Dear members of the MLMC community

I hope you are all well and thriving in what I know to be very difficult circumstances for many. This lockdown has seen families experience this virus first hand with close family members testing positive and becoming quite ill. None that I know of are in our close vicinity, but contact sites have certainly moved closer to our area. I pray for the best possible outcome for all within our community. Never underestimate the power of prayer.

Every single day during this period of lockdown No.6 and previous lockdowns, as much as possible I stick to my usual routine and I arrive at work between 6.30 and 7.00am. I know I am lucky to be classified as an essential worker, as with staff and students on campus, no matter how few, the College leadership must be represented. Even on the few days that I manage to work from home, I open my computer and set to work at the same time. I do this because I know that my routine is part of my coping with my workload and it helps to build my resilience. It is in times of adversity and when under pressure that we build our resilience. I control the things I can control, am cautious of those I cannot, but do not seek to change them, knowing that I can’t. This helps me to remain positive and achieve each and every day. Each day I ensure I achieve much of that which I list each morning, as well as try to deal with the 200 plus emails that land in my inbox. We should, of course, always strive to better the situation.

I have started to visit homerooms each morning in the hope of connecting and seeing the MLMC students, as the College seems empty and almost lifeless without them. The College has been built for them and empty classrooms are just rooms with the class yet to give them life. My message to the MLMC students is the same and I continue to believe it to be true:

• Stay positive
• Focus on what you can achieve, rather than what you cannot
• Control what you can control, rather than what you cannot
• See this as a time of opportunity rather than a time of loss. You can achieve
• Exercise, eat healthily and maintain sleep patterns each day.

One of the constant questions I get asked each day is ‘what do you think will happen post September 2?’.

My answer is always the same in that I do not know as I have no crystal ball, but I do know that whatever does eventuate we will deal with it and success will follow, because we remain focused on achieving and achievement. Achievement is different for each of us, but if we set goals and plan to achieve them, success will follow.

We will continue to look ahead and try to plan College functions to ensure the best possible outcomes.

Resilience is important for us all at this time.

Story is an essential part of who I am, for I love story and storytelling in its many forms. There is a tradition in our house, born through my father on our many camping trips, that we never let truth or facts get in the way of a good story. I learn and teach through story.

As such, I am always looking for good stories and a great websites. One such website I found is the University of Texas: Transforming Lives through Resilience education.

This website has some great stories, many of which I have used with students over my 19 years of being a Principal in Catholic schools.

I would like to share two of these with you. Please indulge me.

The Farmer and the Donkey

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway — it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all of his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realised what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quietened down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer’s neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off, and take a step up.

This is a great concept: We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up. Shake it off and step up. You simply have to start with one step and keep going, but you need to start. A great message for us all.

The second is not a story but a piece worthy of our reflection:

A Beautiful Life!

Here are some tips that may bring you a beautiful life!

• Take a 10-30 minute walk every day and while you walk, smile
• Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
• When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, “My purpose is to … today”
• Live with the 3 Es… energy, enthusiasm, empathy, and the 3 Fs … faith, family, friends
• Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of six
• Dream more while you are awake
• Try to make at least three people smile each day
• Realise that life is a school and you are here to learn, pass all your tests. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime
• Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away
• Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good
• Life is too short to waste time hating anyone
• Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does
• You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagreements
• Make peace with your past, so it won’t mess up the present
• Don’t compare your life with others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about
• Burn the candles, use the nice sheets. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special
• No one is in charge of your happiness except you
• Forgive everyone for everything
• What other people think of you is none of your business
• Time heals almost everything. Give time, time
• However good or bad a situation is, it will change
• Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will stay in touch
• Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful, or joyful
• The best is yet to come… believe
• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up
• Do the right thing!
• Call your family often
• Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: “I am thankful for…” — “Today I accomplished…”
• Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed
• Enjoy the ride. Remember that this is not Disney World and you certainly don’t want a fast pass. Make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
  — Author unknown

I am sure that we can each find many things to be thankful for each day. I know I am grateful for the supportive community that is Mount Lilydale Mercy College.

I know these might appear simplistic, but most realities are. I understand that families within our community are struggling, but please remember we are here to help. If you do not know who or where to seek help, please email me at principal@mlmc.vic.edu.au and I will direct your enquiry.

In the Spirit of Catherine, may each of you be blessed

God bless

Philip A Morison
Principal

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30

Heavenly Father
There are days where I feel weary and burdened.
Right now there is uncertainty and confusion and it is hard to plan for the future.
Help me to set aside these worries and turn to you.
Help me to trust that you have a plan for me, a plan that is greater than I can imagine.
As I place my trust in You, let your peace enfold me.
In finding rest for my soul, let me be one for others to lean on.
Let me grow strong in knowing I can freely give all my burdens to you.
Father, help me to accept your invitation and trust in your promise of hope.
Amen

Seminar for parents

Mr John Rodgers
Deputy Principal — Pastoral Care

Some of you will already know that Mount Lilydale Mercy College offers a new program at Year 9 called The Rite Journey. Created by Andrew Lines, it is a unique educational program designed to support the development of self-aware, vital, responsible and resilient adults. Andrew has worked with thousands of teachers in hundreds of schools to facilitate a process that honours the transition of children into a responsible, respectful and resilient adulthood.

