The Return of Prayer Spaces
In Term Two, the College saw the return of Prayers Spaces, an interactive environment where students can experience a creative, reflective and inclusive space that helps them to express and explore their own hopes, concerns, reflections and prayers.
At the Junior Campus, mini Prayers Spaces were set up coinciding with NAPLAN. Students participated in a range of activities including writing down their worries, and BIG questions. Each class was brought through the spaces by their classroom teacher to experience a moment of calm, quietness and gentleness in the busyness of their lives which holds expectations upon them.
On the Secondary Campus, our Year 12 students developed the spaces for their peers, identifying areas in which they felt the student body needed to address or would benefit from, and developing their spaces with a clear theme, in an interactive and inclusive way. Some of the contributions and activities from our students this year included identifying an individual that they could encourage and support, then adding a block to our ‘towers of support’. A second activity was acknowledging that we all have things that we are not proud of, mistakes that we make, and consequences from our actions that can have a negative impact on the lives of those around us. Yet, we have the assurance that when we have a sincere and genuine heart, God forgives us. This was symbolised by students writing on a whiteboard then wiping it away. Other activity stations included popping problems with fidget toys, thinking of someone that we love while making origami hearts and writing a positive thought, prayer or scripture on a petal and adding it to our flourishing flower.
The students also developed an activity around gratefulness, our College theme for the year. In this space, the students took a pebble, thought of that which they are grateful for and dropped it into a vase of water. The ripples of the water symbolise the outward effect that our own gratefulness has towards others.
A final space included the use of a Labyrinth or walking maze. Students were asked to consider as they walked someone that they admire and their attributes. On completion of the labyrinth, they wrote the attributes on a star and placed it on our wall. Overwhelmingly the responses were loving, kind and caring, reflective of the community in which we foster around them and the values we have here at the College.
Many students and staff members have welcomed the return of Prayer Spaces to the College, providing an important and necessary time for our students to reflect on what is important, and to take stock of where they are and how they are going with things in their lives. It allows our students the chance to recalibrate, an important practice not only in faith but also for mindfulness and wellbeing.
Juliana Bate
College Chaplain
