Dear OLMC Families,

What a rich and rewarding fortnight we have had at the College! It certainly has been filled with a range of activities in which many students and staff have been involved and these myriad opportunities have definitely enhanced our Mercy community.

Women in Leadership Forum 2019

The Women in Leadership Forum was held in the AMCC on 29 May, with more than 220 attendees present to hear and learn from the powerful narratives of the Forum speakers:

Edwina Bartholomew, Journalist and Presenter with the Seven Network

Anabelle Chauncy, CEO and Founding Director of School For Life Foundation

Liz Scully, Chair, NSW Labor Women’s Forum and Chair, Parramatta Women’s Shelter

Belinda Woolford, CEO Ronald McDonald House Charities, Greater Western Sydney

Each speaker shared the stories of her career pathway and the values and beliefs that motivated her choices. Although diverse in their career choices, it was interesting to hear their common themes of service and compassion and the importance each placed on establishing positive relationships with others and being able to make a difference in the lives of others. When asked about the challenge of knowing when to say “yes” to an opportunity, it was clear that each speaker considered it important to take safe risks and then to see where it would lead. Confidence was key to their decision-making! Everyone present agreed that listening to each story was inspiring and there were many provocative questions in the Q&A that followed. The Forum will be held at the same time next year and I commend it to you – bring friends and family along – all are welcome.

College Musical – The Wizard of Oz

In another rewarding opportunity, to celebrate the 130 years Anniversary of OLMC, the College commissioned a production of the musical, The Wizard of Oz. With over 100 cast members and crew, and after 94 hours of rehearsals, the Musical came to life last week on the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th of June. The previous time the College produced a Musical was 2002 and it was the very same production so there was an exciting synergy about seeing it performed once again on the stage! The cast, musicians and the stage and technical crews were so professional that the audience was right in thinking that they were seeing a Broadway production! Capably assisted by the many College staff, The Wizard of Oz was full of colour, great choreography and singing, and memorable tunes. Each performance was filled with energy and everyone involved should be very proud of their efforts. Thank you so much to the many families who supported and attended the Production.

2019/2020 Student Leaders

At this time of the year the College commences it Student Leadership election process and it is my pleasure to announce that the 2019/2020 Head Girl is Josie Connelly and the Assistant Head Girl is Justine Kim.

I know that you will join with me in congratulating them and that they will have the full support of the College community as they both take on these important leadership roles. The voting process continues this week and next for the Student Leaders for 2019/2020 and we look forward to the Leadership Assembly in the final week of this Term at which they will be inducted formally.

Vale Sister Kathleen Dowse rsm

It is with great sadness that the College was informed that on Tuesday 4 June, Sister Kathleen Dowse, quietly and peacefully moved into the eternal embrace of the God of Mercy to whom she had devoted her life for the last 70 years.

Sister Kathleen was a significant figure in the history of the College as both an ex-student and former teacher, and remained vitally interested in the College, and her many ex-students, to the end of her life. There are many ex-students who will remember her with great fondness as a most kind and caring woman.

May she rest in peace.

Warm regards,

Mrs Marie Wood
Deputy Principal 

Key Dates

The Centre for Disability Studies [CDS] focuses on creating and disseminating knowledge to improve the lives of people with disability.

They are hosting Enhancing the Links which is a seminar series on post school pathways for students with disability. It is an opportunity to hear up-to-date information on education, training and employment for people with disability, as well as network with others.

If you are interested in attending Enhancing the Links – 3 July in Camperdown 5:30pm – 8:00pm for students, families and supporters, you can register by visiting: http://bit.ly/NDCOETL2019

We need your Lego! OLMC Lego Drive

Are you ready to clean up, declutter and move on any unused or unwanted Lego?

Is your child ready to donate some Lego?

OLMC Lego Challenge Club is the place to send it.

In Term 3, we look forward to introducing this new co-curricular activity for Year 7-9 students to actively socialise, problem solve and create during lunch. To provide a change in pace in the school day and an opportunity to do something that’s very hands-on, problem-based, creative and social. A chance to think, build and work with others!

