All schools in the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese are working through a process of Curriculum renewal in Religious Education. As a school community we are accessing the resources of the Brisbane Archdiocese’ Curriculum. A key element of their approach is seeing Religious Education as two overlapping circles encompassing Religious Curriculum and the Religious Life of the School. As such the RE News will from now on come under these two headings.

Religious Education Curriculum

Worlds of the Text

Over the coming weeks I will update you on the creative, inspiring and fabulous work being done in each and every classroom at St Michael’s in the Religious Education Curriculum area. Already staff are planning for great learning in RE. We will be using a wide variety of current best practices in teaching and learning. One core focus is using ‘3 Worlds of the Text’. Throughout 2019 teachers have been beginning to use this concept, especially in sacramental classes.

Essentially 3 Worlds of the Text is a way to ‘unpack’ any piece of writing but in Religious Education we focus on using it for Scripture. The 3 ‘Worlds’ we explore are: The World Behind the Text, The World of the Text and the World in Front of the Text.

World Behind the Text - is the environment in which the piece of writing was written. We learn about the context of the community, who they were and why they wrote it.

World of the Text – we examine the literary style of the text. What are its key features and how is an understanding of this text influenced by its type and structure?

World in Front of the Text – how should we read this text today? Are there any challenges or nuances that we bring to this text because of our own cultural context?

Religious Life of St Michael’s School Community

Knowing & Growing in the Spirit

Our Spirituality Theme for 2020 is Knowing & Growing as Stewards of God’s Creation. We have ‘planted’ a tree in the corridor leading to C Block where we have shared an intention for the year ahead that we would like to nurture and grow. As a school we look forward to finding ways to see these aspirations blossom.

Prayer Bags

Last year we began the practice of sending home prayer bags to support family prayer time. I have received very positive feedback from all who had the opportunity to take part in this and am looking forward to this being an ongoing element of prayer life at St Michael’s. Unfortunately at the end of last year we did not receive all of the bags back to school and are missing 4 of them still.  If you had one of the prayer bags during December could I please ask you to have another look around home and see if it is hiding somewhere? I’d love to begin sending them home in each class from the start of next week if possible.

Shrove Tuesday

As a school we celebrate the Feast of Shrove Tuesday with feasting on pancakes before the ritual fasting and penance associated with Lent. This year as our Swimming Carnival is on Shrove Tuesday we will be celebrating on Monday 24^th February. I’m looking for parents to organise the preparation and cooking of pancakes for the school community. Please contact me on meaghan.younger@cg.catholic.edu.au if you are available to help with these delicious celebrations.

Ash Wednesday & Lent

Lent begins this year on 26^th February with Ash Wednesday. As a school community we will celebrate Mass and be marked with ashes from 11:45 on Wednesday 26^th February. All families are warmly invited to join with us on this solemn day of our liturgical year.