In a bold move to strengthen relationships with the Marist Brothers' Star of the Sea Province, Marist College Canberra launched its first Staff Immersion to the Solomon Islands from 30 September to 9 October 2024. Twelve teachers joined the immersion, including eight from Marist College Canberra, three from Canberra Girls Grammar School and one from Sacred Heart College Adelaide. The group spent ten days visiting schools they helped to build and interact with in Honiara and Guadalcanal. These include St Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School, Mercy School at Burn’s Creek, Laumanasa Community and Rural Training Centre, Divit Training Centre at Visale, the Christian Care Centre at Tenaru and Amoana Christian Academy, in Rifle Range, West Honiara.
A highlight of the immersion was time spent with students in classrooms and actively contributing to teaching and learning in Science, English, Film Studies, Geography, Physical Education, Agriculture and Art. These opportunities opened important dialogue about classroom practice and explicit instruction techniques including checking for understanding.
Pen Pal letters were delivered on behalf of the Year 4 Marist students and photos of Australian life and culture captivated the imagination of the young learners. The group also facilitated an in-service for staff at St Joseph’s Tenaru on Marist pedagogy and explored how Marist spirituality could be nurtured with students.
These opportunities opened important dialogue about classroom practice and explicit instruction techniques including checking for understanding.
The culture and climate had a lasting impact on the staff who quickly adapted to the warm reception and even warmer weather. The group was greeted with a friendly welcome at every turn by the school staff and students, local retailers and members of the public. In addition to teaching and learning, staff also immersed themselves in local arts, food markets, snorkelling WWII shipwrecks, chocolate tasting at Amazing Grace cocoa plantation, a rosary procession, learning sign language at San Isidro Centre, bumpy banana boat rides along the shore, Sunday Mass at the Cathedral, reading books with young people at Matariau Village and exploring the rich history of the Solomon Islands at the RAMSI museum and WWII memorial.
The group was greeted with a friendly welcome at every turn by the school staff and students, local retailers and members of the public.
"Everyone we met in the Solomon Islands taught me the same valuable lesson: to cherish the interactions you have with people. The immersion offered me, as a beginning teacher, valuable reflection. In my classroom, the most important things are my students and my role as their teacher. While technology and resources are helpful, it’s the relationships and the lessons I teach that will leave a lasting impact on my students." Rowena Middleton (Canberra Girls Grammar School).
"While technology and resources are helpful, it’s the relationships and the lessons I teach that will leave a lasting impact on my students."
The immersion was supported by the Solomon Islands High Commission in Canberra and is part of an ongoing relationship between the Australian Marist Solidarity and the ‘Make A Mark Australia’ (MAMA) charity with some schools in Honiara, Guadalcanal and Santa Ysabel. Before the immersion, Mr. Robert Sisilo, Solomon Islands High Commissioner to Australia, told the teachers he was “delighted that you have all joined us to improve the quality of education in Solomon Islands by supporting these schools. Over time, these new buildings and interactions between our students will deliver on better learning outcomes and opportunities for all girls and boys to choose careers they desire and aspire to."
Acting Headmaster of Marist College Canberra, Mr Liam Stakelum, was also very supportive of the visit and looked forward to an experience his students and the school will always cherish. “Marist College Canberra is proud to collaborate with Australian Marist Solidarity, MAMA and partner schools through its student and staff immersion programs in the Solomon Islands. The immersions are wonderful opportunities to learn from each other, and offers experiences that educate, challenge, and transform our students. We are dedicated to fostering lasting, meaningful relationships with our partners in the Marist Star of the Sea Province. We deeply appreciate the support of the Solomon Islands High Commission. Know that it is an experience that we cherish as a school community," Mr Stakelum said.
These visits are opening new opportunities for further collaboration and build capacity through exchange programs between schools in Australia and Solomon Islands.
The immersions are wonderful opportunities to learn from each other, and offers experiences that educate, challenge, and transform our students.
A proposal still being discussed is an exchange program for teachers and students of both countries. In 2025, Marist College Canberra and Canberra Girls Grammar School will send students on an immersion to the Solomon Islands. It’s hoped this will be the first of many student immersions which will continue the strong relationship between the two countries.
‘Let Your Light Shine’ is the motto of Mercy School and the positive outcomes of the staff immersion demonstrate this is not merely an aspirational hope for young people, but an inspiring and lived reality for the people of the Solomon Islands.
Written by Nathan Ahearn, Assistant Head of School - Mission and Identity
Pic courtesy - Nathan Ahearn
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