Dear members of the MLMC community

I am not very good with social media and often younger staff members joke with me trying to teach the ins and outs of various platforms like Instagram, but I struggle to commit the necessary time to it. I have had a Facebook account for a long time, but I do not make much use of it, much to the chagrin of old friends who detail trips, shows and family events on their pages, but I do not. I do, however, follow some pages like ‘Nobel Prize’ which mostly keep me connected with those who have made great scientific discoveries and thus have been honoured.

So, two things of interest have got me thinking this week.

The first relates to the story I shared with you in May about Maurice Hillman, who is considered the father of modern vaccines in developing the mumps vaccine in about 1963. He was never awarded a Nobel prize. The second thing of interest I read was that actor Robert Redford had developed polio as a child, which lead me to think of the many pictures of children in iron lungs struggling to breath. Polio was, and still is, a disabling and life-threatening disease which spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord causing paralysis and an inability to breath. Much work was done to find a cure and two vaccines were developed; the first by Jonas Salk which used inactivated (killed) virus and one by Albert Sabin who used an attenuated (weakened) virus. Both were developed and I understand are still in use with advantages and disadvantages to both. You can read about them HERE if you wish. Neither Salk nor Sabin received the Nobel prize, but years after the vaccine’s development, Salk would recount that sometimes he would meet people who would not even know what polio was — which he found tremendously gratifying.

In the years to come perhaps people will look back and tell a similar story of the great COVID-19 outbreaks of 2020 and 2021 and the work done to find vaccines.

Over these last weeks, I have received a number of questions about the nature of vaccination in our College, the compulsory nature of it, vaccination certificates, if the College will be administering it to students and will it be required to attend exams and the like.

Firstly, the decision to vaccinate is a family decision and not one that can be imposed by the College. If the opportunity becomes available for the College to help in this by providing an opportunity for vaccination under regulated guidelines, then we would do so, but again only with parental consent.

As to the question of compulsory vaccination to attend exams and on campus, I do not believe any such directive has been given by the government and MLMC will always follow the directives and guidelines provided by the government, the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) and Mercy Education Limited.

Having said the above, members of the government have voiced that the current strain is a virus that seems to be caught by the young and the unvaccinated. The government is encouraging young people to be vaccinated. I once again in the attachment below provide the guidelines issued for students aged 16 and above. Please feel free to read them.

The government is strongly encouraging all senior students to be vaccinated before their exams and hopefully this will come to fruition. This week, we have seen the announcement that regional Victoria will slowly open with some students being permitted to attend on-campus classes. Hopefully, with increased vaccination rates, we will see a decrease in the daily spread and very soon an opportunity for our students to return to MLMC as the campus seems almost lifeless without them. Our College exists for them and only becomes fully alive with their presence.

As this is the last newsletter for the term, I do want to thank you for all the support and work you have all done in helping our students during remote learning. I know it has not been easy and the ambiguity and constant extensions of lockdown No.6 have only made it more difficult. Let us remain positive as we approach the future, knowing that everything possible is being done to keep our community safe and to keep our students focused with their learning. A very special vote of thanks must be afforded to the teaching and support staff who continue to work tirelessly in this endeavour.

Some items of note:

(1) College Musical

At the end of last week, I made a video to inform the cast and crew of Matilda that sadly the Musical has been cancelled again in 2021. We have done everything possible including several attempts at rescheduling to have live performances, however, it is no longer possible. I congratulate the cast and crew, the support staff and all involved with the production. You have maintained a positivity and worked tirelessly in the hope of performance and I thank you. I am deeply sorry that the “show could not go on”. We look forward to the Musical of 2022.

(2) Mercy Day/ Mercy Week

Next week was to be our celebration of all things Mercy for 2021, in the year of our 125-year celebration. In particular, during our celebration of Mercy, we give thanks for all those who have come before us and for their dedication to service. Again this year, we find ourselves in lockdown, which will hinder our celebrations, and so next Friday our timetable will be a Mercy Day timetable to allow some celebration, although remotely.

