Imagine
having the opportunity to speak with Pope Francis.
Last week, Bridget Taylor one of our Maths teachers, met the Holy
Father Pope Francis in Rome as part of the Emerging Leaders program coinciding
with World Youth Day Lisbon. The extraordinary opportunity, lasting more than
50 minutes, involved 133 emerging leaders who are part of nearly 600 young
people from Melbourne, enroute to World Youth Day from 2-6 August.
Bridget said she was overjoyed by the
experience. ‘To be honest it was a bit of a blur! I’m just completely in awe of
what I’ve experienced. Being an emerging leader and passionate about the future
of Catholic education, I was fortunate enough to ask what his message was that
we can share with our staff and students.’
‘He said to accompany our students and
to work with our staff, create boundaries but also give them the freedom to
accept whatever faith they follow and to believe in the Church. I can’t wait to
go home and share this with the students, staff at Clonard and the community in
Geelong!’
We trust that all our pilgrims are embracing this transformational
opportunity as they gather together to mark World Youth Day in Lisbon.
People often tell us that something they love about Clonard are
the opportunities. This past fortnight we have hosted the students from Otsuma
College in Japan. Yesterday I met with their Principal Mr Hiromasa Kajitori and
representatives of his school. He shared with me how appreciative he was of the
hospitality and generosity of the Clonard families who have hosted his students
and of our students more broadly who have engaged with the Otsuma students
during their visit. He said our students were always kind and friendly.
Thank you to the families and staff who have made this cultural
exchange such a success and helped our students to understand the importance of
global connection and friendship.
Next
Saturday our College returns to the Santa Teresa Community outside Alice
Springs. This will be a wonderful opportunity for our students to understand
the ancient heartbeat of our country and experience firsthand the connection of
our First Nations people to this land. Broadening our relationships with First
Nations people through authentic encounter is a key strategy of the Kildare
Ministries Trustees Strategic Intentions for 2021-2023.
We trust
these young people will continue to be ambassadors for reconciliation upon
their return. I will be accompanying the group for the first few days of their
trip to meet with and thank the Santa Teresa community, especially Br Mark, for
hosting us. We also hope to reconnect with Clonard alumnae Kellie Maine who
works and lives in the community.
Keeping
with the theme of opportunity, we are delighted to share that our first Learner
Profiles, as part of our New Metrics for Success partnership with the
University of Melbourne, are going out to our Year 7 students. Last night we
launched the profiles with a group of families who came along to join in a
community conversation then learn greater details about how the competencies
are framed, taught and assessed. These first learner profiles will show the
students level of competency in Agency and Collaboration which have been a
focus throughout the first semester.
Next week
we are hosting a luncheon with other educators, training providers, local
business to broaden the conversation about the possibilities and impact these
profiles might have for our learners and our community more broadly. How might
we build on the amazing work of our primary schools? Which elements of the
competencies do future training providers and employers see as important? What
is important for us as a Geelong community when we think about the young people
we are educating?
Part of our
responsibility as partners in this work is to contribute to the broader
conversation about education which we hope will be supported through next
week’s gathering. We have hosted two schools recently who have visited to learn
about what we are doing. There is great value for us in each of these
experiences as they help us to clarify our intentions, deepen our understanding
and work to improve what we are doing based on the feedback we receive.
Exciting times.
Monday is a
pupil free day. Staff will engage in faith formation workshops in the morning,
followed by completion of modules to support our work with students who have
additional needs. Teaching staff will gather in small groups to report on their
successes to date against their goals for the year and in the afternoon session
we will continue our conversation about how we are shaping a new story for
learning influenced by our New Metrics and Deep Learning work.
In all of
these happenings I have been reminded of our Kildare Ministries’ prayer:
We are
people of listening hearts.
We hear
the invitation
We
cannot cease from journeying
Always
one pace beyond.
May we,
like Brigid, Daniel and Naon
Know the
fire within
And
trust the opening path.
May we
hear the ancient blessings
Breathed
into the ears of our hearts
As we
create the path
To
journey by a new and different way.
Blessings
Luci
