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Page 12 SandPiper – April 2009 Harmony Day puts students in a spin San S>> in Shepparton By Chris Summers St Brendan’s, Shepparton ENTERTAINING, fun, inclusive, surprising and overwhelmingly supported by our school community are ways to describe Harmony Day on March 18. It was one of those days when you realise that, as teachers, we can and do have a profound impact on the students we teach. It was also one of those days when you remember why you became a teacher in the first place; to be able to pass on common values of tolerance, love and respect for all people regardless of their cultural background. This is something we work hard to promote at St Brendan’s, and Harmony Day was a shining example of how well we do this. Our day started with a special prayer focus on what it means to live in harmony and why we need to be inclusive of all people. Our school choir sang the song Heal the World by Michael Jackson while the film clip played in the background. It was a great way to get the children enthused and to focus on what Harmony Day is all about. Pramila Santhakumar, a parent from our school, was our special guest speaker. Pramila did a wonderful job describing to the children her cultural background and shared with us her experience of moving from India to Australia. Pramila also brought in traditional dresses to show and Miss Payne-Crosten and Miss Wuppermann needed no encouragement when asked to parade these for the whole school. After our ‘Bollywood’ style fashion parade, we had special singing and dancing performances from some of our very talented African children. I was able to coax Monga Maulidi back from Notre Dame to team up with his sister Fitina, who played keyboards, and together they performed a song from their Angel Voices repertoire. Next, we had the ‘Lulurhe brothers’, Monkwa, Abraham, Eilia and Joshua who performed a hiphop dance routine that pretty much proved why I never try to bust a move on the dance floor. These boys make it look so easy. Talk about making hip-hop dancing look easy, our special guest artist Jay Jamero (JJ) and his dance group the ‘Jigsaw Sneakers’ were definitely the highlight of my day, and I suspect for many of our students. Although young, these guys are acclaimed hip-hop and free-style dancers from Melbourne and have won many competitions for their improvised dance moves – even more reason why I often ‘watch’ rather than ‘do’ when it comes to dancing in public. JJ and his team were very generous with their time and energy and managed to show us some of the basics when it comes to ‘Hip-Hop’ dancing. Lee Mohataj, a Chinese acrobat with over 30 years experience, also entertained us with her unbelievable flexibility, coordination and plate spinning. Lee spun, threw and balanced a wide variety of household plates (a skill St Brendan’s will take no responsibility of if plates mysteriously go missing at home) and showed the children how to spin a ‘diabolo’, a type of Chinese juggling toy. Her enthusiasm and obvious skills were well accepted by all. Star St ha fo po O’ DEEPLY saddened by the crisis engulfing Christianity in the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI has asked the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to provide urgent help. In many parts of the land Our Lord Jesus Christ knew so well, the faithful now live in fear as increasing poverty and growing extremism threaten the survival of these ancient communities. A mass exodus of Christians from the Middle East is now taking place. For some it is a question of escaping bloody persecution. In the Holy Land for example, the proportion of Christians has plummeted from 20% to as little as 1.4% in the last 40 years. ACN is helping to keep faith and hope alive throughout the region by providing urgent aid to priests, religious and lay people, offering subsistence help to refugees and building and repairing Churches and convents. Please help us strengthen and rebuild the Church in the land of Christ’s birth. A beautiful, olive wood crucifix, handcrafted in Bethlehem, will be sent to all those who give a donation of $20.00 or more to help this campaign. Please tick the box below if you like to receive the little olive wood crucifix*. Donation Form: SOS! – Christianity in the Middle East Aid to the Church in Need, PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 Phone/Fax No: (02) 9679-1929 E-mail: info@aidtochurch.org Web: www.aidtochurch.org BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE Mr/Mrs/Ms/Sr/Rev:…....................…….............. Address: ………………............…....................... ….……..……....................Postcode .…..…….… Phone.................. Email ....................................... I/We enclose $………… to help keep Christianity Alive in the Middle East. Yes please send me the little olive wood crucifix* I enclose a cheque/money order payable to Aid to the Church in Need. OR please debit my Visa or Mastercard: Exp. date:…./….. “ … Churches in the Middle East are threatened in their very existence… May God grant ACN strength to help wherever the need is greatest.” Pope Benedict XVI Signature:............................................................. Made of olive wood from the Holy Land, this small crucifix is powerfully evocative of Christ’s passion and death. The crucifixes are lovingly handcrafted by poverty stricken families in Bethlehem and your donation helps them survive. Comes in a display box with accompanying religious image. (Size 12cm x 7cm). PG514 Top performer: Lee Mohataj, a chinese acrobat, performs at St Brendan’s. Caring at a time of need 151 McCrae Street Bendigo 12 Victoria Street Eaglehawk P. 5441 5577 www.williamfarmer.com.au A tradition that continues... Sogni Scho appr O the ar and w T tal is they T ity ac (Frie Susta L held envir Tr ye BIS hur whe tees Chr T Col for I out San Nic Kes John R war all i
