Weekly Newsletter #14 - 18 May 2022
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Reflection
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From the Executive Director
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National Catholic Education Commission Federal Election Report Card
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Diocesan Update
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Catholic Identity & Mission Update
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Learning & Teaching Update
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People & Development Update
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Planning & Infrastructure Update
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Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community
Reflection
Laudato Si Week.
This week is Laudato Si Week in Australia. The rest of the world celebrates Laudato Si’ Week, next week from 22nd -29th May. The Australian Bishops decided to celebrate Laudato Si’ Week from 16th – 24th May 2022. These dates allow both Laudato Si’ Week, and National Reconciliation Week (which takes place in Australia from 27th May - 3rd June) to be celebrated.
Laudato Si’ Week began in 2016, as a way to celebrate the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ world-changing papal encyclical letter, Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home.
This year, the theme of the week is “Listening and Journeying Together” Communities on six continents will work on “bringing the human family together to protect our common home” (LS 13), which is the guiding Laudato Si’ quote for the weeklong celebration.
Catholics and people of good will, across the globe will unite their communities in action and learn more about how Laudato Si’ offers a blueprint on how to tackle the climate crisis. To find out more see Laudato Si Week Australia.
Let us Pray…
Gracious God, you are good to all and compassionate to all your works.
As we celebrate Laudato Si’ Week:
We are mindful of your generous love in all creation,
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we live,
We accept your invitation to engage with the wisdom of Laudato Si.
With Pope Francis, concerned citizens and all creation,
We commit to the call and challenge of this week, so that, in prayer and protest,
Silence and song,
Reflection and renewal,
We might live the Easter promise of love’s triumph.
We make this prayer in the name of Jesus, our risen Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.
Amen
From the Executive Director
It was my great privilege to be a part of the historic launch of the CECV Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan.
This Education Action Plan is a true collaboration of CECV’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Working Party with equal weight given to each diocese’s experience, wisdom and knowledge of ATSI people, their culture and their educational needs.
This Plan has been developed to assist Victorian Catholic schools to continue to develop and strengthen the practices they have implemented to improve the education and life outcomes of our ATSI students.
It reflects the values of Catholic education across the four dioceses and recognises our authentic commitment to the educational outcomes of all ATSI students. It heralds a new era in Catholic education as it is the first resource to incorporate Catholic Identity across the named priority areas.
With this commitment, this plan will further strengthen the work already undertaken in Victorian Catholic schools and offices and it will provide an expectation of consistency and a high level of support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in our schools.
Tom Sexton
Executive Director, Catholic Education Ballarat
National Catholic Education Commission Federal Election Report Card
The National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) has been leading Catholic education’s federal election campaign.
Working with stakeholders from across Australia, including the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd (CECV), the NCEC identified several priorities for the upcoming election:
- providing genuine school choice through fair funding and ensuring affordable contributions from families
- enabling faith-based education through religious protections
- improving capital funding
- supporting the delivery of national priorities such as quality teaching, early childhood education, mental health and wellbeing programs, and Closing the Gap initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
The three major parties (Liberal–National Coalition, Australian Labor Party and Australian Greens) were asked to indicate their support for those priorities.
A report card has now been created for you to share with your school communities, assessing the responses the NCEC received from the major parties.
Access the report card and policy responses from the NCEC website here.
Diocesan Update
Pastoral Ministry Office availability.
Due to building works currently underway, the Pastoral Ministry Office staff may be working away from the office, therefore the phones could be unattended. To contact the office please email pastoralministry@ballarat.catholic.org.au. Items for collection (ie. volunteer welcome packs and ODC) are available from the CDF.
Alive in the Spirit 2022 – Virtual Conference.
Last year, over 1000 Australian & New Zealand bishops, priests, deacons, religious, pastoral councils, parish and diocesan staff and ministry teams participated in the “Alive in the Spirit” experience, inspired by many homegrown ideas, practical pathways and opportunities to renew and revitalise our pastoral settings. In 2022, “Alive in the Spirit” returns, this year’s theme: “What does God require of us: To Act Justly, To Love Mercy & To Walk Humbly”.
