MRC Newsletter - Issue 1 - 8 February 2022

Prayer

Principal's Message

Welcome to Mercy in 2022.

We are very pleased to share with our community our College Theme for 2022, “Opening the Doors of Mercy”. This theme was chosen by our 2022 Student Leadership Team to express our hopes for 2022 and the future. The theme is supported by Matthew's words "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy" (Matt. 5:7) and those of Catherine McAuley “We can never say "it is enough"'. Opening doors stimulates for me thoughts of welcome, hospitality, curiosity, wonder, thresholds and new horizons.  What thoughts does our theme inspire in you?

We enthusiastically welcomed last week 56 Year 7 students, 6 students new to Mercy in other year levels and new staff.  I share with you our new and returning staff for 2022:

We welcome new teaching staff members:

• Claire Virgona - VCAL Coordinator - STEAM Coordinator - Teacher - VCAL, Product Design, Design Technology and STEAM.
• Georgia Lucas - VET Allied Health Assistance -  First Year
• Melissa Sinnott - VET Allied Health Assistance - Second Year
• Leigh Van den Berghe - VET Information and Communications Technology

We welcome our West Vic Trainees:

• Ashlee Pearson - Learning Support - O’Keeffe Campus
• George Beasley - Sports and Events

We welcome back:

• Margot Horan – Teacher - Mathematics and Tutor Learning Program
• Stacey Madden - Teacher - VET Active Volunteering, VET Sport and Recreation - Sports Coaching, Year 12 MERCY
• Georgia Copeland - Tutor Learning Program

MRC School Improvement Plan: 2021 to 2025

Our MRC School Improvement Plan (SIP) 2021 to 2025 was designed, after extensive community consultation, ready for implementation in 2021. The SIP is staged across 5 years with each year having a dedicated Annual Action Plan (AAP). We will publish our SIP as a formal document in the near future. Whilst all learning and school operations continue the decisions we make and actions you will witness are focused around improvement as described in our SIP and AAP goals.

 The three focus areas for 2021-2025 are:

• Priority #1 - Vision and Mission 
• Priority #2 - Learning and Teaching
• Priority #3 - Leadership and Stewardship

We begin our work on Priority #1 Vision and Mission on Tuesday 15 February. We have engaged with consultant Audrey Brown (formally Director of Catholic Education Ballarat) to review and renew our MRC Vision, Mission, Mercy Core Values and College Mantra. Audrey will be onsite to work with students, staff and our School Advisory Council on Tuesday 15 February. 

We value the perspective and ideas of our parents and families and extend to you all the opportunity to be involved in the review through completion of a short survey as well as inviting you to join a virtual meeting with Audrey on Wednesday 23 February at 7.00pm should you wish. The survey can be accessed here and to register for the virtual meeting please email Nicole Darcy. We thank you in anticipation.

MRC School Advisory Council

The MRC School Advisory Council (SAC) is an important advisory group providing advice and support to the Principal and the Staff of the College. Members of the SAC are valued for their wisdom and the contribution they make to the functioning of the College and work together to ensure that the Mercy Core Values underpin the life of the College. Our SAC Chair is parent Julie Finney. We are currently seeking new council members. The SAC meet on the third Tuesday of each month during school terms onsite at McAuley Campus, Camperdown. We also have vacancies on our Building, Planning and Finance Committee and with a new Facilities Master Plan nearly ready for sharing, we would appreciate your support and involvement. If involvement in either group is something that interests you and you would like more information, please contact Nicole Darcy.

VCE VET Programs at MRC

We are very pleased to offer at MRC an extended program of VCE VET Subjects. They lead to nationally recognised qualifications and provide an opportunity for students to receive credit towards their VCE or VCAL. Some VCE VET programs offer scored assessment, most provide structured workplace learning and recognition. In 2022 we will facilitate onsite in Camperdown:

• VET Allied Health Assistance 
• VET Sport and Recreation - Sports Coaching*

* These two programs are run on a Thursday afternoon as block learning and are accessible to MRC students as well as any students from our local communities. Please contact Rose Henry for more details.

