To be successful in the community... 

Last week I attended our APRE meeting day in Toowoomba. Part of our day was led by the Director of Formation and Identity, Dr Ken Avenell and focused on our Catholic identity. 

“To be successful in community, we must give our students knowledge and capabilities as well as (Catholic) identity.”

Our identity is woven through our knowledge and capabilities, permeating every aspect of our learning and actions.  Catholic identity is constantly changing and cannot be attributed to a series of check points. Rather, it needs to be seen as providing opportunities for our school community to experience Catholic faith as a living and meaningful reality.

The diagram below offers a perspective of Catholic identity in a school. 

Image: Educator’s Guide to Catholic Identity by Paul Sharkey, p. 3

Dr Paul Sharkey explains that God is at the centre because everything that takes place at a Catholic school should draw its deepest meaning from God.  The outer section of the diagram shows what Catholic schools do, but these activities only become “authentic when the inner elements are seen as connected and important” (Sharkey, 2015, p. 4).

Doing and being, reflecting and acting must be at the core of life in a Catholic school.

Megan Mahoney
Assistant to the Principal Formation & Identity