THE WAY (Term 4 Week 4 - 30 October 2023)
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Sporting Success for St Joseph’s Regional College, Port Macquarie
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FOR ACTION
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ONCE Post-Implementation Survey
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Student Wellbeing Hub - Free Professional Learning
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CSNSW Strategies for Addressing School Refusal – Online Webinar
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FOR INFORMATION
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Announcements
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Mandatory Accreditation at Proficient - Teachers from Interstate and Overseas
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Graduate Formation Program 2024
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Using the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers to Give Effective Feedback
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Koori Curriculum Webinars - November 2023
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Emerging Minds
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HSC Showcase 2022
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K-6 DoE Sample Units of Work 2024
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Now Open: Have your Say – English, History and Mathematics 11-12 Draft Syllabuses
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New Dance and Drama 7-10 Syllabuses
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Positions Vacant
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MyLearning
St Joseph’s Regional College, Port Macquarie, football team achieves astonishing success in this year’s Bill Turner Cup competition. (15 August 2023)
Congratulations to an exceptional group of football players from St Joseph’s Regional College, Port Macquarie, who achieved fantastic success in the 2023 Bill Turner Cup competition.
The Bill Turner Cup is a school-based under-15s competition with over 850 schools from New South Wales, Queensland, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria competing in a knockout format starting in Term 1 each year.
This year, four teams from the Diocese of Lismore qualified for the Northern NSW finals series, with Trinity Catholic College, Lismore and MacKillop College, Port Macquarie, in the Girls competition and St Joseph’s Regional College, Port Macquarie, and St John’s College, Lismore in the Boys competition.
MacKillop College made it through to the Girls Finals but lost to Merewether High School, Broadmeadow. At the same time, St Joseph’s Regional College defeated St John’s College, Lismore, to qualify for the Boys National Finals Series against three other schools at Speers Point, Lake Macquarie. St Joseph’s Regional College was the only non-sports specialist college to compete in the National Finals.
The St Joseph’s Regional College team fought valiantly but were sadly defeated by Endeavour Sports High School, Caringbah, 6-2 in the semi-finals. Endeavour was the eventual winner of the competition. St Joseph’s Regional College went on to compete against Maribyrnong Secondary College, Maribyrnong, for third place but was defeated 4 - 0, finishing the competition fourth.
‘This is an amazing achievement. We are so proud of all the boys for making it this far in the competition. They have played with tenacity, determination and integrity. I am proud to be associated with such a quality bunch of students both on and off the field,’ said coach Matt Cato.
Congratulations to the St Joseph’s Regional team and all of the Lismore Diocesan schools that proudly represented their school community in this year's competition.
After being introduced in 2021, TechnologyOne and Compass are now live in all 45 schools. The ONCE project is a significant milestone for our Diocese, and the Leadership Team commends all involved for their commitment and dedication, especially the ONCE project team and those in our schools who supported them.
If you are a teacher or were involved in implementing this project in school finance and admin, we’d like to hear from you. This will help us with future initiatives. Please complete this 5-8 minute survey.
Note that this survey is focused on your views on the implementation of the ONCE project and not the functionality of the Compass and TechOne platforms.
Supporting Self-regulation Skills in the Classroom Webinar
Register for the upcoming webinar on how to support children and young people to self-regulate their emotions and establish positive wellbeing.
Thursday, 9 November, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm (AEDT).
Interoception and Self-Regulation Module
This new suite of interoception resources is designed to help students feel more connected to their bodies, and to interpret and express their emotions helpfully. It includes 39 video activities and instructional posters which are suitable for children and young people of all ages. Find out more here.
Children and young people are sometimes reluctant to attend school, and the reasons will be different for each child or young person. School refusal can happen at any age but is more likely to occur during times of transition (such as starting primary or secondary school) or major family events (such as separation or family bereavement).
Join CSNSW from 3:30 – 4:30 pm on Wednesday, 1 November 2023, as they discuss some early intervention strategies for school refusal and proactive strategies to support positive attendance.
Register using the link here.
Access the resource here.
