The St Augustine’s Priory theme for this year
“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
Rumi, The Essential Rumi
Mrs Murphy, Senior Form Teacher Upper IV and Lower V, spoke at Assembly yesterday morning on Courage, the St Augustine’s Priory theme for this year. She asked us to explore ways we could all be courageous and stretch ourselves during the course of this new academic year.
‘Good morning girls
I just wanted to speak briefly to you about this year’s theme of courage and to link this to what you can do to challenge yourself and have new experiences here at school.
On a recent trip to Berlin I witnessed some amazing examples of courage. Much of what I saw were stories of Berlin’s past and present being told through creativity. I was particularly moved by a huge memorial of rectangular stones laid out in a uniformed display to represent the murdered Jews of Europe. For those of you who haven’t studied this part of 20th Century history yet, the Jewish community of Germany during the lead up to and time of World War II were persecuted and murdered just for their beliefs as they were viewed as a danger to society.
I was also taken aback by the bravery of another memorial in the shape of a box inside which a moving image of two men symbolise the persecution of gay men and women that took place under Nazi rule during the same World War II era.
One of the most powerful examples of words and art being used with courage was some of the graffiti art on the remaining piece of the Berlin Wall This was the wall which divided the city into two over a large part of the second half of the twentieth century, meaning that anyone who tried to cross over to the other side risked their lives. This is the message written on it in graffiti art:
‘Many small people who in many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world.’
All of these artists, designers and writers are using their creative skills to reach people, to express something, to bring about change.
So what I would like you to think about as you start a new academic year, is what can you to do to learn a new skill, to stretch yourself, to go out of your iPhone Facebook comfort zone and find something bigger.
As you may know, I am now overseeing the co-curricular programme for the school and we have a huge number of new clubs and activities available to you. This Thursday lunchtime at 1.00pm we are running a Co-curricular Fair so please come down to the Hall to find out all about the clubs on offer and sign up for anything that interests you. We now have a St Augustine’s Priory Stewardship club which involves looking after the Prayer Garden, allotment and chickens, we have a Lego club, we have Latin American dancing – and so much more! The day by day programme of clubs is now displayed on our co-curricular noticeboard which you will find on the Senior Teaching Corridor.
So come along, learn something new, surprise yourself and one day you too will be the artist, writer, inventor or teacher using your skills to make a difference.
Any questions on the co-curricular programme please email myself or Mari Phillips in Upper IV Alpha who is our Student Council representative for co-curricular.
Thank you’
Categories: Priory Post
