Dear members of the Mount Lilydale Mercy College community

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat
— Brutus to Cassius: Act 4 Scene 3, Julius Caesar

Consider that a ship often needs high tide to either enter or leave a port. One cannot control the tides, so it is either a case of waiting for the tides or using them once the opportunity arises.

This metaphor also delivers the interplay between free will and fate. There are certain things that can be controlled and others that cannot. We must have the insight to recognise opportunity, seize it before the opportunity is lost.

“Man looks in the abyss and there is nothing staring back at him, at that moment man finds character and that is what keeps him out of the abyss.”
— Lou Mannheim (Hal Holbrooke) to Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), Wall Street (1987)

I wonder what Lou was actually saying to Bud. An abyss is a deep empty, bottomless space, a cavity or vast chasm. It is also anything profound or something unfathomable.

In this time of our lives are we looking into the abyss and is it time to find character? On the contrary, for our students this is a time of great opportunity. Just because something is hard that does not mean it should not be done. Perspective and outlook is everything.

We are now in Stage 4 restrictions with only very limited travel. We have resumed a full remote learning model. There is much we do not know. At MLMC we are continually asking questions like: ‘How will we organise the Night of Excellence, end of year exams, Graduation and dances and formals?’

And the answer is: “I simply do not know”. For a person who likes to control their environment, this is hard to accept, but accept it we must. Like the tides, there are many things we cannot control and must accept. But, like the tide, we must see this as a time of great opportunity and like the ship entering the harbour, use it to advantage.

For students, and particularly our senior students, this is a time of great opportunity and a time to achieve those same academic goals that were set at the start of the year or the end of last year. Now is not the time to worry about what might happen, but rather use the time and the gift that is being provided to them to use. In many ways distractions have been removed. You cannot visit family, you cannot go to parties, you cannot go shopping, you cannot do a lot of things.

Think about what you can do. You can enjoy family time. You can stay in contact with friends on social media and you can concentrate on your studies.

Now is the time for students to concentrate on the goals that were set. Now is the time to find that character that Lou told Bud about, and now is the time to seize the opportunity that Brutus spoke of to Cassius.

The whole College is here to support each and every student to be their best and give their best.

Annual Report to the College community

Each year about this time, the College is required to produce an Annual Report to the College community. This is done to meet compliance and registration protocols and so the format is fairly regulated, but at the same time it is a report of interest and worth reading. We no longer produce hard copies of this report but instead you will find it through this link https://www.mlmc.vic.edu.au/about-us/annual-report

Prayers 

Many in our community are struggling at this time through loss of jobs, hard economic times or isolation. All are in our prayers, particularly those who grieve the loss of family. Let us pray for Valmai Elizabeth Spring, aged 88. Mother in law to Richard Wicks (staff member) and grandmother to Emily (Year 11), Sam (Year 9), Amy and Kate (Year 8). May Valmai rest in peace and join with our Father in Heaven.

God bless

Philip A Morison
Principal

As we face such times of uncertainty, please pray for all those facing job loss and difficult times. Help us to be generous and reach out to those in need.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. — Romans 15:13

We ask for your healing and your provision over every part of our lives — physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

We ask that you would make us strong and resilient for the days ahead.

Help us not to allow the distractions and struggles of our days tear us down to the point of exhaustion.

Thank you that you are greater than anything we face here in this life, and our desire is to reflect your love and light to a world that so desperately needs your hope.

We ask that we would walk in your blessing and goodness today.

That your face would shine on us.

That you would open the right doors for our lives and for our loved ones, that you would close the wrong doors and protect us from those we need to walk away from. Establish the work of our hands and bring to fulfilment all that you have given us to do in these days.

We pray that you would make our way purposeful and our footsteps firm out of your goodness and love.

Give us a heart of wisdom to hear your voice and make us strong by your huge favour and grace.

Amen

Are distractions stopping your child from achieving the marks they deserve?

John Rodgers
Deputy Principal — Pastoral Care

As we settle into the latest round of remote learning, some would say we do so with a level of fatigue that can sap enthusiasm to get the best out of our learning. This may be true to some extent, but I believe — if used properly — remote learning can also allow individuals to get the best out of themselves, allowing them to focus solely on the task at hand without the common classroom distractions around them.

Freedom from these common classroom distraction can however be quickly replaced by other household distractions — distractions that can do harm to our learning without us even knowing.

Perhaps the biggest distraction that we are faced with is the distraction of being easily contacted. According to studies, our access to mobile phones or messages on our computers are potentially robbing us of 20% of our grades. Studies indicate that those who consider themselves as multitasking are really kidding themselves. The experts say the combined interruption, or the brain drain of preparing for a potential interruption, can turn a grade of 80% into a grade of 62%. Is it really worth turning an A into a C because we need to instantly respond to a friend’s message?

