Mercy News - Friday 26 July 2024

Key Dates

Monday 29 July

• 10C PE Incursion: Taekwondo Program - Period 5

Tuesday 30 July 

• 2025 Subject Selection Expo
  • Information session for Students currently in Years 8 and 9 - 6.00pm to 7.00pm in the PAS
  • Information session for Students currently in Years 10 and 11 - 7.00pm to 8.00pm in the PAS
  • Subject display in McAuley Hall - 6.00pm to 9.00pm

Wednesday 31 July

• Year 11 Arts Making & Exhibiting Excursion: Visit to 'Hair Pieces' Exhibition - 9.00am to 11.00am
• 10A and 10B PE Incursion: Taekwondo Program - Period 3
  

Thursday 1 August

• Mercy and Parade Drama Production Rehearsal - 3.30pm to 5.30pm
• Week 1: Fun with Science Years 4 to 6 Girls Afterschool Program - 4.00pm to 5.00pm

Friday 2 August

• House Assemblies - Wellbeing

Saturday 3 August

• Feast of St Dominic

Monday 5 August

• Year 10 Pathway Planning Interviews
• Year 11 English Incursion: Performance of Medea - 9.00am to  10.30am
  

Tuesday 6 August

• Year 10 Pathway Planning Interviews
• Year 7 and 8 Indonesian Incursion: Traditional Dance and Traditional Cloth Making Workshops
• Mercy and Parade Drama Production Rehearsal - 3.30pm to 5.30pm

Wednesday 7 August

• Year 10 Pathway Planning Interviews
• CGSAV Volleyball Tournament
• 10B PE Incursion: Taekwondo Program - Period 1
• 10A PE Incursion: Taekwondo Program - Period 2
• 10C PE Incursion: Taekwondo Program - Period 3
• School Advisory Council Meeting - 5.30pm

Thursday 8 August

• Feast of St Mary of the Cross
• 9A, 9B, 9C English Incursion: Complete Works Performance of Romeo and Juliet - Period 1 and 2
• Mercy and Parade Drama Production Rehearsal - 3.30pm to 5.30pm
• Week 2: Fun with Science Years 4 to 6 Girls Afterschool Program - 4.00pm to 5.00pm
  

Friday 9 August

• Years 9 to 12 Subject Selection: Web Preferences Due

Prayer

Lord, as we begin a new term make us ready, attentive and available to hear you.
Thank You for the gift of being able to rise each day with the assurance that You walk through it with us.
Thank You for the gifts of creativity and uniqueness, and the energy to put them to good use.

Amen

Message From Our Principal

Dear Mercy Community,

Welcome Back

Welcome back to our students, staff, and parents/guardians. I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing holiday with family and friends. Despite the chilly start to Term Three, the vibrant spirit at Mercy has been truly uplifting.

I enjoy seeing our students arrive at the College on these cold mornings, wearing their Mercy jackets and scarves tightly around their necks to keep warm! Even so, there has been a warmth in our community as we start this semester. Students have returned energised from their break, and I can confidently say that our staff are ready to begin the new semester with a renewed optimism. 

Child Safety - Always a consideration in everything that we do

While the Child Safe Standards have been in place in Victoria since 2016, they remain an important set of guidelines. We continue to ensure that eleven standards are integrated into everything we do at Mercy.

As a quick reminder the eleven Child Safe Standards are:

1. Establish a culturally safe environment that respects and values the diverse identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people
2. Embed child safety and wellbeing in organisational leadership, governance, and culture
3. Empower children and young people about their rights, involve them in decisions affecting them, and take their views seriously
4. Inform and involve families and communities in promoting child safety and wellbeing
5. Uphold equity and respect diverse needs in policy and practice
6. Ensure people working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice
7. Provide child-focused processes for complaints and concerns
8. Equip staff and volunteers with the knowledge, skills, and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training
9. Promote safety and wellbeing in physical and online environments while minimising opportunities for harm
10. Regularly review and improve the implementation of the Child Safe Standards
11. Document policies and procedures to demonstrate how the organisation is safe for children and young people

For more information about the Child Safe Standards, I encourage parents and carers to visit the Commission for Children and Young People website here. 