Endorsed by bishops from both Australia and New Zealand, this interactive online pastoral experience offers both individuals and groups a variety of ways to flexibly engage. With parishes and dioceses hungering for fresh hope, new ideas, and positive stories and models of practice in service of Christ’s mission, “Alive in the Spirit” will engage you with over thirty workshops, amazing keynotes, and balancing on-screen input with time for off-screen prayer, reflection and a call to action.
Our Catholic Church offers so much richness, and “Alive in the Spirit” celebrates the good of who we are, while inviting us to continue to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as we engage with the Signs of the Times in our Oceania Region.
For more information and to register go to https://aliveinthespirit.com.au
Catholic Identity & Mission Update
Enhancing Catholic School Identity Professional Learning.
The Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) Intensive program will introduce participants to current research and learning for ECSI across the categories of Scripture, Mission, Virtue Ethics and Recontextualisation.
It will run every Tuesday for 4 weeks commencing 31 May. Please click here to view the flyer for more information and here to register for the course.
Please email Gina Bernasconi for more information.
Teacher Accreditation Platform - REL’s and Principals.
Now that more of you are becoming familiar with TAP, it has been requested that we provide another TAP demonstration. To ensure the right content is covered, can you please submit any questions you may have in the attached Google Doc.
This online session will be run via this Zoom link on Wednesday 25 May at 3.30 until approximately 4.30 and be recorded for those of you unable to participate. All RELs and Principals at both Primary and Secondary schools are most welcome.
Please note attendance at this session is completely voluntary but we hope to answer as many of your questions as we can and demonstrate how to do things on the platform that you may be struggling to get your heads around, giving priority to the questions submitted before the session.
Please email Sarah Johnson if you have any queries.
Learning & Teaching Update
EAL Reporting and SIMON.
Rory (SIMON) and Meagan (CEB EAL Officer) are teaming up on Wed 18th May (3.45 – 5pm via Zoom) and 27th May (3.45 – 5pm CEB office) to bring to you more information on EAL reporting and using SIMON to generate an EAL report.
In this workshop we will cover:
- EAL reporting requirements. (and some discussion around those sticky situations such as students who have been incorrectly on a mainstream report and now need to change to an EAL report)
- Data management using SIMON. (what information is currently accessible for schools)
- Step by step guide in generating an EAL report.
We are encouraging anyone who is interested to register, and particularly hope that principals and administrators will come along to learn some of the more nitty gritty elements of the SIMON process.
Please contact Meagan at mbecker@ceob.edu.au or on 0416232696 for more information and to register.
2022 National Reconciliation Week Resources.
This year’s National Reconciliation Week theme challenges us to Be Brave. Make Change. We can do this in many ways and in many places, including our schools, workplaces, community centres and online to name just a few. The theme builds on last year’s one, where we were reminded that Reconciliation is not just a word, it also takes action to bring about. The high quality of work focusing on this topic grows in strength every year and is a testament to the ongoing commitment of our school communities.
The CECV Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Working Party has created a document of websites and other resources that may prove valuable in celebrating this week.
For more information about this and other resources: https://hive.ceob.edu.au/atsi
People & Development Update
The new Child Safe Standards.
Thank you to the principals, child safety and compliance officers who were able to attend the Introduction to the new Child Safe Standards and Ministerial Order on Thursday 11 May.
A recording of this presentation can be found accessed here. Anyone with this link can view the presentation.
As outlined in the Executive Directors Update to Principals #23 on 28 April, a series of workshops will commence this week, starting Thursday 19 May. Please see updated meeting links. All sessions will be recorded.
