What is RI?

The Queensland Government makes provision for Religious Instruction (RI) classes during the school week under guidelines set by the Department of Education and Training.

RI is the delivery of faith-based instruction to children who are members of a faith group and whose parents allow them to participate in RI classes provided by approved representatives of their faith group. RI instructors and assistants must only use material approved by the faith group they represent.

Christian RI in Cairns

• ChristianRI is a cooperative arrangement faith group of several Christian churches in Cairns who have approved the use of GodSpace, Connect, Beginning with God and Big Questions curriculum for RI classes, and approve suitable members of their congregations to be RI instructors.
  Currently, 17 schools in the Cairns area (from Trinity Beach to Gordonvale) have Christian RI lessons at a time set by the Principal.
• RI Co-ordinators are approved representatives who volunteer to co-ordinate the team of RI instructors at one or more schools.
• RI Instructors and assistants are approved volunteers, who comply with Government legislation for delivering RI in schools – that is, they hold a current Blue Card for working with children, they have approval from their church minister (who is a representative of the co-operative arrangement), they attend School Based Induction, which includes student protection, legislation and Code of Conduct training and RI teacher training each year.
• Cairns Christian Religious Instruction Advisory Committee (CCRIAC) is comprised of RI co-ordinators, a chairman (who is also a minister of one of the cooperating churches) and a secretary.

Connect, Beginning with God & Big Questions curriculum

• introduce students to key themes of the Bible and the Christian faith
• allows students to explore the Christian faith and see how the Bible is relevant today.

More info: https://cepconnect.com.au/curriculum

GodSpace Curriculum

GodSpace = RI lessons that are Bible-based, relational, relevant and engaging for children.

GodSpace presents excellent life lessons from a Christian perspective.

GodSpace is an interdenominational three-year curriculum being used in Christian RI lessons around Australia.

More info: www.godspace.org.au

The Benefits of RI

Allowing children to have a safe environment to think about and ask questions about spiritual matters, RI lessons give them an opportunity –

• To learn what Christians believe, through music, songs, stories, drama and games
• To learn Christian values and ways of coping with difficult issues such as bullying, self-image and peer pressure
• To hear Bible stories and learn what the Bible says about Jesus Christ
• To explore Bible truths and get to know God for themselves
• To discover our nation’s Christian heritage and, for example, why we celebrate Christmas and Easter

How to volunteer for Christian RI in Cairns

There are vacancies for RI teachers, relief teachers and assistants/helpers.

To apply for a vacancy in any position, you will need to have a current and valid Blue Card plus a letter of approval to teach RI from a senior minister of the church you currently attend.

Contact the RI coordinator of the school where you’d like to volunteer. Attend annual RI training.

Donations

The committee, coordinators, instructors and assistants are all volunteer positions. Teacher manuals, student workbooks and resources used in classrooms all cost money. For example, GodSpace student activity books are $5 each and teacher manuals are $85 each so for a school with 380 children attending RI and 14 RI teachers, it costs over $3090 just for one school. Most of the resources are paid for through donations.

If you would like to donate towards the purchase of GodSpace, Connect and other resources, please make your online donation to:

Please mark your donation reference as “RI Resources” to ensure it goes to the RI account.

Thank you.