Mercy Hour

“Mercy Hour” is a College event to educate students about environmental sustainability. As the College was unable to be involved in Earth Hour this year due to the event falling on a Saturday, we decided to hold our very own version of Earth hour called Mercy Hour, on Wednesday 8 May.

Every class and work area was asked to turn off lights, fans and electronic devices for one hour. All staff got involved, including staff in office area.

An estimate of the savings in power was calculated. From the designated areas surveyed, we found the following reductions in electricity consumption:

• 85% reduction in electrical light usage
• 99% reduction in fan usage

Kindness Cookies

Justice@Mercy students were busy in the kitchen this week, trying out recipes for ‘Kindness’ cookies which will be delivered during Catholic Education Week, on Wednesday 31 July. The students tried to make many variety of biscuits using, jam, choc chips, chocolate buttons, sprinkles and nuts. Of course after making the cookies the best part was eating them!

Year 9 Aged Care Visit

Mercy College Year 9 Religion students are looking at the Catholic Social Teachings, in particular "The Dignity of the Human Person", and have studied Aged Care in Australia and issues on Ethical Textiles in the unit called “Justice Brings Peace”.

Mr Comerford’s Religion class visited Good Shepherd Lodge and the students worked with the residents in the activity room creating Jelly Fish Murals using different coloured bottle tops and gluing them onto corflute boards.

During this time the students talked to the residents about what they do at school and vice versa. This service learning is very important, as our students interact with the residents, some of which are very lonely and don’t receive any visitors.

Auslan Club

On Wednesday 22 May the Auslan Club participated in the National Stimultaneous Storytime reading. The reading, which is done in Auslan, was called “Alpacas with Maracas”.

On Saturday 20 July we travel to Townsville to sign the National Anthem for the Cowboys vs Rabbithos game. We’ll also be signing at the QBL for the Meteors and Meteorettes and hopefully at the Mackay Cutters QRL stadium again.

Netball Clinic

On Friday 24 May, the QISSN team and students from Years 8, 9 and 10 Netball Excellence classes were fortunate enough to attend Mercy College’s inaugural Netball Clinic. The girls started the day at the Mackay Netball courts where they were physically and mentally challenged by the Mackay region’s leading coaches. The skills and drills session was designed to improve all levels of abilities and the girls were able to effectively implement what they learned in gameplay.

The afternoon session was held back at school where some powerful messages from Danae Gardener (Physiotherapist, former Sharks player) and Renae Kunst (NRL Development Officer and Australian Rugby League Jillaroos Co-captain) enhanced the message the College already gives to their students about strength, leadership, being true to yourself and showing integrity.