Reports also indicate that students attempting to concentrate on work while multitasking are really engaged in shallower, less flexible thinking. Combined with what could be termed ‘surface skimming learning’, the time to complete tasks takes longer while fatigue sets in quicker as the brain needs to switch between tasks. Most importantly, several studies have shown that information learned while partially distracted is often quickly forgotten, so the learning is shallow.

I am sure if you talk to your children about this, they will ask you ‘what do you know?’. They may even suggest that this is something their generation is used to doing and therefore it doesn’t have an effect on them as it does older people. However, there is no scientific truth to that. The College (and experts in the field) are not making it up just to be the fun police. It is well known that the brain has its fundamental biological limits. Being able to properly learn while multitasking is one of these limits. This was part of the reason behind the College's decision to no longer allow phones in the classroom. This policy is not unique to MLMC and it has been embraced by education across the state.

You may even be told by your child that you are old and out of touch, or if they don’t keep in contact with friends the second a message comes in then they will be cut out of the group. There is an element of truth to this, so may I suggest the conversation should be that your children explain to their friendship groups that their going offline is not a slight on their friendship, but instead a decision to focus on their studies. If friends know they are offline and working, then they will not be judged for not instantly liking a post. Hopefully, if all students are turning off distractions there will be no need justify why they are not online. Or, perhaps you could have a conversation with the parents of your child’s friends, helping to establish better study habits across their friendship group.

Of course, the home environment offers a wider range of distractions. Recently the College was informed that PlayStation and other gaming devices were becoming a cause for concern. Please be aware that this may be taking place in your home while students should be engaged in class. Peer pressure is strong and the lure of having a game with friends online is strong. If you have such devices in your home, it may be time for the hard conversation with your child, to set boundaries on when it is an appropriate time to game. Hard conversations and decisions now may save a whole lot of disappointment later.

One tactic is to change our environment, to move temptation further away: shut down the distraction by silencing your phone, taking the PlayStation controller. Have the study area of the home purely for study, free of other devices. It is a lot easier to stay on task when you’re not continuously fending off mental cravings.

Remote learning will never be the College’s preferred way of teaching, but when faced with these difficult times, our staff are extending their skills to ensure what we provide is the best quality we can provide. Please assist us by removing distractions in your home that may be making learning up to 20% harder.

Counselling team update

Tina Tasiopoulos, Amy Bartlett, Anna Napoli, Tony Trevitt
Counselling and Wellbeing team

Life has changed for all of us over recent months. In talking with students and families there have been mixed responses to these changes, some have been able to embrace change, many have found it challenging and some have described it as difficult or uncomfortable. No matter your situation, please remember the College's Counselling and Wellbeing team are here to support and work together with you. We are flexible, offering use of telehealth/video conferencing, phone, or email. You can find more details about our service, availability and how to make an appointment on the College website under ‘News and Events — Coronavirus Information’, or email the team counsellingwellbeingteam@mlmc.vic.edu.au

More information about our team and resources are provided in the attached files.

For students

With the return to remote learning for all students please remember:

• Be kind to yourselves
• Keep connected — reach out to friends and family
• Look after your body — eat regular meals and go for a walk or exercise daily
• Sleep — try to get 8-10 hours, it’s so important for your mood and helps with concentration and study
• Keep to a routine — stick to the school timetable but remember to take regular movement breaks
• If you need help or are worried about a friend, talk to someone you trust and ask for help.

The following resources provide additional information and support which is youth specific:

Kids Helpline: 13 11 14 or kidshelpline.com.au

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 46 36 or beyondblue.org.au 

headspace: headspace.org.au

For parents

Please remember:

• We know this is not a normal or easy situation and if you are working from home with young people acknowledge it is hard and will be a juggling act
• Concern and worry (yours and theirs) are a normal response in the face of uncertainty
• It’s OK to adjust your expectations or relax things for a while for both you and your young person
• You are going to be on top of each other for a while and get on each other's nerves, take short breaks or moments for yourself, make a cup of tea, step outside for a few minutes or phone a friend for a break
• You have the chance to be a role model for your young person. They can see how you cope and will follow your lead
• Reach out for support when needed from family, friends or professionals.

