Principal's News
This is the last Newsletter for the term. At the end of this week, our students and staff can enjoy a well-deserved break. A great deal always happens in Term 3 at Mercy College and it has been good to see the high level of student engagement in activities the College has offered.
Our students have enjoyed great success this term on the sports fields, in STEM challenges, cultural performances, providing acts of service to the community and most importantly, in their application to their studies. I congratulate all students for their efforts in Term 3.
Mercy Day
Today we celebrate Mercy Day. On this day we give thanks for the life of Catherine McAuley. She was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1778. In 1824, she established the House of Mercy where homeless women sheltered, Catherine ministered to the sick and dying, and where she educated young girls. Catherine and her co-workers professed their vows as the first Sisters of Mercy in 1831.
I remind all students and staff to remember our Mercy College values of Compassion, Hope and Justice. Just like Catherine McAuley did, we should always endeavour to ‘Serve Christ’ and others in our actions and daily lives.
‘The simplest and most practical lesson I know is to resolve to be good today, but better tomorrow.’
Catherine McAuley
Today we acknowledged as a community the Mercy in Action Encouragement Award recipients from Year 7, 8 and 9 who have been identified as striving to live out the Mercy values of Compassion, Hope and Justice for the poor and vulnerable. This annual award acknowledges the continuation of the work of Catherine McAuley who saw a need and did something about it.
Congratulations to the ‘Mercy in Action’ Encouragement Award Recipients:
Year 7 – Harper Shields
Year 8 – Matilda Kelly
Year 9 – Ynol Membrebe
National Catholic Education Conference
Last week, Adam Skoczylas, Joe Kelly and I were fortunate to attend the National Catholic Education Conference in Melbourne where various groups involved in Catholic education were able to gather together to promote examples of best practice and plan future directions for Catholic learning communities across Australia. One of the conference sessions we attended was Parent Engagement which encourages a new model to enhance further parent involvement within schools. Ideas from this session will be discussed and actioned with our P&F.
Combined P&F - Special Meeting
The P&F Executive met with Bernadette Kay, Executive Officer Catholic School Parents Queensland via Zoom yesterday to discuss the current models of the P&F structure as we look to move from our current traditional model to a new Parent Engagement model.
A Special Meeting has been called for Wednesday 12 October 2022 at 6pm in the Mercy College Library to dissolve our P&F and move forward, implementing a new charter with a new name and model which will commence when we become a combined college in 2023.
I invite you to read the attached paper Now’s The Age To Engage which explains this concept in more detail.