• VET Building and Construction
• VET Hospitality
• VET Active Volunteering
• VET Information and Communications Technology**

** These programs are run within our MRC timetable and are therefore accessible only to MRC students.

College Developments

The holidays provided an opportunity for the works on our court at O’Keeffe Campus to be completed. The court has been resurfaced with blue flexi pave and line markings refreshed with the addition of volleyball markings. New basketball backboards and rings and netball rings will be installed in the not too distant future.  

We also received our delivery of new innovative classroom furniture partly funded by the proceeds of our MRC Annual Car Raffle. We sincerely thank all who supported our raffle last year and every year. Without your support these improvements in our College would not be possible.

College History

We have recently launched a dedicated MRC/CRC Alumni Facebook group. Please join by searching Mercy Regional College Alumni or click on the link in the Alumni News section of this newsletter. With our much anticipated 50th anniversary just 12 months away, we have begun planning our celebrations. Our 50-year history book is nearing completion and we thank Lachie Lee for his great work. The book will be released at the beginning of 2023.  We are reaching out to former students of MRC/CRC for ideas of events that you might like to have organised. You can share your ideas or volunteer your assistance by completing this form or contacting our Alumni Coordinator Katya Belokon at alumni@mercy.vic.edu.au.

I thank you for your partnership and support this past week as we put into place the requirements for a safe return to school. We maintain a commitment to the health and safety of our community and are working to ensure all College processes and events meet the stated CECV requirements. You will receive a notification each day that we are informed of a positive case that has attended onsite. No notification means no positive case reports. We will keep you updated regularly.

I leave you with a poem linking to our theme , “Opening the Doors of Mercy”.

With kindness

Sharon Gillett
Principal

Learning at MRC

Let’s Have High Expectations for Learning in 2022

At the beginning of the year at Mercy Regional College we have been talking about what it means to have high expectations of our students in terms of both their learning and behaviour. It is a complex idea that is commonly misunderstood. High expectations for our learners is not believing that our students must all be high achievers and that teachers will behave in a way that is punitive and unreasonable in order to push young people to greater heights. Having high expectations of our students is grounded in the belief that all our young people are capable of learning – it recognises their inherent human dignity and shows that we expect them to aspire to their individual best. It does not subscribe to a one size fits all model and recognises what aspiration looks like for each individual. Research consistently shows that teachers’ expectations of their students’ learning may be more important in influencing student progress than students’ abilities. MRC teachers want our students and families to understand that our expectations and consequences for students struggling to meet those expectations are grounded in a belief that our young people should strive to achieve their personal best – the support and partnership of our parents and carers is vital to ensuring that a culture of high expectations around learning flourishes. Join us in 2022 as we continue to explore what high exceptions means for your young people. 

Contingency Plans for Any Return to Remote Learning 

Any potential return to remote learning this year is more likely than not to be partial rather than the whole school. It may be a class or a year level that is affected by illness or teacher shortages and needs to be sent home for a short period of time. Our staff are in the process of ensuring that continuity of learning can continue if students are ill or having to isolate at home or if teachers are unwell. Teachers will continue to use Google Classroom to communicate with students and provide learning materials. CECV School Operating Guidelines stipulate that teachers are not required to provide Google Meets (remote learning) for students who are at home when classes are being conducted here at school. These students will be able to access their learning tasks via Google Classroom. It will take a little time for teachers to get to know their classes and get appropriate learning online should the need arise. Your patience is appreciated. 

Tutor Learning Initiative 

Funding to support students whose learning has stalled or been negatively impacted by the last two years continues this year. We have learned much about what worked and did not work last year and in 2022 we will focus our efforts in a more targeted way. Georgia Copeland will be leading the TLI this year with support from Margot Horan. Initially Georgia and Margot will focus on Year 8 students at the O’Keeffe Campus in the areas of Mathematics and Writing (structure, output, and fluency). Georgia and Margot will work closely with the Maths and English teachers of Year 8 to decide on who needs support at various times. Georgia will be in touch with families to inform them if their son or daughter is receiving tutoring support. 

VCE  2021 Awards 

In the past we have acknowledged our VCE high achievers at the Commencement Mass. Due to recommendations that we refrain from large gatherings for the next few weeks, our Mass has been postponed. The good news is that plans are underway to use the original time of Tuesday 15 March to present the awards to the 2021 VCE high achievers in person (in a COVID safe way) and film the presentation for our community. Nicole Darcy will be in touch with the invited students to confirm the details next week. 

