THE WAY (Term 3 Week 10 - 18 September 2023)
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St John’s College, Lismore, Leads the Way in Mental Health
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FOR ACTION
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School Insurance Enquiries
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Student Accident Insurance claims
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Caritas Australia
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FOR INFORMATION
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Announcements
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Shared Future Program Update
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Google Summits 2023 - Term 3 Holidays
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2023 School Leavers - Local Jobs, Free Training and Career Advice Opportunities Post School
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HSC Showcase 2022
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English Professional Learning Webinars - Presented by Jennifer Buckingham
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Podcast to support new 7-10 English Syllabus
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Creating and Coding Animated Narratives in the English and Digital Technology Curricula
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Nominations for the 2023 Dr David Dufty Award
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Positions Vacant
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MyLearning
In the lead-up to RUOK Day and Mental Health Awareness Month, St John College, Lismore, are prioritising Mental Health training for staff, students, and parents. (14 September 2023)
In the wake of the COVID pandemic and the 2022 Floods, St John’s College, Lismore, has prioritised a whole school approach to the mental health and wellbeing of its community. Building on the already amazing well-being work that was already in at the College, Leader of Pastoral Care Fiona Fennamore was trained as a certified instructor of the Youth Mental Health First Aid Course.
The Youth Mental Health First Aid course equips College staff with the skills to recognise and respond to a student who may be experiencing declining mental health, as well as how to assess and assist with a mental health crisis situation. So far, 33 St John’s staff have completed a two-day training course and have become accredited Youth Mental Health First Aiders, ensuring that the College is a safer and mentally healthier environment.
‘The course really helped me to understand not only what to do if I am concerned about a student’s mental health, but also how the school can be a protective factor for a student’s overall wellbeing,’ said Mental Health First Aider Tayla Tickle.
Responding to research that indicates that when experiencing mental health problems, adolescents will often turn to their peers for help, the College recognised that the students also needed additional knowledge and skills in how to recognise when they, or their peers, were struggling, and how to get them to the help that they need. This led to the school having three passionate teachers, Jane Farrugia, Peter O’Toole, and Nicole Hetherington, train to become an instructor in the Teen Mental Health First Aid course. This year, every Year 8 and Year 10 student will complete the Teen course.
In Term 4, with the assistance of the Parent Partnerships Team, St John’s will be offering a Youth Mental Health First Aid course for their College parents.
‘We really wanted to empower our parents to know what to look out for with mental health and have the confidence to be able to have a helpful conversation with their child,’ said Acting Principal Annette Reen.
Congratulations to the St John’s College staff on their whole school approach to student wellbeing.
The Manager, Risk has set up a new insurance email account for your school's insurance enquiries. If you have any questions regarding insurance, you can direct them to the Governance team at the following address: dio-insurance@lism.catholic.edu.au
If your enquiry is urgent, you can contact Deborah McLean, Manager, Risk on 6627 6225 or mobile at 0429 203 561.
Student Accident Claims Procedures have now been confirmed by the new Insurer, Chubb. The previous practice of providing parents with a claim form will continue. Parents requesting to submit a student accident claim are to be provided with the following documents:
If you have any questions, please contact Nigel McIntyre, Manager, Workplace Health & Safety on 6627 6211 or mobile 0447 112 223.
Caritas Australia has launched two emergency appeals this week in response to the devastating earthquake in Morocco and the floods in Libya. The Morocco Emergency Appeal is already live, and the Libya Emergency Appeal is being set up.
Attached is the bulletin notice and PowerPoint slides. A prayer is also available here.
Blessings to you all, and thanks for your support. Follow the link here to donate.
SCHOOLS
On behalf of Father Peter Wood, Administrator, Sacred Heart Parish Murwillumbah and the Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools Limited, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Gavin Dykes to the position of Principal of Mount St Patrick College, Murwillumbah, commencing 27 January 2024.
Mr Dykes is an experienced educationalist with 28 years of leadership experience. He is currently the Principal of Xavier High School, Albury.
Mr Dykes’ is widely recognised as an outstanding faith leader with a clear pastoral focus who sees his ministry in education as one of service. Through leading Learning and Teaching, Mr Dykes has fostered the development of high-performing school cultures which focus on improved outcomes for all students while involving and reimagining the entire school community.
We congratulate Gavin and look forward to him taking up his appointment in 2024.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE
Ryan Rosenbaum has been appointed to the position of Facilities Coordinator - Schools (Hastings) in the Finance & Corporate Services Portfolio commencing 3 October 2023. Ryan joins us from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, where he held the role of Senior Manager, Property Operations.
We welcome and congratulate Ryan and wish him the very best in his appointment.
The Shared Future Program is out with its most recent update. You can find what's been happening this term on this link.
For more information about the Shared Future Program, please visit our intranet page.
CEnet (Catholic Education Network) is excited to share the news that two Google Summits, organised by schools within CEnet Member Dioceses, are set to take place during the September/October school holidays.
These events are made possible through the generous sponsorship of Google and expertly crafted by Deploy Learning exclusively for CEnet. They offer a valuable opportunity to explore the latest advancements in educational technology for teaching and learning.
