An RE-Treat for effort in RE!
An RE-Treat for most improved pupils!
Week in and week out, we are impressed by the dedication and enthusiasm of so many of our young people. We are especially proud when pupils try their hardest and make improvements to their learning habits, behaviour or engagement with the faith life of our school. So we have decided that it is time that these young people received an RE-Treat! Miss Morrison has kindly invested in a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN and young people who have been really trying hard in RE can expect to receive a golden ticket to attend one of our RE-Treat lunchtimes starting very soon.
Caritas 2023, in their own words
Overall, Caritas has had a big impact on me and aided in strengthening my faith. It has given me the chance to reflect more on my own life and discover new ways of thinking that help me to grow closer to God. It has enhanced my understanding of scripture and the teachings of the Church and even caused me to make new friends. So ultimately, Caritas has been and will continue to be an extraordinary force in my life.
True loving mercy requires complete self-sacrifice, the ability to halt your own life and desires completely in order to help someone else, just as the Samaritan did in the parable. And we have not only to do this with people that we find it easy to love.
The “decisive direction” that the late pope speaks of is of course towards Heaven, and I think that the word “decisive” does give a very accurate description. We can have no hesitancy or doubt in our Faith if we wish to truly live the lives that God wants us to and must have complete trust in God, confident that He will guide us perfectly through the trials of this life and into the next.
“Love and truth are inseparable. Without love, truth becomes cold, impersonal and oppressive for people’s day-to-day lives.” (Pope Benedict XVI) Pope Benedict taught us that in order for truth to be valuable, it must be founded in love – a two-way relationship. Furthermore, the pursuit of truth must always be guided by a spirit of love and compassion. Without love, truth can become unnecessary, harsh or dogmatic, lacking the kindness and humanity that is needed for it to be truly meaningful and positive in people’s lives. The depth added to this idea by things I learned through Caritas is just one of many ways the award has impacted my outlook on things fundamental to my faith.
As Pope Benedict says in Deus Caritas Est: “Love is an act of the will, and it can survive even when the feelings have disappeared.” This can make loving difficult and may even require us to make sacrifices or compromise. The ultimate example of love is the sacrificial love of Jesus, who died on the cross for the sins of humanity. Similarly, we are called to love others without prejudice and even when it doesn’t suit us – even, most radically, to love our enemies.
Knowing myself more deeply has allowed me to consider what I want and what is important in my life, something valuable beyond words at this stage in my life, where I will soon be leaving school and becoming an adult. I know the regular chance provided by Caritas to think not just academically or scientifically but spiritually has helped me tremendously through such a transitory stage in my life.
We may have opinions and perspectives that differ from others to the point that we may consider them enemies, but we need to remember that God created us all in His Own Likeness, which means that we are all Children of God. God has a place for us all in the world, and loves us all unconditionally. If we are to be true followers of Christ, we need to listen to His words and follow His example.
“The expression of love of neighbour is not just an individual responsibility, but something for the whole Church” Pope Benedict
This Deus Caritas Est quote has guided me along my Caritas year to explore the importance of love. It is first and foremost that the obligation of each individual believer is to love their neighbour as themselves, but it is also the responsibility of the entire Christian community at every level, from the local neighbourhood to the specific Church and to the Church universal as a whole. The Church must practise love as a group.
When we love our brother we also love God. We cannot love God and not love our brother because he is the love that God has given us. We love our neighbours because as Christians we follow God. It is crucial to emphasise that the greatest Commandment is to love God with all my heart since, without doing so, I cannot love my neighbour. The ability to love my neighbour as myself depends on how much I love God. Only when I love God is the only relationship that can spill over into other relationships.
I feel we live in a world just now which is extremely materialistic and some people have lost a focus on looking out for others and appear to have a more selfish outlook on life, concentrating on their own needs rather than the needs of others. I feel the Pope’s teaching (Deus Caritas Est) should be taken on board by more people as this would make the world a better place.
“Love grows through love.” This is a quote directly from Pope Benedict XVI and seems simple at first glance when you take it literally….the more I think about it the more amazing it is to me. I interpret it as God saying how he will always love us as we are his children and in order for his light to shine in our lives, we need to open the door and let him in so he can spread his love to us.
With Caritas, I have somewhat put aside the writings of Camus and Sartre and come to more greatly enjoy the Holy Scriptures and writings of Catholic philosophers and theologians. Love may be irrational to our meagre human minds but given the context of God – from whom it comes, by whom we may enjoy it – the Mystery of Love becomes much more perceptible to me. I have come to realise, the call to Love is a calling to be closer to God and to know Him more fully (1 John 4:16). Our love is but a manifestation of God and His love (1 John 4:19).
HIGHER RMPS Coming Soon!
Higher RMPS will be available for pupils in S6 from June 2023!!
More info from the RE department 🙂
Catholic Education Week Article 2022
At the end of Catholic Education week, we would like to share the article that was read at Mass in the parishes by our CREDO pupils.
