Weekly Newsletter #8 - 23 March 2022
Reflection
HARMONY - reflection by Andy Hamilton SJ
This past week in Australia we have been celebrating Harmony Week. The following reflection by Andy Hamilton SJ was written in 2018 for Jesuit Social Services.
In nature diversity is a good thing. Lack of diversity makes for inbreeding and impoverishment of the gene pool. It makes crops more liable to catastrophic disease with consequences for all those who rely on them for sustenance. It makes for a less beautiful and various world.
Yet nature also attacks diversity. Colonies of birds peck at any bird of a different feather that enter their territory; only cuckoos can lay eggs in other birds’ nests.
Human beings are equally adept at resisting diversity. Stepmothers in families, strangers in a village, foreigners in a town, people who look different anywhere, all find their way into stories as a cause of disaffection. For some people the ideal society is one in which everybody has blue eyes, fair hair and a peaches and cream complexion. For others it is one in which all hold the same religious beliefs, speak the same language and share the same prejudices.
For these people racial, religious or cultural diversity are seen as the marks of a weak society.
Cultural diversity is something to celebrate. But not all people celebrate it. In human society we are sustained by forming ecologies – sets of intersecting relationships in which we are bound to family, to place, to religion, to race, to schooling, to economic status, to work, to recreation and so on.
When these relationships link people who are different from one another they provide a safe place in which to grow and to live generously.
But when the ecologies bring together very similar people, they may become afraid of others and act like birds that mark out their territories, regarding different birds as hostile. Many films and novels explore such anxieties in our society that lead to xenophobia and prejudice.
The answer to the fear of diversity is rooted in confidence in our own identity. This gives us the courage and confidence to enter other cultures and to explore them knowing that we shall be enriched by the people whom we meet.
Diversity is in the Christian DNA. The Gospel initially spread in the Jewish world, but soon extended to many different cultures, adapting itself to each. Christian prayer bears the marks of many different historical cultures, and many Christian heroes are people who have left their own societies and risked their lives to speak of Jesus in other cultures.
The Christian feast day of diversity is Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples and they began to preach to people from many different nations and languages. The miracle of Pentecost was not that the disciples spoke many different languages, but that people heard and understood each in their own language. That is cultural diversity – people gathering together in their difference to celebrate their unity.
Found at https://jss.org.au/harmony-day-reflection-by-andy-hamilton-sj/
Let us pray….
Diversity Blessing
May the God who created a world of diversity and vibrancy,
Go with us as we embrace life in all its fullness.
May the Son who teaches us to care for strangers and foreigners,
Go with us as we try to be good neighbours in our communities.
May the Spirit who breaks down our barriers and celebrates community,
Go with us as we find the courage to create a place of welcome for all.
- Clare McBeath and Tim Presswood
From the Executive Director
Last Thursday’s and Friday’s Leadership Gathering in Horsham went very well. A range of diverse topics were discussed and feedback gathered including; Laudato Si, governance, well being and industrial relations. This was the first time many of our new principals had been able to meet their colleagues in person. We celebrated mass and enjoyed dinner together on Thursday night.
On Saturday, I attended St Joseph's College Mildura: Mercy Heritage Centre blessing officiated by Bishop Paul. This blessing took place exactly 83 years to the day that the Mercy Convent was originally blessed and opened in 1939. It was a great celebration, with guests from far and wide, and a very professional group of staff and students guiding this event. The Mercy Heritage Centre is outstanding. When you next are in Mildura I would recommend a visit.
On Monday the CEB Leadership Team met in Warrnambool, as is now our practice, we rotate our Leadership Team meetings around the diocese and take the opportunity to visit local schools as we go.
On Tuesday afternoon the DOBCEL Board met, the Board hosted the Central Zone principals and a representative from their School Advisory Council for dinner. The Board resumed their meeting this morning.
Our recent recruitment campaign for the position of Education Consultant: Central Zone, and the new position of Education Consultant: Mid-North Zone, attracted strong interest from our own Diocese and beyond. We were blessed to receive an excellent field of applicants.
After much consideration and deliberation, we were pleased to offer these roles to our preferred applicants and receive their enthusiastic acceptance. As such, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Jo-Anne Bond to the position of Education Consultant: Central Zone and Janet Claassen to the position of Education Consultant: Mid-North Zone. Both Jo-Anne and Janet will commence their new roles at the beginning of Term 2.
Please view the full announcement made to Principals on Monday here.
Tom Sexton
Executive Director, Catholic Education Ballarat
COVID Update
Temporary exemption from isolation if you have contracted COVID-19
There has been an extension to the period of time from 30 days to 8 weeks for the temporary exemption from isolation if you have contracted COVID-19. The School Operations Guide has been updated to reflect this changed advice.
