Living with Strength and Kindliness

Living in Faith - Faith in our Living

On July 29, our College participated in a Catholic Identity Review. This review was a companion review to the NSIT (National School Improvement Tool) which was held in June of this year.

An external team of reviewers worked at the College on the day of the review. They looked at a variety of evidence that we provided to illustrate the good works of the College under the umbrella of Catholic Identity. The team interviewed a wide range of staff, students, parents and parishioners to gauge their experience of Catholic faith, tradition and culture at our College.

One of the main areas that we wanted to showcase for the review team was the great work that is undertaken at our College aligned explicitly with the Living Justice, Living Peace guidelines that inform our practice here at the College.

During the review our staff and students were able to directly link many of their teaching and learning experiences (in RE, other subject areas and across school life generally) to the Living Justice, Living Peace document.

We were very proud of the findings of the the Catholic Identity Review Team who stated that our work in the area of social justice awareness and advocacy is outstanding. 

As a school we aim to provide experiences for all our students to become young people who:

●      are inspired by the Gospels to ‘live justly’ with compassion, understanding and empathy

●      are people of generous service, who understand leadership as an opportunity to contribute to the common good

●      understand how to use and inform their conscience to live with courageous integrity

●      inform themselves on local, national and global issues, discerning responses that meet both immediate and future needs

●      are caring of the vulnerable and challenging of the exploitative.

Over the past week I was again delighted to hear of another example of our students exhibiting the values and attributes of compassion and care in their learning activities and sharing them with our broader community.

I have had the honour of working with Mrs Gotch’s Personal Best class over the term. This class has focused on the Living Justice, Living Peace guidelines and have designed their own projects while embedding their learning in a foods class. They have focused on ways they can use their skills and their learning to benefit others.

This Semester’s Year 9 Personal Best Foods class has been planning its community based projects with the hope of contributing to the greater good.

Last week students (Elle C, Maisy B and Abbey S) completed their project goal. The students wanted to show their appreciation for the first responders in our local community and the tireless work they do. They developed three recipes and worked with the Year 9 Personal Best foods class to bake goods for the staff at Echuca Police Station. This included vegetarian pasta, mini quiches and chocolate chip cookies. Elle, Maisy and Abbey then delivered the meals to the station, leading with courage and living with compassion. The staff at Echuca Police Station were overwhelmed by the amount of food delivered and were very appreciative of the work by our students. Well done to all students involved in this fantastic project!

There are many great examples where our students are witness to our College theme for 2022; allowing compassion to be the lens of their hearts and it makes us very proud!

Kirrilee Westblade

College Leader - Catholic Identity