Catholic Faith in Action
Servant Leadership at St Mary’s Primary School - Catholic Faith in Action
Since the inception of our Stage 6 Catholic Faith in Action course last year, participating students have developed an understanding of the servant leadership aspect of being Catholic. Up until this point, our students have cooked meals for the St Vincent de Paul to provide for families and people in need. In the last few weeks, we have been able to extend our good works further by branching out into one of our local primary schools, St Mary’s.
On Tuesday 22nd November, Year 11 students Tom Landrigan, Hamish Smith, Peta Girdler and Tylar Donohoe assisted and listened to Kindergarten students practice their reading, supported them in the classroom with writing practice and helped out at the school canteen with some preparation and serving.
It was wonderful to see our senior students encouraging and supporting the little ones with their reading, fostering bonds between our two school communities, and in some cases giving back to their own primary school community through their actions.
Just as the Apostles took Jesus’ message of God’s love for all out into the wider world, our group of senior students followed in their footsteps by leaving the comfortable and familiar surroundings of McAuley, putting their own feelings of fear of the unknown to one side, to help alleviate the need of others and displayed genuine care as they did so.
No report would be complete without hearing our student’s voices about their experience so here’s what they had to say:
- Tom: “It was terrifying, there were so many of them! The canteen was good. It’d be great to see Mr. T. again (a favourite teacher from primary days).”
- Peta: “I’ve had a fantastic time! I would definitely come back again!”
- Hamish: “It was pretty good, I enjoyed the canteen the most.”
- Tylar: “The kids were mostly well-behaved, but they are all outstanding students. Feel pretty good about myself knowing I’ve helped others today.”
It was a privilege to see our seniors in action, and they are all to be commended for their selflessness. On behalf of the Catholic Faith in Action classes, we wish to extend a huge thank you to St Mary’s for making us all feel welcome, to Brett for driving us to and from the school and we look forward to updating everyone as our fledgling servant leadership program develops further.
Caroline Doyle and Tom Howard
CFIA teachers
