During Catholic Schools Week St Michael’s Primary School Kaleen held their annual Community Breakfast and Mass to celebrate the hope, joy and wonder of Catholic education across the ACT.

St Michael’s have been hosting a Catholic Schools Week community breakfast for over 10 years, bringing together staff, students, parish members, local businesses and members of parliament.  

“Catholic Schools Week is a special time in the year when we celebrate and give thanks for Catholic Schools – especially our own,” said Assistant Principal Damien Webb.

“It is a time to give thanks for the wonderful learning and teaching that takes place each day in every classroom.”

Director of Catholic Education Ross Fox spoke on behalf of Catholic Education alongside Education Minister Yvette Berry and Leader of the Opposition Alistair Coe MLA.  

Treasurer of the St Michael’s Community Jeremy Lane said that this year's theme of Discover New Horizons' was fitting for St Michael's as they begin a new chapter with a new Principal, staff members and families.

“Discover New Horizons is the challenge set before us as a council, as we continue to support this school to be a faith filled, innovative, engaging, supportive and inclusive place of learning,” he said.

The Indigenous Reading Program (IRP) is a non-profit organisation equipping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with Android tablets filled with e-books to provide an incentive to read.

St Patrick's Parish School Cooma were successful in making six submissions to the IRP for both primary and secondary students to access the free program that is designed to complement existing literacy programs.

Aboriginal Education Support teacher Lou Mackay said that students were eager to start the program with the incentive of keeping the tablets if they show improvement at the end of the twelve weeks program.

“As soon as the tablets arrived the students were presented with them and the reading log they have to maintain and away they went!” she said. 

​“Students immediately accessed the online library and I heard comments like, ‘I've been wanting to read this book!’ and ‘Wow, they’ve got the whole Harry Potter series here!’.

“It was exciting to be their teacher and hear these comments.”

Lou said the tablets and the IRP team have been fantastic and is impressed with how well organised and smooth running this program has been.

“Most of the school staff who have seen the tablets have said they wouldn't mind one either,” she said.

“What a great incentive to help students read!”

Over four days, twelve Principals from our Archdiocese explored the theme of 'Visionary Leadership' at the 2018 Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) Conference in Perth. 

The APPA Conference is the premier education event specifically for primary school leaders to hear from national and international presenters.

The Principals were exposed to visionary keynote speakers who discussed the latest cutting edge research, plus a number of concurrent sessions aimed to delve deeper into common challenges. 

The national event extended engaging professional networking opportunities and provided direct access to key service providers and innovative educational resources. 

Principal of Good Shepherd Amaroo, David Austin, said that that highlights included keynote presenters such as globally recognised through-leader Ewan McIntosh and award-wining Texas teacher and author Donalyn Miller.

"Ewan McIntosh is a facilitator in helping people think differently about learning," he said. 

"Donalyn spoke about engaging children with independent reading, and Rabia Siddique was inspirational."

On Monday 10 September, seven colleges from within the Archdiocese were invited to take part in ABC’s Q&A live audience and ask questions directly to a panel of policy makers on national television for Q&A's High School Special.  

The opportunity to participate in the audience was student-initiated, encouraging students to tackle the big issues of today to the overarching question, ‘What if high school students ran this country?’

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Deputy Leader of the Nationals, Bridget McKenzie, joined four high school students from around Australia on the panel, covering topics including unelected prime ministers, climate, closing the gap and the moral high ground.

Lumen Christi College student Annalise Piotrowski stood up and asked the panel about meaningful action on climate change, bringing attention to the devastating effects of the Tathra bushfires on their community.  

“In March this year we saw a bushfire tear through our town, Tathra, fanned by extreme weather conditions,” she said.

“In August we had another out-of-control bushfire burning to the west of Tathra.”

“We have just seen our elected Prime Minister ousted by the conservative right, who doesn’t want action on climate change,

“When will we finally get politicians who will act for our future and take meaningful action on climate change?”

