Faith and Mission 

Student Initiatives - Beda Keep Cups

A target for this year is to empower our student Lasallian Youth Leaders (LYLs) with student-led projects that seek to uphold the Lasallian values of faith, service and community.

We are so pleased that 2023 has achieved record numbers of 50+ students across Years 9 to 12 as LYLs volunteering their time for various initiatives. One such initiative is the introduction of Beda Keep Cups! 

With the addition of the Senior Café this year - which has seen coffee and hot chocolate consumption at an all-time high - our cohort of LYLs identified a collective social responsibility to reduce waste amongst the community. This sparked the idea for Beda Keep Cups, allowing students and staff to enjoy their drinks in reusable cups featuring a St Bede's College design, inspired by the iconic royal blue blazer and the ocean blue of Port Phillip Bay. 

We're so proud of the LYLs for their stellar efforts in improving our community’s environmental responsibility and actively designing and managing the Beda Keep Cups. 

We commend these students for their service to our College Community and thank them for their willingness to uphold the Lasallian values.

As the LYLs program continues in 2024, we encourage them to continue wearing their LYL badges with pride. 

Beda Keep Cups are available for $8 each. 

Reach out to Liam Collins at LNC@stbedes.catholic.edu.au to order. 

Book Donations - Les Twentyman Foundation

As the College year draws to a close, you may have some books or other resources that you would like to donate to the Les Twentyman Foundation ‘Back to School’ program.

The Back to School Program redistributes second-hand educational resources to students who would otherwise be unable to afford them. In 2022, the Foundation was able to assist 550 students to access the supplies required to attend school.

St Bede’s College is collecting any of the following:

• Year 7-12 textbooks and study guides published since 2018
• English novels and literature texts (i.e. novels / plays / poetry /DVDs)
• Atlases, dictionaries (English and foreign language), and thesauruses 
• Calculators
• Laptops
• Stationery (either physical donations in good condition or via the purchasing of vouchers from companies like Officeworks)

Donations to be taken to Student Services or Reception at either Campus, until Tuesday 5th December 2023.

Have a Ball Day

The final day of Term 3 saw our students enjoying Have a Ball Day across both campuses.

The ‘Have a Ball Foundation’ was established to put smiles on faces of young Indigenous children by providing balls to their schools and communities in remote areas of Australia.

These donations encourage a healthy, active, and fun sporting life as well as raise money to support their health and wellbeing. 

To support the Foundation, students and staff were invited to donate a new or good conditioned sports ball or footy boots, or bring a gold coin donation. We're pleased to report that we raised $541 and collected 280 balls - a great effort!

We were also very happy to welcome a very special guest, Collingwood player, Bassirou 'Roo' Faye to our Mentone Campus. Roo met with our students, thanking them for their efforts with Have A Ball.  

The Climate Crisis - Perspective from Pope Francis

On the October 4th, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi (patron of ecology), Pope Francis released an Apostolic Exhortation, Laudate Deum (Praise God). Focusing on the climate crisis, Pope Francis describes it as a look at the current environmental situation and what needs to be done, by ‘all people of good will’. 

...I wanted to share with all of you, my brothers and sisters of our suffering planet, my heartfelt concerns about the care of our common home. Yet, with the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. In addition to this possibility, it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons. We will feel its effects in the areas of healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc.

This is a global social issue and one intimately related to the dignity of human life. The Bishops of the United States have expressed very well this social meaning of our concern about climate change, which goes beyond a merely ecological approach, because “our care for one another and our care for the earth are intimately bound together. Climate change is one of the principal challenges facing society and the global community. The effects of climate change are borne by the most vulnerable people, whether at home or around the world..."

Continue reading the full document here.

Ria Greene

Deputy Principal - Faith and Mission