Mercy News - Friday 18th November 2022
-
Key Dates
-
Prayer
-
Message From Our Principal
-
Director of Religious Education and Identity
-
Director of Student Engagement and Wellbeing
-
Counsellor’s Corner
-
Year 8 Learning and Wellbeing Level Leader
-
Senior Learning and Wellbeing Level Leader
-
Numeracy across the Curriculum - Science
-
Information Services
-
Careers @ Mercy
Key Dates
Sunday 20th November
- Feast of Christ of King
Monday 21st November
- Years 10, 11 & 12 2023 Head Start Program begins
- Young Mercy Links Information Lunch for Year 11s & 12s
Tuesday 22nd November
- Year 7 Excursion to Glenroy Library (Periods 3 and 4)
Wednesday 23rd November
- Year 9 Wellbeing Incursion: Mental Wellbeing Presentation by Moreland Youth Summit (Period 3)
- Year 10 Social Gala Event :7.30 pm-10.00 pm
Thursday 24th November
- 2023 Year 8 and 9 New Students Orientation: 8.45 am -1.00 pm
Friday 25th November
- Years 7 & 8 Languages Incursion: Indonesian Celebrations
- Lunchtime Piano Concert in the PAS
Monday 28th November
- Years 7 & 8 Languages Incursion: Italian Celebrations
Thursday 1st December
- 2022 Night of Excellence: 7.00 pm
- Years 10, 11 & 12 2023 Head Start Program concludes
Friday 2nd December
- Final Day of Term 4
Prayer
My house shall be a house of prayer // Luke 19:46
Dear God,
We pray for the gift Jesus gives us in this declaration that the temple - the church - is not a place for business or politics, but a place of prayer and worship. It is a place to bring us closer to God.
We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Catherine McAuley, pray for us.
Message From Our Principal
DEAR MERCY COMMUNITY
Today we welcomed our year 7 2023 students for their Transition Day, and it was wonderful to see the excitement as they look ahead to a new chapter, the start of their Mercy story. New beginnings, that sense of welcome and hospitality has really been something so evident today and at our 2023 Family Information Night and Solo Student afternoon tea.
In addition to transition events, our busy fortnight included hosting 120 primary school students for an Explore Mercy day, a Remembrance Day Service, our E.I.G.H.T. program, Year 7A Band Night and exams. Our Unit 3 and 4 students have finished their VCAA exams and we want them to know what a wonderful achievement this is. Next week, our Year 2023 Years 10-12 begin the Headstart Program which will provide students the opportunity of preparation for the 2023 school year.
I wish all in our community, especially our students, all the very best over the last weeks of term. May you find this time of reflection and preparedness useful, as you continue to enrich the Mercy Community with your gifts. In these busy times, may we all remain focused on a great finish to the year, and look forward with hope to all that is ahead of us.
CYBER SAFETY
Protecting children in their digital world is an ever-evolving task for Australian families and schools. Now more than ever parents and carers are looking for guidance on how to manage screen time and navigate the world of games and social media. It is important that parents and carers can educate their children and help them to know what risks they might be placing themselves in when sharing information online, or just looking innocently at websites.The internet remembers more about you than you might expect. It leaves a trail of data, known as your digital footprint.
What is a digital footprint?
The internet can be a great place for forming connections or new ideas but it also remembers more about you than you might expect. Every time you do anything on the internet you leave a trail behind you. That means some of the things you post or engage with can resurface when you least expect them. Internet experts call this trail of data your ‘digital footprint’. Your digital footprint can include anything from old photos to comments on public posts and it can be one of the first things people experience of you online. The good news is, there are plenty of ways you can manage your digital footprint to make it match with the image of yourself you’d like to present.
How to manage your digital footprint:
Check what’s out there
Googling your name will let you see what people, like your potential employers or friends, can find out about you.
Get posts/photos/videos taken down
If there are posts that you don’t want people to find online, try asking the people who created them to take them down. If you or a friend have forgotten the details to an old account, it’s still worth contacting the platform with identifying data and asking for their help.
Check your privacy settings
If you’re surprised by what you find about yourself online, it’s a good time to change your privacy settings. Check out The eSafety Guide to find out more about the privacy settings for particular social media platforms and how to change them.
Set boundaries on tagging
If you don’t want to be tagged in a photo or post you’re uncomfortable with, you can un-tag yourself or ignore a tag request.
Think before you engage
The things you like now might not be what you like in a few years’ time. Before you engage with a post or page, ask yourself if what you’re doing is something you want to be associated with long-term. You may like a page or post a comment as a joke, but it’s good to remember: others may not see the funny side.
