1 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 2-2 Monday 20 th May 2019 FROM THE PRINCIPAL Our Vision Mercy Regional College serves a wide rural community which values growth and diversity in Catholic Education in the Mercy tradition. Our Mission In the Spirit of the Gospels we commit ourselves to the core values of community, inclusiveness, learning, care, justice and mercy, excellence and achievement. Dear Students, Parents, Staff and Friends of Mercy Regional College Community, As I look for a prayer for this newsletter, I am reminded of all that our teachers do for our students. There is such a holistic approach to supporting your children and our students. Certainly, gone are the days of simply teaching from textbooks and growing students “upwards”. There is a broader focus on growing students’ breadth and depth of understanding. I’d like to take the time to acknowledge the hard work of the Mercy teaching team. There is so much that they do that often goes unrecognised and unappreciated. Teachers work with each other to support student needs. You will often find our senior teachers reading and giving feedback to students when they have assignments due. These are not always the students that are in their classes – when approached by students, our teachers are always more than happy to help. You will regularly find committed members of staff in the library after period 6 helping students with tasks, providing support, extending student knowledge and consolidating learning. Our O’Keeffe Campus has a great “homework” class at lunch times. Students are warmly encouraged to attend this session. Staff members, like Sharyn Grinter, work with students helping them with any difficulties with their learning that they may have. Often students have busy schedules after school and many use this lunch time class to catch up or get ahead. As a Principal and a parent, I thank our teachers and support staff for nurturing our Mercy students and supporting and building on the learning that parents begin.
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NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 2-2 Monday 20th May 2019
FROM THE PRINCIPAL Our Vision
Mercy Regional College serves a wide rural community which values growth and diversity
in Catholic Education in the Mercy tradition.
Our Mission In the Spirit of the Gospels we commit ourselves to the core values of community, inclusiveness,
learning, care, justice and mercy, excellence and achievement.
Dear Students, Parents, Staff and Friends of Mercy Regional College Community,
As I look for a prayer for this newsletter, I am reminded of
all that our teachers do for our students. There is such a holistic approach to supporting your children and our
students. Certainly, gone are the days of simply teaching
from textbooks and growing students “upwards”. There is a broader focus on growing students’ breadth and depth of
understanding.
I’d like to take the time to acknowledge the hard work of the Mercy teaching team. There is so much that they do that
often goes unrecognised and unappreciated.
Teachers work with each other to support student needs.
You will often find our senior teachers reading and giving feedback to students when they have assignments due.
These are not always the students that are in their classes –
when approached by students, our teachers are always more than happy to help.
You will regularly find committed members of staff in the
library after period 6 helping students with tasks, providing support, extending student knowledge and consolidating
learning.
Our O’Keeffe Campus has a great “homework” class at lunch
times. Students are warmly encouraged to attend this session. Staff members, like Sharyn Grinter, work with
students helping them with any difficulties with their learning
that they may have. Often students have busy schedules after school and many use this lunch time class to catch up
or get ahead.
As a Principal and a parent, I thank our teachers and support staff for nurturing our Mercy students and supporting
and building on the learning that parents begin.
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SUE BOHM – RETIREMENT
It is with a slight tinge on sadness that I inform you that Sue Bohm will be taking Long Service Leave and then transition into retirement. What is lovely, is the fact that Sue is so happy with the decision she has made.
Sue has worked at Mercy for over 25 years. Initially as the College Receptionist and Principal's Assistant and then moving into the role of Principal's Secretary and making it her own.
Sue has worked with six Principals over her time here at Mercy and I can honestly say I cannot believe the amount
of work she does to support the Principal and our school.
Sue has talked about now being able to spend more time with her husband, children and grandchildren. No doubt
she will be so busy in this role - that she will begin to wonder how she ever managed to fit work into her busy schedule.
Obviously, the school will take the time to acknowledge and thank Sue for her years of hard work but personally I
would very much love to thank you Sue - there is not a chance I would have been able to undertake this role this
year without you. Your knowledge and skills along with your kind nature have certainly not gone unnoticed. Thank-you Sue.
The position of Executive Assistant will continue to be advertised over the coming week. All information can be found
on our homepage under “Community”.
PRINCIPAL APPOINTMENT
It is with such great pleasure that we made the announcement of our newly appointed Principal last week. We welcome Ms. Sharon
Gillett to our Mercy Regional College family. (Sharon with her husband David and son Elliott).
