College Leadership

Belonging at Mercedes

By Andrew Balkwill Email this article

Having a sense of belonging is important to our physical and mental health, and provides a protective factor that helps us to manage stress. That’s why we focus on creating a welcoming and enriching environment that fosters belonging for our students and their families.

When we feel supported, with help at hand, facing the challenges life throws at us is easier. Throughout the year we strive to provide a supportive environment and the opportunity for students to flourish academically, socially and physically. Major events like our annual Athletics Carnivals provide a great social occssion focussed on fun with students competing to achieve their personal best and be challenged physically by participating in events.

Athletics Carnivals

Last week we hosted the Year 3-6 Athletics Carnival at the college, and the Year 7-12 Athletics Carnival at the SA Athletics Stadium – both engaging our students to compete in athletic activities and fun events. Both carnivals provided inspiring displays of Mercy spirit, with a big thank you owed to everyone involved in organising and hosting each day.

Our Athletics programme inspires participation and achievement with students guided by committed and quality coaches and PE teachers. Most mornings during Term 1 and 4 you can see the dedication of our students participating in athletics training. They take great pride in representing their house – Barry, Dalton, Fitzpatrick and McAuley – and Mercedes College at the Catholic Co-educational Athletics Carnival. Our students always do their best to improve and be their best plus support the team and teammates.

Lent

Ash Wednesday, an important Holy day on the liturgical calendar, opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. While the Catholic community comfortably associates Lent with giving something up, this can evoke curiosity, or be seen as an eccentricity, yet it’s a practice with deep spiritual significance.

Lent is also a season of reflection and conversion. A time to acknowledge the ways we have turned away from God and an opportunity to focus our hearts and minds back. While we can deprive ourselves of some small pleasure or indulgence, we can also benefit from making better choices or replacing bad habits with a healthy behaviour. That might be swapping junk food for healthier options, and in so doing turbo-charging better choices, feeling fitter, healthier and happier, creating a positive impact on those around us. It is often through the small steps that we positively turn our life back toward what God wants for us.

Values in action

Recently hosting a college tour and talking with prospective parents, I reflected that rather than an extensive list of rules we have six Mercy keys – or values – that shape our behaviour as individuals and collectively. The Mercy keys are visible across the college and practiced by everyone.

Responsibility is one of them, and each day we encourage our students to be accountable for their learning. This takes many forms, and includes them actively participating in events, curriculum, extension programmes, being punctual and maximising their attendance.

Students with strong attendance records invariably achieve better academic and social outcomes. Studies show that non-attendance increases social isolation and lowers engagement with learning and peer connection. These impacts are cumulative and have a compounding negative impact. That’s why we encourage students to participate in all facets of learning and embrace the breadth of opportunities on offer.

We also acknowledge that attendance during a global pandemic can be challenging, and we appreciate the responsible actions being taken to minimise the spread of COVID-19. Senior students needing to isolate or quarantine, yet well enough to study from home, can access lesson information, task sheets, assessment tasks and class notes via ManageBac plus engage with their classroom teacher/s via email.

Like all schools navigating the challenge of COVID-19 cases we observe the directions set by SA Health and regularly report to them. While there has been an easing of community wide restrictions, please remember that across the education sector some constraints set by SA Health remain.

As we all play our part to stop the spread, there are simple measures we can all follow, including:

- wearing face masks inside (all staff and Year 7-12 students, plus recommended for Year 3-6)

- practicing good hygiene

- keeping 1.5 metres distance from others, and

- staying home when unwell.

Symptoms to watch for

Anyone experiencing any (not all) of the following symptoms, no matter how mild, needs to be promptly PCR tested for COVID-19:

- fever (a temperature of 37.5˚C or higher) or chills

- cough

- loss of taste or smell

- sore throat

- tiredness / fatigue

- runny or blocked nose

- shortness of breath / difficulty breathing

- nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea

- headache

- muscle or joint pain, or

- loss of appetite.

Supporting the college

Shortly we will tender for the builder of our new Arts and Sports Precinct project, providing Tier 2 construction companies an exciting opportunity to work with us. Throughout the year there will be opportunities for you to contribute to this project, including through our Annual Giving Programme. In the interim, remember The Athletes Foot (Burnside store) donates $5 from every child’s school and/or sports shoe sale to the College – you just need to let them know you are part of our community.

We also partner with the Credit Union of SA. As beneficiary of their School Community Rewards Programme, they donate 0.20 per cent of Mercedes College families’ home, car or personal loan amounts to us each month. Last year that amounted to around $20,000. Contact them about their loan products, and if you sign-up, nominate Mercedes College as your School Community Rewards beneficiary.

Both of these partner programs provide a regular and valuable financial benefit to Mercedes College that’s invested across our campus. Funds raised during 2022 will supplement the allocation to these new purpose-built spaces for the performing arts, sport and greater community connection.

Andrew Balkwill
Principal