A Reflection on Term One
As the Year 9 Team and Mercy Ethos Leader, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Year 9 students for the wonderful start to the 2022 School Academic Year. I am extremely proud of the Year 9 students and the efforts they have made in relation to their studies and participation in College events.
This term we have had The College Opening School Mass, many Inter School Sport Competitions, The House Quiz, Musical Auditions, and many clubs such as debating, rowing, social justice, code green and chess. It is always wonderful to see a representative of Year 9 students participate in these events. I hope this continues throughout the whole year.This year, students are participating in the unique Year 9 Mercy RITES program. Their first community project has been to work together with their Pastoral groups to raise awareness and funds for Caritas Australia and Project Compassion. Students have really embraced this activity and have enjoyed thinking of ways to help others around the world. The student driven activities that students ran were as follows:
9A – Easter Raffle
9B – Guess the lollies in the jar
9C – Drink and Ice-cream sale
Students have also explored their individual interests and will be working on their interest projects during Terms 2 & 3.
Mary De Bono, Year 9 Leader
I would like to share with you a reflection from the two members of 9C Pastoral Group on the term.
This term has been all about getting to know one another and adjusting to Year Nine, which has made it an exciting and interesting time. While our cohort was unable to go to Torquay for our annual camp as it has been postponed, we used class activities and breaks to create new relationships and form stronger bonds with pre-existing friends. It has given us time as Student Leaders to find our skills, grow our confidence, and fulfill our responsibilities such as making prayer rosters, organisation of our class, and attending meetings in order to be the voice of our class and grow our leadership skills.
One great change that comes from the transition between year eight into year nine, is the option of choosing electives for each Trimester. The selection process is made to give us the choice of choosing subjects we like which means we may not necessarily be with our friends, so it also gives us the opportunity to talk with people we may not usually talk to. This is the last week with our current electives before we switch to our next ones upon our return to school. The end of term also means submitting assessments and sitting tests for each subject, and while it has been very stressful, this term has helped us find revision techniques, stress coping mechanisms, and figuring out time management. It has certainly been a change from what we become accustomed to in the last two years in remote Learning. This is the longest time we have spent continuously at school since Year Seven, yet we have persevered and it's already the end of Term One. Only two weeks ago we were preparing for NAPLAN, and now we are preparing for the holidays. We are looking forward to the break and looking forward to what the remainder of the year may bring.Carlota Ham-Lopez & Christine Yuan, 9C Class Captains