SRE Newsletter (Issue 2, 2013)

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SRE Newsletter www.buddhistconnection.orgIssue 2, 2013

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Special Religious Education (SRE) Newsletter

Message from the SRE Support Manager Ettianne Anshin

This year has been very busy for the Buddhist Council of NSW (BCNSW) and the SRE team.

The new training unit is up and running. All the workshops have been booked out and wehave many people on the waiting list. There are several training units available that many

existing teachers may not have done including Buddhism in Australia, Values and Life

Skills etc. These may be of interest to some of you. There is also a planned training/ in-

service for teachers in the North of NSW in Lismore on 9 November, 2013.

We were privileged to have an article on the shortage of SRE teachers in NSW in theSydney newspapers. This has prompted many enquiries to the BCNSW office.

BCNSW held its first fundraising dinner on 20 May. A number of teachers attended andwere happy to share their experiences. Thank you to the organizers, attendees, speakers,

and the generous donors. We raised more than $8000 on the night.

The BCNSW was fortunate to have a stall at His Holiness The Dalai Lamas teachings inSydney held over a weekend in June. Our Chairman, Brian White, also had the

opportunity to address the gathering from the main stage. The interest generated was

wonderful and overwhelming.

In April I attended an Applied Ethics Retreat in Thailand with Zen Master VenerableThich Nhat Hanh and his monastics from Plum Village in France. Over 1000 people

attended the retreat. The theme was Happy Teachers Will Change the World. Thay (as

he is known to his students) says that if we can introduce these practices to children we

can help to build a happier world. Every year at the summer retreat at Plum Village,

there is special focus on teachings for children, teenagers and youth. Please visit

http://plumvillage.org for more information.

Attention: IN-SERVICE Course for all SRE TeachersJohn Barclay (Dharma Teacher in the Plum Village Tradition and SRE Teacher) and I will

give a talk and instruction on Plum Village practices for children. It is also a wonderful

opportunity to meet and share with other SRE teachers about joys and issues you having

regards your teaching and get advice from each other.

We will start at 9.30- 10.00am on Saturday, 26th

October, 2013 and we will plan to finish

around midday. Morning tea will be provided.

I will send another email just dedicated to this. If you can attend please email us at

[email protected].


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Message from the SRE Assistant Melissa Tang

Working with Children Check New!

Hello everyone! My name is Melissa and I am the assistant of the SRE team. I started my role

with the BCNSW since April 2012. I am the culprit of all the email spam that you receive.

A little about myself - I am from Singapore and am currently studying at the University of

Sydney. I was born as a Buddhist by default but really got into the Dharma and Buddhism

ever since I came to Australia about five years ago.

I attended the Fundraising Dinner on May 20th and was very delighted to meet some SRE

teachers, whom I have been liaising with through emails but have never met. It was really heart

warming to hear what SRE teachers do in classes, and how students benefit from such a

program. Coming from Singapore where religious education (especially if you dont attend a

religious school) is uncommon and looking at the stage where SRE stands in NSW, I really

wished I attended schools here in Sydney! Since I never had an opportunity to get exposed to

religious studies back then, I am very happy to be part of this team and watch young children

get exposed to the Dharma. Education is very important, as well as spiritual enlightenment.

On this note I wish to radiate some metta to everyone reading this newsletter; the students in

the SRE classes; the other students and their parents; everyone in the schools; everyone in

NSW; everyone in Australia and finally everyone in the world. May you all be well and happy!

There is a new Working with Children Check (WWCC) required to replace the former

Voluntary declaration. All SRE teachers will be required to do this. The new check will last for

5 years and is transferable from job to job. You can apply online at:

http://www.kids.nsw.gov.au/Working-with-children/New-Working-With-Children-

Check/apply/-apply.

The classification is a religious worker and as a volunteer it is free. You will be issued an

application number that you will need to take to the RTA with some form of identification.Within a few days you should be issued with you WWCC number. You just need to provide

BCNSW with your unique WWCC number. It is very important that you send BSNSW an

email with your WWCC numbers, full legal name and date of birth.

Note: All monastics need to complete this by Dec 13. All existing lay teachers need to complete this

new check in 2014. However the sooner the better.


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An SRE Teachers Experience Shyamanta Barua (Sam)

It has been a few months since I started teaching in Clovelly and Daceyville Public Schools. I

am enjoying my classes with the children while teaching the Buddhas life and how to make ourlives more happy and peaceful. As a former monk I love to chant the sutras that is why I have

added thepalichants to pay respect to the Buddha as a motivation for my classes. Namo tassa

Bhagavato Arahato Samma Sambuddhassa homeage to the Buddha, the blessed one, the

perfected one, the fully enlightened one. After that we will meditate for 3-5 minutes and then I

will tell the children the Buddhas life stories through books and cartoon animation. We will

then dedicate merits for ourselves and to all living beings. This is my simple Buddhist scripture

class filled with loving kindness. I am truly happy and here I would like to convey my

gratefulness to Fiona for mentoring me. May all living beings be happy, well and peaceful.

Here is a collage of photos Sam took during the SRE classes (photos are taken and published

with permission from the school and parents)


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BCNSW Objectives for 2014

Available SRE Resources

As we come to the end of this busy year, our attention now turns to 2014. Some of our hopes

and aspirations for the SRE program include:

Recruiting new SRE teachers. So please spread the word amongst your family andfriends.

New teachers, and hence spread the precious Dharma to many more schools. To continue our visions of every student and school in NSW having an introduction to

Buddhist values and life skills, making the world a better place to live in.

For the BCNSW to have a full time SRE program office and staff, and to have agreater focus on achieving these objectives.

Did you know that we have more than 70 schools that are on the BCNSW waiting list to join

the SRE program? Please contact us if you would like to take up an extra school or have any

family or friends who are interested in becoming a teacher. The fast growing areas include

West, South West, and Inner West Sydney.

The Buddhist Council has a range of resources available to all SRE teachers, such as children

books, colouring books and short stories.

These titles are very popular with the teachers and students. If you wish to get copies of them

(and any other resources), please drop us an email.


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SRE Training Update Matt Lawther Training Unit Manager

A group photo of the SRE workshop held on August 17th, 2013

The BCNSWs training unit has been operating since Jan 2013. Over the last 10 months, theSRE volunteers and the training unit have created and developed a fully structured and

rewarding program to full accredit new teachers. By Dec 2013, this fully structured course will

have been offered for a total of 4 times. Each of these courses has been sold out on every

occasion.

The course is very enjoyable and covers many topics, including:

Appreciation of all Buddhist traditions Values and life skills Happiness (nature of classroom management)

To date we have received so much positive feedback from all participants. We will continue to

offer these courses in 2014. Although now we have more than 70 schools in Sydney on the

waiting list for a SRE teacher, the figure will continue to rise. The BCNSW welcomes anyone

who may be interested in spreading the precious Dharma to our young children and meet the

requirements for SRE teaching as per the BCNSW policy.


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Photos from the fundraising dinner held on May 20th

, 2013


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Sunday Telegraph Article, March 17th

, 2013


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Special Thanks

SRE Team

SRE Support Manager Ettianne Anshin

SRE Assistant Melissa Tang

General Manager Anita McKerihan

Training Unit Matthew Lawther Brian White Eileen Sellers

Newsletter contributions

Editors Melissa Tang

Photos Anastasia Freeman Melissa Tang

Contributors Matthew Lawther Shyamanta Barua

SRE Newsletter (Issue 2, 2013)

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