College Leadership

Remarkable Display of Knowledge

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Dear Parents, Caregivers, Staff and Students of the Mercedes College Community
Last week our Year 5 students presented their International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) Exhibition. The central idea was Systems of the Body. The student displays and presentations were sensational. Their understanding of the different systems of the body was quite remarkable given that many displayed an understanding that generally is not expected until senior levels.

Not only were they able to communicate their understanding but they had developed resources that made it easy for those visiting their exhibitions to understand their work too. Most importantly, not only could our Year 5 students describe the body system they had chosen, but they could also discuss the environmental factors that could positively or negatively impact upon its efficiency. 

The IB PYP Programme is ideal for providing students with the skills to become life-long learners. As a College we have chosen to offer the IB Programme to our students because among many reasons:

1. It encourages them to inquire
2. It assists them to understand a complex and interdependent world
3. It assists them to become confident communicators
4. It provides opportunities to learn how to learn
5. It encourages international-mindedness
6. It promotes seeing things from different perspectives
7. It allows students to take action
8. It promotes thinking
9. It involves the whole learning community
10. It promotes the development of caring and responsible citizens.

Similar reasons to those above exist to affirm our choice to offer the IB MYP and the IB Diploma Programmes as well.

If you need any further convincing of the quality of the IB Programmes then I suggest you visit the Year 5 Exhibition next year, or the upcoming Year 10 Personal Project displays, and I am sure you will be left in no doubt.

Well done to all the Junior School teachers who have prepared the Year 5 students so well and congratulations to all the students for the presentation of such high quality work.

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ReLAT – the Religious Education NAPLAN 

Recently our Year 4 students sat for the annual state wide ReLAT test. The ReLAT tests the students’ understanding of a number of issues related to their religious formation and like NAPLAN, provides feedback on how we can modify our programmes to best meet their individual learning and development needs.

We were very pleased that our students gained an overall average for the test of 91.9% compared to the state average of 75.4%. This is great confirmation of the quality of our RE Programmes but what was even more pleasing was the element of the test that related to the Year 4 students’ understanding of ethical and social justice issues.

The average across the state for this section was 66% our students scored an incredible 96%. This result not only affirms the RE Programmes but is an indication of how well our PYP and the RE complement each other. There is no doubt that the young people at Mercedes College have an extraordinary sense of right and wrong from an early age.

I hope our commitment to the Mercy Keys, quality RE Programmes, the commitment to social justice that pervades the IB Programmes and the service activities that occur generally at the College make for an excellent learning package that provides the fertile ground necessary for this development.   

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The Exams are On

Our Year 12 IB Diploma and SACE students have begun their exams and it won’t be long before our Year 11 students commence as well.

I know you will share with me in praying that all our students find the strength and inspiration to do the best they can at this time. Ultimately, the exam results are a means to an end. Regardless of the final ATAR the goal for these fine young men and women is to achieve to a level that will enable them to pursue a future that will be personally rewarding and enable them to make a positive difference in the world in which they will live.
                                                               
Yours sincerely

Peter Daw
Principal