The following organisations offer a wealth of information and support for families:

Parentline: 13 22 89 8am to midnight, seven days

Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 46 36 or beyondblue.org.au

The Parents Website: theparentswebsite.com.au

Well done to all students and staff who participated in this years’ House Cross Country event. Despite looking very different to usual, we had a great number of students across all year levels and staff get involved in running or walking 3km from their homes. There were some rules in place to ensure the event was as even as possible and I thank every student for making the effort and their parents for their encouragement.

Some very valuable House points were up for grabs and I would like to thank the House and Sports prefects and the Health and PE prefect (pictured) for all getting involved.

We will be organising a second event in a few weeks’ time and any verified run will earn an extra 10 House points. Stay tuned!

Congratulations to the following students who finished top three in each year level:

Sport in Term 3

Afternoon sport for Year 8 (Tuesday), Year 9 (Thursday) and Senior (Wednesday) students is still running, but just a little bit differently. Each week we invite students to participate in a variety of challenges and health/fitness sessions online. Information will be posted to year level Google Classroom pages each week. Commendations will be awarded for participation and there are prizes up for grabs for high levels of participation across the term. Students are encouraged to get involved and stay connected!

William Barak (1824 -15 August 1903)

On 15 August each year we acknowledge the anniversary of the passing of the local indigenous leader William Barak.

Barak was born into the Wurundjeri clan of the Woiwurung people in 1823, in the area now known as Croydon, in Melbourne. Originally named Beruk Barak, he adopted the name William after joining the Native Police as a 19-year-old.

Leadership was in Barak’s blood: his father Bebejan was a ngurunggaeta (clan head) and his uncle Billibellary, a signatory to John Batman’s 1835 ‘treaty’, became the Narrm (Melbourne) region’s most senior elder. As a boy, Barak witnessed the signing of this document, which was to have grave and profound consequences for his people. Barak emerged as a politically savvy leader, skilled mediator and spokesman for his people. In partnership with his cousin Simon Wonga, a ngurunggaeta, Barak worked to establish and protect Coranderrk, a self-sufficient Aboriginal farming community in Healesville, and became a prominent figure in the struggle for Aboriginal rights and justice. When Wonga died in 1875, Barak succeeded him as clan leader.

While at Coranderrk, Barak recorded Koorie culture through storytelling and art, and invited white settlers and dignitaries to visit the reserve. Skilled in the arts of diplomacy and friendship, over time he gained growing respect and fame within his own culture, in settler society and even abroad.

When he died in 1903, at around 80 years of age, the man known as the King of the Yarra was buried at Coranderrk, in a simple grave marked by a wooden cross.

Adapted from: http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stori...

On 15 August the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the belief that the Blessed Virgin Mary, having completed her earthly life, was in body and soul 'assumed' into heavenly glory. This feast is classed as a Holy day of Obligation.

On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2185). In the Catholic Church, holy days of obligation are days on which the faithful are expected to attend Mass.

This year you can take part online, and here are two options for you to consider:
https://mass-online.org/
http://melbournecatholic.org.au/Mass

Each year MLMC participates in the World’s Greatest Shave event, raising money for the Leukaemia Foundation by having staff and students shave off their hair or colour their hair for a donation. Last year our Principal, Mr Philip Morison, even shaved off his beard for this great cause.

This year Year 9 Purple student Kye Arnot participated in the World’s Greatest Shave.

Here is Kye's story:

Shaving my head was something that I wanted to do because I wanted to help young kids who felt insecure about not having hair and give them the confidence that cancer may have taken away from them.

My goal was to raise $800, but I ended up exceeding that goal and raising $1000. This was a really big achievement for me. The money raised was donated to the Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave campaign and my hair, shaved off on 30 June, was donated to the Heart Foundation.

I felt extremely nervous about shaving my head, but I kept remembering that my hair will grow back and that these people who have lost their hair from chemotherapy treatment don’t have a choice.

Congratulations Kye on this wonderful achievement.

As part of their reflection on their experience of learning a Language, Year 10 Italian students were given the opportunity early in Term 3 to engage with the Melbourne Italian community's weekly newspaper, Il Globo. This was the first experience for many students of a newspaper written entirely in the target language.

Students generally found that they understood some passages and were then able to deduce the meaning of other passages from illustrations, references and other contextual clues. Feelings ranged from frustration to elation! Copies of Il Globo are archived in the Barak library and available to all readers. Other resources and facilities provided through the MLMC library to LOTE students include:

• LOTE conversation groups
• LOTE print collections
• ClickView videos supporting LOTE.
  

Sustainability Week, held 27-31 July was a time for the College to celebrate all the great things we do as a College community and as individuals to be more environmentally aware and friendly, and how we can contribute to the preservation of our world for a better future.