Watch the full episode here:

Indigenous students from St Peter and Paul's Goulburn, St Mary’s Crookwell and St Bede's Braidwood were invited to attend a concert at St Joseph’s Primary School Goulburn North performed by internationally acclaimed singer songwriter Christine Anu this month as part of the school’s Indigenous Education Program.

Christine performance ‘in Conversation and Song’ encouraged her captivated audience to visualise Australia, traverse to the top of Queensland and cross the water to where she grew up in the Torres Strait Islands.

Throughout the performance Christine showed staff and students maps of her homeland, explained the different dialect spoken on each island, speaking in her mother language before translating in English.

Christine shared lyrics and dance moves with the students who participated in each song before finishing with famous Wiggles song ‘Taba-naba’  and a heart-warming rendition of ‘My Island Home’.

Local Indigenous Leader and Educator Peter Swain who has been working with students at St Joseph’s Goulburn has performed with Christine in the past and was able to use her performance to enhance his teachings.

Peter supported Year 1 Indigenous student Indie Champion mark the beginning of the concert with a welcome to country. 

St Joseph’s Coordinator Jackie McNamara said that Christine’s visit was both educational and entertaining.

“She was able to interact with the students and share her culture in a way that was meaningful and authentic.”

During Child Protection Week students from across the Archdiocese were invited to a dialogue with Archbishop Christopher Prowse to engage with the 2020 Plenary question ‘What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?’ and have their voices heard.

With a focus on faith, articulate reflections and meaningfulness, younger students attended a series of creative workshops while senior students participated in an hour long Q&A with the Archbishop.

St Francis of Assisi Calwell Year 6 leaders wrote the following rap as a response:

What do we need to get our world right?

Let’s not stand still we need to now fight!

Protect our environment for the future,

So we can survive!

Let’s think and act properly

With the following top five

Global warming - world too hot

War on waste - too much rot

Poverty- share what we got

Deforestation - trees all gone

Endangered species - lost the lot!

God's creation needs consideration,

Work together, to make our world forever!

The day of student voice aimed to ensure that children within the Archdiocese felt empowered to have their say about life-impacting decisions and understand that they will be taken seriously within a child safe institution.  

St Vincent’s Primary Aranda recently investigated what it would take to 'put on a great show'. To delve into this inquiry, Year 6 teachers Luke Maher and Sam Beattie created an inquiry unit that involved a range of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths experiences that formed a ‘STEAM’ based learning unit. The contextual culmination of this inquiry was a whole school stage musical titled, ‘Somewhere, Between Here, There and Everywhere!’

Over the term, Year 6 students learnt about the many STEAM concepts of the theatre and this learning led to the creation of many of the elements in the show performed in front of the school community.

Learning experiences included an excursion to Canberra Theatre, researching and creating theatre advertisements, creating business plans, developing coded and programmed user interfaces for lighting and sound and engineering puppets made of cardboard.

The students shared their skills with other schools and found inspiration in their community, their world and themselves. Technology enabled them to further their knowledge and this supported their understanding of the evolved and ever evolving landscape of technology in the theatre.

The learning was also shared across St Vincent's as music teacher Anna Marzano worked with all classroom teachers to choreograph two songs featuring the whole school and a unique class act.

St Vincent’s worked closely with the St Francis Xavier production staff and stage crew who supported the inquiry project with expertise and to help run the show and teach Year 6 what they know about theatre and its STEAM elements. St Francis Xavier also provided lighting, production script design and sound. St Vincent’s thank Darg, Gabby, Hayla and the Stage Crew for their support.

The musical was written by Luke Maher and St Vincent’s student Annie Whittaker (6 Yellow) who wrote 2 scenes herself.

This inquiry unit and performance is a learning experience St Vincent’s Year 6 students will cherish in the future.

St Vincent’s teachers developed this inquiry unit with the support of Lora Bance, CE Innovations Officer and Dr Jane Hunter (University of Technology Sydney), whose research has led to the development of the High Possibility Classrooms Framework.

