Academic Awards Semester 1 2018

Submitted by mericiadmin on August 6, 2018 - 2:35pm

"When people say you have the power and potential to change the world – believe them! But more importantly – believe in yourself." Caitlin Figueiredo

Celebrating the achievements of all our students!

On Monday 6 August the Merici College school community celebrated the academic achievements of students in Semester 1, 2018 with over 250 students receiving awards that highlight their effort and joy of learning.

Mrs Wholley welcomed all parents, carers and students to the ceremony. She spoke to the community about preparing the students for a complex world.

“In March this year the government released the findings of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools. It is nicknamed the Gonski 2 report, but should not be confused with the Gonski 2 funding. There were many positive recommendations that came through the report and heartening overarching statements. Ultimately the report found that all teachers and schools across Australia aspire to give to their students a world-class education, tailored to individual learning needs and relevant to a fast-changing world. The report also challenged schools to prepare students for a complex world, where students would be able to respond, be flexible and agile to the demands of a rapidly changing workplace. Stating that “more jobs will require a higher level of skill, and more school leavers will need skills that are not easily replicated by machines, such as problem-solving, interactive and social skills and critical and creative thinking skills.

This report was followed up with the Department of Jobs and Small Business, Australian Jobs 2018 edition which provides trend data in the Australian labour market to support job seekers and providers, career advisers and those interested in future training and work. This document was presented by the Senator to a group of Merici Business and Accounting students. Whilst the statistics were fascinating, especially those that compared females vs males and areas of decline vs growth – what was very clear was the impact of technology on the changing life of work and productivity. While technology is decreasing the demand for some occupations it is also creating opportunities through the need for workers to develop, use or supervise the operation of new technologies.

As we are aware, future job seekers will most likely, have several careers across a range of occupations and therefore employers will have an increasing focus on transferable skills which enable workers to adapt. These skills include digital literacy, critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, team work, communication and personal presentation skills. Aptitudes such as passion, strong work ethic, positive attitude, reliability, commitment, adaptability, resilience and entrepreneurial skills will also be important.

It also highlighted the need for us to maintain a positive online profile, given that employers now check this prior to interviews. Higher qualifications will be considered a necessity – with most people completing more than one Tertiary degree from a university or complementing it with a Vocational Certificate (all of which will be highly sought after). Interestingly the median annual income for VET graduates in 2017 was $55000 compared to $60000 for a University graduate.

So with all this data and future recommendations, where does this leave the 700 young women and 65 teachers and 20 support staff at Merici College? The Gonski 2 report asks us to ensure all students have the opportunity to be partners in their learning, strengthen the development of the general capabilities (skills outlined above: literacy, numeracy, ICT capability, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, intercultural understanding, ethical understanding), strengthen engagement with parents and community partners such as business and higher education institutions, support teachers with their professional learning and update the design of curriculum, assessment and reporting and ensure that the curriculum maximises learning growth for all students.

Last Monday Merici College were excited to announce that we have been successful in our application to be a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme and we are now on our journey to gather evidence for our authorisation to be recognised as an IB World School. It means we will be able to offer students the whole package, the Middle Years Programme for all students in Years 7-10 and the Diploma Programme for Years 11/12 for those who wish to apply. We will be the Catholic option for an IB World high school in Canberra and what a fantastic position to be in.

The Middle Years Programme will be the National curriculum for our junior years from Year 7 to 10. The 8 subject groups in the MYP plus Religious Education will provide students with a breadth of knowledge. There are also interdisciplinary units in each year level, that allow students and teachers to make the connections across subject groups.

The benefits of an IB education is that it embraces students and teacher’s curiosity. It is an inquiry based curriculum framework which allows students to explore their own interests. It has inquiry as a focus by design, rather than chance or left up to the individual teacher, which means that all students engage with the process, and this makes outcomes for students more rich and relevant to them as students understand what they are learning, rather than just memorising it. It emphasises the holistic learning of the child, and engages the teacher as a learner as the students take the teacher in a direction they want to go in.

The MYP develops learners who become responsible for their own learning, who make choices in the way they learn, what they learn, and what they do with that learning. A real benefit is the fact that the IB is internationally recognised. In our global market we need global citizens who are internationally minded, and who are prepared for taking a leading role in the community and job market, and this link as part of an IB World community makes it easier for students to engage with people around the globe.”

The community also welcomed ex-student: Caitlin Figueiredo to the ceremony. Caitilin is a proud multicultural Australian, social entrepreneur, activist, and Merici Alumni. She sits on three United Nations Task Forces with her work spanning five continents. At 20 years old, Caitlin was named one of Australia's 100 Most Influential Women and an Obama White House Changemaker for Gender Equality by the President and Michelle Obama. Caitlin represents 4.3 million young Australians as a Board Director of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, and in partnership with UN Women founded Jasiri Australia, a youth led movement on a mission to build a generation of fearless women with the skills, support, and resilience to lead change. Caitlin was included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for organising the world’s largest Girls Takeover Parliament Program with the Federal Parliament to promote democracy and increase female representation. Currently completing a Double Degree in Law and International Development, Caitlin runs a small education business and was named ACT Young Woman of the Year and a 2018 Queen's Young Leader.

Caitlin spoke to the students about the difficulties and challenges she has faced and how she has learnt that the way in which we view ourselves will have an impact on our success in the world, on all levels. “Every single day I get to wake up to the best job in the world – a job that allows me to work with incredible young people like yourselves here in Australia – and overseas with big organisations like the United Nations. I have struggled with mental illness and Merici has taught me a lot. It was my home, it gave me great friends, it fostered my passions like art – in fact I have two art works in this school that will probably outlive me. It taught me to love life and push boundaries and when I fail – it taught me to always get back up. I owe a lot to this school, in particular, its amazing teachers who believed in me when I couldn’t - like Ms Fraser, Mr Barlow, Ms B, Ms McLeod and Mrs Curran.

Caitlin concluded her address to the students by reaffirming her commitment to her work and passion, “My last piece of advice to you girls is that when people say you have the power and potential to change the world – believe them! But more importantly – believe in yourself. And believe in the power of yes! So say yes to help – say yes to opportunities. You don’t have to do everything on your own.”

[Caitlin’s full speech can be viewed here]

Caitlin also announced that Merici College has partnered with Jasiri Australia to bring self-defence classed to every student at Merici College. These classes will be undertaken during Women’s Health Week from 3-7 September and will focus on more than just physical techniques. Jasiri will also teach awareness, assertiveness, verbal confrontation and safety strategies that enable students to prevent, escape, resist and survive assaults. Their mission is to assist women, in particular, young women to be their own agents of change and to end all forms of violence against women. Merici is very proud to be associated with Jasiri as together we will pioneer a new violence prevention program and provide Merici students with the tools to become fearless leaders.

In addition, scholarship recipients for Year 11 and 12 were announced, as our Year 10 students embark on their Senior Secondary studies in 2019 and 2020.

We congratulate the following students: