Why is ‘Service Learning’ so important for young people today?

Throughout the year, we offer our students at Westminster a number of opportunities to participate in ‘Service Learning’. There are many reasons why students choose to help others and give their time to volunteer. The fact that it is not a compulsory activity as in some schools, does not seem to stop our wonderful Westminster community from volunteering to help others. I personally would love to see even more of our students involved in these activities, not because they have to but because they want to. I am always looking at ways to increase our student and staff involvement in a variety of projects so stay tuned!

Service Learning provides students with opportunities to develop civic engagement skills. By working with community members, students can enhance their group, organizational and interpersonal skills. They also can gain important experience working with diverse members of their communities.

Young people who volunteer:

Gain confidence in themselves
Make a difference to others
Meet new people and make new friends
Become part of a diverse community
Learn new life skills
Take on new challenges
Develop a better understanding of the world in which we live
Have fun!

Service Projects at Westminster (in spite of COVID-19 ruining some of our plans!)

Although some of our usual Service Projects like Foodbank Fridays, Chats on Tuesday at Resthaven, Red Dove Café and Legacy Badge Selling may not happen this year as previously, it is lovely to see that we have so many students who are still willing to participate in Fundraising and other activities to help our local community.

Our Year 4s recently spent time making beautiful gifts for residents at Resthaven and there are other groups who also plan to keep our connections going with the aged care facility over Term 3 and 4, writing postcards and sending video messages.

Students in both the ELC and Senior School (Year 10 Fricker with Mrs Linn and our Leaders group) are busy planning Food Drives to help out one of our local organisations, Foodbank SA, who is still very much in need of supplies for families doing it tough in Adelaide and regional areas.

As well as our recent Bin Audit, run by the Leaders group (with help from Mr Ritson, Ms Lucas and members of the Environmental Action Group) we have a great deal of interest in environmental activities and stewardship throughout the school. With our fabulous new solar panels, this also reiterates how important Environmental Awareness is here at Westminster. The Round Square Student Committee is also looking at collaborating with the ELC on a small recycling project later in the term.

Our sewing for charity group ‘SEW-Creative’ is also taking off and has a dedicated group of students from Years 6 to 12, who are always keen to get creative in their lunchtimes (see more details below).

So, as you can see there is still plenty for our students to get involved in, despite restrictions! Please email me anytime if you have an idea for a Service Project or would like to be involved in one of the projects already running.

SEW-Creative! – ‘Sewing for Charity’ Initiative for Year 6 to 12

Last year we started a new group called ‘Sew-Creative’ which meets regularly in the Senior School on a Thursday lunchtime to sew/create items for charity. So far we have a small group of about six to eight students from Years 6 to 12 and certainly welcome more if anyone else is interested. You do not need to know how to use a sewing machine to be involved, we can teach you the skills you need as you go! Plus we do other activities too, such as vinyl printing or even other creative things that don’t require a needle and thread!

Ultimately students will be donating some of their items and selling some for fundraising. We were hoping to even have enough items to run a small lunchtime market a couple of times a term in the future. We are always keenly looking for fabric donations from our Westminster community to reduce the cost of our projects. If you have any sewing/craft related donations you would like to contribute please contact me directly.

Round Square Student Committee Fundraising

There are a number of ways that our Westminster community supports charities and organisations, both local and international. The Round Square Student Committee, in particular, tries to organise at least two activities per year in which they raise money for a variety of groups. We are so incredibly lucky to be in a position to assist others and whether this is done by donating our time or money, we always think carefully about how to best help those in need. This year the Committee has decided to support the following organisations:

Bushfire Relief – a variety of organisations
Drought Angels
Bali Smiles Organisation (school fees for Putu Julie Sesa to attend her third year of school)
Round Square Prince Alexander Fund (to support underprivileged students to attend Round Square projects and conferences)

In addition to these donations, we are also continuing to support a number of people through KIVA:

www.kiva.org

‘Make a loan, change a life’

Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. We celebrate and support people looking to create a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.

For further information on Round Square, our initiatives, exchanges, or conferences, please contact me via Email.

Julia Chukwuani
Round Square and Exchanges Coordinator