CEW 2022: Communion, Participation, Mission
Catholic Education Week provides the perfect setting for two significant events in the life of Turnbull High School this year. Firstly, our Patronal Feast Day (21st November) gives us the opportunity to renew our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as our guide to knowing, loving and serving the Lord Jesus. Secondly, 2022 sees a significant review of our School Vision Values and Aims; the climax of several years of prayer and discernment involving all members of our school community.
As we consider the theme of Catholic Education Week – Communion, Participation, Mission – we reflect on how these headings give expression to our common identity and shared mission as a school with a uniquely Catholic identity.
Communion
As the young people, parents and teachers of Turnbull High School, we are united by our common choice for Catholic Education. In ‘coming together as a community’, as our school prayer says, we pledge ourselves to growing together in faithfulness toward our calling from God to be a ‘Community Of Faith Engaged In Learning’, ‘Centred on Christ’. The vision of Catholic Education put forward by the Church has been richly enhanced in Turnbull High School in recent times by the process of renewing how we articulate our shared identity. Guided by the Charter for Catholic Schools, input from Australian Catholic University, Notre Dame University (Ireland) and partners closer to home, we have all engaged with the key themes of what it means to be a Catholic school, bound together by our common values. Remembering that communion relies on love and that true, self-giving, sacrificial love comes from God, we are called to reflect on our level of communion with Him and how that unites us to each other as brothers and sisters of the Kingdom. This process gained new depth when, as a whole school, we engaged in the final consultation phase of our Vision, Values and Aims review as part of our feast day this week.
Participation
Our school brings together many people from varied backgrounds and offers a wide variety of opportunities for all of us to develop our academic achievement, skills and, most importantly, our life of virtue; that is, the habitual commitment to The Good.
The Second Vatican Council taught that the Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. It is in the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus that we learn the extent of love, a life laid down, a body broken and risen to new life. Just as many grains of wheat form the Host set aside for consecration, so Jesus’ Mystical Body in the world is formed from all who share the life of grace and are united with the Lord in Holy Communion. In this way, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Adoration of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament signify and bring about the deepest participation that we can have in our common life. Those who do not yet share this level of communion with the Church are no less called to participate in prayer as far as they are able and are invited to open their hearts to the Lord and one another.
Through our varied chaplaincy programme, the whole school community has opportunities to participate in the life and faith of Turnbull High School. Through formal and informal prayer, traditional and contemporary devotions and music, everyone is called to participate in prayer and discipleship.
Our policies and shared practice in our day to day work offers additional opportunities to participate in the shared mission of the Catholic school since everything we do should aim to reflect Jesus, to seek the face of Christ in others. Most recently our journey towards the use of restorative practice seeks to enable us to imitate the mercy of the Father, practice reconciliation and inspire virtue.
Participation in our Christ-centred community extends beyond our families, associated primaries and parishes and partners through our charity and outreach work. Through our commitment to upholding the dignity of others through meeting their physical and spiritual needs, our shared values impact all those who we seek to support through Mary’s Meals, Aid to the Church in Need, Pro-life work and most recently in our efforts to support the Shoebox Appeal and local foodbanks, to name only a few.
Mission
In Redemptoris Missio, Pope St John Paul II said that
“The time has come to commit all of the Church’s energies to the New Evangelisation. No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples.”
Turnbull High School is a centre of the New Evangelisation, a place where the Good News of salvation through Christ Jesus is proclaimed with renewed ardour, the only path to authentic human flourishing.
In every aspect of school life, we are called to help our young people to engage with the Gospel on personal and societal levels, to develop a life of discipleship and to become missionaries in whatever circumstances they find themselves, now and in the future.
At this exciting stage in our communal life, may we, by our reliance on the Holy Spirit speaking through the Church, continually grow in our fidelity to Jesus and in our enthusiasm for participating in the mission of bringing others to the joy of a life lived in Him.
Please pray for us as we continue on this journey to know, love and serve the Lord. Thank you.
New Placemats in RE
Over the last couple of years we have been sharpening our focus on what makes excellent learning and teaching in RE.
The Good Lesson Structure, Co-construction of Success Criteria using HOTS language, skills development and BLP strategies have all become part of our everyday learning- not just WHAT we are learning by HOW.
To make this metacognitive approach that bit easier and to increase pupil agency in their learning, we have developed a new placemat that has everything that we need to be successful learners right at our finger tips!
Let’s see what impact they make on the learning!
S5 & 6 disprove Arianism!
Our S5 and 6 pupils have been doing great work in RE! Whilst learning about the person of Jesus through the Creed they have studied the Arian heresy and formed and accurate understanding of Jesus by comparing the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed.
So many skills being applied and developed AND deepening our faith in the Lord Jesus! What’s not to love!
S3 Confessions
Please pray for our S3 pupils who had the opportunity to go to confession as part of our Sacraments of Healing unit.