During the week, there were many challenges and activities for students who were onsite at the College and for those at home continuing with remote learning. Students at home were presented with daily challenges throughout the week, including going through half a day without heating and making homemade facemasks. For those who were at school they were given the task of making a nude food lunch every day.

On the Thursday, students were challenged to go for a walk near their home and observe something that made them appreciate the environment or find something recycled or reused in your local environment.

For students at school, the movie 2040 was screened during the week. Students also participated in mask making and planting seedlings (pictured). Well done to the VCE Agriculture and Horticulture students and the VET Agriculture students who planted more than 400 plants at the College.

The VCAL students at MLMC are committed to developing the Mercy — Catherine's Cafe van to be an environmentally sustainable business. In line with this philosophy, the students have decided to team up with KeepCup and sell their reusable cups to raise awareness and create interest within the school of the van.

Supported by the Sustainability group, the VCAL faculty has purchased 100 reusable coffee cups which have been available to buy for $10 each, with an ‘I owe you’ hot drink redeemable at the upcoming launch of the van.

There are nine colours of cups available. KeepCup is an Australian-owned and operated business with a goal of reducing single-use cups that go straight to landfill. Find out more HERE.

All money raised from the sale of the KeepCups will go towards the Mercy — Catherine's Cafe van for its community engagement operations.

This year’s Tournament of Minds (ToM) has the slogan ‘We’re thinking outside the box’, and it is switching to an online Super Challenge to continue to highlight the spirit of inquiry and love of learning for students. It shows that it too has been forced to evolve due to COVID-19 and its associated restrictions. The Super Challenge will still test our students’ abilities in creative thinking, problem solving and teamwork.

We have approximately 50 students participating in the Super Challenge, which has been specially designed to allow for virtual teamwork and film submission, with six weeks of preparation before the final video is submitted on Wednesday 9 September.

The College has been involved with ToM for 14 years and not only do we have teams representing us with students from Year 7 to 10, but we also have a mentor program where senior students who can no longer compete move into an advisor and supporter role. The students doing that this year are Shae Preston (11 Gold), Ryan Finette (12 Gold), Tara Vanstan (12 White), Rebecca Bullen (11 Gold), Olivia Pettinella (12 Orange) and Jamieson Manger (12 Gold).

This opportunity to work collaboratively in the current environment is something the students are all embracing. ToM is also environmentally and ethically responsible because it uses recyclable materials and the ‘spirit of ToM’ promotes acceptance of diversity and individuality.

In 2020 teams (with a maximum of seven students) can all be from one year level or a mixture of year levels and they can use elements from each of the four disciplines but one must be predominant. The four disciplines are Language Literature, Social Sciences, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and The Arts.

Teams must submit a five-minute video performance which includes all team members and only uses the allowable materials (with a maximum budget of $75). Judges will be looking for extended brainstorming, stagecraft skills, excitement, flair, creativity and impact related to their challenge solution. In previous years the teams had to do a long-term challenge and then present a spontaneous challenge in a 3x3m square in front of an audience. Students are still expected to use originality and collaboration, demonstrating their thinking and feeling abilities.

Good luck to all of our students and staff facilitators who are taking part this year.

MLMC has started a mentoring program for students who are on the autism spectrum with a company called I CAN Network. Founded by Chris Varney in 2013, the program aims to prove what people with autism can do and develop a world that benefits from embracing autism.

A select group of MLMC students will meet weekly with two mentors from I CAN Network who identify as being on the autism spectrum. Normally these meetings would be facilitated face-to-face, but for now they held are via Zoom. The program explores teamwork, personal motivations and strengths, saying ‘I CAN’, communication and planning, and organising.

One MLMC student said of a mentoring session: "I enjoyed it very much and thought it was very nice. I thought it was interesting finding out about other people's interests."

We look forward to seeing the progress these students make in the coming weeks and we hope they enjoy it.

Monday 3 August was the end of our VCE Music classes on campus before remote learning began for Term 3. We made the most of the practical session by performing in front of each other one more time in the classroom — with masks on.

On Wednesday students returned to remote learning and music performance became a bit more complicated. Education Minister James Merlino said “I am mindful of how disruptive this year has been for our VCE and VCAL students and we are doing all we can to support them”. And with this statement in mind, everyone at MLMC is here to help students to build good practice and learning habits while learning remotely.

While this can be an overwhelming time for some Music students, especially with the challenges of using unfamiliar technology, we are not going to reinvent the wheel — we will keep it simple with effective and editable online resources.

Students will continue to perform and present online via Google Meet in their own environment. As a class, we will have the opportunity to collaborate and create discussion topics. However, the most important part of the process is to stay safe, connected and engaged.