Reference: https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people/digital-footprint
Let us never lose trust in the patience and mercy of God.
Lila McInerney
College Principal
Director of Religious Education and Identity
Seeds of Justice Student Event - Mercy: More Than Charity
Seven students from our Social Justice team participated in a Seeds of Justice Student Event on Thursday the 27th of October. We met with teachers and students from some of our fellow Mercy schools over a Google meet. These schools included Santa Maria College Perth, Academy of Mary Immaculate, Sacred Heart College Geelong, St. Aloysius College, Sacred Heart College Kyneton, Wodonga Catholic College and Aranmore Catholic College.
We began by getting to know something about the other schools on the incursion. Each college shared a little of the history and values of their school and how they strive to achieve these.
The theme of the day was ‘Mercy: More than Charity’. To explore this theme we listened to a guest speaker from Mercy Works, Jo Casamento, speak about the different initiatives in which they are involved. One of the programs that we all admired was that of the Cape York Academy for Girls. A program in this school allows young mothers in this region of Australia to continue their highschool education by bringing their babies and young children to school with them.
Other Mercy Works initiatives are developed to be on a 5 year rotation, allowing for the people accessing these programs to become self-sufficient and the programs themselves to be self-sustainable. We discovered the importance of ‘mutualism’ and how charity is not only about handing out donations and telling people what they need to do but it is also about listening to the needs of people and communities; teaching them the skills that are necessary for them to thrive. “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”
We also learned of heartbreaking stories of young girls in Cambodia who are victims of sexual exploitation and the important work that Mercy Works does in this area to help liberate them. The importance of giving a voice to the voiceless was highlighted throughout the day and challenged all of us to consider ways in which we could do this in our own communities.
To end this fantastic day, all of the schools created a presentation about their respective Mercy Days and the various charity works that the schools had been involved in. This gave Social Justice team members ideas that could be implemented in our school next year. Overall, this day was eye opening, inspirational and gave all of us an opportunity to connect with other Mercy schools. We look forward to putting some new ideas in motion in our College community next year.
By Kayla J, 10B and Dewmini S, 9C
Year 8 Reflection Day
On Friday 4 November, Year 8 students travelled to Holy Cross Conference Centre in Templestowe to participate in their Year 8 Reflection Day – a day that allowed students to explore elements of their personal, emotional and spiritual lives. This year, students were guided by Annie from Annie’s True Beauty Salon, who challenged students to re-define their perception of beauty. Students rotated through a range of activities that focused on identifying beauty in ourselves and the world around us. In one activity, students wrote affirmations for others in the cohort, using “kind words only” to demonstrate the impact of positive language and highlight the character traits that each student possessed. These included strength, resilience, compassion and ambition.
Some student highlights from the day included:
- “Opening the affirmation cards from our friends and feeling special.”
- “Annie, the presenter, was so interesting to listen to - especially when she discussed beauty trends from the past that had faded.”
- “Being able to zone out of school for the day and focus on our faith.”
- "Feeling calm and being able to spend time as a group in a different environment.”
Nima Ballenger
Director of Religious Education and Identity
Young Mercy Links Information Lunch
2022 Year 11s and 12s
Angela from Young Mercy Links is running an information session about how you can get involved with this fantastic organisation where young people in the Mercy community can give back to the community and continue to stay connected to our Mercy values: https://www.mercyhub.org.au/young-mercy-links.html
Monday 21st November
Community Hub
Lunch Provided: 12:50pm
RSVP to Ms Ballenger: nballenger@mercycoburg.catholic.edu.au
Director of Student Engagement and Wellbeing
This week I was invited and attended the Student Wellbeing Northern Region Network Meeting for Catholic Schools. Here the primary focus was for different Primary and Secondary teachers in schools in the Northern region of Melbourne to discuss the challenges that are facing our young people in the Wellbeing and Student Engagement area, and how schools are addressing them.
We started off examining the following statements:
- Improved wellbeing increases achievement. Many children cannot achieve if they are mentally or emotionally unwell, bullied, anxious, enraged, hungry, or depressed.
- Academic achievement is crucial for wellbeing. Focus and accomplishment provide a sense of purpose and direction that allays anxiety in children and adults alike.
- Wellbeing is a complement to academic achievement. It helps develop well-rounded, academically successful people who are also happy and fulfilled.
- Wellbeing constitutes a major achievement. This happens when young people experience learning that enables them to lead lives with meaning and purpose.
We also discussed how Wellbeing sits at the core of everything. If students are not feeling well mentally or physically or addressing any issues they may have, they are less likely to succeed and achieve the best they can, which in turn affects their lifestyle and may have long term effects overall.
