Religious Education Coordinator’s Report
I was fortunate enough to attend the REC Assembly Day for our Diocese earlier this month at St Joseph’s Primary School in Kilaben Bay. It was great to see so many schools being represented, and such robust and informative discussions about developing Religious Literacy among our students, and preparing for the implementation of the Encounter pedagogy for our Year 2 and Year 3 students next year.
The Encounter pedagogy is about discussion and reflection; about provoking discussion and encountering the mystery of God through their everyday life, and brings personal experience, a cultural context and catholic tradition together within its teaching. Kindergarten and Year 1 have already been teaching Religion through this pedagogy and have found our students both engaged and involved throughout. I’m sure Year 2 and 3 will enjoy it just as much.
World Mission Month
We will celebrate Mission Day with an in-school liturgy on Thursday 19th October (second week back after the holidays). This year World Mission Month supports those living in Timor-Leste, a small island nation in Sout East Asia. Timor-Leste gained it’s independence in 1999, but many of it’s population live in extreme poverty and economic hardship. In line with our K-6 Social Justice Program, we will raise funds for the people of Timor-Leste, to provide vocational education for the young and healthcare of the elderly.
Socktober
As part of World Mission Month we will once again be joining in with Socktober, again raising money for those on need. During Socktober we learn how to make soccer balls from recycled materials, as is done by many children in impoverished parts of the world.
To make these we need to collect:
- Rags/old clothes
- Plastic bags / bread bags
It’s great for our environment that plastic bags are no longer so freely available but we do need to collect them for our soccer balls! The bags that loaves of bread come in would work well, so if you are able to send these in we would be very grateful.
Classes attending Parish Mass for Term 4.
The following classes will be attending the Friday parish mass at 9:30am. Parents and friends are very welcome to attend these masses.
Week 1 (13th October): Year 6 / Kindergarten
Week 2 (20th October): Year 4
Week 3: (27th October): Year 5
Week 4: (3rd November): Year 3