On Monday 30 August, from 7.30pm, Andrew will be holding a free seminar dedicated to the topic of challenges parents face in raising teenagers. Parents and guardians can register HERE (or visit https://bit.ly/2WuJDmc) and then join in on Monday to hear Andrew share his insights on ways parents can raise responsible, respectful, resilient, resourceful adults.

Although many of you will dread more screen time, I have found Andrew to be a wonderful presenter and well worth a listen to. I recommend this seminar to all parents, not just those with children in Year 9.

Please know that the College is here to support families and assist where possible. Some of the ways we do this is through Homeroom, contact with the Year Level Leader or our Counselling team who during lockdowns use telehealth. The College also has an online check-in system called PULSE that allows students to indicate how they are feeling and reach out so staff can promptly respond to their needs.

A new initiative that has eventuated from the latest webinar from the College Counselling team is a Parent Support Group. The group was initiated by some parents looking for a forum to share ideas and check if what they are experiencing is what everyone else is going through. Shared, common experience is often easier to endure. If you would like to join this group, let me know and I will forward details to you.

Please remember if at any time you need support, the College is only a phone call away. Stay safe and stay in touch.

Supporting your child’s mental health

Mr John Rodgers
Deputy Principal — Pastoral Care

The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne has made a recording of a Wednesday 25 August webinar on how to support your child's mental health through the pandemic.

Click HERE to access the webinar recording.

The webinar was hosted by Dr Anthea Rhodes (paediatrician) with special guests Dr Ric Haslam (director, mental health), Dr Alice Morgan (clinical psychologist) and Professor Harriet Hiscock (paediatrician).

Click HERE to access a fact sheet shared by the Royal Children's Hospital.

Also, the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service has provided information regarding vaccinations for 12 to 15 year olds. Further details are in the flyer below.

Important dates

• Monday 30 August — parent seminar with Andrew Lines (details above)
• Monday 30 August — Year 7 2023 enrolment interviews via Zoom
• Monday 30 August–Friday 3 September — Health and Physical Education Week
• Friday 3 September — Student Progress Interviews (SPI) bookings close
• Tuesday 7 September — Student Progress Interviews (student free day)
• Thursday 9 September — General Achievement Test (GAT)
• Monday 6 September-Friday 10 September — Humanities Week

Parent forum

Mrs Tina Tasiopoulos
School Wellbeing Coordinator

The College's Counselling team is hosting an online forum in October to discuss issues such as anxiety, self-harm and depression. View the flyer below for further details.

Tips for parents

Mrs Tina Tasiopoulos
School Wellbeing Coordinator

The College Counselling team is offering the flyer below with some interesting tips about building resilience from parenting educator Michael Grose.

School crossings update

Parents and guardians are reminded that due to Stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions being extended, school crossings will not be operational until Friday 3 September (unless the restrictions are extended further).

Entries have started coming in for the MLMC Visual Arts Competition and they are amazing.

Early entries have captured our College beautifully, from Megan Rieschieck’s drawing of the Chapel to Thomas Hobley’s use of light behind Centennial Hall.

With students and staff now spending more time at home and unable to capture life at the College to celebrate our 125th year, the competition is expanding to encourage everyone to get creative while in lockdown with entries to reflect school life at the College or at home. They can be drawings, sculptures, photos, paintings or any medium.

This year there are double the prizes on offer, donated by both the Visual Arts and Religious Education faculties, with JB Hi-Fi vouchers up for grabs with awards for Junior (Year 7-9) and Senior (Year 10-12) students. Staff are also encouraged to participate.

It's not too late to enter. Entries are due by Friday 10 September 2021 for display on Mercy Day (Friday 17 September). Works are to be no larger than A2 size for display. Each student entering a work will receive a College commendation.

Year 9 International Cuisine students have been uncovering the history of Australian food this term. They started by taste testing, researching and cooking foods eaten by Indigenous Australians. They then looked at how early settlers, from what is now the United Kingdom, brought their food tastes with them, making cornish pasties.

Now students are experiencing the baking traditions that have become part of our modern Australian cuisine. They have made ANZAC biscuits and lamingtons. Charlotte Toohey is pictured above with her batch of lamingtons, while other students are pictured below.

Next, students will begin to take their food journey around the world, cooking and eating dishes from groups of people who have migrated to Australia over the past 200 plus years.

It has been wonderful to read about the students’ cooking-at-home adventures in their Food Diary entries. 

Year 7-10 students have also been in their kitchens at home cooking up a storm, baking muffins and cakes and other delicious delights for their families. Teacher Ms Madeleine Fitzpatrick has also shared some photos of her students and their creations (below).

