Dear Members of the Mount Lilydale Mercy College community
Year 7s
Last week our 2019 Year 7 group enjoyed each other’s company at camp. The first two groups camped from Monday to Wednesday, one at Gundiwindi Lodge in Wandin and the other at the Mount Evelyn YMCA. While both groups did get some rain in the middle of the camp, most enjoyed great activities, great food and the opportunity to make great friendships. While the first half of Year 7 camped, the second half participated in the Stepping Forward program, which involved guest speaker Sharon Witt talking about ‘Surviving High School’, the distribution of Chromebooks, workshops on the Mercy story and Catherine McAuley, library orientation, study skills, cyber safety and learning styles. They also completed some further testing. On Wednesday, the groups swapped over and the second group attended camp. The end of the week saw some very tired campers — and they were just the staff. I managed to visit each camp for a short time and witnessed the great work of all involved.
Helping our northern neighbours
Also over the last week, a member of our community contacted me and told me of the dire situation with the recent floods in north west and far north Queensland and how they had impacted on her family. You would be aware that in recent times southern Queensland and northern NSW have been experiencing severe drought and bushfires. The situation is even worse in far north Queensland. Having experienced a long period of severe drought, the region has been devastated by severe flooding, followed by temperature variations that saw substantial amounts of stock perish. ABC TV show Landline reported it as a “perfect storm”, with the numbers of stock lost estimated at more than 500,000 head. The flooding has also caused substantial infrastructure damage that will take a prolonged, dedicated effort to overcome and rebuild.
Issues, as described above, cause personal loss and financial hardship and often periods of mental health issues and depression follow. As a community, we have decided we must do something to help. The intent is:
- To hold a casual clothes day fundraiser on Friday, 1 March
- BBQs will also operate at lunchtime to support this cause
- We will also provide information to be shared in Homerooms to educate students about the issues being faced in the region.
Parents, guardians and other family members might like to support this cause and should feel free to make a donation through the College office. Simply put the money in an envelope and mark it ‘College Far North Queensland Appeal’.
MLMC will donate all funds raised through the St Vincent De Paul society. Later in the year, we will again look to see how we can support our northern neighbours. Please support us in our endeavours. I have written a letter to each family providing more details of our plans, which should be available on the parent portal. It gives details of other organisations you might consider supporting if you so choose.
New Australian Government Data Collection
The Australian Government has asked schools to collect the 2019 student residential addresses and other information for them. The information being collected is:
- Student residential address (not student names)
- Student level of education (i.e. whether the student is a primary or secondary student)
- Student boarding school status (i.e. whether the student is boarding or a day student)
- Names and residential addresses of students’ parent(s) and/or guardian(s).
This data is being collected to assist the Australian Government to move towards a fairer, needs-based funding arrangement for non-government schools. The College has been asked to provide parents with two documents which are available on the Parent Portal.
- 2019 Student Residential Address and Other Information Collection Notice
- Frequently Asked Questions (about the data collection).
Families will find these two documents also available to them on the Parent Portal.
College Swimming Carnival
As we go to press, so to speak, I am aware the College Swimming Carnival is being conducted at Lilydale Pool in almost perfect weather conditions. Although a meeting has me off site today, I hope all students and families are enjoying the great carnival atmosphere. More on the Carnival will be included in the next newsletter.
God bless
Principal
Philip A Morison
