The Feast of St Maximilian Kolbe is celebrated on August 14. Kolbe was born in Poland on January 28, 1894. He died in Auschwitz on August 14, 1941. When he was born, his parents named him Raymond. He was given the name Maximilian when he joined the Conventual Franciscan Order.
I teach in a Catholic school, which was named after Kolbe when it was founded in 1989, just 4 years after his canonisation by Pope John Paul II. Kolbe Catholic College is situated in Rockingham, a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Our school motto - Courage, Faith, Excellence - was drawn from his life. Our curriculum is meant to make the motto real for all of us, students and staff alike. Yesterday was a good example of how we do it.
Each year, we celebrate the Feast of St Maximilian Kolbe on the Friday closest to his official feast day. This year it was Friday the 13th!
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Saturday, August 21, 2010
Building KolbeCare
The school in which I work has a Christian Service Learning programme, which we call KolbeCare. It has grown from being a Year 11 community service activity more than 15 years ago to being a whole school programme with the expectation that every student participates in some way each year. The following reflection has been born from the difficulties we have encountered this year in running the programme, especially in Year 11.
While we have many wonderful young people in Year 11 and most of them have approached their participation in KolbeCare in a positive manner, there has been a significant proportion of students who have not behaved responsibly with respect to KolbeCare. Add to this the move away from including it in the Religious Education programme and we have a recipe for disaster - unless we make some significant changes.
Jesus calls us to follow his example and to reach out to those in need. The promotion of community service is part of the mission to evangelise. Everyone who is baptized shares in this mission, therefore, the KolbeCare programme involves the whole school and requires the active support of all staff.
It is my view that we need a tight structure, which initiates Year 10 students into the Year 11 programme through participation in their own programme. My proposed structure has three components:
The first is a structured reflection on the place of service in the lives of Christians. This reflection happens in RE and it is delivered by the RE teachers as part of the RE programme in Year 10.
The second is a formal interview during which the student chooses a KolbeCare project from a pre-determined set of projects, or presents a project for approval. The interviews are conducted by the staff who are assigned to work with Year 10s.
The third component requires the student to decide whether or not to enroll in the endorsed unit called Christian Service Learning (CSL). The Catholic Education Office has such an endorsed unit (PCECSL) which has a practical component (at least 20 hours) and a structured reflection programme (at least 20 hours). Some Catholic colleges in the Perth Archdiocese, notably Mercedes, La Salle and Ursula Frayne, have designed a similar unit. These CSL units can be run over two or three years.
As I conceive it, the reflection programme is a cross-curriculum process that is conducted throughout Years 10 and 11 and is completed by the end of Term 3 in Year 11. The students will opt for a pathway that is consistent with the subjects that they have selected. The components of the reflection are part of subjects, such as English, SoSE and Religious Education. There might be a need for CSL days conducted on weekends, or during school holidays, or after school, to augment what is done during school hours. Each student has a small team of staff following their progress.
While we have many wonderful young people in Year 11 and most of them have approached their participation in KolbeCare in a positive manner, there has been a significant proportion of students who have not behaved responsibly with respect to KolbeCare. Add to this the move away from including it in the Religious Education programme and we have a recipe for disaster - unless we make some significant changes.
Jesus calls us to follow his example and to reach out to those in need. The promotion of community service is part of the mission to evangelise. Everyone who is baptized shares in this mission, therefore, the KolbeCare programme involves the whole school and requires the active support of all staff.
It is my view that we need a tight structure, which initiates Year 10 students into the Year 11 programme through participation in their own programme. My proposed structure has three components:
The first is a structured reflection on the place of service in the lives of Christians. This reflection happens in RE and it is delivered by the RE teachers as part of the RE programme in Year 10.
The second is a formal interview during which the student chooses a KolbeCare project from a pre-determined set of projects, or presents a project for approval. The interviews are conducted by the staff who are assigned to work with Year 10s.
The third component requires the student to decide whether or not to enroll in the endorsed unit called Christian Service Learning (CSL). The Catholic Education Office has such an endorsed unit (PCECSL) which has a practical component (at least 20 hours) and a structured reflection programme (at least 20 hours). Some Catholic colleges in the Perth Archdiocese, notably Mercedes, La Salle and Ursula Frayne, have designed a similar unit. These CSL units can be run over two or three years.
As I conceive it, the reflection programme is a cross-curriculum process that is conducted throughout Years 10 and 11 and is completed by the end of Term 3 in Year 11. The students will opt for a pathway that is consistent with the subjects that they have selected. The components of the reflection are part of subjects, such as English, SoSE and Religious Education. There might be a need for CSL days conducted on weekends, or during school holidays, or after school, to augment what is done during school hours. Each student has a small team of staff following their progress.
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