Welcome, Merici sisters, staff, and families to the 2020 school year. We hope that all of you have had a restful holiday and are eager to get back into school life. We especially welcome our Year 7s, new students and staff to the College; we cannot wait for you to meet the rest of our Merici College family. We are super excited for the year ahead and are thrilled to start listening and collaborating on everyone’s ideas. We are incredibly blessed to have a strong leadership team for 2020. We are truly grateful to have a team that are all bright, enthusiastic and dedicated young women who are focused on helping the school community. We are confident in their ability to lead the and make every student feel welcome.
The theme for 2020 is Building Futures. We hope that the students focus on building their futures not only as successful students, but as successful friends and leaders. This year we would like to encourage all the students at Merici College to set challenging and creative goals to stretch themselves and ensure their futures are more wondrous than they dare to dream. Our Patron Saint, Angela Merici, was passionate and dedicated to the building of healthy and successful futures for women, therefore Merici College will be focusing more on student’s futures beyond College life.
2020 is the beginning of a new decade, and a year of growth is ahead of us all. We would like the students to grow in every aspect of their lives - culturally, emotionally, spiritually, academically and physically. We believe that Merici can provide many opportunities for growth when the students utilise Merici’s different groups, teams, mentorships, and take advantage of the support offered. We encourage all students to nurture a growth mindset to enable them to have a productive time at the College. A growth mindset can bring about a love of learning and resilience in everything the students participate and contribute to; it is a skill that can be used for the rest of their lives.
Our school is open and welcoming to all. It aims to accommodate and actively involve every young woman so that they have a sense of community and belonging, which are vital for growth. Because Merici is a family, we encourage all students and staff to make every student feel valued, included and needed in our growing world. Our Pastoral Care groups provide a safe space for all students to build positive friendships with their Merici sisters and teachers, while giving a safe space to talk and problem-solve. The Merici community encourages everyone to learn and grow in all aspects of life, inside and outside of our school community. This is achieved by creating a community that allows the students to feel comfortable to commit to extra-curriculars, communicate their ideas, show their creativity, be gracious and grateful, while being a loving member of our student body. We also encourage our sisters to take pride in each other and foster a sense of school spirit.
As a community, we will move forward into this year together creating new memories and experiences, but for now we cannot wait to be introduced to each of our Merici sisters.
We, as the captains for 2020, promise to guide our family on their journey to build futures more wonderous than they dare to dream.
Love from your Merici sisters,
Zoe Beresford (College Captain)
Ashlyn Radford (College Vice Captain)
