A very special prayer reflection and morning tea were held on Tuesday 31 July with Year 7 students and their grandparents. This was a wonderful opportunity for students to express their love and appreciation to their grandparents for playing such an important role in their lives. We would like to strengthen the bonds that already exist between our girls and their grandparents. In doing so, our girls will be well on their way to becoming successful women who love God and spread joy as they journey through life. To our grandparents, we would like to honour you and to thank you for the immensely important role that you play.
The community welcomed former teacher at Merici and grandmother Rosemary Brassil who read a poem by Becky Netherland. Her granddaughter, Year 7 student Haley Bissett, presented a speech about life at Merici today and spoke about what it was like at Merici many years ago.
“My grandmother, Rosemary Brassil, who I call Grandie, started teaching in 1974. She taught English and Religion at Merici College from 1999 until 2003, meaning she left this school before any of us year sevens were even born.
When I was first given the opportunity to write this speech, Miss Kesina suggested that my grandmother and I discuss our best teaching and learning moments at Merici. However, as simple as this task may seem, we were both faced with the same problem. How do we sum up hundreds of amazing experiences into just 3 favourites?
Grandie explained to me that as a teacher, it’s difficult to know whether or not you’ve been successful, as the measure of one’s teaching ability is defined mostly by what is learned, not what is taught. A teacher can know everything about a subject but if the students don’t find the class interesting, challenging or enjoyable, all that knowledge is going to waste.
So how can Grandie know that she’s been successful? How can she know if she’s impacted her students and made them enjoy learning? Well she found a folder full of things from her former students and let me take a look. There was a petition signed by many year tens to keep her on the English department. There were programs from graduations and masses. I was amazed by the number of students who wrote letters to her over the years. Some common themes included her kindness and that she made her classes fun. She was a favourite teacher to many and lots of students said that they regarded her as not only a teacher, but also a friend. She said that that was how she knew she had been successful.
She told me one story from her time at Merici, when she organised an excursion with year 12 students. They were to attend a youth mass at a local church. It was after school and not compulsory. Although it was completely up to the students whether they would attend, many of them did, out of a love for learning that she had shown them.
nother thing that she loved about being a teacher was the lasting impression she left on her students. A student from the first school she ever taught at back in 1974 still sends her a Christmas card every year without fail. Her folder contained postcards from all over the world from students who wrote to her about their adventures in later life. She has shared her knowledge and kindness with so many people.
As for my best learning moments, I’m sure all students in this room will understand the difficulty of working hard in all subjects. It’s easy to fly through the work you’re good at and give up on the work you’re not. But I can say that the most important part to any class is the teacher. Without an interesting and kind teacher, it’s easy to get lost or confused.
The best teachers are the ones that challenge you, guide you, and teach you life lessons as well as school ones. The ones that give us the tools and help that we need, but give us the freedom to learn for ourselves. Similarly, the best students will be open to being pushed and able to ask for help. I’ve found that Merici is full of these kinds of teachers and students.
After hearing all about Grandie’s experiences teaching at Merici I realised how important the relationship between students and teachers is. The teacher makes all the difference to a class. I learnt that the teacher should make it engaging, challenging, and enjoyable, but at the end of the day, the student needs to be given the freedom to learn in their own way. I now understand that how much you learn is up to you, but a talented teacher really does help.
Although my Grandie left Merici back in 2003, from her stories I can tell that Merici has always had the same beliefs in learning and teaching. Some of our most challenging subjects can become our favourites with a teacher who is interesting and kind, and some of the most important lessons we learn at school aren’t academic at all.”
After the prayer service, the grandparents were invited to the restaurant where they enjoyed a delicious Devonshire Tea and a musical performance by student Remy Yan. Students then escorted their grandparents on a tour of the school. This was a very special opportunity for some of our grandparents who attended Merici College themselves to see how the College has changed.
We would like to thank all our grandparents for coming along and celebrating this special occasion with our school community.
Please follow the link https://merici.news/view-galleries/grandparents-day to find the complete photo gallery.
