YEAR 8 CAMPUS NEWS

WELCOME TO TERM 2

Hello to all and welcome to term 2. The start of Term 2 is always a congested one with public holidays, feast days, cross country and the annual Year 8 Camp contributing to what I think is the busiest period of the year for students at the Mercy Campus. I have been very pleased with how everyone has returned after the holidays and the mood following Tuesday’s Parent Teacher Interviews is definitely a positive one. 

YEAR 8 CAMP

The year 8 camp will be departing from the Mercy Campus at 8.00am on Monday May 13 before a planned return on Friday May 17 at 4.30pm. The long range forecast is looking quite favourable at this point in time, however, last year was a classic case of a quick weather change bringing quite nasty conditions and resulting in a quicker than expected end to the camp. I have resent the equipment list out to all students via email and have also attached a copy to this article. I am looking forward to a great camp and hope that everyone else is as well.

HUMAN POWERED VEHICLE 

Our first human powered vehicle event for the year will be taking place this Sunday May 5 at Loxton. This will see the debut of our new vehicle, the Mallee Missile as well as Genesis going through its paces. We held a training day last Sunday at the Mildura Go Kart club and it was great to see both vehicles going around. We have also started a Facebook page for the program, feel free to follow SJC Human Powered Vehicle Program for more updates throughout the year.

STRONG

Mrs Dixon has commenced the STRONG program for female students at the Mercy Campus this term. It was great to hear that 20 students joined in with Meditation in the Dance studio on Monday. This program will continue throughout the term, focusing on physical fitness, mindfulness and creativity. I look forward to hearing of further positive feedback.

HOMEWORK

One of the most frequent questions that I receive from parents is about homework. Students are all aware of the following requirements for homework in Year 8:

• Homework will only be set once per week. This means that students will not have homework set one day and due the next. Homework is different to work not completed in class and there is a possibility that this will be asked to be completed overnight if it is not completed in class.
• Homework is as much about setting up routines as it is about the content being covered. Ensuring that set time is dedicated to both set work and personal study is a really good habit to develop and the earlier it is developed, the better the long term results.

If you ever have any questions about homework, please contact your child’s PCG teacher and they will be able to liaise between yourself and the teacher as needed.

Mr Marcus Parker

Head of Mercy Campus