24.09.24
Masterplan Provides Scaffolding for Modern Learners to Succeed
Masterplan Provides Scaffolding for Modern Learners to Succeed
Mercy Light: Connecting
If the walls of SAC’s Dunlevie Building could talk, they’d have a lot to say. They’d tell you how, over a hundred years ago, robed Mercy Sisters climbed its stairs to their top-floor bedrooms after long days teaching in the downstairs classrooms. These walls could recount how boarders’ songs and laughter chimed through the halls, or how muffled, homesick tears sometimes dampened pillows. They’d tell of countless nervous and excitable youngsters, tottering through the ground-floor doors on their very first days at school. Most impressively, the walls would surely tell of surviving 1954’s 5.6 magnitude earthquake, which severely damaged – and even partially collapsed – some nearby buildings.
Although that earthquake stirred the novice nuns fast asleep inside Dunlevie Building, the structure itself fared comparatively well; it takes a lot to rattle foundations of Mercy, which is sturdier than bricks-and-mortar alone. This story and many more were shared on Sunday 22 September, when over 150 Old Scholars, Staff and Sisters gathered in the shade of Dunlevie’s balconies for a Mercy Day celebration to honour the building. As Marian Elliott, former Deputy Principal and SAC Old Scholar, aptly told the gathering during her keynote speech, “the new Dunlevie Building will house the memories of future Mercy scholars and graduates who will face the challenges of education and life in the twenty-first century. We look forward to welcoming the new Dunlevie, which will rise from the footprints of the old.”
This occasion foregrounds several Masterplan milestones the College community anticipates celebrating, as an aspirational vision comes alive. Earlier this year, members of SAC’s community came together to paint a vibrant mural marking the entrance to The Village, a temporary learning space that accommodates classroom learning experiences while the Masterplan progresses. The multi-coloured artwork was launched during Harmony Week, depicting many hands to represent the mosaic of cultures and helpers that make SAC a dynamic and hospitable community.
Shortly after the mural was completed, a Digital Technologies studio opened its doors, impressing current and prospective families at its launch on Open Night.
Later this year, the community is invited to celebrate two more Masterplan milestones at the College. Next month, on October 18, the College will officially open the Wardlis, three gathering spaces in the Mitchell Courtyard that were designed by First Nations students and staff in collaboration with respected First Nations artist, Cedric Varcoe, and in consultation with Kaurna Elder, Uncle ‘Major’ Moogy Sumner AM. And, in November, there’ll be a celebration of the current Dunlevie Building for families in the Dunlevie Courtyard.
When Mercy Hospitality meets modern learning, magic happens. The Masterplan caters to the needs of the current and future learner with hospitality and community at the core. More than ever, the Dunlevie Building will be a nurturing home of learning, leading, connecting and believing for SAC’s students.
Primary Coordinator, Ms Abby Matte, describes the new Dunlevie Building as, “a space that has been designed with community connection front-of-mind. From the moment people walk down the Redden laneway, we hope they’ll feel welcomed and at home.”
Ms Matte explains how the students, “will be learning in spaces they’ve helped to choose throughout the Masterplan process. Students have had agency in explaining how best they like to learn.”
With everything from a designated STEM space, Arts areas, breakout nooks, and a Reception courtyard to be enjoyed by SAC’s littlest learners, opportunities are limitless for students to feel supported while pursuing their interests.
Some recent studies show that adaptable learning environments, whereby teachers can tailor classroom formations to suit specific task and student requirements, improve learning outcomes. On this, Ms Matte enthuses, “the adaptability of these new learning spaces, which current facilities lack, enhances connections between students and teachers and ensures that a range of specific learning needs can be appropriately met.”
The inclusion of a new, greened rooftop community area, as well as enhanced light flow into learning spaces, means students will enjoy the proven benefits that natural exposure has for young students. A study of 21,000 US primary-aged students determined that, over a one-year period, students with increased exposure to natural light during their school days experienced favourable outcomes in reading and mathematics, as compared to students with limited exposure.
SAC’s Principal, Ms Paddy McEvoy, is thrilled to see the Masterplan unfolding, sharing how the new Dunlevie building, “will integrate contemporary approaches to learning and diversity and provide state of the art specialist facilities for our younger learners. We know that this building will open up new possibilities for staff, students and families in the years ahead.”
The closing of the Dunlevie’s doors on the last day of school in December this year marks the opening of a new door, heralding an era of innovative learning opportunities built in its footprint, carrying forward a tradition of leading in learning in Mercy, which has a lifespan far longer than the original Dunlevie Building itself.
Ms Maddie Kelly
Marketing & Communications Team
