DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - COMMUNITY

A COMMUNITY IN HARMONY - CELEBRATING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

This week on campus, our staff and students recognised Harmony Week to celebrate the cultural diversity represented in our College and local communities. Our roving reporters, Media Captains Emily Keys (O'Reilly) and Chloe Brink (Trinity), moved about campus at lunchtimes with their cameras, interviewing students to identify the many cultural backgrounds of our students. 

We shared  a multicultural prayer focus in morning PCG, with Wellbeing and Inclusion Captain Casey Brennan (Thu Duc), and Social Justice Captains Grace Bugeme (Hannan) and Samya Sirohi (Trinity), leading collaborative art and craft activities at break times to promote awareness of the cultural identities represented in our school. Our Aboriginal Liaison Officer, Ms Sasha Wells, also led guided tours of our new Yarning Circle to educate staff and students about the richness of the local Aboriginal culture and to celebrate the changes that the Nyungar season of Bunuru brings to our country here at Sorrento.

DIVING INTO OUR CULTURAL IDENTITIES ON CAMPUS

A deeper look at our current enrolment data reveals that we have a rich array of cultural heritage, ethnicity and languages in our families. For example, here at Sacred Heart College we have over 13 different ethnic groups represented on campus including Anglo-Indian, Latvian, Macedonian, Austrian and Trinidadian Tobagonian, to name a few. Our students come from over 26 different countries of birth including Costa Rica, Iran, Egypt, China, Ukraine, Zimbabwe, the Phillipines, Brazil and the Czech Republic, amongst them. Sacred Heart families have also identified the main languages spoken in their homes including, but not limited to, Hindi, Afrikaans, Malaysian, Persian, Romanian, Cantonese and Vietnamese. Additional family data shows that Portuguese, Spanish, German, Arabic, French, Croatian and Filipino are amongst the second languages spoken in some of our families homes.

OUR RNDM SISTERS - A MULTICULTURAL MISSIONARY COMMUNITY

As a 'Sacred Heart' College, we give witness to the humble heritage of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions (RNDM) Sisters and their own international mission work. A courageous and visionary woman, Euphrasie Barbier’s deeply contemplative spirit enabled her to recognise God's immense love for all people - in every nation and culture. Today, her Sisters work as teachers, nurses and social workers in health care and nutrition as well as community development programs in villages, parishes and small communities; wherever they can offer their services. As an international community, the Sisters promote human rights, economic justice and a culture of reconciliation and peace to help educate families and build a better world. Today, there are 1,000 RNDM Sisters from many different cultures working in 22 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Canada, China, England, France, India, Italy, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Samoa, Scotland, Senegal, Sudan and Vietnam.

With Euphrasie’s international legacy animated on campus, I hope our students will honour their families' cultures by reflecting our Core Values of Courage, Compassion and Respect to all whom they meet, as they too, build a better world for the future.

Mrs Sandra Manning

Deputy Principal - Community