This week, we have celebrated the learning, wellbeing and achievement of our students and schools during Catholic Education Week (May 4 – 10).
This year, Catholic Education Week coincided with the launch of our new tagline: Raising Hearts and Minds. This sums up what Catholic schools do in just four words, describing what we do every day and how we make a difference to the lives of young people.
Catholic Education Week is a time for our schools and students to celebrate what it means to be a part of a Catholic school in South Australia.
Given the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, Catholic Education Week 2020 looked a little different to past years, as some of the usual celebrations could not be held.
Schools were still encouraged to celebrate Catholic Education Week in their own small ways and reflect on how they are Raising Hearts And Minds in their community.
Each year during Catholic Education Week, schools in the Diocese of Port Pirie would usually take part in a simultaneous activity as a way to celebrate their Catholic identity and their connection with each other. To continue this celebration and connection, students and staff members performed an act of kindness and record it in some way.
Students at St Joseph’s School, Port Lincoln lived up to their school ethos of ‘In All Things Love’ by performing many acts of kindness for school staff and their local parish and students at Samaritan College at Whyalla joined in a ‘carpark concert’ to bring some joy to the residents at local Yeltana Nursing Home.
Students at St Mary MacKillop School, Wallaroo gifted chocolate and a thank you note to every staff member, made thank you posters to the health workers at Wallaroo Hospital, wrote letters to elderly residents placed in a teapot envelope along with a teabag - a reminder to enjoy a cup of tea as much as possible!
St Alberts Catholic School, Loxton students presented care packages to the local Ambulance Service, police station and the Loxton District Hospital and Year 5-7 students washed the cars of teachers and staff during their lunchtime!
St Barbara’s, Roxby Downs students painted kindness rocks and wrote special messages on them. St Joseph’s School, Peterborough wrote thank you letters to members of the local community such as supermarket staff and hospital workers.
St Joseph’s School, Renmark wrote thank you letters to nurses at the local hospital and performed ‘little’ acts of kindness all week, such as one student who held the fridge door open for everyone each recess and lunch time and a student who brought in some cookies and a hot drink for school support staff.
Year 2-6 students at Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish School, Pennington worked together to create a beautiful display for their front office. It includes the words ‘Strong Apart’ referring to students staying home recently, the words ‘Stronger Together’ to reflect the coming back of students to school this term and how as a community they are stronger for this experience. A rainbow joins two students together and has been a symbol of hope and brightness.
Students at Dominican School, Semaphore created hearts of hope with special messages on them.
Early Years students at Galilee Catholic School, Aldinga chose to donate the money they raised from jam made from the fruit in their secret garden to charity instead of buying new sandpit toys as they had originally planned.
Year 6 students at Our Lady Of Grace School, Glengowrie made posters to share what their school purpose of Ignite, Wonder, Grow means to them.
Teachers at Star of the Sea, Henley Beach welcomed students back to school for Term 2 and encouraged them to ‘reach for the stars’!.
St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, Millicent coloured their school and showed off some very impressive dance moves while sharing the message to ‘never give up!’.
R-12 Students, old scholars, instrumental tutors and staff at Nazareth Catholic Community recorded a message of solidarity - with their online choir singing 'You've got a Friend'.
St Columba’s Memorial School, Yorketown celebrated ‘Teacher (and Support Staff!) Tuesday' with a video featuring 60 seconds with staff.
Thank you to all of our schools who celebrated what it means to be a part of a Catholic school this Catholic Education Week (we wish we could share them all here!).
Our Catholic schools help young people to thrive…to become capable learners…and extraordinary human beings.
How do you sum up what Catholic schools do in just four words?
After 18 months of listening to stakeholders across our schools – from students to teachers, principals to parents – Catholic Education South Australia is pleased to launch our new positioning statement: Raising Hearts and Minds.
