Assistant Head of Gioia House

Gioia House Outreach – Making a Difference

Throughout Term 1, the students participated in our outreach initiative to raise money for Project Compassion – Caritas Charity. The students took part in a Gioia House Bake Sale, made donations to their class/family Project Compassion money box and donated to the Santa Sabina House Caritas Water donation. The purpose of our fundraising efforts was to raise money for communities in Samoa to implement a filtered water system, allowing people to access clean water for drinking, cooking and hygiene purposes. We would like to thank all the students who donated to all of our Project Compassion initiatives, we know your generosity will have a positive impact on people around the world. 

The Gioia House students raised the following amount:

Weelya: $928
Kurrawa: $370
Mundawora: $386
Teangi: $670
Yetinga: $1079
Gunagalla: $310

RAISING A TOTAL OF $3743!

Well done to all the Gioia students for helping make a difference to communities who need our help.

Action Girl Pastoral Programs

Our Gioia House Term 2 Action Girl Pastoral Program will focus on relationships, friendships, belonging, and identifying our personal values. The students will be guided through a series of lessons with a different focus each session. This week, the students focused on relating to the analogy that friendships can be like riding a rollercoaster. All relationships will have unexpected highs, lows, twists and turns along the way. We discussed how we need to adapt and navigate these changes, as they are a common part of dealing with different relationships. This lesson focused on self-compassion, teaching students self-care strategies, and identifying their character strengths. It is important for students to celebrate their positive attributes, which can improve their mental health and wellbeing. 

Our Rock and Water Pastoral lesson also takes place fortnightly. Last week, our lesson focused on attitudes to resolve conflict. The students identified ways they can take on a rock approach and not succumb to peer-pressure or alter their values; other times it is best to have a water approach, where you still maintain your opinion but respect other opinions too. Depending on the situation, the students identified which approach would be more suitable for different scenarios. The students took part in the practical component of the lesson and positioned their bodies as a ‘rock’ where they were solid and grounded. The students then moved their bodies like ‘water’ to represent a more fluid water approach. Our session ended with balancing in our Rooster-pose position, where we focused on our breathing, being still and calm.

Marisa Maks
Assistant Head of Gioia House