2025 Years 9 to 12 Subject Selection Expo

I am looking forward to seeing families Tuesday evening at our Subject Selection Expo. This upcoming event promises to be a wonderful opportunity for our students to get a glimpse into the diverse pathways that lie ahead.

In anticipation of the Expo, it's essential to recognise the abundance of choices available to our students today. While the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) remains a vital component of the academic landscape, our educational offerings have expanded to encompass a spectrum of innovative pathways.

Traditionally, the VCE has been synonymous with examinations and a linear path to tertiary education. However, our students now have many alternative pathways offering rich and varied experiences. The VCE Vocational Major (VCE-VM) program, for instance, empowers students to demonstrate their learning through applied, real-world contexts. This approach not only fosters practical skills but also opens doors to TAFE and work placements during Years 11 and 12.

Additionally, our commitment to Vocational Education and Training (VET) equips students with tangible qualifications even before they graduate. Through partnerships with TAFE institutions, students can pursue industry-relevant certifications right here at Mercy College, laying a solid foundation for their future endeavours.

Let us never lose trust in the patience and mercy of God. 

Lila McInerney
College Principal

Faith and Identity

Encounter One Another: An Invitation to True Connection

In the heart of our busy lives, Jesus extends an invitation to welcome one another into this life He has given us, through Him, within Him, and in Him. In this week’s gospel of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, “Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.” Jn 6:11 The feeding of the five thousand is one of the most famous of Jesus’s many miracles. In fact, it is the only one recorded in all four gospels. Why?

One of the fascinating ideas that we learn in this story is that Jesus feeds this crowd even though they are actually following him for the wrong reasons. The large crowd was following Jesus, “because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick". Jn 6:2  Not because they wanted to learn from Jesus, or because they had come to believe that he was the Messiah, but simply because they wanted to see more miracles. I found an interesting link between this miracle and the connection to the reasons why we follow certain people on Social Media. Do we follow them because they align with our core values, or because we feel the psychological human “need” to feel connected. Or, as is the case so often for our young people, the fear of missing out (FOMO!)

Jesus doesn’t seem to be perturbed by why they are there. He grasps the opportunity to care for them and teach them. He also sees an opportunity to teach his twelve apostles an economics lesson, too. The simple but radical lesson, that with Jesus, there is always enough.

One of the disciples speaks up, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jn 6:9 It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that they don’t have enough to feed this crowd.

Not enough. Not nearly enough.

But the problem is that these disciples are looking at this situation as mathematicians (which is usually a good thing as a maths teacher myself), not as followers of Jesus. They are convinced that they don’t have enough, because they are focused on what they don’t have. And they are forgetting what they do have. What they do have is Jesus.  

When I reflected on this, it reminded me of how easy it is to view our world through the lens of “not enoughness". We are continuously bombarded with messages that we lack something: not enough fashion labels, not a big enough insta-worthy house, not a fancy enough car, and not even enough food! Through this lens, we view the world as one plagued by violence (not enough peace, understanding, or land), one where the cost of living is skyrocketing (not enough money), and a world full of injustices (not enough compassion, inclusivity, equality, or empathy). Our phones 'ping' every few minutes, with the latest notification, vying for our attention and reinforcing the idea that there is not enough in this world.

Through this gospel, Jesus invites us to look up from our phone, to look up from our jam packed social media app, and our busy daily schedule of work, parenting and the ‘everyday juggle,’ and just be in the world He created for us. He invites us to remember that He is enough to sustain us. Perhaps, we don’t need all the “materialistic things” social media tells us we “need” to be happy?

Recently, there has been significant media coverage about raising the age limit for social media apps for teenagers. The coverage highlights the significant evidence that showcases the harmful and serious ramifications social media has on our young people. As a mother of two teenagers and a pre-teen, navigating this landscape is a constant challenge.  And it's not just our children; I find myself unconsciously reaching for my phone in moments of idleness—waiting in line at the supermarket, during a spare moment on the weekend and even whilst eating breakfast. This unconscious habit reflects how deeply phones, and their messages, have integrated into our lives.  It is important to remember that this habit can bring with it the message of “not enough". I reflected on this and recalled a leading child psychologist's advice, from Macquarie university, that stated this unconscious act of fetching our phones from our pocket during a conversation with our child, the second the notification pings like a dutiful servient, sends the message to our children that they are “not enough". Contrastingly, Jesus’ gospel miracle is a reminder that Jesus is Enough, that we are Enough. 

