Lessons in respect
MORIAH College is working with the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) to bring its year 7 student body together with pupils from a Western Suburbs-based Christian school following an anti-Semitic incident earlier this month.
MORIAH College is working with the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) to bring its year 7 student body together with pupils from a Western Suburbs-based Christian school following an anti-Semitic incident earlier this month.
The AJN understands that Moriah year 7 students were on a school excursion at Shark Island when the incident, which consisted of anti-Semitic abuse, occurred.
Moriah contacted the JBD, which is helping to facilitate bringing students from both schools together. The other school already has a relationship with the JBD, being one of the schools it includes in its “Respect, Understanding and Acceptance” program.
“The JBD is working closely with Moriah and the other school to arrange for the relevant cohorts of students to meet in a meaningful program,” JBD chief executive Vic Alhadeff said.
“Bringing students together in this way is a productive response to negative incidents and creates an opportunity for students to meet, explore commonalities and hopefully establish positive relationships.”
Moriah acting principal John Hamey said the college was grateful to the JBD for its efforts.
“They always respond promptly and sensitively with a view to ensuring our young people are well informed and cared for,” he said.
“They focus on promoting a constructive dialogue between young people to break down some of the barriers that exist.
“This dialogue often brings with it a positive outcome for all parties and greater intercultural awareness and acceptance.”
Moriah often hosts students from other schools in intercultural and interfaith activities.
The school garnered positive feedback from Catholic school students it hosted last week as part of its “Society and Culture” program.
“I had never met a Jewish person so I did not know what to expect,” wrote one student, “I in fact got along much better with the Jewish students than students of my same faith. It was a great experience.”
“I have learnt more about the commonalities that teenagers have across Sydney,” wrote another.
According to Hamey, a student welfare survey conducted at Moriah in 2011 revealed that 45 per cent of students had never been bullied outside the college due to their heritage, 39 per cent said it occurred “a couple of times a year”, while 16 per cent said it occurred frequently.
GARETH NARUNSKY
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff.
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