Wellbeing
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL, Wellbeing & Operations
Wellbeing
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL, Wellbeing & Operations
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Welcome back for the 2023 school year. A special welcome to all new families to the Academy. I hope that during the Christmas and New Year’s break you were able to all catch up with family and friends and you were also able to find some time to rest and relax after a very busy year.
I am pleased to say that the academic school year has commenced extremely well with the girls arriving with huge smiles on their faces last week. They were greeted at the front gate by our Senior Student Leadership Team with music and applause. This certainly was a welcome that put them all at ease and an example of the real sense of community and the spirit of Mercy that exists in our community.
We couldn’t be more than impressed with the new Year 7 cohort with the way they have been able to commence their journey with us. The Year 7 team have been working long and hard to ensure that the transition of the girls has been as smooth as possible. Similarly, the Wellbeing Leaders and Mentor Group Teachers from Year 8 – 12, have also welcomed another 24 students into the College and ensured that their beginning has also been smooth and successful.
A very warm welcome to all the new staff at the Academy this year and in particular, to Ms Lucy Neil, our new Deputy Principal of Learning & Teaching. Ms. Neil and I have already started working very closely to ensure that both the Learning & Teaching and Student Wellbeing Programs continue to complement each other so we are meeting the needs of our girls, allowing them to develop and grow academically and holistically and ultimately achieving their goals and becoming the very best young women that they can. We both attended all of the year level assemblies last week to welcome the students and outline some of our priorities with regards to their learning and wellbeing. This is something that we will continue with regularly throughout the course of this year. Please never hesitate to be in touch with either of us.
Last Thursday evening we were able to celebrate this event for the first time since 2020. Even though the weather turned nasty during the afternoon, we had in excess of 250 students, parents and staff in attendance. It was a wonderful way to welcome all new Year 7 families to the College, and allow them to meet other parents as well as the Year 7 teachers. Thank you to all staff, students and members of the Parent’s Association for their integral role in the preparation and execution of the evening.
Approximately once a month the Parents’ Association conducts a meeting in which parents are offered the chance to contribute to the life of the College. It is an opportunity to continue an ongoing partnership between the College and the parents of the students in our care. I invite parents/guardians to play an active and crucial part at Academy and should you be so inclined you are most welcome to attend our first meeting of the year on Monday 27 February beginning at 7pm. The plan is to have our Term 1 & Term 4 Meetings on Campus and Term 2 & Term 3 Meetings online. If you would like to attend the first meeting, please email me directly and I will add you to the email and distribution list.
Elite School Photography will attend the Academy on Wednesday 15th February for our annual Photo Day. All parents should have received an email with the details including an outline of the ordering process. A reminder that only individual portraits will be taken at all year levels and these will now be used to create ‘composite’ photos for Mentor Groups. At Year 12, as well as this, we will also be taking the traditional Year 12 Group Photo.
There are a number of important matters that all parents need to be up to date with. Please read the below topics on the newsletterINFORMATION page and if you have any queries at please contact me via email directly.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need any assistance or to raise any points of concern.
I look forward to working with all in the community throughout year.
Mr Sam Di Camillo
Deputy Principal, Wellbeing & Operations