Welcome back to Term 3.  This is a very important term of study for all our students and it is vital that students settle into a solid pattern of study as soon as possible. The holidays are over and now is the time for the enjoyment and satisfaction that can be achieved through diligent hard work.

NAIDOC Week

On Tuesday, our students attended the NAIDOC Mass held at St Joseph’s Church, North Mackay. This was a celebration for all Catholic schools in Mackay, to come together to acknowledge and honour the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year’s theme "Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!" is a call for action to bring about “systemic change and keep rallying around our mob, our Elders, our communities.” A special thank you to Melissa Russell and the Indigenous Team for their organisation with this activity.

CQUniversity Confraternity and QISSN Carnivals
During the June / July holidays, St Patrick’s and Mercy Colleges hosted the CQUniversity Confraternity and QISSN carnivals. This was not only a great economical boost to the Mackay region, but a chance to showcase the area’s sporting facilities. The carnivals were an outstanding success, with delegates from Brisbane singing high praises. I would like to acknowledge and thank all the wonderful volunteers and staff who gave their time freely to support the success and smooth running of both carnivals. A special mention to Mrs Julie Rasmussen, Mrs Teresa Dreghorn, Mr Scott McSherry and Mr Matthew Paul for your dedication and perseverance in planning all aspects of each carnival.

Congratulations to our QISSN Netball girls and our Confraternity Rugby League teams who all represented the College with distinction. It was great to see the inclusion of the boy’s Netball team. All managers and coaches were delighted with the teams’ commitment, behaviour and tenacity in this elite competition. All teams played some amazing games with outstanding results achieved. Thank you to all managers, coaches, support staff, parents/guardians and students involved. We look forward to 2023 in Brisbane.

Parents & Friends Association
A reminder that our next combined P&F meeting will be held on Wednesday 3 August at 6:00pm in the Mercy College Library. All parents are most welcome to attend.

Semester One Report Cards
Staff have been busy marking over the last few weeks in preparation for the Semester One Reports. These were made available through Parent Lounge last Friday.

Mercy Community
I would like to welcome Rachel Morrow, Ashley Fergus and Georgia Hurley to our Mercy staff. Rachel will be teaching across the curriculum in our Inclusive Curriculum Department. Ashley will be teaching in the Careers & VET and Arts Department and Georgia Hurley will be assisting in our Learning Support area at the College. Welcome to Mercy!

Catholic Education Week
Catholic Education Week will be celebrated across Queensland from 24 July – 30 July 2022.

This annual event is held to promote the special ethos of Catholic schools and to highlight the great things that take place in Catholic schools every day. 
 
The theme for this year’s celebrations is:  Faith Hope Love.

Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of those in our schools and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society.

There are 306 Catholic schools in Queensland that educate around 149,000 students and employ more than 20,000 teachers and staff, and most will celebrate Catholic Education Week in some way.
 
As part of Catholic Education Week, Mercy College nominated Mr Vince McSherry, former staff member, parent and parish member for The Spirt of Catholic Education Award. This award recognises individuals who make an outstanding contribution to Catholic Education in Queensland. Vince goes above and beyond to help our students grow spiritually and connect more with the Church and local parish. Vince volunteers within our College, St Patrick’s College and other schools in the Mackay community ensuring he is a very worthy recipient of this award.
 
Our College is planning activities during the week to celebrate this milestone. I thank parents/guardians and students for your ongoing support and look forward to Catholic Education Week 2022.

Enrolment Processes for 2023
The dates are below for your information if you have a student in Year 10 or you know of others who may be interested in enrolling in the College next year. A reminder that Mercy College students are automatically enrolled at St Patrick’s College for 2023.

Mercy College continues to be a generous community, with $1500 and some winter clothing being presented to Annamaria and Richard from St Vincent de Paul at this week’s College assembly. The money will be immediately used to help those in need as part of the Vinnies Winter Appeal.

Our Term 3 fundraising focus will be Mercy Works, a Sisters of Mercy charity. Mercy Works strives to improve the lives of vulnerable communities in Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Philippines and Australia. Stay tuned for some fundraising activities this term that you can support. For more information on Mercy Works, please visit their website https://www.mercyworks.org.au/.

Also, in both Terms 3 and 4 this year, we are supporting CatholicCare’s (formerly Centacare) School Savvy project. This is an annual back to school resources initiative designed to assist both junior and senior high school students from families who are struggling financially. Basic stationery supplies and second-hand school uniforms from any school in Mackay will be made available to families at a very low-cost. Any other school related donations (eg. school shoes, bags) would also be greatly appreciated. If you would like to donate, please hand your items to Front Reception.

Finally, if you would like to join the Mercy Vinnies Committee, our Term 3 meetings are on Fridays from 11:15am in C01 in Weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8. All are most welcome!

Mercy College Athletics Carnival

The Mercy College Interhouse Athletics Carnival is being held on Wednesday 27 July 2022 at the Mackay ARC, from 9:00am to 2:15pm. 

ALL students are expected to attend as this is a normal school day; parents, guardians and family members are most welcome to join us on the day. 

Students will arrive at school at the usual time and go to Homeroom at 8:35am to have their name marked off the roll, then move to the Hall to catch buses to the ARC at 8:45am. 

Dress code for the day is House shirt and PE shorts, full PE uniform OR free dress in the House’s theme. Students must have a hat, sunscreen and water bottle and are asked to leave their computing devices and valuables at home. They can bring lunch OR both canteens at the ARC will be open for food and the Vicki Wilson Netball girls will be selling soft drinks, lollies and chocolates. 

