Courage at Clonard College 

Be not afraid! Take Courage. Arise! is the theme for Clonard College in 2023 as we give expression to the value of ‘courage’. Aligned to our School Improvement Plan we aim to have the courage to:

• be a community of faith in dialogue, expressing Living Justice and Living Peace
• to have a vision for learning that responds to the global call to transform the purpose of education

Last year we began a project with Dr Rina Madden to understand how best to do this. A dialogue school explicitly chooses to emphasize its Catholic inspiration and individuality through and thanks to a communicative dialogue with the multicultural and plural society in which it exists. To truly welcome and invite the voices of others, especially those of other beliefs or no belief as we come to better understand our own faith through dialogue takes enormous courage! Pope Francis says: ‘Dialogue is born when I am capable of recognizing others as a gift of God and accept they have something to tell me.’ This year our Religious Education teachers are undertaking a series of workshops to more deeply understand the Pedagogy of Encounter methodology. All teaching staff have opportunities through our faith formation workshops to develop deeper knowledge of how they can bring life to our goal of being a dialogue school within their own teaching contexts. 

In the spirit of courage we are responding to the call globally to reimagine the purposes of learning. We have decided not to ignore this, not to stay with what is comfortable. Our partnership with New Metrics through the University of Melbourne puts us in the space of doing this courageous work. Our Year 7 cohort has commenced the year with a new model for learning that embraces deep learning opportunities inspired by the Living Justice Living Peace (LJLP) Charter and learning for competency development as well as knowledge and skills. 

Our students commenced the year exploring ‘courage’ by researching the lives of great women of courage including our own Sr Brigid Arthur. The student leaders are planning a ‘Failure Festival’ to take place later in the year whereby our young people welcome the gift of challenge and mistake making and the courage to see this as part of learning. In September we are reinstating our immersion to Santa Teresa where our students will be challenged to be people of courage in working towards reconciliation. In developing our Reconciliation Action Plan as a College we believe this is an active step in bringing the LJLP Charter to life in a tangible way. We also have two students who will be travelling to Lisbon this year to participate in WYD2023. We look forward to hearing their story of courage in stepping out of the known and familiar to embrace the pilgrimage.