News

Since our last eNews, we have certainly seen many changes as COVID-19 finally arrived in our community. I thank you all for your support and understanding. Our Leadership Team members are now experts in contact tracing, reporting to the Health Department, and managing the ever-changing conditions that have been updated nearly every second day. Further, our staff are having to cope with the change to numbers in their classrooms, whilst having to cater to all the needs of students forced into isolation. Our numbers have continued to increase, but we are managing the situation well. I thank the many of you out there who have acknowledged the wonderful work our staff are doing for the care, health and education of our students. As I write to you, we are aware of, but not yet officially informed of, new community requirements and changes to school restrictions. I am sure that like us, you are all keen for our students to once more be involved in extra-curricular activities that are normally on offer. As restrictions ease and we have the official ‘go ahead’ from the Department of Health, these activities will be reintroduced. We were thrilled to be able to offer our students their ‘Fun Day’ as a respite from their daily classroom work. Our thanks are extended to Ms Hepi and our Student Leaders for their comprehensive planning, ensuring that all activities complied with COVD-19 guidelines. That was no mean feat, but it was a joy to see the students letting off steam in a fun, safe way. Staff have spent recent weeks finalising the Term 1 Interim Reports which have now been made available via SEQTA. Families would also have received information regarding the Parent / Teacher / Student Interviews. These interviews will be conducted via TEAMs video conferencing, and I encourage you to take the opportunity to discuss your child’s progress with the teachers. Over this last month or so, we have been changing our Internet and Phone platform. Unfortunately, this has disrupted our phone and email facilities at various times. We are hopeful that the process is now complete and the ‘bugs’ have been sorted. Thank you for your patience as I know how frustrating it can be when ease of communication is interrupted. Attached to this eNews is a Fact Sheet from the Australian Government regarding vaccinations for students aged 5 to 11. Whilst Australia’s coverage rates are high by international standards, it is important for us to share this information with you so that our children can be kept as safe as possible. During the remaining days of this term, we are looking forward to our Spirit of Mercy Assembly and the Stations of the Cross. Our fundraising has focussed on Project Compassion and I encourage you to talk to your children about the important work Caritas does. I am also hopeful that you will be able to help your child support this very worth cause, either via the Easter raffle or the Project Compassion boxes in each classroom. School recommences for students on Tuesday, 26th April. Students are to return in their winter uniforms. We ask you to spend some time over the coming holiday to ensure that your child’s winter uniform is in good order. Uniform Shop hours are available on the College website. ANZAC Day falls within the school holiday break, so the College will acknowledge this special day during the last week of this term. As we near Easter Sunday when our Lord is risen, may we remember Jesus’ sacrifice and give thanks for what He has brought to our world. May we feel the warm embrace of God’s love at this special time and may the glory of Jesus’ resurrection remind us that, with God, nothing is impossible or without hope.   God Bless, Carmen Cox Principal

We are almost at the mid-point of Term 1, 2022 – hasn’t the time flown? Despite facing constant adjustments to COVID regulations, we are continuing our commitment to ensure our students receive the very best opportunities available, this school year.  Our Assemblies have been separated for the past few weeks, in line with COVID directives, to avoid mixing year groups.  The safety of our students is our top priority, even though it also means the postponement of club activities, camps and other events normally held throughout the year.  We endeavour to always work together with our staff and students, e.g. supporting our Head Girls and House Leaders / Representatives who creatively put together a video for an online Assembly and, as always, we encourage our staff members to be prepared for online learning or finding alternative ways that prove to be more suitable for the current situation. Unfortunately, we had a rather worrying moment this week as it was reported by The West Australian Newspaper and Perth Now that we had a positive case of COVID within the College.  This was not the case, the reporter having mistaken us for another local school by the same name. Please be assured that if ever there is a confirmed case, you, the parents/caregivers, will be informed. My sincerest gratitude and thanks go out to all staff members and students for their continued diligence in abiding by all the COVID-19 regulations, i.e. wearing masks, hand sanitising and distancing where possible.  In keeping to these rules, including the wearing of masks by all parents /caregivers/visitors, we will hopefully avoid any cases on our College Campus. Prior to the conclusion of my Report, Mercy Education Limited is seeking Expressions of Interest for the position of Director, Mercy Education Limited Board.  Vacancies have arisen as several current board members are reaching the end of their tenure. The governance role of the Board of Mercy Education is confined to its thirteen schools: nine in Victoria, three in Western Australia and one in South Australia.  The Board sets policies, approves schools’ Strategic Plans, appoints Principals, approves senior leadership positions, and fulfils due diligence in finance and audit management, capital development, risk management and litigation. For further information, or to register your interest, please contact Judy Sailors, Company Secretary, on 0403 666 117 or at judy.sailors@mercy.edu.au.  Applications close on the 11th March 2022. God Bless, Carmen Cox Principal