Jesus invites us to lift our eyes and attention up from our phones and encounter the real world. He calls us to engage with the beauty of nature, to appreciate the humans around us and to be present with the people in our lives, in our mission on earth. He wants to “feed us” with his abundance.

Reflecting on my relationship with my phone and this miracle, I realised how diligently I serve it rather than the call to serve others. I realised how much energy I spend on scrolling - 51% of all teenagers state they spend 4.8 hours PER DAY on social media platforms! What if we dedicated the same energy and promptness to our relationship with God? How would we encounter the world differently if we focused on Jesus as much as we do on our phones?

This Sunday's Gospel reminds us that despite the superficial and materialistic messages from social media coupled to the cost of living pressures, there is enough. Jesus and His teachings provide us with enough love, enough kindness, enough compassion, and enough empathy. His miracle teaches us that by focusing on these values, we can see the abundance He has actually provided. If we flip the script, and take control of the ‘robot’ that is our phone, by harnessing the power of being ‘human’ again, we can change the social media mantra of not having or being enough, and start to focus on what we do have. We have Jesus.  

Let us strive to be present, to serve others as diligently as we serve our notifications and to see the world through the lens of Christ’s love and abundance and its “enoughness".

Have a wonderful fortnight.

God Bless

Cherrie Arnold
Faith and Mission Leader (Acting)

Counsellor's Corner

Welcome back! Term Three has been off to a chilly start.

Subject selection

Subject selection time is coming up and the counselling team is here to support you. There are so many options out there and different pathways to help you achieve your goals. In these moments it is vital to focus on what you can control.

Lunchtime sessions

The counselling team would like to run some groups during lunchtime to support your wellbeing. If you have any ideas around topics or activities, please reach out to our team.

We wish you a great term, where you are present, happy and focused.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift––that is why it is called the present.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

Remember, if you would like to speak to a Counsellor please email counsellingteam@mercycoburg.catholic.edu.au.

Your counselling team - Sarah, Laura and Liv

Year 7

Our Year 7 students are currently learning about biodiversity and classification in Science. Their current topic is - Do we need to save the bees? This week they investigated the anatomy of a honey bee.

eSafety

eSafety Information About Cyberbullying And How To Report A Complaint

Did you know that 44% of Australians have reported a negative online experience in the last six months? Imagine how many negative experiences are not reported!

The eSafety link below explores what cyberbullying is, how to report a complaint and how to look after yourself online.

Included in this link is a short video about a child cyberbullying case study that is informative and indicative of what happens online, to many people. There is also a ‘Cyberbullying Quick Guide’ to take you through the steps of reporting cyberbullying and the information that will be required to lodge a complaint. Family and friends of a person who is experiencing cyberbullying can also click this link to find out how they can be an upstander and provide support to the person experiencing the bullying.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics/cyberbullying

Science and STEM

Over the Term 2 holidays, some Mercy College students had an opportunity to attend science and engineering camps at Victorian Universities. These camps were open to all students from Year 10 to 12.

Michaella Hauszler and Leysan Erdemir reflect on their experiences at Swinburne Youth Space Innovation Challenge and the SPARK engineering camp.

For three action-packed days, a few Mercy College students had the opportunity to attend the 2024 Swinburne Youth Space Innovation Challenge, where we got the chance to learn and work with experienced space scientists and expert lecturers who currently teach and lead at Swinburne University!

On the first day, we immersed ourselves in the basics of the Solar System, while also learning the fascinating ways of space law. Later, we took a tour of the major parts of the university and witnessed Swinburne’s two supercomputers that support revolutionary research in space technology and more!