May they always seek God and find their true identity in his loving forgiveness
Term 1 Feedback and Impact
Check out the impact that our learning in RE has made on pupils across the year groups! These statements are taken from our new online PLPs.
S1- Me and My Community (Image of God)
The unit has reminded me on the faith that I do and how important it is
I have learnt about the importance of God in every day life.
I have learned more about what God wants for me
I understand how to treat others
I feel closer to God
I have learned about sin and all types of things and It makes me proud.
I know why I am made in the image if god and that I have my life planned before I was in the womb.
I have learned about the Holy Trinity and I now know how I am made in the ‘Image of God’.
The impact of the unit has helped me understand myself and God more than before.
In this unit , I have learned that me and everyone else I made in the image of God and god new us before we were born , I’ve learned about the effects of sin and how it separates you from God.
It has taught me that God is made up of three persons- the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit it has also taught me that God has had a special plan for us even before we where in our mother’s womb and just like Jerimiah we are set out for a special purpose
This has had an impact on how I treat others with respect
I can now understand how my actions and attitudes affect others around me .
to follow god more and sin less
I have learned that god has created me in his image and that he will forgive my sin
That it has been a really good thing to learn and to learn about god
That I should treat others the way I want to be treated and make the right decisions
It impacts me a lot as I want to get closer to god and learn to be like him
This has made me find out how class I can be to god and the different ways I could be more like god and be closer to god.
It has shown me how much of a difference my life has experienced by knowing about the marvellous works of God
I feel like l know more about god and how l was built in his image l also know more about the holy Trinity
I now understand about being made in the image of God and the Holy trinity. I understand more about our faith
To get us to know about how god wants us to be
I have learnt that god gives us gifts to use
During this unit, I have learnt that we are not made in the image of god on the outside, it’s on the inside. Also, this has taught me that God will forgive you no matter what you have done but all you have to do is ask for forgiveness. I have enjoyed learning about the image of God because it’s helped me to understand and be grateful for what I have.
I’ve learned that through my faith I have a choice on the decisions that I make, I hope that with having a strong faith I can make good decisions.
I have learned how to treat others with respect and that I am made in the image of god, on the inside and outside.
The impact of this unit of my learning and faith is that I know about The Image of God, how he gave us free will and my relationships with him and others.
The impact that this unit has had my learning and faith is that I reflected on how God has made me and that I always have free will and choice but I should use it responsibly.
The impact of this unit on my learning & my faith has been quite big. It made my faith become clearer and stronger. In learning i now know a lot more and I can easily tell others facts about sins etc.
I have realised that I’m made in the image of god on the inside. I’ve also learned what my gifts are.
S3 Belief in God
It has impacted my faith by helping me understand how God really exits and helped me link faith and science to give examples of why God exits
it has helped me believe in god a bit more and has helped me realise the connection between scientist and the church they are both searching for the same thing but in different ways
This unit has impacted my faith by giving me different views about the existence of God and has made me think about the different possibilities that God is real or not.
Though this unit has not affected my view on god I thoroughly enjoyed it and it had to be my favourite topic I’ve done.
I believe in God in a different way than before and I now realise the church is more open minded to science than I originally thought.
It has helped me realise that faith and science look both look for the truth
S6- The Introductory Rites & Caritas Award
In my faith life I have been able to acquire a deeper understanding of the nature of the Holy Mass, through the ‘Four Ends of the Mass’; Adoration, Atonement, Thanksgiving and Petition. I learned the Introductory Rites of the Mass, including the opening of the Mass and the Penitential Rite, where we ask for Gods mercy and forgiveness from sins of commission and omission. Furthermore the topic on sin has allowed me to reflect and appreciate Gods mercy and justness.
I learnt how the Love of God which is shared Between the three persons (Trinity) is applicable on our lives and how we humans are made for love.
I now know so much more about my faith especially about truth. I understand everything a lot better now and in more detail
It has given me more learning and insight into how God reaches us and how I can better pray to him, I learned better the meaning of Mass and understand more how it helps my relationship with God.
Overall, I think this course has helped me become more self-aware – I use the knowledge I’ve learned on what makes a good person , and now use these values in daily life to improve myself and how I treat others . It has also motivated me to want to give back to my community as I’m always looking up to very generous people in the catholic community who influence me majorly.
Resources for August Learning
Welcome back!
It has been brilliant getting to see all of our young people again and we are all looking forward to another year of academic and spiritual formation in RE!
Starting this year, each time we begin a new topic, the resources will be uploaded to glow and linked right here on our blog. This means that if anyone would like to look ahead or revise anything, the course materials are easier to find. A general outline of our curricula can be viewed using the menus at the top of the blog.
Here we go with the first topics for each year group
S1- Me and My Community (Made in the image of God)
S2- The Sacraments of Vocation
To view the materials, follow the links and log in with your usual glow details.