If you have recovered from COVID-19, you aren’t required to get tested or isolate/quarantine if you are re-exposed to a case within 8 weeks of ending your isolation period.
After 8 weeks, you must follow the relevant advice depending on the type of contact you are.
COVID-19 vaccination booster deadline reminder.
A reminder of the vaccination booster deadlines prescribed for all education workers under the pandemic COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination (Specified Facilities) Order.
Third dose deadline for workers in education facilities was extended until 25 March 2022 to be, meaning education workers must be fully vaccinated (boosted) by that date if eligible to be boosted.
There are limited temporary exceptions as follows:
- Fully vaccinated education workers who are not yet eligible for a third dose will have a third dose deadline of three months and 14 days from when they had their second dose
- If the education worker, who is fully vaccinated, was diagnosed with COVID-19 (via a PCR test or Rapid Antigen Test submitted to the Department of Health) they now have a booster deadline of no later than 4 months from the end of the required self-isolation period
- Workers who are recent international arrivals will have a new third dose deadline of four weeks from the date of their arrival, provided they have evidence of a future vaccine booking.
All DOBCEL employees must show evidence of their vaccination status (boosted, medical exemption, or temporarily excepted as above) to their principal or their delegate before this Friday - 25 March 2022.
If you are temporarily excepted, have a current medical exemption, or do not meet the mandated vaccination requirements you should talk to your principal/their delegate as soon as possible, before 25 March regarding your circumstances.
Catholic Identity and Mission Update
Formation for Mission Opportunities for Principals
Catholic Education Ballarat, in collaboration with Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, is excited to offer these two formation experiences for principals.
Both are pilgrimages, that are a week in duration. One exploring the spirituality and charism of Mary MacKillop and the other experience will engage participants in sacred land and the unique Australian spirituality, particularly the First Australian’s perspective from Tasmania.
On each of the flyers there are contacts for Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic schools. For all Catholic Education Ballarat inquiries please contact Jim Waight via email or
Prayer for Peace in a time of War
Here is a Prayer for Peace in a time of War with the prayer adapted from ‘Prayer of the Church’ with heartfelt thanks to Sr Veronica Lawson for sharing with us.
Australian Pastoral Musicians Network - March 2022
Good Morning/Afternoon Catholic Education Office staff,
Please find attached our March 2022 Newsletter which is centered around the sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation. In an unprecedented move, we are opening this edition of the Newsletter to the general public. It is our great hope that many school and parish communities will benefit from this particular edition.
These two sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Communion are steps on the “lifelong journey as fully initiated missionary disciples” as Michael Mangan explains in his feature article “Singing the Sacraments of Initiation”.
We are seeking your active involvement in the distribution of this newsletter to all catholic schools in your diocese through your existing communication channels and processes. We believe it will be a valuable resource for all Religious Education Coordinators and year level classroom teachers for years to come.
For any additional information, or to become a member of the APMN please email me at secretary@apmn.org.au
Regards,
Chris Janssen
APMN Secretary
ECSI 101 - Professional Learning
After last year’s success, ECSI 101 will be again be offered in 2022. This year there are two course options:
Guided, which includes 12x Wednesday afternoon Zoom sessions
Self-directed, which involves 12 introductory, self-paced, fully online modules.
Please click on the links above for more information and to register yourselves.
Rerum Novarum Awards 2022
Please view the COMS sent to MACS Principals last week. DOBCEL have been invited to use the same template.
Catholic Education Update
Learning and Teaching Update
Reminder: Submission of Literacy Data
For those schools who have undertaken the Record of Oral Language (ROL) testing this term with their F-2 students, a reminder that February Literacy data (Student File 7) is due to be transferred to Catholic Education Melbourne prior to the conclusion of term 1.
Please note Student file 7 still has the capability to record other Observation Survey assessments, should individual schools wish to continue to track data over time.
Reading Recovery data (Student File 9) is collected in an ongoing way throughout the year as students commence and complete Reading Recovery. The data is submitted twice a year coinciding with SF7 and SF8.
PAT Adaptive Assessments
ACER have released a webinar, What is PAT Adaptive?, which contains detailed information about PAT Adaptive tests. The direct link to the webinar recording is here. This webinar shares new information and exciting new opportunities in exploring student understandings, including how to produce new and more explicit reports and how to apply this knowledge to your planning for learning.
All schools have access to PAT Reading and PAT Maths adaptive assessment licences.
Adaptive assessments can be assigned at any time throughout the year.
