Nov 30, 20223 min read

LSQ Narrative~The Year That Was.

Updated: Jan 5

The year has come to a close and it was full of many memorable occasions. To commemorate our chosen value for 2022, Sincerity, it is only fitting that we ask Ms. Freitas, our Religious Education Coordinator, what stood out for her this year. Ms Freitas had these wonderful words to share.

Serving at LSQ

At Loreto, we teach our learners that serving others is love in action. Our value of the year “Sincerity” played a large role in how we taught our learners about serving others as our staff lead by example and give of themselves without expecting rewards or praise.

As the Religious Education Coordinator at LSQ, my personal goal was to walk the talk and actively be involved in all events, outreach projects and lessons instead of simply telling our learners how to give and how to be great community members.

Our R.E lessons from the classroom was cultivated by the act of giving of our time, skills and items.

The UN awareness days which we celebrated this year such as Nelson Mandela Day and World Charity Day encouraged our learners to practice the lessons learnt in class by participating in projects such as packing food and clothing parcels for those in need within our community. Our class retreats also promoted the link between Religious Education and Acts of service by beginning our days with quiet time which entailed scripture readings and prayer related to caring for our environment. This was of most importance as acts of service not only required one to give to our fellow humans but to also participates in acts of love towards our environment as we are reminded that we are stewards of God’s creation. Our retreats granted our learners the opportunity to engage with foster children, and rehabilitated animals as well as farming crops and vegetables. This was an exceptional opportunity to build relationships with learners outside of the classroom and it was wonderful to see our values come to fruition when our learners participated in these activities of service.

Throughout our retreats our learners taught me to find joy in the work we do as a learner in Gr4 portrayed when shoveling dirt in the chicken coop while singing Old McDonald had a farm.

Another memory from our retreat days that I will forever cherish is when a group of learners participated in activities at the education centre with the foster children, I was actively involved in feeding the chickens while this specific group was accompanied by their teacher. Upon their return to the rest of the class, some girls who went to the education centre were quite sad and needed to share their experiences with me. One learner explained that one of the children said that she doesn't have a mommy, and this broke her heart as she really wanted to do more for the child. The words I will treasure forever are her friend's words to her "We might not be able to do much now because we are kids but one day when we are adults, we can do more to help the little kids".

These words personally motivated me and reassured me that there is hope that our learners will become selfless adults who have empathy for others and who will continue to make a difference through acts of service and love. I will therefore continue to give wholeheartedly to Loreto and her children.