Catherine McAuley Westmead was established by The Sisters of Mercy Parramatta in 1966 and retains strong links with our founding community.
Staff and students are given opportunities to immerse themselves in the story of Catherine McAuley and to reflect upon what it means to be a member of a Mercy school community in a number of ways:
- Ongoing staff formation in the Mercy tradition
- Membership of the Australasian Mercy Secondary Schools Association
- Biennial Mercy conferences
- Links with Mercy missions in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste
- Membership of the Mercy 6 Group of secondary schools in Sydney
- Active participation of Sisters of Mercy within our school community
- Support for Mercy Works.
Our Year 7 students are first welcomed into the ‘Circle of Mercy’ at the Opening School Mass where the whole school community prays for God’s blessing on their work and studies ahead and welcomes them to the school. In September each year our Year 12 students form the ‘Circle of Mercy’ for the last time at their Graduation Mass.
Students are given the opportunity to interact with students from the other five Mercy schools in Sydney (Mercy College, Chatswood; Monte Sant Angelo, North Sydney; Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta; Our Lady of Mercy College, Burraneer, Emmaus College, Kemps Creek) as part of the Mercy 6 activities.