College Leadership

Choosing Mercedes College

By Andrew Balkwill Email this article

Each year, families choose Mercedes College to educate their children. Decisions about our children are rarely made lightly. From the day they are born, our focus as parents is on providing the best for them and making their path in life better than our own.

Each year, families choose Mercedes College to educate their children. Decisions about our children are rarely made lightly. From the day they are born, our focus as parents is on providing the best for them and making their path in life better than our own.

Learning from every new experience

Likewise, from the moment our children are born, they are learning. Like knowledge sponges they soak up all that they see and hear, learning from every new and each repeated experience. Enrolling your children in a new school is a big decision, with many considerations, including what’s important to you as a parent, and for your child as a young learner and tomorrow’s leader.

Recent media coverage comparing schools seeks perhaps to inform parent decisions, however it likely makes it harder, as comparisons are rarely like for like. While Mercedes College is always a student achievement leader, it’s arguable that comparisons about student funding and attained outcomes, oversimplifies the value of education.

Nurturing young learners

From Reception, we are nurturing young learners as we challenge them to be creative and critical thinkers through delivery of the Australian curriculum using the International Baccalaureate learning framework.

Developing confident and internationally minded thinkers

In Middle School our focus is on developing confident and internationally minded thinkers. It’s here that young entrepreneurs learn to push boundaries and think commercially. Individuals learn to think beyond themselves, beyond Adelaide and Australia, considering the wider perspective and thinking at both a macro and micro level.

Each student is challenged to be their best and push their own boundary academically, as well as personally through co-curricula experiences including camps, treks and retreats. By instilling confidence, strong values, and fostering a strong sense of belonging, our students continue develop holistically.

Supporting resilience and the importance of a personal best

Through Senior School students learn as much about themselves as the subjects they are formally taught. Each individual gains a broad perspective and is encouraged to compete with themselves to achieve their personal best. They are supported to develop resilience, appreciate the journey as much as the destination, and to be forward thinking.

For us, the delivery of individualised learning is about more than simple, one-dimensional metrics. Reflective of the individuals in our classrooms, the complexities of life ahead, we look to provide each student with the knowledge, skills, capability and capacity to positively engage with their future beyond our grounds.

Proud of our graduates

It’s this approach that sees us proud of the real measures of success at Mercedes College: the knowledgeable, caring and compassionate students who graduate each year. Coupled with that is our accountability as an IB world-school for delivering a robust and well resourced education for our students. Our internationally accredited status ensures we continue to revise and improve, rather than rest on past achievements or those of a few.

While resources like the My School website provide information to support accountability and consistent reporting measures, a conversation with our students, teachers and specialist support staff arguably provides greater insight.

Talk with us about your child

If at anytime you have questions about the learning experiences we offer, including how you may be able to further support this, please contact your class (Junior School) or home group (Middle and Senior School) teacher, or Head of School.

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Annual Fundraising Appeal

This year, we’re inviting our community to support our important fundraising efforts by donating to our Annual Fundraising Appeal, and new Arts and Sports Precinct. As we finalise details ahead of awarding a contract for the new Arts and Sports Precinct building works, we are working through how we best deliver this important infrastructure and minimise inconveniences for our community.

Our investment in ever better learning spaces is not limited to our new precinct. With just a few modifications in the Dalton Building our new state-of-the-art 3D Printer and Laser Cutter for students to use will be installed, creating a Design Tech Hub. With an abundance of clever-tech opportunities ahead, our students will be able to push their thinking, imagination, creativity and learning forward. The minor works will be made possible by your generous donations, which enable essential and ongoing investment in our facilities and learning technologies.

You will receive information about how you can make a tax-deductible donation to our Annual Fundraising Appeal, via the Mercedes College Building Fund. As the custodians of Mercedes College, we each have a responsibility to ensure our continued leading educational excellence now and for future generations.

Andrew Balkwill
Principal