'Catholic Schools are focused on educating the whole person so that the total educational experience offered has the potential to inform, form and transform students.' (Source of Life Core Document, 2005)
Being a Catholic school, Religious Education is a key teaching and learning domain at St Mary's. We promote the Christian message throughout our days here at St. Mary’s and through specific Religious Education lessons, we help form our spiritual base and our knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith and Church. We are part of St. Mary’s Parish, therefore we involve the students and invite families to important Mass celebrations, and prayer services from time to time. We are involved in Social Justice, raising money for Caritas (an international aid and development agency of the Catholic Church in Australia, which supports emergency aid and grassroots programs in over 200 countries and territories). Raising awareness of local and global issues and fundraising to support others is highly valued at St Mary’s.
The Source of Life Core Document is the framework we use to plan, teach, assess and evaluate against in the delivery of Religious Education.This is a rich document that aims to develop intelligent and informed human interaction, based on the Jesus story. In and through this Religious Education Curriculum, we are both formed and informed to rigorous teaching and learning outcomes.
We pray daily and at 11:30 each day the whole school stops to engage in Christian Meditation. We do this to give everyone time to slow down and breathe deep. We meditate to calm our minds.
Sacraments
The celebration of sacraments is at the heart of our Church community. St Mary’s Primary School supports parents in their mission to nurture the faith of their children. Sacramental preparation is supported by the school, with Mass preparation and the organisation of the Sacramental Program being led by our Religious Education Co-ordinator and Parish Priest. Families work in small groups to help prepare their children to receive the Sacraments. The school supplements the family program with relevant school programs.