009 SandPiper – April 2009 Page 13 >> SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS St Mary’s top tick Stars: Students at St Mary’s Rutherglen are thrilled to have received a four star rating for their school. St Mary’s Rutherglen has a four star rating for its environmental policy writes Nicole O’Mahony Staff and students at St Mary’s Primary School, Rutherglen, are all smiles after receiving the official tick of recognition from the Australian Sustainable School’s Initiative (AuSSI), for our holistic approach to environmental issues. Our school recently completed requirements in the areas of water, biodiversity, waste and energy and we are now a four star AuSSI smart school. The students are passionate about environmental issues and work enthusiastically to ensure that they tackle issues that they find relevant. They have formed a student sustainability action team, calling themselves the FROGSS (Friendly Resourceful Organised Group of Sustainable Students). Lively and proactive weekly meetings are held by the FROGSS to discuss and act on topical environmental issues. During the last couple of years, we have come to realise the importance of preserving precious natural resources such as water. Our school is a water wise school! We save water by putting ice-cream containers under taps and bubblers. We have also turned off all sprinklers and replaced old urinals with a new state-of-the-art water free urinal. We are now in the process of looking to purchase more water tanks. Our school has a vegetable patch and is also an animal-friendly place. We have chooks, calves, and a worm farm ,and soon we are hoping to have frogs following the construction of a frog bog. Each week, the students reap the rewards of our vegetable garden and the eggs through chook lotto, a scheme where the students raffle off the goods to a different family each week. The produce is also used in the school’s cooking program, Deliziosa Dining. Students cook and eat the food from the school. Children are encouraged to have rubbish-free lunches through the implementation of a waste wise competition. Each class is involved and the class with the least amount of rubbish in their lunchboxes wins the Waste Wise trophy. In all classes we have a recyclable and reusable tub. When ever there is paper lying around we pick it up even if it’s not ours to keep our school tidy. Trustees herald new year at Corpus Christi BISHOP Joe met with the Sandhurst Diocese’s seven seminarians when he attended the first Trustees Mass for 2009 held at Corpus Christi College on March 4. The Mass was celebrated in the College Chapel followed by a luncheon for guests in the seminary dining room. It was a great event and not without a feeling of pride with our seven Sandhurst seminarians; Rob Galea, Nicholas Mooney, Stephen Bolling, Kester Rebbechi, Pantaleon Amaya, John McLaurin and Bernald Agustines. Rector Fr Tony Ireland, provided a warm welcome and the latest news for all in attendance. There was also the opportunity to acknowledge the nomination as a Member of the Order (MA) received by Archbishop Adrian Doyle in the Australia Day Honours, for his work in the Catholic Church and the Tasmanian Community as well as Caritas, along with an acknowledgement of the doctorate in music awarded to Daryl Barclay, choir tutor at Corpus Christi. The trustees of the College are: Most Rev Denis Hart, Most Rev Adrian Doyle, Most Rev Christopher Prowse, Most Rev Peter Connors, Most Rev Peter Elliott, Most Rev Joseph Grech, Most Rev Tim Costelloe SDB and Rev Peter Slater. We have kept energy consumption to a minimum at our school through the delamping of lights, cleaning our sky-lights and purchasing items such as the Power Mate and Lux Meter. The Power Mate has allowed us to see how much energy electrical appliances use and the Lux Meter has been used to determine the most energy efficient use of lights around our school. Our school has recently been awarded for being a carbon sink school. We are one of only 30 schools in Australia to receive this prestigious award. This is an award that has been achieved through a total school commitment to sustainability and living habitats. As a school community, St Mary’s was able to reduce our omissions by 42 per cent, which is an amazing achievement when you consider that the Australian Government’s recommendation for carbon omission is only 5 per cent! The next aim for St Mary’s Primary School is to become a carbon-neutral school through purchasing solar panels. As we are already running our school using minimal energy, we’re hoping by installing solar panels that we will be self sufficient. Our school’s native vegetation will also be a focus, with more indigenous trees to be propagated and planted. The students are excited about conserving their present environment and providing a brighter future for those still to come. – Written in consultation with the FROGSS media team Seminary days Seminarian Rob Galea keeps us up to date with what's happening at Corpus Christi College. I AM writing this ‘update’ in between assignments and research and while grieving after having lost against the rector in a table tennis match this afternoon. Two months have past since we began the 2009 academic year. On one hand I am impressed at how fast time went by, and on the other it seems like so much has happened in such a short time. Between our studies, recreation, sport, retreats and daily routine it is no wonder that time passes us by without us realising it. “All people are equal, it’s just that some are more equal than others”. One thing that makes us equal is time. We all live the same 24 hours daily. What is not equal is what we do with this time we have been given. One of the things we learn in the seminary is how to make the most out of the gift of time we have been given. We learn that when we plan our time well we can get more out of the 1440 minutes. A case in point was our last ‘family day’. Among the rush of our due assignments and seminary commitments, seminarians are asked to plan a day for the 300 or so guests – cleaning, setting up of the chairs, organizing parking spaces, liturgy … the list goes on; but the thing is that you never hear one seminarian complain. Why? One reason is that we do it for the love and appreciation of our visiting family and friends, but also because most have learnt to manage their time and energy well. Needless to say that ‘family day’ turned out to be a memorable day for us all. On another note, we are now at the end of Lent, and this season is a particularly exciting one for the country students who get to spend two weeks in their own diocese. So this Friday, Nick, John, Bernald, Kester and I (John and Steve [fi rst years] will remain at the seminary for Holy Week to follow their own program) will be packing our bags and heading for Bendigo to spend Holy Week with Bishop Joe and the Cathedral Parish. We are all excited and looking forward to spending Holy Week and Easter with the people of Sandhurst. Together: Bishop Joe Grech joins Sandhurst seminarians Rob Galea, Nicholas Mooney, Stephen Bolling, Kester Rebbechi, Pantaleon Amaya, John McLaurin and Bernald Agustines.
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