What are students learning about?

This week we celebrated Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Kindergarten were having their rest day on Wednesday so I popped down yesterday to give them their ashes and talk about Lent.

I was so pleased to see how many of our youngest students were able to tell me about what the ashes represented. Some of their answers were…

“That God loves us.”

“To let people know that we believe in Jesus.”

“To remind us to say sorry.”

The simple act of blessing a child with ashes connects us all to the ancient story of the Resurrection and the love of Christ.

What are teachers learning about?

At our staff meeting this week we looked at how to connect the Brisbane Religious Education Curriculum more deeply within our conceptual inquiry units. We looked at two concepts: story and sustainability. 

These are supported by two understanding goals: 

• Students will understand that Jesus was a Jewish man who used the Jewish tradition to connect with his community.
• Students will understand that we are called to care for Creation because we are believers in Jesus.

The concepts and goals are the same across the school. Where children access them and where they move to is up to the teachers. Each grade will have some planning time with me to help incorporate their ideas and find supporting scripture and materials.

I am excited!

Catholic Life and Reflection

Firstly, it is important to note that during 2020 we only had one Mass and very few assemblies. Last week we celebrated our opening Mass in the hall with Father Michael. The children were reverent and able to join in the responses and sang like angels!

During Communion teachers gave students a blessing by holding their hand over the head, not the usual cross on the forehead. When the Year 2 students were walking out they were holding their hands up to me to give me a high 5, or so I thought.  The third little person to walk past me said “No, I am giving you a blessing!”  What a joy!!!! I got several more blessings as they left the hall.

It reminded me once again of how the simple things we do can have an deep impact on our students. They were happy and knew that a blessing was important to pass on.

May God continue to bless all of our students and families.

Stephanie Stewart