Service Learning

42 back-packs donated!

Once again, the St George's Anglican Grammar School community's generous spirit knew no bounds. 42 backpacks, chocker-block with stationery items for primary school students, were donated to the 2024 Anglicare Christmas Appeal. The backpacks will be distributed to families in need.

A huge thank you to those families who contributed to this very worthwhile initiative.

Blanketed in love

The unique thing about our school in the city is that our location gives us a firsthand glimpse at how the world functions beyond classroom walls. Day after day, our ‘mobile classrooms' reveal the exciting world of work that our students will enter in the future as equally as they show the more challenging side of any major metropolitan city. Our students experience creative and entrepreneurial endeavours as well as people experiencing homelessness and hardship.

To take a stand and address the injustice of homelessness, Fr Gift and I reconfigured the Year 9 Belief & Values Hinduism unit of study, whereby students learnt about the eternal spirit, 'Atman' in all things, to include a practical response. The Year 9s were charged with the task of crocheting squares that were joined together to make one large blanket to be given to someone experiencing homelessness. This blanket would not only serve as a momentary panacea for a much larger issue, but it challenged the students to practice (and in some cases learn) a craft. Service in action at the grass roots level.

Much thanks goes to Lorelei Barnes-Smith and Gidon Bogoyev for coordinating the wool preparation, training their peers and contributing many of the blanket squares. They were valiant in the face of their peers who were ready to give up on a craft activity that takes quite a lot of skill. The very generous Mrs Lane, Science teacher, took responsibility for crocheting all the differently sized squares into one large blanket. This was no mean feat, and she completed this task in her own time over one weekend.

Finally, the blanket was given to Mesh at Game City Espresso Bar, next door to our school. Mesh runs a successful espresso bar that prides itself on a 'pay it forward' approach to supporting those who cannot afford a coffee because of homelessness or financial hardship. Anyone can purchase an extra coffee, with the second purchase being paid forward. To build on this, Mesh donates clothing and food to those who might need it. The newly created 'Atman' blanket will be given to one of the many people who come into Mesh's espresso bar and who sleep rough on the streets of Perth nightly.

Mr Ryan McBride

Beliefs and Values Teacher and Service Learning Co-ordinator