Natalie Stephenson
Deputy Principal - Learning, Teaching & Innovation

School Fees

School fees for the 2022 school year are being generated this week and will be posted and emailed to families. Throughout the year, monthly Fee Statements will only be emailed, if you would also like a paper copy, please contact the school office to arrange this. Bernadette
Savory will be in contact with families to discuss alterations to direct debits for the year.

Mercy Regional College is committed to assisting families who may face financial challenges that prevent their ability to commit to the payment of fees. Please contact the Business Manager jmurfitt@mercy.vic.edu.au to discuss any issues regarding fees.

Full Payment of School Fees by families by 31 March 2022 will attract a discount of $150 per student. If you wish to take advantage of this discount, please contact the office to have your account reduced accordingly. Please note this amount is prorated for split fee accounts.

Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund – Government Assistance

Parents with a valid Centrelink Concession card as at the first day of term one, 31 January 2022 or the first day of term 2, 26 April 2022, are eligible for $225.00 assistance towards Camps, Sports and Excursions. This amount is deducted from the fee account. Please provide a copy of this card to College Reception and complete the parent application form. If you applied previously for the assistance, you do not need to complete another application form unless there has been a change in your family circumstances. You are still required to provide a copy of your card to the College office. Please contact Reception to enquire about the CSEF application process.

Community & Wellbeing

Welcome Back! The 2022 school year is off to a positive start! We welcome back all new and returning students to MRC. Whilst we have only been at school for a short period of time, our staff have been greeted with such enthusiasm and eagerness from all students.

Although COVID still looms, students are certainly in a positive frame of mind and ready to get back into the swing of things!

Our Year 12s are enjoying the last year of their education at Mercy Regional College and are participating in their last Retreat at Cave Hill Creek as we speak. During this time students commence mapping out the final path of their educational journey.

Berni Sinnott
Deputy Principal - Staff & Students

Brick Club

An exciting partnership between Mercy Regional College and Anglicare Victoria is about to begin! On Tuesday, 15 February, we will launch our new Brick Club at the O’Keeffe Campus. Brick Club is a gathering of construction enthusiasts who enjoy building with Lego.  Students can build their own designs on Tuesdays during lunchtime in the Library. It is a time for free play, and creativity is encouraged.  Anglicare Victoria has various partnerships, including one at St Paul’s in Camperdown, and St Thomas’s Primary School in Terang. Mercy Regional College is the first secondary school to develop a partnership with Anglicare Victoria, so we are particularly excited about this new initiative. Brick Club is open to any students in Years 7 & 8 who would like to join in. If you have any questions, please reach out to Matthew Crane at mcrane@mercy.vic.edu.au.  

Matthew Crane
College Wellbeing Support Worker

Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day is a global campaign dedicated to creating a safer online world for everyone. The 2022 Safer Internet Day campaign theme here in Australia is #PlayitFairOnline. We are supporting Safer Internet Day on Tuesday, 8 February 2022. Through simple actions like being safe, respectful and kind.

The eSafety Commissioner has useful information available for our young people to help them stay safe online, and for parents and carers to help them protect their children.

Random Acts of Kindness Week

(Monday 14 February - Friday 18 February)

Thursday, 17 February is International Random Acts of Kindness Day. As the name suggests, it is a day for random, spontaneous acts of kindness. We thought it would be fun to spend the whole week engaging in acts of kindness for one another, our families, friends, and the broader community. The ups and downs of the various Covid-19 lockdowns have made us keenly aware of just how precious our relationships are; this week is an opportunity to express gratitude to those around us who make a difference in our lives. There will be suggestions each day via SIMON and on our social media, and there will be an act of kindness from the well-being team for students and staff on Wednesday, 16 February during lunch-time at both campuses.

Sharon Suhan
College Pastoral Worker

Community News

Junior School

A warm welcome to our Year 7 & 8 students for the year of 2022. It is with great excitement to have all our students at our O’Keeffe Campus, both new and returning. 

Our Year 7 students are spending the week learning many new processes, making new friends, meeting new teachers and fitting into secondary school life. Our Year 8s have returned with a positive spark and ready to embrace their love of learning and work to their greatest potential. 

