Teaching and Learning Report

by Deputy Headmaster Teaching and Learning – Mr Stephen Hill

St John’s High School, Chandigarh visit 

St John’s High School is an is an all-boys, English medium school administered by the Congregation of Christian Brothers in India. Having visited St John’s late in 2018 as part the College’s commitment to the Edmund Rice Education Beyond Borders (EREBB) program, eight boys and two teachers from St John’s recently made a return visit to St Patrick’s College.

Inaugurated in May 2014 when leaders representing Edmund Rice Education gathered in Nairobi Kenya to e stablish an inclusive international network of Edmund Rice educational communities, EREBB is an international network of Catholic schools educating young people from many different faiths and cultures.

Inspired by the teachings of Jesus, Gospel values and the spirit of Edmund Rice, St Patrick’s is one of a large world-wide group of schools who endeavour to promote global solidarity and offer a transformational education for justice and liberation. While the St John’ group was only with us for one week, the experiences, conversations and connections made between the students and staff of the two schools has gone some way to achieving to this goal.

The students and staff of St John’s and St Patrick’s shared a range of experiences including:

• A day in the Grampians
• A day in the life of an SPC student including participation in a Physical Education class and a Food class
• St John’s boys delivering a brief lesson on Indian history, culture etc to some of Year 8 International Studies classes
• Exploring Ballarat’s historical precinct
• A day in Melbourne
• A day touring the Great Ocean Road
• A morning at the Ballarat Wildlife Park
• Sharing a meal in the homes of the families of their new ‘SPC buddies’
• A day at Sovereign Hill
• A farewell dinner with the St John’s boys, a number of their new SPC buddies and many of the boys who toured India late 2018.

As with all such offerings, it takes a team of staff, students and parents to make these experiences happen. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the work Mr Jude Jeandet (who toured India in late 2018 when a Year 12 student and is now the Mission Trainee at St Patrick’s College), for the work he did in planning and preparing for the trip and his role as ‘Tour Leader’ during the week.

Many thanks to Sarah Sharp and Nic Joosten for their work in planning and preparing for the St John’s visit. To Ryan Bullock and the Boarding and Catering teams for their efforts in welcoming, accommodating and feeding our visitors. And to the following staff – Janelle Spierings, Casey Coghlan, Andrew Chamings, John Resuggan, Tom Clark and Julian Ryan who supported and assisted with the St John’s visit. I would also like to thank the Years 10 and 11 boys who acted as ‘SPC buddies’ throughout the week and for the way each of them welcomed and engaged with the St John’s boys.

Your combined efforts made a real impact on the St John’s boys and staff and helped to ensure a very successful week!

Further information St John’s              http://www.stjohnschandigarh.com/#body     EREBB: http://www.erebb.org/