Please find below the bell times for Mercy Day on Friday 17 September. On this day, we will have six shorter periods to allow each class some time:

• Homeroom: 8.50-9.00am
• Mercy Day Homeroom Liturgy: 9.00-10.00am
• Recess: 10.00-10.20am (20 minutes)
• P1: 10:25-10.58am (33min)
• P2: 10.58-11.31am (33 min)
• P3: 11.31am-12.04pm (33 min)
• Lunch: 12:04-12.40pm
• P4: 12:44-1.17pm (33min)
• P5: 1.17-1.50pm (33min)
• P6: 1.50-2.23pm (33 min)
• Homeroom: 2.23-2.30pm.

(3) College Closure

In line with the principle that if you can work from home, you must work from home, the College will be fully closed during the September holiday period, with only a small number of maintenance and IT staff on campus. All other staff will either be on holidays or working from home. The College Office will be closed and the phones on answering machine.

If students need to visit the campus to collect any materials please ensure that this is done some time next week. Students will be required to sign in at the Office and wear masks.

If you need to contact the College during the holidays please email principal@mlmc.vic.edu.au and I will ensure the email is directed to the correct person. It will be followed up in a timely manner as needed.

If any news about changes are announced over the holidays, I will contact you via a video message which will be uploaded onto the Portal and you will receive a SMS message.

Again, I thank you for your support and I wish you every blessing as we move forward with positivity and hope.

In the spirit of Catherine

God bless

Philip A Morison
Principal

The Feast of Our Lady of Mercy — 24 September

This feast day is a very special day for all associated with the Sisters of Mercy. On this day we celebrate the opening of the House of Mercy in Dublin, which included the very first Mercy classroom. On Mercy Day each year, Sisters renew their consecration to Mary by a special prayer, placing their lives and their works under her patronage. This is a simple and beautiful prayer that I encourage you to pray daily. It seems particularly relevant in these difficult times.

Mary, Mother of Mercy,
across the ages you stretch out your protective mantle
to those most vulnerable
and whose need cries out for justice and mercy.
Show us, in these our times,
how to empty ourselves to receive God’s mercy as you did,
so that we too can shelter and enable
those without voice or power.
We pray this in Jesus’ name.

Amen

Important dates

• Friday 17 September — Mercy Day
• Friday 17 September — End of Term 3 (College Office closes at 4.00pm)
• Friday 24 September — AFL Grand Final Eve public holiday
  
• Monday 4 October — Start of Term 4 (College Office opens at 8.00am)
• Tuesday 5 October — General Achievement Test (GAT)

Guide for using our portals

Ms Kathy Broadbent
Administration Team Leader

Parents and guardians are advised that the user guide for our online Parent Portal and Parent Access Module (PAM) has been updated. The portals are accessible via the College website.

You can find a copy of the guide by clicking on the attachment below.

College Office closure

Ms Kathy Broadbent
Administration Team Leader

The College Office will close at the end of Term 3, from 4.00pm on Friday 17 September. Office staff will work from home during the first week of the holidays and the office will remain closed until it reopens on Monday 4 October 2021 (the first day of Term 4). The Administration email address will be monitored during the first week. Email inquiries to: administration@mlmc.vic.edu.au

Upcoming 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.

As part of Health and PE Week, held from Monday 30 August to Friday 3 September, the Health and PE Faculty encouraged students to get outside with a member from their household to ‘walk and talk’. Next month the Black Dog Institute will launch the One Foot Forward campaign for October, which is Mental Health Month. The campaign will be asking people to walk in solidarity for the one in five people in Australia who experience symptoms of mental illness every year.

Last week our students were encouraged to walk and talk as a call to action for the upcoming awareness month. It was wonderful to see students from all year levels supporting the ‘walk and talk’. Walking and talking can break down barriers and make people feel less confronted than if they were chatting face to face.

The additional benefit gained was the break from screens and the chance to be physically active. Two classes that did this exceptionally well were Year 7 Purple and Year 8 Orange. Year 7 Purple students covered over 262km for the week while Year 8 Orange students together accumulated over 452km! Both homerooms are to be congratulated for their outstanding contributions to the MLMC campaign.

Students with the highest number of kilometres covered will be notified shortly and asked to select a prize from a range of sporting equipment options.

The College farm, an important feature of MLMC, has continued to play a vital part in the welfare of students this term. The VET Agriculture students have live-streamed practical classes from the sheep paddocks to cover off practical assessments in monitoring and providing sheep health. Year 10 and 11 Agriculture and Horticulture students have also taken part in junior judging of sheep in a competition run by the Royal Melbourne Show. Every opportunity has been sought to bring engaging and meaningful learning activities to the students, even while in remote learning.

