It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of another year. The year began busy as always, preparing and distributing over 3,633 textbooks within the first few weeks. Term 1 saw us engaged and celebrating being back at school, displays were created, we set up the WIDE reading program and began the database and research lessons.
Merici iC hosted a couple of events through 2025, these being the Interschool Girls Chess Competition (18 Merici students attended) and the Canberra Heat of the Kids’ Lit Quiz (34 teams attended from across Canberra, 4 of which were from Merici). One Merici team came second in the Kids’ Lit Quiz Canberra Heat and Freya Seagrott, Jasmine D’Ambrosio, Pia Lawrence and Grace Speirs travelled to Sydney to compete in the National Final. Both were very successful events offering amazing opportunities for students from our own community and for other schools to attend.
Term 2 holidays saw the arrival of the new furniture in the iC Flexi space. This flexible furniture has proven to be very popular with the entire school community, from students studying, friends playing cards to teachers finding a space to mark. The space continues to evolve to meet the needs of the school community.
We continue to offer opportunities for students to be involved in reading and literature. This year we again participated in the Year 7 & 8 Readers Cup competition and we entered 4 teams to compete at Canberra Grammar School in late October. We were also involved in the CBCA Shadow Judging. In the lead up to Term 3, we transformed our reading club into the Book Week Committee. This team of creative and amazing young people enthusiastically planned and delivered a very successful Book Week. The participation level of Book Week continues to grow, with this year being the most participated in Book Week yet. A new Lego creation competition was introduced with three entries. We had 22 cakes entered in the Cake Decorating Competition, 20 teams entered the lunch time trivia and the Dress up Parade on the Friday in the Auditorium. So much fun was had by all.
Term 3 also saw us welcome Katrina Nannestad to Merici for her author visit for Year 7 and writers’ workshop for interested individuals from Years 7 – 12.
None of the activities or events above would have been possible and the iC would not be the hub of the school without the wonderful work of the Information Centre staff. It is with gratitude I acknowledge Ms. Kim Hekimian, Mrs. Anne Lange and Mrs. Nicole Dwyer Johns for everything they do to keep the Information Centre looking enticing, running smoothly, meeting the resource needs of both staff and students, and remaining the safe place for all in our school community. It was with sadness that we farewelled Anne Lange at the end of Semester 1, we wish her every happiness in her retirement.
Mrs. Ann Blakey
Teacher Librarian
