Senior Stories

Adaptability in Senior School

By Michael Francis Email this article

In the staged start to the year, I’ve been really impressed by our senior students. Our Year 12 students welcomed each other and new staff back to campus in week 1, and most significantly welcomed many of our new students in Years 7 and 8 to the College too. This sense of welcome was again evident when our Year 10 and 11 students returned to campus, with a great sense of hospitality.

This is wonderful to see in our Year of Loyalty, where we can all demonstrate loyalty to our Mercy Tradition through the quality and authenticity of the welcome extended to those new to our community. It is a challenge I extend to our students to maintain throughout 2022.

Adaptability in the Senior School
Adaptation has been a key theme and this sense of being nimble and adaptable sits well with me from my experience with the SACE Business Innovation courses taught at Mercedes College. Widely applied in our approach to 2022, I encourage all students to focus on making the most of their time in classes, the relationships with their teachers and their abilities to readily engage with and access the curriculum.

Parent communication and collaboration
At our recent Parent Information Evening (15 February) for Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12, we were delighted to see so many parents join us online to engage with our vision for the year ahead and to explore some of the key aspects ahead for our students. A great deal of information was shared with presentations by our Year Level Leaders in the Senior School. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s Home Group teacher, Year Level Leader or me. This image is a handy reminder of the key people and primary channels of communication for your student, and the depth of support provided by experienced people in the interest of your child.

Helpful online resources include:

• HeadSpace
• Managing transition from school to post school life fact sheet
• Advice for Families from the Commissioner for Children and Young people

Restorative Practices
As part of our Year Level Leaders and Home Group teacher presentations, we talked about our Restorative Practices approach when communicating with young people. This approach fosters a structured conversation about our shared responsibility in living and working together in the school, and how this shared experience can shape our relationships together.

The Restorative Practices approach seeks to build an understanding of different perspectives in conflict resolution and build capacity in us all to maintain positive and respectful relationships. Restorative conversations may be held between students and staff in response to matters of personal responsibility, and these conversations may also take place with parents if matters remain unresolved. You can learn more about restorative practices by watching this clip.

Active academic support for students
A variety of Academic Support services are available for our Senior School students. These will be available from mid-Term 1, providing support for students. A combination of access may be beneficial.
Information about each follows, with After School work sessions detailed information available online. (add parent info doc for After school work sessions)

Homework Club
Monday to Friday at lunch time in Room F303, students may choose to come along for help/a quiet place to work or students may be directed to attend by their subject teacher if work for a class needs completing. These sessions are an opportunity to catch-up and remind students that set work needs to be completed. 

Maths Help
Also in Room F303 Monday to Friday at lunch, students can access Maths faculty staff for some support or to assist in preparing for pending assessment.

Study Skills
This is where for students can talk with recent Old Scholars with a record of achievement. It is an opportunity to meet after school from 3:30pm to 5pm, Monday to Thursday, and get some study advice, time management tips, subject specific assistance and overall support in completing senior school assessment tasks. Students access the Senior Study space (Room GA305) for this support.

After School work sessions
These sessions follow a formal request for a student to attend between 3:30pm and 5pm, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, if a summative deadline is missed or continued issues arise in the completion of formative work to prepare for assessment.

Parents will be notified via SEQTA Direct Message if their child is expected to attend, and this forms an early intervention for students at academic risk.

Reminders: Parking and Uniform
Students have been asked to remain very mindful of their interactions with our neighbours when driving and parking in the surrounding streets. This is particularly important this year as we embark on our building project which will impact parking on our campus. Please talk with your child about the importance of respectful interactions, car parking rules and working collaboratively with our community. Some advice has been shared directly with students through ManageBac about this.

To guard against the impact of UV radiation, students are asked to wear a hat when they’re outside in Terms 1 and 4 during their recess and lunch breaks. This applies to all Mercedes College students. Please remind your child of the need to wear a hat and ensure they have it with them each day.

Clarification – students at home
With some students needing to study from home while quarantining or isolating, just a reminder they can remain connected to their studies by accessing lesson information, task sheets, assessment tasks and class notes via ManageBac.

While teachers leading students learning on campus are not expected to also deliver an online class for anyone at home, students can engage with their teacher/s via email and ManageBac.

Michael Francis
Head of Senior School