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The Hedge
Week 1, Term 3 | Thursday 24 July 2025 A weekly snippet of what’s happening ‘behind the hedge’ at Mercedes College...

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Our Next Strategic Direction

Those members of our community who were able to attend the Open Council Meeting last term, received an overview from our Council Chair, Council Member and our Principal on the past five years - covering our financial position, academic outcomes and governance structure.

Mercedes College is now stepping confidently into the future with a new Strategic Direction that outlines our intentions for 2025 and beyond.

We encourage you to review the video and booklet, below, to familiarise yourself with our plans for the coming years - we look forward to sharing them with you all.

SEQTA Engage: have everything in the palm of your hand!

For several years, we have been using SEQTA Direqt Message to communicate with our families. We are also aware of the many software platforms that need to be accessed in addition to everyday messages.

To help streamline and simplify this for families, we have brought together all the links, apps, and destinations you might need to manage your Mercedes College activities into one App - so it's a one-stop-shop for you.

You can now log into the SEQTA Engage App on your phone and easily find your way to:

  • The Cafe menu and the app to pre-order lunches
  • The CESA Community Portal to keep personal details up-to-date and access financial statements
  • Seesaw for our Junior School activities
  • ManageBac for our Middle and Senior School activities, plus Reports from all year levels
  • Curriculum Extension Activity Nominations
  • Stack Team app for all co-curricular sport updates
  • And more!

This consolidation of communication platforms, means that our families can receive messages from various sources, all in the palm of your hand!

Countdown to Quiz Night

We're just a week out from our annual Quiz Night, with marvellous M-themed team names rolling in! We already have the Mad Hatters, M&Ms, Men in Black and Mercedes Vice... what could go wrong?!

We have four tables left - and would love to see them filled!

Grab one of the final tables and join the fun - there will be a raffle to win, table games, prizes for the best dressed table and the best dressed team... you won't want to miss it!

Netball Excellence

During the mid-year break, 34 of our best Netballers travelled to Melbourne and represented Mercedes College at the Waverley International School Netball Championship.

Competing against teams from South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, as well as Sri Lanka, Singapore and Hong Kong, our girls did us proud, finishing with results that outshone our 2024 efforts.

As part of their experience, our players gifted Mercedes College pins to all international teams, as a friendly memento of their visit to Australia.

Well done to our teams, coaches and staff on such a successful and enjoyable competition.

Celebrating All Things French

The last day of Term 2 was French Day across the Junior School, and students turned up in very chic red, white and blue outfits, ready to celebrate.

This annual day of activities began with a concert, with each year level performing something in the French language for families to enjoy.

We saw a lot of talent on show, enjoying poetry, songs, history, and even X-Factor France!

After a break, classes built French monuments from iced biscuits, created their own version of French perfume, competed in 'Tour de Scooter', cooked meringues and more, as everyone practiced their knowledge of France and the French language.

As an IB world school, French is a central element to our student learning and engagement.

Bravo à tous!

Welcome New Families!

This term, we welcome several new students and their families to our College community, including a brand new mid-year Reception class - welcome RSD!

It's wonderful to add more friendly faces to our Campus, and we look forward to
the next Semester with you all.

Assessing Knowledge Beyond the Classroom

Families in Year 2 to Year 6 are reminded that the deadline to register for the internationally-recognised ICAS Assessments is Monday 28 July.

Considered the gold standard in academic competitions, ICAS has been taken by more than 10 million students, from 16,000 schools across 41 countries since 1981.

Unlike the NAPLAN assessments, which assess students against their year level curriculum, the ICAS competition assesses subject knowledge beyond the classroom.

Our students have the opportunity to sit tests in Writing, Digital Technologies, English, Mathematics, Spelling, and Science.

Please refer to this letter from our ICAS Assessment Coordinator and Head of Junior School.

Snow Camels

We returned to international travel this year, with our Year 11 Snow Trip crew heading to New Zealand during the mid-year holidays.

Whether experienced skiers or snowboarders, or just starting out, our students made life-long memories together on and off the slopes as they traversed new experiences and shared exciting adventures that only being in the snow can offer.

Welcome home - we look forward to hearing all of your snow stories!

Coming Together

Our Year Level Representatives help build and maintain the sense of community that Mercedes College is known for, by being a contact point for their year level.

A highlight of each year are the social occasions and get togethers that our Year Level Reps organise to bring families together.

One event coming up soon is for Year 11 families.

Mid-year Catch Up
Sunday 10 August
3.00pm to 5.00pm
Arkaba Hotel

Please get in touch with our Year 11 Reps, Sophie or Kate, and let them know to expect you! It should be a great night.

State Finalists

At the end of Term 2, five teams of Year 12 Chemistry students participated in the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's Titration Competition.

The objective was to standardise a sodium hydroxide solution with a known mass of potassium hydrogen phthalate and use their results to determine the potassium hydrogen phthalate in an unknown sample.

Two of our teams qualified for the South Australian Final, which will be held in the Hetzl Laboratories at University of South Australia East next month.

Congratulations Amitej (McAuley), Gina (Fitzpatrick), Jia (McAuley), Austin (Fitzpatrick), James (Fitzpatrick), and Christian (McAuley).

We wish you all the best for the Finals!

Volleyball and Judo

Two Mercedes College students are performing at a national level in each of their respective passions.

Qisen (Year 11, Dalton) will be travelling to Perth in September to compete in the Australian Youth Volleyball Championships, which will determine the best Youth Volleyball team in the country.

After a two-phase tryout process, Qisen was selected to play Setter in the Under 18 division, and his team has high ambitions of securing a medal. Good luck, Qisen!

In other competition news, Isaac (Year 9, Barry) was selected to represent Australia as a member of the National Judo Team on an international tour.

He is currently competiting in the Hong Kong Asian Cup and Macau Asian Cup as part of the 2025 Australian Cadet and Junior Judo Tour - we look forward to hearing your results!

Term 3 PEG Meeting | Change of Date

Our Parent Engagement Group (PEG) Term 3 meeting for 2025 has been moved to Monday 11 August, 8.40am to 9.40am, in our Staff Room.

All families are invited to attend, in person or online. Our Deputy Principal, Narelle Sandercock will be there, along with and members of our Sport Department and our Director of Co-Curricular Sport, Brodie Atkinson.

This is a great forum to share insights and meet other PEG members - so please
come along.

We'd love to see you there!

Register your attendance here.

Coming up...

  • Monday 28 July | Year 9 Reflection Day
  • Tuesday 29 July |  Year 10 Vaccinations
  • Wednesday 30 July | Year 9 - Year 12 Career Expo: register your attendance
  • Thursday 31 July | Playgroup
  • Thursday 31 July to Friday 1 August | Year 10 Industry Focus Days | Year 11 Retreat
  • Friday 1 August | Quiz Night: secure the last tables!
  • Monday 4 August to Friday 8 August | Catholic Schools Open Week | Languages Week
  • Wednesday 6 August | International Languages House Quiz
  • Thursday 7 August | AMT Australian Mathematics Competition | Playgroup
  • Friday 8 August | Year 11 and Year 12 Career Insights Breakfast: students nominate industry interests today | Vinnies Winter Sleep Out

Save the Date: 2026 Student Orientation Day | Friday 28 November

More upcoming activities can be found on the College Calendar.