New Staff Induction Day 1,
Tuesday 20 March 2018
Reflections from a New Staff Member
In the wee small hours, five bleary-eyed teachers from Marian College Ararat piled into the Principal’s car, east-bound for Kildare Ministries in Albert Park. After a much needed caffeine stop en route, we arrived a few minutes before our designated start time, to congregate with several other staff members from Kildare Ministries schools: Marian College Sunshine West, Kilbreda College Mentone, Killester College Springvale and Clonard College Geelong - as well as one of the eight Trustees of Kildare Ministries, Kathy McEvoy.
Our gracious hosts, Andrea Grant and Erica Pegorer, had asked each of us to bring with us an object of personal significance linked to our work as educators. It was a fantastic ice-breaker, and some of the objects and the stories that went with them, truly captured the essence of teaching in a Kildare Ministries school.
The session then moved on to a spokesperson from each college talking to the group about which values were alive and well in their respective schools. A common thread emerged; many of our schools’ everyday values are those which are at the core of the mission of Kildare Ministries.
On a personal note, by far the most beneficial and intriguing part of the day was learning about an Irish woman called Nano Nagle, who pioneered education in the slums of Cork in the late 18th century, and the remarkable parallels between her life and work, and the woman at the centre of the Brigidine story, Saint Brigid herself.
We then discussed the core values of Kildare Ministries, and it was so wonderful to hear that each of us attempts to embrace and promote these core values, each and every day in our practice.
I am sure that I speak on behalf of our group that we look forward to hearing more about the 2014 creation of Kildare Ministries, in which the Brigidine Sisters entrusted their precious schools to the Board of Trustees. This day is planned for September 4, 2018.
Lauren Nitschke
Marian College, Ararat