Dempsey's Digest

Dempsey’s Digest

Hello faithful newsletter readers! What I love about school life is that there is never a dull moment! MECS is such a vibrant community where something is happening all of the time. It’s so good to celebrate the diversity of our gifts in a community which is safe, encouraging and uplifting. Every day our teachers and support staff speak into the lives of our children in ways that affirm them and challenge them. I’m so grateful for our team and the impact that they have on our students. 

Announcement about Janet

I am sure that by now you are aware of the big news that was shared with our staff last week, that our much loved Assistant Principal, Primary is finishing up at the end of this year. Please refer to this communication if you missed this announcement. 

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

I am writing to inform you of a big change in our Primary School. As many of you are aware, Janet Anderson has served as our Assistant Principal in the Primary School since 2022. Janet’s warm and charming nature has had a generous impact on our primary school, and we have come to love and appreciate her very much. Janet has recently let me know, that due to family circumstances and a sense of leading from God, that she has decided that she will be finishing up in this role at the end of the year. 

In the coming weeks, we will be advertising for a Head of Primary position. I am sure you will join me in praying for the right person to be identified and selected. In the meantime, please uphold Janet and her family in your prayers. We will certainly take time to celebrate Janet and thank her for her loyalty and faithfulness towards the end of the year. We will miss her welcoming laugh, kind nature, attention to best practice and big heart for all students. 

Make sure you connect with Janet as you see her around the school or at events. 

I look forward to celebrating Janet’s dedicated service to our community, later in the year. 

NAIDOC week assembly

Even though it was a few weeks after the event, it was great for us to have our own NAIDOC week celebrations. Of particular enjoyment, was the assembly that was led for us by a number of our student leaders. Seeing our school captains, Acacia S and Owen P set the bar on sharing a great video that really challenged our attitudes and support of Indigenous people around events like NAIDOC week. I encourage you to check it out. Here is the link: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/144kJKsag6XKzu8VQSdNBtxb2NBphCIl3/view?usp=drive_link

Part of the assembly also included students participating in an activity of decorating and posting messages of hope and acknowledgement of Indigenous people on cut out 'flames' to acknowledge the theme, 'Keep the Fire Burning'. At MECS, we acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and seek the Spirit’s guidance in our responses to others. May we be faithful in our attitudes and reflect God’s love and hospitality to all whom we come in contact with.

Welcome to Secondary with Year 6 students & Parents

There was a wonderful vibe in the gym recently at the 'Welcome to Secondary' evening for Year 6 students and their parents. It was such a pleasure to hear our Year 7 Coordinator, Carolyn Nyhouse warmly welcome our guests and set the tone for the start of Secondary School. It was inspiring to hear our subject area teachers promote their subjects and our Well Being and Learning Diversity leaders share the opportunities for support at MECS. After that, there was opportunity for students to explore the expo to get more information around their subjects. The highlight for me, however, was our current Year 7 students sharing first hand experiences of going into Year 7 at MECS and hear some honest reflections about how they felt and the kind of support they could reach out for. Year 7 at MECS is a great opportunity to begin the secondary adventure and ‘taste’ a variety of subjects. It’s the start of our Personal Learning Device program and there is a wonderful camp held early in the year to enjoy. Most of all, it’s a very special community to be a part of. 

Primary Production

What a car, what a production! How exciting to see our MECS Primary students sing, dance, act, laugh, run, bark, wiggle and all things in between! It was also wonderful to see a number of our students helping out at the sound and lighting desk and backstage. It is not easy to organise over 300 children in one production, but Penny Mentiplay along with her helpers and the Primary team managed to pull it off! It was a beautiful show that will live on in our minds for a long time. I still can’t get the song 'Truly Scrumptious' out of my head! 

Year 9 Industry Week

A beautiful feature of our Year 9 program is Industry Week, where the students experience running a business and creating lots of fantastic items to sell at their market night. We’ll have a full report on this next newsletter, but I had a lovely tour this week with the General Manager, Eli Barton, who took me on a tour of the business and all of the departments which were working hard. It’s a big week for everyone involved, but so rewarding! 

Teaching and Learning Team

You might not know it, but we have a new Teaching and Learning team at MECS, made up of our Teaching and Learning Leaders; Malcolm Pirie (Primary), Emma Allison (Secondary) and Dee Dee Booth (Ranges TEC). Last Friday, this group presented to our other leaders to give us some insight into a project they have been working on, which captures a unique MECS framework for Teaching and Learning. This will be presented to our staff in due course and we’ll be sure to share it with parents and our association at the right time as well. Stay tuned, it’s pretty exciting!

Strategic Planning

Thanks to all who participated in the surveys in preparation for the Board’s strategic planning exercise that is happening in September. I am very excited that we will be developing a new strategic plan for MECS that will give us goals and insights into paving a strong way forward. There is so much about MECS to celebrate and protect and lots to hope for and dream! Please pray for the Board members and staff involved, that they are able to apply wisdom and discernment to this process.