A reminder that staff can access school avoidance strategies on the Intranet - Mission - Pastoral Care - School Avoidance.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE
Laurie Pratt has been appointed to the position of Youth Ministry Development Officer in the Mission Services portfolio commencing 6 November 2023.
Laurie has a long and commendable history within school evangelisation, having been actively involved in the student discipleship program since his time as a student in our schools. Three years as a Youth Ministry Officer (YMO), followed by an ongoing commitment as a foundational member of the Wildfire Worship team for a further three years, has Laurie well placed to continue his deep commitment to nurturing the spiritual growth of our youth.
Josh Glen-Holmes and Darren Jones have been appointed to the positions of Service Delivery Manager (North and South) working in the Finance & Corporate Services portfolio. Both Josh and Darren have 15 years of experience working in the Technology Services team of the Diocese, providing exceptional leadership to their teams.
Philip Ward and Daniel Wall have been appointed to the positions of Technical Field Officer (North and South) working in the Finance & Corporate Services portfolio. Both Phil and Daniel have ten years of experience working in the Technology Services team of the Diocese, providing excellent customer service and leadership capabilities.
SCHOOLS
Hannah Gorman has been appointed to the position of Acting Assistant Principal - Mission at St Mary’s Primary School, Grafton, commencing 23 October 2023 for the remainder of term 4. Hannah has been a part of the Grafton primary school community for the past ten years, most recently as Acting Assistant Principal - Learning & Teaching and Leader of Quality Teaching Practice at St Mary’s Primary School, Grafton.
We congratulate Laurie, Josh, Darren, Philip, Daniel, and Hannah’s experience and commitment to the roles, and wish them the best with their new appointments.
Please refer to the attached memo regarding teachers from interstate and overseas gaining their Mandatory Accreditation at Proficient.
6609 Teacher Accreditation 2024 - First Update, Teachers from Overseas/Interstate.pdf
Please refer to the attached memo regarding the Graduate Formation Program in 2024.
All teachers and leaders need timely and effective feedback about their teaching practice and impact on student outcomes in relation to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. The Standards describe the precise teacher (including leader) practice and expected impact on students and colleagues at each stage of their career. Observations of teaching practice support teachers to reflect on their practice against selected Standard Descriptors as they seek to develop and demonstrate effective learning, teaching and leading over time. There are different ways that observations can occur. An observation is also a part of the evidence base for the achievement of an annual Cycle of Improvement (COI). More information can be found here (constitutes 1 hour of NESA Elective PL).
Koori Curriculum is holding a number of live Webinars throughout the month of November. A range of topics are on offer. Click on the following links to purchase a ticket to attend the webinar.
2 November 6:30 pm AEDST Aboriginal Storytelling in Early Childhood
7 November 6:30 pm AEDST Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives
9 November 6:30 pm AEDST Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives with Infants
14 November 6:30 pm AEDST Understanding EYLF Principle Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives
16 November 6:30 pm AEDST Aboriginal Art in Early Childhood
21 November 6:30 pm AEDST Building Community Connections
28 November 6:30 pm AEDST Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives
30 November 6:30 pm AEDST Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives with Infants
Resources to support the Mental Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the wake of the Voice to Parliament Referendum
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have supported children’s social and emotional wellbeing for over 60,000 years.
Since the colonisation of this nation, we have seen health and wellbeing outcomes deteriorate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The status quo is not good enough for children and their families.
Emerging Minds, like many other organisations, is deeply disappointed and saddened by the outcome of the Voice to Parliament referendum.
We acknowledge the distressing nature of the referendum debate and its impact on the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and Communities.
As ever, our focus is on the mental health of infants, children and families. If you are feeling distressed or in need of support, the following helplines can help:
- 13YARN (13 92 76)
- Brother-to-brother (1800 435 799)
- Lifeline (13 11 14)
- Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800).
NACCHO and the Department of Health and Aged Care have also developed the Connection. Strength. Resilience. Portal, which has lots of good resources to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the referendum.
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 …
Mount St Patrick College, Murwillumbah (Visual Arts)
Student: Harrison Capner
Title: Birds of a Feather
Statement: My work represents how I would see Australian bird species if they were human. Each image represents a specific stereotype, whether it’s a tradie, a stand-up comedian, a person who works out, a fashionista or a partygoer. I combined my interest and skills in drawing, photography and multimedia to produce this Body of Work.
