As part of the Interfaith Dialogue program at Al ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵ ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵ, a group of our Year 9 students have been able to engage with students from St Monica’s ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵ and Thomastown Secondary ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵ. Each term, our three ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵs take turns to host Interfaith Dialogue. These visits are designed for students to engage in activities that promote social cohesion and inclusion.
Last Monday our Year 9 Interfaith Ambassadors enjoyed a day of fun activities with students from Thomastown Secondary ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵ and St Monica’s ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵ. This visit was hosted by Thomastown Secondary whereas the Term 3 visit was held at St Monica’s.
The students enjoyed the activities designed to help them be more aware of inclusion and how to advocate for it in a variety of contexts. The favourite activity for the day was a giant volleyball game where mixed school teams enjoyed friendly competitions. The students were able to focus on what brings people together rather than what might divide.
Back in Term 1, our ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵ hosted the first visit for the year, where students across all three ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵs came together for some ice breaker activities and sharing of lunch. Our students also had the chance to immerse the other schools in the ¾ÞÈéÊÓƵ Tradition and have them observe a prayer session in our musalla.
Term 2 saw all these students learn more about the waves of immigration into Australia through a visit to the Immigration Museum. This excursion was one of the highlights for the students as they imagined life for these immigrants and their struggles for a better life in Australia. This made the students appreciate what early Australian immigrants had to go through as well as participate in simulations of current immigration interviews.
Our Interfaith Ambassadors have demonstrated commitment to this program through attendance of weekly school meetings. They have learnt about some of their strengths and growth points through this program and have also contributed to our first community Iftar earlier in the year.
There is one more planned activity for in the last week of school where students from across each of the three schools will come together in sha Allah for celebrating their achievements. These students are expected to continue for one more year as mentors for the next batch of Year 9 Interfaith Ambassadors. The selection process for this will commence in the next 2 weeks in sha Allah.
Wasalam