking a little longer.  Over the course of the next few weeks, Senior Pathways Leader (Mrs Danae Fraser) and our Middle Years Team (Miss Caitlin Rix and Mrs Lydia Darcy) will be contacting students if there are any clashes with their chosen subjects.

Senior School Matters

Friday, 17 September (Last day of term - Catholic Identity PL day)

Our Unit 3 / 4 scored students will be completing a practice exam for English and Literature. Students will then have a maths tutoring session on this day (planning is still occurring).  This is an early finish as it is the last day of term.  Those students who are not sitting the VCAA exams or are VCAL students have another opportunity to come to school and complete any work that needs to be completed, enabling them to gain an “S” in their subjects and finish their formal classes. 

Unit 3 & 4 Holiday Revision Program

We are working towards having students attend on-site during the school holidays for revision sessions. Unit 4 teachers are working on a calendar to share with students. This will highlight when each subject is being scheduled.

Berni Sinnott
Deputy Principal

Wellbeing at Mercy

The Mental Health and Adolescents event with Michael Carr Gregg has been rescheduled to Tuesday, 14 September and will proceed online.  If you would like to attend, please click on the link below to register - the webinar link will be sent to attendees on the day of the event.  If you had registered previously, you do not need to register again.

Faith at Mercy

Winter Woolies Day

Thanks to everyone for their participation in the Winter Woolies Day earlier this term, we hope you enjoyed your free hot chocolate made by the VCAL legends.  We managed to raise $509 from the casual clothes day to go to the Caritas International - Gaza Appeal.  We have also put together a number of bags of winter clothes, coats, blankets etc, as well as some non-perishable food items. These items have been donated to our local St Vinnies.

Vinnies Sleepout - Thursday 2 September

On Thursday, 2 September we are hosting a Vinnies Sleepout from home.  Please refer to the link below for a video which explains further what we are doing and why.  If you are interested in this activity please register your interest to the following email kwilson@mercy.vic.edu.au - there will also be a short Google Meet at 8pm - with some information and reflection.  Photos of your set up from the night can also be sent through to the above email address.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KYWJBvQTgtOGsvuLKcXdBXgSqs6Aq8Lz/view?usp=sharing

Production - It Snows

Congratulations to the talented cast of students, directed by Tamara Searle, on a few fantastic performances of the 2021 College production ‘It Snows’.  In addition to the public show on Thursday, 19 August, the students performed two closed matinées for their peers on Thursday and Friday.  A big round of applause goes to the cast, backstage crew, director, supporting staff and external tech crew who made ‘It Snows’ such a remarkable performance!

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Uniform Shop Assistant Vacancy

Our uniform supplier, Noone, is seeking applicants to fill a one day per week role in our Uniform Shop at the McAuley Campus, Camperdown.  The role will include fitting students for appropriate uniform, sales of uniform, stock management and shop management.

If you are interested in the position, please contact Judith Murfitt, Business Manager.

College Fees

Library Resource Centre Report

Book Week 2021

Each year during Book Week, the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) presents awards to books of literary merit, for outstanding contribution to Australian children's literature.  The CBCA has a strong commitment and long history of reviewing Australian children's books.  Winners in all categories were announced on Friday, 20 August.  The shortlisted books and winners are on display in our libraries, along with some of the books.

The theme this year is OLD WORLDS, NEW WORLDS, OTHER WORLDS.

Some classes took the opportunity to chat about their favourite books and one class even participated in a Book Quiz organised by the PE domain.  The Homeroom/House Challenge this week involved taking a photo of a favourite book and using one or two words to describe it.

Maureen O’Loughlan
Library Manager

Careers

• Open days – recorded webinars and upcoming events
• Early admission programs closing soon (Year 12)
• Upcoming career events
• Interested in engineering? Check out these amazing programs
• Applying for nursing or midwifery? (Year 12)
• Construction trade scholarships
• Studying psychology
• Free VCE/HSC revision lectures
• International & global studies at Australian Catholic University
  

• Soft skills super star series!
• Early admission programs – September closing dates
• University regional access schemes
• Entrepreneurs – start your own business!
• Open days – update
• Upcoming events
• Compare university rankings
• Apprenticeships and traineeships
• Tertiary key dates for September and October

Sport Report

Senior Netball

On Monday, 16 August, our Senior Netball Team headed off to Ballarat to participate in the Greater Western Region Competition.  They played three tightly contested games, coming away with just the one win. The girls all played extremely well with some late changes to the team due to injuries. We congratulate the team on their efforts and thank Sharon Gillett and Tess Lourey for accompanying the girls, as well as Snake Stephens for driving the bus.

