St Patrick's College Outreach

Outreach

At St Patrick's College 'we value a school where we grow in awareness and respond to the needs of others in a spirit of service' (College Values Statement). We challenge our students to put their faith into action through the quality of their relationships, in giving and compassion and throughout their lives.

Enacting the College Mission, in conjunction with Catholic social teaching, St Patrick’s College is proud of its tradition of fostering social justice action.  St Mary of the Cross, MacKillop, herself, said “Never see a need without doing something about it”. 

Outreach programs operate across each of the three schools - Middle School, Croagh Patrick and Senior School. Each school has a strong connection with one or more local charity organisations such as the St Vincent de Paul Society and Cancer Council Tasmania.

Each of the four Houses - MacKillop, Nagle, Rice and Tenison - raise awareness and advocate for a service organisation in our community, through donations and actions of solidarity.

Whole-school charity events aim to reach out to the most impoverished and vulnerable people in our world. Project Compassion enables us to support Caritas Australia and educate our young people about issues such as global social justice and global inequity.

Ascent

Ascent is a three year service and formation program based on our founding charisms for Year 10, 11 and 12 students. Carefully structured programs at each year level are age and stage appropriate. This enables students to grow and develop as compassionate people in our society, with the support of trained staff.

Year 10 students are introduced to service, servant leadership and following in the footsteps of founding Christian Brother Edmund Rice. Students experience this by mentoring primary school children in peer support programs. 

In Year 11, students build on these service and outreach skills and the work of St Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods, founders of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Students are given a range of opportunities to extend their mentoring experience, by working with children in Tasmania's most vulnerable communities.

Ascent culminates in Year 12 when students are further encouraged to step outside their comfort zone and walk alongside those on the margins of our society, just as Nano Nagle, founder of the Presentation Sisters, did. Students learn from the stories of adults by engaging with people experiencing disadvantage in our community.