Sharon has been a part of the Sacred Heart College, Geelong community for nearly 30 years. She first joined the College as a
teacher of HPE, Science and Maths in 1990, later adding Religious Education to her teaching qualifications. Sharon’s leadership
journey began with Sports Coordination bringing together her
passion for coaching and mentoring and a love of all sports. Sharon then progressed into Year Level Coordination positions at Year 8,
Year 9 and finally Year 10 levels for a total of 13 years. In 2008 Sharon moved into leading learning and teaching as the Director of
Middle Years Teaching and Learning incorporating the responsibility of leading the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme
at Sacred Heart.
Sharon has been in a Deputy Principal role since 2011. Her first Deputy Principal role was leading the Middle Years across Faith, Wellbeing, Teaching and Learning. Sharon was then appointed Deputy Principal-Staff and Mission
followed by her most recent role as Deputy Principal-Student Development.
Sharon’s vision is to lead an inclusive learning-focused Catholic community through high expectations for all, whilst maintaining a culture rich in diversity and wellbeing. She believes that innovation is nurtured through a growth
mindset where evidence-informed research guides the creation of educational environments that support success, develops potential and serves a purpose greater than the individual.
Sharon is deeply committed to the Catholic and Mercy traditions and will continue to be inspired by the person of
Jesus and the teachings of the Gospel as well as the vision of Catherine McAuley and the Sisters of Mercy as she leads Mercy Regional College. Her family (husband David and son Elliott) and Sharon are excited to be moving to
our regional community which values social connection and to be joining the Camperdown, Timboon, Mortlake and
Terang parishes, having been an active member of the St Bernard’s Belmont parish for many years.
I look forward to sharing with you more about Sharon’s story and philosophy over the coming weeks however, I
shall leave it here as Sharon will be our guest at our whole school Mass on Friday. Following Mass our School Captains will take the opportunity to interview Sharon, so that we can get to know our Future Principal.
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NCCD
The National Collection of Consistent Data or NCCD is the new process introduced by the Federal Government to facilitate the distribution of funds for students who need adjustments or modifications to assist their learning or
position at schools. We have included an information sheet on the NCCD as part of this newsletter. Please contact
the College’s Learning Diversity Leader, Mrs. Claire Walsh or your child’s Head of Teaching and Learning if you have any questions. More information about this is on pages 5-6 of the newsletter.
By God’s mercy we have been given this work to do
Tania Bruckner, our Director of professional Practice has taken the time to share her thoughts: I can't really imagine myself in any other career. I just love being a teacher. Every day we get to work with young people and their families, to help them develop confidence and skills; to find their way - it is such a privilege. In over thirty years of teaching and holding just about every position a school has to offer, it is my time spent in the classroom that has brought me the greatest satisfaction, joy, surprise and the odd tear. The focus, for me, has always been on developing positive relationships, with students, colleagues and parents. Without getting to know and trust each other first, learning and teaching has little chance to prosper. I will leave you with some words I wrote for our students last year: What is learning? What does it look like? Sound like? Feel like?
• Learning can be fun and exciting
• It can be hard work
• Learning can be quiet or noisy, time spent with your mates
• It can be confronting or confusing
• Learning can be creative, questioning and wondering
• Learning is constant - we should all be lifelong learners. Who are you as a learner?
• The shy one, trying to hide at the back of the room?
• The noisy one - pick me, pick me?
• The reluctant one - I can’t do this!
• The reflective one - how can I do better next time?
• The caring peer, always ready to lend a hand?
• They boy who was thrilled when he mastered surfing on the Outdoor Ed camp?
• Or the girl who made a new student walk a little taller because she said hello? And who are we, as your teachers?
• We hope to provide a place where you are safe, encouraged and supported,
• where you can celebrate successes and work on new skills
• We notice you, even when you think you are invisible.
• We challenge you to think, to question and to make progress in your learning.
• To work together on developing positive relationships, to care for each other.
• We reflect on how we can do better to support you in your learning journey.
STUDENT ACTIVITY AND ACHIEVEMENT
• Well done to Markey House, running out winners at our school Cross Country on Friday the 10th of May.
• Last Tuesday saw Elevate sessions run for Year 11 students, Staff and Parents. These successful study sessions provided great tips on best Study Practices. Thanks to Ms. Kristie Jensen for coordinating these
sessions.
