Principal's Welcome

Mrs Loretta Wholley, Principal

Welcome to 2019 and the celebration of our 60th anniversary. I would like to especially welcome our new Year 7s and students who have joined the Merici Community in Years 8 through to Year 11.

 

Whilst it was a very warm summer, I loved spending time with my family and watching my daughters grow. Not to mention reading a few books and catching up on some series on the television. I too got the “tidying” bug that many others did and found myself trying to make my surroundings at home simpler by deciding to reduce, reuse and recycle those things that didn’t “spark joy” any more. I do not think I was alone in this endeavour.

 

Celebrating our 2018 Achievements

Year 12 students received their Year 12 ACT Senior Secondary Certificate. 71% of students set their goals on achieving an ATAR in 2018 and all achieved this milestone. Our median ATAR was 77.1. Over 87% of students who sat for the AST and completed a T Package received 65+, this is an outstanding achievement. In this cohort of 112 students, we had 98.2% of students received a Vocational Qualification and this was well above the next in line College in the ACT.

 

Staffing

We congratulate the following staff on their new positions:

Renee Taylor - Deputy Principal Learning                            

Jen Baines - Acting English/Languages Coordinator

 

We welcome new teachers:

Karen Evans - Balgo House Coordinator, History

Ellie Graham - English

Thomas Hatton - Maths

Damien Maier - Maths, Technology

Colin McGregor - Brescia House Coordinator, Integrated Humanities

Agi Ryan - Maths, Legal Studies

Fiona Spencer - Psychologist

Amanda Verrier - Penola House Coordinator, Religious Education, Digital Technology

 

We welcome back from leave:

Ms Chris Fraser and Mr Fabrice Boone

 

 

Theme for 2019

2019 celebrates our 60th Anniversary – “fidelitas”, it is the motto on our crest and means faithfulness in Latin. We also have a symbol this year, which is the fleur-de-lis, also found on our crest it is associated with Our Lady and mother of Jesus – Mary. We will spend time this year remembering the shoulders we stand on: our six founding religious orders and the 4 religious orders who followed them and the non-religious (lay) teachers and of course, the 10,000 students who have walked these corridors at various times in our history.

 

Learning Focus –the International Baccalaureate and Inquiry Learning

All teaching staff have completed the International Baccalaureate (IB) Launching the Middle Years Program (MYP) workshop and have created units for Years 7 and 8. The aim of the IB program is to develop internationally minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. IB Learners strive to be: Reflective, Open-minded, Risk-takers, Caring, Balanced, Principled, Knowledgeable, Inquirers, Communicators, Thinkers. Merici will continue to work towards our application to become an IB accredited school over the course of the year for both the MYP and Diploma Years Program (DP).

 

Communication

I use this opportunity to remind parents to only message or call your daughter during recess and lunch. Recess is 10.41-11.01am and Lunch is 12.44-1.24pm. All students can access their phones at this time. Please do not message or call during class time. If it is urgent and/or an emergency, we ask that you call reception, they will find a trusted adult that will deliver the message to your daughter and support her. If your daughter contacts you during the school day and is not feeling well, please encourage her to find her PC or House Coordinator.

 

If contacting a staff member, I ask that you please be patient. Most of our teaching staff are full time and therefore cannot access their emails or the phone message system. They will contact you within a 48-hour period.

 

Please read the Merici College Expectations, Uniform and Positive Peer Relations policy and the Digital Community agreement found in your daughter’s student planner for more details.

 

Updates to the calendar or events scheduled for our 60th Anniversary celebrations, news and photos can be found on - https://merici.news . Or you are most welcome to follow our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts.  I look forward to seeing you all at upcoming Information Evenings and the Community BBQ.

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