Headlines from our Primary and Secondary Heads

Last week was exciting with our book week taking full swing from classroom activities, special events in the library, and our finale on Thursday with dress ups, parades and shout outs. The tone that was set by our older students in embracing this to the joy that was across the classes was excellent. Thank you to the parents who helped your child prepare for this event, it was greatly appreciated.

We also celebrated public speaking with the Senior Primary Speeches as well as the Rotary Speech Competition where Joshua W brought home first place. Thanks to the Senior Primary team for supporting our students on this journey.

Not to be forgotten are our Prep students who are 100 days brighter as they celebrated their 100 days of school. (See the last edition of MECS Matters for lots of cute photos) These Prep students have made such growth in their own independence and academic skills since starting Prep and we look forward to this continuing throughout their schooling.

Malcolm Pirie

Head of Primary

Some happenings in the Secondary school over the last 2 weeks……

Ping Pong-A-Thon

A huge shout out to Todd Mahoney and a very passionate group of Year 10 students who organised MECS’ first Ping Pong-A-Thon last week. As a fundraising event to help bring an end to the injustice of human trafficking, ‘MECS Pong’, was quickly embraced by our whole community. 

From 7am to 7pm on Thursday 28 August, the constant ping and pong sounds of table tennis balls could be heard in the school gym as students took their turns at the tables. Primary faced secondary, staff faced students, whilst others perused the posters showing powerful individual stories of young people affected by human trafficking.

Not only was this event positive for community and a whole lot of fun, it also far exceeded the initial fundraising target of $2000, as well as the adjusted targets of $4000, then $5000! I am very pleased to announce that ‘MECS Pong’ raised a total of $5886 to fight human trafficking. Well done Year 10!

 Welcome to Secondary 

There was such a buzz at our recent ‘Welcome to Secondary’ evening as we showcased our Secondary School to incoming Year 7s for the following year. I am so grateful to Kate Weekes, our Year 7 coordinator, who put together this inspiring evening for our 2026 cohort of Year 7 students and their parents. It made me want to do Year 7 again!

The evening commenced with presentations from Kate, myself, Karissa Esselbrugge and then each of the faculty leaders who inspired students with what learning about God’s world looks like in Humanities, Science, Maths, the Arts, English and Languages from Year 7 to 12. I was so proud of each leader who communicated the excitement of learning and how each subject is framed by the threads and marked with biblical signposts and deep hopes for their students.

Our student leaders also represented our student body well in answering some ‘frequently asked questions’ about the Secondary School and then mingling at the subject expo with new students.

We have a large cohort of Year 7s joining us in 2026 which excitingly represents the positive interest in MECS. If you become aware of any families desiring to join us in Year 7 for 2027, please encourage them to get their applications in early!

Year 10 Camp Information Night

The Year 10 camp information night was a great opportunity to gather and focus in on the significant cultural experiences that come as a part of our Year 10 camp. My thanks go to Natalie Thomas and Todd Mahoney for the effort they put into organising this night and sharing key information with parents and students. It is so important that students are prepared well for cultural experiences that may challenged them, so that they may truly become ‘welcoming advocates’ that can respect different ways of viewing the world. What a challenge that is for all of us in current times!

Excursions

Alongside key events, many subject excursions have happened over the last few weeks. These provide the opportunity for students to go deeper with their learning and apply it to the world outside their classroom. Special thanks to all our teachers who take the time to organise these excursions for our students. We are so blessed to have so many teachers who show this passion and commitment to learning!

Some of the excursions our secondary students have attended in recent weeks:

• Year 7s experienced eclipses from space via the ‘Space Dome’ incursion
• Year 8 English classes had a visit from the author of the novel they are studying – Helen Chebatte
• Year 9 Humanities classes learned about ‘Smart Farming’ at Yarra Ranges Tech school
• The Year 10 Outdoor Ed class have been mountain biking
• Year 11 Personal Development Skills students have done first aid training
• Our Year 11 chemists analysed the caffeine content of different brands of coffee on their Chromatography excursion
• All Year 12 students explored the ethics associated with AI and future technologies from a biblical perspective with a speaker from ISCAST
• Our Year 12 Physics class visited the Synchotron to learn about sub-atomic physics.

WOW! We have been busy!

Emma Allison

Head of Secondary