St Kevin’s Catholic Primary School Eastwood in Sydney made a splash on national television when it celebrated World Kindness Day by becoming the first school in Australia to launch the My Acts of Kindness (MAOK) Schools Program. Source: Sydney Catholic Schools.
The school’s participation in the program was featured on Channel Seven’s Sunrise program and a segment on Sydney’s 7 News bulletin.
Principal Maree Simpson, said the launch this week was the culmination of months of preparation, and a shared desire to nurture children to live out the Gospel message in their everyday lives.
“We hope our students come to know that simple acts of kindness can have an enormous impact,” Ms Simpson said.
“It’s about empowering children to lead with heart, act with courage and to show their families and communities what it looks like to live our faith in small, loving ways.”
On Monday, the school began its celebrations of the MAOK partnership with prayer, grounding the day in Scripture: “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)
This message shaped a series of activities across the school, from classroom reflections and outdoor kindness games to student interviews and creative tasks. Students also performed the newly created Kindness Anthem and shared “kindness characters”, developed by Year 6 students earlier this year.
“This is a way for our young people to proclaim the Good News, not just by talking about kindness, but by embodying it,” Maree said.
The MAOK Schools Program is one pillar of My Acts of Kindness, a growing initiative led by philanthropist Bruno Maurel, a St Charles Ryde parishioner and acolyte, whose decades of charity work include helping establish Tour de Cure, which has raised more than $150 million for cancer research.
Mr Maurel said the MAOK program began taking shape during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he saw how people longed for connection.
This led him to develop the My Acts of Kindness app, helping young people document simple acts of kindness in a personal journal.
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St Kevin’s Eastwood leads with heart for World Kindness Day (Sydney Catholic Schools)