• Congratulations to our Senior Football team on Winning their first game against Trinity College in 8 years.
We look forward to seeing the boys progress to the next level.
• A friendly reminder that our Feast Day Mass will be held at the Student this Friday 24th May. We would love to see parents and friends take the time to share in the Eucharist, meet our new Principal, Ms Sharon
Gillett which will be followed by a morning tea in the Multi-purpose areas.
Kind regards,
MRS. BERNI SINNOTT PRINCIPAL
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Assistant Principal – Staff & Students Claire Wrigley
What kind of person do I want my child to be?
As a parent we have a general idea of what kind of person we would like our children to be, however, the
reality can be vastly different. Parenting is most rewarding and at the same time most difficult, particularly
in a world that is very different to when most parents of our students grew up. The revolution of mobile
phones and computers has changed parenting forever, a world where our children are bombarded by social
media outlining who they should like, what they should look like, and where they should be!
The constant social media advice and comments our children are inundated with requires the need for
parents or significant adult figures to be in their lives more than ever. To help guide parents through the
varied situations experienced daily is some advice from well renowned author, Steve Biddulph. Steve was
invited to write the articles listed below for Catholic Weekly. His insightful articles offer some valuable
advice on what our girls and boys need from parents. I invite you to have a read of these articles.
Choosing the kind of woman do you want your daughter to be.
Assistant Principal - School Operations Dan Glennen National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) This year Mercy opted to use the NAPLAN Online portal to complete the annual NAPLAN testing. As reported in the media, a large number of schools experienced connectivity issues with the NAPLAN lockdown browser – Mercy included. Whilst well planned and resourced at our end, Tuesday morning presented many challenges and students were unable to finish their scheduled Writing test. Moving forward, the decision was made to withdraw from NAPLAN online, in consultation with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). As a result, students completed their Numeracy, Language Conventions and Reading test in the paper-based format. We are still awaiting further advice from VCAA as to how we proceed with the Writing test, however we hope to have it finalised this week. All students at Yr. 7 & 9 are to be commended on their behaviour and endeavour throughout the testing period, particularly Tuesday morning.
VCE students who are studying Unit ¾ subject(s) will be sitting the General Achievement Test (GAT) on
Wednesday 12th June 2019. The Gat will be held at the Camperdown College Hall.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) requires that all students from Years 11
and 12 who are studying one or more Unit 3 and 4 sequences are to sit the GAT. This task is sat over
three hours in strict exam conditions. The results are used in helping the assessment of exams, particularly
where there are difficulties in reaching an agreement over a specific result.
I quote below from the VCAA definition of GAT’s role and its importance:
Thus, it is important that all students sit the task and do so to the best of their ability. The GAT is not
something that can be studied for, but it should be done to the best of the student’s ability.
All students will receive a brochure outlining the structure and the importance of the GAT and their own
individual timetable. Students are required to wear their full winter uniform and come to school as per
normal and will all walk to the Camperdown College Hall as a group.
At the completion of the GAT students can leave for home if permission is supplied to the office by
Friday June 7th or students will return to school for a supplied lunch and study classes. A permission form
will be sent home with student later in the week.
Unit 1 and 2 Exam Period
The Unit 1 and 2 exam period will be held in the period between Friday 7th June and Thursday 20th June.
This exam block will be held in class time by each subject. The students will be issued with a timetable of
these exams. If a student is going to be absent during the exam period, they need to make contact with
their subject teacher(s) to organise alternative arrangements. The end of Unit 2 Exam period will be held
over four days in November and will lead into the Unit 3 Transition period for 2020.
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Careers Report Jenny Phillips
Weekly Career News This is available through the MRC Careers website: https://careers.mercy.vic.edu.au Please take the time to have a read of this valuable publication, which contains a vast array of information and opportunities to assist students with their career planning. Try a Career Day All Year 9 students will be attending the SWTAFE Try a Career Day on Monday 27th May at Sherwood Park Warrnambool followed by a tour of the Timor St Campus. Students have selected their three preferred sessions and permission forms have been sent home. This is an ideal opportunity for students to try a variety of course options that can lead into VETIS programs, trades, or further study. RIST (Rural Industries Skill Training) – Wool Overview Program This is wonderful opportunity for interested Year 9 students to check out the wool industry first-hand. This program is run by RIST at Mt Elephant station over three days (29th – 30th May and 5th June) Please see the attached flyer for more information. Warrnambool & District Careers Expo 2019 The Warrnambool and District Careers Expo is held every second year, across three school venues in Warrnambool, on three different evenings. This year the dates are 3rd, 4th and 5th June. This is a fantastic opportunity for students and their parents to research a wide range of career options. Students and parents from MRC can turn up to the reception area at the designated school, obtain an updated Program for the night and then go to the presentations of choice. There is no registration process required. Please see the attached flyer for more information.
