A Start in Life
2021 developments at A Start in Life A Start in Life has been supporting young Australians in need for almost 100 years. With a focus on helping disadvantaged youth to access an education equal to their peers, we continue to help them reach their full potential and build a brighter future .
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ith our origins established by Freemasons and our values closely aligned, we too are focussed on personal development, helping those in need and acting with integrity. An exciting development in our work this year has been the introduction of a Student Engagement Program aimed at increasing the engagement, motivation and participation of the students we support. Each term this year, we have encouraged students to participate in a different ‘challenge’ and the response has been fabulous! Term One saw the introduction of our first challenge as a Read-a-thon, where students were encouraged to read either 10 books in 10 weeks or 1,500 pages in 10 weeks. Each student was asked to fill out a booklet detailing the books they read, with one student reading 2,857 pages and reflecting, ‘I love reading and this encouraged me to read even more’. Term Two then saw our Art Challenge take off with flying colours, quite literally! We asked students to submit artworks reflecting the theme of ‘My Future is Bright’ and received amazing creations – paintings, drawings, collages, sketches and more. After some tough decision making, we picked three fabulous winners. Our Term Three challenge, ‘Movement for My Health’, was based around physical activity for mental and physical wellbeing. Students were encouraged to engage in physical activity daily
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December 2021
Best Artwork for the theme ‘My Future is Bright’
– anything from bike riding and dancing to yoga and gardening. As a bonus challenge, they were also asked to write about how movement supports their health. We received some fabulous entries and feedback, with one family going for a bushwalk and picking up rubbish at the same time! All participants have been awarded vouchers to encourage further reading, creativity and movement respectively, and winners have been awarded bonus prizes to further support these pursuits. We’ve loved holding these challenges and are excited to see the Student
Engagement Program unfold further. It’s through the help of our generous supporters that we’re able to hold programs like this to further develop enthusiasm and participation amongst our students. We believe these aspects are pivotal to enhancing their overall motivation and engagement with their education, as well as with A Start in Life. Thank you to the Freemasons and all our supporters who help make this happen, and therefore help build a brighter future for the next generation. For more information, please head to www.astartinlife.org.au.
Humility – Kindness – Generosity Freemason
