This term, Year 9 students have been studying slavery and the role of Catholicism in Religious Education. In classes so far, we have been learning about historical slavery. 

We were fortunate to have guest speaker Mareshah de Kretser from ZOE Foundation Australia come to the College to speak with Year 9 students about modern slavery. ZOE Foundation Australia works to support their global mission to prevent child trafficking, rescue children from slavery and restore and bring new life to child trafficking survivors and at-risk orphans.  

Year 9 classes attended presentation sessions on Monday 30 October where Mareshah spoke to us about current slavery around the world, and more specifically, in Australia. She taught us about particular types of products that are more likely to have been produced through slave labour, as well as ways we can help prevent slavery. It was inspiring to learn about the ways we can make small changes to our consumer behaviour to reduce the demand for particular products, in turn reducing the prevalence of slavery around the world. I was also personally heartened by the compassionate responses from many of our students. 

It has been wonderful to be able to examine these issues, ranging from a local to the international level. We will continue to learn about modern slavery in our RE lessons this term. With so many compassionate young people leading our way into the future, the world is in good hands. 

Sarah Douglas 

Acting Learning Area Leader of Religious Education (Years 7-10)