Harmony Week, from 17-23 March, is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds. It is a recognition that ‘Everyone belongs’. It’s about inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging for everyone. Today is Harmony Day. At OLMC, we recognise that we are a very diverse community. We are proud of our diversity and strive to make all feel welcome and share in a sense of belonging.

On Tuesday 11 March, it was a great privilege to attend ‘Top Class’ to watch Natasha Agati from the Class of 2024 perform ‘Rosie of the North’, her piece from Year 12 Drama at the Melbourne Recital Centre before an audience of Year 12 students, staff, parents and friends. Her performance was extraordinary. Each year only a small number of high achieving students from Drama are invited to audition for the final performances. Congratulations must also go to Matilda Butterworth and Charlotte Daffey, who were also invited to audition. It is an exceptional achievement for Our Lady of Mercy College and our Drama teacher, Ms Felicia Taine, to have three students invited to audition and an honour for Natasha to be selected.

Last week was also NAPLAN week. Students from Year 7 and 9 completed tests over the course of the week. The results will not be available until later in the year. The results are added to the suite of data that enables teachers and leaders understand the learning needs of our students and plan accordingly. It is a snapshot in time and, therefore, one piece of a very big picture of each student.

Thank you to all the parents who attended one of the Time and Space events held over the last two weeks. The feedback from students and parents confirmed the value of the events. They form an important part of our commitment to our partnership with parents and the building of connections across our community.

We have only two weeks left before the Term break. A reminder to families that the term break for students will this year be three weeks. We are not planning to continue this beyond 2025, but the extraordinary timing of Easter and Anzac Day was key to informing our decision.

The decision to provide the third week was not one taken lightly and to achieve this, we have moved some student free days from other parts of the year into this week. However, the College will remain open and staff will be at school. We will take the chance to engage in some important professional development. The second date of the Parent / Student / Teacher Interviews will take place in that week. We expect to see all students return to school for the start of Term 2 on Monday 28 April.

This week, we pause our Lenten observance to celebrate Catholic Education Week with the archdiocese theme of ‘Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you’ (Is 60: 1) which draws from the motto of the Holy Year, the Year of Jubilee, and the Australian Catholic Youth Festival’s theme – ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.

This week also marks two great feasts, Monday - St Patrick and Wednesday - St Joseph.

We celebrate the unique gift of Catholic Education. We give thanks for those many faith-filled religious women and men, who have given their lives in service of our communities, seeking only to be God’s love in action. We also hold gently those whom our system has failed. May we, the people of God, at this time of renewal, seek in our work and as a community to be God’s love in action. Let us pray…

Loving God, help us,
deepen our understanding of
what it means to be the people of God,
where the relationship with you and another one is central to our being.
Guide our feet to walk in the ways of Jesus.
Help our hands create a welcoming and inclusive world.
May Your love inspire us and Your light sustain us.
We ask this in the name of Your Son,
Who is here among us,
Urged by the love of Christ.

Amen.

A Reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent
Written by Michael McGirr for 2025 Project Compassion.

Genesis 15:5–12. 17–18 | Ps 26:1. 7–9. 13–14. R. v.1 | Philippians 3:17 – 4:1 | Luke 9:28–36

Today’s Gospel brings us a wonderful moment in the education of Jesus’ friends.

Jesus was always trying to teach them about the mystery of life, and we can take heart from the fact that they were often slow learners. Peter, James and John see Jesus transfigured on the top of a mountain. But the vision doesn’t last long. Peter, always practical, wants to build tents so they can stay in the moment. But no, the journey to Calvary lies ahead where they will see Jesus disfigured. Eventually, they will put it together that transfiguration and disfigurement are two sides of the same coin.

This week, Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion shares another story of education. We visit a primary school in Samoa with 400 students and 11 teachers. Until 2023, the school had no reliable access to fresh water. At times, teachers had to fetch water from neighbouring families, and this took considerable time out of the day and limited classes. It also meant that each class had a single bucket of drinking water for everyone to share. Thanks to your generosity, this has now changed.

Education can continue uninterrupted. You might even say, that thanks to those who support Project Compassion, disfigured lives have been transfigured.

Samoa may seem a long way away but let us think for a moment of some of the words Jesus said on the night before he died. He prayed ‘may they all be one.’ We see the high price of division and conflict in so many places. People face each other with such hostility. As we Unite Against Poverty, we are slowly creating the solution. Our actions are teaching the world to see possibilities more than problems. Just as his friends saw Jesus in a brilliant new light, so too must we see the whole human family with its true dignity.