We are hopeful, that with the roll out of vaccines a return to normal schooling will see an explosion of activity on the College farm. To this end, Farm Assistant Mr Peter Damen has been working tirelessly to maintain and continue the programs on the farm in readiness for students to return.

He has also had assistance from those students who have been on site, who visit the lambs, goats and chickens daily (pictures in the gallery below). Staff from our First Aid team have been taking students to the farm for some cuddles with the animals, which will help to make the lambs less skittish, to help with feeding and to collect the eggs.

Happily the College’s rose wine, produced this year from our vineyard, was bottled this week. Year 7 student Leim Sawyer (pictured) was on hand to assist with the process.

Our senior VCE Visual Communication and Design students are nearing the end of the development of their folios and final work for the year. Four students have provided an insight into their work.

Alec Grebe (Year 12 Silver) is working on a PC case design and has been creating it using a platform called Blender. His brief was for a PC component company and it includes the PC case product design and branding applied to a website. He will be 3D printing the PC case for his final work.

Bridie Moon (Year 12 Red) is creating branding and a horse rug, for use to cool (or warm) a horse before or after exercising so they don't rapidly heat or cool which can be fatal to horses. The client is a horse store called First Class Equine which is for high-end horse supplies.

Cooper Murray and Marisa Lopez Garza (both Year 11 Purple) are working on a typography poster using an inspirational quote that would be used in a cafe as decor. Each student in Year 11 was sent art supplies (watercolour paints, brushes and calligraphy pens) to create handcrafted type and imagery for their poster design from home.

I congratulate all of the VCD students for their amazing work this year.

Due to the cancellation of EISM cross country competition, and it being highly unlikely that we would be able to hold the MLMC cross country, we decided to hold our House Cross Country Carnival ‘virtually. The students who wanted to participate completed and recorded a 3km run (or walk) from their homes and submitted evidence of their run to be in contention for a medal and earn valuable House points.

Congratulations to all the students who participated, and for the following students for recording the fastest times in their year levels:

If you have any student achievements, please email them to me at dwebb@mlmc.vic.edu.au

One of our Old Collegians has been seen in newspapers and on TV frequently of late due to his role in the Victorian Government. The Hon James Merlino MLA (pictured above with former Deputy Principal Mr Michael Johnston) is a former student of the College and has always supported the Old Collegians’ Association and has given back to the College many times. Most recently he came to the College to officially open the Mercy Learning Centre in 2019. He attributes his passion and love for politics to his senior years and teachers at the College.

HON JAMES MERLINO MLA

James Merlino (Class of 1990) attended the College from 1985 to 1990 and went on to study Arts (Political Science) at Melbourne University. In 1997 he served as a councillor on the Yarra Ranges Council, including a period as Deputy Mayor. He left this position when he was elected to the Victorian Parliament in 2002 as the Member for Monbulk in the Legislative Assembly.

Following the 2006 state election he was appointed the Minister for Sport, Recreation and Youth Affairs in the Bracks Government as well as the Minister assisting the Premier on Multicultural Affairs. In 2010, he served as the Minister for Police and the Minister for Corrections.

After the 2014 election, he was sworn in as the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education in the Andrews Government. James later became the Minister for Emergency Services but returned to the role of Minister for Education after the 2018 election. He was inducted into the MLMC Mercy Honour Roll in 2013.

Another former student, Lizzie Blandthorn (Class of 1995), was elected in 2014 as the Member for Pascoe Vale in the Legislative Assembly, while John Michael McLindon (Class of 2001) served for four years as Chief of Staff for Premier Daniel Andrews. John Michael has had a long connection with the Old Collegians’ Association and was inducted into the Mercy Honour Roll in 2016.

Our Year 11 VET Sport and Recreation classes have been getting creative over the last couple of weeks with their coaching assessment tasks completed during remote learning. The students have been creating and facilitating physical activity sessions for their families.

Making the most of the spaces, resources and family members available in their homes, they have run a variety of sessions including frisbee, golf, netball and yoga.

Well done to all of our students who are having to adapt their tasks during remote learning.