It is also evident that in Catholic Schools religion and spirituality are fundamental to Wellbeing and sits alongside it, as it allows students to focus on core values that guide positive behaviour through empathy and the ability to reflect on ethics and morals, thus guiding students to positive interactions with society and people.
It was interesting to hear that making connections and engagement in school still prove to be the most dominant challenges of the year for all schools.
During the meeting we also talked about our Wellbeing programs, and in particular the EXCEL program which has been developed by The Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, and is being introduced in schools over the coming years. This program and Respectful Relationships (which has been developed by the Department of Education and Training Victoria) are both linked, and support the Child Safety standards. I have provided links on both resources for your reference:
https://www.macs.vic.edu.au/Our-Schools/Curriculum-Learning-Programs/Student-Wellbeing/eXcel.aspx
Mercy continues to be committed to the Respectful Relationship program as well as Wellbeing overall, ensuring that it is built into our student”s timetables, pastoral time in homerooms, in the literacy and actions we use with each other, and overall in our Mercy Values of “'Be respectful, Be responsible and Be safe'.
Duty of Care is always underpinned in all our actions as staff, and again in the Child Safety Standards that are outlined for staff to follow. The message to all students is that if they are feeling upset and need space to regather, they are to report to a staff member or to the Wellbeing area where they will be guided to a space where they can be supervised and looked after and given space. It is never okay to leave students unsupervised in a heightened emotional state alone, or in an unsupervised room, and for them to go to the bathrooms and be alone. We know parents will understand this and support the College in reiterating it to their child.
The Year 10 students attended a Wellbeing Day developed with the objective of 'Gratitude and reflection, as well as focusing on how to be prepared for the Senior Years' in terms of Wellbeing.
Students were offered diverse workshops by staff - beginning the day with Wellbeing through a Catholic and Spiritual Lense, an affirmation exercise, a Ted Talk on goal setting, writing a letter to their future self, time to reflect on the year that was in order to help set goals for the coming years, and ending with a celebratory picnic lunch with their homeroom/homeroom teacher focusing on the Pastoral aspect of our Wellbeing program.
Maria Daniele
Director of Student Engagement and Wellbeing
Counsellor’s Corner
You can’t pour from an empty cup
As we near the end of the 2022 school year and students embark on the Headstart program for their
2023 year level, it is no doubt a busy and overwhelming time.
In a world where we are constantly being encouraged to work hard,
strive and achieve, it is important to also leave room for self-care.
The saying ‘we can’t pour from an empty cup’ holds a lot of meaning. If we keep exerting energy, giving and sacrificing our needs and not doing things that make us happy and relaxed, then we can find ourselves pouring from an empty cup.
Self-care is the preventative medicine to avoid this burn-out.
Intentionally setting aside time for self-care is so important. This time of year we can find ourselves stressing over exams, study or work, socialising a lot, preparing for the holiday season and cancelling on ourselves.
Your health is invaluable and your self-care can’t wait, so have a look at that diary and book those dates with yourself. Your cup will thank you for it.
Liv Carli Hannan & Janine Crociani
School Counsellors
Year 8 Learning and Wellbeing Level Leader
The E.I.G.H.T Program
The annual E.I.G.H.T Program is a hallmark of the Year 8 Curriculum and is defined by the key learning outcomes: engaging, investigating, generating, hypothesising and translating. The program also allows students to develop important 21st century skills such as critical and creative thinking, entrepreneurship and collaboration.
This year’s E.I.G.H.T Program ran from the 14-15th November as a two-day incursion called “The Smoothie Bar”. During this program, students were challenged with the task to plan, create and market a smoothie business to the school community. Students worked in teams to develop a business name and were assigned a budget to create the packaging and design options for two smoothie products. They blended their smoothie creations and trailed these with the Year 7 cohort. Then, it all came down to the pitch - teams had to present their products to an audience and the best company was crowned. Well done to Team 8 “Candy Cane Lane” (consisting of team members Laura Ciavarella, Dana Issa, Binaya Kathaluwa, Iyla McKenzie, Layla Melhem and Lottie Richardson) for being voted as having the best smoothie company.
Year 8 parents and families gathered on Tuesday 15th November to celebrate students’ learning at the E.I.G.H.T Program Parent Expo Night. This was an opportunity to witness students’ business ideas, the research they undertook to develop their smoothie product and even heard their business pitches.
We thank all parents, guardians and families for attending the night and supporting the learning of your child.
Tania Ragusa
Year 8 Learning and Wellbeing Level Leader
Senior Learning and Wellbeing Level Leader
Over the last few weeks, our senior students have been completing their Unit 3 and 4 exams. Each and every student has worked incredible hard to get to this point and we wish them all the best of luck in their final exams.
