Our Beliefs and Symbols

Vision
To liberate young people to become life-long learners and to live meaningful, selfless and spiritual lives.

Mission
We recognise each person as a unique creation of God and nurture students to live the Gospel values. Our College provides a holistic learning environment where each student feels safe, valued and learns respect for self, care for others and skills for life. The essential consideration of all we do at Irene McCormack College is the dignity of the individual.

Embedded in our Mission statement are three core values:

Respect for Self
A spiritual understanding of individual worth as taught by Jesus Christ. The challenge is for each person to:
• Explore, recognise and share their strengths and talents;
• Arrive at an appreciation of their own uniqueness; and
• Develop confidence and a resilience to embrace the challenges in life.

Care for Others
A sense of the Christian purpose to care for all people. This is developed through the:
• Pastoral Care program that supports each student’s personal and educational development;
• Christian Service Learning program which enables each student to experience the value of service to others; and
• Leadership opportunities to serve others by College representation, Parish participation, peer-support mentoring, tutoring, mediation and public relations.

Skills for Life
For students to be prepared for life beyond school and give witness to the College motto students need to acquire:
• a relationship with Jesus Christ and a sense of personal faith practice;
• essential the soft skills of creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, character and citizenship;
• the capacity to interact with others and take responsibility for their own actions;
• An appreciation of creation and value environmental sustainability;
• a sense of connection to family, friends, society and the global community; and
• the capacity to take advantage of digital technology.

Prayer, Service and Justice

Our Beliefs – Catholic Identity

• We believe that our Catholic identity is the lived expression of our Vision and Mission.
• We believe in an education that is Christ-centred and Student-focused.
• We believe in prayer, service, and justice.
• We believe in forming students as responsible, inner-directed individuals of Christian virtue, capable of free choice and adept at making value-judgements enlightened by a well- formed Christian conscience.
• We believe in giving witness to the Gospel values by our example, words and actions.
• We believe in the Catholic social teaching principles of subsidiarity, co-responsibility, common good, participation and equity.

Our Beliefs – Education

• We believe that education should be fun, interactive, and engaging.
• We believe in fostering a culture of inquiry, innovation and exploration.
• We believe in developing skills for life: entrepreneurship, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, character and citizenship.
• We believe that digital technology has the power to redefine and transform the learning experience.
• We believe teaching practices must embrace a wide instructional range where teachers are agile and responsive to the needs of each student.
• We believe learning design must adopt researched and data informed best practice that enables differentiated and inclusive learning experiences so that each student achieves their true potential.
• We believe in reaching for the stars through high standards and expectations.

Our Beliefs – Community

• We believe that quality relationships are formed by modelling Christ-like relationships between students and teachers, enabling all to grow in the image of God.
• We believe in honouring the dignity of every human person through inclusive practices that welcome and celebrate their uniqueness and diversity.
• We believe students should feel safe with a genuine sense of belonging so that they can become the people they aspire to be.
• We believe in building strong partnerships with parents and carers, as the first educators of their children.
• We believe in engaging and partnering with our Parish and other Church and community organisations.

Our Beliefs – Stewardship

• We believe in sustainable and environmentally sound practices that lead to making life choices which safeguard and protect our environment for future generations.
• We believe in creating dynamic, contemporary learning environments that capture the imagination of students, foster student voice through collaboration, and where the use of space is intentionally planned and choreographed.
• We believe in promoting a growth mindset amongst our staff through the provision of quality human resource practices and opportunities for faith formation, and professional learning and development.
• We believe in making a Catholic education affordable and accessible by supporting families in need.
• We believe in a holistic education where teaching and learning is embellished and supported by a wide range of extracurricular opportunities.