Welcome back to 2021. I hope you has a restful and blessed Christmas break with your family and friends.

We are off to a flying start in Religious Education for 2021 at St Matthew’s. The staff spent Friday 29 January working together to begin refreshing the St Matthew’s school Mission statement. We had an enthralling presentation from Br David Hall in the morning. He grounded us in the theology of St Matthew as both an Apostle and Evangelist. The theme of the session was informed and inspired. Br David Hall reminded us that it is our sacred work as teachers to help students to encounter Jesus in their everyday lives.  We ended with this very inspiring quote from Ann Patchett on what her Catholic upbringing gave her:

That idea of magic, the idea of a reality that is not the reality that you are living,

the possibility that there is something larger and deeper out there,

that you believe in what you can’t see. That’s it.

The Tablet, 23 May 2020, page 13.

We will continue to work as a staff of refreshing the mission and will ask for community comment later in the term.

2021 School Theme

For with God all things are possible…

Matthew 19:26

This year we are capturing the idea that with faith and through prayer we can seek strength in God especially when things may seem overwhelming or difficult. We need only ask for help for with God all things are possible.

Teachers are unpacking this Scripture in their classrooms using Three Worlds of The Text. Our Year 6 Youth Ministry students have also begun training to run prayer circles each morning in all classes throughout the school. Each day they will focus on a different form and ritual of prayer asking students to pray both in communion and alone. The Year 6 students will also help to unpack our theme and scripture for the year.

Inquiry in Religious Education

This term all grades are beginning the year with an inquiry unit based on prayer. Classroom teachers have been busy unpacking their conceptual understanding with the students, gaining an idea of what they already know and what the students would like to find out. The inquiry is raising many interesting wonderings and revelations with one student developing an understanding of “Christian Meditation as a time to be still with God, let your worries wash away and listen to what God is saying to you” (Charlotte Year 2).