THE WAY (Term 1 Week 1 - 29 January 2024)
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Developing the Next Generation of Designers at Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Skennars Head
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FOR ACTION
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Updated Delegations of Authority - Finance
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Reminder - 2024 Diocesan Calendar
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Stem Mad 2024 EOI & Dates
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Graduate Formation Program 2024
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NESA Teacher Accreditation (Annual Fee)
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Changes to MySafety
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FOR INFORMATION
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Announcements
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Social Media - Posting of Swimming Carnival Images and Video
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New Resource to Support Teachers and Parents from RealTalk Australia
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Formation for Mission: Catholic Identity and Mission (AWTL Category B)
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Seesaw for Schools
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Extension Mathematics and Extension English Programs - 2024
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HSC Data Analysis Available
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Results Analysis Training 2024
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Attention ACER PAT Data Managers
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HSC Showcase 2023
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NESA Teacher Accreditation: Have Your Circumstances Changed?
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Support of Conditionally Accredited Teachers
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Engaged Classroom' Resources - Free Evidence-based Resources for Teachers
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Save the Date – 2024 Combined Disability and Behaviour Network Symposium
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NSW Training Awards: Applications for 2024 Are Now Open
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MyLearning
Making Art Wearable Showcase provides students with an exciting and valuable learning opportunity to explore the design process of both art and fashion. (1 November 2023)
A spectacular community celebration of creativity was held at the annual Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Skennars Head, Young Designer Award. The evening was filled with excitement as families poured into the school to see the amazing designs as students proudly displayed their completed designs on the specially designed catwalk.
Holy Family's 'Young Designer Award' is an annual extra-curricular event that has, for over a decade, given students from Kinder to Year 6 amazing opportunities to engage in different design processes in a fun and rewarding way. This year's Holy Family Young Designer Award challenge was titled - 'Making Art Wearable.’
‘For many students, our annual Young Designer's Award challenge is a highlight of their school year. The great achievements we have observed during our past Holy Family Young Designer Awards encourage our students to participate and tap into their own individual gifts of creativity, originality and inventiveness,’ said Assistant Principal Mission Adam Sullivan
The design challenge provided the 50 participating students with an exciting yet valuable learning opportunity to explore the design process of both art and fashion. Students were guided through the design process and were encouraged to research and seek the support of others who could assist them in planning and creating their designs.
Student designs are marked according to criteria such as the creative use of recycled materials, creative elements used to respond to the theme, practical ability of the model in wearing the design, and poster design.
‘I designed my costume based on a fantasy character, and the tissue paper I used was fun to create things with. My mask and feathers were the best part of my costume, said Kindergarten student George.
‘The experience was challenging and fun at the same time. I enjoyed designing my costume with my mum, and I learned that there are so many ways to be creative and make new things,’ said Year 5 student Devika.
Congratulations to the Holy Family Catholic Primary School for this innovative and unique opportunity to motivate, inspire, and encourage their students to invest in their learning.
Follow the link to view the showcase.
The Leadership Team recently approved minor changes to the interim Financial Delegations of Authority, which are in effect until a comprehensive Delegations of Authority Register covering all areas of the organisation is developed in 2024.
The updated interim Financial Delegations of Authority can be accessed on the intranet under the policy library here.
In order to streamline our Diocesan calendars to allow ease of use, the three calendars ‘dio Term Dates/Events,' ‘dio PD,’ and ‘Dio Meetings,’ have now been removed and merged into one new calendar called ‘DIO CALENDAR.’
You will need to manually add the new ‘DIO CALENDAR’ as per the below instructions:
- Click this CSO - Diocesan Calendar link.
- Click this button located at the bottom right-hand side. This will open your Google Calendar.
- The ‘Add Calendar’ prompt will appear. Click ‘Add.'
- ‘DIO CALENDAR’ will then be added to your Google Calendars list and appear under ‘Other Calendars.'
Planning for STEM MAD 2024 is underway, with Brisbane Catholic Education hosting the national showcase in November.
Visit the STEM MAD Intranet page to view all winning projects from the last three years and for more information about STEM MAD.
Should you or your school be interested in participating or finding out how to get started, please complete the expression of interest for STEM MAD 2024. Register even if you are unsure at this stage.
Details of the Graduate Formation Program 2024 are summarised in the attached memo.
Thank you for paying the annual NESA Teacher Accreditation fee promptly. The annual fee is due by 29 January 2024.
Please be aware that from day one, term one of 2024, student injuries will no longer be required to be entered into MySafety. All student injuries must be entered using the SickBay Template in Compass. An updated SickBay Template has been added to your Compass Portal. All Staff injuries will still need to be entered into MySafety.
Your Compass portal has been updated with risks and controls. My safety is no longer to be used for managing risks and controls for events. Please refer to the Risk and Controls Workflow for further information.
Please refer to the Compass Communications Edition 1 2024 for further information.
RESIGNATIONS
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE
Katie Nixon has resigned from her position as Admin/Software Support Assistant with Learning Services. Katie's last day was 18 January 2024.