Our year 11’s are commencing revision for their upcoming Year 11 exams. We acknowledge that this exams can cause some stress and anxiety for some students. It is important that students communicate this with their subject teacher, homeroom teacher or year level leader as we can assist in supporting your child.
Following the week of exams, our Year 11’s will commence Head Start and begin their Unit 3 and 4 journey. Throughout this time, they will be exposed to content they will cover as well as a wide variety of learning activities. We cannot wait to see our senior students thrive and prepare for 2023.
If at all, your child needs any assistance or you have any inquiries, please never hesitate to contact the Senior Level Leader at adriver@mercycoburg.catholic.edu.au.
Annie Driver
Senior Learning and Wellbeing Level Leader
Numeracy across the Curriculum - Science
The Science curriculum provides opportunities for students to develop an understanding of important scientific concepts and processes, the practices used to develop scientific knowledge, the contribution of science to our culture and society, and its applications in our lives. It aims to support students in developing scientific knowledge, provide understanding and skills to make informed decisions about local, national and global issues and to participate, if they so wish, in science-related careers.
The most relevant Numeracy Learning Progressions for Science relating to numeracy are Quantifying numbers, Operating with decimals, Operating with percentages, Number patterns and algebraic thinking, Comparing units, Positioning and locating, Understanding units of measurement, Understanding chance and Interpreting and representing data.
Quantifying numbers Quantification enables observations to be more easily compared. In Science students are required to quantify physical properties of objects, time, distance and scale. They learn to assign physical properties such as mass, temperature and density a numerical value. This could involve comparing heights of bean plants grown in different soil conditions or measuring the electric current in a circuit. Students often find it difficult to work with scales that are outside their everyday experience – these include the huge distances in space, the incredibly small size of atoms and the slow processes that occur over geological time. Dealing with very small and very large numbers, including associated prefixes for units, and how they are represented is essential to the study of Science as students explore and make sense of the world around them. Students’ understanding of relative proportions and scale is developed when they consider how very small and very large quantities are measured, for example, using micrometers (µm) for measuring the dimensions of microbes and light years for measuring distances in space. Scientific notation and the use of standard form is also used to represent very small and very large numbers, for example, the average size of an Ebola virus is 9.0 × 10–7 m while the distance from the Sun to Earth is 1.496 × 108 km. Working with numbers in Science will often involve whole numbers (for example, counting populations), fractions (for example, describing phases of the Moon), decimal quantities (for example, reading measurement scales) and negative numbers (for example, recording temperature readings). Students should understand decimal place value, realising that numbers after a decimal point are important in recording and processing quantitative data.
Operating with decimals In Science conversion between percentages and decimals may be required in handling data. Students should be able to estimate the size of decimals and understand when they should be rounded during calculations or reporting answers.
Operating with percentages In Science, understanding percentages is essential to interpreting information gathered from various sources and considering quantities in terms of being parts of a whole. Percentages can be used by students to express compositions, yields and efficiencies. Students identify percentages as relative amounts and can be used to express quantities, for example, hydrogen accounts for approximately 75% of matter in the Universe.
Number patterns and algebraic thinking Students become increasingly able to identify a pattern as something that is a discernible regularity in a group of numbers or shapes. Number patterns are evident, for example, in the organisation of elements in the rows and columns of the periodic table of elements. Students quantify change through measurement and look for patterns of change by representing and analysing data in tables or graphs. Students increasingly recognise that scale plays an important role in the observation of patterns; some patterns may be evident only at certain time and spatial scales, for example, the pattern of seasons is not evident over the timescale of an hour. As students become increasingly able to connect patterns with the structure of numbers, they create a foundation for algebraic thinking (that is, thinking about the relationships between quantities expressed as equations). Algebraic thinking is used to represent the relationship between quantities, particularly in real world applications, such as those involving the laws of motion, for example, the relationship between speed, distance traveled and time taken, as expressed in the formula; average speed = distance/time. An understanding of ratios involving simple algebraic manipulations is required across all science disciplines, for example, students comparing the ratio x:0.06 with a 2:3 ratio should be able to calculate that the value for x is 0.04.
Comparing units Students compare units in ratios, rates and proportions. Proportional reasoning also includes numerical comparison tasks involving a comparison of different rates or ratios. For example, the ratio of hydrogen atoms to oxygen atoms in a water molecule (H2O) is 2:1 but that does not mean that hydrogen has twice the mass of oxygen, or occupies twice the space that oxygen will occupy, in a water molecule. Quantities involving ratios, such as density, rely on the appreciation and use of fractions.
