Pastoral Care and Student Wellbeing
Student Wellbeing at Xavier Catholic College
Pastoral Care is central to education in the Diocese of Lismore, permeating all aspects of school life with the values and teachings embedded in the Catholic Worldview.
Xavier Catholic College is a Jesuit Companion school. A Jesuit education encourages the individual to develop their talents. It fosters reflection so that the person's heart, mind, body and spirit may become fully engaged in serving in the wider world.
Xavier Catholic College was founded in 2000 by the Ballina Parish in the Lismore diocese. It belongs to a worldwide network of over 2000 Jesuit educational institutions.
Our aim is excellence in education with a particular focus on the care of the individual within our community.
In the Jesuit tradition, we believe that, through rigorous self-reflection, each person's imagination and creativity can be more fully integrated with faith and reason.
We encourage each of our students to become more fully alive to their own potential and to the challenge of living out their Christian values through developing and providing outstanding leadership and service in the world.
We call it 'setting hearts on fire.'
Pastoral Care is available to all members of the school community and seeks to awaken and strengthen their personal faith commitment.
Xavier College teachers and administrators are more than academic guides. They are involved in the lives of the students, taking a personal interest in their intellectual, affective, moral and spiritual development and helping each one to develop a strong sense of self-worth, to exercise freedom responsibly, and to become a person of conscience within the community.
We seek to develop a set of values that go beyond 'the self' and lead to life choices that include a concern for the needs of others.
A Jesuit education promotes the belief that individuals should feel genuinely cared for and their achievements and contributions should be valued by others and themselves.
Staff and students alike are governed by a commitment to 'Cura Personalis,' or 'care for the individual.'
Pastoral care involves the quality of personal relationships and the atmosphere of care that exist at Xavier Catholic College.
Pastoral Care is an expression of the Ignatian virtue of Cura Personalis, or care for the individual, one of the Characteristics of Jesuit Education.
As such, it is to be seen and experienced as a core value embedded in our classrooms, community and culture. It is grounded in the dignity of the human person because we are loved by God and the consequences which flow from that relationship.
As a Jesuit companion school, we encourage pastoral care activities that endeavour to seek the Magis. This refers to the more loving and generous way of serving God and each other. In striving for the Magis, we seek the deeper wellbeing of each person.
We seek to develop a set of values that go beyond 'the self' and lead to life choices that include a concern for the needs of others.
A Jesuit education promotes the belief that individuals should feel genuinely cared for and their achievements and contributions should be valued by others and themselves.
Staff and students alike are governed by a commitment to Cura Personalis, or care for the individual.
All members of the community are encouraged to take a personal interest in the development of the whole person, educating the heart and the mind. Pastoral Care promotes a positive, whole-school culture where each student can feel connected with others and flourish in a sense of his gifts, achievements and personal dignity.
Pastoral Care Program: Each Friday morning, the homeroom classes participate in the College's pastoral care program. This program fosters the personal development of each of our students and includes study skills and leadership training, valuing the gifts of each member. The program is designed to support the holistic (cura personalis) development of students' wellbeing through an integrated exploration of relevant topics.
Xavier Catholic College House System
The College Houses are Faber, Campion, MacKillop, Nagle, McAuley and Ignatius, each named after a significant person in the life of the Jesuits and Christians in Australia. It is in these Houses that students compete in sporting and cultural activities. Students are placed in vertical Home Groups of approximately 26 students with teachers who have particular care for their welfare. Ideally, every student will be well known, involved, often encouraged and well advised.
Head of House work with Pastoral Care teachers to support student wellbeing. Please visit our Staff page for a list of Heads of House.
Students are expected to treat each other with courtesy and respect and act with a sense of purpose and responsibility that aligns with the Jesuit values of Xavier Catholic College.
Counselling
We aim to provide students, families and staff with the guidance and support they need to lead healthy and responsible lives. We strive to meet the educational, social, emotional and personal needs of our students. We offer an environment of understanding, support, encouragement and challenge as we assist students in achieving their educational, personal vocational goals. Our services are available to all members of the College community, especially to students' at-risk' and students with special needs.
The two College Counsellors liaise closely with the Principal, Assistant Principals, Leader of Student Welfare, Year Coordinators, Homeroom teachers, and teachers in the overall pastoral care of students.
The College Counsellors also work closely with the staff of the Learning Centre in the administration of psycho-educational assessment to assist in identifying learning strengths and weaknesses.
Classroom Teachers
At Xavier Catholic College, we recognise that the quality and dedication of the teaching staff are fundamental to our ability to provide the highest quality education for our students. The College recruits teachers who are innovative, inspirational and who relate well to children at all levels.
Tutors and Home Room Teachers
Individual students and their teachers have support from a wide range of partners – Parish and visiting priests, Year Coordinators, Leaders of Learning, Home Room and subject Teachers, School Counsellors, Careers Advisor, and sports coaches. Each student is cared for individually, acknowledging the partnership that exists between the College and the child's family.
Xavier Catholic College is part of a Jesuit educational tradition dating back to 1548. Today Jesuit schools and companion schools are committed to forming people of conscience, compassion and competence. Our way of proceeding includes some key themes:
- Finding God in all things: every aspect of our life and labour can affirm the goodness and presence of God.
- Cura personalis: we seek to foster a culture of concern and pastoral care where students, staff and families feel accepted for who they are and what they might become.
- Formation of the whole person: we focus on the intellectual, affective and moral to develop a sense of self-worth and of one's place in the world.
- Being men and women for others: we want to show love in deeds and to serve others generously.
- Engaging with the wider world: we aim to be aware of the challenges of our time.
- Encouraging excellence: we want to be distinguished for our academic, co-curricular and pastoral provision through which we encourage a bountiful development of gifts for others.
- Co-operating in the mission of the Church and the Jesuits: we want to witness Christ's presence in the world, to find and form a Christian community and to participate in Church life. We seek to serve the needs of the world and the Church, especially in the light of the apostolic aims of the Jesuits.
The Characteristics of Jesuit Education, published in 1986, sets out to describe a Jesuit school and its distinctive identity and mission: Characteristics of Jesuit Education. An abridged version is available at: http://jesuitinsitute.org.
The Steps of the Examen
Follow the link below to find out more.
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/26156/the-steps-of-the-examen.