If you can support Project Compassion 2025 'Unite Against Poverty This Lent' please donate here:

https://www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion/

Photo: Toefuata’iga (age 13) fills up her water bottle from a Samoan primary school’s water tank. Credit: Caritas Australia.

On Tuesday 1 April and Wednesday 23 April we will be holding Parent / Student / Teacher interviews via Google Meet. Bookings can now be made for the interviews via PAM.

An email communication regarding these interviews was sent on Monday 3 March, as well as instructions as to how to join the meets and a support phone number for the interviews.

We ask that your daughter is present for the interviews as it is about her and her learning. These meetings are an important opportunity to discuss learning and an opportunity to acknowledge both effort and achievement. It is also an opportunity to consider current challenges and to discuss strategies to support future growth.

Bookings will close on Monday 31 March at 12.00 pm, and then reopen on Wednesday 2 April.

We look forward to the opportunity to have these conversations.

Both Tuesday 1 April and Wednesday 23 April are student free days.

I recently had the opportunity to speak to Year 7 and Year 8 students at their respective assemblies. At these assemblies I acknowledged that this is a particularly busy time of the term, and this is the case every term. The last three to four weeks of a term is often when knowledge and skill development across the term is being applied in an assessment.

I used the image of a roller coaster to connect with this time of the school year. Why?

Well, it may not be the perfect simile but there were two reasons I mentioned the roller coaster. Firstly, to acknowledge that learning is an emotional experience. There are a whole range of emotions that we may experience when trying to learn something, be it frustration or awe, and the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when we have been able to apply our understanding successfully. Much like a waiting in line for a roller coaster and then the ride itself, the process of learning can make us feel excited, tense, worried and joyous. Such feelings are not uncommon, and it is not unusual to move back and forward between these emotions.

The second reason is to consider what strategies we may be able to use to better navigate the highs and lows and the sense of things racing out of control. Strategies such as having a routine for completing homework each evening and writing down the tasks to be completed in a session or week can help provide us with a greater sense of control over our time. Breaking tasks up into smaller chunks can also help us focus in on part of a task, help us with motivation and build some momentum, and reduce the sense of being overwhelmed and not knowing where to start. Breaking our study and homework time up into 20–30-minute blocks can also help us to remain focused and give a greater sense of purpose and can even out some of the emotional responses. When these strategies lead to success and routine, then there is a greater sense of control and of making progress. The more one rides a roller coaster, the emotional extremes lessen, or so I have been told.

To the Year 7s and 8s I mentioned that we may not get it perfect, but we will make progress in our time management. Once the task has been returned, students will undertake a reflection on SIMON underneath the task. That reflection is an opportunity to identify what has been achieved, the steps taken, and to also consider what may be done differently next time.

On SIMON students have access to the OLMC Study Habits Website that contains a number of resources on time management, motivation and goal setting.

The Old Melbourne Gaol. It's such a mysterious, historic, and incredible building filled with thousands of memories and stories. As part of Horizon, we got to experience the ghostly gaol for a day. First, we had a tour explaining stories about the ingenious ways some women escaped and other stories about the gaol which were fascinating and riveting. We then had the opportunity to walk around and experience the gaol closer and learn about some ghost stories.

Afterwards, we did a fun roleplay at the Old Courts, which helped us learn what the courts were like back then, as well as re-enacting a court case. The main highlights of the day were spending time learning about Melbourne's heritage, the women, and the torment some Aboriginal prisoners went through, as well as spending time with our friends talking about the extraordinary Old Melbourne Gaol.

Anjelina J 9B

Food for Thought

There has been a productive buzz in our wonderful DAT kitchens as Food Studies students have been donning their aprons, washing their hands and rolling up their sleeves to develop new culinary skills whilst applying their learnings around nutrition, sustainability, farming practices, global food chains and the importance of safe food handling practices.

Already this year we have trialled many nutritious and some quite complex dishes across our classes.

Mark Jenkinson
Design, Art and Technology Learning Leader

Mother's Day Celebration

Thursday 8 May 2025 7:00 pm

Join us as we celebrate Mother’s Day with an evening supper.

Look out for your invite and raffle details!

We look forward to celebrating all the amazing mothers and mother figures in our lives with you!

OLMC Parents’ Association

Follow the official Our Lady of Mercy College accounts on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. We’ll be sharing regular news, student achievements and stories from around the College.