By Mrs Carol Sharp, APRE

Year 10 News

It has been a busy couple of weeks for our Year 10 students. Last Wednesday they had the opportunity to attend an excursion to Brisbane as part of their Religious Education course of study. Students were taken through a guided tour of the Buddhist temple complex in Brisbane where they saw, not only the temple itself but also the meditation room, calligraphy room and pagoda. After lunch and a bit of down time in the park, students were then bussed to Holland Park in South Brisbane to visit the Mosque. As they were there early, students were invited to watch midday prayer. Prayer rituals are one of the Five Pillars of Islam that students are currently studying in RE and no doubt witnessing the ritual allowed them a greater understanding of how Muslims express their beliefs in God. The Imam of the Mosque then sat down with the students and explained the structure of the Mosque and how it reflects specific beliefs of the Muslim tradition. A big thank you to Mr. Godley, Mr. Yates and Ms. Johnson for taking the students on the day. They said that the students represented the College and themselves very well.

“I really enjoyed the experience as a whole but I would have to say that listening to people passionately talk about their religion was by far the best thing to happen on the excursion. I also really enjoyed looking at the Buddhist temple.” Yr 10 student

This Tuesday all Year 10 students participated in a full day retreat with presenter Az Hamilton, the founder and director of the organisation Just Motivation. As a social justice organisation, Just Motivation’s mission is to empower students to make positive changes in the world. The focus is on making small changes that have a big impact. The core message of the day was:

• Be passionate about what you want to do
• Be grateful for what you have
• Be generous

Az shared multiple stories from his journey that explained the significance of the three messages above and many students said that they were inspired. The big challenge for the day was for students to list the 100 things they were most grateful for. The purpose of this exercise was to provide students with an opportunity to reflect on what they have.

“We also learned about the harsh conditions that many young children and teens in third world countries have to live with. This could include not having clean drinking water or not having a roof over their heads. We learnt to be thankful and to have gratitude towards the things in our daily lives we take for granted eg. Hot water, access to medicine and immunisations.”  Year 10 student

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Graduation Mass

Last Monday, two of our Year 12 students attended the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Graduation Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Toowoomba. This is a graduation mass for students across the diocese and recognises the important milestone of the completion of formal schooling for these students. It was a beautiful mass full of moving symbolism and inspiring speeches. A big congratulations to Joshua Forbes and Angus Gale for this important achievement.

SVDP Christmas Hamper Appeal

The Saint Vincent de Paul Christmas Hamper Appeal is well underway, and we thank students who are bringing in donations to supply local families with all they need for a special Christmas. We would encourage everyone to donate what they can, although we are mindful of the stress that many in our community are under with the continuing drought crisis and its far-reaching implications. We do not want families to feel pressured so our general advice to students is to consider going without something extra and using that money to contribute. Perhaps not having tuckshop for a week and bringing a simple, but nutritious lunch from home instead. This allows students to give something more than money.

Prayer