Dempsey's Digest and other updates from around the school

As the end of term is upon us, I want to express my thanks to our community for making MECS such a great place to belong. From the sharing table at Kinder to the warm expressions of care in the primary, to parents who rock up at working bees for production on the weekends, to the positive vibe in the staffroom, MECS is a community that depends on you, as a parent, guardian, student or staff member to help it be the best it can be. God has blessed MECS beyond measure and we are privileged to enjoy this community, together. Have a wonderful, restful break and we’ll see you next term! 

Farewell

The end of term also brings some farewells to the following staff members:

Mel Voigt. Mel has been a wonderful Counsellor over the past 3 years to both our Primary and Secondary students. With a passion for art therapy and a warm and engaging personality, we will certainly miss Mel’s skills in assisting students. Mel is pursuing her love for art therapy in a private practice. All the best to Mel! 

Bonnie Evans. Bonnie has been our much-loved Well Being Coordinator in the Secondary School over the past 4 and a half years, and in her time has brought many strategies and tools for students to access support there. Many of you would have been a part of Bonnie’s presentations at information evenings in Secondary. Bonnie is also a trained and gifted Psychologist and will be pursuing her profession, with a private practice. 

Simon Dyett. Following 10 years of service, Simon is leaving MECS to pursue some other interests and opportunities. Simon is a man with a big heart who has been very faithful in his task as IT Manager. We are grateful for his hard work and dedication, beyond his managerial role and wish him all the very best. 

Please join with me in upholding Mel, Bonnie and Simon in prayer as we say goodbye to these valued staff members. 

Information and Learning Technology Manager

Following a thorough recruitment process, we are delighted to announce that Mr Robert Price has been appointed as the Information and Learning Technology Manger for MECS. Robert comes with a wealth of experience in the IT sector, including a previous stint here at MECS as the Systems Administrator. 

Following a season of discernment, Robert returns to us full of enthusiasm and capacity to navigate this next chapter in the life of MECS. Robert will commence with us in August, at a date yet to be confirmed. We look forward to welcoming him as a leader in this area of school life. 

Enjoy an update from both Primary and Secondary sections below.

Michelle Dempsey

Principal

Focus on Primary - Oh what a term!

This Term it has been exciting to see our Year 6 cohort go from strength to strength. The way that they have lead, supported and encouraged the rest of primary through their formal leadership of  Get Togethers (GT's) and worship, School Assemblies, and Prep Buddies through to the informal Dad jokes, positive playground friendship supporters and general encouragers. It has been excellent to see them step into this space.

With the SP Sovereign Hill Camp and the MP ADANAC camp, both were great times of learning, exploring, facing and overcoming challenges. The historical learning aspect of the Sovereign Hill camp was excellent and I loved seeing the levels of team building and support that occurred on the MP Camp.

The Prep and JP teams have both implemented the new phonics program (DRA) in line with the new Victorian Curriculum 2.0. I have been impressed by the way the teaching team have embraced this new style of teaching and it has been exciting to see the student results already emerging.

Our JP team rounded off the Term with an emphasis on Awe Dwellers. This was linked to their Maroondah Dam excursion and has been followed up with a writing task that is tear worthy. It is worth dropping into one of the JP classes and reading some of the writing on their Super Writers wall. Please read below one example from JPK of many like it and take a moment to dwell in awe as well.

"I am an awe dweller. I see your art work all around me. From the bottom of the ocean to the top of the sky. Your art is always there no matter what. I notice the flowers opening up the petals like a baby opens their eyes to come into the joy of God's master piece. When I see the sparkling shining stars in the night sky I feel as small as an ant but I remember that no matter what God is always with me from the smallest ant to the biggest seas. God would move heaven and earth and his creation to be with his most precious thing he had ever made, his children. When I look up at the night's sky I always try to count the stars but I always loose count of your creation, it's just like that. The thing that amazes me most is how you made the whole world just out of words. Thank you God for dying on the cross to save our sins and get rid of our tears. Your creation could never get any more simple than that." (JPK student)

The art that has been occurring across the year levels is fun and vibrant. If you pop into the main office you will see a sample of some of our SP portraits that have really captured aspects of the artist.

