A Catalyst for Service Learning

John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School, WA

The founding of a new program, Catalyst23, has provided an official focus for service learning at John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School (JSRACS). The program, coordinated by Mr Dale Kelly, aims to create opportunities for students to learn about the needs of the community, develop relationships and learn through service.

The foundational connections began through a new relationship with Anglicare’s YShac program. YShac provides assistance and crisis accommodation to young people between 15 to 20 years old who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness, and 16 to 25-year-olds who need transitional accommodation. The program is now an important part of Year 7 service learning.

Students have spent time working on the gardens at the

YShac facility as part of their Year 7 camp and will continue this work through a Hospitality mentorship program facilitated by Mrs Carleen Edwards to pre-pack meals for YShac residents. As well as serving the community, students have also learnt more about the importance of Anglicare and YShac, and the stereotypes associated with homelessness.

Anglicare’s annual School Sleep Out is another event that provides an opportunity for students to give back. Leading up to the event the School’s Anglicare Ambassadors run an onsite Pop Up Op-Shop where donated clothing is sold for the price of a gold coin donation, with remaining clothes donated to Anglicare Op Shops.

Anglicare Ambassadors also work within the school community, volunteering during school holidays to address staff during their Professional Development Week. The Ambassadors recently ran a simulation that educated staff on the experience faced by many homeless people and how organisations such as Anglicare assist people in obtaining basic needs such as food and water, crisis accommodation and basic identification that others take for granted.

The School aims to grow Catalyst23 by two year groups each year, to eventually have a fully focused, academically linked and socially driven service learning program for students from Kindy to Year 12. Program Coordinator Dale Kelly hopes the program influences students who are truly aware of their role within communities and the strength that they can offer through servant leadership.