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- Going Deeper
- Kate Nestor Appointed to Australian Catholic Youth Council
- Catholic Education’s election funding and policy objectives
- Videos for Change 2019
- WriteOn 2019 for students in Years 1-6
- Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) Update
- Verification Process of the Working with Children Check
- My Learning
- Reminders
This week we discuss a word that has lost a lot of its deepest meaning in recent years. It’s a word that is central to everything that happens in Catholic education.
The documents state ‘The teachers love their students, and they show this love in the way they interact with them. Teachers take the advantage of every opportunity to encourage and strengthen students in those areas which will help to achieve the goals of the educational process. The teacher’s words, their witness, their encouragement and help, their advice and friendly correction are all important in achieving these goals, which must always be understood to include academic achievement, moral behaviour, and a religious dimension (The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School 109)’.
What does it mean to love our young people within the vocation of Catholic teaching? In Catholic thinking to love, means to will the good of the other. To love someone is to act toward them in a way that genuinely seeks their good. To love someone is to act toward them in a way that hopes the best for them.
To learn more click here.
Kate Nestor Appointed to Australian Catholic Youth Council
Congratulations!
Kate Nestor, School Evangelisation Education Officer at the Catholic Schools Office has been invited by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity & Ministry to join the Australian Catholic Youth Council for a three-year appointment. This will involve Kate sharing her experience with the broader Australian Community.
This is a wonderful acknowledgement of Kate's experience and expertise in the area of Youth Ministry and a testament to the success of her contribution over many years. It is also a significant recognition of the work happening here in the Diocese of Lismore.
Catholic Education’s election funding and policy objectives
The key issues for Catholic Education at the upcoming federal election are:
- increased capital funding
- more resources for early childhood education
- religious freedom in schools
In 2017, Catholic school communities funded almost 90 per cent of the capital works in their schools – nearly $1.3 billion – while the federal and state governments jointly provided $152.2 million across our 1746 schools. To put this in perspective, the NSW government is spending 10 times this amount - $1.5 billion each year - on capital works in its 2200 schools.
With the rising cost of land, construction and classroom technology, Catholic schools cannot continue to rely on parents and the rest of the school community to shoulder the burden of increased capital costs to the same extent into the future.
The federal government must help to ease the burden on parents if Catholic schools are to meet the needs of future students.
Catholic Education is also increasing its focus on the delivery of early childhood education, a vital component of each child’s development.
Catholic Education will seek a significant increase in dedicated capital and recurrent funding to deliver quality early learning centres for our families.
While school funding arrangements have now largely been settled for the next decade, Catholic Education will seek to clarify details on key elements before polling day, particularly around maintaining the choice of low-fee Catholic schooling for Australian families.
Videos for Change is a powerful opportunity for young people to create and be heard while developing social advocacy skills and engaging with the wider community.
Videos for Change empowers young people from Years 7-12 to become agents of social change. It is a real world, student-led, project-based learning experience in which students create one-minute videos to raise awareness of social issues they feel passionate about.
Through this activity, students can develop the critical global competencies needed to be active, responsible and engaged citizens. These include collaboration, critical thinking, communication, creative thinking, civic engagement and collective action.
Videos for Change can be delivered as a unit of work or used as an assessment item across multiple subject areas. It can be aligned with the Australian Curriculum of English, HASS and Media or embedded as part of a wellbeing program.
Participants in Videos for Change can also enter the national competition which amplifies students’ voice to a global audience with videos last year being viewed over 600,000 times in 91 countries. Winners share a total prize pool of $12,000 and have the chance to be featured on Network 10's The Project.
The 2019 competition will be open for submissions from 24 June - 13 September. Learn more and access the free teacher resources on the below link.
Read LessWriteOn 2019 for students in Years 1-6
WriteOn is an annual writing competition open to all NSW primary students in Years 1 to 6.
It can be used as a whole-class teaching activity or as an individual project. Through participating in the competition, students are engaged in authentic writing experiences which can be linked to the outcomes of the NSW English K–6 Syllabus.
Entries close 5 July.
Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) Update
For those interested in finding out more about the NCCD, this video is for you.
Verification Process of the Working with Children Check
A Working with Children Check Audit was recently conducted by the Office of the Children's Guardian.
Schools are reminded that the Catholic Schools Office completes the verification process of a prospective employee through the My Profile Registration of Employment process.
It is also recommended that volunteer checks are verified at the Catholic Schools Office. You are asked to complete details of volunteers in this jotform link: https://form.jotform.co/90580987989887
A copy of the verification will be emailed back to the school for your records.
Staff are reminded that individuals are required to register for all professional learning courses through the My Learning site. The site has the facility to recommend courses to others. This will be potentially useful for Principals and Assistant Principals who wish to recommend staff to register for particular courses.
To register, please visit the My Learning link below.
Staff are also reminded that the closing date for courses is 5 working days prior to the course.