Best of all, attendance to the events is free for educators and non-teaching staff in all CEnet Member Dioceses. Please see here for more information.
If you are interested in attending the summit in Wagga Wagga on Friday, 6 October, on behalf of the Catholic Schools Office, Lismore, limited spaces are available to be sponsored to attend. Please complete this expression of interest before Monday, 25 September.
The NSW Department of Education through Regional Industry Education Partnerships (RIEP), Education Pathways Program (EPP) and Training Services NSW - Skills Broker program have come together to support 2023 school leavers as they transition from school through the Ignite Your Future Survey.
How it works: Students complete the survey now, allowing us to gather information about their post-school preferences around work, education (VET) and career advice. Then, using the email address provided, we will reconnect with students post-school to link them to fee-free training options, local jobs and career advice based on their preferences.
- Students looking for work will be linked to Jobs Northern Rivers with a targeted 2023 School Leavers Campaign created from student preferences.
- Students looking for fee-free training will be linked to local skill sets created from the results of the survey.
- Students who are unsure of their next step will be linked to career resources such as Careers NSW.
It is an opportunity for us to maintain contact with students once they have finished school and are looking for support with their next step without disrupting students in the lead-up to or during exams.
As the focus for Year 12 students in Term 4 is their exams, we are hoping you can forward this email to Year 12 students and parents before the end of this Term. Please also see the attachment which can be used in Newsletters and Socials. If schools could arrange for this to be placed in your school newsletters, that would be appreciated.
Students can complete the free 2-minute survey now via the link here or the QR Code.
The Lismore Diocese HSC Showcase celebrates and captures the talents of our 2022 HSC students, reflecting their creativity, innovation, technical skills and conceptual development. These projects represent the culmination of months of diligence and commitment by students, planning and designing, developing their skills and applying them to the task of creating inspirational and engaging works.
Spotlight On …
St John’s College, Lismore (Visual Arts)
Student: Mekenzie Healey
Title: The Retrospective Shift
Statement: 'The Retrospective Shift' is a series of urban landscapes that have been simplified into elements of shape and colour to reflect a world beyond this life. Each work is created through several layers of screenprinting and depicts a lone figure navigating this muted world as if continuing their previous lives.
Coming in Term 4 - Diocese of Lismore school leaders, teachers, and school staff will be able to access three professional learning webinars on Reading Fluency, Oral Language and Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension presented by Dr Jennifer Buckingham.
Please refer to the Information Sheet below for full details.
In Episode 2 of Conversations Across the Diocese, Clare Hayes and Jo Stuart share ideas to support the implementation of the new 7-10 English syllabus.
All current Podcasts can be located on the CSO Intranet under New Curriculum.
ACU Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, in conjunction with University College London, Federation University, Macquarie University and participating schools, present this free two-day Symposium for teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and English and Digital Technology curriculum personnel.
The Symposium draws on cutting-edge research and teaching expertise from the ARC-funded Coding Animated Narratives (CAN) project using ‘Scratch’ to create short animated micro-narratives. Presentations by teachers and researchers will include background information and practical examples of classroom work with upper primary and junior secondary students on coding and multimodal authoring.
When: 18 October 10:00-5:00, 19 October 9:30-4:30
Where: Peter Cosgrove Centre, Level 18, Tenison Woods House, 8 – 20 Napier Street, North Sydney.
Register for in-person or online attendance by 15 September here.
There is no registration fee, but places are limited.
The nominations for the 2023 Dr David Dufty Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Society and Culture have been extended to 13 October.
Teachers of Society and Culture in NSW are invited to apply for or peer-nominate a colleague for the Dr David Dufty Award. This award is conferred annually and presented yearly at the Society and Culture Awards evening. The successful recipient will receive the Society and Culture medal.
This award is by either self-nomination or peer nomination. If a peer is nominated, the SCA will contact the nominee to gather evidence. Nominee Information is to be submitted to info@sca.nsw.edu.au prior to Friday, 13 October 2023.
See the full nominee criteria and form here.
The recipient of this year’s Dr David Dufty Award will be announced on Thursday, 14 December 2023.
Information on employment opportunities within the Diocese of Lismore is available via Positions Vacant.
Existing staff should apply through the Internal Positions Vacant page on the intranet; select People & Safety > Recruitment > Positions vacant – internal site.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE
- Data Literacy Officer
- Youth Ministry Development Officer.
SCHOOLS
- Assistant Principal: Learning and Teaching - St Josephs' College, Banora Point
- Assistant Principal, St John’s Primary School, Mullumbimby (internal).
Secondary Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching Network
Secondary Assistant Principals Learning and Teaching meet regularly to collaborate around curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. Participants can register on My Learning using this link.
Date: Tuesday, 31 October - St Mary’s Catholic College, Casino.
Term 4 Learning and Teaching Collaboration Day
Leaders of Pedagogy and Assistant Principals (Learning and Teaching) are invited to attend the Term 4 Learning and Teaching Collaboration Day. Register here.
North - Monday, 30 October, at Invercauld House, Goonellabah.
South - Wednesday, 1 November at Pacific Bay Resort, Coffs Harbour.