I read once that our most valuable asset is our mind and what we put into it. So, it makes sense that what we learn and what we experience should be positive and filled with possibility, because experiences and new learning can absolutely change our brains for the better!
Keeping this in mind, you might remember that a part of our Vision at Kolbe is to grow lifelong learners. We take this imperative very seriously, so seriously in fact, that we are always looking for ways to provide new learning for our staff and students. This term, we see this happening everywhere; it’s hard not to notice the buzz around Kolbe! There’s so much going on that we are proud of; Science week, Languages week, Book week and the Lifelink sleep out, the list goes on.
We are so privileged to be a part of a system of Catholic Education that values this learning and these experiences! Every year, Catholic Education Western Australia, celebrates and recognises schools who are excelling in the four pillars of Catholic Identity, Education, Community and Stewardship. Schools are invited to submit their work in any of the pillars. This year at Kolbe, we are making two submissions for the QCE Awards; one for our Leadership Programme for Staff and secondly for our work in the Capabilities for Life space.
Our leadership programme is inspired by a beautiful biblical verse from the Gospel of Matthew ‘You are the salt of the earth; you are the Light of the world’. Using the Japanese words for Salt and Light, Hikari and Shio, we have developed two programmes for our emerging leaders and our established leaders. We know that when our leaders are provided with experiences to learn and grow, they are better equipped to lead our community forward.
Our second submission was developed in part, from our feedback from the community. You might remember completing a survey earlier this year about what skills and capabilities you wanted to see in your young people! The results were overwhelmingly centred around future ready life skills such as ‘collaboration, critical thinking, communication, citizenship, creativity and character’. This inspired us to move ahead with a programme we called ‘Ignite. Its goal is to grow these capabilities in our young people. We began with our year seven cohort. Taking a week out of scheduled classes, the students worked in groups to answer a big question. At the end of the week, they presented their answer to their families and a formal panel! We are so proud of the learning and experience they had over this week.
So whilst we wait in anticipation of the results of our submissions, we continue to work on providing learning experiences that will change our staff and students minds, and we remind ourselves of Philippians’s 1:6 where it is said “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.”
God Bless
Anita O’Donohue