THE WAY (Term 1 Week 2 - 6 February 2023)
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2022 HSC Showcase
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FOR ACTION
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FaCE Project
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FOR INFORMATION
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Announcements
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Resignation
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Spirituality in Daily Life
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NAPLAN 2023
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SunSmart in Schools
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AccessEAP Awareness Sessions
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Social Media - Posting of Swimming Carnival Images and Video
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Graduate Formation Program 2023 - Early Career Teachers
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Graduate Formation Program 2023 - Accreditation Supervisors (Mentors)
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NESA Teacher Accreditation: Professional Learning Requirements
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NESA WriteOn 2023 Competition
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NESA Teacher Accreditation Courses for all Stages of Career
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Harmony Week Resources and Competitions
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Positions Vacant
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DeCourcy HSC Analysis 2023 - Detailed Analysis of the Data Workshop
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Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU): Early Years Specialist Teacher 2023
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Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU): Middle Years Specialist Teacher 2023
The Diocese of Lismore 2022 Higher School Certificate (HSC) Showcase celebrates an impressive display of HSC Major Works from across the Diocese.
We are delighted to invite you to explore the Diocese of Lismore Higher School Certificate (HSC) Showcase. A wonderful celebration of the 2022 HSC Major Works created with passion by the students in Design and Technology, Drama, Music and Visual Arts.
The Diocese of Lismore HSC Showcase recognises and captures our HSC students' works and aims to inspire our younger students. Leaders of Learning liaise with the class teachers of these courses to select and submit works that would be appropriate for submission to the showcase.
The 2022 Showcase has expanded the courses included and showcases works from 2022 students in:
- Dance
- Design and Technology
- Industrial Technology
- Textiles Technology
- Visual Arts.
This will be expanded in 2024 to include other HSC subjects.
Each of the works presented on the Diocese of Lismore Catholic School Limited website represents the culmination of months of work by students, planning and designing, developing their skills and applying them to the task of creating inspirational artworks and engaging pieces. Such as the marvellous Design & Technology project titled 'Community Centre Gate' by St Joseph's Regional College, Port Macquarie, student Will McCourbie, who came First in his Course.
'The site generated significant traffic last year, and we have had great feedback that teachers are using it to inspire current Preliminary and HSC students concerning the development of their own major works,' said Jo Stuart, Education Officer - Secondary.
Innovation, creativity and technology are at the heart of the most successful projects. These are some key characteristics our students will need to demonstrate in their future professional lives.
Follow the link here to view the 2022 Showcase.
Expressions of interest to join the FaCE Project (Formed, Confident, Enabled teachers of Religious Education) have been extended to allow for some additional applications for the 2023-2024 Cohort 3 group. Please see the attached information and application form. Applications close Monday, 20 February.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE
Bronwyn Shipton has been appointed to the position of Pastoral Care Officer in the Mission Services portfolio commencing 6 February 2023. Bronwyn replaces Sr Margaret Bannon in this role and brings 25 years of experience in the field of education and executive management to the role, including the past 12 years with the Diocese.
Sharon Blake has been appointed to the position of Human Resource Officer (Clarence) in the People and Safety Portfolio commencing 27 March 2023. Sharon replaces Kylea Lane in this role and joins us from Employsure, where Sharon was in the role of Senior Consultant Lead.
SCHOOLS
Geoffrey Melville has accepted the appointment of Assistant Principal - Mission at St Paul’s College, Kempsey, replacing Bronwyn Shipton. Geoffrey previously held the substantive position of Assistant Principal - Learning & Teaching at St Paul’s College, Kempsey.
We congratulate Bronwyn, Sharon and Geoffrey on their appointments and welcome their commitment and expertise to the positions.
Chris Hannigan, Pastoral Care Officer, has submitted his resignation to accept a position as a First Year Adviser with Southern Cross University. Chris commenced with the Catholic Schools Office in January 2021. His last day will be 9 February 2023.
We wish to acknowledge and thank Chris for his contribution to Catholic Education in the Diocese.
Spirituality in Daily Life is a 30-week program of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola adapted for people who lead busy lives. This life-transforming retreat is for senior leaders in Catholic Education who desire to deepen their capacity to:
- Find God in all things
- Live a more prayerful approach to daily life
- Experience a more purposeful life
- Look at the world in an incarnational way
- Seek freedom and detachment
- Become a more loving person
- Authentically live out servant leadership
Commencing on 2 March, there will be an opening session with the spiritual directors at Invercauld House, Goonellabah. Please register your interest on MyLearning.
For the Information of Principals, NAPLAN Coordinators, NAPLAN Test Administrators and Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 Teachers.
Please ensure you are implementing the SunSmart requirements for our students and that you are modelling SunSmart behaviour for our students and yourself.