The new Standards in focus workshops:
Thursday 19 May 3.45pm-4.30pm | Standard 1 - Culturally Safe Environments & Standard 5 - Diversity & Equity |
Wednesday 25 May 3.45pm- 4.30pm | Standard 2 - Child Safety and Wellbeing is Embedded in Leadership, Governance & Culture |
Tuesday 31 May 3.45pm-4.30pm | Standard 3 – Child & Student Empowerment & Standard 4 - Family Engagement |
Thursday 2 June 3.45pm- 4.30pm | Standard 6 - Suitable Staff & Volunteers & Standard 7 - Complaints process |
Wednesday 8 June 3.45pm- 4.30pm | Standard 8 - Child Safety Knowledge, Skills and Awareness |
Tuesday 14 June 3.45pm- 4.30pm | Standard 9 - Child Safety in Physical & Online Environments |
Thursday 16 June 3.45pm-4.30pm | Standard 10 - Review of Child Safety Practices Standard 11 - Implementation of Child Safe Practices |
If you have any questions about the new CSS, please contact Jacqui Righetti on 0409114268 or jrighetti@dobcel.catholic.edu.au.
Staff wellbeing support through Converge International.
Catholic Education Ballarat, on behalf of the Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited (DOBCEL), has contracted services with Converge International to support staff wellbeing.
The contract provides a range of services under an Employee Assist Program, commonly referred to as the EAP. For information about these services and how to access them, please review Staff Wellbeing Converge International Services.
For school leadership, there are options to support you in your leadership and caring for the wellbeing of your staff. These services may be beneficial in addition to the other services and support available in partnership with Catholic Education Ballarat.
We encourage you to access the services as they may be helpful. For information about these services, costs and how to access them, please review Converge International additional services.
Need EAP promotion materials?
If you would like to access additional EAP brochures or wallet/business cards for your school, please submit your request by the end of Term 2, via this form (only one request per school please).
Note you can also provide an email address for digital resources.
The Kindness Revolution – Hugh Mackay recorded webinar.
You may also enjoy this recording of a webinar called The Kindness Revolution presented by Kate Page (Executive Director of Clinical Services, Converge International) in conversation with Hugh Mackay (researcher, social psychologist, and best-selling author).
Planning & Infrastructure Update
Essential Safety Measures Program - Upcoming Inspections.
For those schools taking part in the 2021 – 2022 Essential Safety Measures (ESM) Program, Axiom Safety & Compliance will be travelling throughout the Diocese from mid-June through to the end of the month attending schools to conduct the required periodic inspections, including the Paths of Travel to Exits and Exit Doors.
The Axiom group will be in contact with each school soon to arrange an appointment time and we would like to encourage Principals and Compliance Support Officers to be present at these meetings and site walks, so as to enhance the understanding of required Essential Safety Measures.
If you have any questions relating to this please contact;
Ashley Wiseman (CEOB - Manager: Planning & Infrastructure) via email or phone 5337 7133
or Gary Walker (Axiom Safety & Compliance) via email or phone 0448 861 155.
Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community
School Vacancies.
- VET Trainer in Beauty – St Joseph’s College, Mildura – fixed-term at 0.79 FTE (closes 20 May)
- Teachers of English, Psychology, Religious Studies, and Dance – St Joseph’s College, Mildura – ongoing positions at 1.0 FTE (closes 20 May)
- Director of Faith and Mission (POL 4) – St Mary MacKillop College, Swan Hill – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 23 May)
- Director of Community Engagement and Marketing – Emmanuel College, Warrnambool – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 26 May)
- Performing Arts Teacher (Dance, Drama and/or Music) – Sacred Heart Primary School, Mildura – fixed-term position at 1.0 FTE (closes 27 May)
- Classroom Teacher – St Patrick’s School, Camperdown – fixed-time at 1.0 FTE (closes 27 May)
- Art Teacher – Marian College, Ararat – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 27 May)
- Classroom Teacher – St Mary’s Primary School, Ararat – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 31 May)
- Casual Relief Teachers – St Alipius Parish School, Ballarat East (closes 30 June)
- Casual Relief Teachers – St Francis Xavier, Ballarat East (closes 9 December)