On our first day we were fortunate enough to have Briabalong gunai kurnai man, Paul Wright, conduct a Welcome to Country for our students. There was the intention for this to be a smoking ceremony, however, the wind was too strong to follow through with this. Paul spoke to our students about his story and how precious his culture is. He spoke passionately about ‘Respect’ and encouraged our students to continually remember this word throughout their life journey. 

At our campus assembly we presented our Leadership team with their leadership badges for 2022. We are looking forward to working with our leadership team and to watch them flourish in their roles. 

Year 7 students also received their House badges. We love students wearing these throughout the year, especially leading up to House events. These badges are traditionally presented at the Commencement Mass, however, as we are all aware of the ever changing times, we were unable to hold our mass at the beginning of the year.

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 21

Next

Year 7 and 8 students spent their first lunchtime of the year on Tuesday engaging in a fantastic match of football. You can see a glimpse of all the fun they had below.

Our Year 7s received their new laptops in Week 1. They have worked through a user agreement with our IT staff and are continually learning about Google Classroom and the platform SIMON. 

We also work with Warrnambool Youth Police liaison officers to hold a cyber safety workshop with our students during Term 1 to help build their digital understanding. There will be more information coming out in the following weeks.  

Emily Stephens
O'Keeffe Community Leader

Faith at MRC

Year 12 Seminar Day / Retreat

We have had a very busy start to the year with Year 12 Seminar Day last Monday as well as Year 12 Retreat currently underway. It is a lovely chance for our Year 12 cohort to get together and bond as a group and to ‘unplug’ before the final year of secondary education gets really busy. 

Our Year 12 group also had a guest speaker as part of their first Religion class last week. Paul Watkins shared his story and some ways in which Paul has found meaning in his life. Paul has lived a life of great adventure and interest and his overall message which was ‘the short cut is to do the work!’ was well received by the group. 

Religion Classes

There is also lots of great things happening in Religious Education classes across the school. Each classroom will have class sets of Bibles available to them for their use. Some of the units we are looking at in Religion this term include the following:

• Year 7 - The Sacred Story
• Year 8 - Where it all Began
• Year 9 - Community
• Year 10 - Care for our Common Home
• Year 11 - Unit 1 - Ethics
• Year 12 - Search for Meaning 

Social Justice

We welcome our Social Justice leaders for 2022:

• Junior School - Flynn Riches and Layla Blomfield 
• Middle School - Jessica Miller and Kailam Bateman 
• Senior School - Veni Ong and Maddi Higginson

In the coming weeks we will organise regular meetings at both campuses to explore some ways in which we can have a positive impact on our direct and wider community. We look forward to exploring ways in which we can ‘open the doors of Mercy’ in line with the 2022 theme. 

Kellie Wilson
Catholic Identity, Mission and Ethos Leader

Year 12 Seminar Day

While most of our students were enjoying the last sleep-in of the summer holidays, our 2022 Year 12 cohort were at school and involved in a Seminar Day. This is a day of reflection and activities which supplement and support the RE program in Year 12.

We began the day with a reflection and prayer service to begin the school year. This also involved a special blessing of and presentation of the Year 12 badges to the Class of 2022. 

Throughout the day we spent some time on team building and ‘getting to know you’ activities as a whole group. Matthew Crane worked with the group around the concept of wellbeing. Our students were gifted a journal and they did some journaling work focusing on gratefulness. 

In the afternoon, the students worked through and gave valuable feedback on possible College themes for 2022. 

Canteen Menu 2022

The College canteen is open for business with an updated menu for 2022. We invite our students, staff and visitors to try our daily, weekly and seasonal menu options that are conveniently located to view & order 24/7 online at the link below. 

Over the counter ordering & cash sales are also available Monday to Friday, 8.30am -1.30pm.

Resource Centre Library News

Welcome back! The beginning of the school year is always hectic - it is wonderful to have everyone at school and a buzz of excitement can be felt!

Library Lovers Day will be acknowledged on 14 February (Valentine’s Day). To celebrate in our libraries, we will have displays set up and students and staff will be invited to add the name of a book they love - or a favourite quote from a book they are fond of. Call in and see what is happening!

Wheelers e-books and audiobooks are always available, with a fantastic range of excellent titles ready to be enjoyed. Year 7 students will be given a guide to this platform in the coming days.