Dr Hunter was a classroom teacher and is currently a core member of the STEM Education Futures Research Centre at the University of Technology, Sydney. It is Jane’s work and research into inquiry learning that inspired the innovation in making this musical STEAM learning inquiry.

Year 6 St Joseph’s O’Connor student Lewis Allbon has brought home bronze for Australia after travelling to Canada last month to compete in the final round of global mountain bike festival Crankworx in the Under 13 Boys category against the world’s best upcoming riders.

This was Lewis’s second time competing in Whistler, improving on his personal best times in four races and ranking 8^th out of 75 riders in an Enduro course with elevated wooden bridges and tight bends.

After enjoying riding in Whistler so much last year, Lewis said that he was lucky to compete for a second time and was pleasantly surprised to receive bronze in the cross-country race.

“I just rode and hoped for the best, and just remembered ‘pedal’,” he said.

Lewis first started riding BMX in 2011 before his father, former Olympian Graeme Allbon, suggested mountain biking to improve fitness and endurance.

Lewis went on to compete at Thredbo Cannonball Mountain Bike Festival in in 2016 before winning Cannonball the following year.

Canada provided Lewis with valuable experience competing in a world class event at the biggest mountain bike park in the world, making friends from around the world in the process.

There’s no doubt that Lewis Allbon will be one to watch as he continues to pursue his professional riding career. We wish Lewis all the best!  

Photo Credit: Jake Voysey Photography

The annual Archdiocesan Public Speaking Competition was held on the 20^th of September at St Gregory’s Primary School Queanbeyan. The standards of the speeches was most impressive! Congratulations to all representatives.

Year 3 students had two minutes to discuss 'How can I make a difference?' and Year 4 students were given the two minute topic of 'It was worth it'. 

Year 5 students had three minutes to talk about the topic 'Every family has a story' and Year 6 were given the topic of 'Today's Problems, tomorrow's solutions'. 

The following students were awarded first place:

Year 3 – two equal firsts
Lila Posa (Lumen Christi Catholic College Pambula – Southern Region)
Rueben Phillips (McAuley Central School Tumut – Western Region)

Year 4 – two equal firsts
Mylee Taylor (St Joseph’s Primary School Boorowa – Western Region)
Bronte Eppelstun (St Bernard’s Batemans Bay – Southern Region)

Year 5
Declan Brown (Sacred Heart Central School Cootamundra – Western Region)

Year 6
Bella Remington (Ss Peter and Paul Primary School Goulburn –  Northern Region)

Read more 

Mother Teresa School in Harrison hosted a Young Women’s March on Friday the 7^th of September to raise money for young women around the world who do not have access to an education.

The idea stemmed from the thoughtfulness shown by two Year 6 students, Maria Fabrizio and Chloe Barker, who were supported by Student Welfare Officer Mike Duvall-Stewart.

Chloe said that she strongly believes that everyone has the right to an education and wants to help like-minded young women who may not have the opportunity to attend school.  

“We are really lucky to go to school and have joyful learning experiences that will help us get a job in the future, while having fun with our friends,” she said.  

In the lead up to the event, Chloe and Maria took the initiative to raise awareness in the school community, speaking to classes and donating all fundraising efforts to ‘One Girl’ charity that focuses on supporting the education of girls in Africa.

Children and Young People Commissioner, and public advocate Jodie Griffiths-Cook attended the march and spoke strongly in support of the cause, applauding the girls for their actions.

Principal at Mother Teresa Peter Hughes warmly commended the girls for taking the initiative to look out into the community to support those in need.

Maria reflected that the march was a success that brought joy to a school community who showed generosity in support of the worthy cause.

“We felt proud to have raised money to donate to others,” she said.  

Out of 50,000 candidates, two staff members from Lumen Christi College have been awarded 2019 NSW Premier’s Teacher Scholarships for their valuable contribution to the teaching profession.  

