Our Catholic Augustinian Identity
1A. Strengthen a shared, contemporary, community model of the Catholic Augustinian traditions with an explicit focus on developing a Christ-centred personal faith and spirituality.
- To engage as an Augustinian Community, through the SRC, exhibiting service to others.
- Stakeholder engaged:
- Students
The Student Representative Council (SRC) is a ‘student voice’ body dedicated to representing the needs and desires of the students at St Augustine’s College. The SRC representatives are dedicated to improving the school community by fundraising for school infrastructure and raising money for charities.
Push Up Challenge
Over 23 days in June, the entire school participated in the Push Up Challenge which is a challenge dedicated to raising awareness for mental health and suicide in Australia. In 2023, the goal was to have each Tutor Group do 3,144 pushups collectively to represent each life lost to suicide. The Tutor teachers would record the number of pushups done through the Push Up Challenge app and the SRC representatives helped tally each house’s total pushup count. This then became a Bishop Shield event between the different houses to see who could do the most pushups per house. Goold House came out on top, and they got points which contributed to their Bishop Shield victory in 2023. Although it was a competition, it certainly helped raise awareness for mental health throughout the entire College and instigated discussions regarding suicide and how to build mental wellbeing.
24 Hours Rowathon
The 24 Hour Rowathon is an annual event which raises awareness for mental health. It was organized by Gotcha4Life, a charity which operates primarily in the Northern Beaches and Sydney to help raise awareness for mental health. The SRC, Leadership Team, and several St Augustine’s College sporting teams participated in the 24 Hour Rowathon and everyone helped in raising money for the local charity.
Bottle Recycling
Recyclable bottles are frequently used at St Augustine’s College particularly since the implementation of vending machines across the College campus. SRC members realized the potential for a huge recycling initiative, which began when the SRC “Recycling Cage” was introduced where students could put their plastic bottles into a school-made cage which would be collected and put into a return and earn recycling center to raise money for the SRC. This push continued into 2023 where we spoke to maintenance and pushed for more recycling bins around the school and emptied the cage once again. The College held its annual Patron’s Day event and SRC members were there to help collect cans to recycle. On Patron’s Day alone, the SRC collected 1600 cans and raised over $160. Importantly, this prevented 1600 cans from going into landfill, which helped keep the environment clean!
SRC and International Students
The SRC and International communities gathered on two occasions and shared a lunch filled with games, discussions, and laughs to build a stronger sense of community. This venture provided the space for our newest members of the school community to build connections and friendships as well as share cultural practices and eat a delicious meal.
The SRC will continue to pursue helpful changes to the College, and we encourage all boys to join our wonderful community. Our aim is to get more boys on board so we can gain a true representation of the student’s needs and build a stronger student voice.
