Guest Artist workshops

Senior students are invited to take part in a nine-week workshop with our Guest Artist, Melanie Brown, lecturer of Painting and Drawing at the Adelaide Central School of Art.

Melanie creates realist, figurative works that present the viewer with alternate ways of experiencing the body. She explores notions of self-creation, beauty, fearlessness, risk, power, and multiple femininities, and plays with visual codes in work that questions and flaunts conventional representations of gender definition.

This is a unique and special opportunity for our art students to spend time with a renowned artist.  For our Year 11 and Year 12 students, the final piece that is created in the workshop can be included as one of your final assessment pieces.

There are limited places available – so to avoid disappointment please book early.

Thunderbirds are go…

Netball trials have been taking place over the past month and three of our students have been selected to attend the Thunderbirds Development Academy.

This is an incredible achievement and our congratulations go out to Molly Chapman (Year 11), Sofia Paul (Year 10) and Ava Lange (Year 10).

Molly, Sofia and Ava will join other selected athletes for specialised training sessions throughout the year to get ready for State selection and pathway opportunities

It is also very exciting to have these three students playing for Mercedes College in our Opens Squad for 2024 and we look forward to seeing them and all our netball players out on the courts soon.

House Spirit on the rise

Last Friday morning, four areas of the Campus were overtaken by a sea of colour and the sound of chanting, as our four Houses had their first House Spirit meeting for 2024!

Each House has two House Captains, who ran the meeting for our Year 7 – Year 12 students. Barry students were in the Junior School Hall, Dalton under the Pavilion, Fitzpatrick took over the Library and McCauley was in the Senior Study Space. These are the designated areas for all future House meetings, and we look forward to hearing and seeing more House Spirit across the Campus this year – but especially at the Athletics Carnival today!

Little Choir with big voices

Our Petites Voix choir had their first rehearsal with our new Junior School Music Teacher, Ms Emily Combe. Our smallest voices made a huge impact on Emily – who comes from music royalty – her father is Peter Combe who spent his life singing, performing and recording children’s songs. Our Petites Voix choir are in very good hands and Emily is excited to be working with such an enthusiastic group of students.

Night of Reunions

On Saturday night, we held a ‘MOSA Night of Reunions’ as Old Scholars from the Classes of 2019, 2004, 2014, 1994, 1984 and 1974 all celebrated their 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 year reunions at Adelaide Oval.

As part of our 70th celebrations, we held all six reunion events at the one venue on the same night. Each group had their own Suite and enjoyed delicious canapes over conversations about their days at Mercedes College.

It’s a wonderful testament to the College and its strong sense of community, to see so many Old Scholars attend their reunion and spend the evening reminiscing and catching up.

Here’s Cheers to 70 years and to all our Old Scholars!

Visit to our Sister School

Last week, the Year 12 SRM students toured the St Francis Xavier Cathedral in the City, as well as visiting the beautiful Cunningham Memorial Chapel of the Convent of Mercy, in the grounds of St Aloysius College.

St Aloysius College, founded 140 years ago, is our sister Mercy school. Students enjoyed learning about the chapel’s 102-year history, which was built in 1922 as a memorial to Sister of Mercy, Mother Cecilia Cunningham's parents. Students admired the magnificent design, ornate ceilings, parquet flooring, and superb Italian marble in the altar.

While in the Cathedral, students were invited to engage in quiet prayer, light votive candles, view the Stations of the Cross, and receive Holy Communion or a blessing.

The SRM students will draw on their experiences from visiting these beautiful places of peace, sanctity, and solace, to contrast their learnings and exploration of human suffering.

https://www.sac.sa.edu.au/news/celebrating-100-years-of-cunningham-memorial-chapel-a-gift-that-keeps-giving/

https://www.experienceadelaide.com.au/heritage-places/cunningham-memorial-catholic-chapel-34-angas-street-adelaide/

Winter Sports volunteers needed!

Our Senior School Athletics Carnival is on today, but we are already planning for our Winter Sports Programme, which covers Basketball, Netball, Football, Soccer, Badminton and Table Tennis, and we would love your help!

We are introducing a new structure this year – which involves a Team Manager, as well as a Coach. Simply put, we want to let the Coaches coach, and let the Team Managers, manage!

Below is a snapshot of each role. It’s not too onerous and both roles complement each other. Importantly, this structure will help parents and students plan and prepare for each match and will streamline communication between everyone.

Coach

• Takes training during the week. Organises drills
• Coaches on game day / Manages substitutes, tactics during the match
• Assists with team selections  

Team Manager – Game day only!

• Main contact person between players and parents in the team (absentees / late arrivals) – Set up Whats App Group
• Don’t need to know the rules of the sport – it’s about communication not coaching!
• Enters results at the end of each game

If your child plays any of our Winter sports, and you attend their games, we’d love you to consider being a Team Manager, as you already attend the matches and probably know most of the team! If you have a background in, or knowledge of any of our Winter sports, we’d love you to be a Coach for one of our teams.

If you have some time and would like to help out, please email our Director, Co-Curricular Sports, Nathan Bassett and he’ll get the process started: nbassett@mercedes.catholic.edu.au

If you are already signed up to be a volunteer for the College, we’d love to hear from you too!

What do you see?

As part of their study of Personality, the Year 12 SACE Psychology class have been looking at methods of personality assessment. The Rorschach Inkblot test was used from the 1920's to the 1960's to measure for mental illness or personality disorder, and its merit was eventually lost to pop culture.

Clients were asked to look at 10 ambiguous inkblots, and describe what they see. Students had a go at creating their own and came up with some very interesting interpretations! What do you see in their inkblots?

Formal is coming up...

Just a reminder to all Year 11 and Year 12 students – your Formal is just two weeks away, so if you’d like to attend, please book your tickets soon, so we can finalise tables.

Your tickets include a 3-course dinner, beverages, entertainment and professional photographer! It will be a great night out – so please book your tickets soon

Coming up:

Friday 8 March l International Women’s Day

Monday 11 March l Adelaide Cup Day – Public Holiday

Wednesday 13 March l NAPLAN Testing

Monday 18 March l Year 5 and Year 7 Camps

Thursday 21 March l Harmony Day

Saturday 23 March l Year 11 and Year 12 Formal

Friday 29 March l Good Friday

Monday 1 April l Easter Monday