10 Minutes of reading a day will change your child's life
While that may seem like a big statement to make, numerous studies have consistently shown that 10
minutes exposure to reading each day is all it takes to positively shape your child's future. And this
doesn't just include complicated educational texts - any reading materials, be it picture books, comic
books, novels, recipes, the television guide or the back of food packets - all count towards your child's
daily reading goal.
Reading any of these materials for 10 minutes a day exposes your child to more than 600,000 words in
one year, which is more than double the word exposure of a child who only reads for five minutes or less
a day. The benefit of this word exposure is immense - research shows us that reading more improves a
child's general knowledge, vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal fluency and spelling.
But this goal of reading for 10 minutes each day isn't only to improve your child's academic success; the
effects of this achievement are far more long term than you may have anticipated. Frequent reading also
improves a child's emotional intelligence, allowing them to better understand people and the world
around them, which is especially important in today's connected world.
(Excerpt from Scholastic Newsletter)
Chess
Chess is popular in both libraries and with
an upcoming interschool chess
competition to be held in late August,
practice sessions will be held in both
libraries over the coming months. We
look forward to seeing interested students
attend and hope to provide specialist
coaching on occasion.
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Girls in Physics Breakfast Leanne Delahunty
On Friday 10th May I had the pleasure of escorting Nicole Bath, Eleanor Pekin, Ruby Conheady, Johanna
Dean to the Girls in Physics Breakfast at Deakin University Warrnambool Campus.
The breakfast provided a great opportunity for the girls to witness science in the real world and to network
with like-minded girls. Dr. Gail Iles spoke to the girls about her career as a physicist, including her time
spent working as an astronaut instructor at the European Astronaut Centre.
Dr. Gail Iles is a Physics Lecturer at RMIT, following working at ANSTO (Sydney), where she was in
instrument scientist. Gail completed her PhD in experimental condensed matter physics at the University
of Leicester (UK) before becoming a researcher for the European Space Agency – a position which saw
her complete 500 parabolas in the A300 Zero-G Airbus. From there she became an astronaut instructor at
the European Astronaut Centre (Germany). Her current research interests include microgravity, magnetic
nanoparticles, neutron and x-ray scattering and instrumentation design.
Congratulations To Year 7 student Hayley Miller for being shortlisted for this years' Queenscliff Literary Festival with her short story titled ‘A Dance with Death’. Hayley was one of seven long-listed students who wrote poems, essays and stories that impressed with their originality. She has now been invited to Queenscliff later in May for the performance poetry workshop with world renowned performance poet Emilie Zoey Baker.
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Annual House Cross Country at Noorat Mercy Regional College held its annual House Cross Country at Noorat (Mt. Noorat) was held on Friday
10th May and thankfully the rain held off.
Markey House were the winners on the day.
2nd Ryan House
3rd Frayne
4th Tindley
Age Champions on the day were:
Under 13 - Myles Sinnott and Kate Smith
Under 14 - Fred Beasley and Kiarna Murfett
Under 15 - Susanna Ryan and Tully Darcy
Under 16 - Louis Darcy, Dom Absalom
and Caprice Baillie
Under 17 - Oliver Darcy and Zali Searle
Open - Max Bond and Lizzie Cook
Many students will now go on to compete at
HSSSD Level on Wednesday 22nd May.
MRC Markey House Captains 2019:
Sarah Smith & Isaac Kenna
2019 MRC House Age Champions
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Community Lunch
Year 11 students and Ms. Kellie Wilson volunteered their last Tuesday to make a yummy lunch for
Camperdown and district residents at the Camperdown Uniting Church community lunch.