Proportional reasoning is used extensively in science, particularly through equations, which serve as a tool for substitution to calculate a value and also as a description of a relationship or a way to explore how quantities vary with respect to each other. Students learn that ratios, proportions, percentages and associated mathematical conversions are based on the idea of equivalent fractions. Looking at patterns allows the making of generalisations, predictions and estimations, for example, understanding how eclipses can be predicted and recognising when an answer makes no sense in a practical context, such as an energy conversion of 110%.
Positioning and locating The description of the motion of objects relies on the concept of position, and change in position, with respect to a reference point. The observed shape of the Moon is explained by describing the position of the Moon relative to the Sun and Earth, while the breaking up of Pangaea and continental movement requires an understanding of changes in position of Earth’s tectonic plates. Food chains can be represented as a linear relationship while food webs require understanding relationships in two dimensions. Picturing the orientations of atoms and molecules in space requires students to visualise arrangements in three dimensions. In the physical sciences, students should understand the direction of forces, so they can determine the overall, or net, force on an object.
Understanding units of measurement Students become increasingly able to recognise attributes that can be measured and how units of measurement are used. Quantifying magnitudes, rates of change and comparisons using formal units of measurement are important in Science, including the use of fractions and decimals to represent non-whole number quantities. In Science, developing a sense of scale is important for measurement accuracy. Students should understand measurement as a human construct, appreciating that measurements are relative to scales that have been constructed by humans, for example, the determination of 1 kilogram. They should distinguish between SI units and SI derived units. SI units relevant to Levels 7–10 Science are the meter (for measuring length), the kilogram (for measuring mass), the second (for measuring time) and the ampere (for measuring electric current). SI derived units to measure other parameters include milliliters (mL) to measure volume, meters per second (m/s) to measure speed, grams per milliliter (g/mL) to measure concentration and degrees Celsius (°C) to measure temperature. Students should be able to convert between different units, for example, converting liters to milliliters and meters to kilometers, with decimal representations being connected to the metric system. Students should realise that 0.89 g/mL, for example, indicates that milliliters, rather than liters, has been used and that density = mass/volume
Understanding chance Not everything in science is exact or able to be exactly determined. Examples include genetic inheritance and radioactive decay. While the average outcomes or behaviour of a group can be accurately predicted (for example, approximately 50% of births will be boys and 50% will be girls), the outcome of a single event cannot (for example, we cannot accurately predict the result of a single pregnancy). The act of measurement is itself not exact, giving rise to the concept of measurement uncertainty, and the need to repeat measurements to increase the probability that the measurement accurately represents the value of the quantity being measured.
Interpreting and representing data Both qualitative and quantitative data may be generated and/or collated in scientific investigations. Making sense of this data, presented in tables and graphs, is foundational to studying Science. Developing skills in graphing helps students to understand and interpret data. Students become increasingly able to recognise and use visual and numerical displays to describe, analyse, interpret and explain trends in primary data generated and recorded when undertaking and designing their own scientific investigations, including experimental trials, and to critically evaluate secondary data and investigations undertaken by others. Students work with both discrete and continuous data to plot graphs and select appropriate displays (for example, XY-scatter plots, bar graphs, line graphs) to explore patterns of continuity and change. For data sets, students may be expected to determine counts and percentages (as a measure of frequency), calculate mean (as a measure of central tendency), and identify the range (as a measure of dispersion or variation). They identify direct and indirect relationships between variables and recognise outliers in experimental data. They interpret representations of data to support their own conclusions and to think critically about claims made by others, to question or confirm them, or to generate further questions.
Fiona Lorenti
Science Domain Leader
Information Services
Year 8 Author Talk
On Tuesday 8th November, Year 8 students were privileged to hear an author talk by Australian author Nicole Hayes.
Here are some student reflections of the event:
On Tuesday the 8th of November we had an author talk in the library, the remarkable author Nicole Hayes kindly visited us while also providing us with an engaging presentation. Nicole Hayes spoke about how she had always had a growing passion for reading and writing as a child, as well as her favourite books she read and how this inspired her to be an author. She also gave us writing tips, including how to make a story fun and creative. Overall, Nicole's visit was engaging, entertaining and undoubtedly encouraged us to read and write to a greater extent.
Rachael G, 8C
Last week the year 8's had an author visit from Nicole Hayes an Australian author who wrote many books like 'The Whole of My World' and 'One True Thing'. She gave us all a very interesting and insightful presentation about all the books that she loved as she grew up, where ideas come from and how to write our own books. Overall, we all loved having her here at Mercy and greatly appreciated her tips and wonderful book recommendations!
Diana V, 8A