The K-2 Units of Work uploaded onto the CSO Intranet were formatted for 2023 to meet the requirements of the 2023 Guidelines for Developing a Quality Educational Program as we supported teachers in the early implementation of the K-2 English and Mathematics Syllabus.
Based on feedback, the Department of Education (DoE) is now frequently updating the Sample Units of Work available to K-6 teachers to support them in designing high-quality teaching and learning experiences for students when implementing the English and Mathematics Syllabus. Therefore, in 2024, access to the units will be directly from the DoE webpage, rather than through the CSO Intranet to ensure you have the most recent version.
Schools engaging with the 3-6 Sample Units of Work in Term 4 2023 will continue to access these directly from the DoE, and K-2 teachers will use this approach from the start of Term 1 2024. This change in process will have implications for planning and programming. Further details regarding these changes will be shared with schools in Week 7, Term 4, in preparation for implementation in 2024.
Contact: Samantha Lynch (Primary Education Officer - Quality Curriculum Implementation)
Teachers and other stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the syllabuses through the NESA Consultations webpage. The surveys close on Tuesday, 19 December.
All feedback from the ‘Have your Say’ period will be used to inform the development of the final syllabuses. The final syllabuses will be released on the NSW Curriculum website.
Teachers and stakeholders can find up-to-date information on Curriculum Reform on the Curriculum Reform webpage.
New Dance and Drama syllabuses are now available for years 7-10.
The new syllabuses are planned to be implemented in NSW schools in 2026, and schools now have an opportunity to plan and prepare in the meantime.
Key features:
- Clear, concise language identifies key concepts, knowledge and skills for all learners.
- Developed using the latest evidence-based research.
- Students develop their personal and social capabilities by working collaboratively with others to achieve individual and collective goals.
- Revised content develops explicit understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Histories and Cultures.
- Life Skills outcomes and content provide access for students with intellectual disability.
- Dance 7-10 supports the physical, creative and intellectual development of students, providing the means for them to express and communicate ideas through dance.
- Drama 7-10 new outcomes and content support the development of engaged, informed and innovative dramatic performance.
The syllabuses are now available on the NSW Curriculum website.
Schools have access to support materials, including teaching advice on the NSW Curriculum, to assist them with the implementation of the new syllabuses on this webpage. More resources will be made available to teachers over time, including online, accredited professional development on NESA’s online learning hub.
For more information on Curriculum Reform, please visit the NESA curriculum reform webpage.
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
- Assistant to the Executive Officer
- Human Resources Business Partner (Corporate)
- Systems Administrator
- Systems Engineer
- Officer Applications
- Education Officer (Primary) - Tweed
- Education Officer (Primary) - Clarence
- Pastoral Care Officer (Tweed)
SCHOOLS
- Principal - St Mary’s Primary School, Bowraville
- EOI: Acting Principal - Mount St John Primary School, Dorrigo
7-12 KLA Collaborative Network - Dance & Drama - F23LS-712KCN
In this course, participants will engage with facilitators and peers to develop a deeper understanding of content and strategies to improve learning and teaching practice. The course is designed to support Leaders to keep abreast of syllabus developments and contemporary pedagogical and assessment practices.
7-12 KLA Collaborative Network - Music - F23LS-712KCN
In this course, participants will engage with facilitators and peers to develop a deeper understanding of content and strategies to improve learning and teaching practice. The course is designed to support Leaders to keep abreast of syllabus developments and contemporary pedagogical and assessment practices.
- 15 November 2023 - Catholic Schools Office - Clarence, Coffs Harbour
Literacy Coaches Collaborative Network - F23LS-712LCC
In this course, participants will engage with facilitators and peers to develop a deeper understanding of strategies to improve learning and teaching practice in regard to literacy outcomes. The course is designed to support Literacy Coaches to keep abreast of contemporary pedagogical and assessment practices.
- 21 November 2023 - St Joseph’s Regional College, Port Macquarie