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MRC FRANCE AND BELGIUM BATTLEFIELDS TOUR 2019 Mr. Lachie Lee
My focus this week is on the battlefields and the enormous cost in lives of the war. The central theme of our tour of course is the Australian involvement in the Great War on the Western Front but this needs to be put into the wider context of the efforts by the armies of France, the British Empire and their opponents, the German Empire. I first wrote some of this piece in 2015 but I’ve amended it for our current tour. The British Army launched four great offensives on the Western Front in the First World War. These all occurred during and after 1916 and all involved numerous individual battles and the AIF contributed to all. On our tour, we will visit sites which are central to these offensives. In chronological order, the Battle of the Somme began on 1 July 1916 and lasted until 18 November 1916. Over this period of 141 days the British Army (including the Australians) had 415,000 casualties. This is a daily rate of 2,943 casualties. Of these 23,000 were Australians. In six weeks, the AIF sustained approximately the same number of casualties that they suffered at Gallipoli in eight months. The Battle of Arras was from 9 April to 17 May 1917, lasting 39 days and with 159,000 casualties-a daily rate of 4,076. Later in 1917, the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as Passchendaele) began 31 July and after a promising start fizzled out in the rain and mud on 12 November 1917. This series of battles lasted 105 days, cost 244,000 casualties which is a daily cost of 2,323 casualties per day. Again, the AIF was in the thick of things and the cost to Australia was 38,000 men. I think that, with no foreseeable end to the war in sight, the horrendous casualties and the civil unrest at home, 1917 would probably be the worst year of the war. The Final Offensive of 1918, from 8 August to the 11 November (sometimes known as the Hundred Days) cost 350,000 casualties in 96 days. This was a daily cost of 3,465 men and resulted in the Australian Corps having to disband battalions as they became unviable due to the losses. These figures come from the book Cheerful Sacrifice: The Battle of Arras 1917 by Jonathan Nicholls, (Pen and Sword 1993, Barnsley, UK p211). Our visits to Pozieres, Fromelles, Bullecourt, the battlefields and cemeteries around Ypres and places such as Villers Bretonneux and Hamel mean that we will be in close contact with the sites of all these great offensives. We will pay tribute to those who died at these places, in the cemeteries and at the memorials to those who have no known grave or are “known unto God”.
One of the most poignant sites of the battlefields is the number of graves that simply state, “An Unknown Soldier of The Great War”. This means that the person interred in the grave was from the British Armies-including the Australians-but has no other form of identification. These men will often have their name inscribed on a memorial such as the Australian memorial at Villers Bretonneux, the British Memorial at Thiepval or the Menin Gate in Ypres. Yet, this is not always the case. For those at home in Australia, the thought that a loved one had simply disappeared was often too much to bear. We hear stories such as that of the mother from the Western District who, for the rest of her life, left the back light on at her house. She didn’t
want her son, who was described as “missing”, arriving home to find an empty house. A Mrs. Crawley, from Camperdown, was still writing to the Defence Department as late as 1937 searching for her brother William Harris from The Sisters, who had been killed at Polygon Wood in 1917 and had no known grave. She wondered if he might be one of the wounded soldiers with amnesia who were still to be found living in French villages and towns. The idea that those without a grave would be remembered was relatively new but for Australians whose 60,000 dead lay buried in hundreds of cemeteries across France, Belgium, Turkey and the Middle East, the thought that their loved one was at least remembered was very important. On each tour when we have visited Villers Bretonneux and the Menin Gate, we find many of our researched soldiers’ names inscribed at these places. It is always a moving and thoughtful experience.
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TERM 2, 2019
Tuesday 21st May Year 11 Mock Interviews
MRC Board Meeting
Wednesday 22nd May HSSSD Cross Country
Thursday 23rd May
Ocean Crusaders – Year 7 Workshops
Friday 24th May Feast Day Mass 9.30am in Stadium
Ocean Crusaders Presentations Yr. 7-9
Monday 27th May Year 9 ‘Try a Career’ Day (TBC)
Tuesday 28th May
HSSSD Senior & Intermediate Netball in Terang
Wednesday 29th May
Year 9 RIST Wool Overview Program
Thursday 30th May Year 9 RIST Wool Overview Program
Monday 3rd June
Warrnambool Careers Expo (3 days) GWR Cross Country (TBC)
Wednesday 5th June
Year 9 RIST Wool Overview Program
Thursday 6th June HSSSD Year 7 & 8 Netball (Girls)
HSSSD Year 9 Football
Friday 7th June Unit 1 Exams commence
Monday 10th June
Queen’s Birthday Holiday
Tuesday 11th June Year 10 Exams commence
Year 10 MIPS Excursion (10C)
Wednesday 12th June GAT (General Achievement Test)
