Students Lend A Helping Hand

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday February 7, 2008

By Brendan Berecry

Programs involving pupils in community service are now considered key aspects of many schools' curriculums.

Community involvement in meaningful projects is helping students from independent schools practise their school's core values.

Social service activities in Australia and overseas are considered

central to student development In many independent schools.

A humanitarian approach to community service at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney was championed over many years by former headmistress Freda Whitlam.

The current principal, Dr William McKeith (pictured), says this tradition continues today with every class at the Croydon school choosing a charity - from the Ashfield Children's Home and the Exodus Foundation to the RSPCA and the Salvation Army - and organising fund-raising activities to support it. "Students in every class not only raise funds but give support to these groups in a physical and practical sense."

The school's community-aid projects also extend to a global dimension with staff and students contributing practical support to schools in East Timor, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

"I have just returned from Hanoi, where we have a joint venture with the Birla Children's Village," McKeith says. "Twenty-five of our year 10 and year 11 students, as well as three of our teachers, have spent two weeks of the holiday period helping out over there."

Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview has fostered the Ignatian Service program, which requires the school's all-male student body to complete 15 hours of service in their local community in years 7 to 10. This is followed in year 11 by 20 hours of service that in many cases sees students assist communities much further afield.

A key part of the Ignatian Service program involves students completing journals in which they reflect on the deeper meaning of their experiences and consider how these experiences may influence their choices and actions in their future lives.

Headmaster Shane Hogan says the Ignatian Service program is tailored to the age of the students. "Service in year 7 may simply mean helping out your grandmother or a neighbour.

"Year 10 students spend a week of term time assisting in a nursing home or at a not-for-profit organisation. And in year 11 we also organise trips for students to communities in need across Cambodia, India and central Australia."

Within a framework of Christian principles, the community-service activities at Wenona challenge the all-female student body to examine personal and community morality and to appreciate the contribution community service can make to their lives as well as to the community.

Under the guidance of the community service co-ordinator, Wenona students become involved in community organisations and participate in community appeals for groups such as the Salvation Army and Red Cross.

Wenona principal Dr Kerrie Wilde says the community-service activities are targeted to be of mutual benefit to students and the community and often start from a straightforward idea.

"Last year, an English teacher was teaching a subject on reading habits and arranged for her students to visit a nursing home to interview residents there about their favourite books."

Wilde says the best community-service activities lead to longer-term relationships. "We have a sister-school relationship with a school in Vanuatu that has led to exchanges of students and teachers."