Mercy Messenger, Term 2 Week 2 30 April 2021

Welcome back to Term 2.

ANZAC Day
Congratulations to all students who represented the College in marches commemorating ANZAC Day on Sunday throughout the Mackay region. We had over 370 students and staff representing Mercy College at the many different services around the district. I wish to state how proud I was walking with students who displayed so much pride in their uniform and respect for the many men and women who have served and continue to serve Australia and New Zealand.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
we will remember them

Mercy College Open Night
On Tuesday night, the College held its Open Night. Thank you to all staff, parents/guardians and students for your assistance on the night. The College was alive with excitement and action. The Department and classroom displays were amazing and special mention to our Sporting and Cultural Departments for their exhibits and performances. You all helped showcase our amazing facilities and extensive programs that we have on offer. This was a night of great communication and community building.

Enrolment Processes for 2022
The dates are below for your information. If you have a student in Year 6 or you know of others who may be interested in enrolling in the College next year, please ask them to contact the College office on 4969 4199.

Enrolment Application due date Friday 14 May, Interviews Thursday 27 May

Student Lead Conferences
Thank you to all students, parents/guardians and staff who attended the Student Lead Conferences held recently. If you were not able to attend this evening and have any concerns, I recommend you email the relative teacher to discuss your child's progress.

Flu Season Reminder
As you are aware every year Queensland experiences an influenza or flu season. As we enter this season it is timely to remind parents and guardians not to be complacent about flu. Queensland Health advises that where possible, people need to be vaccinated for the flu every year.

Flu is a virus more serious than the common cold and can be spread through talking, coughing and sneezing. Symptoms include sudden fever, dry cough, muscle aches and pains, fatigue, headache, sore throat and a stuffy or runny nose.

If your child has flu-like symptoms, the following is advised:
• Keep your child home from school;
• Ensure your child washes their hands regularly with soap and water or sanitiser gel;
• Encourage your children when coughing or sneezing, to cover their mouth and nose with disposable tissues which should be disposed of immediately;
• Ensure they drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest;
• Consult your doctor if you are concerned about their symptoms.

Queensland Health Guidelines advise that individuals displaying flu like symptoms should stay at home until such symptoms have passed (normally 5-7 days).

Families should also reinforce the recommended protective actions listed above. Increased awareness and ongoing attention to prevention and control measures, such as vaccination and good hygiene, are steps that we can all promote to reduce the impact of influenza.

The 74th Annual Macrossan & Amiet Mackay Eisteddfod - Entries Closing
A reminder that entries for the Mackay Eisteddfod are now open and can be completed online. Go to the Mackay Eisteddfod website for the full schedule (under resources) and link to the comps online entries page. If you have any questions, please feel free to email the Mackay Eisteddfod on eisteddfod.mackay@bigpond.com or call during office hours (Tuesday and Thursday mornings 9:00am to 12:30pm. Entries close Wednesday 5 May (no late entries).

Mother’s Day – Sunday 9 May
The Mercy College community wishes all of our mothers a Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday 9 May. At Assembly I reminded students to reflect on the love of mothers and the role of mothers. Especially others in their lives that have been mother role models. Best wishes to all.

Mrs Janelle Agius

Like most school holidays, I had many jobs to do around the house that had been beckoning my attention. Did I get them done? No, not all. My attention was directed to watching The Chosen series as recommended by the Diocesan Assistant to the Director - Di-Anne Rowan. It’s unusual for me to ‘binge’ watch anything as I don’t normally sit still long enough to ‘get into it’. You may be saying, "...but you need time to just sit and be still". I understand, but that just doesn’t usually eventuate.

Upon finishing watching the first series (8 episodes, 50 minutes each) my husband decided to start watching what I had been raving about. He too, is enjoying the series. It is like no other movie/series about Jesus I have viewed.

We may think we are familiar with the humanity of Jesus, that we don’t need to pay it much attention. The Chosen reminds us of His real humanity and the nurturing toward His disciples, toward the outcasts and the most vulnerable people of His time. Just like the Gospel this weekend (Fifth Sunday of Easter - John 15:1-8 Jesus the vine, the Father, the vine grower) the incredibly nurturing action that takes place with the process of cutting away and pruning branches; it is removing the unproductive portions of the plant so that the vine has an even better opportunity to produce fruit in the next season. It’s an act of love

During the episodes of The Chosen, Jesus cuts away and prunes the branches, this nurturing action of love bears much fruit of the disciples he calls to follow him. Within our own lives we are called to make decisions about which of our thoughts and actions are life-giving (fruit-bearing) and which are unproductive; negative; crippling; life-diminishing. If we are able to ‘prune’ our life-diminishing thoughts and actions, we grant ourselves the freedom and the ability to really flourish. Feelings of jealousy, greed, resentment and self-doubt can limit our ability to be fully alive and takes away our ability to perform at our best.