Jo Kelly has resigned from her position as Parent Assembly Cluster Coordinator with the Family Partnership team. Jo's last day will be 26 January 2024.
We thank Katie and Jo for their contribution to Catholic Education in the Lismore Diocese and wish them the very best.
APPOINTMENTS
SCHOOLS
Deborah Bailey has been appointed to the position of Acting Principal at Mount St John’s Primary School, Dorrigo, on a 12-month contract commencing 29 January 2024. Deborah has been a part of the St Joseph’s Primary School, Maclean, community for the past 15 years as both a teacher and leader, more recently as the Instructional Leader K-2 and Assistant Principal.
Amy Chapman has been appointed to the position of Assistant Principal at St Mary’s Primary School, Bowraville, commencing 27 January 2024. Amy has been acting in this role for the last 18 months and brings with them 18 years of classroom and teaching experience.
Dominique Montford has been appointed to the position of Assistant Principal - Mission at St Mary’s Primary School, Grafton, commencing 27 January 2024. Dominique brings over ten years of teaching and leadership experience with her, most recently as Acting Assistant Principal: Mission and Leader of Catechesis at St Augustine’s Primary School, Coffs Harbour.
Michaela O’Shea-Miller has been appointed to the position of Acting Assistant Principal - Learning & Teaching at St Francis Xavier Primary School, Woolgoolga, commencing 27 January 2024. Michaela has over 30 years experience in Catholic Education, most recently as Leader of Pedagogy and Acting Assistant Principal: Learning & Teaching at Mary Help of Christians Primary School, Sawtell.
We congratulate Deborah, Amy, Dominique and Michaela on their new appointments and welcome their expertise and commitment to these positions.
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)
RealTalk Australia is a not-for-profit charity organisation that provides values-based presentations, programs and resources on human sexuality, relationships and personal identity. A new online resource hub is now available for all staff and parents within Lismore Catholic schools and provides a wide variety of resources to help parents and teachers explore topics, including:
- Puberty and personal development and identity
- Online Safety
- Friendships
- Consent and respectful relationships
- Impacts of Pornography.
Both primary and secondary teachers may find the resources helpful when teaching these topics and are also encouraged to share the resources with parents, particularly when covering these units within the relevant PDHPE units. The attached flyer contains information about the resource and instructions on how to access the online portal.
Please find details regarding 2024 Category B requirements for graduate and new teachers in the diocese.
Formation for Mission Catholic Identity and Mission AWTL Category B
Guidelines have been developed for those schools using Seesaw and is available on the 'Policies and Guidelines' page of the Intranet.
To ensure the safety of student data, schools should be only using the Seesaw for Schools paid subscription through the CeNET deal. Through this agreement our data is kept within Australia and ensures we are compliant with Australian Privacy Principles.
Those schools that have opted in have been rolled over for 2024, and the student data aligned with the guidelines.
For more information, email Tracey Catling, Acting Lead, Digital Technologies and Learning K-12, E | tracey.catling@lism.catholic.edu.au.
In continued response to system and school data, the Catholic Schools Office will again offer the Stage 3 Mathematics Extension Program for selected Year 6 students across the Diocese during 2024.
Given that this initiative is not an enrichment program but an extension program of learning for high-potential and gifted learners, not all schools will have students involved, and some schools may have multiple students accessing the learning.
Nominations for Semester One 2024 are only open to Year 6 students.
Please see the attached documents for more details and the nomination criteria.
Analysis of the 2023 HSC performance has been finalised and is available to authorised users via the NETid. We further note that:
- Given the 2023 HSC cohort did not sit Year 9 NAPLAN in 2020 for the majority of students, only Year 7 prior achievement was available. This has resulted in the multilevel models being in the order of 5-7% weaker than in prior years. The main impact that users may notice is that the confidence limits for 2023 HSC analysis results will be a little larger than they would otherwise be.
Teachers are encouraged to take advantage of online training on 13 February 2024, which aims to develop an understanding of results analysis and how to use the results analysis package (RAP) data sets to create teaching and learning goals.
This training will be provided by NESA staff, and there are sessions suitable for both beginners and those at an intermediate stage.
Session: An Introduction to the Results Analysis Package (Beginners)
Date: Tuesday, 13 February 2024
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 pm
Register via this link.
ACER has advised us that in a bid to alleviate the administrative workload on school staff, they have automatically rolled over students moving from one year-level to the next (e.g. Year 2 2023 > Year 3 2024) and have unenrolled graduating students in school OARS accounts.
The Lismore Diocese HSC Showcase celebrates and captures the talents of our 2023 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. We are excited to launch the third year of our HSC Showcase, highlighting the outstanding work of our HSC students.
Spotlight On …
St Joseph’s Regional College - Visual Arts
Student Name: Lorena Dionigi
Title: Error. Connection Lost. Retry?