All webinars from OARS are permanently available to view from within your school’s online account via the Help menu. When you login to your school’s OARS account, click the Help menu and then click the top left menu in the list ‘Webinars and professional learning'. You are able to view recordings of any past session by clicking the down arrow for topics on ‘Assessments’ or ‘Reports and resources’. This direct link can only be accessed if you are already logged into the school’s account.
Please contact your CEB Education Officer if you would like to explore this tool together.
Professional Learning
Learning and Teaching and Curriculum Leaders
Professional Learning with Matt Sexton; Director of the Mathematics Teaching and Learning Centre at ACU
The Mathematics Leaders’ Network invites all school Curriculum Leaders to participate in this
professional learning with Matt Sexton.
This professional learning program will support leaders of curriculum to develop their skills related to:
- Driving change
- Building relational trust
- Using effective meeting protocols
Please Register here
Dates: 13th May 9:15am - 3:30pm and
Webinar chat 9th June 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Wellbeing Update
Term One newsletter
Please click here to view the Wellbeing newsletter for Term 1.
People & Development Update
Diocesan Leadership Awards Nominations Open.
DOBCEL is proud to again sponsor the Diocese of Ballarat Leadership Awards recognising outstanding service and leadership within the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Ballarat, our school communities and Catholic Education Ballarat.
The Diocesan Award categories are:
Partnership Award
Nomination criteria for staff or community members who demonstrate:
- a commitment to enhancing partnering between the School, Catholic Education Ballarat, Parish, or the local community that enhance learning for students;
- ongoing witness to partnership in Catholic education and an active presence in the education, parish, diocesan and/or local community;
- promotion of Catholic education as partnership in local and/or extended community.
Catholic Leadership Award
Nomination criteria for staff who demonstrate:
- leadership that provides active witness to God’s presence in education, parish and/or diocesan community which enhances Catholic identity;
- excellence in leadership around Religious Education, spirituality, liturgy, religious art, social justice, the founding charism, evangelisation and/or ecology.
Fullness of Life Award
Nomination criteria for staff who demonstrate:
- leadership that leads to fullness of life for colleagues and/or students;
- excellence in education, staff formation or professional learning, student learning and/or;
- educational innovation for demonstrated commitment to evidence-based practice in education.
Nominations are invited via the Nomination Link until Friday 1 April 2022.
Diocesan News
Mass of the Oils 2022
All are welcome to attend the Mass of the Oils to be held on Monday, April 11, 2022 at St Patrick’s Cathedral Ballarat at 6.30pm. Supper will follow in the Hall. Any COVID restrictions applicable at this time will apply to the Mass of the Oils.
Choir for Mass of the Oils 2022
Singers and musicians in the diocese are invited to join the music group which is being formed for the Mass of the Oils on Monday, April 11, 2022. Practice times are Sunday, March 27, Sunday, April 3 and Sunday, April 10 from 6.00pm – 7.00pm (following 5.00pm Mass). Please contact Julie Boyd in the Pastoral Ministry Office to register your interest julie.boyd@ballarat.catholic.org.au or ph.
Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community
Principal Vacancies
- Principal – Damascus College, Ballarat – commencing Semester 2 2022 or later by negotiation (closes 4 April)
Catholic Education Ballarat Vacancies
- Payroll Administration Officer – Ballarat Office – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 28 March)
School Vacancies
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Worker – St Alipius’ Parish School, Ballarat East – fixed-term position at 0.6 FTE (closes 25 March)
- Learning Support Officers – Emmaus Catholic Primary School, Mt Clear – ongoing positions at both full-time and part-time (closes 1 April)
- Education Support Staff – OLHC School, Wendouree – fixed-term positions at 0.5 FTE (closes 1 April)
- Health & Physical Education Teacher – Mercy Regional College, Camperdown – fixed-term position at 0.8 to 1.0 FTE (closes 4 April)
- Classroom Teacher – St Mary’s School, Donald – fixed-term position at 0.6 FTE (closes 8 April)
- Casual Relief Teachers – St Alipius’ Parish School, Ballarat East (closes 30 June)
- Casual Relief Teachers – St Francis Xavier, Ballarat East (closes 9 December)
Other Diocese Vacancies
Diocese of Wollongong
- TAS Teacher: Food Technology – St John the Evangelist Catholic High School, Nowra – permanent full time (P/T an option) (closes 28 March)
- Classroom Teacher – St Paul’s Catholic Parish Primary School, Moss Vale – temporary full time (closes 25 March)
Catholic Schools Broken Bay
- Learner Partner: High Potential and Gifted Education - Catholic Schools Broken Bay, Pennant Hills – full time (closes 11 April)