Embedding the RSHM goals into our school life
An Assembly speech by Elisa S
The SGIC is the Student Goals and Implementation Committee. As an RSHM school, we are part of a wider global network of schools sharing common goals that illustrate our values based on the mission of the RSHM and the work of Fr Gailhac. Those of you in Middle School will remember working with your peers at the recent RSHM Festivals – these festivals are a wonderful opportunity for students to come together from across the world to collaborate with each other towards our common goals. This committee’s main objective is to implement and embed the RSHM goals into school life. You will be familiar with the goals as we focus on a different goal each week in assembly.
- Goal 1: To foster a personal relationship with God
- Goal 2: To create unity through diversity
- Goal 3: To instill a lifelong love of learning
- Goal 4: To encourage and affirm personal growth
- Goal 5: To awaken a consciousness of social justice
- Goal 6: To fulfil the mission of the RSHM, “that all may have life”.
Being a part of the SGIC helps the Marymount community to partner in a meaningful and compassionate way with our sister school in Zambia and our neighbouring school, St Joseph’s in London. But, what does this mean? For our sister school in Zambia, the committee has been very active in fundraising to help the students and staff at St Joseph’s with their fundraising efforts with local projects such as St Michael’s Primary School and the RSHM founded school, St Mulumba’s, which is a special educational needs school for children with disabilities. Money raised has helped buy musical and IT equipment for St Joseph’s, helped develop infrastructure for St Michael’s and money was also used to buy braille paper for St Mulumba’s, for those children who are blind.
In addition to this, through the use of Zoom, we are able to have many meetings with our peers in Zambia, where we discuss our upcoming fundraising projects, share ideas and listen to the service initiatives that they are doing, hear about their culture and also some of the challenges they face. Some of the Grade 11 students have also helped with Peer tutoring in Science classes via Zoom, where Marymount girls and staff are able to teach the students of St Joseph’s in Zambia, the subjects of physics and chemistry. This has been a rewarding experience for all those involved and educational as we both learn from our peers in Zambia and they learn from us.
The SGIC also helps St Josephs in London, a local primary school in Kingston, where we participate in a very active Saturday School Programme run by the SGIC with the help of our amazing Marymount faculty. This is a 10 to 12 week programme where we rotate the subjects of English, maths, science, drama, and art. The children are encouraged to learn new skills and since we have a beautiful campus and many up to date resources, this allows us to utilise our grounds for the Saturday lessons. It is a privilege to help these younger children and see how they learn from our lessons and also how they enjoy our facilities, which we may take for granted at times. All those involved find this an incredibly rewarding experience and we are able to put our skills of communication and collaboration into action as we work together as a team to deliver the lessons.
At Marymount London we are encouraged this year to be ‘one in service’. The SGIC encourages us to have a social and moral consciousness of global inequality and recognise the human need to serve others with a sense of joy and purpose. We are also delighted and privileged today to welcome Sr Rosamond Blanchett from the RSHM, who coined the following familiar phrase at a previous Marymount London assembly: “To be firm in faith, vibrant in hope, rooted in love and one in service”.