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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
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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