As we come to the end of another academic year, I reflect on the wonderful achievements of our students and the hard work of our staff. Since I last wrote to you a few weeks ago, we held examinations for two year groups, several final year group Masses, a variety of social events for the secondary students, our Year 7 Technology days with Mazenod College, swimming lessons for the junior students, several assemblies including final assemblies, the presentation of Responsible Christian Learner Certificates, the collection of food items for SVDP Christmas hampers, Orientation Day for new students, targeted parent sessions for 2022 parents, Year 6 – 9 Activity days, Year 7 Expo Day, Year 8 Science Fair and yes, we did actually teach! We are blessed to have a committed and dedicated staff who ensure that our students receive not only an excellent standard of education, but many other opportunities to allow them to grow as well rounded, confident young people who understand the importance of being good Christians in their everyday lives. This year, we celebrated 200 years of Catholic education in Australia and 175 years of Mercy education which commenced in Perth with the establishment of Mercedes College on the arrival Sr Ursula Frayne and her team of Sisters from Ireland. In commemoration of this event, you are welcome to access the commemorative magazine, ‘Celebrating 175 years of Mercy Education in Australia’ available here Parents will receive a letter, via email, from me this week to ensure that the latest information is available to all our families. The letter also provides major dates for 2022. A copy of the dates is also available for download from our College website: https://sbcl.wa.edu.au/community/college-calendar/ We have been requested by the Department of Health to share the following information with our school community. ‘Parents/Guardians can visit healthywa.wa.gov.au to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment for their child if they: •  haven’t yet received a COVID-19 vaccination; or •  were unable to receive their second dose COVID-19 vaccination. Please note that a second dose Pfizer vaccine should be delivered 3 to 6 weeks after the first dose. For further information on COVID-19 vaccination, visit Roll Up For WA.’ We wish all of our families a wonderful break as we rejoice in the glory of the birth of Christ and celebrate the miracle and blessings of this Holy Season. We pray for peace and joy in the homes of our families, not only for the Christmas Season, but for the coming year and always. God Bless, Carmen Cox Principal

As I write to you, excitement is definitely in the air as our students and members of staff look forward to the end of a very busy Term 4. We have also just enjoyed our first taste of what the summer months have in store for us! I would like to start by thanking our staff and students for the marvellous day they prepared for our visiting grandparents last week. We believe that we may have had far more than the 650 guests we anticipated attend morning tea and the various activities we had planned, so in true Catholic fashion, we invoked the miracle of the loaves and fishes and ensured that no one was left without nourishment. Some may have missed a juice box, however! We love welcoming our families to the College, and our students love to have their families visit their classes. We thank you for spending the morning with us – it was such a joy to see the students interact with, and enjoy your company. Thank you to those who supported our Book Fair last week. I am told that we reached a new record in book sales with commissions from these sales, converted to Scholastic dollars, enabling us to purchase $3,000 worth of resources for our library. Thank you to Ms Walsh and Ms McKnight for their organisation of the Book Fair. I was privileged to attend the Year 11 Final Mass last week. Our Year 11s are now either sitting examinations, or completing workplace commitments for their certificated courses. We wish them all the best for the end of the year. With only three weeks to go until the end of Term 4, I would like to emphasise to all families the importance of continued, regular school attendance until Friday, 3rd December 2021. I ask that our students fully commit to their studies and to finalise any outstanding work they may have. Your support in this area is greatly appreciated. Staff have many activities organised to ensure completion of curriculum, as well as additional opportunities for our students. Activities include swimming lessons for our primary students, preparation for final assemblies and the Primary Concert; and an Innovator’s Expo for Year 7 students. For the first time this year, our Year 9 students will be sitting examinations. Please keep them in your prayers. This week we farewell Ms Erin Carr, our College Psychologist. We thank her for her years of service to the College and wish her many blessings in her new endeavours. Whilst we will be without a Psychologist for the last two weeks of school, plans have been made to ensure that counselling is available for the start of our new school year, 2022. Should you have concerns regarding your child in the remaining weeks of Term, kindly contact your child’s Head of School. Bask in, and enjoy the beautiful weather our good Lord has sent us. God Bless, Carmen Cox Principal