When we strive to bring about the reign of God in our small part of the world, we bear fruit. What aspects of your life need a little ‘pruning’ so that you might bear more fruit?

Heavenly Father, You shower me with abundant love and mercy. Help me to live a life of grace and grow in holiness through my thoughts and actions, to bear an abundance of good fruit. In Jesus’ name. Amen

You can read more about it here https://watch.angelstudios.com... . I watched it using an app from the iTunes store. It was free and you don’t have to pay for anything despite the invitation “to pay it forward”. It is also available on Google Play.

I would not recommend watching the YouTube videos, as the frequent advertisements embedded in them are very annoying.

Mrs Jeanette Refalo

The exciting news of the amalgamation of St Patrick’s and Mercy College into one school was announced at the end of last year. This led to the announcement of our new Principal, Mrs Janelle Agius and the forming of our Steering Committee to help guide and manage this transition. It’s members consist of: Fr Don White (Parish Priest), Mr Michael McCusker (Chairperson), Mrs Janelle Agius (Principal), Mr Sean Geoghegan (Deputy Principal - St Patricks College), Mr Adam Skoczylas (Deputy Principal - Mercy College), Mrs Marie Martin (Catholic Education Office), Mr Dean Lynch (St Patrick’s College School Board) and Mrs Rebekkah Pollard (Mercy College School Board)

With this announcement, Term 1 has presented many opportunities for both schools to continue making strong connections across our two Colleges.

At the commencement of the year we saw the introduction of the Responsible Thinking Process (RTP) to St Patrick’s. This brings a consistent Behaviour Management Structure across both our schools. RTP is a system used to manage any disruptions in the classroom where the student takes responsibility for their behaviour. It is based on the following three principles: Students have the right to Learn, Teachers have the right to Teach, No student has the right to Disrupt.

Even though it is early days in the implementation of RTP at St Pat’s, it is pleasing to see the Responsible Thinking Classroom (RTC) up and running and being utilised by the staff. Ongoing support for both staff and students will continue with this program, limiting the disruptions in the classroom.

Mercy students, this year, enjoyed the opportunity to attend and assist with the St Patrick’s Day celebrations on the 17 March at St Patrick's College. With the use of the Mercy Brekky Van, Hemi Heke and Julien Mezieres assisted with the cooking and serving of a BBQ to the St Patrick’s students. It was great to see these students involved and assisting the St Patrick’s students in these celebrations for the first time.

Six St Patrick’s students joined the Mercy Interact students in the delivery of Easter Eggs to many of our essential workers during the second last week of Term 1. It was great to see the students from both schools coming together and supporting each other for this worthwhile cause. Their combined efforts were certainly appreciated by the greater community.

The Cross Country for Mercy College was held on the last day of term, with students running and walking the Blue Water Trail. For the first time, a number of students from St Patrick’s joined us for this end of term event. Brodie Hocking, Nicholas Dogao and Jacob Wegner welcomed the opportunity to participate in one of their favourite events. Once again, it was pleasing to see the schools starting to build on their already strong connections.

We were also very fortunate to have both our Pastoral Teams from Mercy and St Patrick’s spend a day planning together at The Ocean International. This was the first opportunity both teams had to meet together. It was an extremely open and productive day where the pastoral practices and procedures of both schools were discussed. Discussions from the day will now be used in assisting the planning and aligning of our pastoral procedures moving to one College.

In another sign of our schools strengthening their connection, Mercy staff were invited to attend the St Patrick’s Year 11 Camp on Daydream Island in the final week of Term 1. Scott McSherry, Doug Bettington and myself found the experience extremely rewarding having the opportunity to spend time and get to know both the staff and students of St Patrick’s. It also gave staff from St Patick’s the opportunity to come to Mercy and assist with teaching at Mercy for the first time. This proved to be a positive experience for all those staff and students involved.

It is an extremely exciting time as we begin working to bring the many great things that both schools have to offer into one College. The feedback from staff and students has been nothing but positive as we work towards this goal.

Our Leadership, Pastoral and Curriculum teams from both schools continue to meet on a regular basis working towards this transition. Identifying issues and challenges as they arrive and ensuring we are communicating to all stakeholders will continue to be a priority for us as we continue to move forward with this process of having a combined College in 2023.