Dear Members of the Mount Lilydale Mercy College community
I reflect that I have written that introduction many times over the past 10 years and yet I continue to reflect on the distinguishing features of our College community that differentiate us and allow to focus on community.
One focus worthy of being highlighted is our core Mercy values of: Justice, Respect, Compassion, Hospitality, Courage, and lastly Service.
These values are highlighted each year through our College theme, but also highlighted through year level programs and our extensive Pastoral Care program. They are not just words that appear on some bronze figurines at the entrance to Dublin House or phrases that appear at the beginning of documents like our Strategic Plan, but rather they are values and ideals that we try to live and promote within the gospel teachings and the ideals of a Catholic school connected to Catholic parishes within the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
In writing these core values, I did not list them in any particular order, but I mentioned Service last because I do want to focus a little on it. Service is important within our community for it is central to our faith; to develop individual skill sets and gifts to be of service to others in order to impact our world both locally and globally. Thus, we provide opportunity for our student body to be of service, but it is also important that this is modelled to them.
We also provide opportunities for our parent community to be involved within our College to model Service. Opportunities include our Parents and Friends’ Association; Old Collegians’ Association; College Organisational Skills program; the College Advisory Council and helping out at many College functions.
These opportunities often also provide the community with an important avenue to be involved, provide feedback to the College and help set future directions. The newest and latest opportunity for community involvement is the Community Forum Group (CFG), which provides parents with an avenue to Service but also provides the College with a process to consult about important issues around College curriculum, Pastoral Care and Policy.
A small group met in this capacity for the first-time last week and considered the agenda items:
VCE Vocational Major (VCE VM): the new structure of the VCE was discussed with an explanation of the removal of VCAL, the introduction of the VCE VM and the strands to be available at MLMC next year, and in the coming years
Year 10 curriculum: as a result of two years of work and review, the Year 10 curriculum structure will be altered with the transition year being 2023 and full implementation starting in 2024.The new structure offers a broad approach to Year 10 with more opportunity for applied learning.
The Respectful Relations Program: this was also presented with an overview of how it will be applied at MLMC. Parent concerns with materials they had sourced in the government school program were discussed and it was highlighted that this program will only be presented at MLMC within a Catholic context and only materials that will supplement our Pastoral Care and Formation programs will be used.
College Uniform: some proposed changes to the College uniform were discussed, specifically changes to both the College sports jacket and tracksuit pants. The exploration of these changes was supported.
Although only a small group met initially including the three permanent parent committee members, one topic related parent and members of the College staff, it was a start and I see great opportunity for this forum to grow to be an important consultative process within our community. The next scheduled meeting is set for Thursday 8 September at 7.30pm. Parents interested in joining us as a meeting attendee should contact me via principal@mlmc.vic.edu.au, or if you would like as an agenda item, considered then that, too, should be emailed. Please consider this opportunity. I hope to publish the next agenda soon.
God bless
Philip A Morison