Despite our unusually wintry weather, we have had a marvellous start to Term 4 and already the term has been jam-packed with activities. Our Year 12 students completed their exams and seminars in order to celebrate their last few days with special activities. It is such a heart-warming time to see our young women confident in their achievements and looking forward to the next chapter of their lives. We are blessed that our students were able to enjoy their final assemblies, House Breakfasts and traditional boater throw. The Graduation Mass, Presentation of Year 12 Awards and Dinner were enjoyed by all our Year 12 families. It was a full house with the many families and staff being able to attend. These many events take quite some organising, but our dedicated staff go out of their way to ensure that this is a special week in which the girls will add to their memories of school life. I spoke to the Year 12 students just before they left. As well as telling them how proud we are of them, I also reminded them to remember the importance of the people who they love in their lives. As they move on, I encouraged them to live the Gospel values and to be the wonderful young women that they are. We were also able to celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of students at our Sportspersons Awards Evening and Presentation Night. To see our students stand proudly on the stage, and to view the talents of those who performed, is such a joy. As I regularly tell parents and students, we have a dedicated staff who continually work to give more and more to our students, but at the end of the day it is up to the student to take that advice and help, and to do the work. We congratulate all the students who were prize-winners, but we also congratulate all of our students who give of their best and achieve very good results. You should all be very proud. As some of our Year 12 students prepare for the WACE examinations, the rest of our students are working diligently on their courses. Year 11 students will be the next group to sit examinations, with the Year 9’s sitting examinations for the first time this year. Our Year 6 students are also busy preparing for the conclusion of their primary years, and the special activities organised for their end of year. In addition, there is a hive of activity in preparation for the Student Art Exhibition next Thursday at 6.00p.m. We look forward to having many of you join us for the evening. Next week we farewell Mrs Geraldine Armstrong-Woods who is looking forward to semi-retirement. We thank her for her years of service, especially in the Arts area, and wish her well as she welcomes some time to spend on herself. We look forward to having you join us next week at our College Fair on Saturday 6th November between 3.00p.m. and 7.00p.m. It promises to be a great afternoon with many fun activities. We continue to pray to the Lord for the safekeeping of our students and their families. God Bless, Carmen Cox Principal

As I write to you, I have been reflecting on our busy Mercy Term. This week we hosted our Mercy Dinner at Boarding, the Spirit of Mercy Assembly, our College Mass, special fundraising activities, and the Cultural Festival. All of this, in addition to the many Performing Arts and sporting activities, including the ACC Athletics Carnival, have been held in the past few weeks. As we look forward to the next two weeks of rest, I congratulate the students and staff for their participation in the term’s activities and the many events that took place. Last week, Annamaria Cream and I joined the Principal of Mazenod College, Mr Andrew Watson, and the Head of Boarding, Ms Candice Betts, on a whirlwind tour of the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions in the north of our State. We certainly did a lot of driving and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to visit, not only future and interested families, but also many of our current boarding families. These trips are more personal than just attending local Agricultural Shows, and we love the opportunity to share information about our College. Certainly, it is our students who are our best ambassadors, so all we needed to do was provide the information that families needed clarified. We thank the families who drove in from their homes to meet with us, it is always a pleasure to chat in person. It has come to our attention of late, that there have been issues with drivers adhering to the speed limit when entering College grounds. Year Team Leaders will address this with our current students who drive to school, however there are also concerns that some parents and visitors are exceeding the speed limit when driving in and around the College. We would like to remind you that the speed limit on the College grounds is 10kms per hour. We also appreciate, like any other school, that peak drop off and pick up times mean that we need to have extra patience so that the safety of our children and other road users is not compromised. We are hoping that a common-sense approach will suffice, rather than us having to resort to the installation of speed humps etc. at a great cost. Parents are also reminded that some bays are specifically reserved for drivers displaying ACROD stickers and should always be left free for their use. Next term, students will return wearing their summer uniform. I ask you to ensure that uniforms still fit, after two terms’ growth, with special attention to hemlines! Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. As I wish you all a pleasant holiday, please keep our Year 12 students in your prayers. They commence their final school examinations and some WACE practical examinations during the break. The countdown is on as they very quickly approach the end of their school days. We wish Mrs Catherine Wildish and Mrs Geeup Wall an enjoyable, safe and restful break as they commence Long Service Leave. We look forward to welcoming them back mid-Term 4. We wish Mrs Rosie Davidson our very best as she commences her Maternity Leave. We thank the good Lord, for this term; for the challenges, the successes, and the mistakes from which we have learnt. We ask God to be with us as we spend our time with family and friends and to keep us safe in our activities, give us good rest and good fun. We look forward to seeing our students return refreshed and ready for the final term of 2021. While staff commence on Monday, 11th October, students, except Year 12, return on Tuesday, 12th October. Year 12 students have been provided with a special timetable for the first two weeks of Term 4. God bless, Carmen Cox Principal