Symbolic of the past years of overcoming uncertainty, the dawn sun pushed aside the threatening rain clouds to allow a large group of Good Shepherd families to commence on a special journey together.
The Year 9 students at Good Shepherd commence the Rite Journey program as part of their Christian Studies program over Years 9 and 10.
It is a program honouring the transition from young person to young adult and is a collective partnership between student, parent, teacher/mentor and broader College community.
The official launch of the program is the ‘Calling and Departure’ ceremony, with close to 100 Year 9 students and their families attending.
The ‘Calling’ encourages students to show gratitude for their childhood and calls them on their journey to young adulthood.
The second component to the ceremony is the ‘Departure’, which involves parents, carers and teachers/mentors joining the students for an opportunity to learn, reflect and look forward.
Program coordinator Nicole Drew said, “Students and parents were able to connect through reflection of memories of significant events or items from the child’s formative years. Then, together as a family, the notion of transitioning from child to young adult and what this process would challenge students to let go of or change was discussed over breakfast.
“We even had families in isolation who had their own special ‘Calling’ ceremony which was really lovely.”
Mrs Drew went on to explain “Our Year 9s and their families gathered on the beach, not only because this is a local landmark but because it is where the river meets the sea and becomes something bigger, something stronger, something broader. This analogy was the focus of our ceremony and used intentionally to map the rite of passage of our Year 9 students.”
Good Shepherd Principal Anthony Dyer understands the importance of helping these students progress to the next stage of young adulthood.
“At Good Shepherd we see it as our “calling” to guide and assist these young adolescents to develop and mature in a manner that gives them the resilience, awareness and life skills to navigate through some of the obstacles that they will typically encounter,” he said.
“The proverb that it takes a village to raise a child was beautifully demonstrated throughout the ceremony.
“As a College we are honoured to facilitate and share our students’ journey.”