Throughout the month of February, AccessEAP will be running two live and online sessions each week. These sessions will be delivered by either Jennifer Mundy (Relationship Manager) or Emma Barrett (Relationship Development Manager).
EAP Awareness Sessions are to encourage staff to access the support services they need to replenish and thrive and help to break down the stigma around mental health and help-seeking.
These sessions will run for no longer than 30 minutes and are designed to remind staff about the many EAP services available such as financial counselling, nutritional advice, goal-setting sessions and even guidance on family law issues. They highlight a variety of topics (and support is available) for cancer, work/life balance, relationships, perinatal, dealing with grief and major life events. AccessEAP also has support lines available for the LGBTIQ+ and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities.
Please see the list below for session times. These links are just to join the meeting; there is no need to register.
- Tuesday, 7 February - 10.30 am Link
- Wednesday, 8 February - 3.30 pm Link
- Tuesday, 14 February - 10.30 am Link
- Wednesday, 15 February - 3.30 pm Link
- Tuesday, 21 February - 10.30 am Link
- Wednesday, 22 February - 3.30 pm Link
- Tuesday, 28 February - 10.30 am Link
Login details for these Zoom sessions are:
- Login name: training4@accesseap.com.au
- Password: AccessEAP23
As school swimming carnivals are currently taking place, we remind schools to be particularly cautious when posting images and videos from the swimming carnival to social media and websites. Celebrating school events and achievements on social media, school websites and in your newsletters is encouraged and images of student participation is the most effective way to do this, however, events that include students in swimwear require an additional level of curation before images and video are posted and made publicly available. This includes swimming carnivals, swimming sports lessons, camps and retreat activities.
Photos that cannot be posted include:
- Full length images and video of students in swimwear, this includes students standing, sitting and diving into the pool
- Students in swimwear on the blocks
- Students without shirts (ie. students with swimmer pants and no shirt)
If you have already posted images and videos of your recent swimming carnival, please review and remove any images or video including students in swimwear as detailed above.
Photos that can be posted include:
- Students in the pool with head and shoulders out of the water
- Students swimming where the body is slightly or completely obscured or distorted by the water and the students face is not visible (ie. the student can not be identified)
- Students wearing rash shirts or t-shirts over swimwear or with towels wrapped around them (ie. where most of the students body is covered)
- Students in fancy dress or costumes over swimwear
It is recommended that schools review swimming based historical social media posts and their social media photo library to review and remove any images or video that may not be appropriate.
Should you have any questions, concerns or require further information, please contact Leesa Kwok, Manager, Media and Communications at leesa.kwok@lism.catholic.edu.au or media@lism.catholic.edu.au or on 0429 575 722.
(These guidelines have been developed by the Australian Federal Police media department)
Early Career Teachers working towards Mandatory Accreditation at Proficient and who work substantially in our schools are supported through the Graduate Formation Program. For more information, refer to the Early Career Teacher Support Document.
Once you have confirmed with the Principal that your school will be supporting your journey to Proficient teacher practice in eTAMS, your Principal will be able to allocate you an Accreditation Supervisor (Mentor).
Early Career Teachers will participate in a quality induction program at school over the first two years of service, where the focus in the first year is on developing Proficient Teacher practice. In the second or subsequent years of teaching, the now Proficient Teacher will be able to draw from their day-to-day work evidence to finalise Accreditation as a Proficient Teacher. To supplement the school-based induction program, the Catholic Schools Office offers two system days per year.
The following are compulsory system days for 2023:
Year A (1st year in Program and Year B (2nd year in Program).
- North - Year A & B: Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th March (Invercauld House, Goonellabah).
- South - Year A & B: Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th March (Opal Cove, Coffs Harbour(.
Please register here: Graduate Formation Program 2023.
All CSO Policies, Procedures and Support Documents regarding Mandatory Accreditation at Proficient can be found here.
Accreditation Supervisors (Mentors) are reminded that the requirements for Mandatory Accreditation at Proficient have not changed. Supervisors are required to maintain records of the adequate support and supervision provided to the Early Career teacher in the teacher’s Accreditation folder. Please see the school contact for the Graduate Formation program for more information.
The following Professional Learning for Mentors will be offered in 2023:
- Mentor Training (compulsory) - one day in Term 1, facilitated by the Catholic Schools Office. Please register here.
- Growth Coaching: A Coaching Approach to Mentoring (invitation only; for non-MET trained Mentors. Invitations will be issued shortly).
- NESA’s Accreditation Supervisor’s online course (strongly recommended. Keep an eye on NESA’s Courses page here).
The Early Career Teacher Orientation Induction and System Support document provides more information about the Graduate Formation Program for those supporting the induction program of the Early Career teacher in the school.