Please drop your donated LEGO at the OLMC Business Office Reception.

NASA Lego woman – time for your daughters to dream big!

This old note to parents by Lego in their box sets in 1970 sums up, our OLMC Lego Challenge:

To Parents.

The urge to create is equally strong in all children. Boys and girls.

It’s the imagination that counts. Not skill. You build whatever comes into your head, the way you want it. A bed or a truck. A doll’s house or a spaceship.

A lot of boys like dolls houses. They’re more human than spaceships. A lot of girls prefer spaceships. They’re more exciting than dolls houses.

The most important thing is to put the right material in their hands and let them create whatever appeals to them.

(Lego 1970s)

Ms Marisa Zadro
Leader of Inclusive Learning

This week, there is a range of opportunities for students from Years 7-12 to consider - podcasts from the zoo, STEM work experience opportunities, school holiday workshops, weekend camps and inspiring lectures and tours.

CSDA Debating

Another three weeks of debating have flown by, and with each week that passes the confidence levels of our talented OLMC debaters grow. Rounds Three, Four and Five held mixed results for our OLMC debaters. Our Round Three debates were held at home, with OLMC hosting Marist Sisters’ College Woolwich. The topics that emerged for these debates had been across all teams’ radars during training – our junior debaters making the case that students have a responsibility to be heard, debaters from Year 9 and 10 arguing that influencers have too much influence, and our seniors grappling with a fitting topic on the eve of a Federal Election, “that we get the politicians we deserve.” All teams made their cases knowledgeably and passionately, with our 7A, 7B, 9A, 10A, and Senior Open A teams all victorious.

The following week we were on the road once again, this time to Marist College Eastwood. This was a very successful trip for our debaters, with wins in the 7B, 8A, 8B, 9A, 10A, 10B, 11A and Senior Open A divisions. I had the privilege of watching one of the senior debating teams in action that night – our Senior Open B team, who argued the affirmative case that ‘We need to learn to disagree civilly’. It was a very close debate with the result decided on a razor’s edge, but despite not coming away with the victory, it is to our Senior Open B team to whom I pay tribute this week. Debating is a sport that requires a delicate balance of focus and passion in a very high pressured situation. It requires debaters to not only perform their own speaking roles with great proficiency, but also to work cohesively as a team. This is no mean feat. I saw this at the highest level from our seniors during Round 4 and this reinforced my view that our OLMC senior debaters are the most wonderful role models for our younger girls. Our up-and-coming juniors need only to look to their older Mercy sisters to see the values of the College exemplified in the debating arena.

We came into Round Five against Loreto Normanhurst with two teams still undefeated – our 9A and Senior Open A teams, but we knew by reputation that it was going to be a particularly challenging round of debating. Our Mercy girls put their best arguments forward as they have done every week, but despite a number of very close debates, the scoreboard was not on our side.

We head now into the final round of the regular season with four teams a distinct possibility to make it through to the elimination rounds: our 7B, 9A, 10A and Senior Open A teams. Our final week is a home debate with our girls up against the boys from Riverview. As a College community we wish all teams the best of luck as we approach the ‘business end’ of the season.

This week, I will leave you with a piece of advice that works well in or out of the debating arena:

A debater never raises their voice, they strengthen their argument.

Ms Melissa Riley
Debating Co-ordinator

NSWCCC Teams Tennis
On Monday June 3, Charlize Cipri, Mila Purkovic, Catherine Yue and Angelene Lu travelled to Bathurst for the NSWCCC Teams Tennis Championships. Representing OLMC and the PDSSSC, the girls played a number of singles and doubles matches in rather cold conditions. All the girls played some exceptional sets against some very talented girls, making the playoffs for the Bronze medal. Unfortunately, in some very close battles, the girls finished 4th after going down 5-3 to Corpus Christi (Wollongong). The girls should all be very proud of their efforts. A big thank you to all the parents for making the trip and braving the cold to help support the girls.