Happy reading!

Maureen O'Loughlan
Library Manager

Student Achievements

Annabelle Glossop

We congratulate Annabelle Glossop (Year 10) who has achieved outstanding results in cricket, making her way through the pathway for girls. During January she played in the Country Week tournament in Melbourne, where she captained her team to victory and made a century herself. The team was coached by an ex-Mercy student Jacoba Mungean.  Annabelle is also playing in a representative Victorian team. 

Mothers Join Their Daughters on Cricket Field

Memorable cricket games took place over the last two weekends for two of our MRC families.

Kate Sadler joined her daughters Ella (Year 11) and Nellie (Year 9) to defend Pomborneit colours in her first ever cricket game on Sunday, 30 January. Mary Place (Year 12) had the pleasure of playing alongside her mother Liz who made her debut for Pomborneit in the last minutes of the game last Sunday, 6 February.

Alumni News

Caprice Baillie Wins Scholarship

Our warmest congratulations to our past student Caprice Baillie (Class of 2021) on winning the Powell Legacy Fund school scholarship from the DemoDAIRY Foundation. The scholarship will help Caprice fund  accommodation while she is studying Primary and Secondary Education at Australian Catholic University in Melbourne.

Alumni Share a Word of Advice

We had the pleasure of welcoming two of our past students back to speak at the Year 12 Graduation dinner at the end of last year. Sarah Baker (Class of 2003) and Sarah Venn (Class of 2008) shared with the graduates their career stories and gave them some advice for the future. 

The two Sarahs successfully run the Camperdown Pharmacy after taking over the business last year. In her speech, Sarah Baker highlighted that her career journey was not always straightforward but she did not give up and made the most of every opportunity. She wished the same to the Class of 2021, stating that it is hard work and determination that make dreams come true. 

If you would like to become a guest speaker at any of the school events, please contact the College at alumni@mercy.vic.edu.au or 03 5593 2011. Our students and the wider community would love to hear your story. 

Congratulation to Australia Day Achievement Awards Recipients

We would like to express our warmest congratulations to a number of past students whose achievements were celebrated with an Australia Day Achievement Award 2022 presented by Corangamite Shire. 

• Jordyn Hickey (Class of 2016) 
• Thomas Brett (Class of 2013)
• Angela Kemp (Gleeson) (Class of 1985)
• Young Citizen Of The Year: Tess Lourey (Class of 2020) 

Class Reunions

Now that the new school year has begun, what can be a better time to have a class reunion? 

We are calling out to the graduating classes of milestone years who are due to have a reunion in 2022. If you are planning an event, please contact the College at alumni@mercy.vic.edu.au or 03 5593 2011. We will be happy to help you promote your event and organise a campus tour for your group. 

• Graduating Class of 1977 – 45 Years Reunion
• Graduating Class of 1982 – 40 Years Reunion
• Graduating Class of 1992 – 30 Years Reunion
• Graduating Class of 2002 – 20 Years Reunion
• Graduating Class of 2012 – 10 Years Reunion
• Graduating Class of 2017 – 5 Years Reunion
• Graduating Class of 2021 – 1 Year Reunion

We are also supporting the reunions that were postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19. If your class is due for a 40+1, 30+1, 20+1, etc. reunion, it’s a perfect time to get together in 2022!

Alumni Facebook Group

Mercy Regional College has launched a designated Alumni group for networking, sharing alumni news, planning class reunions and events. If you studied or worked at Catholic Regional College or Mercy Regional College at any point of your life, please join the group, and let us stay connected. 

Click on the link below to join the Alumni Group now or search for Mercy Regional College Alumni group and ask to join.

Upcoming Dates and Events

Tuesday, 8 February 2022 - Wednesday, 9 February 2021 - Year 12 Retreat - Cave Hill Creek

Tuesday, 8 February 2022 - Wednesday, 9 February 2021 - Year 11 Job Camp

Friday, 11 February 2022 - House Swimming Carnival

Monday, 14 February 2022 - Senior Boys Cricket

Tuesday, 22 February 2022 - HSSSD Swimming

College dates for 2022 can be viewed through the Parent Access Module (PAM), including all term dates, student free days, camps and retreats. 

Community Notices