This year I have the pleasure of guiding the Year 12 R&E students in the Praxis Program, a service learning program.  

A theme I am hoping to instil in our students is the idea of continuous improvement. This phenomenon is borrowed from James Clear’s book Atomic Habits, wherein the improvement of oneself is not through big overarching efforts, but, instead, small “1%” actions that build overtime to create positive habits.While this is a self-help concept, I feel this idea will fall nicely into our school’s Mercy Values.

In our school, we have many opportunities for students to pitch in and help our community, whether it be through Meals on Wheels, or our Vinnies Winter Appeal, to name a few. But I also want our students to reflect on those small 1% ways that they can demonstrate service in our community.

In our Religion and Ethics class this week, this is being demonstrated through helping prepare for our new History rooms in the Convent and tidying up our Parish gardens in preparation for our 150^th celebrations this weekend. While these actions seem small, over time they will compile into helping create students who, in the words of Catherine McAuley, “The simplest and most practical lesson I know is to resolve to be good today, but better tomorrow.”

Georgia Brown
Secondary Teacher