NSWCCC Football
In cold, wet conditions Pene Bonovas and Tayla Milicevic represented OLMC as part of the PDSSSC Open Girls Football team at the NSWCCC Football Championships on June 4 and 5 at Valentine Sports Park. The girls played some great games, endured some rough play and ended up finishing 2nd in their Pool. Due to the weather, the game format had to be modified and only the top team in each pool progressed to the Grand Final. Well done girls for a great tournament.

CGSSSA Gymnastics
The CGSSSA Gymnastics Championships were held on Wednesday June 5 at the Sydney Gymnastics Centre, Rooty Hill. OLMC was represented by Thalia Lake, Angelique Moujalli, Audrey Baysari, Lucy Khadi and Cameron Khadi. All 5 girls competed together in Level 5. Congratulations to Angelique who finished equal 3rd on the Bars, Cameron who finished 3rd on the Vault and to Audrey who finished equal 3rd on the Bars, 3rd on Floor and 2nd on Vault. Well done girls!

Saturday Soccer
Here are the results from Round 5:

OLMC 1 were defeated by Meriden, 2 nil
OLMC 2 defeated St Vincent’s, 2 - 1

A reminder for Rounds 6 - Saturday 15 June:

OLMC 1 - 9am at Frensham
OLMC 2 - 9am at Tara

Saturday Netball
Congratulations to Jeeviha Sangar who recently received her ERNA Umpiring Badge!

We are now at the half way point of the season. Here are the team’s rankings:

You can view the draw and all results here - http://erna.nsw.netball.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/draw.aspx?

OLMC Athletics Carnival 2019
On 31 May, the College Athletics Carnival was held at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre Warm Up Track. The College community, once again, entered enthusiastically into the spirit of the day. The track and field competitors enjoyed participating at the arena in cool conditions in a traditional Carnival.

A special thank you to the PDHPE staff for assisting in the set up and running of the Carnival. A big thank you also to all the staff who helped with the various duties on the day.

It is great to see the OLMC spirit overflowing with enthusiasm and commitment, and obviously still dominates wherever you may be. In the future we hope to again see the wonderful House shirts and many of the “colourful” outfits that were on display.

A special thank you to the Student Sport Leaders, Alexandra Younes and Emily Guthrie, and all the House leaders for their help in preparing for the Carnival, and for the enthusiasm and leadership evident on the day.

HOUSE LEADERS 2019

Congratulations to Mercedes on their success as House Champion and to Callan on their success as Spirit Champion for 2019. All Houses should be congratulated as the results were all extremely close.

Congratulations to the following students on their efforts and achievements at the Carnival and, as a result, being crowned Age Champions:

17+ years – Thalia Lake and Summer Giddings
16 years –   Annie Gittany
15 years –   Hannah Mathews
14 years –   Brooke Luksic
13 years –   Ainslie McNally
12 years –   Mia Cleary and Niamh Nolan

In the 13 years Shot Put, Brianna Weatherburn set a new Junior Record, throwing 10.21m. Fantastic throw Brianna! The previous record was set in 2007 (10.19m).

In the Junior 800m, Lucie Francis also set a new record, running 2 min 40 sec. The old record was set in 2008 (2 min 42sec). Well done Lucie!

Finally, a big thank you to all the parents who came along to cheer and support their daughters on the day - it is always greatly appreciated.

If you would like to view and purchase photos from the day, please follow this link - http://www.akphotos.com.au/album/3002571/ (the password has been emailed to all students). 

Mr Stuart Guthrie
Sport Co-ordinator

To book, click here.

Tutor Spotlight!

Tim Dunne has been playing Saxophone for 13 years, Clarinet for 8 years, and teaching at various schools in Sydney for the last 3 years.

In 2018, Tim graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music (Performance), Majoring in Saxophone.

Tim is passionate about his music and his students, and enjoys sharing the musical knowledge he has gained in the past 13 years with the next generation of musicians.

Interested in Instrumental / Vocal Lessons? https://academy.olmc.nsw.edu.au/the-academy/apply-now

Mr Paul Witney
Director of Music Performance

For those students wearing the new uniform, we have received the initial delivery of the new Ink Navy Mercy Scarf. Further deliveries are expected over the next 4 weeks.