Thank you to the parents for their support of these students in these tasks.

During the latest lockdown, the libraries team at MLMC have offered to students and staff the opportunity to participate in a Flash Fiction Challenge.

The premise behind a creative challenge is to give students a short break from their school work, to switch gears for a little while and to unblock their imaginations. This in turn helps students to refocus back on to school-based tasks.

Each day an image is posted on Simon. The challenge is for students and teachers to write a story of 30 words or less based on the prompt. Students may enter as many short stories as they like. Prizes will be awarded for both students and staff at the end of lockdown and the winners and their stories will be announced in a future newsletter.

It has been great to see students from every year level participating in the challenge and the library staff are thoroughly enjoying reading all of the short stories.

Below are three of the image prompts that have been the most popular so far and some of the entries, with judging still to happen. Maybe you can challenge yourself and be creative. Try writing a short story of 30 words or less yourself.

As always, if there are any questions about the Fast Fiction Challenge or anything else that the library staff can help with, parents and guardians are asked to contact us via email to library@mlmc.vic.edu.au

As part of the Year 10 VET Sport and Recreation course, students are currently studying a unit called ‘Use Social Media for Collaboration and Engagement’. They have been using Instagram and exercise app Strava as their chosen platforms to post workouts and tips to stay active and mental health reminders.

As part of this unit, the two classes are also running a competition on Strava for the most kilometres logged this month.

These are some examples of their work below.

In the 1940s the diphtheria epidemic swept through the College. Similar to lockdown today, in Victoria the girls had to quarantine for weeks and constantly have tests to make sure they were not ‘germ carriers’. Sadly one student passed away, but all the other students survived. The College has seen many world events, such as the Spanish Flu, two World Wars and the diphtheria outbreak — and one constant has been that the College is still standing. The community standing together with resilience to go on for another day, two, or 125 years! We, too, can do this.

1943 — Diphtheria Epidemic

During World War II there was an outbreak of the childhood disease diphtheria in Victoria. In 1943 it hit Mount Lilydale College and had a huge effect on the school.

Nell Morton (Class of 1944): “During my years at Lilydale we had an outbreak of diphtheria. Of course no visitors were allowed, and no home visits either. We were in quarantine for a number of weeks.”

Kay Reardon: “There was no vaccine in those days so we were quarantined for three months. We had throat swabs each week to see if we were germ carriers. I was in Grade 4 and I was the only girl left in my class who neither had diphtheria nor was infectious.”

Eveanne Choyce: “I was very ill and much of the time was in the blue and pink room upstairs, finally going to Fairfield Hospital.”

Kay Reardon: “We would see the ambulance come and someone would be going to the infectious diseases hospital. Two children and one teacher died.”

Nell Morton: “Unfortunately one of our girls died. Margaret Lowerson was her name. It was a sad time.”

Margaret Lowerson was from Myrtleford and was the eldest daughter of Albert Lowerson, who had been awarded the Victoria Cross — the highest award for gallantry — during the First World War.

This year we celebrated Science Week with our MLMC students from Monday 16 August to Friday 20 August despite the challenges of remote learning.

Our Year 7 students participated in an incursion with Reptile Encounters from their homes. Students learned about how to classify all living things and that we are constantly changing our understanding of the living world. They were introduced to a variety of insects and reptiles, including a crocodile, python and shingleback lizard, as well as other animals including a barn owl. The students engaged in video discussion to learn about our Australian animals, their adaptations and challenges they face in the wild.

Our VCE students have been working very hard over the last few months and we asked them to share some photos of their science studies showing the great work that they are doing at home.

Our students were also encouraged to explore and take part in a number of online National Science Week initiatives.

The theme of this year's Science Week (16-20 August) was the future of food. To encapsulate this, a daily quiz question was released on the student portal along with a link to give them the opportunity to discover more about the answer. Questions relating to genetic splicing, food in space and food science all appeared, testing the knowledge and curiosity of the students. Thanks to all the students and staff who participated in the various activities.
— Science Prefect Connor Taylor

Year 7 Science students are studying classification at the moment. Our Environment Prefect, Gabriella Vukman, was recently a guest speaker for remote learning classes with 7 Silver and 7 Jade.

Gabriella has always been interested in the environment, participating in climate change walks, watching David Attenborough videos and reading widely to broaden her knowledge. She is passionate about making a difference at the College by promoting action and living sustainably. Gabriella believes education about the issue of sustainability and the environment should be deemed a top priority as it effects our entire schooling generation.

Below Gabriella writes about the experience:

I had an opportunity in the past week to chat to Year 7 students about the importance of trees and the role they play in slowing down climate warming. I spoke about the mycorrhizal networks and how this symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi could also be a more complicated ‘economic exchange’. I then asked the students to take a photo of themselves with their favourite tree in their backyard and have a chat about its importance within their ecosystem and also whether or not the tree belonged there or was native to that area. Mr Banfield also showed the class a powerpoint on indigenous sacred trees. It was a great learning experience.