The Story of our Crest and Motto

We have been working on the design of our St Aloysius school crest and options for our school motto since the middle of June. Sr Marie Hughes provided us with a booklet produced when St Aloysius Hamilton closed in 1984. It captures a lot of that school’s history including their opening year of 1915. (We are opening 100 years later).

 

After researching St Aloysius and his related symbols, Jesuit symbols, crests of other St Aloysius schools, crests of other recently opened schools, the environmental and Aboriginal history of the area, the Mercy sisters (and the copyright on their cross), Caroline Chisholm and the educational brief for our school, we summarised some possible options for our school crest.

 

The options included:

St Aloysius – but not necessarily his symbols of the lily and the crown. His family crest and his role as the patron saint of young people

The Jesuits – their main symbol of the sun as on Pope Francis’ shield

Previous St Aloysius school crest- which incorporated a star

The Mercy cross – or similar recognising the work of the Mercy sisters in establishing Catholic education in the region.

The concept of mission and service as portrayed by St Aloysius and Caroline Chisholm – maybe the motto, heart, radiating rays

Caroline Chisholm – the name of the new suburb - service, reaching out, social justice

Our Location – Hunter River, Morpeth, Spotted Gum (which was the predominant tree of the local forests)

Aboriginal heritage – the traditional owners of the land, the wedge tail eagle is seen as the protector of the local people

Colours – blue, green, teal – to represent the school design as ecologically sustainable

Our 21^st Century learning journey – river symbol?? Learning together, lifelong learning, collaboration – representing the modern pedagogical focus of the school

 

Colours - Our school uniform colours will be teal, navy & white. Navy and white were part of the original St Aloysius school uniform. These colours will form the basis of the crest used on uniforms but more colours will be incorporated in our formal crest used on signage, stationery, badges, advertising etc

 

However, we were also aware of the need to keep the crest as simple as possible so could not include all these concepts.

 

Sr Dorothy created some initial images for us. Her ideas included:

·         A curved cross, southern cross, gum leaves & blossoms, journey/path which could be a symbol of life-long learning/faith journey

·         The pathway as water, representing the Hunter River, the sun, and a different cross – not the Mercy cross (for copyright reasons) but a different cross representing a new beginning

·         Gum leaves used to create a cross, sun and water

·         A stylised sun representing the Jesuit symbol

·         Dotted lines to represent indigenous culture

 

 

We originally tried to work the quote from St Aloysius (It is better to be the child of God than king of the whole world) into a motto – maybe living and learning as children of God

However, since then the hymn “We are called” has inspired us with possibilities as a motto. It's broad enough to include all sorts of callings - e.g., we are called...to care for the earth; to be the best people we can be; to be compassionate to those who are suffering, etc.

This motto also encompasses St Aloysius’s calling.

 

Sr Dorothy became too busy to continue on our crest but has offered to paint our school cross and include images we are unable to include in our crest. We have since had a parent who is a graphic designer do further work on our crest. A number of options were taken to the last Project Implementation Committee meeting for discussion and suggestions from this meeting were incorporated into a final design brief.

 

This design incorporates a cross, river symbol, gum leaves and part of the Jesuit sun emblem. This design has been sent to the Bishop for approval before final stylising is completed. As soon as we have a design concept approved we will share it with our community.

Watch this space!!