ACCREDITATION TO WORK, TEACH AND LEAD: CATEGORY C FOR STAFF WHO HOLD A POSITION OF ADDED RESPONSIBILITY NEW TO THEIR SCHOOL AND/OR NEW TO THEIR ROLE ATWTALC1Category C applies to parish school staff either new to their school, or to their position of added responsibility and includes Leaders of Curriculum; Leaders of Pedagogy; Leaders of Learning; Consultants from non-school backgrounds; CSO Education Officers and CSO Teacher Educators. Each new appointee is required to participate in an initial 24 hour Catholic Leadership Formation program, offered in two 12 hour programs over two consecutive years. Category C Leadership Formation programs are scheduled for:
- 11-12 June & 13-14 June - Invercauld House, Goonellabah
- 27-28 June - Bonny Hills
GOOGLE DRAWINGS - THE UNDERUTILISED GOOGLE SUITE TOOL GDTUST07
This online credentialled short course is conducted over a two-week period and is open to all staff and will provide eligible teachers with THREE hours of accreditation with NESA.
- Online Course Commences: Fri 10 May
- Online Course Finishes: Fri 24May
ADDITIONAL NEEDS TEACHERS (ANT) DAY TERM 2 MEETINGS ANTACDT
- 7 May - Tweed, Richmond and Coastal Clusters - Invercauld House, Goonellabah
- 14 May - Hastings Cluster - Newman Senior Technical College, Port Macquarie
- 15 May - Nambucca Cluster - CSO Annexe, Coffs Harbour
- 16 May - North Clarence Cluster - St Mary's Primary School, Grafton
REMINDER: SCHOOL RESOURCES SERVICES (SRS) – ADMINISTRATION DAYS SAID2
These professional development days are being held on the dates below. Please see My Learning for more information and register by …..
- Port Macquarie – Tuesday 14 May 2019
- Coffs Harbour – Wednesday 15 May 2019
- Tweed Heads – Thursday 16 May 2019
- Lismore – Friday 17 May 2019
ZOOM CONFERENCING (Virtual Excursions and Real World Class Connections) ZCVEARW07
This online credentialled short course is conducted over a two-week period and is open to all staff and will provide eligible teachers with THREE hours of accreditation with NESA.
- Online Course Commences: Mon 20 May
- Online Course Finishes: Mon 3 June
INTRODUCTION TO TEXTHELP ITT
A one-day course consisting of an introduction to the toolkit, outlining of support available to schools, an introduction to Read&Write and an invitation to consider participation in future action research projects.
- 29 May – Tweed, Coastal and Richmond Clusters – Invercauld House, Goonellabah
- 30 May – Hastings and Nambucca Cluster – Newman Senior Technical College, Port Macquarie
- 31 May – North Clarence Cluster - Coffs Harbour Annex
7-12 DRAMA COLLABORATION DC712
The drama collaborative network is an opportunity for secondary drama teachers to learn from each other and from professional artists about strategies in this learning area of the Creative Arts.
- 21-22 May – NORPA Lismore City Hall
LNAP INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERS’ WORKSHOP TERM 2 LILWT2205
Instructional Leaders in the State Literacy and Numeracy Action Plan Schools and Supplementary Schools are provided with the opportunity to reflect on teaching and learning in Kindergarten - Year 2 and their role as Instructional Leaders.
- 5-6 June - Invercauld House, Goonellabah
UNDERSTANDING AND RESPONDING TO MENTAL HEALTH RISK IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
A series of two-hour twilight sessions on understanding and responding to mental health risk behaviours in primary school will be occurring in Term 2, Week 8. This will be delivered by 'Be You' Consultants.
- Kingscliff Twilight Workshop
17 June 2019: St Anthony's Primary School, Kingscliff
Time: 3.30-5.30pm - Lismore Twilight Workshop
18 June 2019: Invercauld House, Goonellabah
Time: 3.30-5.30pm - Coffs Harbour Twilight Workshop
19 June 2019: CSO Annexe, Coffs Harbour
Time: 3.30-5.30pm - Port Macquarie Twilight Workshop
20 June 2019: St Joseph's Primary School, Port Macquarie
Time: 3.30-5.30pm
PROCLAIM LISMORE STAFF 2019
Refer to the original article in The Way from Term 2 Week 1.
PROCLAIM LISMORE STAFF 2019 – 28 May to 4 June – PLS2
All staff are reminded to register on My Learning for the Proclaim Lismore Staff 2019 event in their cluster.
EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST TO ATTEND – 2019 BBI RELIGIOUS EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM: Moving from Theory to Practice: Religious Education in the Classroom
BBI is hosting a National Symposium on 12–13 September 2019 at the International Conference Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney.
Interested participants are invited to respond to Neil Graham on 0266276215 or by email by 31 May.
PROCLAIM LISMORE Accendere Year 4 Retreat
These retreats are being held in various locations in July and are on the dio-PD calendar. For more information refer to Parish Schools Circular 2019-5.