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Prayer
Loving God,
We thank you for this moment of light and love.
As our candles continue to burn, may their light remind us of your love that surrounds us and the Mercy that unites us.
Bless the students, staff, and leaders here today. Strengthen within us the values that guide our Mercy communities.
May our words today be thoughtful, our listening deep, and our hearts open to truth and justice.
Set our hearts on fire to be bearers of your light in the world— in what we say, in how we act, and in who we are.
We make this prayer in Jesus’ name, your Word made flesh.
Amen.
This week’s prayer is taken directly from the Welcome and Opening Prayer of last week’s Frayne Public Speaking Festival hosted by Sacred Heart College Kyneton.
This year’s Frayne Festival was a significant event for the school with more than 200 students and staff from thirteen Victorian and South Australian Mercy schools represented (the full list of participating schools is included below). The festival is a celebration of public speaking, debating and voice choir and has been held annually since 1996. The quality of competition was very high and the shared spirit across so many young people was a true testament to the quality of Mercy schools.
Competing Schools
Academy of Mary Immaculate, Fitzroy
Catherine McAuley College, Bendigo
Damascus College, Ballarat
Emmanuel College, Warrnambool
Mercy Regional College, Camperdown
Mount Lilydale Mercy College
Notre Dame College, Shepparton
Our Lady of Mercy College, Heidelberg
Padua College, Mornington
Sacred Heart College, Geelong
Sacred Heart College, Kyneton
St Aloysius College, Adelaide
St Aloysius College, North Melbourne
A very special highlight for Sacred Heart College was winning the blue riband Voice Choir competition. Sixteen students from Year 7 – 9 competed against voice choirs from four other schools, each of whom had significantly more experience than our students. Notwithstanding this, the Sacred Heart students won by a substantial margin. Congratulations to the students involved and special thanks to the staff leaders – Hannah Monagle and Freya Egberts.
Voice Choir
Grace Batkovic, Year 7
Anna Dunn, Year 7
Angus Jewell, Year 7
Liv Norman, Year 7
Charles Ramselaar, Year 7
Ava Ryan, Year 7
Jonah Sacco, Year 7
Grace Sinclair, Year 7
Archie Turner 7
Keto Westman, Year 7
Lucinda Bowen, Year 8
Georgia Morelli, Year 8
Charlie Agar, Year 9
Stella Egberts, Year 9
Kate Hemphill, Year 9
Matilda Matthews, Year 9
Sacred Heart College also had a team participating in the Debating competition as well as Catherine Mahoney (11D) in the senior Public Speaking competition. I would like to thank all the Sacred Heart College staff and students who contributed to the success of a fabulous day with special thanks to the key staff leaders – Jennifer Baldwin, Loretta Hanns, Andrea Knight and Laura Shepherd.
SHC competitors
Debating
Levi Gordon, Year 10
Danika Wozniak, Year 10
William Sacco, Year 10
Public Speaking
Catherine Mahoney, Year 11
2025 Frayne Speech Festival - Winners
Public Speaking - Winner
Florencia Herrera, Academy of Mary Immaculate, Fitzroy
Public Speaking - Runner Up
Fadzai Bako, St Aloysius College, North Melbourne
Debating - Winner
St Aloysious College, North Melbourne
Debating - Runner Up
Mount Lilydale Mercy College
Debating – Overall Best Speaker
Polly-Jean Butterfield – St Aloysius College, North Melbourne
Voice Choir - Winner
Sacred Heart College, Kyneton
Voice Choir – Runner Up (Tied)
Our Lady of Mercy College, Heidelberg
St Aloysius College, North Melbourne
Student and Staff Activities
Alongside last week’s Frayne Festival, it has been a remarkably busy few weeks at Sacred Heart College:
- The two Alpine Camps for 2025 have been held at Falls Creek and Howman’s Gap with Year 10 students in the week of August 17 and Year 9 students this week. The two camps in three weeks reflects the changes announced in 2024 with SHC year level camps transitioning to Year 7 – 9 by 2026. On the mountain, students and staff have been blessed with excellent snow and plenty of sunshine.
- This week, most Year 10 students are undertaking a week’s Work Experience locally and around the state. This opportunity is a very important one as students move formally into senior school and are giving consideration to academic and vocational pathways.
- Last Tuesday saw the culmination of two rounds of the annual Sacred Heart College Junior Chef competition. It was fantastic to see teams from each of the Macedon Ranges Catholic Primary Schools involved (St Mary’s Castlemaine, Our Lady of the Rosary Kyneton, St Mary’s Lancefield, St Ambrose Woodend, St Brigids Gisborne and Holy Cross New Gisborne). Special congratulations to St Brigid’s Gisborne who celebrated their first win in the competition.
- Currently, a significant number of Year 10 & 11 students are involved in the election process for the College’s 2026 Senior Cabinet. Congratulations to each of them for having the courage to apply!
Bereavement: Your prayers are asked for the Byrne family, with the passing of John Byrne, grandfather of Darby, Year 10. Our thoughts are will you at this sad time.
Yours in Mercy,
Dr Darren Egberts
Principal