Statement: At first, we were the ones holding the smartphone in the palm of our hand. Now, it seems, we are held firmly in our smartphone’s grasp. The conceptual underpinnings of my Body of Work stem from my concerns regarding the ubiquity of screens in contemporary society and the ironic isolation of someone who chooses not to engage in social media. This was conveyed in combination with my fascination with the human face and, in particular, the gaze.
Teachers who have moved schools, returned from leave and/or have changed their employment pattern this year are reminded to update their details in eTAMS.
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Teachers are advised to leave the contract ‘end date’ blank when making a new entry
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Early Career Teachers are advised to update both the employment and the accreditation section of eTAMS to align with the school and set up the approval pathway for accreditation
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Teachers must apply for leave for a period of six months when starting the leave, or in advance. It is no longer possible to apply for leave retrospectively.
Conditionally Accredited Teachers begin teaching before they have completed a recognised teaching degree and, as such, require special consideration. All conditionally accredited teachers simultaneously prioritise completing their teaching degree while working towards Proficient Teacher practice.
To recognise these dual demands, Principals, Accreditation Supervisors (Mentors) and conditionally accredited teachers are asked to apply the Principles for the Employment of Conditionally Accredited Teachers (2022).
To support the Principles in practice, parties are requested to complete the Initial Teacher Education Program (ITEP) Collaborative Process Agreement as part of the initial or ongoing employment of a conditionally accredited teacher (who has not completed their teaching qualification). This agreement should be stored in the teacher’s Accreditation Folder.
Final Practicum
NESA has confirmed that it is extending the current flexible arrangements for professional experience (PEX) until the end of 2024. Universities may apply to seek a waiver where final-year students who have conditional accreditation and are currently employed to teach in a particular school may undertake the final placement in that school. This waiver may be applied if a school supports their retention in the interests of curriculum continuity and specific conditions are consistently applied. These placements must be formally supervised and assessed. The minimum two-school rule has not been waived.
The free resources will help teachers starting out, those working in new environments, and experienced teachers who want to refine or refresh their classroom management practice.
A further two sets of classroom management resources for teachers will be released in 2024.
The first suite of professional learning resources includes easily accessible evidence explainers and adaptable best practice guides. Future resources will include video demonstrations, mentoring guides and support for school leaders.
The first set of resources is available on the Australian Education Research Organisation website.
Catholic Schools NSW is pleased to confirm Friday, 10 May 2024, as the date for the 2024 Combined Disability and Behaviour Symposium.
Presenters confirmed for the symposium include:
- Professor Donna Cross – Chief Behaviour Advisor, NSW Government
- Dr Matt Capp – Universal Design for Learning
- Dr Helen Street – Contextual Wellbeing
Additional information about the symposium and an updated list of presenters will be shared closer to the date. Registrations will open in February 2024.
Step up and be recognised with a NSW Training Award! The NSW Training Awards are conducted annually by Training Services NSW to recognise outstanding achievements by individuals and organisations in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. Please see the attached information sheet for more details.
NSW Training Awards: Applications for 2024 INFORMATION V2.pdf
EMU Specialist Teacher: Ongoing Professional Learning - Day 1, 2024
Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU), Specialist Teachers engage in professional learning twice a year to continue to deepen their understanding of the learning and teaching of Numbers, improve their pedagogical practice and lead learning in their school. Ongoing professional learning is required to ensure continual improvement of skills and knowledge and to maintain the currency of the EMU Specialist Teacher accreditation.
The dates and locations of the professional learning are as follows:
Primary:
North - Friday 1 March - Invercauld House, Goonellabah
South - Friday 1 March - Slim Dusty Centre, Kempsey
Secondary:
Friday 8 March - Catholic Schools Office - Clarence, Coffs Harbour
Please register on MyLearning by following this link.
Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder
This course is a 20-hour NESA-accredited course conducted over 12 weeks and includes self-paced online learning and three webinars. Teachers will learn about the impact that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can have on a student’s life and how classrooms and practices can be made more inclusive for these students. Teachers will learn how to identify student needs and develop a range of strategies to improve student participation and learning outcomes.
The course will be run over four sessions in Semester 1 via Zoom.
Session 1: Tuesday 12 March - 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Session 2: Tuesday 2 April - 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Session 3: Tuesday 14 May - 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Session 4: Tuesday 4 June - 4:45 pm - 5 pm
Please register on MyLearning by following this link.
Teaching Students with Speech, Language and Communication Needs
This course is a 20-hour NESA-accredited course conducted over 12 weeks and includes self-paced online learning and three webinars. Teachers will learn about the impact that speech, language and communication needs can have on a student’s life and how classrooms and practices can be made more inclusive for these students. Teachers will learn how to identify student needs and develop a range of strategies to improve student participation and learning outcomes.
The course will be run over four sessions in Semester 1 via Zoom.
Session 1: Wednesday 13 March - 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Session 2: Tuesday 9 April - 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Session 3: Wednesday 15 May - 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Session 4: Wednesday 5 June - 4:45 pm - 5:00 pm
Please register on MyLearning by following this link.