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16 November 2017

Last month the Year 5 and Year 6 students at Mary Immaculate School, Ivanhoe, hosted the annual Mission Fair. It was an amazing day completely run by the Year 5 and Year 6 students. The students spent weeks researching injustices in the world and what these meant to them. Then, with these in mind, the students researched charities and organisations which work towards addressing these injustices.

As the Mission Fair was held in World Mission Month, it was decided to focus on a Catholic charity to donate their fundraising efforts to. Opening the Doors Foundation, run by the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in Thornbury, was chosen because Mary Immaculate is a FIRE Carrier school (Friends in Reconciliation Education) and has close links with the Ministry.

Opening the Doors Foundation addresses the severe educational disadvantage still being experienced by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, by providing assistance so that they are able to choose and successfully maintain a positive educational environment for their children. The Foundation provides grants towards the funding of educational costs not otherwise funded from government or other educational funding sources to cover costs such as school uniforms, books, school camps and other school associated costs.

Then came the hard work. The students designed stalls including hair, nails and beauty, sport circuits, paper plane folding, baked goods, craft activities and games. Posters were prepared and ideas turned into reality. The students agreed that it was lots of fun but lots of hard work too. Lots of ‘Habits of Mind’ and growth mindsets were in evidence, as well as great leadership, teamwork and collaboration to make the day a wonderful success. Including the sausage sizzle run by the school staff and raffles containing donated prizes, this year’s Mission Fair raised $1,223.65; a wonderful effort for a small school.

Next week the Year 5 and Year 6 students will be travelling to the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry to present the cheque for their fundraising efforts to Opening the Doors Foundation. Mary Immaculate has been very fortunate to be the inaugural school invited to view their sacred space and latest acquisition ‘The Aboriginal Stations of the Cross’, designed exclusively for their chapel by John Dunn, a Kuku Yalanji Man from North Queensland. It will be a worthy experience for the students to see first-hand how their hard work will be making a difference to disadvantaged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.