We request parents and guardians to log onto Parent Lounge and check their child’s Medical Details as these may be referred to on the day. 

If you require any further information, please contact Michael Comerford, Sports Coordinator on 4969 4154 or email michael_comerford@rok.catholic.edu.au.

A combined Mercy College/St Patrick's team competed at the Rocky Trial Mountain Bike Schools competition at Rowallen Park on the last day of Term 2. This was a very exciting day for our school, with 5 students placing of the podium. 

• Year 7/8 girls- 1st place to Kate Year 9/10 boys - 1st place to Kristen
• Year 9/10 boys- 1st place to Edward 2nd place to John
• Year 11/12 boys- 2nd place to Lockie

Congratulations to our school who placed 1st, winning the overall schools championship! 

Well done to all 15 riders, who rode proudly for our school! 

A wonderful week of netball was had by all players across the state that competed in the 2022 QISSN Carnival over the holidays.  Our fantastic Mercy team played throughout the Carnival with great sportsmanship and a never give up attitude.  A few wins and losses during the pool rounds got them motivated for the finals on Thursday and Friday.  Some outstanding netball over those two days with three wins in the Quarter and Semi-finals, setting us up for a Grand Final showdown against Marist College Emerald.  After a loss to Marist in the pool rounds, the girls were very determined to go out hard and play their best in the Grand Final.  They certainly did just that.  An edge of your seat game, made the girls push to the very last minute to come up with a 16-15 win.  Mercy College took first place, winning the Sally Butter’s Shield.  We are so very proud of all the girls and the effort they put in not only to the QISSN Carnival, but everything in the lead up.  Congratulations to an amazing team!

Dianna Bailey and Christine Newland

Congratulations to Tenille Cotter, Shaylah Pershouse and Kacey Ziegler for being recognised by Wanderers Australia for their talented netball ability. They have been invited to be part of the International Junior Netball squad touring England and France in January 2024. If they accept the invitation, they will be coached by internationally recognised elite coaches and play top club and representative teams. 

We are so proud! 

Welcome back to yet another Term of our Colleges' combined cultural endeavours.  This Term will be a big one as we have rock pop mime on Saturday 23 July, Week 2 where our two Mercy groups will be performing their own routines: Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle & Keeping up with the Kardashians.  

Following that we have CQU Jazz Fest Saturday morning, as well as an open performance the preceding Friday night that our students have been invited to free of charge.  If any stage band students are interested in seeing the conservatorium lecturers perform live, then please see Sam Bauer or myself for information.  

Finally we have Eisteddfod through Weeks 5 and 6.  A note will be coming out in regards to meeting times for each Ensemble for the eisteddfod, however, in the meantime please familiarise yourself with the Term 3 Gig Guide and make sure you are at all rehearsals, prepared and ready to go.  This will be a big Term and I am looking forward to seeing you all perform.

Thank you for your continued support of our cultural program.

The annual Whitsunday Voices Youth Literature Festival is one of the highlights on the Mackay Festival of Arts calendar. In Week 1 of this term, Mr Crocker and teachers from the English Department travelled to Whitsunday Anglican School to be entertained and informed by renowned authors John Marsden, Melina Marchetta, Dr Maddy McAllister and Jack Heath. 

A big thank you to the Whitsunday organisers and congratulations to the Year 10 English Extension classes and Book Clubbers, who were all model students. 

Once again, it was an enjoyable day with marvelous weather and good food and beverages (the line-ups were horrendous!), and it was thrilling to witness the positivity of students engaging in an environment that celebrated and promoted literacy and literature.    

Thank you, thank you, thank you to our school community, parents, volunteers, sponsors and supporters for helping us make this year’s QISSN and Confro Carnivals a great success.  The positive feedback from visiting school teams and supporters, local business people and the wider community has been overwhelming.

Overall, it was our most successful QISSN and Confraternity Carnivals with all the teams achieving great results.

The St Patrick’s College girl’s Rugby League team were part of history, playing in the first ever Confro girl’s Grand Final against Marymount College.  It was a hard-fought game and unfortunately, the girls went down 10 – 18.

The St Patrick’s College boy's netball team finished third and played some fast and entertaining netball.  The girls netball team finished fifth in Division 1, making them the highest placed regional team at the QISSN Carnival.

Mercy Netball team had a great run throughout the Carnival and were successful at winning the Sally Butters Shield (Division 6).

The St Patrick’s College boy's Rugby League team also had a great Carnival and made the Grand final of the Confraternity Shield.  The local crowd turned up and showed their support and filled BB Print Stadium for the game. Ignatius Park took out the match 32 – 0.

CONGRATULATIONS TO KYM ANDREW (ticket 429) for winning the brand-new Volkswagen T-Cross.  Thank you to Mackay City Auto Group for making the raffle possible.

We cannot thank our sponsors enough for their support of this great event.  Without their generosity this event would not have been able to be delivered to such a high standard.

Volunteers are needed in the tuckshop. Monthly, fortnightly or weekly. Mums, dads, grandparents, relatives are all welcome. The hours are from 9am until 2.30pm. These hours are flexible. 9am till 12 is the busiest period. If you can only come for a couple of hours we would  be very appreciative. 

If you are interested in helping out, please contact Margaret Floyd on 4969 4199 or email margaret_floyd@rok.catholic.edu.au.