Religious Education

Mentone

Religious Education Year 10-12

Year 10 Religious Education began its school-based program with an exploration of beliefs and their expression in other world religions. The students seemed to take a lot of interest in their religion of choice from an array of both mainstream and smaller, lesser known religions. Students were able to take their learning and collaboratively “teach” each other building skills in team work and communication while becoming even more “expert” in their own religion. 

 

In Term 2, we moved our thoughts to an examination of Australia’s First Nation Peoples, the impact of colonisation and the opportunities that we have, both as Church and a society, to continue the process of reconciliation and healing. In addition to this topic, we are delighted to have had the opportunity to send a group of Yr. 10 students to engage in the INDIGENOUS IMMERSION EXPERIENCE at BALNARRING on the Mornington Peninsular. We look forward to having the students return and share with us their insights and understanding from the three-day cultural immersion interacting and working with Indigenous elders and community representatives. 

 

Religious Education Year 7

Our Year 7 students have been studying the topic of prayer. The students have been recapping the importance of prayer within the Christian tradition, and for other faiths also. They have been looking at the difference between private and public worship, and the different types of prayer. They have also been exploring non-formal forms of worship, with a focus on silent reverence, contemplation and meditation, awe and wonder. We have taken a visit to the school chapel to experience silent reflection, and to spend time thinking about anyone in our school community who may need prayers at this time. 

 

We decided that as students cannot travel outside of Australia with the current restrictions, we would take a 2021 virtual trip to explore some importance places of worship where prayer takes place throughout the world. The students got their virtual passports ready, printed off their boarding passes, and took a trip to a Shinto Shrine in Japan, a famous grotto in Lourdes in France, and finally, off to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Students enjoyed the experience of working in groups to explore these places of spiritual worship and taking ownership of their own research and learning.