Our Indonesian classes have been instilling a love of language and culture and this has resulted in 5 of our Primary students qualifying to compete in the Interschool Indonesian Speaking Competition where we achieved a first place and a highly commended against other top schools in the State of Victoria.

Our Primary Athletics Day was a wonderful day of sporting competitiveness and fun. We had a great crowd of parents cheering on their children from the sidelines and vibe from the students that was encouraging and supportive. Our inhouse cross country colour run lead to 57 students representing MECS at District Cross Country, 9 made it through to Divisional, 3 made it through to Eastern Metropolitan Region, and 1 has made it all the way through to State! All of this success in the last couple of weeks and we start to forget about how we started the term with our Primary Soccer Team winning the CSEN State soccer tournament.

The highlights and successes of our students are hard to capture in one brief article. But what we have at MECS is a community of parents who care, teachers who put in that little bit extra and students who are engaged in learning, wanting to do their best and are caring of others.

Malcolm Pirie

Head of Primary

Focus on Secondary  - Active Learning 

One of the joys I have experienced in being Head of Secondary this year is observing the growth in our students’ understanding of their own capacity to be active agents in God’s world. If you have been at one of our assemblies this year you will have come away no-doubt inspired and encouraged after hearing from our students about their learning, seeing examples of their work and skill as well as how learning has impacted them, and how they are using it.

The student voice in assembly has been made possible with the new focus through all of our curriculum units on TrAc (Transformational Activity) & F.L.Ex (Formational Learning Experience) tasks – these are activities teachers have embedded to encourage students to dig deeper into the impact of what they are learning and what actions they might take to actively impact the world with the understanding they now have. 

And wow! We have seen so many things happening across our Secondary School. From Year 10 artists blessing the Kinder students with felt play mats, to our Year 7 seismologists responding to their learning about earthquakes with fundraising efforts for Myanmar. We have also seen our Year 9 Kindness campaign, Year 7 face to face interviews with real ‘Faith-filled scientists’ and Year 12 dramatic simulations of human body systems in ‘Made to move.’

And this first semester is just the beginning. There are more in the planning stage to be launched next term – look out for students ‘creating to advocate’ through art and being ‘change makers’ in business enterprises.

Student Leadership

This semester has also seen a relaunch of both our SRC (Student Representative Council) and FLT (Faith Leadership Team). Both also have a renewed focus on student voice. The SRC is made up of 2 students from each of Years 7-11 and our 3 school captains. It is my privilege to meet with them fortnightly and hear about their ideas for MECS and work towards implementing them. Their major project this term was hosting a fundraising barbeque at the Athletics carnival which raised a total of $587.10 which was split between a donation to the Australian Paralympians and buying more sports equipment for students to use at school in break times.

The FLT is split into 2 teams – one for each of Junior and Senior Secondary. As faith leaders, these students endeavour to embody and champion the MECS threads and positively disciple their peers and impact school culture.

FLT members are responsible for doing something within their year level, every term, that works towards achieving parts of the vision. Specifically, leading students closer to Jesus, & positively impacting school culture. This semester we have seen the FLT running lunchtime groups, hosting pancake breakfasts, relaunching the Senior school worship band and much more. These students are ably led and discipled themselves by Matt Wynne, our Chaplain.

Shrek

I couldn’t go past this semester without a huge shout out to Tristan Forrest, Alyce VanderJagt and Marlene Magee for all their work in preparing for the Secondary production of Shrek. Each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the cast descend upon the Theatrette and sing, dance, act and laugh together to perfect the performances you will see in August. It has been my complete joy to see snippets of this as momentum builds this semester. Many of you have also supported this by attending our Shrek working bees or supporting your children with transport, learning lines, making costumes etc. 

I love that these opportunities enable students to grow and shine in the gifts that God has given them. It is going to be epic! Make sure you get your tickets now as they are selling fast!

I pray a blessing over our whole secondary community as we head into this midyear break. Rest well and enjoy additional time with your lovely children. I encourage you to reflect with them on the bigger picture of what they have been learning this term and the relationships they have built, as well as have heaps of fun together!

Emma Allison

Head of Secondary