Day two began with a virtual reality experience of the solar system, followed by a lecture on the different satellites in space, and a challenge to design our very own investigations and solutions to the ever-growing issue of space junk. As the end neared, we enjoyed a final lecture on microgravity and rovers, before getting to meet and ask a range of questions to Swinburne’s well-versed faculty, explore Swinburne’s student-built rover and receive gift bags and sample space kits of plants or yoghurt that were grown on the International Space Station!

Overall, it was a golden opportunity where we learnt so much more about the subjects we love, met new friends and teachers, and most importantly had the experience of a lifetime!

SPARK engineering camp was a 6-day camp that provided Victorian students with a unique experience, showing us what tertiary education is all about, specifically targeting technology-related fields. This experience aims to encourage myself and fellow peers to pursue STEM as a career, it equips students with knowledge about university courses and pathways as well as allowing students to develop relationships with diverse people to promote diversity in the future workplace. Throughout the camp, I enjoyed making new connections with new people and networking with engineers that posses hands-on experience in the field. Overall, this event opened my eyes to what engineering actually is as a career option and allowed me to narrow down my interests in that field.

Arts and Technology

Visual Communication Design

On Tuesday23 July, the Year 11 Visual Communication Design class took a walk down to Coburg Lake.

As a part of research for their current outcome on Environmental Design, the students conducted a site visit to explore the uses of the lake and potential location for a pop up exhibition space that they will have to design later in the outcome.

They were able to make observations of colours, textures and sounds which will be later used for inspiration in their designs.

Natalie Szuba
VCD Teacher

Sport

The CGSAV Div 1 Futsal tournament was held on Wednesday 24 July. Our junior and intermediate teams showed great spirit in their games, with the intermediate team making it to the semi-finals. Special mention to Talia Wassilieff who was unbeatable at the back. 

Congratulations to all students on their performance!

Lukasz Rabenda
Director: Data, Innovation and Growth

Mercy Alumnae on Staff

What a pleasure to have interviewed three of our Mercy Alumnae on Staff and to find they were Year 12 at Mercy in the same decade and all in O’ Hea House. The quality associated with O’Hea House is that of perseverance. Courage and hope both depend on that crucial virtue: perseverance, the ability to keep going and if you first don’t succeed, try again.

The Mercy Alumnae on Staff introductions are below and to read Rebecca, Tania, and Brianna’s full interview, click here.

Rebecca Mazzone
Learning Area Leader: Health and Physical Education
Class of 2011 Theme – In Generosity, Diligence & Cheerfulness

The yearbook cover has a symbolic sunflower and a bee. Sunflowers are hailed as the symbol of pride and cheerfulness. The sunflowers turning as it follows the sun is representative of power, warmth and nourishment (all the attributes of the sun). The bee is a symbol of diligence, productivity, vigilance and hard work. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

Rebecca: ‘It’s fulfilling to see students thrive in and outside of the classroom. The difference we make each day in students’ lives, the connections we build and the growth we see is the most rewarding aspect of this role!’

Tania Ragusa
Learning Area Leader: English
Class of 2015 Theme – Celebrating 50 Years of Mercy

‘Our students are our greatest joy, and it is for their future that our dedicated teaching and support staff work tirelessly.’ Dr Michelle Cotter, Principal 2011 – 2017.

Tania: ‘Being on stage in front of an audience is very similar to teaching, except your stage is a classroom and a whiteboard, and your audience is a room full of teenagers. My teaching style and identity can mostly be attributed to my involvement in Performing Arts at Mercy.'

Brianna Shears
Teacher: Health & PE, Maths, Sports Convenor.
Class of 2018 Theme – Mercy for our Earth

‘Throughout the year myself, the Seeds of Justice Team and all of Mercy College have put in an enormous and concentrated effort towards addressing a range of social justice issues, especially a range of social justice issues, especially those focused around our theme of ‘Mercy for our Earth'. Rebecca Allaoui, Social Justice Captain 2018

Brianna: ‘I have a deep appreciation for the values and community spirit that define Mercy. It feels like coming full circle, being able to give back to the institution that played such a significant role in shaping who I am today'.

Diane Psaila
Alumnae Relations Officer

Fun with Science After School Program