REMINDER! School Vaccination Program - Year 10 students and catch-up for Year 7 and 8 students.

Year 10 students can wear full sports uniform on the day.

Ms Kristen Sunner
Assistant Leader of Pastoral Care

Giving Teenagers Freedom Is Good for Mental Health

As our children get older and move into adolescence, we begin to notice that they increasingly want to be able to make their own choices about a whole range of different things. As a parent, this stage can be a worrying time as we are concerned that they might not make the right choices or could be hurt, either physically or emotionally. It is also difficult to gradually learn to let go of any control we may have had over our kids and move more towards providing guidance.

Click here for an article is written by Clinical Psychologist, Kirrilie Smout, who specialises in working with children and teenagers. She provides some context for why it is a good idea for parents to allow their adolescents to start making choices for themselves and likens parents of teens to taking on the role of “coach”.

Mrs Sandra Portela
Senior School Counsellor

Mount St Benedict Social Justice Forum

On Tuesday, May 28, ten Year 11 girls attended the annual Mount St Benedict Social Justice Forum. The theme this year was ‘Building Peace’. This was a wonderful opportunity as it opened my eyes to the many possibilities available to us when we leave school.

My first workshop, International Settlement Services for refugees, was very inspiring as the speaker, Jessica was Sri Lankan like myself. Jessica was a lawyer and wanted to work for the UN. She talked about the dreams she had when she was the same age as me. As Jessica was speaking the quote, “Seeing people smile after I help them was the best reward I could ever ask for” pulled at my heartstrings as I have experienced countless members of my family feeling extremely grateful for people, like Jessica, to guide them in tough situations when entering a new country.

I have renewed my determination that I must continue to provide a voice for the voiceless as it can have an immense impact on others. I also feel reassured that there are countless jobs for me in the future that involve fighting for justice for refugees.

So many people in my generation want to make a change in our world and although there are countless problems around the world, many can be solved if people know how to tackle them efficiently. This Forum is something people must go to if you really want to make a positive change to this world.

Renuga Inpakumar (Year 11)

Mercy Works Bilum Magazine

On 29 May, several Year 9 girls worked with the staff at Mercy Works to prepare their biannual Bilum magazines for posting. The girls packaged up almost 2000 bilums which are distributed around Australia and overseas. These magazines showcase the wonderful work that Mercy Works do in the community.  The Bilum for June 2019 can be viewed via this link: https://www.mercyworks.org.au/who-we-are/bilum-magazine/

College Badges

We have continued to hand out the 130 year commemorative badges. Last week, it was Clare House who received their badges in a moving ceremony led by the House leaders, Isabella Boutros and Antonia Moussa.

Mercy Futures: Kindness Series

On 5 June, Year 11 students were given the opportunity to engage and deepen their understanding of love, one of the many attributes within the College, from CEO and Pastor of Wayside Chapel, Mr Jon Owen. Jon is a migrant to Australia from Sri Lanka and also has Indian heritage. As a life motto, he believes in and strives to provide a community of no “us and them”. His dedication to living and serving the poor is one admirable trait. During the event, I was pleased to meet with the Sisters of Mercy and share in conversation over a nice cup of tea with my Year 11 peers, Anya and Swetha.  At the conclusion of the talk, I was deeply inspired, and I thank Jon for deepening my understanding and meaning of love and kindness.

One thing that I will continue to take with me after school and into my life was his message to ‘care for the most vulnerable members of our community by spreading our message of love over hate’. I encourage and implore all Mercy students to take the initiative to be a part of this great experience.

Gabriella Nimmo (Year 11) 

Refugee Week  –  17-21 June

The theme of Refugee Week this year is ‘A World of Stories’. We will be celebrating this week and the multicultural face of our College at Assembly and during the Pastoral Care lesson. If you would like to be involved in a planned activity in your local area, have a look at the link below and see what is happening in your own backyards!

https://refugeeweek-refugeecouncilaus.nationbuilder.com/refugee_week_events 

Mrs Gabby Scanlon
Director of Mission (Acting)

OLMC production of Boyfriend Musical (1980s)