Some of the most powerful learning for Wesley students happens outside the classroom in the service of others…
Woven into Wesley’s culture is a commitment to service learning. Built into the curriculum and integral to the IB learning process at all levels – the PYP, the MYP and the IB Diploma Program - it encourages our students to understand their capacity to make a meaningful contribution to the world by actively and generously helping others. In short, they learn to be agents of action.
There’s no minimum age to be an agent of action. In our Junior Schools, service action in the PYP is seen as a vital component of learning, and even at this level it takes many forms: fundraising, volunteering, advocacy for important causes, promoting social justice, engaging in social entrepreneurship and making informed lifestyle choices.
A good example of this is Rose, a Year 2 learner at Elsternwick, who had the idea to raise money and books for those in need. Her initial idea grew into a fundraising event for 1, 2, 3 Read to Me, a not-for-profit group supporting children’s literacy. Then, wanting to help those living rough this winter, she initiated a community drive for pre-loved jackets to pass on to people living in very difficult circumstances.
‘People that live rough on the streets… it can be hard to help them, but we have to try and do something,’ she says. ‘Every time I do something like this, I feel like I am standing on top of the world. And maybe it helps them to stand up as well. Helping people, both kids and adults, is amazing. I feel a ping in my heart.’
Agency, empathy and compassion are naturally strengthened in our learners from these service experiences; equally, it strengthens their academic learning. The applied nature of service learning brings relevance to classroom learning, helping students gain a deeper understanding of academic concepts and build their critical thinking skills.
Fundraising, of course, can be fun. During this year's WiSSH Week, one of the many student-led activities, ‘Teacher Gunging,’ encouraged donations with the promise that the teacher who received the most donations by the end of the week would be doused with a bucket of gunge in front of the entire school. WiSSH (Wesley is Supporting Sacred Heart Mission), a key annual fundraiser for the MYP at our St Kilda Road Campus, has raised an impressive $34,000 for Sacred Heart Mission since its launch in 2020.
It can also be very entertaining. The hugely successful ‘Together We Will’ concert staged in Cato Hall at the Glen Waverley Campus last month raised an impressive $8,000 across two performances to support rural communities in Eswatini (see Snapshot story).
In Senior School, ‘Service’ forms one of the three central pillars of the Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) program – an essential element that students complete as part of their IB Diploma Program. Service is often regarded as one of the most transformative aspects of CAS, fostering self-awareness, facilitating diverse interactions and experiences, and encouraging the development of international mindedness amongst our students.
‘With nearly 150 Glen Waverley students participating in CAS, there have been a variety of initiatives within the school, and beyond, seeking to model a generosity of spirit,’ says CAS Coordinator, Tim Box. ‘BBQ fund raisers for the Good Friday and MND appeals, hospital visits, support for the PanKind Walk at The Tan, mentoring Junior School students in science and sport, marching up Swanston Street on Anzac Day and Poppy sales at The Glen were all in the mix.’
Likewise, students at the St Kilda Road Campus made all sorts of contributions to their local and wider communities, including fostering kittens through the Lost Dog’s Home, organising local beach clean ups, helping at community tree planting events, and musical performances at retirement homes, among many other experiences.
A special student-led initiative at both our Glen Waverley and St Kilda Road Campuses was a food drive of canned goods – ‘Cans for A Cause’ at Glen Waverley and ‘Canstruction’ at St Kilda Road – to benefit hunger relief charity Foodbank and the Asylum Centre Resource Centre. The usual casual clothes day gold coin donation became a can donation, and the ‘canstruction’ involved students competing in their Houses to construct the best sculpture from all their donated cans.
Another extremely popular annual service opportunity for Year 11 and 12 learners is the Flying Fox camp; this year, it involved over 70 students volunteering time over their winter school holidays to become a buddy at a camp for children with disabilities and additional needs. This pushes many students beyond their comfort zone and challenges their thinking about their role in the community.
‘The best perspective I have gained from my position is truly how supportive, caring and genuinely kind-hearted our community is,’ says St Kilda Road Charities and Community Service Prefect, Cody. ‘Regardless of the initiative, the topic, the charity or the cause, one thing that has stayed consistent is the way our community rallies together, advocates together, and proudly takes action together.’
St Kilda Road CAS Coordinator Amanda Stefancic agrees. ‘The ‘magic’ of service through the CAS program is that when students seek out and participate in these experiences, they grow in their view of themselves as citizens who contribute to the world around them. This is just as important as the academic skills they gain through their school lessons.’
The transformative effect of service to others, so beautifully encapsulated in Gandhi’s maxim ‘The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others’, manifests itself time and again at Wesley as our agents of action, engaged in helping others, experience their own special moments of self-discovery.
For Lola from Year 12, her moment came at the Flying Fox camp. ‘It was such an amazing experience,’ she said. ‘My buddy was such a lovely person. It was amazing how she was able to communicate in such different ways. I’ve grown so much as a person, and it has really taught me how to adapt to the world in new, creative, and often simple ways.’
