On Thursday, 7 November, students from St James College, and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, gathered to celebrate a very special event; The Religious Education Forum for Year 8 Students.

This program was the culmination of the two year Partnering to Learn Program between the two schools, during which, staff and students collaborated to explore the question…

“How do we engage young people with the deep questions of life, self, others and God, through the Religious Education Program which embraces diversity?"

This very special Religious Education Forum aimed to:

• Provide an experience of dialogue between the two schools.
• Challenge the students’ understanding of Jesus.
• Engage with the learning, insights and ideas of others.

Following different interactions on the day, pose the question to the students, who is Jesus for you now?

For the past two years, the Religious Education staff from both schools have been working on this very exciting initiative together. We looked at the common unit “Jesus” taught in both schools in Year 8, and explored how it is taught in both schools.

We visited each other in the two schools, had numerous professional conversations around dynamics of the two schools, what might work? What might not?

We made dedicated times to come together to plan, to do curriculum mapping, to explore what is currently happening in both schools, audit the two units and then explore what we could we take from both schools to make a new collaboratively planned unit.

The result was the bringing of students together, to build connections, to learn collaboratively and to peer assess the work of their cohort.

The Forum itself commenced with icebreaker activities and a gallery walk, during which the visual diaries created by the students from both schools were on display. Each student had the opportunity to observe and leave a note of encouragement for others in this very affirming activity.

The day continued with dialogue between the students and it concluded with a very moving liturgy in which the students engaged in tableaux presentations of ten scriptural passages framing the life of Jesus from their own perspective.

“WHO IS JESUS FOR ME TODAY?”

A truly memorable day for the students from both colleges.

Martin Callanan
Religious Education Coordinator