Assistant Principal of Lumen Christi College Shane Giles received the Premier’s Curriculum Transition Scholarship, which will allow Shane to investigate the global effects of pedagogy and delivery on student achievement.

Shane will be using his Scholarship to travel to the US, Canada, UK and Singapore to examine different school models, innovative programming, lesson delivery and integrations in the form of Project Based Learning.

“I want to see how regional schools develop a locally contextualised education, but also makes links globally through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs),” he said.

Kelly Evans was the recipient of the Premier’s Copyright Agency Creativity across the Curriculum Scholarship and aims to develop the Technologies curriculum.

Kelly plans to gain valuable insight into traditional textile skills in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam before venturing to the UK and Europe to examine textile innovation to incorporate into STEM teaching.  

On Thursday 30 August St Clare’s students from Years 9 and 10 along with their science teachers entertained 100 children from Kindergarten to Year 3 at St Benedict's Primary School for a Science Extravaganza!

The students participated in hands-on activities which included a forensic investigation of their fingerprints, finding the centre of gravity and testing electrical conductivity. To finish the session Mr Holmes gave a very entertaining science show using liquid nitrogen.

St Clare’s has been providing a Science show for St Benedict’s for the past 10 years. The student from St Benedict’s find the experience very enriching and the students from St Clare’s have a rewarding time teaching the primary children more about science.

Trinity Catholic College Principal Gaye McManus recently welcomed seven Shibetsu high school students and teacher Fukuwawa Sensei to spend the day as Trinity students.   

The day began with a senior Hospitality class led by school chef, Dane Sara, followed by an Agricultural class introducing the guests to a range of local Goulburn stock and the College’s lupin, oats and soil nitrogen trial.

Trinity’s Japanese cultural appreciation group, Animanga Club, provided morning tea as the students discussed topics such as JPop, Cosplay and manga in a mixture of Japanese and English.

Students participated in games and sports before undertaking a junior geography class where Trinity students talked about the Rainbow Serpent and the Shibetsu visitors reciprocated by sharing the art of origami cranes.

The junior Geography students welcomed the students and Sensei in Japanese and displayed the Fuji-san artworks they had created to honour their guests.

The Year 11 school leaders held lunch before holding a Drama activity where the class presented aspects of Gothic Theatre to the visitors, who then participated in Gothic tableaux.

The day’s final activity was the planting of a rosebush to commemorate the Shibetsu visit.

“Thank you to Shibetsu city for sending our visitors to us and a great big thank you to our student visitors,” said Principal Gaye MacManus.

Due to their strong interest in promoting cross-cultural experiences, Trinity College is hoping to send a number of students on the Council-sponsored trip to Japan in 2019.

Each year hundreds of schools partake in Australia’s largest performing arts festival, expressing stories through dance at Wakakirri to reflect their thoughts, ideas and aspirations in an effort to win Story of the Year.

This year four Catholic schools within the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn were finalists in the ACT Region, winning multiple State and Performance Awards.

Rosary Primary School Watson received the Best Adapted Story Award for their production ‘Diamond in the Rough’, combining dancing, acting and creative moment to retell the story of Disney classic Aladdin.  

St Anthony’s Parish School Wanniassa received Best Inspirational Story for their creative performance about uncoordinated Gerald the Giraffe who gains confidence in dancing through finding music that he loves.  

Panel member Mike Smith said that the production titled ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’ was a heart-warming discovery of finding a way to march to the beat of your own drum.

St Francis of Assisi Primary School Calwell won the Best Original Story Award and the Spirit of Wakakirri for their performance titled ‘Look Inside Yourself’ that told the story of a fly who longed to be someone else before finding happiness within herself.  

St Gregory’s Primary School Queanbeyan were awarded Best Blockbuster Story for an entertaining and enchanting rendition of a bedtime ritual that came alive on stage through song and dance.

After glowing reviews from the panel members the hard work payed off for all four schools who were invited to perform again on Awards Night.  Congratulations to all schools who entered the competition and represented Catholic Education!