"Forgive us if often we have not listened to you; if, instead of opening our hearts, we have filled your ears. As Christ's church, we want to listen to you with love" because young people's lives are precious in God's eyes and "in our eyes, too," the pope said in his homily Oct. 28.   Read On

Pope Francis' advisory Council of Cardinals has suggested that the pontiff reorganize the Vatican to make a "decisive shift" toward putting the city-state at the service of local Catholic dioceses around the world, said one of the council's nine members. Read On

What gets assessed gets done. It’s an old maxim, but is still true. Currently, what is being assessed are literacy and numeracy, in their many guises, and occasionally other subject areas, with a focus on the retention of knowledge. We often hear of leaders in education, politics and business proclaiming the importance of contemporary skills –sometimes called 21st Century skills. However, it seems assessment needs to catch up to this area of the curriculum. There are many examples of contemporary skills and they typically include communication, information and technological literacy; critical thinking and problem solving; creativity and innovation; collaboration and teamwork; and metacognition. Yet, despite many calls for schools to develop these competencies, no national test – the general barometer by which teachers, school leaders and education systems are measured – has been devised to assess them. Are national tests a good measure of this broad cluster of competencies? Read Full Article here

Sexuality and sexual health can significantly impact an individual’s overall wellbeing. The World Health Organization states that sexual health is “a state of physical, emotional, mental and social wellbeing related to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity” (World Health Organisation, 2006).

With information readily available online, young people are more informed than ever about sexuality and sexual health. However, knowing what information is accurate and appropriate can be challenging, and may create confusion for some young people, negatively impacting their mental, physical, and sexual wellbeing. Read Full Article here

School leaders have a responsibility to influence the education debate and anticipate change. Currently, academics, consultants and highly respected educational leaders have a voice in various political and educational forums. How can school-based leaders use their voice to advocate for education? Educators have a professional responsibility to contribute to the education debate, rather than leave it to others. School leaders are in a strong position to influence the thinking because of their connection to the school and local community, as well as their credibility as education experts. Read Full Article here

 I recently addressed the national IPSHA conference, on the topic of the steady rise in the number of anxious parents presenting to authorities on their children’s behalf. As you are most likely aware, this is increasing stress for teaching staff, creating more pressure on resources and ultimately affecting children’s capacity to manage many of life’s issues for themselves.

After that address I was prompted by interest in this topic from school leaders and have since provided a series of six articles speaking to parents, for publication in school newsletters or other school publications.

The articles provide tips on positive parenting and managing parental anxiety and are approximately 600-700 words (about the same length as newspaper articles) and in a particular order.

From your perspective, it may be useful for a third party (like myself), to be offering this information through the attached articles, as some of what I am relaying to parents is quite challenging regarding the role that they play in their children’s lives.

Please feel free to call or email me if you are interested in obtaining these articles, I have attached two from the series (Article 1 and Article 3) and are happy to provide the rest of the articles at your request and at no charge.

Article 1 - To Go Up to the School or Not

Article 3 - Not Every Act of Meanness is Bullying

School Law Conference on Tuesday, 13 November at the UNSW CBD Campus and the Religious Law Conference on Wednesday 21^st  November at the Pullman Hyde Park. Please find attached copies of both programs - it will also be available to watch as live web stream or recording.

There is an offer for the early bird rate of $760 for the full day and $395 for the half day for all your members and related organisations until the date of each respective the conference (ends for the general public on Friday 19 October). Members can redeem this offer by either calling us on 02 9387 8133 or emailing info@legalwiseseminars.com.au and mentioned the ACSP offer.

 https://www.legalwiseseminars.com.au/search/SeminarDetail?SessionId=1811N01

https://www.legalwiseseminars.com.au/search/SeminarDetail?SessionId=1811N09 

Funding analysis prepared for the NSW Teachers Federation shows the NSW Government has been underfunding its own government schools, Catholic Schools NSW (CSNSW) said today.

The study - by education analyst Adam Rorris - concludes that the NSW government school system this year received $470 million less from the NSW Government than is needed to meet the state's share of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), the benchmark used to fund every student in Australia.

“This shortfall follows the so-called Gonski funding agreement signed by the NSW Government with then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2013,” CSNSW Chief Executive Dallas McInerney said.

“The NSW Education Minister at the time was Adrian Piccoli - now with the University of NSW’s Gonski Institute for Education.

“During Mr Piccoli’s tenure as Minister, funding growth for NSW public schools slowed to 6.8% over three years while the Federal Government increased its contribution by 16.4% over the same period.

Education Matters is an informative, valuable resource for decision makers of both Primary and Secondary schools Australia-wide, with 6000 copies delivered per edition.

The glossy stock, full-colour magazine serves as a trusted buyer’s guide to the education market. It’s offered in both Secondary and Primary editions, and these are distributed free to schools twice each year, and are promoted at strategic events, conferences and expos on a regular basis.

As a leader within the sector, we want to make sure you’re receiving the magazine with compliments and are signed up for our weekly e-Newsletter.  http://www.educationmattersmag.com.au/kiosksubscription/

I hope the term is running smoothly for you and your school. We want to announce an exciting opportunity for you and your school. PIEX is a not-for-profit organisation is running a program to equip your school, your teachers and your students for the 21st century learning as we teach children coding, robotics, and S.T.E.A.M Education with a design thinking mindset. Our program revolves around encouraging student collaboration, exploration of real life issues, and a desire to make a mark in a student's growing education. 

 

Currently, we are promoting 20 schools for 20 days and we have found your school to be an amazing candidate to our program. We wish to teach your students all about discovering their potential in hands-on learning of outer space. Our activities combine sciences, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics in hopes to create a growing interest on the topic of space and the endless possibilities of human technologies. 

 

20 schools for 20 days is as follows:

 

Location: At your local school

Number of trainers provided: 2

Number of students at each session: 50

Cost per child: $2

Duration per session: 30 minutes 

Activities: Rocket Balloon, Satellite Challenge, and a hovercraft challenge. We are open to suggestions to other activities.

Learning outcomes: For students it's all about developing their critical thinking, problem solving and creative thinking skills and for teachers it is about providing them with a free lesson plan to implement in their classrooms and to explore the fun and exciting ways you can engage your students.

 

We are ready to transform your students' learning experience and inspire the next generation of innovators. Are you ready to join on this journey?

Head to our website to further learn about our program and contact us to reserve a spot this November for your school. We are excited to meet you and your students this November. 

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Best wishes

Liling Ong

Founder 

PIEX Education Australia

T: +6142 288 3015

I'm closing in on my first anniversary in Catholic education, and I've learned many things. Moving from a sector driven by profit (banking) to one driven by purpose has been an unexpected delight in the transition. Colleagues and professionals motivated to improve the lives of those around them.

Another lesson has been how public school advocates rely on the fallacy that government schools are full of children from poor families while any school that charges fees must be educating 'the rich' and should therefore receive no public funding. Of course, government and low-fee Catholic schools in the same suburbs and regional areas serve families from similar socioeconomic communities. Both have quality schools with dedicated teachers doing their best to create Australia's next generation of citizens.

Dallas McInerney READ ON