HSSSD Basketball

Mercy Regional College entered five teams into the HSSSD Basketball competition, held on Tuesday, 17 August.  The two girls' teams played at Terang and were undefeated in their games and will progress through to the Greater Western Region stage in Ballarat. 

The boys played in Camperdown and the intermediate team played four very good games and were able to finish the competition undefeated and on top of the ladder.  We entered two teams into the Senior competition to give as many students as possible an opportunity to play. One team consisted of Year 12 boys and they all played very well to finish the day undefeated.  The other team was a combination of Year 10 and 11 students. This team did really well considering a number of these students were eligible to play in the lower age group.  They won their games against Timboon College, Terang College and Cobden Technical College, but fell short in the MRC derby. 

Well done to all students on the day. 

Year 7 Football

On Wednesday, 18 August, 23 excited Year 7 students travelled to Stawell to participate in the Greater Western Region football competition.  Mercy Regional College played against Trinity College Colac, Ballarat HIgh School and Horsham College.  We were able to win our first two games against Trinity and Ballarat, but Horsham proved too strong in the final game.  It was great to see the students get some extra football in and to see the boys playing with others who are usually opposition. 

Intermediate Netball

The morning started early with girls boarding the mini bus and pumping the tunes all the way to Ballarat to compete in the Greater Western Region Netball competition.  The first game was against our toughest opponent, Trinity College Colac, but the girls stood up and got a jump on them early and that set the tune for the day.  The girls clicked quickly and turned on a show, not letting a team within ten goals of them all day.  Congratulations to the girls who are now region champions and will go on to represent the school at State level.  Thanks goes to Tess Lourey and Lesa Thornton for accompanying the girls for the day, as well as Snake Stephens for driving the bus. 

Student Achievements

Congratulations to Year 12 student, Hamish Sinnott, on being selected to attend the 2021 NAB AFL Draft Combine.  Hamish is amongst eight Greater Western Victoria Rebels players to be selected.

The NAB AFL Combine Invite is a great reward for Hamish's effort and a deserved recognition of all those who have supported him along the way - GWV Rebels, CFNC and MRC.

Alumni News

Steelers Miss Out on Bronze at Tokyo Paralympics

Hundreds of people in the region and all around the country followed with anticipation the Paralympic journey of Australia’s wheelchair rugby team in Tokyo 2020. Camperdown local, Josh Hose (Class of 2004), and the Steelers showed fantastic team spirit fighting for medals but, unfortunately, luck wasn’t with them at this time.

The two-time defending Paralympics gold medallists lost to Japan 60-52 in their bronze-medal game on Sunday, 29 August.

The Steelers’ campaign was disrupted with one of the players Michael Ozanne falling ill and missing several games. It is first time since Athens 2004 that the Steelers have not won a Paralympics medal. They have been one of the key Australian medal hopes for 15 years, which is a phenomenal achievement.

Josh Hose became a quadriplegic in a car accident and during his rehabilitation, he was introduced to wheelchair rugby through watching the Victorian state team train. Josh first competed for team Australia in 2009 and had his Paralympic debut at London 2012, where the Steelers won Australia’s first ever wheelchair rugby gold medal at Paralympic Games. The team went on to become gold medallists in Rio 2016.

We are looking forward to seeing the Steelers in action in three years at Paris Paralympics 2024.

Alumni Night Postponed

Due to the current COVID situation, it has been decided to postpone our long-awaited Alumni Night until a later date.

The event would not have been the same without many of our guests who would not be able to attend because of travel restrictions and border closures.  We will wait for a better time for our all-year reunion and have a beautiful celebration then.

In the meantime, sign up for our alumni database to receive a notification about the new date is determined.

All tickets purchased will be fully reimbursed.

Upcoming Dates and Events

Tuesday, 14 September - Online Michael Carr Gregg Presentation: Adolescence & Mental Health Awareness

Friday, 17 September - Term 3 Concludes - early finish, 2.30pm.

Our school calendar is always available to be viewed through the Parent Access Module (PAM).  Further details for school events, student excursions, camps, and student assignment due dates, etc, can all be found on the PAM calendar.

Community Notices