Teachers maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation (or above) are reminded to record NESA Elective PD in eTAMS as it is completed. NESA Elective PD must be:
- New learning that strengthens practice against a nominated Standard descriptor
- An approved activity
- Meet guidelines.
The reflection should state what was learnt and how the learning has been implemented as improved teacher practice and/or improved student outcomes. Use the language of the selected descriptor to assist in writing the statement.
Mandatory Training such as First Aid, CPR, and the courses provided by SALT meets NESA Elective PD requirements. A cheat sheet is provided to assist.
Professional Activities that do not meet NESA Elective PD requirements include procedural staff meetings, collaborative planning and programming (including for students with disabilities), school improvement planning, assessment and reporting, extra-curricular activities or parent meetings. These tasks are the expected work of a Proficient Teacher.
Facilitators of Professional Learning will continue to identify the type of activity being undertaken, for example, NESA Elective PD, NESA Accredited PD, AWTL or ‘other’ (time to complete tasks which are the expected work of a teacher). NESA Accredited PD will appear in your eTAMS account within thirty days of attending the course as a request to evaluate the course. Once evaluated, the course will transfer to your transcript.
WriteOn is an annual writing competition open to all NSW primary students in Years 1 to 6, including home-schooled students. Students compose an imaginative text of up to 500 words using an image as the stimulus.
This competition provides students with the opportunity to become published authors and showcase their incredible creativity. It can be used as a whole class teaching activity or an individual project. To maximise the purpose of the competition, teachers are encouraged to refer to the NSW English Syllabus outcomes. Each year, winning entries are published in The Best of WriteOn anthology. The 2022 version is now available for purchase from the NESA Shop.
The WriteOn 2023 competition will open with a new stimulus image on Monday, 27 March (Week 9, Term 1) and close at 4 pm on Friday, 16 June (Week 8, Term 2). Please refer to this link for further information.
NESA is running a series of online workshops covering key areas of teacher accreditation, including:
- Initial Teacher Accreditation – introducing the accreditation journey for pre-service teachers,
- Working towards Proficient Teacher accreditation (including those working in part-time or casual roles),
- Maintaining Proficient Teacher accreditation and
- Applying for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher accreditation (for candidates and their Principal).
For more information, please refer to the NESA website here.
Early Career Teachers and HALT Candidates are both advised to complete the mandatory orientation course in your eTAMS account. These courses are more in-depth than the introductory courses promoted on the NESA website.
All NESA Teacher Accreditation courses may be logged as NESA Elective PD in eTAMS.
Harmony Week runs between Monday, 20 March – Sunday, 26 March, and Harmony Day is Tuesday, 21 March 2023. The day provides us with an opportunity to celebrate Australian multiculturalism and the successful integration of migrants into our community.
Australia is a vibrant and multicultural country — from the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live.
An integrated multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural and religious traditions, as well as take on many new traditions. Collectively, these traditions have enriched our nation.
Support Harmony Week in your school with resources found here.
Students are also invited to participate in the Harmony Day Poster Competition and the Harmony Day Songwriting Competition.
Competitions close on Friday, 14 April 2023.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE
- Lead, School Improvement and Performance (replacing Troy Baker).
- Regional Mentor Coordinator (replacing Jocelyn Reese).
SCHOOLS
- Assistant Principal: Learning & Teaching - St Paul’s College, Kempsey (replacing Geoffrey Melville).
CSNSW has engaged Dr John DeCourcy to conduct an analysis of the 2022 HSC. Dr DeCourcy’s reports will be available on the Catholic Schools NSW website in early 2023.
As in previous years, we have engaged Dr DeCourcy to conduct seminars for registered users of the analysis. The Diocese of Lismore will run these seminars in two locations in the diocese.
Assistant Principals Learning & Teaching, Leaders of Pedagogy, Leaders of Curriculum, new Leaders of Learning or anyone requiring a refresher course should enrol. We recommend two or more people from the same school to enrol for the workshop.
1 March 2023 - Lismore (Registrations close 16 February).
2 March 2023 - Coffs Harbour (Registrations close 23 February).
Please register here - F23LS-DHDA.
The EMU: Early Years NORTH & SOUTH courses for 2023 are now open on MyLearning. Teachers will engage in six days of professional learning to deepen their understanding about the learning and teaching of number for improved student mathematical understanding. This course is for teachers who have been nominated by their school leaders. Please register here - 22CSO-EMUEEY.
The EMU: Middle Years course for 2023 is now open on MyLearning. Teachers will engage in six days of professional learning to deepen their understanding about the learning and teaching of number for improved student mathematical understanding. This course is for teachers who have been nominated by their school leaders. Please register here - 22 CSO-ENEMY.