Over recent weeks our Year 7, 8 and 9 students have each taken part in workshops focusing on healthy relationships. The Year 7 Relationship Day, the Year 8 Real Talk session and the Year 9 Your Choicez session are an important component of the Religious Education program.
We make no sense as individuals
In this heading I’ve paraphrased a famous quote from the great St Augustine of Hippo in an endeavour to encapsulate a sense of what our recent trilogy of incursions for Years 7-9 students have entailed. The good Doctor of the Church sagely wrote that, at our very core, we are ‘relational beings’ and, therefore, ‘... make no sense as individuals’; incredible insight from this saint written, as it was, nearly 1600 years ago in Algeria.
Each of the incursions had its own audience and a clear and distinct purpose, however, when viewed as a continuum, they can be seen as a logical progression in challenging paradigms and building on the Mercy spirit of community.
(1) Year 7 Relationships Day
This day is foundational and timely given that it occurs midway through Term 3 for the youngest students in our collective care. It is also a wonderful opportunity for our Year 11 Catholic Schools Youth Ministry Australia students to deliver a Ministry component of their curriculum under the guidance and support of Deputy Principal, Faith, Ms Elizabeth Keogh.
Relationships Day is incredibly important for our Year 7s, especially when one acknowledges that our cohort at the level is comprised of over 260 students from approximately fifty ‘feeder’ primary schools. The day began in Centennial Hall with a double period, facilitated by Ms Elizabeth Keogh with the support of the Year 11 CSYMA class. The Year 7s eagerly participated in the reflection and discussion around ‘good and toxic relationships’ as well as games that were expertly paced and set the tone for the day’s activities.
After Recess, the Year 7s were divided into homerooms to either a) work with Year 11 CSYMA students to unpack further the notion of ‘right’ relationships or b) work with either Ms Elizabeth Keogh or Mr Paul Morgan to examine constructs of either femininity or masculinity. In this endeavour, we enjoyed wonderful support from our Year 11 CSYMA students.
Here are some reflections from 7 Red students:
'I enjoyed the first two periods of Relationship Day when we talked about true friends and toxic friends. I also liked the skipping challenge we did at pastoral care.' — Jordyn Kelly
'I enjoyed the activities provided on Relationship Day. Periods 3 and 4 were my favourite because we played fun games and activities. Even though I didn’t do well in the Homeroom challenge I did have fun.' — Oscar Nieuwesteeg
'Relationship Day was very fun and we learnt lots during the whole day. I really like the end of the day because we did games and talked about things together. I also liked how we had two Year 11 students with us for their experience too. It was all around a good day and I really enjoyed it.' —Teagan Bethune
'I mostly enjoyed Relationships Day. We played games, had discussions about relationships and so much more. My favourite part was talking about things that we were grateful for, and the skipping challenge that we did during pastoral care.' — Amy Langcake
'I enjoyed Relationships Day as there was a whole day full of activities, which we could all get involved in. Relationships Day was an interesting day as we got to learn the meaning of relationships with not only our friends and family but our relationship with God. We also got to learn about self-love and what a toxic friendship or relationship is and how we can stay away from them.' — Sarabella Mosca
(2) Year 8: Real Talk
The Year 8 incursion facilitated by the ‘Real Talk’ team, builds on the foundational work done during the Year 7 Relationships Day. As one would imagine, the day was punctuated by a great deal of personal reflection and shared discussion. There was a healthy emphasis on the dignity of the human person and acknowledgement that each of us is made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore, worthy of the highest respect.
The following topics were addressed over the course of the day:
- Being created in the image and likeness of God
- Self-worth and appreciating diversity (others and ourselves)
- Making good choices based on respect and love of self and neighbour
- The impact of the media on how we see ourselves and how we act
- The importance of our bodies, the value and meaning of sexual body language
- The beauty of healthy relationships and the biblical teaching on sex and marriage
- Fun activities and games
- Personal sharing from the presenters
- Multimedia, reflection and discussion
It is often the simplest of examples that can unlock profound truths; in the case of ‘Real Talk’, Gerard, the presenter, folded a fifty dollar note, jumped on it, rubbed it under his armpit, popped it into his mouth and asked the cohort if they still wanted it. This was met with squeals of affirmation from the audience. Gerard then reminded us all that no matter how badly we are treated, we remain the same person underneath and deserve the same amount of love and respect from our fellow human beings.
Each student was able to record their thoughts in a journal throughout the three sessions and it was enlightening to observe the care with which this was done. The final session of the day was a split-gender session, where each group was able to delve more deeply into their personal and collective constructs of what it means to be a young woman or man. This led to some important discussions around how a ‘real’ young woman or man would respond to selected scenarios on a scale of ‘weak to strong’ responses; this activity drove some very interesting observations around what underpins our choices in life.
(3) Year 9: Your Choicez
In contrast with the Year 7 and 8 experiences, the Year 9 incursion with ‘YourChoicez’ was a day where female and male students workshopped with David or Katie Kobler from Your Choicez, in completely separate locations. It followed on from the tremendous days experienced in the students' first two years at Mount Lilydale Mercy College.
The day was quite intentionally intense with students being challenged to examine a range of notions around the choices that they are called to make every day of their teenage lives and beyond. In terms of observations of student/s reactions, many of the issues and scenarios that the ‘YourChoicez’ presenters brought forward are ones which those in our care are facing with increasing regularity.
The young ladies looked at:
- How to deal with the pressures that come from living in a hyper-sexualised society and finding a strong sense of personal value and worth, despite the pressure
- Defining and understanding true love. What does a truly loving relationship really look like?
- Relationships and sexual decision making from a Christian perspective (i.e. developing relationship skills and the importance of marriage)
- Keys to developing healthy relationship skills
- Gaining an understanding of the value and dignity of the human person
- The pressures that girls can face on a day-to-day basis and how to deal with them
- The impact of media and marketing
- How to deal with the pressure of sexting
The young men looked at:
- What it is to be a man
- Strategies for building a positive sense of manhood
- Tools to entering manhood and leaving boyhood behind
- Developing positive and healthy relationships
- Relationships and sexual decision making from a Christian perspective (i.e. developing relationship skills and the importance of marriage)
- The science behind pornography
- Four key issues that many men are facing: identity, purpose, self-control, sex drive
- The impact of media and marketing
- The value and dignity of the human person
- Models of manhood – becoming the man you really want to be
- How to deal with the pressure of sexting
As one can see, the nature of the three days over three years, is to lay foundations within our student cohort, to build individual and collective knowledge, understanding and wisdom around issues that permeate to the very core of who they are and what type of person they aspire to be; to be the very best version of themselves, as it were.
My thanks to all involved in making each of the days so meaningful and a wonderful success. Without the generosity and unequivocal support of our dedicated teaching staff, highly-efficient administrative support and our incredible maintenance team, such days would not be possible and our community would be the poorer for it.
To quote St Augustine once more, “... we make no sense as individuals…”.
