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Saint Ignatius College Geelong
Saint Ignatius College Geelong
Saint Ignatius College Geelong
At the end of Term 2, Saint Ignatius College celebrated Refugee Week from Sunday 14th – Saturday 20th June. The theme for 2020 was “Year of Welcome”. This year we celebrated welcomed, advocated for and served asylum seekers and refugees in a number of ways.
During Personal Learning, the Year 8 cohort created a welcome sign for each homeroom and decorated 250 bunting flags with messages of welcome. These bunting flags were displayed around our school and were a colourful reminder of our commitment to welcoming, loving and serving people.
On the Thursday of Refugee Week, 125 students participated in a silence protest to advocate for those people seeking asylum who are in detention centres and voiceless. These students were challenged to wear a sign and not to speak for the entire school day! In previous years we have held ‘The Cage’ at school for 30 senior students. This year we were required to adapt ‘The Cage’ and invited all students to take action and advocate through this silent protest.
Those participating in the ‘Silent Protest’ were also encouraged to participate in the ‘Watch Party’, or film night, on Canvas and challenged to sleep out in their backyards. Another important component of ‘The Cage’ was raising much needed funds for Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) via our Go Fundraise Team Website (https://makingadifference.gofundraise.com.au/page/TheCageSICG) efforts last term raised $921.00. We hope that we can still make our target of $1,000 by the end of next week!
Later that day, our school community participated in a virtual assembly where homerooms watched a video exploring the refugee crisis and the current situation for asylum seekers and refugees in Australia during the COVID-19 Pandemic (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=362716228028938). The production of this video and its content was created by Jessica Breckon (Justice Captain), Abbey Maffescioni (Justice Captain), William Bothe (Liturgy Captain), Erika Slevin (JRS Youth Ambassador), Kathleen Donald (JRS Youth Ambassador) and Jarryd Atkinson (Youth Ministry Facilitator). This Virtual Assembly invited our students to act in some way for this global and domestic injustice and concluded with our community participating in an adapted ‘Circle of Silence’ where we stood in silence and solidarity with people seeking asylum.
Twelve Refugee Week Challenges were also created for students to complete from the start of Refugee Week until the end of the school holidays in order to learn about, advocate for and reflect on people seeking asylum. These were made available on the new Love and Service student Canvas course. Our current context has required us to adapt the way we love and serve others. We are no longer able to engage in face-to-face service in our community. These Refugee Week challenges were therefore created to allow our students to continue to love and serve others through advocacy and reflection. These challenges, like the Laudato Si’ Week Challenges, were also another opportunity for our students to continue to gain service hours.
Saint Ignatius College is committed to loving and serving the most vulnerable in our local and global communities. It is incredible to see our students respond to injustices in our world, such as the refugee crisis, with empathy, commitment and a desire to learn about these injustices, so that they can act and bring about change in our world. I am very grateful, as the Justice and Service Coordinator, for the opportunity to support our students as they grow in empathy, commitment and a desire to love and serve others.
Ms Alicia Deak Justice and Service Coordinator
Feature
Events
Our News // 16 July 2020
At the end of Term 2, Saint Ignatius College celebrated Refugee Week from Sunday 14th – Saturday 20th June. The theme for 2020 was “Year of Welcome”. This year we celebrated welcomed, advocated for and served asylum seekers and refugees in a number of ways.
During Personal Learning, the Year 8 cohort created a welcome sign for each homeroom and decorated 250 bunting flags with messages of welcome. These bunting flags were displayed around our school and were a colourful reminder of our commitment to welcoming, loving and serving people.
On the Thursday of Refugee Week, 125 students participated in a silence protest to advocate for those people seeking asylum who are in detention centres and voiceless. These students were challenged to wear a sign and not to speak for the entire school day! In previous years we have held ‘The Cage’ at school for 30 senior students. This year we were required to adapt ‘The Cage’ and invited all students to take action and advocate through this silent protest.
Those participating in the ‘Silent Protest’ were also encouraged to participate in the ‘Watch Party’, or film night, on Canvas and challenged to sleep out in their backyards. Another important component of ‘The Cage’ was raising much needed funds for Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) via our Go Fundraise Team Website (https://makingadifference.gofundraise.com.au/page/TheCageSICG) efforts last term raised $921.00. We hope that we can still make our target of $1,000 by the end of next week!
Later that day, our school community participated in a virtual assembly where homerooms watched a video exploring the refugee crisis and the current situation for asylum seekers and refugees in Australia during the COVID-19 Pandemic (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=362716228028938). The production of this video and its content was created by Jessica Breckon (Justice Captain), Abbey Maffescioni (Justice Captain), William Bothe (Liturgy Captain), Erika Slevin (JRS Youth Ambassador), Kathleen Donald (JRS Youth Ambassador) and Jarryd Atkinson (Youth Ministry Facilitator). This Virtual Assembly invited our students to act in some way for this global and domestic injustice and concluded with our community participating in an adapted ‘Circle of Silence’ where we stood in silence and solidarity with people seeking asylum.
Twelve Refugee Week Challenges were also created for students to complete from the start of Refugee Week until the end of the school holidays in order to learn about, advocate for and reflect on people seeking asylum. These were made available on the new Love and Service student Canvas course. Our current context has required us to adapt the way we love and serve others. We are no longer able to engage in face-to-face service in our community. These Refugee Week challenges were therefore created to allow our students to continue to love and serve others through advocacy and reflection. These challenges, like the Laudato Si’ Week Challenges, were also another opportunity for our students to continue to gain service hours.
Saint Ignatius College is committed to loving and serving the most vulnerable in our local and global communities. It is incredible to see our students respond to injustices in our world, such as the refugee crisis, with empathy, commitment and a desire to learn about these injustices, so that they can act and bring about change in our world. I am very grateful, as the Justice and Service Coordinator, for the opportunity to support our students as they grow in empathy, commitment and a desire to love and serve others.
Ms Alicia Deak Justice and Service Coordinator
