Faith, Community & Culture

Year 6 Faith night

Year 6 students and carers enjoyed the faith night on Tuesday this week.  The focus was 'living the sacrament' as many students will become full members of the Catholic Church later this month.  Activities were aplenty provoking varied responses and interpretations; this is how we encourage our students to respond to scripture.  We are all unique and bring our different contexts and understandings of the world to the classroom.  Therefore it is appropriate that students are given the opportunity to make their own personal connection to scripture.  'The Acts' of the Apostles is full of recounts about the world after Jesus died.  It is the beginning of the Catholic Church (Pentecost) when Jesus' disciples were given the courage and ability to keep sharing the mission of Christ - to be kind, loving, thoughtful and courageous.  Towards the end of the month many of our students will be 'sealed' by Bishop Tony, an outward sign of accepting God's grace to be living disciples of Christ.

 Thankyou to the year six staff who have been leading the students through identifying the 'ordinary' saints in the students lives.  The students did an amazing job creating a media presentation about one 'ordinary saint' in their life.  Students also presented their ordinary saint with a hand crafted medal on the night.

Wilson house day

This year Wilson house planned a learning activity for our students to create an awareness of the plight of many homeless Victorians. Built on the work done by Walsh house (giving to St Vincent de Paul), they presented a prayerful reflection based on the compassion shown by Frederic Ozanam.  He was the founder of the St Vincent de Paul Society working in solidarity with others, to help those less fortunate than himself.  Students were presented with some startling facts and then brainstormed ways that they too could work in solidarity to reduce the amount of homelessness within our own community.  All students participated by making an individual origami mini house that when put together has provided a large house of ideas to stem homelessness.  Thank you to Brodie and Olivia, Wilson House leaders, who led the students.

The last Census showed that, on any given night, at least 30,000 Victorians are without a home (including 6,800 children). 

They’re living in their car, staying somewhere temporary like a friend’s couch, in a shelter or refuge, or have nowhere to go at all. 

In a country as wealthy as Australia, no-one should be without a home. 

We can end homelessness by building more homes. For most people, a home that they can afford would end their homelessness.

Jesse Tree

This term, staff and students will be learning about the family tree of Jesus (the Jesse Tree).  During assemblies, students will be presenting their learning around one member of the family.  In a week 4, the year 4s will be introducing the school to Jesse and his son David.  The year 1/2s will be introducing Isaiah too.  Please come and join us as we begin the journey towards Christmas.

Spirituality Day - Interfaith Prayerful Experiences

Staff will be attending John Paul College on Friday 13th October to work with many presenters from the Interfaith community.  Please take time to read through the list of presenters:

Gregg Morris - The gift of paying attention is possibly the greatest gift we have to offer the other.  Discover how the Polynesian concepts of Aloha (Hawaiian), Alofa (Sāmoan) & Aroha (Māori) offer new dimensions to how we give this attention of care to others.

Kathy Kaplan - President of Temple Beth Israel and actively involved in the Etz Chayim community

Jason Isma - A first generation Australian Buddhist in the Tibetan tradition, born of Roman Catholic Italian migrant parents, engaging with teaching as a spiritual practice in secular, Catholic, Buddhist and Islamic schools

Skyla Lauch - Living Culture

Ridhwan - Preston Mosque

Chris Helm - Chris and Sarah Do are facilitators from the Australia’s cultural innovations and First Nations Team of Scripture Union. They will be focusing on  cultures, languages and faiths.

Lionel Lauch - Be  immersed in the rhythmic primal sounds of the Yidaki, grounding you in the land, connecting you to the earth and creating a space for powerful healing to

take place.

Staff have chosen three sessions to attend across the day.   

Look out for staff reflections in the newsletter over the coming weeks. 

We look forward to sharing our learning and understandings with the community.