School Profile

Official Name : Our Lady of Sion College
Address : 1065 Whitehorse Road
Suburb : BOX HILL, VIC  3128
Country : AUSTRALIA
Telephone : +61 3 98909097
Fax : +61 3 9856 0350
Email : principal@sion.catholic.edu.au
Head of the College : Ms Karen Jebb (Principal)
Email : kjebb@sion.catholic.edu.au

Attendees to the International Sion Schools Meeting in Jerusalem May 2012:
Karen Jebb (Principal)
Julie Johannes (College Daily Coordinator)

We are a secondary Catholic College for girls only,  for Years 7 to 12 (12 years old to 18 years old).  Most of our students begin their schooling at Year 7 and will continue through to Year 12, a total of 6 years of secondary schooling.  We have 760 students, 60 teaching staff and 25 support staff. 

We offer students a comprehensive education that enables them to pursue any career.  Most of our students will continue their studies at University level. 

Educational focus of the College

The educational priorities of our College are to educate the whole person, spiritually, intellectually, socially, physically, and emotionally.  Religious Education is a core component of our educational program at all year levels. 

We aim to ensure that our pedagogical processes are aimed towards best learning methods for all girls.  We continually develop teachers to ensure they are meeting the learning needs of our students in an all girls environment.  We have two special integrated programs at Year 9 and Year 10 called Ayin and L’Chaim.  Both programs reflect the Sion Charism by the use of the Hebrew letter for the name of one of the programs (AYIN, meaning insight) and the other the use of a Jewish name, L’Chaim (Jewish for To Life)  These integrated programs teach our students values that make them a Daughter of Sion. 

Another focus in the last few years has been the use of information and communications technology to improve  the teaching of our students. All staff have a notebook computer and an iPad that connects to a wireless network environment in the College and can gain access to all resources they need.  Each of our classrooms have several computers in them to enable students to have access in the regular teaching and learning program at the College.  We have a College intranet that is the main source of all information in the school.  We have on-line reporting to parents so they can regularly check the progress of their daughter using their own log-in name and password to the College intranet.

Whole school Social Justice programs that cultivate the Sionian Charism

We have an annual Sion Day that is a very special day to us.  Unfortunately our summer holidays occur in January, therefore we are unable to celebrate Sion Day on 20th January.  We therefore celebrate Sion Day on 15th August each year.  The focus of this day it to celebrate as a Sionian community and raise money for the work of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion.  We begin our Sion Day with a whole school Eucharist, which is very moving, reflective and inclusive.  The day then moves into a carnival with lots of fun activities that get all students involved.  Some of the activities raise further funds but most important raise awareness and educate students about the needs of people in our world.  The afternoon concludes with our House performing arts competition that involves every student in the school.

We also have a number of Social Justice learning opportunities and activities each year.  At Christmas time, all students bring food and toys to make up Christmas hampers for the local St. Vincent de Paul society to distribute to people in need within our community.  We have an annual lenten appeal for Caritas, a Catholic organisation that raises funds for a variety of social justice projects in Australia and oversees.  We have been involved in Stand-up Day, a day of educating students about world poverty and taking an action against it in line with the Millennium Development Goals.  We have a strong Reconciliation program in the school where our students spend time in Central Australia with our Indigenous People to learn about how we can better approach reconciliation with them.  This is an example of some of our approaches to educating students for a socially just world.  Our Social Justice policy ensures that all activities have a strong learning element to them, including reflection and prayer, rather than just the act of giving money.

Religious background of students

Catholic - the majority of our students, about 85%
Orthodox - About 4%
Other Christian (Protestant, Anglican, etc) - Small number of students
Jewish - nil
Muslim – Very small number of students
Other religion - A few Hindu and Sikh
Non-religious – small number  of students

Religious Education

Religious Education is a compulsory study at the College.  Our learning program ensures that students learn about their Catholic faith, however, our students learn about other faiths, have opportunity for interfaith dialogue and we welcome students of other faiths.  As an Our Lady of Sion school, we ensure that Scripture is taught well.  At Years 11 & 12 our students study a subject called, “Texts & Traditions” which is the study of Scripture. 

International Exchanges with Notre Dame de Sion schools

We currently have student exchange programs with Notre Dame de Sion , Evry, France and Notre Dame de Sion College, Kansas City, USA.

Cultivating the Sion Charism in the College

In Australia with have very strong links with the Australian province of Our Lady of Sion because we are the only school in Australia that is still owned by the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion.  We are very committed to ensuring the Sionian Charism remains alive within the school and we remain true to the values and ideals of Our Lady of Sion.  We have nuch Sionian symbolism around the College.  We have an 83 year history Box Hill and have a strong Alumini.  We have established a Sion Heritage Room that displays much of the history of the College and the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion who were in charge of the College for many of these years. 

Our international links are limited at this stage because Australia is far away and access is more difficult.  But we are very committed to establish more links if we can.

Our hopes for Second International Schools Meeting in Jerusalem in May 2012

We are excited by the second international gathering and looking forward to establishing more links with the international Our Lady of Sion family.  We would like to continue learn more about Our Lady of Sion, the schools, vision and how the Sion Charism is continually expressed. 

We would also be interested in learning more about the history of Our Lady of Sion and some of the key places that the founders established.  We would like to learn how the Charism is expressed and lived out in other Sion communities and schools throughout the world.  We would like to learn about how we can contribute more to the needs of others around the world.